PM

The incoming Health Minister Greg Hunt says his new portfolio is an issue of personal importance. Greg Hunt has vowed to protect Medicare, and with health seen as a weak spot for the Government, he'll be on the front line to meet attacks from the Opposition. The Prime Minister today announced his new frontbench after Sussan Ley's resignation last week following the expenses scandal. There's changes to the Cabinet and the outer ministry, but not everyone in the Government is satisfied with the new appointments. Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz says he's deeply disappointed that there's no Tasmanians on the frontbench, although he's singled out incoming Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar for praise.

The Australia Day ad featuring two young girls in hijabs is about to have a second life, after being pulled yesterday because of online threats. The electronic billboard at Cranbourne, in Melbourne's south-east, was part of a Victorian Government campaign to promote Australia Day events in the city. Threats and abuse, fuelled by far-right groups, led the billboard's operator to remove the ad yesterday. But its disappearance is likely to be brief, as a crowdfunding push has bought new billboards in major cities and ads in tomorrow's newspaper.

In the final hours of his administration, US President Barack Obama has commuted the prison sentences of a number of inmates, including some very high-profile cases. Oscar Lopez Rivera, sometimes called the 'Latin American Mandela', will walk free on May the 17th. Also due for release the same day is Chelsea Manning, who as a former US army intelligence analyst leaked hundreds of thousands of classified military logs to Julian Assange's WikiLeaks website. PM speaks to ANU professor of law Don Rothwell, who says there are still questions around whether incoming President Donald Trump will honour the changes.

The decision to suspend the search for missing Malaysia airlines flight MH370 has devastated the families of those on board. But prominent aviation writer Geoffrey Thomas warns it's also a blow for the wider flying public. He says it remains vital to know why MH370 went down, given it was an aircraft thousands of people fly around the world on every day.

The family and psychologist of a Bhutanese refugee who committed suicide before Christmas are appealing to the Federal Government to better manage welfare assessments for vulnerable people. They say the woman, who was in her '60s, felt stressed and depressed because of pressure from both Centrelink and a job agency to secure employment in order to keep her Newstart payments.

Owning property may be out of reach for many young Australians, but now there's new evidence that millennials are taking matters into their own hands, choosing share ownership over home ownership. Some in the sharemarket say they're seeing record numbers of Australians under 35 trying their hand at shares. Instead of discouraging what's normally regarded as a risky investment, experts say they'd like to see more younger Australians choosing shares over property.

Lawyers pushing for abortion reforms in the Northern Territory say the Government's proposed changes don't go far enough. Increased access to the abortion drug RU486 and to safe-zones at abortion clinics are amongst the changes flagged in a Government discussion paper. But critics say there's nothing in the paper about later-term abortions and women could be forced to carry a foetus with fatal abnormalities to term.

A senior Palestinian official has labelled Australia's position on the Middle East peace process as 'extreme' after the Turnbull Government distanced itself from the final statement of the Paris peace conference, a statement which reaffirmed a commitment to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. The criticism comes after Australia criticised last month's UN Security Council resolution, which condemned Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

New figures today show that fewer than two thirds of students finish their university degrees after six years. And after nine years, the figures aren't much better, with a quarter of students still not completing their courses. The Education Minister says when students don't complete degrees, it's a waste of their money and the taxpayers'. But the peak body representing universities disputes that the attrition rate is too high.

A controversial Victorian evangelical church which openly solicits donations for a nationalist political party during sermons has had its charitable status revoked. The Victoria-based Catch the Fire ministries is run by Pastor Daniel Nalliah, who is also the founder of the far-right Rise Up Australia party. Mr Nalliah says he has every right to preach his party's political message from the pulpit, but the charities watchdog disagrees.