The Australian Defence Force says it's closely monitoring the Chinese warships that have now re-entered Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone after conducting live fire exercises without notice in the Tasman Sea last week.

The opposition is accusing Labor of downplaying the incident.

Also, Australia's chief financial markets regulator Joe Longo warns he can't do his job properly if he is kept in the dark,  as the size of so-called private investments not on the Australian share market triples.

For the first time in its 27-year history,  the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has released the first request for help from members of the public, and from users of financial markets.

And as the unofficial election campaign rolls on the Greens have launched a string of what they call "Robin hood" reforms — proposals for social and cost-of-living policies they say could be funded by much higher taxes on corporations and billionaires.

The latest is a proposal to get ADHD and autism diagnoses funded through Medicare.

Coverage and analysis of national and international events.