News update for Wed 11 June 2025

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

Jun 11, 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 the news and views you need to know today…

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

BREAKING NEWS: ABC confirms Q+A to be axed amid wider changes and scores of redundancies across broadcaster - The Guardian

In Trump’s America, the shooting of a journalist is not a one-off. Press freedom itself is under attack - The Conversation

It now seems assaults on the media are no longer confined to warzones or despotic regimes. They are happening in American cities, in broad daylight, often at the hands of those tasked with upholding the law.

But violence is only one piece of the picture. In the nearly five months since taking office, the Trump administration has moved to defund public broadcasters, curtail access to information and undermine the credibility of independent media.

The soul of the party - Democracy Sausage Podcast with Mark Kenny

Join Democracy Sausage co-hosts to discuss the US, domestic fiscal debates and what to expect in the weeks ahead. What will the agenda be for the Albanese-Trump meeting at the G7, especially with the unfolding instability in the US?

What does the conversation around the proposed changes to superannuation taxation say about our expectations for government? And how will Sussan Ley and Anthony Albanese change how their parties operate?

Listen to the Democracy Sausage Podcast

Also >

Labor’s win at the 2025 federal election was its biggest since 1943, with its largest swings in the cities - The Conversation
It’s the Libs family circus! Send in the clowns - The Politics

Richard Flanagan: Tasmania in crisis over billion-dollar AFL stadium - The Saturday Paper

The Tasmanian Liberal government is in crisis and a snap election likely to be called as the premier clings to plans for a stadium that will bankrupt the state.

Kerry Packer, who sold the Nine Network to Alan Bond for $1 billion only to buy it back for $250 million, famously remarked that you only get one Alan Bond in your life. Gil McLachlan must have felt something similar on meeting Tasmanian Liberal premier Jeremy Rockliff.

Without cabinet, treasury or parliamentary backing, Rockliff, a potato farmer from North West Tasmania, agreed to then AFL boss McLachlan’s demand that the price Tasmania had to pay for its own AFL team was a new stadium built in the middle of Hobart, at taxpayers’ expense, a condition that has never been made of any other state entering the competition. The AFL – those same geniuses who gave the world AFLX – rammed the point home in a slogan: “No stadium, no team”.

Also read >

Rapacious sport scumbags like the AFL make a mockery of taxpayers — just look at the Tassie stadium chaos - Crikey (paywall)
Contested possession - Inside Story

Share TrueNorth News

Go-ahead for new carbon bomb marks Australia as enemy of the region - Pearls and Irritations

In planning its future release of up to 80 billion tonnes of planet-heating carbon, Australia has committed itself to the destruction of nations and wrecking of big cities throughout the Indo-Pacific Region.

Despite the platitudes of its political leadership, in what amounts to a declaration of war on its lowlying neighbours, Australia — a country that has criticised both Russia and Israel for assaults on their border states — continues to authorise huge fossil fuel developments that will accelerate global warming, ocean rise and the obliteration of entire societies in the region.

There are clear laws on enforcing blockades – Israel’s interception of the Madleen raises serious questions - The Conversation

On June 9, the Madleen, a UK-flagged civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was stopped by Israeli forces in international waters, about 200 kilometres off the coast.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition had organised the voyage, setting sail from Sicily on June 1. The vessel’s 12 passengers included climate activist Greta Thunberg, European Parliament member Rima Hassan, two French journalists and several other activists from around the world.

The Israeli military boarded the ship and diverted it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The aid it carried — baby formula, food, medical supplies, water desalination kits — was confiscated. All passengers were detained and now face deportation.

How fear of China and American pressure are reshaping Australia’s defence - New Politics

The United States’ latest push for Australia to increase its annual defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP – $100 billion – is not about Australia’s security, but about Washington’s strategic game of regional politics with China. This increase, up from the current $60 billion, would largely serve American interests, and it remains unclear what Australia would receive in return – aside from more obligations, more weapons, and more entanglement in a potential conflict that serves no Australian national interest.

US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth has been pushing this rhetoric, warning of the so-called “imminent” threat posed by China over Taiwan. His remarks were manufactured to stoke fear: a Cold War-style speech packed with alarmist rhetoric and vague allusions to a looming catastrophe.

Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad “living in two different worlds” since fleeing Gaza - Full Story Podcast

Millions around the world watched Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad as she documented online her life under Israeli attack after October 7 2023. Now she has released a memoir, a collection of diary entries, recounting living under siege and her love for her homeland. She speaks with Nour Haydar about life during and after fleeing the war.

Listen to the Full Story Podcast

Also read >

Universities business model under huge strain, ergo censorship - Michael West Media

Thousands of jobs are on the chopping block at universities across the country, with many freezing new hires, putting a hold on casual contracts or proposing redundancies, while muzzling students and staff.

The higher education sector is crumbling under the weight of its broken business and governance models.

Just last week, Macquarie University has taken an axe to its arts, science and engineering programs. It has been clear for a long time that the sector relies financially on exploiting international students, stealing wages from already poorly paid casual academics, squeezing staff by intensifying workloads, and pandering to investors for commercially viable research.

Albanese’s silence reveals much about his government’s weaknesses -Crikey

The prime minister argued his task was to convince Australians to trust governments again rather than deliver bold reform. His omission of several key issues was notable.

Anthony Albanese, master of all he surveys, demonstrated yesterday exactly why he is in that position: he remains totally determined to stick to his strategy of giving voters what they want, regardless of what pundits, economists and journalists demand.

The idea that a stunning election victory would transform Albanese into a Hawke-style reformer was always a non-starter. After two election wins on the trot, including a complete rout, why change a winning strategy? But the depth of Albanese’s commitment to serving up a predictable diet of voter-friendly initiatives, rather than deviating in pursuit of bigger, bolder change, was only fully revealed in his National Press Club address.

‘We won’t give up’: Kumanjayi White’s family hold vigil demanding independent investigation - The Guardian

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency calls on the federal government to stage an ‘emergency intervention’ into punitive justice laws in the Northern Territory.

The lawns of the Alice Springs courthouse have once again become a scene of grief and rage, amid calls for an “emergency intervention” following two Aboriginal deaths in custody in the Northern Territory in as many weeks.

The family of 24-year-old Kumanjayi White, a Warlpiri man with disabilities who died after being restrained by police at a supermarket last month, held a vigil on Wednesday, reiterating their demands for an independent investigation, the release of CCTV footage, and for the officers involved to be stood down while the investigation proceeds. It was their third vigil since he died.