News update for Tue 18 Feb 2025

Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...

Feb 18, 2025

Welcome to your TrueNorth news update where every weekday afternoon we share curated articles from Australia’s independent news media sector.

Please share with friends, family, colleagues - as good journalism is always worth supporting.

Share TrueNorth News

Scroll down for today’s news and views…

TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here

BREAKING NEWS:

RBA cuts interest rates to 4.1% as the NACC launches fresh Robodebt probe - The Australia Institute live blog with Amy Remeikis
Man charged after allegedly harassing journalist Antoinette Lattouf after ABC radio stint - The Guardian

Wendy Bacon: Cairo Takeaway stunt. Building antisemitism one caper at the time - Michael West Media

An antisemitism stunt at Cairo Takeaway orchestrated by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and prolific Israel crusader Ofir Birenbaum backfired last week.

Egyptian food outlet Cairo Takeaway in Sydney’s Inner West was flooded with supportive customers this weekend after a DailyTelegraph undercover operation to find evidence of antisemitism badly backfired. MWM can reveal close links between the perpetrator, Ofir Birenbaum, and pro-Israel groups with a long history of amplifying anti-semitism at every opportunity.

Also >

Daily Tele’s stunt backfires - ABC’s Media Watch
I know all about Murdoch stunts. I’ve been a victim of one - Jenna Price for The SMH/Age (paywall)
Sourcing antisemitism: `Paid actors’ and urgent questions to be asked - Pearls and Irritations

Adam Morton: The election could be called any day – but Peter Dutton still hasn’t explained how his nuclear proposal will work - The Guardian

The election is just weeks away and Peter Dutton has still not answered any of the key questions about how his nuclear energy pitch would work beyond naming the seven sites where the Coalition says it might eventually – mostly in the 2040s – use taxpayer funding to build power plants.

He is rarely even asked. Polling suggests he has a reasonable chance of moving into the Lodge in a few weeks.

If he’s good as his word, Dutton would attempt to put the brakes on investment in large-scale solar and windfarms and battery storage.

Also read >

Nuclear Gamble is an Economic Wrecking Ball - The Australian Independent Media Network
Dutton's nuclear disaster: Cheap lies and a $20 billion deficit - Independent Australia
Dutton’s perennial stupidity of undirected public service cuts - Pearls and Irritations
Peter Dutton misrepresents Labor's energy plan as 'renewables-only' - AAP
The four accounting tricks behind Peter Dutton’s nuclear cost claims - Renew Economy

Liberal Party caught funding fossil fuels lies - The Klaxon

Liberal Party-funded billboards spruiking fossil fuels propaganda have been taken down by the nation’s largest outdoor advertising group.

Last week ASX-listed advertising giant oOh!Media pulled two Newcastle billboards containing lies attacking renewable energy by extremist disinformation group “Advance”.

The billboards make the demonstrably false claim that ‘renewables’ (which the advertisements refer to in quotation marks) “cost the earth”, followed by the words “dollars & destruction”.

The Liberal Party and “Advance” have for years denied they are connected, yet two weeks ago it emerged the Liberal Party is Advance’s biggest funder — and by a factor of ten.

Also read > Dutton ‘most likely’ PM according to polling: Here’s how it could happen - Women’s Agenda

Share TrueNorth News

Lorena Allam on why we still haven’t closed the gap - Full Story Podcast

Since the failure of the voice referendum, the government has been very quiet when it comes to Indigenous affairs. But the prime minister has given an update on what he plans to do next to close the gap on outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.As she farewells Guardian Australia, Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam talks to Reged Ahmad about why there’s a leadership vacuum when it comes to First Nations policy.

Listen to the Full Story Podcast

Jack Wateford: Teals should hammer unfinished integrity agenda - Pearls and Irritations

The Commonwealth minister in charge of electoral matters, Senator Don Farrell is a traditionalist. It was entirely in line with parliamentary traditions that recent “reforms” to electoral laws have been on the nose. Like parliamentarians’ pay rises being smuggled through in bipartisan mutual esteem at the end of late night sessions, changes to the electoral rules always reinforce the impression of impropriety and irregularity in the divvying up of taxpayer loot by Labor and Coalition machine men. Loopholes to get around the rules, particularly about donations. Small players, especially independents, are not allowed to be “in on the joke”.

It was just the type of trickery and two-party system abuse of power, accompanied by guilty looks on the faces of the perpetrators, that justifies widespread cynicism about conventional politicians feathering their own nests, and which is giving rise to a growth in the support for independents, and third-party groups such as the Greens

Today’s cartoon by Glen Le Lievre

TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here

Share TrueNorth News

With just 5 years to go, the world is failing on a vital deal to halt biodiversity loss - The Conversation

Almost 200 nations have signed an ambitious agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss but none is on track to meet the crucial goal, our new research reveals.

The agreement, known formally as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, seeks to coordinate global efforts to conserve and restore biodiversity. Its overarching goal is to safeguard biodiversity for future generations.

Biodiversity refers to the richness and variety within and between plant and animal species, and within ecosystems. This diversity is declining faster than at any time in human history.

Inside the ‘hostile takeover’ of Meals on Wheels - 7am Podcast

Meals on Wheels is an essential service for many elderly people across the country. It’s the sort of service that you can’t really put a price on – providing community connection and support to people who might be falling through the cracks. That’s what makes this failed plot to take over Meals on Wheels so shocking. It’s a story that’s got it all: dubious alliances, shocking lies, boozy nights – and millions of dollars.

Listen to the 7am Podcast

Seeking a quieter Australia: on the silencing of Khaled Sabsabi - Overland literary journal

For five days, the Australian representative to the 2026 Venice Biennale was to be the first ever Arab-Australian artist selected for this honour.

The decision to showcase Khaled Sabsabi’s work at this prestigious international art festival was brought to Parliamentary Question Time on February 13, 2025. That same day, the Board of Creative Australia rescinded the selection of Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino, stating it had “made the unanimous decision not to proceed with the artistic team chosen for the Venice Biennale”, further citing concerns that debate about the selection outcome, “could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity.” Revocation of this honour is unprecedented.

The problems with rescinding the decision are many-fold.

US and China tariffs both acts of bullies — but our craven reaction is different - Crikey

Australia’s pandering to the Trump administration on tariffs is a far cry from our fierce opposition when China tried the same tactics.

The gaslighting. The increasing demands following acquiescence. The bluster and bullshit — the Trump administration’s tariff demands of Australia precisely fit the pattern of bullying.

First, the no-exemptions-maybe-an-exemption response from Trump immediately after Anthony Albanese’s call apparently establishing an exemption would be considered. Then, the gaslighting: a Trump administration official claiming Australia was “killing the aluminium market” in the US. According to the US government’s own data, from February 2024 to now, Australia has supplied a grand total of 1.68%

Australia is deporting 3 non-citizens from the ‘NZYQ’ group to Nauru. What could it do instead? - The Conversation

Australia’s minister for home affairs announced on Sunday that the federal government has struck a deal with Nauru to “resettle” three non-citizens from what’s come to be known as the “NZYQ cohort”.

The NZYQ cohort is a group of people released from long-term immigration detention after the High Court’s NZYQ 2023 decision.

The court found their ongoing detention was unconstitutional where there was no reasonable prospect of removing them to another country. This led to the release of over 200 people from detention, the majority of whom had previously had visas cancelled on character grounds or had committed crimes.

This new deal with Nauru has significant implications.

Lest you forget: robodebt lurks with spin and lies - The Politics

Peter Dutton's LNP showed no mercy when it set up its illegal scheme that ripped off nearly half a million Australians. Keep that in mind at election time.

With the ink barely dry on the ballots that delivered the Victorian state seat of Werribee to Labor, and a federal election required no later than May 17, large billboards have begun to appear around central Victoria advertising the Nationals’ pick for the seat of Bendigo.

“The Nationals for Regional Australia!” the green and gold billboards cheerily proclaim, one on the main street and another on the road into town.