The most recent 250 transcripts from the ABC's Radio and TV Current Affairs programs.
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Two Adelaide supermarkets are leading the way in creating a low sensory environment for their customers, particularly those on the autism spectrum. A trial of 'Quiet Hour' at one store last year has been so successful that it's now become a permanent feature at two. The initiative is something disability advocates hope will be taken up by other stores in the future.
Topics: autism-spectrum-disorder, retail, adelaide-5000
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The Indigenous community on Palm Island in far north Queensland will feature in an historical documentary about a relatively unknown aspect of colonialisation. Up to 20 Aboriginal people were taken from northern Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries to be exhibited alongside animals in what was called 'the Human Zoo'. Along with tens of thousands of other people, they were put on display across Europe and North America until at least 1940. The Palm Island community has been reunited with the remains of one of their ancestors involved in the trade.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, documentary, palm-island-4815, australia
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People sleeping rough at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station have been told they have a week to move on to make way for the historic building's multi-million-dollar redevelopment. Numbers of rough sleepers at the station have increased dramatically over recent months, fuelling the wider debate about homelessness in the city and how to deal with it. The State Government yesterday announced further funding and initiatives to tackle the issue, but the homeless community is sceptical.
Topics: homelessness, melbourne-3000
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Real estate agents have been in the spotlight this week, with allegations of the misappropriation of funds and widespread underquoting of property values. Two independent experts have told Saturday AM they believe it's because many agents simply aren't qualified to be facilitating large property deals. Experts are also warnings buyers to be aware of so-called 'low-cost' or 'discount' agents.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, australia
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Genaro Lozano is a professor of international relations and US government at the Ibero-American University in Mexico. He says that Mexico is in a 'low-intensity' commercial and migratory war with the United States and that many Mexicans feel humiliated by Donald Trump's insistence that he'll build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He says that Mexico is one of the most globalized economies in the world, with more than 20 bilateral trade treaties, and could survive without the North American Trade deal (NAFTA).
Topics: world-politics, agreements-and-treaties, mexico, united-states
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The Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison, says the experience in the United Kingdom shows that changes to negative gearing won't necessarily improve housing affordability. The Opposition has been urging the Treasurer to use his visit to the UK to adopt similar policies to that country's Conservative Government, which has curbed tax concessions on investment properties. Some backbenchers are also continuing to call for all options to be on the table. But Mr Morrison told reporters in London that the best way to improve affordability was to increase housing supply.
Topics: housing, federal-government, canberra-2600, australia
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| UpdatedUS President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May have held a meeting and joint press conference, declaring they both represent forgotten working-class people. President Trump smoothed over some contentious parts of the relationship, backing away from a plan to reintroduce torture and playing down suggestions he'd relax sanctions on Russia. The Prime Minister stated that the President confirmed his nation's commitment to NATO.
Topics: world-politics, agreements-and-treaties, united-states, united-kingdom
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| UpdatedNOT POSTED
Topics: conservation, environment, human-interest, animals, birds, australia, darwin-0800, singapore
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The Adelaide Zoo is in mourning, after the death of its critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, and her baby. Karta died just hours after delivering the infant, which is believed to have been stillborn. It follows a troubled past with births for the animal, who has lost six other infants in the past 15 years.
Topics: animals, human-interest, animal-welfare, adelaide-5000, australia, sa
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| UpdatedThink India, and chances are snake charmers will probably spring to mind. Officially banned 40 years ago, the practice has lived on in some parts. But under continued pressure from animal rights activists and the law, even the die-hards say they now see the writing on the wall.
Topics: animal-welfare, human-interest, animals, laws, india
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A report into the handling of a failed computer program for Victorian Government schools has detailed widespread corruption within the senior ranks of the Education Department. The 'Ultranet' was supposed to connect students, parents and teachers. But the state's corruption watchdog has found that officials wasted up to $240 million of taxpayers' money. Victoria's 'Ultranet' was launched at a lavish event in August 2010 at a cost of $1.4 million. Three years later it was dumped. A report into the failed computer scheme from the state's Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission was tabled in Parliament today.
Topics: corruption, law-crime-and-justice, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, programs-and-initiatives, vic, australia, melbourne-3000
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| UpdatedA family with links to Australia is being questioned in Jakarta, after allegedly attempting to join ISIS in the Middle East. They were deported back to Indonesia earlier this week. But the 40-year-old father isn't your average ISIS recruit, he was awarded a Masters degree from Adelaide's Flinders University.
Topics: terrorism, education, government-and-politics, world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, indonesia, australia, sa, adelaide-5000
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| UpdatedThe Defence Department is planning to take over a number of prime cattle properties around Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton for the expansion of a military base in the region, but the Queensland Government's calling for the Commonwealth to find alternatives to the proposal. The National Farmers Federation also strongly opposes the move, stating that forcing farmers off productive land is unfair.
Topics: defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, rural, agribusiness, qld, australia
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| UpdatedA Mexican farming association says its roughly 60,000 members are growing increasingly angry at debate over US President Donald Trump's border wall between Mexico and the USA.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, mexico, united-states
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| UpdatedAlmost a week into Donald Trump's presidency, fresh concerns are being raised about the freedom of the press in the United States and beyond. Mr Trump's Chief of Staff has accused the press of trying to delegitimise America's new leader, but the Committee to Protect Journalists says attacks on the press set a dangerous precedent.
Topics: journalism, media, government-and-politics, information-and-communication, australia
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| UpdatedThe Federal Government has been lobbying the new Trump administration to maintain a strong presence in Asia. Ashley Townshend from University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre has been researching President Trump's evolving Asia team.
Topics: foreign-affairs, government-and-politics, world-politics, united-states, australia, china, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of
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| UpdatedThe Prime Minister says the Government will focus on improving housing supply, rather than changing tax rules like negative gearing, to try to improve housing affordability. Two Government MPs have again called for all options to be examined, as house prices continue to rise in Sydney and Melbourne. The Opposition says building more houses is important, but not the only solution, and the Government should adopt the policies Labor took to the election last year.
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| UpdatedOn Friday's program: A report into the handling of a failed computer program for Victorian Government schools has detailed widespread corruption within the senior ranks of the Education Department. A family with links to Australia is being questioned in Jakarta, after allegedly attempting to join ISIS in the Middle East. Queensland farmers rally against Government plans to acquire their land for military base.
Topics: australia
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Scientists say the world is closer to catastrophe than at any time since the height of the Cold War. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of its symbolic Doomsday Clock forward by thirty seconds overnight, citing nuclear weapons, climate change and the election of US president Donald Trump as reasons for the move. It's the closest the clock has come to midnight in 64 years.
Topics: nuclear-issues, unrest-conflict-and-war, united-states
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| UpdatedIt's inspired by the mating rituals of the Australian Red Back Spider. In her first live action short film, Archibald Prize winner Del Kathryn Barton, celebrates female power like never before.
Topics: film-movies, adelaide-5000
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| UpdatedAn Indonesian couple who lived in Australia for several years will today undergo another day of questioning about their links to the terrorist group, Islamic State. The couple were deported from Turkey this week to Bali. Their three children include an eight-year-old boy who was born in South Australia.
Topics: immigration, terrorism, indonesia, australia, turkey
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| UpdatedNew South Wales Health Minister Jillian Skinner has quit politics, after refusing a demotion from her portfolio. Her decision means that the state will soon have a second by-election, following on from the resignation last week of premier Mike Baird. Skinner, a long-serving Coalition MP, has been health minister since 2011 and has had to contend with several major scandals within the state's health system, including cases of chemotherapy under-dosing, the gassing death of a newborn baby and the mistaken cremation of still-born babies at Royal North Shore Hospital. Election analyst Antony Green speaks with The World Today's Emily Bourke and analyses the two electorates at stake.
Topics: states-and-territories, health-policy, nsw
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There are mounting calls from the RSL New South Wales rank and file for the state council to stand down, amid a police investigation into alleged financial misconduct. Vice-president Peter Stephenson stood down last week and urged his fellow councillors to do the same. The entire council could be expelled from the League if internal disciplinary charges, levelled by the RSL's national board, are proven at a hearing next week. It comes as police step up their investigation into the RSL, amid allegations of financial misconduct.
Topics: veterans, fraud-and-corporate-crime, community-organisations, nsw
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| UpdatedThe Prime Minister is calling for the installation of more bollards in areas like the Bourke Street mall, after the deadly car attack there. One security expert says the Prime Minister is right, but bollards are not the only way of improving security.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, crime, melbourne-3000, australia
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| UpdatedDonald Trump's impulsive and unpredictable style of leadership means Australia will have to negotiate an increasingly complicated global landscape. In his first week in office, the new President has withdrawn from a major trade deal, endorsed torture and threatened a big new tax on its Mexican neighbour. But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull insists that the new US administration won't change Australia's relationship with America, and that he trusts the President to remain a strong presence in the Asia Pacific. Meanwhile, on the home front the PM is also facing pressure from his backbench to find a solution to the increasing cost of housing.
Topics: government-and-politics, australia