PM

Government officials have been questioned at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about inconsistencies in the rules determining who is required to report children at risk. Members of the clergy, for example, are not considered mandatory reporters in some parts of the country.

The White House today condemned a wave of anti-Semitic attacks targeting Jewish centres in the US, but some of those on the receiving end say it's not enough. Shootings, small scale bombings and attacks on cemeteries targeting immigrants, Jews and Muslims are on the rise and some blame President Donald Trump's incendiary language. One of the most significant attacks occurred at a Jewish cemetery in Pennsylvania where more than 100 tombstones were vandalised.

China's annual political meeting this week is bringing 3,000 delegates to the capital Beijing, but very few of them are willing to raise controversial ideas. The representatives are supposed to debate policy, but China's one party state makes that nearly impossible. And the Chinese people who want to highlight everyday problems are losing out.

There's concern facial recognition technology being used on some Queensland library patrons invades privacy and may break the law. The Toowoomba Regional Council is trialling the biometric software... but Brisbane and some other councils are considering adopting it too. The Toowoomba Council denies it's breaching privacy, but lawyers say it's moving Australia closer to a biometric database.

The High Court has today dismissed a challenge to Northern Territory laws, which allow police to detain an intoxicated person for up to 10 hours. The human rights group involved in launching the appeal says the police powers are too broad, and have led to more Indigenous people in custody. In response to the decision, the Northern Territory Government says it's focused on finding safer places for Indigenous people to be detained.

Violence, financial instability, and lack of leadership, they're three of the challenges standing in the way of gender equality according to the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. She's interviewed more than 1000 Australian women to find out what their experiences have been.

A new national helpline has been established to provide counselling and referral services for nurses and midwives who are experiencing health problems. The line was set up after a national survey of 10,000 nurses and midwives found high levels had experienced health issues or knew a colleague who had.

Well the verdict's in, it seems women are better at trading in the financial markets than men. The study by the University of New South Wales looked at almost a million traders over a 17 year period in Finland. It found that women are better stock traders because they're more selective and don't get carried away when the market fluctuates. But is this study telling the full story?

The Secretary of the Human Services Department says she didn't take a meeting with ACOSS and other stakeholders about the government's controversial robo-debt program because she didn't want details to get out in the media. Kathryn Campbell told a senate estimates inquiry it was appropriate for Human Services Minister Alan Tudge to be dealing with stakeholder due to the high media attention devoted to the program.

The national broadcaster will shed between 150 and 200 jobs over coming months under a new strategy unveiled today by Managing Director Michelle Guthrie. Some of the savings from the losses will be put toward a new content fund, intended to bolster regional and local content at the ABC, especially in digital output.