PM

An expert witness has told the child sexual abuse Royal Commission Australia's child protection system is too reliant on working with children checks. Katherine Levi from Child Wise gave evidence the absence of a criminal conviction doesn't always mean a person is trustworthy.

The Federal Court has upheld an appeal brought by the building industry watchdog against the construction union over a 2013 blockade at Perth Airport. The Court has increased an initial fine imposed on the CFMEU tenfold. It also found the union was opting to pay fines instead of obeying the law and had brought the trade union movement into disrepute.

A delegation of business leaders descended on Canberra to pressure politicians to cut corporate taxes. The Government was hoping to pass its enterprise tax plan through the Senate this week, but with just one sitting day to go before Parliament rises before the Budget, it still doesn't have the support of the crossbench. It's now looking like it only get enough votes to give small business a tax break, much to the disappointment of the CEOs of big corporates.

Tropical Cyclone Debbie is now a category three but the Whitsunday region in north Queensland is still feeling her full force. The storm passed the coast as a category four system this afternoon, causing wind gusts of around 260 kilometres per hour, and heavy rainfall in some areas between Ayr and Bowen. More than 45,000 homes are without power and there are already reports of damage coming through. Authorities are urging residents to remain indoors until the threat has passed. And they now have their eye on inland parts of Queensland, which could be hit by flooding.

The town of Bowen is suffering destructive winds, torrential rain, network problems and the weather conditions are stopping people for getting around the town. It's not yet clear what kind of structural damage will be left in the wake of the storm. Our reporter, Annie Guest is in Bowen, south-east of Townsville, and she joins me now.

The Prime Minister and Opposition leader have expressed parliament's solidarity for the North Queensland residents in Cyclone Debbie's path. The Government says the Australian Defence Force has detailed plans in place to help with the recovery and reconstruction efforts. The Federal Opposition also used question time to continue its attack on the Prime Minister over the Fair Work Commission's decision to reduce Sunday penalty rates for some industries. The Government has also abruptly withdrawn an extradition treaty with China, over fears the Senate would reject it. It says it'll continue negotiations with Labor.

Are we being too negative about the resources industry? One current Reserve Bank board member says we are. Ian Harper has told PM the current export phase of the mining boom, which accounts for around 10 per cent of all jobs, has another thirty years to run.

The Senate has started debating changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, despite protests from the Opposition and the Greens that they haven't had enough time to consider the changes. During the debate, Labor's Leader in the Senate Penny Wong made several references to Lord of the Rings, and compared the Attorney General George Brandis to the fictional character Gollum. But Liberal Senator Eric Abetz says those opposing changes to Part 18C are hypocrites, as they're happy to sling insults but just not when it's about someone's race. The Government is still hoping to get the numbers to pass the legislation through the Senate this week, although at this stage that looks unlikely with key crossbenchers not convinced that there needs to be a change to the wording.

The Northern Territory's youth detention royal commission has been told about a string of suicide attempts by a teenager in Don Dale's 'at-risk' cells. A former Don Dale manager has told the inquiry there were hanging points across the youth detention centre, but no resources to fix them. He also told the commissioners he couldn't see a link between detainees' behaviour and poor conditions in the centre.

Western Australia's inspector of Custodial Services has told the child sexual abuse royal commission the youth detention system is failing to properly treat traumatised youngsters. Neil Watson gave evidence centre staff need to create good relationships with the young people in their care but this isn't happening. Victoria's commissioner for Aboriginal Children agrees.