Today is Equal Pay Day, which marks 62 extra days women must work following the end of the financial year to earn the same pay as men.

The gender pay gap in Australia is at its lowest in 20 years at 14.6 per cent, according to the Per Capita think-tank.

Women retire with $113,000 less than men on average, meaning most Australian women will still need to rely on the aged pension in addition to their super to retire comfortably.

A Melbourne warehouse fire is expected to burn for days, spewing toxic fumes across the western suburbs, as well as polluting waterways.

Authorities say the water run-off into Stony Creek remains a significant issue, warning people to steer clear.

The blaze is not believed to be suspicious, and we understand 60 firefighters remain on scene.

Political hopeful Clive Palmer has lost a legal bid to have criminal charges brought against him thrown out of court.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is bringing charges against Palmer for breaching corporate law in relation to his 2012 proposal to buy shares of another company that owned properties at his Sunshine Coast resort.

Mr Palmer has also come under fire recently for using crass language to refer to Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill during a press conference outside his campaign office.

New fines for public transport commuters will come into effect this weekend, in an Queensland Government effort to curb bad behaviour on the network.

Feet on seats, littering and misusing seating or taking up more than one seat on trains, buses and ferries, will all attract greater fines from tomorrow.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said fines and warnings would be issued by officers when patrolling the network.

New Zealand authorities have approved an American whistleblower’s visa.

Activist Chelsea Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for leaking classified documents, had her sentence commuted by President Obama in 2017.

The Australian leg of her speaking tour was cancelled earlier this week after the Government stated it would deny her entry to the country.

Japan has hit a record high for the number of recorded child abuse cases for the 27th year straight, with almost 134,000 reported incidents - a 9.1 per cent increase from 2017.

The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry has attributed the rise to an increase in psychological abuse cases involving spousal violence in front of children.

The Japanese government plans to develop child counselling centres and introduce the number of counsellors.  

The Queensland Government is launching a 100 per cent green energy company to reduce yearly energy bills.

The company called CleanCo is the first state-owned green energy generator, with the state’s two other companies coal and gas companies dependent.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the new energy enterprise will slash $70 a year from household power bills.

In Scott Morrison’s first visit overseas since securing the top job, he is meeting with Indonesian officials in Jakarta to talk free trade and strategic security.

The foreign venture will be a test for Mr Morrison, as skills in diplomacy and statesmanship were not cornerstones of his former portfolios of Treasury and Immigration.

Indonesian Prime Minister Joko Widodo will welcome the Australian PM to Jakarta’s presidential palace before the one-on-one meeting between the leaders.