A former US government contractor has been sentenced to more than 5 years in prison after leaking official NSA documents to a news organisation.

The document detailed Russian government efforts to penetrate a Florida-based supplier of voting software and the accounts of election officials ahead of the 2016 elections.

The sentence is the longest ever imposed for an unauthorised disclosure to the media.

Serious incidents reported to Tasmania's Child Safety Service are not being officially recorded or followed up, in order for the government department to limit caseloads.

Government agency staff say child safety matters reported by the police and educators are being recorded as ‘case notes’ so investigations will not have to be undertaken by front line staff.

Early this year, 250 Tasmanian young people were on a waiting list for a child safety officer.

Chinese-owned telecom giant Huawei has been banned from rolling out on Australia’s 5G network by the Federal Government, citing security concerns.

A Government spokesperson says of the ban that Chinese Government involvement in telecommunications companies present too many security risks and the company is likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions.

A team of researchers at the University of Queensland has been awarded $1.45 million by the US Department of Defence for a three-year project to develop new antibiotics to treat tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is the one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, causing 1.7 million deaths every year.

UQ’s Dr Blumenthal says the research team will continue studying the most promising compound identified in an earlier study in 2014.

Hundreds are expected to attend a snap protest in King George Square tonight at 5:30, in the midst of a possible Peter Dutton Prime Ministership.

Organisers from the National Union of Students say there are dark days ahead, considering the former Home Affairs Minister’s record on offshore detention and surveillance.  

The calls for protests come after Dutton’s electorate office in Strathpine was vandalised in the early this morning.

A treaty between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Queensland Government is one step closer, after Government MP Leeanne Enoch made a call in Parliament to start the truth telling process.

The Environment Minister, a Nughi woman of Quand-a-mooka Nation, North Stradbroke Island, says the Federation of Australia failed to achieve reconciliation, and the Uluru Statement needs to be adopted.

A Liberal Party room meeting is set to take place at midday today, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expected to resign if a leadership spill motion is carried.

Senior Government MPs Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop have all expressed their intentions to run for leadership in the event of a spill.

If the spill motion is passed, there will be a new Prime Minister by the end of today, and the current PM is also expected to resign, triggering a by-election in Wentworth.

Sheep farmers across Australia are calling for financial assistance after live exports to the Middle East were put on hold by the federal government.

WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan says the federal government has handled the sector badly for a long time and should give farmers financial help to adjust to the sudden changes.

The Department of Agriculture is imposing new conditions on the industry after footage emerged of thousands of sheep suffering on the scandal-plagued Awassi Express.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in Yemen air strikes after the Saudi-UAE military alliance targeted a camp for internally displaced people.

The attack comes two weeks after an air strike by the same group claimed the lives of 40 boys on a school bus.

Last year, the Saudi-UAE military alliance were sanctioned by the UN for causing the deaths and injuries of hundreds of children in Yemen.