Updated every two hours - currently showing: 301 story summaries from 40 independent media sites and blogs!
Updated every two hours - currently showing: 301 story summaries from 40 independent media sites and blogs!
Click here for our independent election coverage – latest news and analysis of the 2019 federal election – updated twice daily.
Latest Independent News
An hour a day: World Health Organisation issues first guidelines for kids' screen time
Babies younger than one year old should not be exposed to any electronic screens, according to new guidelines by the World Health Organisation.
Issuing its first such guidelines, the WHO has recommended the limit for two-to four-year-olds is an hour a day – or less is better. That includes, watching
read more
Emotion and honour at Anzac Day marches
As Prince William joined Australians and New Zealanders honouring their servicemen and women, 100-year-old veteran Sam Krycer was feeling particularly humble and emotional.
The former leading aircraftman had the honour of leading Melbourne’s Anzac Day march alongside other World War II veterans.
“It gets a bit emotional for me today.
read more
‘I thought they’d all go fishing’: Small town stops to honour digger killed in Afghanistan
The father of a commando killed during the war in Afghanistan didn’t expect his son’s hometown of Katherine to come out in such numbers for a stirring tribute to his son.
read more
Election 2019: Liberal Party to preference Clive Palmer’s party
The Liberal Party has struck a deal to exchange preferences with Clive Palmer.
The deal will see the Liberals place the United Australia Party second, or above Labor, on its how-to-vote cards in Lower and Upper House seats.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly said deciding preferences is an issue
read more
Carlos Ghosn, former Nissan chairman, granted $4.5m bail
An hour a day: World Health Organisation issues first guidelines for kids' screen time
Babies younger than one year old should not be exposed to any electronic screens, according to new guidelines by the World Health Organisation.
Issuing its first such guidelines, the WHO has recommended the limit for two-to four-year-olds is an hour a day – or less is better. That includes, watching
read more
Emotion and honour at Anzac Day marches
As Prince William joined Australians and New Zealanders honouring their servicemen and women, 100-year-old veteran Sam Krycer was feeling particularly humble and emotional.
The former leading aircraftman had the honour of leading Melbourne’s Anzac Day march alongside other World War II veterans.
“It gets a bit emotional for me today.
read more
‘I thought they’d all go fishing’: Small town stops to honour digger killed in Afghanistan
The father of a commando killed during the war in Afghanistan didn’t expect his son’s hometown of Katherine to come out in such numbers for a stirring tribute to his son.
read more
Election 2019: Liberal Party to preference Clive Palmer’s party
The Liberal Party has struck a deal to exchange preferences with Clive Palmer.
The deal will see the Liberals place the United Australia Party second, or above Labor, on its how-to-vote cards in Lower and Upper House seats.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly said deciding preferences is an issue
read more
Carlos Ghosn, former Nissan chairman, granted $4.5m bail
Measles cases on the rise world-wide due to increased anti-vaxxer attitudes
Nearly 700 people have been infected with measles in the United States so far this year, which is the highest number since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, health authorities said.
“The high number of cases in 2019 is primarily the result of a few large outbreaks – one
read more
Motor racing – Alonso happy to be back in Indy despite rough start
Despite a four-hour rain delay and an abbreviated practice session, he said he was happy to return to The Brickyard, where he led for part of the race in 2017 before retiring with an engine problem.
“It’s good to be back and to feel again the magic of the place,”
read more  more…
Today’s Commentary from Independent Media
BRUCE HAIGH. There is no business like show business.
The relationship between John Howard and former AFP Commissioner, Mick Keelty, put the AFP in a bad place from which it has not recovered. The solution is a full blown inquiry followed by reform, a change of culture and better leadership. There is a case for dismantling Border Force.
read more
DAVID STEPHENS. Beneath the tumult and the shouting: Anzac Day as a private experience.
Anzac should be mostly private. It should be about the quiet, within-family, remembrance of – and caring about – people who have suffered in war, those who have been killed and not come home, those who have come home injured in body or mind, and those who live with the
read more
ANDREW FROST. Alternative Histories, the ANZAC legend re-imagined on canvas
The assumption of ANZAC as the foundation of conservative Australia has been used to mobilise popular sentiment into dubious alliances in wars of questionable purpose. In this context, Rodney Pople’s latest exhibition, Shell Shocked, has urgency. His paintings are a vehicle for questioning more than a century of myth-making.
In Australia,
read more
STUART REES, Churches Support for the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) Movement
Bernie Sanders, US Democrat candidate for the Presidency has caused controversy by criticising what he calls the cruel, racist policies of the government of Israel towards Palestinians. But it’s time that such comments were seen as not unusual, even taken for granted.
On April 30 in St. James Church
read more
JOHN MENADUE. Best we forget – the Frontier and Maori Wars. An update
The Frontier Wars were the most destructive and decisive in our history. The first war we fought alongside ‘New Zealanders’ was not at Gallipoli in 1915 but in the Maori Wars in the middle of the nineteenth century. Yet both wars are ignored by the Australian War Memorial. The AWM
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GREG LOCKHART. What we forget on Anzac Day.
On the first Anzac Day, 25 April 1915, the Australian Imperial and New Zealand Expeditionary Forces landed at Gallipoli. On Anzac Day 2019, Anzac forces are again in the Middle East – and Afghanistan – this time sixteen years after their initial deployments at the beginning of the Iraq War.
read more
Sister Rosa O’Kane: A forgotten hero
New Light on that First Day at Gallipoli
April 24, en route to Anzac Cove.
My grandfather, James Robertson, turned 21 on April 25, 1915. That was the day he landed at Anzac, Gallipoli, as member of 8th Battalion, ‘A’ Company. Robertson, a Ballarat boy, survived the entirety of the First World War before returning to Australia in
read more
Bundy and #Watergate
John Lord’s Election Diary No 6: Are the baseball bats still behind the front door, at the ready?
Thursday 25 April 2019
Monday 22 April
1 I was thinking about the big Aussie Rules clash at the “G” on Thursday and I was reminded of the saying. “You are only as good as your last game.”
I know it is a measure of your form in sport but taking
read more
MARRYANNE SLATTERY AND ROD CAMPBELL. Debugging the Watergate complex (The Australian Institute, April 2019)
Interpreting the responses to #Watergate by the Prime Minister and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
Summary
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has issued a statement (Saturday April 20 2019 http://www.agriculture.gov.au/about/media-centre/on-therecord/eastern-aus-ag-water-purchase ) responding to The Project’s report on the Condamine Balonne strategic water purchase, now known online
read more
IAN McAULEY. Don’t be distracted by the Coalition’s promise of a budget surplus
A government’s budget surplus or deficit is meaningless unless it’s carefully interpreted and is seen as only one of many indicators of a government’s economic competence. There’s nothing intrinsically good about a budget surplus.
If we were to pay attention to the Coalition and to partisan journalists, we could be
read moreFeatured Stories
The middle class is shrinking, threatening social stability, warns OECD
The middle class across the developed world is shrinking as incomes fail to keep up with housing and other costs of living.
In most developed countries, including Australia, the size of the middle class and its economic influence have fallen in recent decades.
In a report released earlier this month,
read more
Barnaby Joyce, Angus Taylor, Australia and the Caribbean
It is extraordinary that the profit from Barnaby Joyce’s record payment for Australian water rights, an $80 million payment of taxpayers’ money, found its way to a company in the Cayman Islands which had been set up by Angus Taylor, a
read more
Barnaby’s Phone and Chiitan, the Japanese Otter Mascot
There’s been a lot of talk about Barnaby Joyce’s phone these last couple of days. He was first “out of range” when the Project wanted to contact him about the growing water buyback story, which has been most prominently promoted by Michael West and the Project’s Hamish McDonald.
By Sunday,
read moreLatest News
An hour a day: World Health Organisation issues first guidelines for kids' screen time
Babies younger than one year old should not be exposed to any electronic screens, according to new guidelines by the World Health Organisation.
Issuing its first such guidelines, the WHO has recommended the limit for two-to four-year-olds is an hour a day – or less is better. That includes, watching
read more
Emotion and honour at Anzac Day marches
As Prince William joined Australians and New Zealanders honouring their servicemen and women, 100-year-old veteran Sam Krycer was feeling particularly humble and emotional.
The former leading aircraftman had the honour of leading Melbourne’s Anzac Day march alongside other World War II veterans.
“It gets a bit emotional for me today.
read more
‘I thought they’d all go fishing’: Small town stops to honour digger killed in Afghanistan
The father of a commando killed during the war in Afghanistan didn’t expect his son’s hometown of Katherine to come out in such numbers for a stirring tribute to his son.
read more
Election 2019: Liberal Party to preference Clive Palmer’s party
The Liberal Party has struck a deal to exchange preferences with Clive Palmer.
The deal will see the Liberals place the United Australia Party second, or above Labor, on its how-to-vote cards in Lower and Upper House seats.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly said deciding preferences is an issue
read more
Carlos Ghosn, former Nissan chairman, granted $4.5m bail
Measles cases on the rise world-wide due to increased anti-vaxxer attitudes
Nearly 700 people have been infected with measles in the United States so far this year, which is the highest number since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, health authorities said.
“The high number of cases in 2019 is primarily the result of a few large outbreaks – one
read moreWorld News
Asian shares slip; German, Korean data hurt risk appetite
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week.
read more
Muslims flee, Christians grieve in Sri Lankan town torn by violence
As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
read more
Tokyo court approves ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's $4.5m bail
Nissan’s former chief Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention centre for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges after a Tokyo court approved his release on 500 million yen ($4.5m) bail.
The Tokyo District Court said in a statement on
read more
Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn to walk free, again, after court sets bail at $4.5 million
Former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention center for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges, after a Tokyo court on Thursday set his bail at $4.5 million.
read more
Sri Lanka bombings: All the latest updates
A series of coordinated bombings on Easter Sunday rocked Sri Lanka.
More than 350 people were killed and at least 500 wounded in the deadliest attack in the island nation since the end of the civil war 10 years ago.
The blasts targeted three churches, as well as four hotels – including
read more
Facebook beats profit estimates, sets aside $3 billion for privacy penalty
Facebook Inc on Wednesday blew past Wall Street profit estimates in the first quarter and set aside $3 billion to cover a settlement with U.S. regulators, calming investors who had worried about the outcome of a months-long federal probe.
read more
Asian shares slip; German, Korean data hurt risk appetite
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week.
read more
Muslims flee, Christians grieve in Sri Lankan town torn by violence
As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
read more
Tokyo court approves ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's $4.5m bail
Nissan’s former chief Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention centre for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges after a Tokyo court approved his release on 500 million yen ($4.5m) bail.
The Tokyo District Court said in a statement on
read more
Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn to walk free, again, after court sets bail at $4.5 million
Former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention center for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges, after a Tokyo court on Thursday set his bail at $4.5 million.
read more
Sri Lanka bombings: All the latest updates
A series of coordinated bombings on Easter Sunday rocked Sri Lanka.
More than 350 people were killed and at least 500 wounded in the deadliest attack in the island nation since the end of the civil war 10 years ago.
The blasts targeted three churches, as well as four hotels – including
read more
Asian shares slip; German, Korean data hurt risk appetite
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week.
read more
Muslims flee, Christians grieve in Sri Lankan town torn by violence
As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
read more
Tokyo court approves ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's $4.5m bail
Nissan’s former chief Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention centre for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges after a Tokyo court approved his release on 500 million yen ($4.5m) bail.
The Tokyo District Court said in a statement on
read more
Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn to walk free, again, after court sets bail at $4.5 million
Former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention center for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges, after a Tokyo court on Thursday set his bail at $4.5 million.
read more
Asian shares slip; German, Korean data hurt risk appetite
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week.
read more
Muslims flee, Christians grieve in Sri Lankan town torn by violence
As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
read more
Tokyo court approves ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's $4.5m bail
Nissan’s former chief Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention centre for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges after a Tokyo court approved his release on 500 million yen ($4.5m) bail.
The Tokyo District Court said in a statement on
read more
Asian shares slip; German, Korean data hurt risk appetite
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week.
read more
Muslims flee, Christians grieve in Sri Lankan town torn by violence
As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
read more
Tokyo court approves ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's $4.5m bail
Nissan’s former chief Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention centre for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges after a Tokyo court approved his release on 500 million yen ($4.5m) bail.
The Tokyo District Court said in a statement on
read more
Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn to walk free, again, after court sets bail at $4.5 million
Former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention center for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges, after a Tokyo court on Thursday set his bail at $4.5 million.
read moreWorld News
Asian shares slip; German, Korean data hurt risk appetite
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week.
read more
Muslims flee, Christians grieve in Sri Lankan town torn by violence
As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
read more
Tokyo court approves ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's $4.5m bail
Nissan’s former chief Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention centre for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges after a Tokyo court approved his release on 500 million yen ($4.5m) bail.
The Tokyo District Court said in a statement on
read more
Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn to walk free, again, after court sets bail at $4.5 million
Former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn looked set to walk out of a Japanese detention center for the second time since his arrest last year on financial misconduct charges, after a Tokyo court on Thursday set his bail at $4.5 million.
read more
Sri Lanka bombings: All the latest updates
A series of coordinated bombings on Easter Sunday rocked Sri Lanka.
More than 350 people were killed and at least 500 wounded in the deadliest attack in the island nation since the end of the civil war 10 years ago.
The blasts targeted three churches, as well as four hotels – including
read more
Facebook beats profit estimates, sets aside $3 billion for privacy penalty
Facebook Inc on Wednesday blew past Wall Street profit estimates in the first quarter and set aside $3 billion to cover a settlement with U.S. regulators, calming investors who had worried about the outcome of a months-long federal probe.
read moreBusiness & The Economy
The Mayne Report: 24 April 2019
Stephen Mayne looks at capital raisings, takeovers resulting from demergers, the current AGM mini-season, a gambling industry update and his decision to exit the ASA board.
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Is Kogan stretching itself too thin?
Alan Kohler speaks with Ruslan Kogan, the CEO and Founder of Kogan.com, about his unique vertical integration strategy on the back of the company’s recent quarterly update.
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Dracula Time: new pokies stats show community benefits are a mirage
Do clubs really return their pokies millions to the community? The ABC’s 7.30 Report ran a good story this week about the contributions to the community by the Victorian RSL. There is some merit to the club lobby claims but the
read more
Stuart McClure on BlackBerry/Cylance
The first time Cylance founder chief executive Stuart McClure travelled to Australia, as a 19-year-old, he had a near-death experience en-route that changed his outlook on life quite profoundly. He says he began seeing the world in a different way. And he became sort of obsessed with the nature of
read more
Election Podcast: Daniel Petre
Former Innovation and Science Australia board member and tech industry veteran Daniel Petre has offered a withering assessment of the federal government’s strategic innovation planning and its commitment to building new tech-based industries for the future. The AirTree Ventures co-founder was a foundation board member at Innovation and Science Australia
read more
Labor AI centre set for Melbourne
Labor’s planned $4 million national centre of excellence for artificial intelligence will be based in Melbourne, with the Opposition turning its attention towards using technology for social good. Labor first announced its policy for a centre to study AI ethics and the future of work in July last year, with
read moreEnvironment
Tesla driver clocks almost 1000km in Australian outback in one day
A Tesla driver doing a round-Australia trip in an electric car has clocked almost 1,000km in one day driving to Perth, Western Australia.
Richard Smith (aka @outbacktesla) tweeted the impressive achievement on Thursday after reaching the Western Australian capital, completing the long drive from hometown Darwin.
It
read more
Tesla expects its battery storage market to grow 300 per cent
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk says the company is anticipating a 300 per cent lift in its battery storage market is it overcomes “battery cell scarcity” that has severely crimped deliveries of its Powerwall and Powerpack products.
Musk said on Thursday (Australian time) at the release
read more
Victorian water utilities join forces to source cheap solar power
Thirteen Victorian water utilities have banded together to forge a major renewable energy off-take deal that will supply between 20 and 50 per cent of each corporation’s total electricity needs, and lower water bills for consumers.
The utilities, under an umbrella organisation
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What do consumers need to make the switch to EVs?
Two studies recently undertaken by What Car? in the UK into what it would take for more consumers to take up electric vehicles can be summarised by one word. And the word is, of course: Knowledge!
The first of these was a 3 month survey
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Tesla extends Models S, X range to near 600km, battery life to 1.6m km
Electric carmaker Tesla announced on Wednesday (Australian time) that it has worked out how to extend the range of its Model S and X electric vehicles well over 500km on a single charge – without using a larger battery.
The new upgraded range may not
read more
Globe watch: $US3.7 trillion a year of fossil fuel revenue has to go away
Wikipedia, yet another crowd sourced, productivity enhancing resource driven by the global cognitive surplus, states that “Thinking globally, acting locally” can almost certainly be attributed to a Scottish town planner, Patrick Geddes in 1915 but it rose to prominence in the USA environmental activist groups
read more