CN Newsletter: November 10
Issue 9/2024: US Election, Finding feet through comedy, 23 life changing words.
Happy Sunday!
To catch up on the latest news this week, just keep scrolling.
In this week’s edition, Central News brings you the latest stories from politics — both on a global and local scale. A team of CN reporters worked around the clock on Wednesday to deliver live coverage of the US election, resulting in Donald Trump’s election as president for the second time. Rex Siu digs deeper into how Trump’s re-election will impact the Australian economy. Yasmine Alwakal meets with local councillor Kelly Darley to discuss her role in representing her community.
This week, we also bring you inspirational stories of individuals who have overcome hardship. Hugh Phillips talks to comedian Elliot McLaren about his battle overcoming addiction and finding his feet in stand-up comedy. Mahir Munot spoke to the founder of Mentoring Men, Ian Westmoreland, about the importance of support networks for men’s mental health.
Nominations are open for the UTS Media Awards 2025 to honour exceptional journalism: bit.ly/cnawards2025
As we near the end of the semester, Central News will be easing up on its publication schedule for the year. While our reporters are busier with their coursework, we are slowing down the publication of the newsletter.
While the pace might slow, we’re not done yet! Keep checking your inbox, though, because we still have a few more editions to come this year.
Politics 🏛️
US Election 2024: Blog
This week, Donald J. Trump was voted in as the 47th US president after winning a number of crucial swing states, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. The win makes Trump the first president in over 120 years to serve a non-consecutive presidential term. World leaders, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have congratulated Trump on his election. The Republican party has also maintained control of the Senate, which has made history this election, with two back women, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks, to be serving for the first time. The Central News election team covered the election day live, interviewing various experts about the incoming results and what they mean for the nation. Read their full blog to find out more.
What will Trump 2.0 mean for the Australian economy?
The Republicans’ return to the White House could lead to fluctuating commodity prices, exchange rate instability, unpredictable investment flows, and a reduction in Australian exports, according to leading economists. Donald Trump’s proposed policies on tariffs, tax cuts, and increased influence over the Federal Reserve, while having broad-reaching impacts on the Australian and global economy, could accelerate the decline of US influence in the region. However, there may be benefits for Australia, including a stronger trade relationship with China. For now, it is too early to determine if these impacts will be for better or worse. In this analysis, CN deputy editor Rex Siu examines the potential implications that Trump’s second presidency and his policies could have on trade, tariffs, inflation, currency, tax, stock markets and more.
Darley’s making the political personal
Local councillor Kellie Darley calls herself an accidental politician. after co-founding the online community hub ParraParents in 2015, she witnessed an information divide between Parramatta Council and the community, with none of her local representatives having children almost 10 years ago. Many councillors also did not live in the local area. Recently, Darley was re-elected for her second term as councillor of Parramatta, receiving the highest percentage of first votes for an individual candidate across the Parramatta local government area. She has held more than 80 mobile clinics throughout Parramatta, meeting over 1000 residents. Despite Australians claiming to be less interested in local politics than federal governance, political researcher Luke Dean believes the idea that local government is only concerned with roads, rates and rubbish is being contested, with councillors increasingly being embroiled in “political battles over cultural issues”.
Local🚶🏻
Drugs, gangs and coming out: comic Elliot McLaren on finding his feet
Content warning: references to drugs, homophobia and slurs.
Since childhood, Elliot McLaren has been battling drug addiction and homelessness. As a teen, he saw himself as a career criminal, lining up gangs to join, however, after coming out of gay just before his 21st birthday, McLaren never heard back from any of them. Coming out took Ellioit from gang life, and with supportive partners, got clean and became a butcher. A few years later, though, his partner left, and McLaren found himself homeless again, falling back into his old life of addiction. In his lowest moments, McLaren found watching comedy made him happier. In a moment of clarity, where he decided to sign up for an open mic. Still battling addiction, Elliot made it to the final of New Zealand’s biggest comedy competition. Now clean and living in Australia, a newfound passion is driving Elliot’s comedy career, having performed solo shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and Sydney Fringe.
How 23 words changed Ian’s life
Content warning: references to mental health and suicide.
“Stay out of trouble. Pay taxes. Have babies. Make a living. Buy a boat. Hit the age of 59-and-a-half. Collect retirement. Die.”
Those are the words that changed 70-year-old Order of Australia recipient Ian Westmoreland’s life. In 2014, Westmoreland quit his IT job to volunteer with the RAISE Foundation, mentoring high school students. However, after hearing a heartbreaking story about a young man’s father who committed suicide, Westmoreland found himself in tears and realised he, too, needed support. As a result, Westmoreland founded Mentoring Men in 2018, filling an important gap in mental health support, with men making up approximately 75 per cent of all suicide deaths in Australia. As the organisation quickly began to boom, Westmoreland began to burn out and decided to take a step back, although not for long, setting up mental health charity Kintsugi Heroes in 2022 — named after the Japanese art of piecing together broken pottery pieces with precious metal. The organisation shares stories of the resilience of everyday Australians to demystify suffering. To find out more about Westmoreland’s journey and work, read Mahir Munot’s full article.
UTS Media Awards 2025
Have you read, watched or listened to an excellent piece of journalism this year? Have you found a particular story that is engaging, interesting or thought-provoking?
If so, we encourage you to nominate the story for our 2025 Media Prize!
Following the success of the 2024 Media Prize, won by ABC News for their story ‘Razed’, the UTS Media Awards are back again, collating a new series of excellent journalism examples.
Nominate your story of choice in the form below: http://bit.ly/cnawards2025
We will calculate the top three stories and then invite the journalists to attend the award ceremony in March next year, honouring the best Australian journalism in student’s voice, selected by the next generation of journalists.
Until Next Time
As we near the end of the semester, things at Central News will begin to slow as our student journalists enjoy a much-deserved break over the summer. Don’t worry, though, we still have a few more editions to come this year, but we might not be popping up in your inbox as often.
You can still keep up to date with the latest from Central News by following us @centralnewsuts via bit.ly/m/centralnews.
Thanks for reading the CN Newsletter! Subscribe for the latest news from and by Central News.