News update for Tue 8 April 2025
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
25 days until the May 3 federal election
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TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Donald Trump has gatecrashed the federal election. It’s creating huge challenges for Australia’s next government - The Conversation
Much of the world is finding out it’s a very difficult time to be a friend and ally of the United States.
That includes the major parties vying for power at the May 3 federal election. While voters may be preoccupied with the cost of living, it’s impossible to ignore the global tumult caused by the second Trump administration.
Who would have thought six months ago that the US would vote alongside Russia and North Korea on UN resolutions on Ukraine, while China abstained? Or that it would propose transforming Gaza into a Mediterranean resort?
Also >
Financial markets are tanking. Here’s why it’s best not to panic - The Conversation
The stock market crash, explained - The Daily Aus
Donald Trump and the ghost of Al Capone - Saul Eslake for Inside Story
Jack Waterford: We should walk away — quickly — from Trump’s America - Pearls and Irritations
Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia - Pearls and Irritations
Donald Trump is the world’s most audacious liar - Dr Victoria Fielding for Independent Australia
It’s Trump’s fantasy, we’re just living in it - Nick Feik
‘They’re panicking’: Why Dutton reneged on job cuts and work from home - 7am Podcast
“We made a mistake” are tough words for any politician, but in the heat of an election campaign, they can really hurt. In a spectacular reversal, Peter Dutton has walked back his policy to sack 41,000 public servants, saying he’ll now wait for people to quit and will no longer force those who remain back into the office. Dutton’s backtracking doesn’t just raise questions about sincerity – it also leaves the opposition with a giant black hole when it comes to funding their other election promises. Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis, on the panic inside the coalition – and what it means for Peter Dutton’s leadership.
Also >
Could the Coalition’s spectacular backdown be the circuit breaker that Peter Dutton needs? - Josh Butler for The Guardian
Dutton playing ‘Donald Trump anti-migration card’ in plan to slash international students, higher education peak body says - The Guardian
Inside the Coalition's work-from-home policy debacle - Capital Brief
Australia, we have Post Traumatic Scott (Morrison) Disorder - Su Dharmapala for Women’s Agenda
Manufacturing the enemy: the election fear and paranoia circus act - New Politics
Adam Morton: Labor’s home batteries policy could help people who will never take it up. Here’s how - The Guardian
The government’s promise to slash the cost of household batteries should be welcomed – it could drive a change that benefits everyone who uses the power grid.
It’s taken years to get here, but Labor’s election pledge to make household batteries cheaper is a significant step forward that should cut climate pollution and limit power price rises. While it has been criticised by some as a subsidy for the wealthy, it could drive a change that benefits everyone who uses the power grid, and not just those who can afford to put an energy storage unit in their garage.
Read more from Adam Morton for The Guardian
Why we’ll have a recession in the US - Robert Reich
Trump wants to get it over early in his term, so he and his fellow billionaires can buy up everything cheap and then enjoy the ride upward.
It seems clear that Trump is planning to blame any recession on Powell (and, of course, Joe Biden). As Trump wrote on Friday “Fed Chair Jerome Powell should “CUT INTEREST RATES … AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS.”
So a recession seems likely. The American economy will contract over the next six months.
This will cause massive hardship for lower-income Americans because they’re likely to be the first ones to lose their jobs — at the same time they’re paying more for much of what they need.
But a recession is not necessarily bad for Trump and his billionaire buddies. America’s oligarchy depends on periodic recessions.
Also read >
Losing Confidence in the Con Man- Even MAGA is beginning to question Trump’s tariffs - Dan Rather
Consumers around the world are boycotting US goods. Should Trump be worried? - The New Daily
Alan Rusbridger: Since Trump came to power cowardice has become contagious - Prospect
From the tech bros to the leaders of Ivy League universities, the great grovel to Donald Trump is well underway. What America needs now more than ever is for people to show courage.
Do you remember Julian Assange’s catchphrase, “Courage is contagious?” I think he may have borrowed it from the old Bible basher Rev Billy Graham, but no matter: it had a catchy ring about it.
Sadly, there is something even more contagious: cowardice. There is a lot of it. In the US today, it is spreading very rapidly, and there seems to be no known cure.
Read more from Alan Rusbridger for Prospect
Also read > The left-behind men who crave pride, battle shame – and voted for Trump - The Conversation
Today’s cartoon by David Rowe
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
Trump has Australia’s generic medicines in his sights. And no-one’s talking about it - The Conversation
While Australia was busy defending the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme against threats from the United States in recent weeks, another issue related to the supply and trade of medicines was flying under the radar.
Buried on page 19 of the Trump’s administration’s allegations of barriers to trade was a single paragraph related to Australia’s access to generic medicines. These are cheaper alternatives to branded medicines that are no longer under patent.
Belinda Noble: How the nuclear energy lobby is targeting mums with misleading ads - Women’s Agenda
Have you seen the Facebook post that shows you how to ‘secure a clean energy future for our children’? It all seems very nice when you see images of pristine mountains and start reading.
“👶 Mums make a lot of decisions for our families — how they live, and what kind of world they grow up in. We want an energy mix that works: clean, reliable, and safe.”
So sweet. Except when you realise the post is actually an ad for the nuclear energy lobby, cleverly disguised as an innocent mums group concerned about a clean environment.
In one week between the 15th to the 21st of March, Mums For Nuclear, spent more than $21,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads, according to online political ads database Who Targets Me.
Read more from Belinda Noble for Women’s Agenda
“It’s renewables, or extinction:” Major parties accused of ignoring environment, and threat to humanity - Renew Economy
Australia must phase out oil, gas and coal to rapidly transition to renewable energy in a way that protects the environment – that is the core message the Australian Conservation Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature – Australia are bringing to the third week of the federal election campaign.
On Monday, the two groups published a jointly-authored plan for how to get there that calls for a fundamental shift in regulation, business practices and approach that is needed to ensure a transition to a clean economy that combats climate change, protects nature and balances the needs of First Nations people and local communities.
Khaled Sabsabi speaks - ABC listen
The Lebanese-born Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi joins The Art Show exclusively to talk about the profound impact of the decision to unceremoniously dump him as Australia's representative artist to the 2026 Venice Biennale.
The decision exposed the arts funding body Creative Australia to claims of political interference, racism and censorship — emptying Australia's Pavilion in Venice after our most successful outing ever in 2024 and leading to a series of open letters from different parts of Australia's arts community which called for Sabsabi's reinstatement.
Also > The craven crushing of campus dissent - Michael Bradley for The Shot
Media’s past is another country. This election, that country is Western Australia - Crikey
Western Australian media is a relic of another time, one where local oligarchs leverage local power out of their local news monopolies.
In news media terms, Western Australia is a different country — in fact, a different century. Maybe that’s why it’s rolling out elections so differently than the rest of the country.
It’s an anachronism: a local oligarch, billionaire Kerry Stokes, monopolises the state’s news market and shapes the local political narrative through the city’s sole enduring daily and Sunday mastheads and the dominant commercial broadcaster, Seven.
Read more from Crikey (paywall)
ABC holds its breath over Dutton’s death threats - The Politics
Here we go again, sighs the national broadcaster, as faux outrage over its journalism once again puts it in front of a Coalition firing squad.
If you’ve ever worked for the ABC you’d be forgiven for feeling the cold, clammy hand of a Liberal-National government coming back to have another crack at you.
Last Wednesday, Peter Dutton told the ABC and Sydney’s 2GB that he would “reward excellence” and “cut waste” at the national broadcaster if elected:
“Australians are working harder than ever and when they pay their taxes they want the government to spend the money wisely.”
Read more from Nicole Chvastek for The Politics
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Peter Dutton would ‘dictate’ what students are taught, education minister warns private school sector - The Guardian
Without women, Australia’s defence force will struggle to recruit enough people - Women’s Agenda
The trouble with Labor in Victoria - and what reckoning there might be at the federal election - The Conversation
Albanese and housing 2022-25: hyperactivity without a plan - Pearls and Irritations
Gaza paramedics shot in upper body ‘with intent to kill’, Red Crescent says - The Guardian
Big banks tap households – micropayments the growth revenue stream - Michael West Media
Influenced: The new media creators gaining ground this election - The New Daily
Antarctica’s hidden threat: meltwater under the ice sheet amplifies sea-level rise - The Conversation
How deep are the Greens’ roots in Brisbane? Three seats will tell the tale in 2025 - The Guardian
McPherson candidate Erchana Murray-Bartlett runs 120km for community independents - Women’s Agenda
If I were the minister for health... - Pearls and Irritations
Why OPCAT is so important - Denham Sadler for The Justice Map
The impossibility of “housing rights” - Overland literary journal
PODCAST: Are voters in Forrest fed up? — feat. Dr Sue Chapman - The Last Place on Earth
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
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You’re up to date for Tuesday the 8th of April. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.