— With AAP.

1. “How many rapists must we kill until men stop raping us?” This week’s episode of Q&A has been accused of endorsing violence.

On Monday, ABC’s Q&A aired an episode featuring a panel of high-profile feminists.

However in the wake of the program, the broadcaster was inundated with complaints accusing it of “endorsing violence”.

Egyptian American journalist Mona Eltahawy told the audience, “How many rapists must we kill until men stop raping us?”

Can aggression and violence be a better option than assertiveness and strong arguments to effect change? #QandA pic.twitter.com/YnL2fxpQns

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) November 4, 2019

When host Fran Kelly picked her up on it she replied, “I’m saying violence has been owned by the state, given by the state, allowed to continue unchecked mostly by men and especially by privileged men. So how long do I have to wait to be safe?”

Indigenous screenwriter Nayuka Gorrie agreed that she thought violence was okay in the context of the oppression of Aboriginal people declaring, “Let’s burn stuff”.

Managing Director of the ABC, David Anderson, acknowledged the program was provocative in regard to the language used and some of the views presented.

Liberal Senator Eric Abetz slammed the episode as “utterly irresponsible”.

“As our national broadcaster, the recipient of more than a billion dollars in taxpayer funds every year, the ABC has an obligation to the people of Australia to uphold the highest standards,” Senator Abetz told The Australian.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher agreed that the investigation was “appropriate”.

But Eltahawy wasn’t impressed, posting on Twitter to voice her annoyance at the investigation.

“When white men whine and complain, investigations are swift: Does the ABC investigate when right wing extremists and fascist panellists upset viewers. Like Steve Bannon or Blair Cottrell? I think I know the answer,” she wrote.

When white men whine and complain, investigations are swift: Does the ABC investigate when right wing extremists and fascist panelists upset viewers? Like Steve Bannon or Blair’s Cottrell? I think I know the answer. https://t.co/Ukl0Ma3EoT #qanda

— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) November 7, 2019

“It’d be brilliant if Paul Fletcher & Australian Government announced investigation into actual misogynist violence vs women in this country, into racist misogyny that subjects women of colour to multiple forms of violence & oppression, rather than imaginary scenarios of violence vs men.”

2. Hikers with a baby have been rescued in freezing Tasmania.

Bushwalkers rescued from Overland Track https://t.co/RmLALHJ50c

— The Advocate (@theadvocatetas) November 7, 2019

Two people hiking with a baby in remote Tasmania have spent a freezing night huddled in a tent after getting caught in bad weather.

The trio were rescued on Thursday morning from the Overland Track at Cradle Mountain in the Central Highlands.

They were forced to hunker down when the weather turned, and were found “extremely cold and wet” but otherwise unharmed, police say.

The bushwalkers set off their emergency beacon around 7.30am and were reached about three hours later by a search party.

Snow was widespread in central Tasmania on Wednesday night, with the temperature at Cradle Mountain dropping below zero.

“It’s timely to remind anyone planning on hiking to give serious consideration to weather conditions prior to setting off,” Inspector Steve Jones said.

A bushwalkers alert for snow had been issued for the Central Plateau on Wednesday by the Bureau of Meteorology.

It remains in place for Thursday and Friday, with more cold weather forecast.

“Weather warnings are issued for safety and bushwalkers must amend their plans accordingly, including cancelling or postponing if necessary,” Insp Jones said.

“Bushwalking while a weather warning is in place puts bushwalkers in danger and puts rescuers at unnecessary risk.”

3. Hamish Macdonald will host Q&A next year.

We are delighted to announce that Hamish Macdonald (@hamishNews) will join the ABC as the new host of weekly flagship discussion program Q&A and as a senior presenter across television and radio. https://t.co/0Z0HintnSu

— ABC Communications (@ABCMediaComms) November 7, 2019

The Project’s Hamish Macdonald will host ABC’s Q&A next year, replacing outgoing presenter Tony Jones.

The national broadcaster announced on Thursday that Macdonald would take over the weekly television show’s top job at the start of the next season in February.

“I’m so passionate about telling the big stories of our time through Australian eyes, for an Australian audience,” said Macdonald.

“This role will be a huge opportunity to make the most complicated issues accessible, engaging and exciting for all Australians, no matter where you live, no matter what you believe.”

Macdonald has recently been hosting Radio National Breakfast and will continue his work there as a regular member of the on-air team. He will also continue reporting internationally with Foreign Correspondent.

The Walkley award winning journalist also hosts the Ten Network’s news talk show The Sunday Project alongside Lisa Wilkinson and Tommy Little.

“Hosting Q&A requires a special set of skills,” ABC News director Gaven Morris said.

“It needs someone who is articulate and also a great listener, well connected, interested in everything and fully across news and current events at home and abroad.

“Hamish can do all of that – and also brings his own brand of warmth and energy that audiences love. He is a terrific communicator, and an experienced and accomplished broadcaster.”

Q&A’s founding presenter Tony Jones will depart at the end of the year after 12 years with the show.

4. Scientists have discovered a new HIV strain.

A new HIV strain could offer clues on how the virus evolved and spread https://t.co/yjEDaoF9DK

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 7, 2019

Scientists have discovered a new subtype of HIV with an Australian expert saying there was no cause for alarm.

The subtype of the virus was discovered in 2001, but new DNA sequencing technology helped scientists confirm the new strain.

The sequence discovery was published on Thursday in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The discovery could affect things like treatment drugs or blood supplies, but so far it hasn’t been detected in Australia.

Philip Cunningham from the NSW State Reference Lab for HIV said scientists will now need to go and check if their tests are picking up the virus – technically called HIV subtype L.

But Mr Cunningham said “we’d be naive to think after 17 years this virus was not here”.

“I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm around the safety of the blood supply.”

“And I guess the next question is … are the treatments we have going to work?”

The Associate Professor said it wasn’t certain whether current treatment would work against the strain, but “we have no reason to believe it won’t” as it had been working against other strains.

He said the discovery would help inform Australia’s HIV prevention strategies and reinforced the case for a beefed up disease surveillance program in Australia.

Mr Cunningham said Australian blood transfusion centres use tests from a company which provided the sequencing technology, meaning the blood supply was likely to be safe.

The new strain was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001 and was collected by a global disease surveillance program, with the published sequence to be used by pharma companies to test their drugs against the virus.

Mr Cunningham said before Thursday’s discovery there were HIV subtypes ranging from A to K, with various mutations of those subtypes themselves.

5. “Dons the baseball cap.” Labor MP says Scott Morrison is going full Trump.

PM is going full Trump, says Labor MP
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is mimicking Donald Trump from his penchant for baseball caps to his desire to cultivate patriotic fervour, Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon says. https://t.co/gfIT0Gfu1X via @theleadernews

— lynlinking (@lynlinking) November 7, 2019

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is mimicking Donald Trump from his penchant for baseball caps to his desire to cultivate patriotic fervour, Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon says.

But Mr Fitzgibbon told a Sydney Mining Club luncheon on Thursday that while the Australian PM was increasingly similar in style to the US president, he lacked Mr Trump’s substance.

“Each time he (Mr Morrison) faces a crowd or a camera his main objective is to sound as much as he can like Donald Trump,” the Labor MP said.

“He even, whenever the opportunity arises, dons the baseball cap.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said when the Liberal leader didn’t like a question he dismissed it as being related to the “Canberra bubble”.

“Trump seeks to cultivate patriotic fervour with the phrase ‘Let’s make America great again,” he said on Thursday.

“Scott Morrison’s equivalent is ‘How good is Australia’.”

But that’s where the differences ended, Mr Fitzgibbon argued.

He argued that whether you loved or loathed Donald Trump, the president was a “change-agent” who challenged the orthodoxy.

Mr Morrison, by contrast, spent the 2019 election campaign promising to change nothing and went on to keep that pledge once in office, the Hunter MP said.

“There is no economic plan beyond the promise of a budget surplus.”

Mr Fitzgibbon – Labor’s agriculture and resources spokesman – also took aim at the PM’s recent claim that activists posed a significant threat to the mining industry.

Those comments came after protesters targeted the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne last week.

“None of us like it … but I don’t believe the biggest barrier to our future success is activists or anti-coal protesters,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“We have to be smart about the way we deal with them. I don’t believe that shouting louder than them or calling them names is the way to respond.”

Mr Fitzgibbon has criticised the ALP for failing to back resource workers ahead of the May 2019 federal election.

“The best thing we can do is better sell our industry, our environmental credentials … (and) remind people how stringent our environmental tests are here in Austral