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| UpdatedThe biggest study of urban biodiversity to date shows many native birds have coped well with urbanisation. One of the study's authors says it shows the importance of keeping green spaces and natural habitats in cities.
Topics: biological-diversity, environment, australia
Posted
The Federal Government says its review of Australia's taxation system will now examine tariffs on imported cars given Toyota's decision to cease manufacturing in 2017. The Federal Treasurer and Toyota are disagreeing over whether the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union must shoulder the blame for the car maker's decision.
Topics: automotive, health, doctors-and-medical-professionals, medical-procedures, medical-research, australia
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The Prime Minister today is continuing the tradition of an annual statement to the Federal Parliament on Australia's Indigenous communities. The latest Close the Gap report shows the nation is on track to halve the gap in child mortality within a decade, and is ahead of schedule on Year 12 completion. However, it shows very little progress on differences in life expectancy.
Topics: indigenous-policy, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, australia
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The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation says it's sceptical that the Prime Minister's new target of closing the school attendance gap within five years can be achieved. The peak body which represents Aboriginal community controlled primary health care providers, says it is also expecting the Federal Government to cut funds to some of the Closing the Gap programs.
Topics: indigenous-policy, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, australia
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| UpdatedThe 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.
Topics: economic-trends, business-economics-and-finance, united-states
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| UpdatedBritish 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.
Topics: floods, england, united-kingdom, wales
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| UpdatedEvery 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.
Topics: budget, government-and-politics, australia
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| UpdatedMick 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.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, government-and-politics, indigenous-policy, australia
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| Updated'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.
Topics: people, film-movies, united-states
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| UpdatedThe 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.
Topics: drought, government-and-politics, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe 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.
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| UpdatedThe 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.
Topics: automotive, manufacturing, government-and-politics, australia
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| UpdatedTony 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.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, government-and-politics, indigenous-policy, australia
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| UpdatedIn Parliament, Labor's Penny Wong has questioned the Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash over her chief of staff's links to the food industry after Senator Nash ordered the Health Department to take down a controversial food labelling website only hours after it was launched last week. A spokeswoman from Senator Nash's office says her chief of staff, a former lobbyist, has met all of the requirements of employment and of the ministerial staff code of conduct.
Topics: corruption, food-and-beverage, political-parties, australia
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| UpdatedNews Corporation has launched a new service it says will help people get better deals with banks. The website promises discounts on credit cards, loans, insurance and superannuation. It will also generate lucrative commissions for News Corp and its partners in the project. Consumer groups are warning users to read the fine print.
Topics: consumer-finance, company-news, consumer-protection, australia
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| UpdatedA new eye in the sky for bushfire fighters has had several dozen test flights on the New South Wales South Coast. The remote controlled flying machine is relatively cheap, small enough to fit in a suitcase, and can be airborne within seconds. In the test flights it was used to spot smoke plumes and check the spread of fires.
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| UpdatedA former Palmer United Party candidate has taken action in the Supreme Court to keep alive his efforts to stop the party being registered in Tasmania. If the matter is not dealt with by the issue of the writs next week, the Palmer United Party will not be registered for the state election.
Topics: political-parties, states-and-territories, tas
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| UpdatedFavourable weather conditions have allowed fire crews to make a dent in the fire front that's been threatening communities around Kilmore in Victoria. No towns are currently under threat, but watch and act warnings remain.
Topics: bushfire, kilmore-3764, australia
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The jury in the trial of the man accused of murdering Queensland teenager Daniel Morcombe has heard the defendant confessed after a sophisticated police sting. The Supreme Court in Brisbane was told a group of undercover police officers befriended Brett Peter Cowan and spent months posing as members of a criminal gang.
Topics: courts-and-trials, qld
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| UpdatedAfter more than six weeks in a Cairo jail, the Australian journalist Peter Greste has finally been given a trial date. He's due to face court on February 20th but his father, Juris Greste, says it's still unclear exactly what charges he's facing.
Topics: prisons-and-punishment, censorship, journalism, australia, egypt
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| UpdatedWhat now for the 45,000 or so people who work in Australia's car manufacturing sector? There are now calls on government to make sure industry recovers from the blow, lest, as one respected academic suggests, Australia relies on a third-world economic structure.
Topics: automotive, manufacturing, work, australia
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| UpdatedThe South Australian Premier has lashed out at the Prime Minister in the wake of Toyota's closure announcement. Jay Weatherill called Tony Abbott's attitude indifferent and complacent and urged that he reconsider the State Government's jobs plan, which needs millions in Commonwealth support to help restructure the industry.
Topics: automotive, manufacturing, work, australia
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| UpdatedLabor and the Greens are calling for the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to confirm a series of reversals in the foreign aid commitments the previous government made as part of its campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council. Votes from Africa and Caribbean states helped the Rudd government secure the seat. Now it appears that some of the pledges that won favour for Australia's campaign are being reversed.
Topics: federal-government, international-aid-and-trade, australia
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| UpdatedThe first parliamentary day of 2014 has been overshadowed by Toyota's announcement that it will stop manufacturing cars in Australia by the end of 2017. The Opposition tried to censure the Prime Minister over the issue, but the Government says the carmaker's decision shows why Labor should let the Government scrap the carbon tax.
Topics: automotive, manufacturing, work, australia
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Some businesses opposite Toyota's huge Altona plant were surprised to hear the plant will shut down for good in 2017 while others felt the writing was on the wall. All seem unsure though how the loss of about 2,000 jobs will affect their bottom line.
Topics: automotive, manufacturing, australia