The fight for compensation for asbestos victims has been a long and hard-fought one. Today brought a degree of bad news but also a moral victory. Building products company Hardy’s found guilty in the New South Wales supreme Court of making misleading statements about victims compensation. The ten former board members could be fined up to 200 thousand dollars. But then Hardy’s announced that they wouldn’t be contributing to the fund this financial year because of the global financial crisis and a downturn in profits. SA Asbestos Victims Association’s Terry Miller says its ironic that victims must hope that Hardy's fortunes improve so that the compensation fund can be maintained. He says new and ever younger victims are constantly turning up with health issues related to asbestos exposure.

It’s Hobart today for the Senate committee enquiring into climate policy. The committee’s job is to decide whether the government’s proposed carbon pollution reduction scheme is going to work for the environment - and whether its going to work for the economy. As you would expect all of Australia’s energy companies, big and small, green and otherwise, have been lining up to have their say. Greens Senator CHRISTINE MILNE is on the committee . She says many companies say they woukld have to take business offshore but the committee is not convinced that is as easy as it sounds.

Doctor Heinz Schandl from the CSIRO produced research last year which showed that a carbon pollution reduction scheme wouldn't harm the economy...

In the time of the coming recession, everyone wants to make their dollar go further, but if you’re a woman paying tax, you may be missing out. Women today pay the highest effective tax rates, even if they only earn a modest income. This is mostly due to women working more and for longer hours, which means the taxes they pay from their income have hugely increased the total amount of tax revenue the government is able to collect. Marie Coleman, a board member for the National Foundation for Australian Women, spoke to The Wire about the factors that are causing Australian women to pay more then men…

With the recent announcement of a super fast broadband network to be rolled out over the next few years, Australians will be able to access material on the internet quicker and easier than ever before. But something which the internet is currently used for on quite a large scale is downloading music, movies, T-V shows and books… so will this development in technology also mean an increase in illegal downloads? Peter Black from the Queensland University of Technology thinks that will definitely be the case…

Last night saw another boat carrying 32 Sri Lankan men intercepted off the Western Australian coast. As the situation in Sri Lanka worsens Australia is expecting more such boats. It’s a dangerous trip – last week’s tragic fire underlines that. Why don’t asylum seekers just stop when they reach the safety of Indonesia, or catch a plane to Australia. Indonesian expert Dr Damian Kingsbury from Deakin University explained why neither is an option for fleeing SriLankans. But he says fears that more and more will arrive here by boat are unfounded as its very difficult to esacpe the country at the moment.