Tom Calma, Co-chair of the Indigenous Voice Co-design groups and Senior Australian of the Year joins @RNBreakfast shortly 📻 🎧

LISTEN LIVE: ab.co/2GqJiZo Do you see that Australia has an appetite for a new chapter between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia?

"Yes, I do, we've seen this over a number of years now over the reconciliation Australian barometer which we conduct every couple of years-"

- Tom Calma PT 1

Minister for Indigenous Affairs @LindaBurneyMP joins @RNBreakfast to discuss the introduction of a Regional Controller and temporary alcohol restriction in Alice Springs 📻📻 #auspol

LISTEN LIVE: ab.co/2GqJiZo @LindaBurneyMP Is this a mini-intervention?

"this is a very important first step in what is complex set of problems, we will be staying the course."

- @LindaBurneyMP, Minister for Indigenous Australians
-

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles joins @RNBreakfast to discuss government measures in Alice Springs 📻 🎧 #auspol

LISTEN: ab.co/2GqJiZo You were warned that the end of alcohol restrictions would lead to a crisis like this - do you regret not heeding warnings?

"The intervention in the NT disempowered Aboriginal Territorians.. We put in place a measure where communities could opt in.."

- Natasha Fyles PT 1

Medicare is facing its biggest overhaul in four decades.

Dr Nicole Higgins @RACGPPresident joins @RNBreakfast to discuss the reforms she is calling for.

LISTEN LIVE: ab.co/2GqJiZo @RACGPPresident Health Minister Mark Butler says he doesn't think significantly increasing the GP rebate will help the situation. What's your view?

"We agree with the govt. Medicare is 40 years old, it needs reform, but reform without proper investment is doomed to fail"

- @RACGP PT 1

Founder of the Cape York Partnership, lawyer, academic, land rights and Uluru Statement from the Heart activist Noel Pearson joins @RNBreakfast shortly 📻🎧 #auspol

LISTEN LIVE: ab.co/2GqJiZo Noel Pearson tells @RNBreakfast:

"this demand for detail [on the Voice] is a diversion."

Constructive and with no preconditions.

That's how the PM Anthony Albanese is characterising his long-awaited meeting with China's leader Xi Jinping, later today.

Treasurer @JEChalmers joins @RNBreakfast shortly to discuss #auspol.📻📻📻

LISTEN LIVE: ab.co/2GqJiZo @JEChalmers What's Australia's ambition here?

"We seek a more stable relationship with China"

- @JEChalmers Treasurer

There's rising hope that the PM will meet with China's President.

If it happens, Anthony Albanese says he intends to ask President Xi to drop the trade restrictions.

Trade Minister Don Farrell joins @RNBreakfast soon to discuss.

LISTEN LIVE: ab.co/2GqJiZo Should Australian businesses & Australia's economy, be so reliant on China?

"In the trade space it's dangerous to have all of your eggs in one basket, so part of our strategy is to continue that trading relationship with China but reducing our reliance on it"

- Don Farrell

The PM will declare a national emergency and committed $25-million for emergency relief for floods.

Some flooded regions are angry, as they won't get the additional support.

@JElliotMP Federal Member for Richmond, a flood impacted community, joins us:

ab.co/2GqJiZo @JElliotMP Does she accept the PMs apology to flood affected communities?

"no not at all, we are incredibly angry at the PM and state government for their lack of planning in terms of emergency management and their failure to act"

- @JElliotMP, Federal Member for Richmond

Thousands of Ukrainians are already without food, water or power.

President Zelensky has posted a video,vowing to stay in the capitol until the war is won.

@olehrybachuk Ukraine's former Deputy PM of Ukraine on European Integration and he joins us soon

ab.co/2GqJiZo @olehrybachuk Asked how heartbreaking is it has been to watch what is in Ukraine from afar

"It is really heartbreaking.. Mr Putin is using nuclear arms as blackmail. So what will life be after this, if the West shows weakness?.."

- @olehrybachuk Ukraine's former Deputy PM of Ukraine

There's mounting anger in the devastated Northern Rivers region, where exhausted and traumatised residents say they feel abandoned.

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has been visiting flood affected areas and he joins you now:

Listen live: ab.co/2GqJiZo Asked if more homes and lives in NSW are in danger:

"It's going to continue to be a very difficult week .. we expect torrential conditions to continue.. overnight we had 80 flood rescues in the areas of Western Sydney and Wollongong"

- @Dom_Perrottet NSW Premier

The Morrison Government has accused Anthony Albanese of being China's pick for PM.

The political attack comes as Australia prepares to host major talks with the US, India, and Japan.

Defence Minister @PeterDutton_MP joins @PatsKarvelas shortly.

Listen: ab.co/2GqJiZo @PeterDutton_MP @PatsKarvelas Defence Minister @PeterDutton_MP says he agrees with @SecBlinken that China's strategic ambition has expanded so that it aims to dominate the entire world.

"Look at the words of President Xi and the spokesman for the regime. That's the reality and we need to deal with that."

On the 5 MPs that crossed the floor over the Religious Discrimination Bill:

"Obviously the Liberal and National Party are a party where we allow people to vote according to their beliefs and values so that was quite an acceptable thing."

- @Anne_Ruston, Women's Safety Minister @Anne_Ruston On @TamePunk's claim she received a "threatening" phone call:

"It was the first time I'd heard of it yesterday. We'd be keen to get to the bottom of what actually happened but obviously Ms Tame is in control of what we do with this piece of information."

- @Anne_Ruston

The showdown over religious freedoms is now headed to the Senate after an amended version of the Government's bill passed the Lower House, with 5 Liberal MPs crossing the floor.

Shadow Attorney-General @markdreyfusQCMP joins @PatsKarvelas.

Listen: ab.co/2GqJiZo @markdreyfusQCMP @PatsKarvelas "It sends the message to Mr Morrison that all along he should've been working across the Parliament, with Labor, the crossbench and the dissenters in his own party to make the bill he's taken 3 and a half years to produce much better."

- @markdreyfusQCMP, Shadow Attorney-General

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Australia today ahead of Friday's meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

Australian Foreign Minister @MarisePayne will host the Quad meeting. She joins @PatsKarvelas shortly.

Listen: ab.co/2GqJiZo @MarisePayne @PatsKarvelas On reports that Sean Turnell was to be released from detention in Myanmar:

"Reports which emanated from statements by Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia have been corrected and the Prime Minister has said it was an unintentional error."

- @MarisePayne, Foreign Affairs Minister

Foreign Minister @MarisePayne says around 1,400 Australians are currently in Ukraine. "The security situation is unpredictable," she says about fears Russia may invade Ukraine. "We strongly support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and a unified European and NATO response," @MarisePayne says.

"We have been explicity clear in reiterating that."

"It's quite extraordinary that on the day in which pensioners are eligible to receive a rapid antigen test so many of them won't be able to find one"- Labor Leader @AlboMP "What we heard from Barnaby Joyce was blaming the Australian people for the unavailability of RATs... that his government was warned about many months ago. We all knew that once we opened up... RATs would be an important part of the response to keep people safe"- @AlboMP

As the political year kicks off, much of the focus is on the competence of the Morrison government and its handling of the health crisis.

@Barnaby_Joyce, Deputy Prime Minister, joins Patricia Karvelas shortly.

Listen live: ab.co/2GqJiZo @Barnaby_Joyce "We have 16 million [rapid antigen tests] turning up by the end of the month...we have 70 million on order ... it is not as if the tests aren't there. The problems that Australia is experiencing is being experienced around the world" - @Barnaby_Joyce, Deputy Prime Minister

NSW and VIC have unveiled their back-to-school COVID plans, which they hope will keep classrooms open despite an expected surge of cases.

@smitchellmlc, NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning joins Patricia Karvelas shortly.

Listen live: ab.co/2GqJiZo @smitchellmlc Students and teachers will take RATs twice a week:

"We will be providing two tests a week for the first four weeks of term. It's about doing surveillance testing to pick up any cases in our schools...to limit that disruption and to not have any school closures"- @smitchellmlc

Australia will export its first shipment of liquefied hydrogen to Japan.

"It's very significant and not just for Australia. It's significant globally... The beginning of a trade which will be crucial for the world in bringing down emissions."

- @AngusTaylorMP, Energy Minister @AngusTaylorMP "The difficult issue here for hydrogen is how to ship it around the world and indeed around a nation. It is very, very challenging, as it was for LNG."

- @AngusTaylorMP, Energy Minister

"I, the AMA and other groups asked the government about the testing strategy several months ago...it was put to us that the government would not intervene when the private market could take over" - Dr Chris Moy, @ama_vice "The problem is relying on the private market during a health crisis and there is a market failure... we have...inability to supply [RATs] at a critical moment, lack of equity of access... and also there is poor communication about when people should be using them" - @ama_vice

"We have a major change in direction with people being asked to go get their own rapid antigen tests, these tests aren't available... there is the issue of affordability, it's just not good enough, this government always responds too little too late"- Opposition Leader @AlboMP "What we have here is a government that has failed to prepare, it has moved away from PCR testing because of the debacle when it came to people queuing for hours on hours...but without putting in place access to rapid antigen tests for the population" - Opposition Leader @AlboMP