The Youpla Support Program phone line, designed to support First Nations people impacted by the collapse of funeral insurance provider the Youpla Group, is open for incoming calls from today.

The Youpla Group, also known as the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund (ACBF), sold funeral insurance policies to First Nations people. When they collapsed in 2022, many people could no longer pay for funeral expenses and conduct Sorry Business.

89 First Nations-owned art centres, art fairs, regional hubs and industry service organisations across the country will receive a share of more than $21 million in funding through the Albanese Labor Government’s Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support Program.

The program supports a professional, viable and ethical First Nations arts industry - enabling artists to create, earn income, develop professional skills and connect to the art market.

There has never been a year quite like this one. A psephologist’s democratic dream.

In 2024, up to four billion people worldwide will have the opportunity to vote. Of course, political choice is much freer in some countries than others.

There are pantomime democracies. Democracies under threat. And I hope there are new democracies to emerge in the years ahead.

Australian democracy

Of the many reasons to be proud of our country is our rich and stable democratic traditions. Australia has been a global champion for democracy.

Boarding providers are invited to apply for grants under the Australian Government’s Central Australia Boarding Response Fund to increase access to quality education for students from remote Northern Territory communities.

Funding is available for capital works projects in Central Australia to improve existing boarding facilities and build new ones to create additional places for First Nations young people who need to study away from home.

On the drive back from Collie last week it struck me just why Peter Dutton's nuclear plan is so concerning for West Australians.

Heading home on the Kwinana Freeway after a day of talking to energy workers and community leaders in Collie I saw our city skyline. The names of Australia's largest resources companies illuminate Perth.

It struck me that if the CEO of any of those companies had done what Peter Dutton did, they would be sacked before the day is out.

A statistical dashboard launched today will help drive our shared ambition to end violence against women and children in Australia in one generation by providing more timely reporting on female victims of intimate partner homicide.

We know that to end violence we must be able to measure it. Accurate, verified, closer to real-time data is crucial to achieving this aim.

ADAM SHIRLEY, HOST: Assistant Minister, thanks for your time. Good to see you.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE: Good to see you, Adam. Hello to your listeners.

SHIRLEY: It is talk topic of today and last night, obviously $700,000 for Sam Mostyn in the role as the new Governor General; over, under, or about right?

TRUDY MCINTOSH, CO-HOST: That is the now Prime Minister's view on the old Governor-General's pay rise. We will bring in the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman, Pat, what's wrong with what Anthony Albanese said, there's so much more than what the average worker would be getting a minimum wage increase?

GREG JENNETT, HOST: Well to cover off the government's first day of parliamentary debate on atomic energy, as well as some other news of the day, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman joins us now. Patrick, welcome back to the programme. Why don't we kick off on nuclear. You were there in the parliamentary session we broadcast excerpts from.

JODIE HANNS, STATE MEMBER FOR COLLIE-PRESTON: I'll start by saying thank you very much to Patrick Gorman, who is representing Prime Minister Albanese here today. He's come down to Collie to look at the local perspective around the recent announcement of the Liberal Party. But today we've spent a lot of time meeting with members of the Just Transition Working Group who've been working incredibly hard since 2018 on Just Transition and providing a renewables focused future and a green energy future for Collie beyond the coal industry. So thank you, Patrick.