The World Today

The Opposition Leader is pledging to make jobs a central focus of his next election campaign, with a redesign of the apprenticeship system at its heart. The promise comes as the Business Council of Australia calls on governments at all levels to reform the vocational education and training system.

The Greens say they remain opposed to the cashless welfare cards, despite the Government declaring two trials of the card a success. The cards quarantine 80 per cent of welfare payments onto the card, to limit participants access to cash. 22 per cent of those surveyed say the card has improved their life, but 49 per cent said it had made it worse. The trials will continue, with six monthly reviews, in Ceduna and the East Kimberley, but the Greens say any future use should be voluntary.

Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop has made some unusually robust comments calling on the United States to play a more constructive role in upholding peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. Fresh from her tour of the United States, she challenged the new administration to step up its strategic role in the region as the pre-eminent upholder of peace, security and democratic norms. To discuss the significance of those remarks, executive director of the Lowy Institute, Michael Fullilove speaks to The World Today.

Climate scientists in Australia were already worried about widespread coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Now there's concern about what's seen as the latest tell-tale sign of climate change impacting on the eco-system. It's the massive die-back of Mangrove trees along a 1000 kilometre stretch of coastline on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Melbourne health economists are recommending the incentives offered to doctors to work in the country be better tailored. The Rural Doctors Association supports the call observing forecasts of an oversupply of locally trained doctors and restrictions on the migration of overseas trained medics.

A Victorian cabinet meeting this afternoon could decide the future of hundreds of timber workers. The company employing the workers, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods, is pleading with the government to agree to an ongoing timber supply deal for the mill. Hundreds of jobs at the mill and in the town are on the line, and the company is warning that if the business collapses the impacts will be felt as far away as Melbourne.

A Tasmanian family could be about to lose their home and business because they're refusing to pay their council rates because they say the land belongs to God. The family runs successful a honey farm in Northern Tasmania which the local council plans to sell to recoup more than $9000 worth of unpaid rates.

Its known as the equestrian equivalent of the triathlon, but the sport of eventing, which combines dressage, show jumping and cross country is high risk. Now the death of a teenage rider has led to an initiative to improve safety.

In Western Australia, Labor's Mark McGowan has won a landslide victory and is now preparing to be sworn in as the state's new premier. Counting is continuing, but it seems the preference deal between One Nation and the Liberals did neither any favours. And the leader of the National Party is still waiting to see if he will make it back into parliament. But already the Labor leader is being reminded this victory is not his alone. The union movement is making the point that it spent huge amounts on campaign ads and flew in east coast officials to assist. So what will the unions be demanding of the new premier?

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party is reeling from its worse than expected result in the WA election. The preference deal brokered between One Nation and the WA Liberals has been blamed by some and several national politlcal figures are warning their parties off any similar liason. So where does One Nation go from here?