PM

Around Australia, thousands of school students have abandoned their classrooms to strike for action on climate change. Calls for them to stay in school from the Prime Minister, the Resources Minister and the NSW Education Minister appear to have only encouraged the protesters.

On tonight's PM: school students in their thousands defy the PM's call to stay in class, staging mass protests over climate change inaction; the Banking Royal Commission wraps up public hearings, with claims its revelations may cost over $1 billion in restitution; and new research finds many Australians still hold troubling views about sexual violence against women.

An Australian Uighur activist says the Chinese Government is attempting to silence her by sending her family members to detention centres in China. Social worker Nurgul Sawut speaks with PM.

A Senate inquiry into the board of the ABC has today offered an extraordinary insight into the inner workings of the board and the war between former managing director Michelle Guthrie and former chairman Justin Milne.

A push to rush new laws through Parliament to make it easier for authorities to intercept encrypted communications has been formally rejected by Labor. The Prime Minister and security agencies want the legislation passed before Christmas, but the Opposition says the bill is "flawed" in its current form.

A major report on climate and health in Australia warns policy inaction is threatening lives, as climate change drives more heatwaves, changes infectious disease patterns and, the authors say, drives mental health issues. Co-author Dr Tony Capon speaks with PM.

Labor has tested the Government's numbers on the floor of Parliament again, as the sitting week draws to a close. Independent MP Kerryn Phelps has announced her plans to introduce a private member's bill next week that would remove people from Nauru and Manus Island.

A parliamentary committee has recommended the establishment of an Indigenous advisory body to Parliament. The recommendation follows years of debate about how to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution.

On Thursday's PM: After years of delays, Adani says it will self-finance its Carmichael coal mine; the Federal Government clinches $1.3 billion in budget savings, after Labor backs a bill forcing new migrants to wait up to four years for welfare payments; and the hunt for the elusive platypus in an effort to halt the unique mammal's population decline.

A national study of platypus populations has scientists so worried that they are now pushing for greater protection of the elusive mammal.