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Australian Council of Social Services ceo Dr Cassandra Goldie says Australians living in regional areas felt their concerns were not heard in the lead-up to the election. She says the government needs to lift Newstart allowance as many people, especially people in regional Australia, are struggling to keep a roof over their heads.

An increasing number of patients in North Queensland are visiting the emergency room for as little as a prescription for antibiotics. And votes from the remote Ngaanyatjarra Lands have increased by 30 per cent since the last federal election in 2016. But in a huge parcel of land, only 400 indigenous people cast votes. There are many people who feel ignored by government.

Water crisis meeting in regional New South Wales as the drought bites hard at dam storage levels. And mixed views from regional Queensland about what voters in marginal seats want.

Review of farmer welfare scheme recommends separating it from Centrelink. A podcast prompts women to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse at a regional high school.

Irrigators in New South Wales are pursuing a class action against the Murray Darling Basin Authority over alleged water mismanagement. Chemical company Monsanto has been ordered to pay $US2 billion to a couple who contracted cancer after using the weed killer Roundup. President of the National Farmers Federation Fiona Simson said glyphosate had been through a rigorous approval process in Australia.

Social service providers are working hard to push for a commitment to increase the Newstart allowance. Labor has left some wriggle room, promising to revise the rate, but the Coalition says it’s fine as it is. And we head to the seaside town of Batemans Bay in New South Wales where the unemployment rate there is at 14.9 percent, nearly three times the national average.

Rural families are spending months away from home in order to get treatment for seriously ill children and a town in South Australia divided over a coal gasification project.

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison spends the day in the marginal seat of Cowper to bolster the chances of the National Party retaining the seat, while the electoral commission undertakes the logistical challenge of gathering votes from the remote Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

Middle-aged men living outside major cities are Australia's heaviest drinkers. That's what a national study has found. Dr Hestor Wilson says how much people drink is really weighing on people's minds, but many don't understand what risky drinking is. And what it is like living on the Basics Card that was introduced as part of the Howard Government’s intervention in the Northern Territory.

Australian voters are pretty evenly split on the issue of immigration. Views differ over whether there should be more, less or stay the same. We head to the diverse regional town of Shepparton. And farmers gear up to travel long distances to vote as some bush polling booths close in regional Australia.