Morning Buzz, August 23, 2017 | Surprising support for drug-testing welfare recipients

She's a Bankstown resident going through a tough time - relying partly on welfare while being treated for cancer.

But Cheryl, who preferred not to give her last name, was part of a surprising number of local supporters for the federal government's planned trial of random drug testing for welfare recipients in Canterbury-Bankstown.

"I one hundred per cent support it," she said, taking a breather on a bench at Bankstown Central shopping centre. "Two hundred per cent.

"If you're employed, employers have the right to do random drug-testing in certain areas. Why not where people rock up to ask for something for nothing?" Read more

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she wants to see bullet trains in NSW, reversing her previous scepticism of high speed rail.

Ms Berejiklian told the Herald: "Of course we would love to see high speed rail servicing our State but for this to be viable it would need to travel beyond NSW and it would require federal involvement."

The Premier has raised the prospect of bullet trains for NSW, but only if a high-speed rail network crossed the state border and connected major cities. Read more

Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon has accused Facebook of not acting fast enough to stamp out fake news during a spirited encounter with the social media giant's Australian representatives.

In exasperated exchanges with Facebook officials on Tuesday, Senator Xenophon questioned how an organisation famous for its mantra of "move fast and break things" had failed to combat the rise of fake news articles on its platform.

Fronting a parliamentary inquiry into the future of journalism and the impact tech behemoths Google and Facebook have had on the Australian media industry, Facebook Australia representatives Aine Kerr and Mia Garlick struggled to explain why the platform had not found a solution to the global problem. Read more

One in five boys in year 3 have an emotional or behavioural problem that sees them lag a year behind their peers in reading and numeracy, according to research that stresses the mental health of young people needs to be a focus in primary schools.

The Murdoch Children's Research Institute study looked at common emotional and behavioural problems and academic performance in more than 1000 eight and nine-year-old children.

The research found about one in five boys and one in seven girls had at least borderline emotional and behavioural problems. Read more

If you want to set western Sydney back 20 years, if you want to turn the Canterbury-Bankstown region into the Cabramatta of the 90s, support welfare drug testing.

There is a reason Australia has the second best health system in the developed world, while a country like the USA languishes last. It's the same reason we are the second richest nation in the world – we take care of our own. Read more via SMH

Robbie Farah's future is again at the crossroads after South Sydney began shopping the veteran hooker with a year still remaining on his contract.

Just a year after his tumultuous exit from Wests Tigers, Farah now finds himself on the outer at Redfern. The 33-year-old signed a two-year deal with Souths after his much-publicised fallout with then-Tigers coach Jason Taylor, but hasn't been able to recapture his best form at the Rabbitohs. Read more