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Top Stories
*Three women to join Labor's Cabinet*
*Mr Yunupingu honoured at memorial service*
*Abortion pill added to PBS*
*Campaigners welcome tanning bed buy-back scheme*
*US reportedly bugged EU offices, computer networks*
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*Three women to join Labor's Cabinet*
The Federal Government has revealed three women will be sworn into Cabinet, but will not announce the full ministry until tomorrow.
Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Government's new frontbench has been finalised, but it is not being announced today out of respect for the state memorial for Yothu Yindi front man Mr Yunupingu.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd attended the memorial this afternoon in north-east Arnhem Land.
More than a third of Cabinet resigned after last week's leadership ballot, forcing a major frontbench reshuffle just weeks out from an election.
Take a look at who has stepped aside.
The announcement of Victorian Senator Jacinta Collins, as well as MPs Julie Collins and Catherine King to the Cabinet, will increase the number of women in the ministry from 9 to 11.
Mr Albanese says the swearing-in ceremony will take place tomorrow afternoon.
"It's not appropriate on a day of a state funeral for other political announcements to be made," he said.
"So the full announcement of the ministry has been finalised, but it will be announced tomorrow morning by the Prime Minister."
The announcement comes on the same day as a News Limited poll showing a boost in the party's fortunes in the wake of last week's leadership change.
The Galaxy poll published in News Limited newspapers shows that after preferences, the Coalition's lead over Labor has narrowed and now sits at 51 per cent to 49 per cent.
Albanese touts 'fresh' Labor frontbench
Mr Albanese says the reshuffle will be a chance to revitalise the Government.
"When people stand down, that brings an opportunity to get some fresh ideas in, to have a fresh look at what the Government's been doing," he told Sky News.
"I think it's been a very effective Government."
Senator Collins will become the Minister for Mental Health, Ms King will be promoted to the Regional Australia portfolio and Ms Collins will enter Cabinet with the portfolio for Housing, Homeless and Status of Women.
West Australian MP Melissa Parke will have the international development and aid portfolio.
Mr Albanese has already congratulated Ms Collins on her promotion.
"We needed a Tasmanian in the Cabinet - sitting around the cabinet room," he said.
Ms Collins says she looks forward to the challenges ahead.
"I've been a minister for almost two years, I've also been a parliamentary secretary before that, I've been working for three years in the executive," she said.
"So I think I have the abilities and I've shown some great policy reform that I've done in these portfolios that I'm capable of doing this job."
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*Mr Yunupingu honoured at memorial service*
Politicians, friends and family of Yothu Yindi frontman Mr Yunupingu have reflected on his life at his state memorial service in north east Arnhem land.
There was a sense of pride among those at the state memorial service, as speaker after speaker reflected on Mr Yunupingu's life and his many achievements, particularly in bridging the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Mr Yunupingu died earlier this month aged 56 at his home in Yirrkala community, after a long battle with kidney disease.
He has been remembered at Gulkula, the site of the Yothu Yindi Foundation's annual Garma music festival, which is 40 kilometres from the township of Nhulunbuy.
Paul Kelly, who co-wrote Yothu Yindi's international hit Treaty, was among a number of prominent Australians who spoke at the memorial.
Federal MP and former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett was acting as the master of ceremonies.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and a number of federal MPs and Northern Territory MLAs from both sides were also in attendance.
Deep sense of loss
Organisers prepared for a continuous stream of artists who visited to pay their respects to the 1992 Australian of the Year through music.
The service was a sombre affair, as guests reflected on the life of one of Australia's champions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous reconciliation.
Yothu Yindi band manager Alan James says he is deeply saddened by the loss of one of his oldest friends.
"He introduced me to Indigenous culture," he said.
"He was that rare person who had a foot in both worlds."
Mr James said his main concern is looking after Mr Yunupingu's widow Yalmay and the couple's six daughters.
Yothu Yindi band mate Witiyana Marika is also mourning Mr Yunupingu's death.
"He wanted to achieve for his people a treaty, for rights for the people, equal rights," he said.
"He inspired other people to be like him.
"He wasn't a politician, but [will be remembered for] the understanding he took to the people, to the world, through music. I miss him very much."
Mr Marika adds he hopes Yothu Yindi will one day make music again, in a show of respect for Mr Yunupingu.
It is yet to be decided when a private funeral for Mr Yunupingu will be held.
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*Abortion pill added to PBS*
Abortion pill RU486 and three cancer drugs have been subsidised, with the Federal Government adding them to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced 17 new or amended PBS listing that will cost $1 billion to subsidise over the next four years and make them available at a cheaper price for consumers from August.
Ms Plibersek says a number of the cancer drugs cost more than $100,000 and will be able to be purchased for under $40.
Women have paid up to $800 for the RU486 pill, but Ms Plibersek says from August it will cost less than $37.
"It doesn't change any legal position around abortion and it doesn't change the number of women who are likely to terminate a pregnancy," she said.
Ms Plibersek says about 22,000 women have already used RU486 through some clinics.
"What the provision of these medicines does is give women slightly more choice and more options," she said.
"I think that is a good thing in the situation where women are faced with one of the most difficult decisions that they will ever make."
Treatments for skin, breast and prostate cancer have also been added, including Ipilimumab and Abiraterone.
The subsidy for breast cancer treatment Vinorelbine has also been extended.
"The exciting thing about these new treatments is that they will extend the life of patients with melanoma, prostate cancer and breast cancer," Ms Plibersek said.
"If we didn't subsidise they would be out of the reach of most Australians."
Tilly Ryan from Melanoma Patients Australia has praised the move.
"Our members will no longer have to look at selling their homes to access treatment," he said.
Cancer survivor Christine Bleigie says Ipilimumab costs more than $110,000 a year and was not affordable to most suffers of malignant melanoma.
"We have people in our melanoma patient support groups that are just waiting on this drug to be on the PBS listing because they just can't afford it," she said.
"They are fourth stage melanoma people and so this to them is just the best days in their lives."
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*Campaigners welcome tanning bed buy-back scheme*
Anti-solarium campaigners have welcomed a New South Wales Government buy-back scheme which aims to take all sun beds out of operation by the end of next year.
The Government has launched the scheme ahead of a state-wide ban that comes into effect from December 2014.
Tanning salons in the state will be offered a rebate of $1,000 for each bed, with no cap on the number of beds they are allowed to return.
The buy-back is aimed at preventing tanning businesses moving onto the black market once the ban comes into force.
More than 200 tanning beds are currently in use across the state.
Environment Minister Robyn Parker says sun beds bought back under the scheme will be destroyed.
"The buy-back of solaria is taking them out of the system altogether," Ms Parker said.
"After December 2014 there will be penalties for the illegal operation of solaria.
"We want to take them out of the system so that no-one has solaria because they are so dangerous."
Melanoma sufferer and anti-solarium campaigner Jay Allen supports the rebate, saying too many young people, ignorant of the risks, have fallen prey to solariums.
The Cancer Council says young people who use the tanning beds have a double risk of developing melanoma.
"You're young, you think you're invincible and it's not until you get in your 20s or 30s and you settle down and you've got a family, you've just bought your house and that's when melanoma could strike and that's what you don't want," he said.
"Those people that have been lost, they wish they could go back in time and have not used a solarium."
Anyone caught operating tanning beds once the ban takes effect will face fines of up to $44,000.
New South Wales will be the first Australian state and the second jurisdiction in the world to ban solariums.
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*US reportedly bugged EU offices, computer networks*
The United States has been accused of bugging European Union offices and accessing EU computer networks, according to secret documents cited in German magazine Der Spiegel.
The allegations are based on a "top secret" document from the National Security Agency (NSA), dated September 2010, that was allegedly stolen by fugitive Edward Snowden.
The document, which has been seen in part by Der Spiegel journalists, is said to outline how the NSA listened to conversations and phone calls by bugging EU offices.
It also details how the agency spied on internal computer networks in Washington and at the United Nations.
Without citing sources, the magazine also reported that security officers at the EU had noticed several missed calls and traced them to NSA offices within the NATO compound in Brussels more than five years ago.
A spokesman for the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence had no comment on the story.
The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, says if the report is correct it will have a "severe impact" on relations between the EU and the United States.
"On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations," he said in a statement.
Luxembourg foreign minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel, "if these reports are true, it's disgusting".
"The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies," he said.
"We must get a guarantee from the very highest level now that this stops immediately."
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's past disclosures about US government surveillance programs have ignited a widespread political furore over privacy rights.
Mr Snowden, 30, fled to Hong Kong last month, before the Guardian and the Washington Post published his revelations about the surveillance of internet and phone traffic.
He has been holed up in a Moscow airport transit area since last weekend, while Ecuador reviews his request for asylum.
Reuters
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