News update for Tue 24 Sept 2024
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
Welcome to your TrueNorth news update where every weekday afternoon we share curated articles from Australia’s independent news media sector.
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TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
BREAKING NEWS: Reserve Bank leaves Australia’s official interest rate unchanged at 4.35% - The Guardian
Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan still has no costings, and no grid connection: It’s a political hoax - Renew Economy
Outside, in Martin Place, the voices were clear – unions and environmental groups holding placards and denouncing Coalition leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear “fantasy:” A combination of denial and delay they said: “Dutton wants gas, Dutton wants coal, nuclear is just a troll,” they chorused.
Inside the Fullerton Hotel, in the basement where Ballroom B is located, it was expected to be the moment for the nuclear true believers, but the numbers just weren’t there.
Also >
Peter Dutton refuses to divulge costs of going nuclear at anticipated ‘could it work’ speech - Peter Hannam for The Guardian
Dutton’s truth-sounding nuclear power arguments are for generating impressions, not information - Karen Middleton for The Guardian
Tipping point? Documents reveal failed duty of care for Australian nuclear test participants - Michael West Media
The one question Peter Dutton wouldn’t answer at his intimate nuclear luncheon - Crikey (paywall)
Coalition nuclear policy relies on coal for longer than experts expect - AFR (paywall)
Behind Morrison’s net zero and AUKUS story - The Fifth Estate
Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows - The Guardian
The price drops at the centre of a Coles and Woolies lawsuit - The Daily Aus Podcast
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Coles and Woolworths to the Federal Court in two separate Cases. The consumer watchdog has alleged that the two supermarket giants misled customers with “discount pricing claims”. This legal action comes amid a string of inquiries into supermarkets and price gouging, as well as the Federal Government’s plans to release a draft Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. In today’s deep dive, we’ll look into the legal proceedings against Coles and Woolworths, how they’ve responded, and what could this mean for consumers.
Listen to The Daily Aus Podcast
Also >
Coles and Woolworths accused of misleading shoppers - Choice
The Woolies and Coles price-gouging scandal might become an even bigger story - Crikey (paywall)
Greens may bristle at comparison but their RBA interest rate cut ultimatum is Trumpist - The Guardian
No government institution is entirely at arm’s length, but an intervention by Jim Chalmers would likely be calamitous.
The Greens may bristle at the comparison, but their demand for the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, to order the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates now is Trumpist.
Nick McKim, the Greens’ economic spokesperson, says his party won’t support the Albanese government’s RBA reforms unless or until interest rates fall. Given the central bank governor, Michele Bullock, has repeatedly said a cut to its cash rate is unlikely in the near term, Chalmers must use his existing powers to make it happen.
Read more from Peter Hannam for The Guardian
Abul Rizvi: Why offshore student visa grants in 2025 must rise to hit student caps - Independent Australia
The recently announced student visa caps have not only caused hysteria in the media but proven to be a poor policy instrument for the Government.
THERE IS MUCH hysteria about the student visa caps recently announced by the Department of Education, including claims that these may trigger a recession. While the caps are undoubtedly a poor policy instrument, the hysteria appears to be based on the view that the caps will lead to a reduction in the stock of students in Australia.
Read more from Abul Rizvi for Independent Australia
AUKUS boss insists project remains on track despite frustrations and staff upheaval within submarine agency - The ABC
Staff upheaval and frustrations with leadership are emerging inside the new government agency that is overseeing Australia's $368 billion AUKUS project, as concerns mount about the ambitious push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Defence figures, foreign officials and industry representatives have privately spoken to the ABC about their disquiet with the ASA's progress on preparing for AUKUS, contradicting recent optimistic statements about the trilateral venture.
Read more from Andrew Greene for The ABC
Today’s cartoon by Alan Moir
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Jack Waterford: Public Service Commission is an enemy of the public and the public interest - Pearls and Irritations
Irony does not seem to be the strong point of the Public Service Commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer. During the very moments while explaining why Kathryn Campbell had failed her public service ethics examinations, he was committing much the same sort of sin. This was when he was unconvincingly explaining why he could not, should not, disclose the names of all but one of the other dozen or so accused of failing the ethical code.
The sin of most of the other miscreants was of putting their own interests and career ambitions, and putting their terror of political retaliation, ahead of the obvious public interest.
Read more from Jack Waterford for Pearls and Irritations
Conflicted? Australia’s war crimes adviser at The Hague gets a paid gig from A-G and Foreign Affairs - Michael West Media
Australia’s Special Advisor to the International Criminal Court was given $50k for war crimes advice “settled” by the Attorney-General and Foreign Affairs officials.
A new scandal has emerged over the government’s failure to hold Australia’s top generals to account for high-level command failures in Afghanistan, mere weeks after Defence Minister Richard Marles “closed out” the government’s response to the 2020 Brereton report on alleged SAS war crimes.
The Australian Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) awarded war crimes academic Professor Tim McCormack a “limited tender” contract in 2022 for legal services on the condition his advice was “settled in consultation with” officials from the Attorney-General’s and Foreign Affairs departments.
Read more from Michael West Media
Paul Bongiorno: Labor needs Albanese to lift his game, or call an election soon - The New Daily
Somehow the Albanese government has allowed itself to be defined as a timid, pale imitation of what a true Labor government should be like.
And for that perception to have become so pervasive within the party itself at the parliamentary and broader membership level, the Prime Minister has to shoulder much of the blame.
No one in the country has more access to national and local media than the country’s leader, and Albanese has certainly not been shy in availing himself of the numerous opportunities his status creates.
And yet all the published opinion polls show him losing ground the longer the term runs.
Read more from Paul Bongiorno for The New Daily
Costly defamation action looms large over Australian newsrooms. It’s diminishing press freedom - The Conversation
Defamation laws exist to strike a balance between press freedom and the protection of people’s reputations from wrongful harm. In Australia, this balance has always been loaded against press freedom.
This is due partly to the way the defamation laws have been framed and partly by the way the courts have interpreted them.
Courts examine matters of journalism in the same way they examine matters of law: forensically, with strict rules and high standards of evidence and proof.
Read more from Denis Muller for The Conversation
Also >
Politicians know defamation laws can silence women, but they won’t do anything about it - Crikey
Politicians know defamation laws can silence women, but they won’t do anything about it - Women’s Agenda
Government’s own findings show its social media age-restriction law can’t succeed - The Mandarin
Imagine a young woman — maybe someone like you in years gone by — heading into a bar.
She’s twenty years old but looks younger. The bouncer asks to see her ID, and she hands over her driver’s licence. He checks it, maybe scans it, and hands it back.
The bouncer now knows her name — Sabrina Kelleher.
He also knows where she lives.
The current systems we use for managing identity, in both government and commercial contexts, are simultaneously inefficient and risky.
Read more in The Mandarin (paywall)
Also read > Australian voters may want children banned from social media. But they want stronger privacy rules even more - Peter Lewis for The Guardian
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Trans Justice Project starts petition to Immigration Minister to prevent Kellie-Jay Keen from visiting Australia - Lucy from Naarm
Standards are slipping at the embattled ABC. Here’s how it can fix itself - Pearls and Irritations
More Australians are using their superannuation for medical procedures. But that might put their financial health at risk - The Conversation
With agriculture at a sharp fork in the road, Australia needs savvy farm leaders - Gabrielle Chan for The Guardian
Karen Middleton on Australian politics, Japan's next Prime Minister, and the feelings of plants - ABC’s Late Night Live Replay
Albanese’s social media gesture confirms the primacy of bipartisanship - Pearls and Irritations
The secret Succession battle for the Murdoch empire - The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
Reserve Bank expected to leave interest rate untouched for seventh meeting in a row - Peter Hannam for The Guardian
Albrechtsen more interested in a ‘fair’ Lehrmann trial than Higgins’ alleged rape, columnist tells News Corp event - The Guardian
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
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You’re up to date for Tuesday the 24th of September. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here