An interim report from the Productivity Commission has found that Western Australia's GST deal has been a big mistake that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

Taxpayers are to fund a $2.5 billion bailout of Australia's largest aluminium smelter at Tomago in New South Wales.

The Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has referred the Labor Government's handling of its gambling ad reforms to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Reserve Bank has decided to leave interest rates on hold today, but the Governor is warning that inflation is still too high and if it does not come down another rate rise is inevitable.

The federal government body responsible for controlling air traffic in Australia has apologised for a near miss involving Jetstar and Qatar airways planes on the tarmac at Sydney airport.

Victoria is the first state to require poultry producers to keep their birds indoors as the H5 bird flu crisis worsens in Australia.

The Albanese government is facing a battle to get its gambling ad reforms through parliament with the Greens and the Coalition refusing to back the legislation in its current form.

Today's NAPLAN results are raising concerns for educators and parents with the latest figures showing a third of Australian students are not meeting expectations in literacy and numeracy.

At a Senate inquiry, gambling industry representatives have rejected allegations that problem gamblers have been offered drugs and sex workers to lure them into betting more.

A cluster of dead and sick birds found in South Australia is being described by the federal government as the nation's first "mass mortality bird flu event."