News update for Wed 7 Feb 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 selected articles from Australia’s independent news media sector.
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Scroll down for today’s news and views…
The Conversation: What happens if King Charles can no longer perform his duties?
‘King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis will turn minds to the question of what happens if he becomes unable to fulfil his constitutional duties. Buckingham Palace has announced he will continue performing his official paperwork and his weekly meetings with the prime minister throughout his treatment.
But what happens if he becomes seriously ill?’ asks Professor Anne Twomey.
‘There are three options: counsellors of state, regency and abdication.’
Read more in The Conversation here
7am Podcast: ‘Every system failed’: Inside Tasmania’s abuse cover up
Nick Feik spent eight months looking into one of the worst institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse this country has ever seen… It took him to the Tasmanian town of Deloraine and to Ashley Youth Detention Centre – where he found a culture of violence, child sexual abuse, coverups, blame-shifting and a system incapable of rooting out abusers.
Listen to the 7am Podcast here
InQueensland: Hungry sharks or slow swimmers? Why do one third of the world's shark attacks happen Down Under
‘The 10 fatal attacks globally in 2023 doubled the five in the previous year, with four of last year’s deaths occurring in Australia.
‘Surfers were slightly more prevalent in the data than people swimming or wading, experiencing 42 per cent of the 69 unprovoked bites around the world, 22 per cent of which were in Australia,’ reports Jack Gramenz.
Read more in InQueensland here
Renew Economy: Rally betrays anti-renewables desperation, as Joyce calls on “army” to go home and recruit
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has described renewable energy development as a “swindle” and wind turbines as “filth,” in an address to a rally against Australia’s shift to renewable energy in Canberra on Tuesday, reports Sophie Vorrath.
‘The Rally Against Reckless Renewables, reported to have been attended by between 300 and 500 people, had almost as many speakers as listeners, starting with a long list of LNP climate deniers, fossil boosters and nuclear pushers’
Read more in Renew Economy here
Australians keep buying huge cars in huge numbers. If we want to cut emissions, this can’t go on
Parisians just voted to charge large vehicles three times more to park in the city than small vehicles. In Australia we offer the most convenient parking for free to people driving enormous twin-cab utes (we call them loading zones, even though you don’t have to load up anything more than your groceries). Policy choices matter.
Last year all of Australia’s top 10 selling cars were twin-cab utes or large SUVs.
Richard Denniss for The Guardian
Cartoon by David Rowe for The Australian Financial Review
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here
Pearls and Irritations: Too late? Climate change denial and the rise of fascism
‘Extreme planetary heating, the failure of effective mitigation and the rise of denial around the world combine to lead to a seventh mass extinction of species.
‘The rise of fascist movements and their neoconservative kin is jeopardising a unified global approach to the climate crisis. Inherently, racist ideology, worship of power, glorification of war, the pride of killing and “honourable” death is not concerned with the fatal consequences of climate change,’ argues Andrew Glikson.
Read more in Pearls and Irritations here
The New Daily: No, the headlines are wrong – the RBA is pushing rates higher
‘While all the headlines say the Reserve Bank decided to keep rates steady, the ugly truth was tucked away in the fine print of the bank’s Statement on Monetary Policy: Interest rate pain will worsen this year, interest payments will take a steadily bigger bite out of household budgets that are already squeezed, monetary policy will continue to tighten its grip when the recent economic data is screaming that the RBA has done enough,’ writes Michael Pascoe.
Read more in The New Daily here
The Guardian: Closing the Gap will fail without ‘fundamental change’, scathing report finds
‘The Closing the Gap agreement on improving Indigenous outcomes will fail without fundamental changes, the Productivity Commission has warned, adding that successive governments have “failed to fully grasp” the challenges,’ according to Josh Butler.
‘In a scathing report, the Productivity Commission has called for urgent changes to rescue the landmark agreement, accusing the federal government of “weak” action on key areas.’
Read more in The Guardian here
Profiteering is driving inflation, says former ACCC head. And here’s the hard evidence
Profiteering has played a major role in inflation in Australia, Professor Allan Fels has argued in a report released today, in which the economist and former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair provides extensive evidence that Australian firms have exploited a lack of competition to push up prices over the past two years.
The Politics: Let's talk about tax, baby
Is the nation mature enough for a serious conversation about tax reform?
‘Independent senator David Pocock has a big ask. He would like to see a “mature conversation about tax”, amid a juvenile debate over broken promises, and breathless commentary about the PM’s “duplicity”,’ reports Rachel Withers.
Read more in The Politics here
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You’re up to date for Wednesday 7th February. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here
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