ABC News Daily

For years, there have been financial incentives to encourage households to install rooftop solar and feed excess power back to the grid. 

It’s helping the green energy transition and driving down power bills for those able to afford the upfront costs. 

But the so-called “feed-in” tariffs are being cut as there’s a massive oversupply of energy on sunny days. 

Today, energy reporter Dan Mercer on whether rooftop solar is still worth it. 

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Daniel Mercer, ABC energy reporter

For more than 20 years, Australians have turned to botox when unwanted wrinkles begin to emerge.

It’s widely seen as a harmless way to look younger without surgery. 

Until recently botox and other cosmetic fillers have gone largely unchecked, so why have regulators decided to crackdown now?

Today, we speak to a long-time botox user and a health law expert about why we need to rethink what we’re injecting. 

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Alison Rice, former botox user

Dr Christopher Rudge, law lecturer at the University of Sydney

Have you ever struggled to get a response from an insurer, or have they fought you on the details of a claim? 

The profitable insurance companies are facing increasing scrutiny and customers are calling them out for not paying out. 

Today, investigative reporter Adele Ferguson reveals the firms’ ‘delay and deny’ tactics that make them so hard to deal with. 

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Adele Ferguson, ABC investigative reporter

Every so often a product comes along that takes us by storm and in the process, shifts spending and changes economies. 

The iPhone, Netflix and ChatGPT spring to mind.

But less obvious is something like Ozempic, the drug that’s now helping millions of people around the world lose weight.

Today, the ABC’s business editor Ian Verrender on how it’s breaking down business models of fast-food giants and health companies. 

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Ian Verrender, ABC business editor

She had a grand ambition to knock off Donald Trump and become the Republican Party’s choice to run in November’s US election.

But Nikki Haley couldn’t do it and it’s almost certain now that Trump will run against Joe Biden for president again even as he faces more than 90 criminal charges.

So why has she held on? Why doesn’t she just give up before almost certain defeat at so-called Super Tuesday next week, the biggest contest in the primary process. 

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Kim Hoggard, a former staffer during Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations

On a Sunday morning more than three weeks ago, Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy set out for a run in dense bushland not far from her home.

She was expected back mid-morning for a family gathering, but she never arrived. 

Police have now wound back their search for the missing mother, while locals have rallied to try and find answers. 

Today, what happened to Samantha Murphy?

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Norman Hermant, 7.30 reporter

For more than 20 years New South Wales Police have marched in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. 

But not this year, with the board of the event telling them to stay away. 

It comes on a difficult week for the force after a senior constable was charged with the alleged murder of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. 

But police participation in the event has long caused controversy. Today we unpack why. 

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Nicole Asquith, the professor of policing at the University of Tasmania and the convenor of the Australian Hate Crime network

We’ve probably all experienced a less than desirable trip on public transport or ride-hailing services, but for people with a disability every day is an absolute horror show.

From buses missing stops to Uber drivers refusing to take guide dogs. 

Today, we bring you an ABC investigation into how millions of Australians are being let down by our public transport networks.

We’ll hear how laws against discrimination are continually broken. 

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Nas Campanella, national disability affairs reporter 

Evan Young, Specialist Reporting Team producer

You would have thought with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China wouldn’t be too worried about the number of people living there declining a bit.

But as it faces the challenges of an economic slowdown and an ageing society, Beijing is urging families to have more babies to stop a population decline that’s been recorded for a second year in a row. 

But is a falling birth rate necessarily a bad thing? 

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Stuart Gietel-Basten, Professor of Social Science and Public Policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

For more than a decade Julian Assange has tried everything to avoid the position he finds himself in, on the cusp of being bundled onto a plane to the US to face espionage charges that carry a jail sentence of up to 175 years.  

His fate now rests with a couple of judges in London who’ll decide whether he can appeal against his extradition. 

Today, media freedom advocate and journalism academic Peter Greste unpacks the case for us.

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Peter Greste, media freedom advocate and professor of journalism at Macquarie University

As the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, Vladimir Putin has had his first major victory on the battlefield in months, with Russian soldiers capturing the city of Avdiivka.

As the war enters its third year is there really a chance Ukraine could still win, as the United States Congress holds up a multi billion dollar aid package?

Today, we speak to a Ukrainian woman in Kyiv about what life looks like now and a military analyst on what to expect next.

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Oleksandra Povoroznyk, Kyiv resident and journalist

Eugene Rumer, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington

On Friday, a group of men managed to do what so many asylum seekers have tried before; arrive on Australian shores after what would have been a perilous journey from Indonesia.  

While it’s just one boat, it’s become a political headache for the government that’s been accused of reducing surveillance of our borders.  

Today, the ABC’s national political lead and Insiders host David Speers on why it remains such a heated issue.

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David Speers, ABC national political lead and Insiders host

Alexei Navalny had a vision of a democratic Russia and he was a constant thorn in the side of the Russian president.  

So, now the leading Russian opposition figure has died in prison, who will take on Vladimir Putin? 

We’ll hear why it could be Navalny’s wife who steps into the fray. 

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Rajan Menon, Director of the Grand Strategy program at Defense Priorities think tank

Imagine what could happen to the cost of your groceries if the big supermarkets were in a price war to win your business.  

It’s not going to happen, because Coles and Woolworths dominate the grocery market and want to keep their profits as high as possible. 

Four Corners’ reporter Angus Grigg reveals the tactics of the big two players and why their stronghold on the market has suppliers and farmers so reluctant to speak out.

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Angus Grigg, Four Corners’ reporter

Pop superstar Taylor Swift is in Melbourne on her wildly popular tour and for some her appearance at the American Super Bowl was more exciting than the football game itself. 

But perhaps more intriguing is her role in the upcoming US election. 

Today, we look at whether a Swift endorsement of Joe Biden would help him win and why Trump supporters are so willing to believe conspiracy theories that she’s in cahoots with the White House.

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Dr Matt Harris, Associate Professor of Political Science at Park University in Missouri

Four months into the war, a large portion of Gaza has been levelled, with civilians fleeing to the south of the strip to seek shelter.

For a while Israel declared the city of Rafah a “safe zone” and more than one million people flocked there. 

But it’s now under attack and there are fears a ground offensive could soon begin.

Today, reporter Nicole Johnston on the growing international calls for Israel to pull back and what she saw during a rare trip inside Gaza. 

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Nicole Johnston, ABC reporter and Sky News correspondent

Since footage emerged of Barnaby Joyce lying flat on his back, swearing into his phone on a Canberra street, there’s been fierce debate over whether it matters or not that an elected politician could be caught out in such a manner. 

Questions over whether there’s a bigger problem at play or whether it’s simply just a matter of Barnaby, the larrikin, being in the spotlight once again. 

Today, Radio National Breakfast and the Party Room podcast host, Patricia Karvelas, unpacks the culture of booze at Parliament House and the double standards that come with it. 

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Patricia Karvelas, host of RN Breakfast and the Party Room podcast

Since the government broke an election promise and changed the stage three tax cuts, the Coalition has been warning there could be many more broken promises to come.  

Specifically, it says the tax incentive known as negative gearing is the next thing on the chopping block, although the government denies that. 

Today, Peter Martin, economics editor at The Conversation, explains what it is, whether we really need it and what a change could mean for the housing market. 

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Peter Martin, The Conversation economics editor

What happens when Vladimir Putin gives an incredibly rare interview to a conservative American media commentator at the height of a war and it lasts for more than two hours? 

Well, the answer is: Putin wins. 

So, what was the real reason behind Tucker Carlson’s interview with the Russian leader? 

Today, how it all plays into Donald Trump’s push for the White House. 

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Professor Gordon Flake, CEO of the Perth USAsia Centre at the University of Western Australia

When three American soldiers were killed in a drone attack on a US base in Jordan there was a flurry of talk of World War Three.

It may have been over the top, but the stakes in the conflict in the Middle East have risen dramatically, with the US blaming Iran and its proxies for the strike. 

It’s since retaliated by bombing dozens of targets in Iraq and Syria. 

Today, host of The Iran Podcast, Negar Mortazavi explores what could come next. 

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Negar Mortazavi, host of The Iran Podcast