Radio National Breakfast

Liberal party members are gathering today in Canberra to discuss their energy and climate policies, in the first of a series of meetings this week aiming to settle the Coalition's energy position.It is uncertain whether the Liberals will follow the Nationals and dump their commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

Liberal Senator for South Australia, Leah Blythe, says she supports Sussan Ley and has "full confidence" in the Opposition Leader, regardless of the outcome of the policy debate. 

Then, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed he met with Nauru's President David Adeang in Canberra, after the Pacific Island nation's leader made an unannounced visit to Parliament House yesterday. 

The visit comes after reporting by Nine newspapers that criminal bikie gangs were awarded a lucrative contract to provide security for former immigration detainees transferred to Nauru.

Plus we'll cross the Tasman to hear about a decision to expel two of New Zealand's Te Pāti Maori MPs that has left the party in disarray.

And Ahmed Al-Sharaa has become the first Syrian leader ever welcomed to the White House, where he's held landmark talks with US President Donald Trump on rebuilding ties with the US, and cooperating in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Recap the morning's news, politics and global affairs with the Breakfast Wrap.

A new discovery has found crocodiles may have been hunting in the forests of modern Queensland up to 55 million years ago - a lot longer ago than previously thought.

Meanwhile an international team led by the Institut Català de Paleontologia - including researchers from the University of NSW - has released a report on the discovery of the oldest crocodilian eggshells ever found in Australia.

• Guest: Professor Mike Archer, Palaeontologist at the University of NSW
• Producer: Rob Kelly

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain condition that can cause problems with thinking and memory as well as personality behavioural changes like aggression and depression.

It doesn't affect everyone, but there are growing concerns for sports players, those in the defence forces and victims of domestic violence who suffer repeated head injuries.

Associate Professor Michael Buckland and Amanda Green are at the coalface trying to raise awareness of the condition and demystify it. 

Guests: 

•  Associate Professor Michael Buckland, neuropathologist and founder of the Australian Sports Brain Bank 
•  Amanda Green, wife of the late Paul Green, Australian Sports Brain Bank Ambassador

Recovery efforts are ramping up across the Philippines after a second typhoon in one week has left 18 people dead and over 1.4 million people displaced.

Super Typhoon Fung-Wong made landfall in the heavily populated island of Luzon, in the country's northeast, on Sunday evening. It follows closely on the heels of Typhoon Kalmaegi, which struck central Philippines, killing about 200 people and prompting a nationwide emergency declaration.

• Guest: Reiza Dejito, country director CARE Philippines
• Producer: Brooke Young

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed he met with Nauru's President David Adeang in Canberra, after the Pacific Island nation's leader made an unannounced visit to Parliament House yesterday. 

The visit comes after reporting by Nine newspapers that criminal bikie gangs were awarded a lucrative contract to provide security for former immigration detainees transferred to Nauru.

• Guest: David Shoebridge, Greens Senator for NSW and spokesperson for Home Affairs, Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs
• Producer: Isadora Bogle

Every federal election in Australia is a snapshot in time.

But according to Labor MP Jerome Laxale,  the 2025 election featured an unprecedented level of "weird and crazy" stuff.  

In September, Mr Laxale was named chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, which conducts an inquiry after every election. 

• Guest: Jerome Laxale, Labor MP for Bennelong and Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters
• Producer: Isadora Bogle 

Liberal party members are gathering today in Canberra to discuss their energy and climate policies... it's the first in a series of meetings this week aiming to settle the Coalition's energy position.It is uncertain whether the Liberals will follow the Nationals and dump their commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

• Guest: Leah Blyth, Senator for South Australia
• Producer: Isadora Bogle 

How has the dream of owning a home become so intertwined with generating wealth, that it's led the system to failure, and affected now chronic demands on public housing? 

There will be an ambitious attempt in Melbourne today to break a world record for the most bagpipers ever playing at one time. 

Organisers are hoping AC/DC's iconic "It's a Long Way to the Top" will see bagpipers flock to Federation Square to overtake the current world record, which stands at 333 pipers and is held by Bulgaria. 

• Guest: Campbell Wilson, Senior Pipe Major of the City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band 
• Producer: Rob Kelly 

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is in Canberra today for talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - in his first visit to Australia since taking office last year.  It comes just two days after Prabowo named his former father-in-law, and the ex-dictator Suharto, a national hero - a move condemned by Human Rights Watch as whitewashing decades of repression and corruption.

Guest: Daniela Gavshon, Human Rights Watch, Australian Director

Producer: Anne Barker