PM

The Royal Commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory has returned to the town of Tennant Creek, north of Alice Springs. The town is home to Jake Roper - one of the six teenagers teargassed in Darwin's Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre in 2014. At today's meeting, there's been concern that the commission isn't doing enough to consult Indigenous people in the territory's more remote central Australian communities.

An Australian professor who pioneered the 'seemingly crazy' idea of breeding baby cane toads to save native animals has won the Prime Minister's Prize for Science. University of Sydney Professor Rick Shine has dedicated his life to reptiles and amphibians - and comes from a talented family of scientists. Professor Shine will be honoured with the prestigious $250,000 award at a ceremony at Parliament House tonight.

A small contingent of Australian Special Forces soldiers has just returned from India. They've been involved in Australia's first ever joint exercise with India's elite troops. The Department of Defence won't say how many were involved in the exercise, which PM has learned had a counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency focus.

Gambling industry observers fear a merger of two major companies could result in additional influence on regulation and political leaders. Tatts and Tabcorp have announced plans to create an $11 billion company.

The royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory has held closed meetings in Alice Springs, commission staff held with young people who've spent time in juvenile detention. It's part of a continuing a series of meetings in communities and towns around the territory. Antoinette Caroll is a youth court support worker in Alice Springs with the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service.

With low levels of inflation and wages growth, the statistics show it's becoming harder for Australians to climb onto a higher pay bracket. The Reserve Bank governor is obviously concerned about it because it was a central theme in his first formal speech in Sydney today. At least one economist argues that it could be two years before the average Australian worker can expect anything like a decent pay rise.

A group of welfare organisations have begun a campaign to decriminalise begging across Australia. They say it's ineffective at deterring the practice, and ties up legal resources unnecessarily. At the moment, begging is illegal in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

One of the nation's leading medical authorities on illicit drugs fears far worse could happen this summer because new and more insidious synthetic drugs are becoming popular. A more potent version of ecstasy is already here. Another lethal agent may already be hurting people who use heroin.

In Iraq, anti-IS forces are moving towards Mosul from different directions, but before they get to the city itself, they have to take the towns and villages around it - and that's not proving easy for all. Martin Chulov is the Guardian's correspondent there. He was on the front line a few hours ago.

The military operation to reclaim Mosul from the so-called Islamic State could become the most complex humanitarian operation in 2016, according to the United Nations. More than one million civilians could decide to flee the city, which would overwhelm the emergency sites that only have the capacity to hold 60,000 people. They are also concerned the terrorist organisation has booby trapped parts of Mosul and positioned snipers within the city. PM spoke to Tarik Kadir from Save the Children about the Mosul humanitarian response.