Founding members of the band King Stingray, Yirrna Yinnupingu and Roy Kellaway, have been hanging out since they were toddlers in the Yothu Yindi tour entourage in the 1990s. Fast forward a couple of decades, Yirrna and Roy are now members of Yothu Yindi but their side project King Stingray is stirring up some great fans right around the country, with a new song out this week.

RN Breakfast - Separate stories podcast

King Stingray - old mates with new music

Young voices across the country are using their words to spark positive climate action, as part of the new POEM FOREST nature poetry prize. It's an initiative led by Red Room Poetry which aims to plant a tree in critically endangered areas for every poem entered, with 5000 seedlings planted with this year's entries alone. 12-year-old student Milla Walker reads her poem 'Nature's Inner Core'.

Friday Poem: 12-year-old Milla Walker reads 'Nature's Inner Core'

Australia's state and territory borders are beginning to open up but there are still communities across the country with low COVID-19 vaccination rates, even though they should have been near the front of the queue. One of those is Yarrabah, an Aboriginal community in Far North Queensland where local doctors are still scrambling to get the vaccination rate above 50 per cent.

Background Briefing: Vulnerable, unvaxxed, and running out of time

A new study reveals the impacts of multiple climate extremes on coral reefs over the past three decades, with only two per cent of the Great Barrier Reef escaping bleaching in that time. Rapid-fire marine heatwaves have left the Great Barrier Reef a bleached 'chequerboard'.

Great Barrier Reef a 'bleached chequerboard'

In NSW year 12 students will start their final exams within days but schools across the state have been plagued with closures due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Most students only returned to face-to-face learning a few weeks ago but already hundreds of schools and day care centres have reported positive cases, sending countless families and staff into isolation.

Schools across NSW plagued with closures due to COVID-19 outbreaks

Public hospitals are failing to keep with demand, according to the country's peak medical body. The AMA has just released its annual public hospital report card and says that despite a lull in hospital admissions last year, wait times for surgery and in emergency departments have blown out.

Public hospitals failing to keep up with demand

State and territory leaders will meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison today, for the first National Cabinet meeting in more than a month, with international border arrangements and community COVID readiness on the agenda. David Speers joins RN Breakfast to discuss the latest developments in federal politics.

National Cabinet to focus on booster shots, vaccines for children and reopening borders - Politics with David Speers

National Cabinet will meet today for the first time in more than a month, with New South Wales and Victoria expected to present a united front, calling for more vaccines to speed up the rollout of booster shots and vaccinations for children. Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory are expected to raise the issue of low vaccination rates in remote Indigenous communities.

Booster shots, Indigenous vaccination rates to dominate National Cabinet

There's long been disagreement about how an international carbon market should operate and COP26 in Glasgow is seen as a last chance to nail down the rules. A global carbon market is considered by many nations as the path to achieving significant emissions reductions, although critics argue that giving polluters the option to pay for their emissions isn't the answer to climate change.

Will COP26 reach agreement on a global carbon market?

The 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 is the deadliest terror attack to ever hit the United Kingdom and more than 30 years on, only one man has ever been jailed. But that could be about to change, with Libyan officials saying they're open to extraditing a man wanted by the United States in relation to the attack.

New twist in Lockerbie bombing case - The Backstory with Max Chalmers

Pacific Island leaders have made clear their frustration with Australia's unwillingness to adopt an ambitious 2030 target to reduce carbon emissions. Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told Prime Minister Scott Morrison Australia needs a plan not just reach zero net emissions by 2050, but to halve its emissions by 2030.

Former Kiribati President calls for Australia to set 2030 emissions target

At least 20 countries have overnight agreed to end financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of next year at the COP26 climate summit. Several countries had already agreed to end international financing for coal, but this agreement would be the first of its kind to include oil and gas projects as well.

Effort to phase out fossil fuels gains momentum at COP26

Before Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, and Gordon Ramsay came the original celebrity chef, Julia Child. The story of her life and her influence on cooking and the inspiration she provided to millions of women across America is the focus of a new documentary, titled JULIA out today.

How celebrity chef Julia Child changed America

Lawyers for seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands are proposing a class action against Australian labour hire companies, saying that some are suffering widespread exploitation and wage theft. If it proceeds, the lawsuit could disrupt a bumper harvest season and potentially hinder the Australian Government's new migration schemes, designed to address widespread labour shortages in agriculture.

Pacific Island seasonal workers propose class action over claims of wage theft

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global supply chain, delaying shipments and causing a dramatic increase in freight rates, which in turn puts pressure on Australian importers and exporters. But a new report from the Australian Competition Consumer Commission says low productivity and high costs were already a problem affecting Australian ports, and they risk becoming even less attractive if it isn't fixed.

ACCC calls for overhaul of port regulation

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