ABC News Daily

It’s one of the most watched defamation cases, with both Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann taking the stand in the Federal Court this week.

Mr Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview where Ms Higgins alleged she had been raped by a Liberal staffer at Parliament House in 2019. 

He has denied the allegation and has never been found guilty of any wrongdoing. 

Today, reporter Partick Bell on the key evidence heard by the court. 

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Patrick Bell, ABC reporter

It was the Australian dream to own a home and a block of land.

But while that was once very achievable, it’s not anymore. So why did that change and can it be reversed?

Today, the ABC’s Alan Kohler explains why anyone born after 1980 is in a tricky position. 

He’s written a Quarterly Essay about the housing market and says it’d take an 18 year freeze in house prices to return to an income to house price ratio that he and his parents enjoyed.

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Alan Kohler, ABC finance presenter

The High Court delivered a ruling earlier this month that’s led to the release of more than 140 people from indefinite immigration detention. 

Some have serious criminal backgrounds in Australia or overseas. 

It’s become a political nightmare for the government as it’s scrambled to have those released monitored by authorities. 

Today, chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program, Laura Tingle, on why the political chaos that’s unfolded since the court ruling has been an ‘unedifying debacle’.

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Laura Tingle, 7.30's chief political correspondent

Being a renter can be stressful with a shortage of properties on the market, rising rents and a lack of security for tenants. 

But what you might not know is there’s evidence that renting is accelerating the biological ageing process. 

That’s according to a peer reviewed study from the University of Essex in the UK and Adelaide University. 

Today, one of the report’s authors, Emma Baker, on how DNA testing has shown renting can be bad for your health. 

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Emma Baker, Professor of Housing Research at the University of Adelaide

With just under a year until a presidential election in the United States, Donald Trump  is shifting his language in a disturbing way. 

During a rally this month, the former US leader used rhetoric reminiscent of the Nazis, calling his domestic opponents and critics ‘vermin’. 

Today, a historian of American political language Dr Jennifer Mercieca discusses how Trump uses language to whip up support. 

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Dr Jennifer Mercieca, historian of American political rhetoric and professor of communication at Texas A&M University

After almost 50 days of war, Israel and Hamas have done a deal to pause the fighting and release hostages and prisoners.

So what went on behind the scenes to reach the agreement and could it be a turning point in the war? 

Today, an expert on ceasefires Doctor Marika Sosnowski from Melbourne University on the complexities of the negotiations and what to expect next.

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Dr Marika Sosnowski, University of Melbourne research fellow

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The Americans may have come up with the Black Friday retail sales, but Australians are embracing it and it’s now bigger than the Boxing Day sales. 

There are bargains to be had, but retailers are really trying to push people to make unplanned purchases. 

Today, business reporter Nassim Khadem on how much we’re really going to spend during a cost-of-living crisis and what that might mean for our inflation problem. 

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Nassim Khadem, ABC business reporter

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In recent weeks, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been rubbing shoulders with China’s President Xi Jinping on the world stage. 

The message was that the relationship between the two countries had been stabilised. But how quickly things can change. 

Australia is now in dispute with China over a maritime altercation which saw Australian Navy divers injured when a nearby warship emitted sonar pulses.  

Today, foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic on how the incident unfolded and how China’s response threatens to open a new rift. 

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Stephen Dziedzic, ABC foreign affairs reporter

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If you feel like your standard of living has been getting worse over the past year or so, you’re not alone and you’re not wrong. 

High inflation, rising interest rates and rent prices mean your relative income is likely to have fallen dramatically. Unless of course you’re a baby boomer - many in that generation are still living it up. 

Today, the ABC’s national political lead and Insiders’ host, David Speers, on what the government is doing on the cost-of-living and what it could do to close the generational gap. 

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David Speers, ABC national political lead and Insiders’ host 

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For many of us, COVID-19 has drifted from our thoughts, but infections are surging again around Australia. 

Experts say it is the beginning of a new wave of infections, but the lack of testing makes it difficult to predict the size and timing of the peak. 

So what should we be doing as this next wave takes hold? 

Today, infectious disease expert and director of the Burnet Institute, Brendan Crabb, on the new variants, the latest vaccine and why COVID is still a force to be reckoned with. 

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Brendan Crabb, Director and CEO of the Burnet Institute