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A Government watchdog has accused NSW Police of potentially illegal surveillance, an accusation the force rejects.The Commonwealth Ombudsman's report on the use of Covert Electronic Surveillance, released in mid-March, accused NSW Police of spying on people despite their suspected crimes not being severe enough to justify the surveillance.Deakin University Law Professor Shiri Krebs told the National Account the police’s use of retrieval and surveillance of metadata should be concerning Australians.Read more here https://www.nationalaccount.com.au/p/nsw-police-surveillance-metadata-ombudsmanFollow The National Account:https://www.instagram.com/thenationalaccounthttps://www.tiktok.com/@thenationalaccount

With over half a million followers on Instagram, Konrad Benjamin has developed quite a name for himself as Punters Politics.He sat down with the National Account to talk about his meteoric rise into the Australian political sphere, what he considers himself to be, the future of independent media and something that he has never been asked about before: his faith.Follow The National Account:https://www.instagram.com/thenationalaccounthttps://www.tiktok.com/@thenationalaccount

What if the jet fuel powering your next flight was made from timber scraps or farm waste and produced right here in Australia?
With oil prices spiking due to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the CSIRO's Dr Daniel Roberts explains what making sustainable aviation fuel could do for our fuel security – and why he thinks the cost of doing nothing is “terrifying”.

Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has halted about 20% of the world’s oil, along with other products like the nitrogen fertiliser urea, sending prices soaring.
Today, the Gippsland Monitor’s Jacob Wallace explains how two-thirds of Australia’s urea comes from the Persian Gulf, and what that means for Aussie farmers.
Jacob said farmers are either skipping fertilising paddocks for a season, hedging their bets that prices will come down by next season to make up for it, or switching to alternatives.

Local councils on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales are falling into debt and ratepayers are footing the interest bill. The state government will eventually reimburse the millions already spent on disaster recovery – but is so far very far behind.
The Mid North Coaster’s Ellie Chamberlain explains that councils often begin repair work in the immediate aftermath of a disaster with the expectation the state will cover the costs. In one case, a council is still waiting to be reimbursed $37 million.
The funding gap means projects the money would have been spent on get delayed.

He won four elections, served 11 years as Prime Minister, and changed Australia forever, but was John Howard the man who saved the country, or the man who ruined it? The National Account's Archie Milligan has the rundown on Howard's rise to power, the tragedies, the policies and what eventually led to his downfall.Follow The National Account:https://www.instagram.com/thenationalaccounthttps://www.tiktok.com/@thenationalaccount

The AI boom has led to data centres popping up all over Australia, and they have an insatiable thirst for water and electricity.Some experts are concerned that guardrails need to be put in place urgently to ensure the companies behind the data centres don’t have unfettered access to the nation’s electricity and water supplies.A coalition of industry groups, unions, community organisations and environmental groups has put forward a proposal that would see future data centres forced to adhere to a set of principles.They include the centres sourcing their own renewable energy, using water “responsibly” and operating with "transparency".The proposal, written by Carbon Zero Initiative’s Alexander Hoysted, is now on the desks of two government ministers. Hoysted gives the National Account’s Archie Milligan the lowdown on what could happen if these data centres are built without proper oversight.Follow The National Account:https://www.instagram.com/thenationalaccounthttps://www.tiktok.com/@thenationalaccount