News update for Wed 3 July 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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Scroll down for today’s news and views…
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Michael Pascoe: Cutting federal democratic representation by 8.3% - The New Daily
Just 12 of the 151 members of the House of Representatives represent their communities – the old-fashioned idea of democracy.
You’re a mug if you think the other 139 represent the people who elect them.
They don’t. They stand for their political party first, foremost and always. They vote the way their party tells them to vote. They owe their job (i.e. their preselection and income) to the party. Their hopes of advancement, a bigger salary, power, depend on pleasing the party – not their electorate.
Read more from Michael Pascoe for The New Daily
Also read > Australia is heading for an unpopularity contest at the next federal election - Parker McKenzie for The New Daily
Car makers could use New Vehicle Efficiency Standard loophole to rush higher-polluting cars into Australia, undermining EV push - The ABC
Car makers could use a loophole to rush their highest-polluting vehicles into the country and dodge climate laws for the first three years of the government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
It could also impact the push to bring more electric vehicles into the country — one of the key goals of the laws.
Banning social media for under-16s won’t help – teaching digital media literacy will - The Conversation
Research into protecting young people by restricting social media use is largely inconclusive. What we do know, however, is that these measures don’t equip young people with the skills they already need to build healthy relationships with smartphones and social media.
In all the proposed official solutions, one has been seriously overlooked – teaching media literacy.
Also read > Australia is pushing big tech to ‘protect kids from porn’. What can they actually do? - The Conversation
If Meta bans news in Australia, what will happen? Canada’s experience is telling - The Conversation
At a parliamentary hearing late last week, Meta once again suggested it could ban links to news on Facebook and Instagram in Australia.
This would repeat the ban it enacted for more than a week in February 2021. That ban was in response to the introduction of the News Media Bargaining Code, an Australian law designed to force digital platforms to pass on some of their advertising earnings to news publishers.
Also read > NewsCorp v AI - Capital Brief
Journalists’ nuclear gotcha ignores Dutton’s Trump card - Crikey
While Australia’s commentariat are playing gotcha with the Liberals over how the party’s nuclear commitment fits into the Paris Climate Accord, Peter Dutton, at least, seems to be planning for a 2025 election where a reelected President Donald Trump has torn up global climate politics.
Dutton hasn’t been caught. He’s playing a longer game and is exactly where he wants to be. His political attack on climate action is part of a long-term global assault by the fossil-fueled right. Right now, he’d be thinking he’s backing a winner and can rely on a feckless media perennially distracted by the latest Canberra stunt to miss what’s happening.
Read more in Crikey (paywall)
Also read > Refuting myths about nuclear and renewable energy - Pearls and Irritations
Are U.S. presidents allowed to break the law? - The Daily Aus Podcast
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that American presidents cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed while performing official duties. The decision in the country’s highest court means Donald Trump is unlikely to face charges for allegedly attempting to overthrow the 2020 U.S. election. Trump’s lawyers argued the former U.S. President was entitled to presidential immunity during his time in office — a rare protection that shields individuals from legal action. In today's deep dive, we'll explain the context behind the decision and what it will actually mean for the U.S. moving forward.
Listen to The Daily Aus Podcast
Also listen to > Supreme Court demolishes foundation of U.S. law to aid Trump in criminal prosecutions - The Rachel Maddow Show
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Refuting myths about nuclear and renewable energy - Pearls and Irritations
Nuclear energy proponents are attempting to discredit renewable energy and promote nuclear energy and fossil gas in its place. This article refutes several myths they are disseminating that are receiving little or no challenge in the mainstream media.
Read more in Pearls and Irritations
Also read > When it comes to power, solar is about to leave nuclear and everything else in the shade - The Conversation
Help... they're coming after me - Punters Politics Podcast
This episode - The Punters Lobbyist update. James shares his concerns about Konrad's wellbeing. We chat with the Frackman, a bloke that went toe to toe with the gas companies that started drilling in his back year. Konrad annoys big gas executives in Perth.
Listen to the Punters Politics Podcast
It's confirmed: Fibre offers the best NBN infrastructure - Independent Australia
A new ACCC report has confirmed what many have known for years, that Fibre to the Premises offers the most reliable broadband for your buck.
TWENTY YEARS after people like me started to argue for fibre-based broadband infrastructure and 15 years after the Government decided that fibre was the best technology for 94% of all Australians, we now get confirmation that Fibre to the Premises (FttP) is the best technology.
Additionally, some eight years after Independent MP Tony Windsor mentioned, “Do it once, do it right and do it with fibre,” we see that this sentiment holds true. Better late than never.
Read more from Paul Budde for Independent Australia
Bernard Keane: Why Richard Boyle is being prosecuted even when everyone agrees he’s a whistleblower - Crikey
The prosecution of former Australian Tax Office (ATO) official Richard Boyle has been portrayed as a shocking miscarriage of justice and evidence that Australia’s whistleblower laws are badly flawed.
“The Boyle prosecution should never have been brought — it is not in the public interest. But now it has significantly undermined the scope of whistleblower protections in Australia, too,” Kieran Pender of the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) wrote last week for Crikey.
There’s no doubt that Boyle is a genuine whistleblower under the Public Interest Disclosure Act (the PID Act). Even the prosecution accepts that Boyle make a valid disclosure under the PID Act.
Read more from Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Low inflation targeting is such a dubious idea. Why did the Reserve Bank adopt it in the first place? - The Guardian
The release of recent data suggesting that inflation appears to be stuck at 4%, above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range of 2% to 3%, has raised plenty of concern among economic and political commentators. These commentators might be surprised to learn that many, perhaps most, macroeconomists who have looked at the question have concluded that a 4% inflation rate would be the ideal target, at least providing that wages and other incomes kept pace.
The underlying reasoning is simple. Interest rates are the main tool of monetary policy.
Read more from John Quiggin for The Guardian
Sarah Schwartz: Matters of conscience - The Politics
At some point in our lives, many of us will be forced to make a decision about what we are willing to sacrifice in terms of personal relationships, careers, reputations and livelihoods to oppose injustice.
Over the last nine months, in response to Hamas killing over 1000 Israelis and taking over 200 hostage, Israel has killed over 37,000 Palestinians and wounded over 87,000 others in Gaza. Leading human rights scholars and UN experts have found there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israel is committing the international ‘crime of all crimes’: that of genocide. A recent UN report concluded 96 per cent of Gaza’s population is food insecure and half a million face “catastrophic levels” of hunger. Our phones are filled with images of children starving to death, slaughtered, beheaded, buried in rubble, and of their mourning families left behind. Quite simply, we are watching one of this era’s greatest humanitarian disasters play out, in real time, on our screens.
Read more from Sarah Schwartz for The Politics
Also read > Fatima Payman may resign from Labor party ‘in the coming days’, Anthony Albanese suggests - The Guardian
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Quick Links…
Australia’s obsession with the US is getting out of hand - Pearls and Irritations
Older Australians pressured into paying unfair robotax debts will not be compensated, government says - The Guardian
Conservatives face a bloodbath at July’s UK election. What are the key issues for voters – and what’s Labour promised? - The Conversation
Dying well at home costs money – Australia must fund palliative care better - The Guardian
The AUKUS Fiasco - ABC Listen
What stands in the way of a Labour landslide? - The Rest Is Politics Podcast
WTH is Project 2025? with Thomas Zimmer - Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast
My child’s school still relies on a temporary building block from the 60s. How did we get here? - The Guardian
Samantha Mostyn: Australia’s last governor-general? - Crikey (paywall)
NACC: Veterans’ Affairs boss dismissed misconduct complaint against herself - Michael West Media
‘A line in the sand’: Coercive control laws are now in effect in NSW - Women’s Agenda
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian 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 3rd July. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here