The Federal Government is promising to invest $2 billion for a fast train service between Melbourne and Geelong if the Victorian Government matches that investment.

Daniel Andrews Government announced $50 million in last year's budget to look at the business case for the project.

Under the Federal Government's proposal, the trains would travel at an average speed of 160 kilometres per hour and take about 32 minutes, down from the current time of about an hour.

The chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission has called for the cancellation of a string of upcoming Australian shows by former Pantera frontman Philip Anselmo over his "neo-Nazi and antisemitic sentiments".

Currently in Australia with his band The Illegals, Anselmo is scheduled to play a number of gigs starting on Thursday in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle and Hobart.

Minister for Police and Minister for Corrective Services, Mark Ryan and Commissioner Stewart yesterday welcomed 76 new police officers to the Queensland Police Service, in an induction ceremony held at the QPS Academy, Oxley campus.

Graduating as First Year Constables, the new officers have completed 25 weeks of intensive training, preparing them for their new roles serving the community.

Mr Ryan said police perform a vital role in the maintenance of law and order, and public safety.

Work has begun to refresh Queensland’s Closing the Gap agenda including nine community workshops held across remote, regional and urban areas of the state to capture the priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, communities and organisations for the future.

Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Jackie Trad says the next step of the Closing the Gap agenda would place a greater focus on self-determination, and respect for culture and language.

Six people have been killed in a blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng, eastern China, local authorities say.

Thirty people were also injured in the explosion, which took place at about 2:50 local time at the plant run by Tianjiayi Chemical.

China's earthquake administration reported a tremor equivalent to 2.2-magnitude at the time of the explosion.

Images on social media showed a fireball exploding at the site, billowing clouds enveloping the area, injured people and damage to buildings.

New Zealand is set to ban military style weapons in the wake of last week’s mass shooting in Christchurch which saw 50 people killed.

Prime Minister Ardern said she expects new legislation to be in place by 11 April, saying: "Our history changed forever. Now, our laws will too."

An amnesty has been imposed so the owners of affected weapons can hand them in, and a buy-back scheme will follow.

Climate change has been identified as a key issue for voters in Saturday's New South Wales election, and is expected to be an influential factor in the upcoming federal election in May — particularly in the northern Sydney seat of Warringah, held by Tony Abbott.

Currently, New South Wales and Western Australia are the only two states in Australia without a renewable energy target. The NSW Liberal-National coalition government and Labor opposition have both campaigned on investment in renewable energy, including solar energy.

34 bars in Sydney will stop serving drinks for up to 15 minutes at 6pm tonight in a pre-election pitch to draw voters’ attention to the future of Sydney’s night time economy.

Sydney’s Night Time Industries Association says in a statement that the bars involved were set to “turn up the lights”, with owners being encouraged to grab a microphone and discuss with Friday night drinkers about the election issue

More than 1,000 people from the Northern Territory communities in the Gulf of Carpentaria are in evacuation centres this morning in Katherine and Darwin, safe from cyclone Trevor.

It is expected that Cyclone Trevor will make landfall tomorrow, in what the Bureau of Meteorology forecast to be a “severe impact in the south-western Gulf of Carpentaria coast.”

Hundreds of people have been given emergency accomodation at the Darwin Showgrounds after being flown in from Groote Eylandt and the Borroloola areas.