Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
a listener production. Hi, Natasha Belling with you and welcome to the afternoon edition of The Briefing. Coming up in our deep dive, the government's move to change the way women can access the contraceptive pill. We'll find out exactly what this announcement means for millions of women and why some GPs are flagging concerns.
But first, let's check the afternoon headlines this Wednesday, the 15th of April.
Chapter 2: What are the latest headlines impacting Australia?
a major court loss for mining billionaire Gina Reinhart. After a decades-long legal battle, Justice Jennifer Smith has ruled Miss Reinhart's mining company must share the proceeds from a lucrative mining project in WA with the family of iron ore pioneer Peter Wright. Mr Wright was Gina's late father Lang's business partner.
Now Mr Wright's descendants are entitled to half of past and future royalties from the Hopedowns mines in the Pilbara. But Justice Smith did dismiss the Wright family's claim for part ownership of another major mining project. Gina Reinhart is Australia's wealthiest person and was said to be worth more than $40 billion in this year's rich list in The Australian.
Our airlines are taking a major hit as the fallout continues over the oil crisis in the Middle East. Virgin is now cutting flights and increasing fares just a day after Qantas made a similar announcement. Virgin has released a statement saying the price of jet fuel has been extremely volatile and more than doubled since the end of February 2026, which impacts fuel costs for the June 2026 quarter.
Music Meantime, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is off to Asia again today, this time to Brunei and Malaysia, to help shore up relationships with the countries that supply Australia's fuel. Also heading overseas is Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is travelling to Washington DC to attend the G20 Finance Minister's meeting, as well as meeting with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Before boarding his flight this morning, the Treasurer admitted there are tough times ahead.
This is a very serious, very dangerous time for the world. Now, Australia is better placed and better prepared than a number of other countries, but we won't be spared. the fallout from this very substantial economic shock.
It comes as the IMF warned the energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East could trigger a global recession. Pressure is mounting on our federal treasurer to deliver a measured budget next month that provides much-needed cost of living relief but doesn't fuel further inflationary pressures.
Overseas now, and the US has announced that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to hold in-person peace talks. The announcement came after ambassadors from both nations met in Washington with Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State.
Fighting is still continuing between Israel and Hezbollah, which was one of the sticking points in the negotiations for a peace deal in the wider war between Iran, Israel and the US. Meantime, a trailer was dropped for an upcoming sit-down interview with the US president on Fox News. Donald Trump claiming Iran wants to make a deal and the US has basically won the war.
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Chapter 3: What does Gina Rinehart's court ruling mean for her family?
If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we're not finished. We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.
And division continues in the US over President Trump's health after his language and posts on social media and his renewed attacks on Pope Leo. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked about President Trump in an interview.
What is going on?
You'd have to ask a psychiatrist. You'd have to ask the psychiatrist. Ms Pelosi also added... It really isn't even worthy of a conversation. It's really worthy of a diagnosis.
And a wolf that's been missing for almost a week after escaping from a theme park in South Korea is still on the run. It was spotted earlier this week near the theme park in the city of Daejeon, but despite the deployment of additional police officers, the wolf appears to have escaped the area. Military drones have also been dispatched.
Now it's time to get into our deep dive on the move by the New South Wales Government to change the way women can access the contraceptive pill. Joining us in studio is the New South Wales Health Minister, Ryan Park, who explains why pharmacists can now administer the contraceptive pill and responds to some GP concerns that the move is not providing eligible women with the right safeguards.
Minister, thanks so much for joining us.
Thanks for having us.
Tell us about this important announcement for women across New South Wales.
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Chapter 4: How are airlines responding to the oil crisis?
It's even more difficult to get a bulk billing GP. What I'm trying to do is make this type of healthcare more convenient whilst at the same time maintaining really high standards in terms of safety.
Minister, I understand the TGA, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, did investigate this streamlining of processes and they had flagged concerns about it. What would you say to that, that it's not in adherence to what the TGA had recommended?
Well, I'd say that we are moving in the same way that many other jurisdictions around the world are, in the same as Queensland have moved into providing this through a pharmacy model, but in a really safe and secure way, providing additional training to pharmacists to be able to undertake this. So this won't just be for any pharmacist.
Pharmacists will have to do another round of training to be able to do this. That is a massive commitment. But what we hope to see is that this be spread right across the community and So women can access, to be blunt, what is a really, really baseline level of healthcare, something that they should have access to really conveniently and effectively for them.
But at a time when we know our GPs are under pressure, we know they're time poor, and we know that bulk billing GPs, there's less and less of them, particularly in certain parts of Sydney and New South Wales, we think this hits the mark.
Minister, we know talking about sexual health, there is a massive issue with STIs that are continuing to increase, not only across New South Wales, but right across the country. Do you think we need a new safe sex education campaign?
I think we need to talk more about it. I'll be brutally honest. This is an issue that I think parents need to have really forthright conversations with their teenagers and young adults in their family about. I know that from my friend's perspectives, they're having those sort of conversations. We all need to have them. So whilst the campaign is important, I think the
fundamentally what we need to do is make sure those conversations are happening, particularly in young persons' lives. Now, that can either be with parents or carers. It can be with friends. It can be through the channels and media channels that they're accessing, things like this podcast, things like what they're doing on YouTube, things like that, where we need to make sure
The messaging is getting to where they are and not trying to define or create a campaign that is perhaps old school in nature. What we need to try and do is make sure those messages are getting it into a way in which they're consuming their news and consuming their information. For me, that's really, really important. My son is 15. He doesn't consume newspapers.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of Albanese's trip to Asia?
He doesn't consume TV. but everything on TikTok or everything on YouTube is factual in their world. Now, I know that's not right, but that's where you've got to meet them at because that's where they're engaging and that's where they're consuming their information.
So do we roll out an education campaign on that platform? Because we know in the 1980s and 90s, Australia led the world in the HIV and safe sex message. Do we need to make sure we do an education campaign on those platforms that they engage with?
Yeah, I think it's worth having a look at, without a doubt. I think this is an issue that's probably not got on top of us, but to be honest, we probably haven't moved as far as what we did back then in the 80s and 90s. I think it's certainly worth having a look at. What we need to do is make sure that it meets at where young people are and it's consumed in a way that works.
That's where we, I think, have been very successful in Relation to what we've done around vaping, we've demonstrated that our campaigns in vaping have been created by young people for young people. It hasn't been imposed on them by adults. We've rolled that out in various mediums where we think they're accessing their news and information from, and we think that's proving to be beneficial.
It's not job done, and I think we'd probably look at the same in terms of sexual health.
Minister, regarding vaping, we did another story today on a young man came to us talking about his addiction to what's commonly known on the street as NANGs. And he said this problem is affecting so many teenagers and young people right across the country. He's calling for better government regulation, especially in being able to access these NANGs online.
and also cracking down on tobacconists because we know it's a highly addictive, incredibly damaging drug. What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, I think it's worth exploring. I've got to be honest with you. Anything or suggestions like that from my perspective as a health minister, but putting my role aside just as a dad of a teenager and a soon-to-be teenager, I think they're worth exploring because these things can be fatal. And I'm not into shock and awe, but the reality is for people... things can go wrong.
They're not controlled substance in any way. We don't really know in some cases what's in these substances. We certainly don't have any regulatory framework around those people who are selling them illegally. So yes, I'd be happy to take any suggestions. This is an issue. We're not pretending it's not. I think it's worth a discussion and happy to look at it further.
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