News update for Wed 25 June 2025

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

Jun 25, 2025

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: Antoinette Lattouf wins unlawful termination case against the ABC as federal court delivers judgment - The Guardian

Michael Pascoe: Who’s next? Will Albo and Wong approve China attacking Taiwan? - Michael West Media

Time and again, abandoning principles sets the Karma bus off on its journey. Australia having to approve China attacking Taiwan is a case in point.

The US is steadily upgrading Taiwan’s defence capability and its presence there – some 500 US military have boots on the ground at last disclosure, as opposed to the mere handful officially stationed there. (What? The US fibs about its military operations? Surely not.)

Our local pollies and the American variety aren’t students of history, or certainly don’t learn from it. For Beijing, on the other hand, history weighs heavily. Faulkner could have been writing specifically about China when he penned: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past”.

Also read >

The plan to bomb Iran - Pearls and Irritations
At least 40 Palestinians have died in latest shootings by Israeli forces at aid centres in Gaza - Women’s Agenda

Amy Remeikis: Our leaders must decide who they put first - Australians or Trump - The New Daily

Australia doesn’t even need to wait until it receives the AUKUS submarines to hand sovereignty to the United States.

The response to the America’s “unilateral” action in bombing Iran – with no acknowledgement of legality or adherence to the “rules-based order” we hold “threats” to – shows it has already been ceded.

Also read > Battle lines are drawn: are you friend or foe? - Nicole Chvastek for The Politics

Will the fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel hold? One factor could be crucial to it sticking - The Conversation

After 12 days of war, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran that would bring to an end the most dramatic, direct conflict between the two nations in decades.

Israel and Iran both agreed to adhere to the ceasefire, though they said they would respond with force to any breach.

If the ceasefire holds – a big if – the key question will be whether this signals the start of lasting peace, or merely a brief pause before renewed conflict.

As contemporary war studies show, peace tends to endure under one of two conditions: either the total defeat of one side, or the establishment of mutual deterrence. This means both parties refrain from aggression because the expected costs of retaliation far outweigh any potential gains.

A remarkable message: You need to read this - Robert Reich

From Liz Cheney

Dear Democratic Party,

I need more from you.

You keep sending emails begging for $15,

while we’re watching fascism consolidate power in real time.

This administration is not simply “a different ideology.”

It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine — with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control.

And you?

You’re still asking for decorum and donations. WTF.

That won’t save us.

The Iran Strike as a Holy War: Trump's bargain with Christian nationalists and the theological bases of the war - Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Millions of evangelical Christians whose faith is tied to political ideologies of far-right nationalism and White evangelical racism would not see Trump’s action as destructive, but rather as cause for celebration. For them, the bombings are acts of destiny that are divinely guided. They are the start of the End they have been waiting for.

The MAGA-Christian far right domestic agenda to end or damage the separation of church and state and secular and democratic models of education receives press coverage, yet the theological underpinnings of the worldview that guides these political ambitions remain unclear to many.

Banning social media for kids is not the answer. Jonathan Haidt is wrong - Pearls and Irritations

Jonathan Haidt is described as a modern-day prophet who claims to have the cure for the epidemic of anxiety afflicting young kids today.

The disease, he argues in his book, The Anxious Generation. How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, 2024, is caused by smartphones and the decline in free play. Like the Pied Piper, he is garnering followers, including the influential Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, who has led the way and induced the federal government to ban social media for those under 16 – a policy set to be implemented by December. Haidt has followers globally who are now watching the experiment in Australia and how it will play out.

My advice to parents is, don’t raise your hopes too high or expect this is a solution for your concerns. At this point, the technology cannot guarantee age assurance. Whatever is installed to achieve this ban will have flaws, it will present a challenge smart kids will get around and be a cause of increased family angst. Most importantly, it will undermine the education of children for a world where we need to get much better at adapting and adopting new technology.

Stop Being Politically Useless: Lessons from a Bloke Who Told Tucker Carlson to F* Off - Rutger Bregman -** Punters Politics Podcast

Dutch historian Rutger Bregman - the bloke who told billionaires to pay their bloody taxes at Davos and made Tucker Carlson have a meltdown on live TV - joins the pod to deliver a brutal reality check about political activism. He argues that making people "aware" of problems isn't enough anymore, and explains how punters can stop being political hobbyists and start building the kind of movements that actually change the world - even if it takes 75 years like it did for women's suffrage.

Listen to the Punters Politics Podcast

Are we getting in our own way? - Inside Story

The American bestseller Abundance is making waves in Australia, but its key argument has less force on this side of the Pacific.

Championed in recent speeches by treasurer Jim Chalmers and assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh, cited favourably by several Australian Financial Review columnists, Abundance is being presented as a manual for increased prosperity not only in America but in Australia as well. Its central message is that left-leaning legislators have created a framework of rules and regulations that impede the very programs they supported, notably environment protection, affordable housing and public infrastructure.

All this is attainable with contemporary technology — but only if we remove the barriers we have placed in our way.

Joyous ABC staff demand apology as court rules Antoinette Lattouf was unlawfully sacked for opinions on Gaza - Crikey

ABC staff speaking to Crikey as the judgement made its way around newsrooms spoke of being ‘vindicated’, as Lattouf gave a speech outside court.

Relieved ABC staff feel “vindicated” after a court ruled the broadcaster unlawfully sacked presenter Antoinette Lattouf over social media posts she made about Israel’s war in Gaza.

Lattouf had claimed she was unfairly dismissed by the national broadcaster after she was removed in December 2023 from a casual five-day fill-in role on ABC Radio’s Sydney Mornings.

The removal came after Lattouf posted a Human Rights Watch report on her personal Instagram about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East that said Israel was using starvation as a tool of war in Gaza — a report that was also covered by the ABC.

The face of election night with Antony Green - Democracy Sausage Podcast with Mark Kenny

The ABC’s Chief Election Analyst Emeritus Antony Green joins Democracy Sausage to discuss a career spent covering elections. Antony Green has covered more than 90 elections. How does this recent one compare to ones in the past? What does the ‘broad church’ of the Liberal party mean these days? And will Labor ever be vulnerable to an ‘orange’ independent vote?

Listen to the Democracy Sausage Podcast

Also >

Election flows reveal nearly 90% of Greens preferenced Labor ahead of Coalition - The Conversation
How preferences made up the 2PP - The Tally Room

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