The Indonesian earthquake-tsunami death toll has reached 1,400 this morning and is expected to rise further, now 7 days after the disaster struck.

Entire towns have been destroyed, and authorities say thousands are injured and possibly hundreds of thousands more are displaced from their homes.

If you would like to assist in the rescue effort, you can donate on the Australian Red Cross website, which is conducting search and recovery missions, providing medical services and distributing water and sanitation supplies.

A former ASIC investigator is calling for the 'big four’ insurance companies to join the big banks in facing the Banking Royal Commission. 

The forensic investigator who spent 20 years at the watchdog says PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG are likely to have been pressured into approving reports for fear of compromising financial relationships.

Despite damning evidence, a recent interim report from the Royal Commission made no recommendations to the Federal Government, sparking Opposition calls for the Commission to be extended.

Delays in the release of the Federal Government's review into religious freedom are sparking outrage from critics, including former High Court Justice Michael Kirby.

Mr Kirby says secularism in Australian education is at threat, and as the Government have not yet released the Ruddock Report, the basis for giving private religious schools more money, and developing policy, should be considered questionable.

Brisbane based coffee van known as ‘Second Shot’ is giving homeless youth a second chance at life.

Ms Naz Wapau came to Brisbane from Rockhampton with her partner when she was 18 with no money and says she was at breaking point when she was approached by the social enterprise this year.

Operated by young homeless and disadvantaged people, profits from the two vans offers counselling and support for employees to get back on their feet.

A victim of child sexual abuse is going to the Supreme Court for damages after receiving a pittance settlement from Brisbane Grammar School in the 1980s.

The then-student received $47,000 after falling victim to notorious paedophile teacher Keven Lunch and is the first person to bring forward a case under the statute of limitations amendments, claiming he was disadvantaged at the time.

Scientists Frances Arnold, George Smith and Sir Gregory Winter have won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research using evolution to produce new enzymes for chemistry.

They have used the idea of evolution - survival of the fittest - with the intent of making proteins that solve mankind's’ medical problems.

Harnessing enzymes and evolving them to act as medical treatment is far less harsh on the body than complex synthetic drugs, and these nobel prize winners have changed the face of medical science.

A New Zealand statue of Captain Cook, that overlooks a beach where he first arrived in the country, is set to be taken down, following a growing debate on its depiction of colonial history.

The statue was unveiled in 1969 and has received opposition and vandalism ever since; but it was attacks in 2016 that reignited debate about its place in the region’s history.

The architect of the Paris climate accord says that Scott Morrison’s inactive stance on climate change is “anti science”, and risks Australia’s international reputation.

These comments follow a report released showing that climate pollution has risen 1.3% in the year to March, the highest quarterly increase in eight years.

If our climate policies don’t change soon, Australia will soon become one of the least eco-friendly  countries in the world.

Australia’s largest honey producer has been accused of almost a fifth of their honey being fake or altered.

Fairfax media revealed that there was adulteration in around 18% of honey samples bought in supermarkets and markets.

This follows outrage over the contamination of imported honey brands like Capilano, and Aldi and IGA private brands.

There has been mass protest in Brisbane, as people march against the newly proposed changes to Queensland’s abortion laws.

The proposed changes would be among the most extreme in the world, with unrestricted abortions after 22 weeks.

However parliament has quickly rebutted this, saying it is merely proposals and for an abortion to occur after 22 weeks there would have to be extreme and validated mitigating circumstances.