Audio
Courgette crisis: UK vegetable shortage as floods, frost curb imports Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
You may not have heard, but Britain is currently in the midst of a crisis. The nation is suffering a shortage of green vegetables after floods and frost in Spain - the source of about 80 per cent of certain produce to the UK - led to slashed imports, empty supermarket shelves and a 300 per cent rise in the price of some varieties of lettuce.
Topics: agreements-and-treaties, food-and-cooking, united-kingdom
For your extraterrestrial convenience: family doctor wins NASA's 'Space Poop Challenge' Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
NASA, America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration, recently held a competition in the hope that someone would devise a space suit with an in-built waste management system that could allow astronauts to stay in their suits for up to six days. The winner was Dr Thatcher Cardon, a family doctor, flight surgeon and Air Force colonel. His system utilises a fold-out bedpan and uses the vacuum of space to aid the process.
Topics: space-exploration, awards-and-prizes, united-states
History, discovery and generosity: a PNG villager returns a ring to an American family Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
An American family has praised the generosity of a Papua New Guinea villager who returned a gold ring lost by a US serviceman during World War II. After being unearthed in a vegetable garden in a village in the east of the island nation, the high school graduation ring was eventually returned to a grateful family in New Jersey after a series of conversations, coincidences and detective work.
Topics: human-interest, world-war-2, papua-new-guinea, united-states
'This is so important': Jakartans eager to vote in gubernatorial election Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
Elections were held across Indonesia this week in 90 regions. But all eyes were on a poll in the capital, Jakarta, where there's been a bitterly fought race for the Governor's job. Indonesia correspondent Samantha Hawley looks at the election and examines the eagerness of the capital's citizens to vote. Despite predictions of a low turnout, 80 per cent of the city's 7 million eligible voters came out to cast their ballot.
Confusion and contradiction as Iraqi forces push into west Mosul Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
As Iraqi government troops gear up to attack the Islamic State group in west Mosul, Middle East correspondent Matt Brown visits the front line of the battle and reports on an often haphazard army presence: under-resourced, disorganised, cold and vulnerable to retaliation by an enemy unlikely to capitulate.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, iraq
'I will never, ever disappoint you, believe me': Trump addresses faithful in Charleston Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
Donald Trump has left Washington for the weekend to re-connect with his loyal supporters. Remaining defiant in the face of constant reports of turbulence within his fledgling administration, he addressed a crowd at the launch of Boeing's new 787 aeroplane in Charleston, South Carolina, insisting that all is going well after a month in office. Meanwhile, the Senate confirmation of Scott Pruitt as the new Environment Protection Agency chief has been described as 'one hell of a conflict of interest' by Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley.
Topics: world-politics, united-states
Anniversary of Darwin bombing presents opportunity to examine Australia-US alliance: military histor Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
Tomorrow marks the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. On the February 19th 1942, three days after the fall of Singapore, 242 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked Darwin in two separate raids. More than 200 people were killed in the first attack on the Australian mainland since European settlement. At a time when Australia's relationship with the US is being scrutinised, Professor Peter Stanley from UNSW Canberra says the bombing of Darwin was a significant turning point for both countries and that the alliance has changed significantly in the decades since.
Topics: world-war-2, darwin-0800, canberra-2600, japan
'The rush over the cliff's edge': Tony Blair slams Tory Brexit plan Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
Former British prime minister Tony Blair has called on Britons to rise up and fight against Theresa May's plan for leaving the European Union. In a speech in London, the former Labour leader said that the Government's plan for Brexit was not something the British people voted for and that it would damage the country. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has hit back, describing the speech as condescending and an insult to the intelligence of voters.
Topics: world-politics, referendums, united-kingdom, european-union
Kim Jong-nam murder suspect to be given legal support: Indonesia Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
The Indonesian Government says it will provide legal advice to one of its citizens who has been arrested in connection to this week's apparent assassination in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, the exiled half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The Government says that Siti Aisyah may have been tricked into being involved in the killing. The Indonesian citizen became the second woman to be identified from CCTV vision after the poisoning of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, world-politics, indonesia, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of, malaysia
National children's commissioner responds to Victorian youth justice violence Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
Conflicting details have emerged about a fight between prison guards and about 16 teenage boys jailed at Victoria's maximum-security Barwon Prison. The Human Rights Law Centre says its clients were punched kicked and doused in capsicum spray, but the guards say the inmates instigated the violence. Youth advocates have been warning that conditions at Barwon are heading in the direction of the Northern Territory's notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. The national children's commissioner, Megan Mitchell, has expressed concern about the episode and says, regardless of who was responsible, adult jail is no place for children.
Topics: prisons-and-punishment, youth, human, anakie-3221
Poll suggests Liberals backlash over One Nation preference deal, according to GetUp Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
The activist group GetUp says its latest poll indicates that the Liberal Party is likely to face a voter backlash for doing a preference deal with One Nation in the upcoming Western Australian election. The poll was conducted in two federal marginal seats: Chisholm in Melbourne's east and Reid in Sydney's inner west. Almost a third of respondents said they were less likely to vote for the Liberal Party as a result of recent preference deals in Western Australia. The human rights campaign director for the group, Shen Narayanasamy, says that the poll may have implications for the WA poll similar to the 1998 Queensland election and the 2007 federal election which, some allege, cost former prime minister John Howard his seat of Bennelong.
Topics: activism-and-lobbying, liberals, one-nation, polls, wa, australia
Climate change a financial risk, says APRA Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
One of Australia's financial regulators has explicitly addressed for the first time the topic of financial risk created by global warming. Geoff Summerhayes, an executive board member of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), revealed in a speech yesterday that APRA now views climate change as a 'here and now' risk. It made the recommendation due to three main influences: the Paris climate agreement, recommendations by the G20 Financial Stability Board, as well as a legal opinion issued late last year. APRA says it expects big companies to carefully consider these risks, warning that company directors could be liable if they fail to do so.
Topics: climate-change, regulation, australia
Sugar cane growers say George Christensen could lose his seat if he doesn't stand up for them Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
Sugar cane growers in George Christensen's electorate say that if their local MP doesn't stand up to the Government, he will be punished at the ballot box. The outspoken Government MP is furious about a deal for sugar cane growers which limits their ability to market and sell their produce. Mr Christensen is considering what action he'll take if there isn't a resolution in the growers' favour. While he hasn't directly threatened to resign, his actions are making the Government nervous, forcing the Deputy Prime Minister to travel to Queensland to hear directly from sugar growers.
Topics: federal-government, sugar, liberal-national-party-queensland, canberra-2600
Bushfires continue to blaze across New South Wales Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
One hundred and one fires are burning around New South Wales this weekend, 37 of them still uncontained. The worst, at Carwoola near Canberra, is still a problem for firefighters, with 190 firefighters engaged overnight. Although conditions eased overnight, today's weather will again pose a high fire danger. Two firefighters were injured in the blaze yesterday and at least 15 properties have been lost. Meanwhile, a bushfire in Limekilns north of Bathurst continues to be a danger a week after it was the major focus for rural firefighters.
Topics: bushfire, nsw, broken-head-2481, queanbeyan-east-2620
PM: Full Program Audio
Posted
On Friday's program: The former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for a major shift in Australia's foreign policy, saying the time has come for Australia to formally recognise the Palestinian state. A Federal Court ruling today means that the tax office can now apply the same Goods and Services Tax requirements to Uber's ride-sharing smart phone app Uber-X as it does to the cab companies. And the royal commission hears there's confusion in the priesthood about whether a priest can report that a child is being sexually abused when the child has told him in the confessional.
Topics: australia
Head of Samsung arrested in corruption scandal in South Korea Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
In South Korea, the man at the helm of one of the world's biggest tech companies, Samsung, has been arrested as part of a major corruption scandal. Jay Y Lee's arrest this morning is just the latest development in a 4 month saga that's already forced the country's president to resign.
Topics: corruption, law-crime-and-justice, science-and-technology, korea-republic-of
Journalist who had close contact with Kim Jong Nam speaks out Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
One of the few journalists who ever had close contact with the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has spoken about his experiences with him. Yuji Gomi interviewed Kim Jong Nam for a total of seven hours and exchanged emails with him over the course of a number of years. Kim Jong Nam was murdered at an airport in Malaysia this week - leading some to suspect that North Korea was behind the assassination. Three people have been arrested over the murder, but at this stage it's not known if they have any links to North Korea.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, government-and-politics, law-crime-and-justice, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of
Bombing of Darwin remembered after 75 years Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
This Sunday, Darwin will remember 75 years since the bombing of the city, also the first World War Two attack on mainland Australia. Hundreds died in the Japanese raids that day, just two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Ninety-six-year-old Brian Winspear was there on the day and has returned to the city on a mission to ensure it's not forgotten.
Topics: world-war-2, community-and-society, history, darwin-0800, australia, nt
Priests confused about child abuse reports in the confessional Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
The child sexual abuse Royal Commission has heard Australian priests are not sure if they can report child abuse to the authorities if a child has revealed their abuse in the confessional. Some priests argue the abuse is not the sin of the child and as such it is not covered by the confessional seal. Other priests aren't so sure.
Topics: catholic, community-and-society, child-abuse, law-crime-and-justice, royal-commissions, australia
Court rules Uber is a 'taxi service', drivers now required to pay GST Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
A landmark Federal Court ruling today means that Uber-X, a ride-sharing smart phone application, will now be subject to the same GST requirements as taxi services. The taxi industry says it's relieved by the decision. Legal experts say the decision could have huge ramifications for other operators in the new 'sharing economy'.
Topics: tax, business-economics-and-finance, company-news, government-and-politics, road-transport, australia
Fish faeces from Tassal farms end up in Tasmanian World Heritage Area Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
The CEO of Tassal, Mark Ryan, says that the dead zone that is under the company's Franklin lease in Macquarie Harbour has extended into the World Heritage Area. Tassal has been ordered to destock the fish pens by the state Environment Protection Authority.
Topics: fishing-aquaculture, government-and-politics, tas, australia
Kevin Rudd says it's time Australia formally recognised the Palestinian state Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
The former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for a major shift in Australia's foreign policy. In a statement, he's told PM that the time has come for Australia to formally recognise the Palestinian state. His comments come ahead of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Australia next week.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, territorial-disputes, australia, palestinian-territory-occupied
Malcolm Turnbull meets with new NZ PM Bill English Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has met his New Zealand counterpart for the first time since Bill English took over as PM from John Key late last year. The leaders met in Queenstown, on the South Island, and spoke about international trade, Donald Trump's presidency, and security.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, australia, new-zealand
Christensen warned to get back in the tent after speculation he'd threatened to resign Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted | Updated
Renegade Federal Nationals MP George Chistensen is being warned to get back in the tent and act as a team player. It comes amid speculation he had threatened to resign from the Coalition. Mr Christensen has confirmed he drafted a so-called 'letter of demand' to the Prime Minister, but says he never sent it.
Topics: nationals, government-and-politics, political-parties, australia
Ross River Fever cases spike across eastern Australia Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
2017 has seen a big jump in the number of reported cases of the mosquito-spread virus, Ross River Fever. The virus isn't fatal but it can be debilitating for those who contract it. In a normal year, Australia sees around 5,000 reported cases of Ross River. This year Queensland has already seen 155 new cases. In NSW, 436 cases have been reported, compared to around 102 for the same time last year. By far, the highest number of reported cases this year has been in Victoria, with 708 cases reported - a huge increase from the same period last year, when there were only 34.
Topics: ross-river-fever, health, diseases-and-disorders, australia
