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Penny Wong says "hard issues" in the China relationship will take time to resolve, as she prepares to discuss trade sanctions and the detention of Australian citizens.

The foreign minister is travelling to China to meet her counterpart Wang Yi.

"Dialogue itself is central to stabilising the relationship ... many of the hard issues in the relationship will take time to resolve in our interests," she told reporters before departing Canberra on Wednesday.

"I will be raising consular cases, as I always do, just as I will continue to advocate for the trade impediments to be lifted."

When asked if the relationship between the two countries could move forward without the release of two Australian detainees, Senator Wong said it would be beneficial for the relationship if those consular issues were dealt with.

"We will continue to press for both consular access, which is important, but also for Dr Yang (Yang Hengjun) and Cheng Lei generally to be reunited with their families," she said.

It will be the first time in four years an Australian foreign minister has been invited to Beijing for bilateral discussions.

The visit will coincide with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and China, which began under the Whitlam Labor government in 1972.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the visit marked an important step in Australia's relationship with Beijing.

"My government has taken action to stabilise Australia's relationships around the world, it is about better outcomes for Australia, but it is also about better outcomes for Australians," he said.

"The decision to establish diplomatic relations took ambition and courage, but it was the right decision and the relationship has delivered benefits to both our countries.

"The anniversary tomorrow provides an opportunity for both sides to reflect on the relationship and how it can be more constructive in the future."

The resumption of ministerial-level engagement follows one-on-one discussions between Mr Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in November.

Lowy Institute research fellow Jennifer Hsu said the resumption of diplomatic dialogue was a welcome development.

"We can ... see the wheels starting to move with regards to a number of issues pertaining to Australia and China," Dr Hsu told AAP.

"This is definitely a very positive move ... it would be great if a breakthrough happens but these things take time. There are certainly processes that need to be set in motion."

Nationals senator Matt Canavan said with the economic sanctions remaining in place, there had been no real reset in the relationship.

"We haven't really moved one iota apart from some meetings yet ... I'm not going to be holding my breath," he told Sky News.

© AAP 2022

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Australian health insurers are being urged to deliver better value for money after making huge profits during the pandemic, as well as increasing spending on executives' salaries.

A report from the Australian Medical Association found some insurers were paying about 15 per cent of their premium income to management expenses, significantly more than the industry average of 11.7 per cent.

Insurers' profits jumped due to cancelled elective surgeries and a rise in the number of Australians with hospital cover, according to the peak body for doctors.

About 235,000 additional people signed up for health cover since June 2021, meaning 45.2 per cent of the population now have insurance.

The report found some insurers would not pay out as much as others, with the difference as high as $700 for some surgeries performed at the same hospital.

The differences extended across many areas including births, with an uncomplicated delivery seeing some women pay a difference of about $500.

The AMA wants an independent regulator to oversee private health insurance so that patients get value for money.

"We want to see the money that patients pay in premiums fund their health care ... not increased profits for insurers," Australian Medical Association President Professor Stephen Robson said in a statement.

"When management expenses are gobbling up premiums, there is less money for members' claims for hospital treatments."

"Fund members want to see a fair return on their premiums and high management expenses is a marker of a low value health insurance product."

Health funds returned more than $2 billion to members during the pandemic, despite medical specialist out-of-pocket costs increasing by almost 10 per cent at the same time, peak industry body Private Healthcare Australia chief executive Rachel David said.

"Reducing wasteful healthcare and overcharging will help premiums (be) affordable for Australian families," Dr David said.

"(Private health insurance) returns on average 86 cents in the premium dollar to members, higher than all other forms of insurance."

Information about what health funds covered and the benefits they payed for procedures was publicly available, Dr David said.

© AAP 2022

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The US House of Representatives panel probing the attack on the Capitol has asked federal prosecutors to charge Donald Trump with four crimes, including obstruction and insurrection, for his role in sparking the deadly riot.

The Democratic-led select committee's request on Monday to the Justice Department - after more than 1000 witness interviews and the collection of hundreds of thousands of documents in an 18-month investigation - marked the first time in history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution.

The request does not compel federal prosecutors to act, but comes as a special counsel is overseeing two other federal probes of Trump related to the Republican's attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat and the removal of classified files from the White House.

The committee asked the Justice Department to charge Trump with four potential felonies: obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements, and aiding or inciting an insurrection.

"An insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the United States. It is a grave federal offence, anchored in the Constitution itself," Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democratic select committee member, said as he announced the charges.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump gave a fiery speech to his supporters near the White House the morning of January 6, 2021, and publicly chastised his vice president, Mike Pence for not going along with his scheme to reject ballots cast in favour of Democrat Joe Biden. Trump then waited hours to make a public statement as thousands of his supporters raged through the Capitol, assaulting police and threatening to hang Pence.

Monday's meeting was the last public gathering of the nine-member panel that spent 18 months probing the unprecedented attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power by thousands of Trump backers, inspired by his false claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was the result of widespread fraud.

Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairperson, slammed Trump for summoning the mob to the Capitol nearly two years ago and criticised him for undermining faith in the democratic system by repeating false claims of fraud.

"If the faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump broke that faith," Thompson said.

The committee also said it referred four Republican House members, including Kevin McCarthy, the favourite to be the next House speaker, to the chamber's ethics committee, for failing to comply with subpoenas as it investigated the attack.

Republicans will take the majority in the House on January 3 and are unlikely to act against members of their own leadership.

Trump has already launched a campaign to seek the Republican nomination to run for the White House again in 2024.

Five people, including a police officer, died during or shortly after the incident and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

"Among the most shameful of this committee's findings, was that President Trump sat in the dining room off the Oval Office, watching the violent riot at the Capitol on television," said Representative Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee and its vice chairwoman.

A summary of the committee's report also said the panel believed there were grounds to recommend criminal charges against some others close to Trump, including lawyer John Eastman.

The report summary named other Trump associates, including former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, former White House Chief of Staff and House member Mark Meadows and two lawyers - Kenneth Chesebro and Rudy Giuliani - as participating in conspiracies the panel is linking to Trump.

Trump has dismissed the many investigations of him as politically motivated.

© RAW 2022

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Four teenagers have been found alive after going missing in waters off Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

The 18-year-old woman, two 18-year-old men and a 19-year-old woman were found across the bay on Swan Island off the Bellarine Peninsula on Tuesday morning.

They were found by island security and will be taken to hospital.

The group were using inflatable paddle boards off Rosebud Beach on Monday - about 30km away from where they were found.

Their belongings including phones and IDs were found on the beach by a passerby at about 8pm.

A man who said he was the father of one of the boys told Seven's Sunrise program earlier on Tuesday the teens had just completed their final school exams and came to Rosebud for an end-of-year celebration.

© AAP 2022