After a few days of hybrid hype with the announcement of suppport for Toyota's hybrid car production to the tune of 70 million dollars, voices are now being raised on the issue of public transport. Green MP Christine Milne says with an obesity epidemic seriouis government money needs to be spent on that and on bike and walk ways. Dr Andrew Allen is Director of Urban and Transport Planning at the University of South Australia. He says Australia should be aiming to get 60% of car drivers into public transport .

It’s a scene Australians may recognise – a prime minister apologising for decades of abuses of indigenous rights committed in the name of assimilation. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday apologised to indigenous children taken from their homes and sent to residential schools as little as 30 years ago. Some have already received compensation, but for many of the native Americans, the effects of years of abuse continue to this day. Russell Diabo, policy adviser for the Algonquins of Quebec, has reservations about the apology.

There are only a few hundred Aboriginal soldiers and most are based around the north coast performing surveillance jobs . The Defence department plans to change all that with a new plan – Minister for Defence Science and Personnel WARREN SNOWDON says the Recruitment and Retention Plan to be launched soon will entice young indigenous people in with a 'gap year' in which they will learn many skills and get a taste of Army life

Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders have fought in every war that Australia has been involved in since the Boer War. Yet for many Indigenous soldiers there hasn’t been any substantial recognition for their contributions. Sonia Gentile asked Paul Hansen, president of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans and Services Association, why he decided to enlist to serve in the Vietnam War at the tender age of 20.

When Indonesian forces invaded East Timor in 1975, Naldo Rei was two years old. His father was involved with the Fretilin movement and the family fled to the jungle. Naldo is now a journalist. His life has been deeply political and full of tragedy- he writes about it in his book "Resistance - A childhood fighting for East Timor"