West Australian MP  Andrew Hastie has corroborated with outspoken Senator Cory Bernardi in arguing female soldiers should not be allowed to partake in frontline duty.

Mr Hastie stated while he was in the minority, he believed an all mate close combat unit has the best chance of maintaining what he labelled the group’s fighting DNA

Mr Hastie served in the elite SAS unit for five years

After two judges were arrested, the Maldives Supreme Court has reversed its decision to free nine convicted politicians.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has declared a state of emergency while the opposition has asked for other countries to intervene after the President ordered the arrest of Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and judge Ali Hameed on Monday

The government’s action have received international condemnation with the US expressing particular concern.

Greenmount Beach locals were shocked to see heavy machinery on the beach yesterday, destroying sand dunes so practice beach volleyball courts can be built at Coolangatta for the Commonwealth Games.

The Games Organising Committee GOLDOC had previously requested the Gold Coast City Council to move the sand however locals say they were not consulted about the work.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate stated the council had the State Government’s permission for the work adding the dunes would be reinstated after the Games.

Leading museums around the world are set to receive lengths of Brisbane’s historical ‘Edison Tubes’, which is one of the world’s eldest power cable systems.

The 134 year old pieces of cable, which were used to power buildings including the old Government Printery and Parliament House, are being carefully removed and preserved under the supervision of archaeologists to make way for the upcoming Queen’s Wharf Brisbane development.

Tasmania’s only gambling licence holder has today announced its staff had joined a controversial pro-gambling campaign designed to encourage pro-Liberal voting in the state election.

This is in response to Labour’s policy to remove pokie machine from pubs and clubs if it wins power in the March 3 election

Federal Group spokesman Daniel Hanna stated the 2,100 Tasmanians who worked in pubs across the state have serious concerns in regards to their future employment if Labour wins and implements their policy

A report by the OECD suggests Australian school students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less academically resilient than disadvantaged students in other countries.

Just 28.6 percent of disadvantaged Australian students are reaching the threshold for ‘success skills’ needed later in life, as measured by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, compared to Finland and Canada, where almost 40 percent of underprivileged students achieved these success skills.

The African National Congress, South Africa’s majority party  decided to postpone a meeting which was expected to decide President Jacob Zuma’s future

This comes after continually pressure on Mr Zuma to resign from his post due to allegations of misconduct which date back to 2005.

Earlier, South African parliament decided to postpone the “State of the Nation” address which was due to be held on Thursday; however it was cancelled because of calls for disruption according to the Speaker of the National Assembly.

A powerful earthquake has struck 20km off the east coast of Taiwan, killing two people and injuring more than one hundred.

The earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale, occurred at 11.50pm local time, on the second anniversary of a previous earthquake in Taiwan which killed 117 people.

Reports say the quake was also felt in the capital Tapei, which is situated more than 160km away from the earthquake’s epicentre.