Audio
Calls for Hunters and Collectors to change their name deemed a 'strange dream' by fans Audio Transcript and Verbatim
Posted
An animal rights organisation has embarked on the holy grail of PR campaigns. People for the Ethical Treatment Animals has written to the iconic Australian band, Hunters and Collectors, calling for it to change its name. PETA says the group's name glorifies hunting and has suggested some alternatives, like Hunters and Collectors of Antiques.
Topics: animal-welfare, music, human-interest, australia
Namatjira family fighting to get copyright to Albert Namatjira's collectionnamatjiratrust Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The family of Albert Namatjira, one of Australia's greatest artists, is launching a campaign to gain control of the copyright of his paintings. The rights were sold by the Northern Territory public trustee in 1983, reportedly without consultation with the Namatjira family. It's a deal perceived by many as a serious cultural injustice, which has also deprived the artist's descendants of millions of dollars. Launched today, the Namatjira Legacy Trust aims to set up a lasting legacy for the family and help a new generation of Aboriginal artists.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, visual-art, painting, community-and-society, australia
Concerns that hearing aid vendors may exploit vulnerable customers Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The consumer watchdog has raised concerns that some hearing aid retailers may be exploiting vulnerable Australians and selling them expensive products they don't need. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is particularly concerned about companies working on commission and being given incentives to sell certain products.
Topics: consumer-protection, hearing, australia
Regional home owners offered grant relief as city faces housing affordability crisis Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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As property prices in Australia cities continue to soar to new, eye-watering heights, a move by the Victorian Government to make regional houses more affordable has given first home-buyers some hope. The State Government is doubling the first home owners' grant for newly built homes in regional areas so that young people have a better chance of getting their foot in the property market door. But the Real Estate Institute of Victoria says the incentives don't go far enough and there is the risk of further fuelling property prices.
Topics: housing-industry, government-and-politics, housing, vic, australia
Orthopods abandon new hospital amid public stoush with management Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The South-East Regional Hospital in the New South Wales town of Bega opened barely a year ago and has been the subject of rumblings about understaffing and complaints about management. In the past week the issues have spilled out into the open in spectacular fashion over the head of orthopaedic surgery, whose contract has not been renewed. Fellow surgeons have cancelled their surgery lists in support of their colleague.
Topics: healthcare-facilities, health, doctors-and-medical-professionals, bega-2550, nsw
Nepalese asylum-seeker destitute and in hiding after being deported from PNG Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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A Nepalese asylum-seeker who was 'involuntarily removed' from Australia's offshore detention centre on Manus Island three weeks ago and flown back to Nepal, says he's in hiding and fears for his life. His deportation has reportedly sparked a rise in the number of unsuccessful asylum-seekers who are accepting cash incentives to return to their countries of origin.
Topics: refugees, nepal, australia, papua-new-guinea
Russia's meddling in US election will backfire on them: Peter Feaver Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Peter Feaver served in President George W Bush's National Security Council between 2005 and 2007. He's now a Professor of political science at Duke University in the United States. He says the questions around Russia's interference in the US election will not end until there is an independent commission investigating what happened, and that for Russia, the meddling was a 'tactical success, but a long term strategic blunder'.
Topics: united-states, russian-federation
US Attorney-General steps down from FBI investigation Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The US Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, has stepped down from an FBI investigation into alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election. But Jeff Sessions denies he lied under oath when he told his Senate confirmation hearing that hadn't had any communication with Russians during the campaign. Democrats are not satisfied and have called on him to resign.
Topics: united-states, russian-federation
Abuse redress advisers urge states to sign up to Commonwealth scheme Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Members of the Federal Government's independent advisory council on redress are urging the states to sign up to the Commonwealth Redress Scheme. They say abuse survivors have been let down by governments for decades and that it's time to make amends.
Topics: child-abuse, government-and-politics, law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, royal-commissions, australia
Seven worries Amber Harrison cross-claim could be 'scurrilous and scandalous' Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Amber Harrison's high-profile legal battle with Seven West Media, relating to her affair with chief executive Tim Worner, appears to have escalated. Ms Harrison is now considering a counter-claim against Seven for breach of contract, as the media organisation continues to count the financial and reputational cost of the scandal. Counsel for Seven West Media Sandy Dawson SC warned Ms Harrison's claim could contain 'scurrilous and scandalous material'.
Topics: courts-and-trials, media, sydney-2000
NAB chief grilled over staff misconduct and its reluctance to report it to the public Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The chief of the NAB, Andrew Thorburn, has faced a grilling in Canberra over why the bank doesn't want to report cases of staff misconduct publicly. Mr Thorburn also revealed that the manager responsible for NAB's wealth division was given a bonus, even though that division has had to pay out millions of dollars in compensation to customers whose superannuation accounts were overcharged.
Topics: banking, federal-parliament, canberra-2600
Allegation of possible misuse of veterans' data legislation 'ill-founded': Minister Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Veterans' Affairs Minister Dan Tehan says that the legislation to share veterans' information is 'completely different' to the legislation under which Human Services Minister Alan Tudge shared a Centrelink client's personal details with a journalist. Speaking with The World Today's Tom Iggulden, he says that the legislation would only be used in very rare circumstances, that extensive bipartisan consultation took place in drafting the legislation, and that it will be introduced as a 'disallowable instrument' which could be revoked by the Parliament.
Topics: veterans, government-and-politics, canberra-2600
Backlash against legislation enabling release of personal information of war veterans Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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A backlash is brewing to the Federal Government's planned new power that would allow it to release the personal information of war veterans, if it wanted to correct the record in media reports. The legislation giving the Government that power passed the House of Representatives yesterday. Labor's now asking for 'clarification' about how it'd work, while at least two crossbench Senators want the legislation to be scrapped.
Topics: government-and-politics, veterans, information-and-communication, canberra-2600
Snapchat makes splash on US stock exchange Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The Snapchat app is best known for disappearing messages and quirky facial filters for selfies. Now the company that owns the Snapchat messaging service has been valued at $US24 billion, after selling all of the 200 million shares it offered to investors. It's the biggest Wall Street debut of a tech company since Facebook in 2012.
Topics: stockmarket, company-news, social-media, united-states
Bob Katter calls for exoneration of sacked Supreme Court judge Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Federal MP Bob Katter is pushing to clear the name of a former Supreme Court judge he helped sack from the bench nearly 30 years ago. Angelo Vasta is the only judge to have been dismissed by a parliament in Australia in a century. Bob Katter was a member of the state cabinet that decided Mr Vasta should be removed, but Mr Katter says the sacking was unfair and it's been nagging his conscience. His State colleagues have tabled a bill in the Queensland Parliament to revoke the decision. The former judge says he's not after compensation, but the former premier who oversaw the process says the decision should not be overturned.
Topics: judges-and-legal-profession, states-and-territories, courts-and-trials, qld
Labor asks for a 'please explain' on veterans' legislation Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Labor is reviewing its support for legislation it voted for only yesterday that would allow the head of the Veterans' Affairs Department to share personal information of veterans in certain circumstances. The Opposition says it received reassurances about the way that information could be shared, but has now changed its mind in the wake of revelations that Human Services Minister Alan Tudge shared the personal Centrelink file of a welfare recipient with a journalist.
Topics: federal-government, information-and-communication, canberra-2600
US President stands behind Attorney-General, amid accusations of lying to Senate over Russian links Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Losing a national security adviser over links to Russia was a major embarrassment for Donald Trump's White House. Now the President's political opponents are baying for the scalp of his Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, who stands accused of lying to the Senate over his contact with Russians. The President has affirmed his support for Mr Sessions. The controversy calls into question the depth and breadth of the Trump administration's ties with Moscow.
Topics: government-and-politics, united-states, russian-federation
OECD warns Australia of housing rout risk as prices, debt continue to soar Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned that Australia's exposure to a possible real estate bubble could end in a damaging housing rout. The OECD says that Australia could face a hard landing after recent gains in real estate prices along the east coast. The organisation is also concerned about the widening gap between rich and poor in Australia, saying that the nation's long period of economic growth has seen high-income households benefit disproportionately.
Topics: housing-industry, housing, australia
Christopher Pyne spruiks major defence industry projects as Joint Strike Fighters arrive in Avalon Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The Prime Minister and a clutch of senior ministers will witness first-hand today the arrival of two Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in Australia, which will take to the skies at the Avalon Air Show near Melbourne. Australia has ordered 72 of the aircraft at a cost of nearly $18 billion dollars. Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne speaks with AM's Sabra Lane ahead of the air show and says the deployment of the JSF program will be worth $1 billion a year to the Australian economy and will support up to 5,000 jobs. He says the long-standing criticisms of the program from a number of sources have been 'exaggerated'.
Topics: defence-industry, defence-and-aerospace-industries, air-force, federal-government, lara-3212
NDIS enrolments back on track, but advocates warn of poor quality Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The National Disability Insurance Scheme says its enrolment numbers are back on track after a shaky start to its transition phase. Nearly 26,000 people signed on the scheme in its latest quarter from October to December last year, more than three times the number of the previous quarter. But disability advocates say, in the race to meet enrolment targets, people entering the NDIS are losing out.
Topics: disabilities, insurance, welfare, carers, australia
'Stumbling into confrontation': Australia's new foreign policy, trade landscape in the world of Trum Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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The election of Donald Trump has seen Australia's foreign policy landscape turned upside down, with trade deals abandoned and airports thrown into chaos. In particular, security experts say the new US administration has heightened the threat of a clash with China. If such a crisis occurred, they say Australia's reliance on oil from Singapore would be a big problem. One analyst has called for another Defence Force Posture Review.
Topics: foreign-affairs, government-and-politics, world-politics, australia, china, singapore
US Attorney-General accused of lying to Senate over Russian links Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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Losing a national security adviser over links to Russia was a major embarrassment for Donald Trump's White House. Now the President's political opponents are baying for the scalp of his Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, who stands accused of lying to the Senate over his contact with Russians. The controversy calls into question the depth and breadth of the Trump administration's ties with Moscow.
Topics: government-and-politics, united-states, russian-federation
Microfossils found in Canada could show the earliest evidence of life Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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A group of British scientists claim to have found the earliest evidence of life on Earth. The microfossils were discovered on coastal rocks, along the Quebec shoreline in Canada. And they're thought to have been formed up to 4.2 billion years ago. But some scientists are sceptical.
Topics: fossils, science-and-technology, biology, earth-sciences, evolution, canada, australia, united-kingdom, england
PM Full Program Audio
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On Thursday's program: UN investigators accuse both sides in the battle for Aleppo of committing war crimes with a report also finding it was Syrian government aircraft that 'deliberately' bombed a humanitarian convoy last September; Scientists say they've found 4-billion-year-old micro-fossils, which could be the earliest evidence of life on earth; And new research shows plain cigarette packaging is proving to be effective in reducing smoking rates.
Topics: australia
World is on the edge of a cyber war: cyber hacking expert Audio Transcript and Verbatim
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A cyber hacking expert in Moscow has predicted the world is on the verge of a cyber war, as politicians in Europe accuse Russia of starting to interfere with their election campaigns. An investigation is still underway in the US over what happened with the campaign there. Andrei Soldatov is an investigative journalist and author of The Red Web. And he told Europe correspondent Lisa Millar that it's not a surprise Russia is considered 'ground zero' for hacking. He's also outlined another twist that he says will be more serious than campaign hacking.
Topics: australia
