Radio National Breakfast

The idea of making visitors pay to see the 12 Apostles in Victoria is causing strong debate among its local community and beyond.

With a redevelopment underway at the famous site, the tourism sector wants to charge visitors a fee to help manage and invest in the natural attraction.

• Guest: John Hart, Executive Chair of Tourism at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. and has served as a board member at Tourism Australia

Warwick waxes lyrical about a stunning fortnight for Queensland sport, after Brisbane takes out the NRL, NRLW and AFL Premierships.

A coronial inquiry has begun nearly six years after a deadly volcanic eruption in New Zealand.

Twenty-two people, including 14 Australians, were killed and another 25 seriously injured when the Whakaari White Island volcano erupted in December 2019.

The bodies of two victims were never recovered.

• Guest: Jordan Dunn, reporter for New Zealand's NewsTalk ZB News 
• Producer: Brooke Young

A new round of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas begins in Egypt today, with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he hopes to announce the release of hostages "in the coming days".

Hamas has agreed in principle to the release of hostages, but it's unclear whether it will agree to other points of the US peace plan for Gaza, such as disarming.

• Guest: Inès Abdel Razek, co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy
• Producer: Teodora Agarici

Polls have closed in Syria, where the country is holding its first parliamentary elections since the toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

But it's not a popular vote.

Instead, "electoral colleges" are selecting representatives for two-thirds of the seats with the Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointing the rest.

• Guest: Heidi Pett, Australian freelance journalist in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa
• Producer: Anne Barker

British authorities have condemned a deadly terrorist attack on a Jewish synagogue in northern England.

Two people have been killed and at least four others injured after an assailant drove a car into people outside the Manchester synagogue and then began stabbing them.

We'll head to Manchester to hear from the community. 

Then, at least five Australians are thought to be among those captured by the Israeli Defence Force from a flotilla which was bound for Gaza. We get a response to the situation from the federal government. 

And Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles touts news that Papua New Guinea's cabinet has approved a landmark defence treaty with Australia, after the two countries failed to sign the agreement last month.

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

Optus outages, a potential defence treaty with PNG and a stoush between the Federal Government and states over health funding.

To break this week in Canberra down, is the Friday political panel.

GUEST(S): Michelle Grattan, professorial fellow at the University of Canberra and chief political correspondent at The Conversation and Karen Barlow, Chief Political Correspondent at The Saturday Paper

PRODUCER: Jason Whittaker

The European Space Agency is switching on a new deep space antenna tomorrow — but not in Europe, the New Norcia 3 will be in Western Australia!

The 35-metre dish — co-funded by the Australian Space Agency — will help monitor space missions for the next 50 years.

• GUEST: Enrico Palermo, Head of Australian Space Agency
• PRODUCER: Brooke Young

State and territory leaders say the federal government is walking back from its 2023 deal on hospital funding and disability reform, warning it could leave them billions of dollars short.

The Commonwealth is offering a $20 billion boost over five years, but states argue that doesn't match an agreement for Canberra to cover 42.5 per cent of the share of expenses by 2030.

GUEST: Ryan Park, NSW Health Minister

PRODUCER: Anne Barker

State and territory leaders have warned what they've said is a hospital funding shortfall proposed by the federal government could impact their ability to provide hospital services.

It comes as negotiations continue for a new five-year hospital funding agreement.

• Guest: Anne Ruston, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care
• Producer: Isadora Bogle