May 16, 2013 A small group of asylum seekers decamped from their boat in a virtually uninhabited peninsula in the Northern Territory, and were only discovered a day later at a nearby airstrip.

May 16, 2013 Afghan detainees captured by the Australian Defence Force and held at a US military prison near Bagram complained to Australian government officials that they were forced to accept humiliatingly public ''groin and buttocks'' searches, previously secret defence documents reveal.

May 16, 2013 Patient advocates say cuts to health spending will lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for consumers, while doctors have accused the government of targeting the sick to reduce the budget deficit.

May 16, 2013 An extra $74 million will be channelled into federal government advertising campaigns despite the budget's bleak finances.

May 16, 2013 More than three-quarters of arbitrated unfair dismissal claims ultimately fail, indicating employers are perhaps not doing it so tough under workplace laws.

May 16, 2013 Australian women are waiting up to two years to have the surgery Angelina Jolie had to reduce her high chance of breast cancer, and doctors fear these waiting times could increase.

May 16, 2013 Australia has launched a bid to stop the commercial use of a controversial ''geoengineering'' technique that involves dumping iron into the ocean in a bid to counter the effects of man-made climate change.

May 16, 2013 Scientists have been surprised to learn that malaria parasites ''talk'' to each other. And the chatter is crucial to the parasite's survival and spread in humans.

May 16, 2013 Scientists have used caffeine to achieve a stem cell breakthrough that many researchers thought impossible but which could lead to new therapies for many crippling diseases.

May 16, 2013 Afghan detainees captured by Australian soldiers and held at a US military prison near Bagram complained to Australian government officials that they were forced to accept humiliatingly public ''groin and buttocks'' searches, previously secret Defence documents reveal.