PM

The price of crude oil has fallen heavily over the past 24 hours, following a highly anticipated meeting by the world's most powerful oil cartel - OPEC. The cartel, until recently, was trying to push the price lower, but has since being trying to raise the price of crude, largely for the benefit for Saudi Arabia. So if the price keeps falling, will Australian motorists benefit?

The Victorian Government has established Australia's first virtual school for children in out of home care. The Lookout Centre was trialled in the south-west region and then rolled out state-wide this year to help vulnerable students. The peak advocacy group hopes the program could be expanded nationally and continue to break down barriers for at-risk kids.

There's renewed calls for an overhaul of the vocational education training sector, after thousands of students and staff were left stranded from the troubled Careers Australia. The education provider has been placed into voluntary administration because it doesn't have sufficient funds to meet payroll and other costs. The Federal Government says students will be protected, but some in the education sector say it's also to blame for the mess.

PM understands a whistleblower fired from RSL New South Wales will be welcomed back into the organisation by its new leadership. Captain James Brown has been elected to lead the 38,000 strong organisation, which is currently being investigated by New South Wales police and the charities regulator, over a number of financial misconduct allegations. Several weeks ago, the CEO Glenn Kolomeitz was sacked over an alleged breach of contract - a claim he denies. The new President, James Brown, is expected to make big changes at the league - and the case of Glenn Kolomeitz is near the top of that list.

Researchers say the Health Star system cannot be trusted, despite being a key weapon in Australia's fight against obesity. Two years after replacing the controversial Heart Foundation Tick as the primary food rating found on supermarket products, the stars have found themselves rating items such as oven baked hot chips higher than fresh apples. Public health organisations have also been fragmented in their positions, making it harder to criticise big transnational food corporations.

Australia is being urged to increase its budget for the Antarctic, as a major meeting to discuss the frozen continent gets underway in China this week. Forty-two per cent of Antarctica is claimed by Australia, but it's being outspent and outpaced by other countries like China. China's pushing ahead with plans for a fifth research base, and is not ruling out exploiting Antarctica's resources in the future.

On business PM tonight: Changes to media ownership laws and another horror week for the Australian retail sector, with the collapse of Topshop of Topman Australia.

The popularity of e-readers is often coupled with prediction that the paperback is headed for an inevitable demise. While technology has changed the publishing industry, children's and young adult books in print continue to have strong sales in Australia, the UK and US. Antoinette Lattouf speaks with Australian best-selling kids author Andy Griffiths about the future of children's storytelling ahead of his appearance at the Sydney's Writer's Festival.

At Uluru, delegates at the national constitutional convention are at a crucial point of talks to formulate a position on a possible referendum model. Tomorrow the delegates will make their view known. But there's been a split - a fringe group walked out of the talks today, saying their voice was not being heard.

The political stoush over school funding is heating up as the Federal Parliament continues to debate the Government's planned changes. The Government wants to overhaul arrangements by setting out its funding contribution to public and private schools in legislation. But the Opposition and the Education Union are fighting against the plan - arguing it's $22 billion less compared to what Labor promised over the next decade. To bolster its case the union has brought a delegation of principals and parents to Parliament House to lobby crossbench Senators directly.