08:00:00 11/02/2014
Tony Abbott will this morning deliver his first report card as Prime Minister on the progress being made to reduce Indigenous disadvantage. The latest Closing the Gap report will show improvements in life expectancy, but acknowledge progress must be accelerated if the gap is to be closed in 16 years. The target to halve child mortality within the decade is on track, but no progress has been made to halve the employment gap. More
08:03:00 11/02/2014
Mick Gooda is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and co-chair of the Closing the Gap committee. He says strategies to bring about change in Indigenous commuinities take time, but that after six years of the campaign, the next few years needs to see a some dramatic improvements. More
08:06:00 11/02/2014
The Federal Government says it won't be rushed into releasing a jobs plan for the thousands of workers affected by the car industry's demise. Meanwhile, motoring groups believe the end of Australian car production could have a silver lining for the average consumer. More
08:09:00 11/02/2014
Every dollar counts for the Federal Government as it pours over the books in the lead-up to May's budget and struggles to return to suprlus as quickly as it can. So the chance of picking up billions from the sale of Medibank Private is a prize that's hard to resist. The man responsible for the sale is Finance Minister Matias Cormann. More
08:12:00 11/02/2014
The United Nations has voiced deep concern about the detention by Syrian authorities of hundreds of men and teenage boys leaving the besieged city of Homs under an internationally agreed ceasefire. The UN is calling for the detainees not to come to any harm. Several dozen have been released after questioning. More
08:15:00 11/02/2014
British prime minister David Cameron has cancelled a trip to the Middle East next week to focus on the growing floods crisis across England and Wales. Water levels along parts of the River Thames have hit record highs. More
08:18:00 11/02/2014
The Prime Minister Tony Abbott is preparing to tour communities in the grip of drought as the Government begins to finalise an assistance package for farmers. But one of his rural backbenchers says the Government, Opposition and farming groups should have been much better prepared to respond to the growing crisis. More
08:21:00 11/02/2014
'As long as we have Shirley Temple we'll be alright'; That's what US president Franklin Delanor Roosevelt once said of the child star who lifted America's spirits during the Great Depression. Shirley Temple starred in 43 feature films and became a pint-sized icon of Hollywood's Golden Era. She's died at the age of 85 at her home in California, surrounded by her family. More
08:24:00 11/02/2014
The new Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen has offered a generally optimistic view of America's economic prospects despite signs job growth lost some momentum at the end of last year. More