Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged people not to link Australian coal export processing delays to China with diplomatic tensions.

The AMA has welcomed a commitment by both sides of politics to fund heart health checks through Medicare from April.

A Senate inquiry has found serious problems within the payday lending and goods rentals sectors affecting vulnerable Australians.

The federal government will impose default market prices for energy to reduce the cost of power for consumers.

The royal commission into aged care has wrapped up its first hearings in Adelaide with a call for Australians to commit to change.

Australian shares are higher despite losses in the energy sector following concerns about coal exports to China.

Stocks of interest at the close of trade on the ASX on Thursday, February 21.

The deportation of Kiwis from Australia is "corrosive" to the trans-Tasman relationship, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

Dozens of orcas and beluga whales captured for sale to oceanariums have brought Russia's murky trade into the spotlight, but efforts to free them are blocked by government infighting.

Scott Morrison says he would act if he believed there was a weakening in the coal export market, after imports have reportedly been banned at a Chinese port.