The World Today

The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is calling on the states to lift their bans on gas exploration after a warning from the Australian Energy Market Operator that the east coast states are likely to suffer supply shortages in the next two years. But states like Victoria say there is enough gas for domestic use if exports are cut.

The Tasmanian Government is taking over water and sewerage services in the state because it says services are in a crisis. But the current water and sewerage provider Taswater is telling staff that jobs may go. The plumbing union says a third of frontline staff who fix water and sewerage spills are set to lose their jobs.

Victoria's Police Association is proposing that officers with the rank of sergeant and above could remand people in custody for up to three days until the next court date. The state's bail system is being overhauled following the death of six people during the recent Bourke Street tragedy. But some in the legal community are concerned that police may struggle to be impartial when assessing whether bail should be granted.

The PNG government has used a ministerial forum to ask Australia to directly fund its health, education and infrastructure spending, after the country suffered a severe economic downturn. PNG wants Australia to shift its half a billion dollars of annual aid away from Australian-managed programs and into those run by Papua New Guinea. It's something Australia used to do, but stopped because of concerns about poor governance and mismanagement of public funds.

The head of the FBI has added further fuel to the growing concerns about privacy - in the wake of Tuesday's massive data leak showing the scale of hacking tools used by the CIA. FBI boss James Comey says there is no such thing as absolute privacy and that even the most private communications can be invaded by government or courts. US President Donald Trump is said to be extremely concerned at the security breach, and US authorities believe CIA contractors are the most likely source of the leak.

The Prime Minister's visit to Indonesia this week, has been followed up with more negotiations over a trade deal between Australia and Indonesia which both nations say they want signed by the end of the year. The Trade Minister Steve Ciobo has been in Jakarta to continue talks on the bilateral deal worth billions of dollars to the Australian economy. During a visit to Australia, the Indonesian President agreed to lower sugar tariffs to five per cent and extend cattle import quotas.

David Hill has accused the Fairbridge Society, a charity that brought child migrants to Australia last century of protecting the perpetrators of child abuse and obstructing victims. The former ABC Managing Director has told the British inquiry into child sexual abuse that Fairbridge's secretary in the UK had denied him access to key historical documents because he wanted to protect the reputation of the charity and its ability to raise funds. Mr Hill was one of the thousands of children sent to Australia and placed on work farms as part of the child migrant scheme. Through his research he estimates around 60 per cent of them were sexually abused.

One of Australia's sharpest legal minds on refugee law is calling on the international community to turn its attention to the growing threat posed by environmental change and the flight of people from places affected by natural disasters. Professor Jane McAdam is from the Kaldor centre for International Refugee Law and she's delivering a speech tonight called 'Should I Stay or Should I Go? Shaping International Responses to Climate Change, Disasters and Displacement'.

A report out today says some Australians have too much insurance cover unnecessarily tied up in multiple superannuation accounts. The chairman of Insurance in Superannuation Industry Working Group, which is backed by both industry and retail funds, says an overload of insurance risks eroding some retirement nest eggs. The working group's chairman Jim Minto speaks with the ABC's Peter Ryan.

An innovative online voting service to help disabled people vote is being used in this weekend's Western Australian election. I-vote allows people with impaired vision or poor literacy skills to lodge a vote online or over the phone. Advocates say it makes the democratic process more accessible to disabled people, many of whom have found it difficult to vote in the past. But some electoral experts are concerned about the security of the system and fear it could be open to manipulation.