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Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Robin Banks says changes to the racial discrimination law could allow people to say others are more likely to be terrorists or child molesters based on their race.

The Prime Minister says the Government will focus on improving housing supply, rather than changing tax rules like negative gearing, to try to improve housing affordability. Two Government MPs have again called for all options to be examined, as house prices continue to rise in Sydney and Melbourne. The Opposition says building more houses is important, but not the only solution, and the Government should adopt the policies Labor took to the election last year.

The Federal Government has been lobbying the new Trump administration to maintain a strong presence in Asia. Ashley Townshend from University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre has been researching President Trump's evolving Asia team.

Almost a week into Donald Trump's presidency, fresh concerns are being raised about the freedom of the press in the United States and beyond. Mr Trump's Chief of Staff has accused the press of trying to delegitimise America's new leader, but the Committee to Protect Journalists says attacks on the press set a dangerous precedent.

A Mexican farming association says its roughly 60,000 members are growing increasingly angry at debate over US President Donald Trump's border wall between Mexico and the USA.

The Defence Department is planning to take over a number of prime cattle properties around Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton for the expansion of a military base in the region, but the Queensland Government's calling for the Commonwealth to find alternatives to the proposal. The National Farmers Federation also strongly opposes the move, stating that forcing farmers off productive land is unfair.

A family with links to Australia is being questioned in Jakarta, after allegedly attempting to join ISIS in the Middle East. They were deported back to Indonesia earlier this week. But the 40-year-old father isn't your average ISIS recruit, he was awarded a Masters degree from Adelaide's Flinders University.

CAPTION: A family with links to Australia is being questioned in Jakarta, after allegedly attempting to join ISIS in the Middle East. They were deported back to Indonesia earlier this week.But the 40-year-old father isn't your average ISIS recruit, he was awarded a Masters degree from Adelaide's Flinders University.

A report into the handling of a failed computer program for Victorian Government schools has detailed widespread corruption within the senior ranks of the Education Department. The 'Ultranet' was supposed to connect students, parents and teachers. But the state's corruption watchdog has found that officials wasted up to $240 million of taxpayers' money. Victoria's 'Ultranet' was launched at a lavish event in August 2010 at a cost of $1.4 million. Three years later it was dumped. A report into the failed computer scheme from the state's Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission was tabled in Parliament today.

Think India, and chances are snake charmers will probably spring to mind. Officially banned 40 years ago, the practice has lived on in some parts. But under continued pressure from animal rights activists and the law, even the die-hards say they now see the writing on the wall.

The Adelaide Zoo is in mourning, after the death of its critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, and her baby. Karta died just hours after delivering the infant, which is believed to have been stillborn. It follows a troubled past with births for the animal, who has lost six other infants in the past 15 years.