News update for Wed 26 March 2025
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 - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Greg Jericho: Australia budget 2025: the seven graphs you need to see - The Guardian
These are pure Labor tax cuts – just what the ALP should be all about – but why are we still letting gas companies get off scot-free?
Forget not wanting to give away the election strategy! Angus Taylor for the past few weeks has been absolutely banging on about people paying an extra $3,500 on average in tax compared with June 2022 due to bracket creep. It was – and I’m being kind here – a truly stupid argument. People were paying more tax for two main reasons – they were earning more money because wage rises have improved over the past three years and because in 2022, in his last budget, Josh Frydenberg got rid of the $1,500 low-middle income tax offset.
The treasurer quietly let Taylor bang on and on about the inability to afford a tax cut, and then he slapped down two pretty decent tax cuts.
Read more from Greg Jericho for The Guardian
The Budget Breakdown - Money Cafe Podcast with Alan Kohler
On the Money Café this week, Alan Kohler and Stephen Mayne share their analysis of last night's federal budget, discuss the upcoming AGM mini-season, look at Trump's latest tactics, and much more.
Listen to the Money Cafe Podcast
Also >
The election budget: What's in it for you? - 7am Podcast
Budget 2025: Coalition and Labor clash on tax cuts - Full Story Podcast
What was in the budget for young people? - The Daily Aus Podcast
Is this the right budget for these economic times? We asked 5 experts - The Conversation
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has described the income tax cuts in this week’s federal budget as a “top-up”. They will amount to roughly one cup of coffee a week for every taxpayer in the first year.
But they will add another A$17 billion to the deficit over coming years, in addition to a raft of previously announced spending measures and very little savings.
That is against a backdrop of the most uncertain global economic outlook since the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–08. Australia may face a real economic shock if trade wars trigger recessions in our major trading partners.
We asked five experts if this is the right budget for these economic times. Only two agreed, with three saying much more is needed to address long-term structural debt and meaningful economic reform.
Also >
Tax cuts are coming, but not soon, in a cautious budget - The Conversation
Federal budget 2025: Labor bets big with $17.1bn in tax cuts to win over middle Australia - The Guardian
Coalition will not support Labor’s budget tax cuts, Angus Taylor says - The Guardian
Budget 2025: Chalmers spruiks a ‘modest but meaningful’ $5 a week in a budget that puts Dutton in a pickle - The Guardian
Trump is the lurking menace in a budget that dares not speak his name (or, you know, admit he’ll hurt exports) - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Non-compete clauses make it too hard to change jobs. Banning them for millions of Australians is a good move - The Conversation
The 2025 budget has few savings and surprises but it also ignores climate change - The Conversation
By the standards of pre-election budgets, this one is surprisingly modest. There are only a handful of new revenue and spending initiatives. The Budget Paper 2 book, which contains new measures, is a slim document.
In part, this is because many of the most significant new spending proposals have been announced already – support for more bulk billing, the Future Made in Australia program, funding for schools and pre-schools and the Housing Australia Future Fund.
Also read >
The accidental budget reiterates the government’s promising roadmap for women but lays next to nothing new on the table - Women’s Agenda
From safety to climate and health: Women needed a more ambitious Budget - Women’s Agenda
A budget splash to conserve 30% of Australia’s lands will save species – if we choose the right 30% - The Conversation
Based on the 2025 budget, what could Australia buy for $46bn instead of one nuclear submarine? - The Guardian
What the budget means for your generation – gen Z, millennial, gen X or boomer - The Guardian
Budget delivers cheaper medicines and more bulk billing but leaves out long-term health reform - The Conversation
A $33 billion vote-grabber or real relief? Examining the Albanese government’s big housing pledge - The Conversation
Chalmers didn’t plan to have another budget. For Australian tech, he may as well not have bothered - Cam Wilson for Crikey (paywall)
The 2025 federal budget fails the millions of voters who want action on Australia’s struggling environment - The Conversation
Australia stands firm behind its foreign aid in the budget, but the future remains precarious - The Conversation
John Lyons: Team Trump's group chat blunder has stunned Washington. Will anyone be held to account? - The ABC
In any other presidency, the story would rock the United States: Washington's most senior national security advisers having a highly confidential discussion about plans for the US to launch military strikes, and every word of it being read by an astonished journalist.
But in these times of the New World of Donald Trump it was seen as yet another day — a story that might run for a few hours before blowing over.
Washington is not what it used to be. When news emerged that The Atlantic's editor-in-chief had been accidentally included in a group chat about a plan to bomb Yemen, Trump barely missed a beat.
Read more from John Lyons for The ABC
Also read >
Why is the US group chat on Houthi attack plans so concerning? A military operations expert explains - The Conversation
US war plans leak shows Five Eyes allies must ‘look out for ourselves’, says Mark Carney - The Guardian
Marina Hyde: It’s war and peace with Donald and Pete – and the worst group chat the world has ever seen - The Guardian
By now, you will have caught up with the tale of one of the most idiotic breaches of security imaginable – seemingly executed, regrettably, by the actual US national security adviser. Mike Waltz seems to have been aided and abetted in his full-spectrum fatuity by other ultra-senior figures, including the vice-president, JD Vance, and the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, who shared detailed operational and strategic information in a chat to which Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg had been accidentally invited. Is Hegseth OK? Has he returned to being – how to put this delicately? – someone you probably don’t want to give important tasks to “after lunch”?
Read more from Marina Hyde for The Guardian
Also > Trump's 'Bomb Yemen' Group Chat - The Rest Is Politics Podcast
Today’s cartoon by David Pope for The Canberra Times
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.
Lendlease. Drains taxpayer, does cosy deal, drains whistleblower - Michael West Media
Former Lendlease lawyer Tony Watson saved the country $300m as whistleblower to the biggest tax fraud in Australian history. Now he’s lost his house.
If you have a few bob spare, please tip in for Tony Watson’s legal fund. He is a victim of Australia’s flawed whistleblower laws and is seeking justice.
Apart from the crushing paradox that Watson, the man who has saved the government $300m by exposing the Lendlease tax rort has lost his home for doing Australia a service, for doing the right thing, the Australian Tax Office appears to have done a cosy backroom deal with the property group.
Read more in Michael West Media
Should You Vote For The Liberal Party? Punters' Audit V Bridget Archer - Punters Politics Podcast
Konrad and James as they chat with Liberal MP Brigid Archer about political transparency, corporate influence, and her unique position as a Liberal Party member who occasionally crosses the floor.
Listen to Punters Politics Podcast
Chris Sidoti: More than a human can bear - Pearls and Irritations
Two weeks ago, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel published a report, “More than a human can bear”: Israel’s systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023.
Our report finds that Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination. It also concludes that Israel has carried out genocidal acts through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities.
Read more from Chris Sidoti for Pearls and Irritations
Every day I struggle to survive on jobseeker. Why doesn’t the government understand how hard it is? - The Guardian
The government’s decision not to raise the jobseeker rate in the budget is a blow to people struggling like me.
Living off jobseeker has never been harder. While the cost of everyday items is going up, our weekly income stays the same.
I am currently living in crisis accommodation in regional New South Wales. Being on jobseeker has meant I cannot afford to pay rent as well as everyday expenses. I’m trying hard to look for work but there are very few jobs in my area.
Rachel Withers: Hate-watching Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer’s Instagram (so you don’t have to) - Crikey
The millennial Liberal wants young people to know that she’s on their side, that she wants them to be able to buy a home. Just not in Kooyong.
Let’s get one thing straight: Monique Ryan’s husband’s behaviour was deeply embarrassing.
Footage showing Peter Jordan, first gentleman of Kooyong, trying to walk away with a Liberal corflute was, in my mind, grounds for divorce. Jordan told the Liberal filming him that the sign had been illegally placed; true or not, it took some convincing to get him to relinquish the sign, which obviously did not belong to him.
On the subject of cringe, there’s another element of the battle for Kooyong that’s been making me wince — and yet I cannot stop watching it, compelled by how much it bothers me.
Read more from Rachel Withers for Crikey (paywall)
Don't gut our environmental laws - Follow The Money Podcast
The Government’s proposed environmental law changes are an attack on our democracy and could benefit destructive industries far beyond Tasmania’s coastal ecosystems.
Listen to the Follow The Money Podcast
Ketan Joshi: Election Watch: The grid doesn’t need more gas to go clean; beer drinkers to pay more tax than gas - Renew Economy
A persistent trope within the political debate around gas in Australia is the false narrative that Australia needs to open up a swathe of new fossil gas fields to supply power stations during the energy transition, to ‘back up’ wind and solar.
Gas as a ‘transition fuel’ has a long history, and it is no surprise how frequently it turns up in Australia’s energy debate.
In a recent ABC News article, Jacob Greber writes on the energetic debate around where gas dug up in Australia ends up. Currently, most of it ends up either being directly sent overseas, or being used to process gas being sent overseas. Only a small proportion ends up being used in power generation.
Read more from Ketan Joshi for Renew Economy
Nicole Chavstek: Walter Sofronoff: how the mighty have fallen - The Politics
The judge and the journalist — a formerly eminent KC's reputation in shreds for having engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct'.
It’s drummed into starry-eyed cadet journalists that judges are one step removed from god. They sit on high behind oak-panelled benches and enact a sacred duty to protect the rule of law and its process. You don’t try to chat to them during trials, you don’t send them notes or emails or get their mobile numbers. You bow when they approach the bench and you bow when they leave. You don’t have coughing fits, you don’t live-tweet or take photos, and you ensure your phone is on silent. Don’t piss them off, because they can get you chucked out of court in a heartbeat.
And then there’s Walter Sofronoff KC.
Read more from Nicole c for The Politics
Inspired by a local group of people in Sydney's north who were looking for t-shirts to wear on their regular walks, Democracy Walks champions, supports and actively engages in our democracy.
CLICK here to see Democracy Walks’ t-shirt designs - and join the democracy walkers today!
See a list of the 38 community independents - who have (so far) announced their candidacy in the upcoming federal election. Subscribe, volunteer, donate to support their campaigns.
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.
Quick Links…
‘No consent’: Australian authors ‘livid’ that Meta may have used their books to train AI - The Guardian
Devaluing Australian citizenship - Pearls and Irritations
Australia’s Tyranny of Avoidance - Sandy Plunkett
The ‘hot mess’ Olympics? How Queensland’s 2032 Games planning descended into farce - The Guardian
It’s official – supermarkets are overcharging. Quick, change the subject - Pearls and Irritations
Lasting Echoes of the War on Terror: Consequences of Normalising Expanded Legislation on Constitutional Values - Blak and Black
Energy election: How nuclear power is already costing Australians - The New Daily
Can we power both humanity and machines with cheap renewables? | RenewEconomy
No stranger to controversy, Basil Zempilas hopes to revive the WA Liberals. Experts say he can’t afford more blunders - The Guardian
Monash University indefinitely postpones MUMA exhibition featuring Khaled Sabsabi work - ABC News
Australia’s easing inflation rate a boost for mortgage holders eyeing next rate cut – and Labor’s election hopes - The Guardian
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
Share your views on Australia’s media landscape through TrueNorth’s short survey
You’re up to date for Wednesday the 26th of March. 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.
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