Joko Widodo looks set for victory in Indonesia's presidential election in what could result in his second term as the President of Indonesia.

Challenger Prabowo Subianto is disputing this claim, however, and said that he had won the popular vote and urged supporters to not let his victory be snatched away.

Data from private pollsters based on counts of vote samples supported the opinion polls, predicting a win for Widodo who was a former furniture businessman and low-key reformist.

New tactical weapon testing has been overseen by North-Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

The test is North Korea’s first public weapons test since the US-Hanoi “no deal” summit held in February.

Korean Central News Agency, who first reported the test, said the missile is a “powerful warhead” and has a “peculiar mode of guiding flight.”

Federal independent senator Tim Storer has announced he will not contest the upcoming federal election due to family reasons.

The Senator for South Australia said he made the ‘difficult’ decision after considering the impact of another 6 years in the Senate on his young family, deciding it would be ‘disingenuous’ to ask South Australians for their vote.

Mr Storer will end his time in the Senate after just 400 days in parliament, and considers chairing an inquiry into electric vehicles as one of his key achievements.

The latest round of redundancies at The West Australian newspaper is said to have a detrimental impact on its ability to cover state issues and hold power to account, according to a veteran editor.

Government ministers and media academics have joined the managing editor and owner of Post Newspapers Bret Christian in expressing worry at the loss of around 30 journalists from WA’s major newspaper.

Queensland’s Health minister Steven Miles has announced that a residential disability centre for people with profound and complex disabilities will remain open, overturning a decision to close the facility made by his department.

Staff told relatives of residents in January that due to NDIS requirements, the facility would close at the end of the year.

The Halwyn Centre in the inner north-west of Brisbane has been operated by the State since 1979 and houses over 30 high-needs residents.

The Brisbane City Council has rejected an application for a townhouse development to be built next to a childcare centre in Holland Park after concerns from the local community.

A development application was submitted last year to build 25 double-storey townhouses built on four amalgamated blocks on Eric Road, but residents expressed concern about the impact on the narrow streets and koala feed trees in the area.

Figures revealed on Wednesday at a roundtable convening of the Queensland Parliament with educators, bus drivers, police and transport groups, has revealed that fare evasion rates on school bus routes has hit 99.3 per cent.

Teenagers have allegedly been misusing the state's "no child left behind" policy, causing a $25 million loss in revenue.

School bus drivers have recorded over 1.53 million fare evasions in the last financial year, which is an increase from 875,000 the previous year.

Brisbane's federal Liberal MP Trevor Evans and his Labor opponent Paul Newbury did not attend a public climate forum in Brisbane on Wednesday night, inciting criticism from Greens candidate Andrew Bartlett calling the move “disappointing”.

The #ClimateElection forum, hosted by Australian Parents for Climate Action at St Andrew's Uniting Church, originally had a commitment from Dr Newbury, Greens candidate Andrew Bartlett and other minor parties.

Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen has referred his travel expense claims to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority for personal trips to the Philippines but said he is confident his travel was within the rules.

The MP for the seat of Dawson near Mackay funded his own trips but still billed taxpayers around 3000 dollars for connecting domestic flights.

News Corp reported Mr Christensen made 28 trips to the Philippines spanning 294 days across the last 4 years, with some colleagues now calling him the ‘member for Manila’.