ABC News Daily

For a long time to buy a home in Australia you needed a 20 per cent deposit or you’d have to pay a big lender's mortgage insurance fee. It’s asking a lot, given house prices in our major cities are around the million-dollar mark or more.  This week, the government expanded a five per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers, with no income caps and more expensive homes now eligible.  Today, finan...

Victorian police officers had gone to execute a search warrant on a Wednesday morning in a sleepy alpine village.  But the day turned to tragedy with self-identified ‘sovereign citizen’ Dezi Freeman allegedly killing two of the officers and wounding another.  Today, Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal who recently spent months investigating the movement and speaking with sovereign citizens on what...

The spy agency ASIO has revealed Iran orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks in Australia last year and now all ties with Tehran have been cut.   The attacks in Sydney and Melbourne terrified the Jewish community and were aimed at undermining social cohesion.  Now the Iranian ambassador has been expelled and Australian diplomatic staff have quickly left Iran.  Today, Greg Barton, professor...

The growth in the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is making it financially unsustainable.  But is moving some children with autism off the scheme really a good idea?  The government plans to have a new program called Thriving Kids in place by July next year to support children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism.  Today, we speak with Jess Otter, whose son has au...

If you happen to visit Washington DC anytime soon, you could notice troops and even armoured vehicles on the streets. No, America is not at war, President Donald Trump has deployed hundreds of members of the National Guard to crack down on crime. Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the centre-right think tank the Niskanen Center in Washington on whether DC is actually dangerous and what Trump hopes to a...

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Anthony Albanese is a weak leader who has betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.  But do we really need to be in lockstep with Israel as it broadens its assault on Gaza? Today, global affairs editor Laura Tingle on the dramatic slide in relations.   Featured: Laura Tingle, ABC Global Affairs Editor 

Why have so many hand car wash services replaced automatic machines? It has to do with immigration policies and there are implications for Australia’s productivity which is among the worst in the developed world.  Economists insist boosting productivity is the only way to improve our living standards, but could delivering higher wages first actually help to fix the problem? Today, chief business c...

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been to the White House before in what became an infamous encounter with Donald Trump.  This time he took an entourage of European leaders as backup as the US president pushes for a quick end to the war in Ukraine.  At the heart of the talks are security guarantees from the US and a possible meeting between Zelenskyy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.   Today, former US...

If the Putin-Trump meeting on the weekend brought about anything, it was a closer relationship between the two leaders. One an accused war criminal, the other a convicted felon.  So, with the US president rolling out the red carpet for his Russian counterpart, what will Vladimir Putin do next?  Today, Russia expert Matthew Sussex from the Centre for European Studies at the ANU on Putin’s ultimate...

In the month of April, China installed more solar power than Australia ever has.  China is also now home to half of the world’s wind power and half of the world’s electric cars. Despite this, China remains the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. So, is it a climate hero or villain and how has the Chinese Communist Party managed to roll out green energy tech so quickly? Today, climate repo...

Donald Trump once declared mRNA vaccines a medical miracle, now his health Secretary is taking an axe to them. Robert F Kennedy Junior doesn’t believe in the science behind the vaccines that were deployed to save lives as Covid spread around the world and he’s cut nearly half a billion dollars in research funding. Today, professor of public health Julie Leask on what Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance...

This week, five Al Jazeera journalists were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza. Israel confirmed it had targeted one of the men it says was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell, an allegation Al Jazeera denies.   So, who is telling the truth?  Today, former Al Jazeera correspondent and executive director of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom Peter Greste on the problems that arise when foreign r...

Donald Trump wants to win a Nobel Peace Prize and so he’s desperate to end the war in Ukraine.  He’ll be in Alaska later this week meeting the Russian president in the first face-to-face encounter the two men have had since Trump returned to the White House.  The problem is the Ukrainian leader won’t be there and Trump’s talking about some ‘land-swapping’ between the Russian invaders and Ukraine. ...

In a move that will further anger the Israeli leader, Australia will recognise a Palestinian state in September following declarations from the UK, France and Canada. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu says recognising Palestinian statehood is a win for Hamas and he’s defending his decision to expand the w...

Elon Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles can not generally be used to power Australian homes. Why is that, when the batteries in Tesla EVs are much more powerful than most home batteries?  As Australia transitions to more green energy, other models of electric vehicles are being used to power homes and even the grid, feeding in when electricity is needed most.  Today, energy reporter Dan Mercer on the...

Donald Trump didn’t like the numbers, so he sacked the messenger.  So, what are the implications of the US President’s decision to get rid of the nation’s chief statistician, who dared to release revised jobs figures?  Today, Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic on the jackhammer Trump is taking to democracy.  Featured:  Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic

This week a Chinese woman was charged with foreign interference, accused of spying on Buddhists in Canberra.  Separately, the boss of Australia’s spy agency has warned that other nations are spying in Australia at unprecedented levels, with unprecedented sophistication.  Today, ABC foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic on the allegations against the woman in Canberra, how it affects the China-...

If reports are correct, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu wants to expand the war in Gaza so his forces fully occupy the strip.  As international outrage grows about the devastation and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, could more countries recognising a Palestinian state make a difference?  France, Canada and the UK are trying to pressure Israel by announcing plans to do so in the coming months an...

It was a protest the New South Wales government and police tried to stop but couldn’t. In the end, more than 100,000 protesters were permitted to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge demanding an end to the war in Gaza.  But should we be concerned that organisers had to fight in court for the right to hold the rally?  Today, associate professor in law at the University of South Australia Sarah Mo...

On average there’s a class action lodged in Australia every week. But do they really help bring justice to groups of Australians exposed to wrongdoing?  Today, Anne Connolly on her Four Corners investigation into the class action traps leaving victims short changed and lawyers richer.  Featured:  Anne Connolly, Four Corners reporter

Donald Trump has spent another week fielding questions over the release of the so-called Epstein files. The saga even followed him to Scotland. Now he has sent the US Deputy Attorney-General to interview Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell who is in prison for sex trafficking.  Today, Jill Wine-Banks, one of the prosecutors during the Watergate scandal, on whether Trump could pardon...

Donald Trump’s latest trade deal with the European Union is said to be really bad for Europe.  So, why did the EU agree to a 15 per cent tariff on almost all goods entering the United States and does it signal a troubled road ahead for us?  Today, the ABC’s Chief Business Correspondent Ian Verrender on where all the Trump trade mess is up to. Featured:  Ian Verrender, Chief Business Correspondent

Once a sceptic, now a convert, Donald Trump is embracing crypto currency and making a tidy profit on the side.  The US president’s newfound love has seen crypto currencies like Bitcoin skyrocket in value and now he’s passing bills through US Congress to change the sector entirely.  Today, Ross Buckley, Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales on whether it’s stil...

Israel says there’s no starvation in Gaza, but the pictures tell a very different story and there’s now growing condemnation from some of Israel’s supporters, including Australia. The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the images of suffering are ‘completely indefensible’.  Today, Global Affairs Editor Laura Tingle on the mounting pressure and the one person who could force Israel’s Benjamin Net...

Fraudsters have found it surprisingly straightforward to get thousands of taxpayer dollars deposited in their accounts by just making a few false declarations to the Australian Taxation Office about the amount of GST they’re owed because of fake businesses.  It adds up to billions of dollars that are unlikely to be recovered.  Today, Angus Grigg on his Four Corners investigation into the biggest G...