PM

A serial paedophile sex abuser is a free man in Ireland after an apparent oversight being blamed on Victoria Police. At the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse he was identified as BIM, and he'd been jailed already in Queensland on separate sex offences. But before Victoria Police made moves to arrest BIM he'd already been deported back to his native Ireland.

The Latrobe Valley in Victoria's east is braced for the announcement that the aging Hazelwood power plant will be shut down. The State Government has promised to look after workers, but unions say a transition plan should've been in place years ago.

Former senior Coalition minister Andrew Robb has defended his decision to work for the Chinese company that controls Darwin Port. Mr Robb has been appointed as an economic consultant with the Landbridge Group after resigning as the trade minister in February. Concerns have been expressed that the former minister could use sensitive information gathered while he was a minister of the Crown, in order to benefit himself and his clients. Andrew Robb says it wouldn't be in his business interests to disclose sensitive information to the Chinese.

Cartel violence in Mexico is once again on the rise, with homicide numbers reaching levels not seen since the height of the country's drug war five years ago. More than 17,000 people were murdered in the first nine months of 2016, up 20 per cent on the same period last year. Many are pointing to the re-arrest of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán in January as a possible cause of the violence. The most powerful drug lord since Pablo Escobar, Guzman is perhaps most famous for escaping from maximum security prisons, not once, but twice. He's now in prison once again is expected to be extradited to the US by February. But the power vacuum his absence has created is said to have emboldened his rivals. But others say that the Mexican government needs to do more to address the systemic problems that allow the cartels to operate in the first place.

It's been almost exactly 11 years to the day since the then 25-year-old Teresa Halbach went missing in Manitowoc county in Wisconsin in the United States. It was early evening on Halloween. When Teresa Halbach's charred remains were found on Steven Avery's property, he was arrested and charged with her murder. Steven Avery's story is the subject of the real life crime documentary Making a Murderer. Now, thanks to an overwhelming response from the global audience, lawyers for Steven Avery think they might have new evidence that will finally be able to prove that Steven Avery was framed.

A Queensland man has become one of only a few in Australia to be sentenced for supporting foreign fighting. Former Islamic bookseller Omar Succarieh was arrested during counter-terrorism raids south of Brisbane in 2014. Today he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years' jail for supporting 'hostile activity' in Syria. Dr Rodger Shanahan of the Lowy Institute prepared a report for the prosecution in the case, and he spoke today to PM.

A conservation group has launched an appeal into a NSW court decision that's allowing a coal mine to release contaminated water into Sydney's drinking catchment. A court decision earlier this year allowed the Springvale mine west of Sydney to continue to pump waste water into a river that flows through the heritage-listed Blue Mountains. There's a plan to send the water to a nearby power plant for cooling, but environmentalists say overflows can still find their way into rivers that feed Sydney's water supply.

The Reserve Bank has left the official cash rate target at the historic low rate of just 1.5 per cent. The central bank seems confident the muscle fibres of the economy will gradually build up over time, eliminating the need for an urgent rate cut. Meanwhile, there was further evidence today that the property markets of Sydney and Melbourne found yet another tailwind last month. Researchers are now encouraging millennials to ditch the idea of home ownership altogether in favour of a more realistic life-long investment.

Just when it seemed the search for missing Malaysia MH370 was drawing to a frustrating close with no result, PM can reveal that a plan is taking shape to extend the hunt. The focus may shift north, to an area around the 34th parallel. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau reckons it needs another $30 million to mount the search. Today, Malaysia Airlines also agreed to give lawyers for the victims access to a huge cache of potentially sensational company records - so far released only to the still secret Malaysian police report.

Pauline Hanson says her One Nation party now has enough West Australian members to run candidates in the coming state election. It opens the possibility of One Nation playing a key role in determining the result of the March poll. Their greatest threat is probably to the Nationals. The WA National Party is pinning its electoral fortunes on a new mining tax - and at least one former One Nation MP thinks Pauline Hanson should match it.