Radio National Breakfast

Melbourne band the Pierce Brothers have just come off a big career high scoring the No.1 Australian album on the ARIA Chart earlier this month for their record 'Moonrise'.

Today, the folk rock duo made up of twin brothers Jack and Pat Pierce will be back where it all started busking for loose change on the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets in the Melbourne CBD.

• Guest: Pat Pierce is one half of the Pierce Brothers. The Australian leg of their new tour begins at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in March.
• Producer: Oscar Coleman

Author, columnist, broadcaster and social commentator Jane Caro shares her Summer reading list with Barbara Miller.

Currently reading:

• Redbelly Crossing, Candice Fox

Summer list:

• The Watch Tower, Elizabeth Harrower

Things will look a little different at the MCG this week as the Boxing Day Test begins. Members of Victoria Police's Critical Incident Response Team will be deployed as a "highly visible" presence in the wake of the Bondi attack.

The specialist police will carry long-arm semi-automatic rifles in a measure Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush has described as "another layer of protection to make sure cricket fans feel safe" and a decision based on "the current threat environment" and not due to "a specific new threat" to the event.

The Opposition is calling for a Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack... and is continuing to criticise the government's response to the incident. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies, to assess whether they have appropriate powers and processes in the wake of the attack.

The federal government has announced gas producers on Australia's east coast will have to reserve a portion of gas extracted in Australia for local use.

The announcement comes as the government continues to respond to the Bondi terror attack, amid calls for a Royal Commission into the incident.

• Guest: Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy
• Producer: Isadora Bogle 

After months of speculation, the federal government has announced the creation of a domestic gas reservation.

The market intervention which Energy Minister Chris Bowen calls "historic" will force companies to set aside as much as a quarter of their gas on the east coast for domestic use.

The policy is aimed at putting what the government calls "downward pressure" on prices and to help alleviate looming gas shortages.

Wine grape growers in Australia have campaigned for two decades for a code of conduct to regulate the sector. Now, the federal government has granted their wish with a mandatory code to come into effect in January 2027. It's a move which many say is crucial for the survival of the industry - amid warnings it may already be too late for some operators.

For so many of us Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the prawns. This festive season, Australians are again set to dig into millions of kilograms of the crustaceans representing 40 per cent of the country's annual consumption.

But some scientists are urging a rethink, claiming the latest research shows that crustaceans are sentient — and can feel fear, pain and distress.

• Guest: Professor Culum Brown, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University
• Producer: Oscar Coleman

Japan has cleared the way to restart the world's biggest nuclear power plant, almost 15 years after the Fukushima disaster. The Niigata regional assembly has voted to allow the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant to resume operations. It was among 54 reactors shut down after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Guest: Tony Irwin, an Honorary Associate Professor at the ANU, and a specialist in nuclear reactors and the nuclear fuel cycle'.

Producer: Anne Barker

Israel has approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the government says is aimed at blocking the creation of a Palestinian state. The decision has been condemned internationally, with critics warning it further undermines any chance of a two-state solution.