A Newspoll conducted for The Australian has found 59 per cent of 1634 voters polled last week are opposed to the repatriation from Syria of Islamic State wives and children who hold Australian citizenship.

Some 20 Australian women and 46 children are trapped in refugee camps in northern Syria, but the federal government has called the situation ‘too dangerous’ for defence troops to retrieve them.

A tribunal responsible for reviewing government decisions has received a record number of applications, meaning decisions now take longer to finalise.

An overwhelming majority of the applications are related to migrants and refugees, and decisions around the disability support pension represent most of Centrelink-related appeals.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal received more than 60,000 applications for review in the past financial year.

The Meramist Abattoir was recently featured in ABC’s 7:30 program over barbaric treatment of ex-racehorses, and the Queensland Government has confirmed that it was previously warned over a breach of its Environmental Authority conditions.

Footage has appeared to show staff kicking, beating, shocking and verbally abusing former racehorses at the facility in Caboolture.

A move away from the Go-Card will begin in Brisbane today with express lanes being trialled at Central Station for a month.

New, faster readers and no automatically-closing gates will be trialled between 7am - 9am at Central Station for the next month.

Translink is beginning to design card readers for Queensland’s new smart-ticketing system, to be introduced by 2022.

China and Samoa signed up to seven new agreements before the China-Pacific Island Economic Cooperation Special Summit in Apia, Samoa.

Beijing is expected to use the China Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum to promote its trillion-dollar “Belt and Road” initiative, a large-scale infrastructure construction project that provides affordable loans to developing countries.

Chile’s government has extended the state of emergency to cities in the north and south, as the number of deaths caused by violent clashes and arson attacks has increased to at least seven.

Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said the decision to expand emergency measures was carried out in the context of “escalation of violence and vandals”.

Mr. Chadwick cited  70 “serious violent incidents” yesterday, including the looting of 40 supermarkets and other businesses, with at least 7 deaths.

Anti-protest laws to prevent people using dangerous devices to lock themselves to roads and train lines appear ready to pass this week in Parliament.

A committee of cross-section MPs have approved the Bill, now ready for parliamentary debate. 

A number of organisations have raised concerns about the Bill’s justifications, with legal groups saying that the claims that protesters have been using dangerous lock-devices have not been substantiated.

Protests against the law are expected outside Parliament today.

A Queensland and Western Australian judge have swapped courtrooms in an experiment to find better ways of doing things through firsthand experience. 

Queensland Justice Walter Sofronoff has helped create the first judge-swap in Australian Courts, by exchanging places with his colleague Michael Buss in Western Australia.

Justice Sofronoff found one thing WA's Appeal Court does better, by filtering cases through the appellant persuading a two-judge panel their argument has merit.

A new survey has revealed what Australians believe to be the key identifier of national spirit, and it’s not what you would expect.

The answer is not our passion for sport, the way we speak, our appreciation of Australia’s natural environment or our sense of justice.

According to more than 50,000 respondents to the Australia Talks National Survey, Australians consider the most important part of being Australian to be: “Respecting our institutions and laws”.