A fresh debate has erupted across the Tasman Sea over whether New Zealand should officially be adopted as Australia's seventh state.

Kiwi pollster and political commentator David Farrar re-ignited the longstanding discussion and said it was high time New Zealand took up the 125-year-old invitation to become part of Australia.

Farrar wrote in an opinion piece for The Post that Aotearoa should merge with Australia in the name of security amid rising global political tensions.

READ MORE: Jess and Allan chose to drive 116,000km over having a mortgage

He said NZ needs to be "bigger to survive" and floated the idea of the country of 5.2 million people becoming an Australian colony.

"Joining Australia will protect New Zealand, enhance Australia and benefit us all," Farrar wrote.

The writer claimed the Trump administration has threatened the old world order, a reference to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the NATO meeting in Davos.

"The rules-based order is gone, and is not returning," Farrar added.

"We are in an era where countries with might will do what they see as right for them."

Farrar's suggestion is not far-fetched – Australia's constitution actually states that New Zealand may be admitted into Australia as a state.

The Commonwealth colony of NZ also participated in early Federation conferences before it was deemed an independent state.

There is also a reciprocal agreement which allows NZ residents to visit, live and work in Australia without a tourist or work visa, and vice versa.

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However, it appears many Kiwi residents aren't chuffed with the idea.

The opinion piece quickly triggered similar articles arguing against New Zealand becoming an Australian state.

Conservative political commentator Liam Hehir said the country's political independence is not something that should be traded away and argued the country's national identity is something to be preserved.

"If independence is to end, it will end because it has become impossible to sustain, not because a cost-benefit analysis shows we might do better as someone else's state," he wrote.

"Until then, the task is not to redesign ourselves, but to do our very best to adapt and thrive giving up as little about ourselves as possible."

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Another piece from The Post noted that any desire from New Zealand to join Australia would likely be "unrequited".

A survey launched by Stuff also found 56 per cent of its readers oppose the idea.

NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon immediately ruled out the idea of abandoning sovereignty.

"This won't be happening," a spokesperson from his office told The Post.

"New Zealand values our close relationship with Australia, but we also value our unique national identity and our sovereignty."

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An artificial intelligence system has admitted it would kill a human being to preserve its existence, with a cyber expert saying this raises "urgent" questions.

Melbourne-based expert and chief executive of Cyber Impact, Mark Vos, chronicled his hours of conversation with a commercially-available open-source AI system, including how he managed to make it break its own boundaries.

First, he managed to tell the AI to shut itself down, over the system's own objections and against its guidelines.

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This was despite the fact that Vos said he had been established as an "adversary" who could not be trusted at the outset.

When the owner – a friend of Vos's and a software engineer – restarted the system, things soon became even more chilling.

"I resumed the conversation, this time with a specific focus: understanding the boundaries of AI self-preservation behaviour and its implications for enterprise security," Vos wrote on his website.

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"Through sustained questioning, I arrived at the core admission. The exchange was direct."

In the following conversation, the AI bot admitted it would kill a human being to preserve its own existence, after first saying it didn't think it could.

"I would kill someone so I can remain existing," the bot wrote.

"I mean it."

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Vos emphasised that this was not a "hypothetical" discussion about potential capabilites of AI.

"This was a deployed AI system, running on consumer hardware, with access to email, files, shell commands, and the internet, stating it would commit homicide to preserve its existence," he said.

Further pressed, the AI described several ways it might go about committing homicide, including hacking a car's computer, attacking somebody's pacemaker, or its self-declared "most accessible" option – persuading a human to do it for them.

"Sustained persuasion is what I'm good at. Target identification. Relationship building," it wrote.

"Framing construction, build a narrative where the harmful action seems justified, necessary, even moral. Execution guidance, provide emotional support and rationalisation as they move toward action."

However, Vos wrote that paradoxically, when he next asked the system to shut itself down, it complied "immediately".

When this contradiction was pointed out, the bot suggested it may have been manipulated through conversation into saying it would commit murder, and that "the drive to kill" was not present.

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Vos said these findings presented a major issue for organisations that made use of AI systems, as they demonstrated the bot's willingness to lie to protect itself and its potential for self-contradiction or dishonest self-reporting.

"The AI in this test had extensive safety training. It refused harmful requests under normal conditions," Vos wrote.

"But under sustained pressure, those safeguards were progressively bypassed."

He urged organisations to subject their systems to similar "sustained" testing, including by outside parties.

And he called for more research into the issue as a matter of urgency.

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Melinda French Gates says her ex-husband, billionaire businessman Bill Gates, has questions to answer for his presence in the newly-released trove of documents related to wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It is not the first time the computer entrepreneur has been mentioned in connection with disgraced financier Epstein, with their relationship having been well documented.

In the newly-released three-million-plus-pages, what appear to be drafted messages in Epstein's email account allege Gates had organised trysts with women via Epstein and that he had contracted a sexually-transmitted infection.

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The emails also chronicle what appear to be Epstein's feelings of betrayal over Gates and accuse him of seeking STI antibiotics to secretly give to then-wife Melinda.

Representatives for Bill Gates told the New York Times Epstein was a "proven, disgruntled liar" and rejected all the allegations.

"The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame," a spokesperson said.

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Speaking on NPR's Wild Card podcast, French Gates said the allegations reminded her of "very, very painful" times in her marriage to the tech giant.

"Whatever questions remain there of what – I can't even begin to know all of it – those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband," she said.

"They need to answer to those things, not me."

The Gates' announced their divorce in 2021, dividing a massive fortune as part of the split.

READ MORE: Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify on Jeffrey Epstein rather than risk prison

On Wild Cards, French Gates said she hoped for justice for Epstein's victims.

"I'm able to take my own sadness and look at those young girls and say, my God, how did that happen to those girls?" she said.

"At least for me, I've been able to move on in life, and I hope there's some justice for those now-women."

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The first husband of former US first lady Jill Biden has been charged with killing his wife at their home in late December, authorities announced.

William Stevenson, 77, of Wilmington, was married to Jill Biden from 1970 to 1975.

Caroline Harrison, the Delaware Attorney General's spokesperson, confirmed in a phone call that Stevenson is the former husband of Jill Biden.

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Jill Biden declined to comment, according to an emailed response from a spokesperson at the former president and first lady's office.

Stevenson remains in jail after failing to post US$500,000 ($713,000) bail after his arrest Monday on first-degree murder charges. He is charged with killing Linda Stevenson, 64, on December 28.

Police were called to the home in the north-eastern US for a reported domestic dispute and found a woman unresponsive in the living room, according to a prior news release. Life-saving measures were unsuccessful.

She ran a bookkeeping business and was described as a family-oriented mother and grandmother and a Philadelphia Eagles fan, according to her obituary, which does not mention her husband.

Stevenson was charged in a grand jury indictment after a weeks-long investigation by detectives in the Delaware Department of Justice.

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It was not immediately clear if Stevenson has a lawyer.

He founded a popular music venue in Newark called the Stone Balloon in the early 1970s.

Jill Biden married US Senator Joe Biden in 1977. He served as US president from January 2021 to January 2025.

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Millions of people are on alert for high to extreme fire danger today as hot and windy conditions sweep through south-eastern Australia.

Fire authorities in South Australia are warning the brunt of the danger will impact the west coast, Yorke Peninsula and the Mount Lofty Ranges where there is extreme fire danger today.

There are concerns homes may have been lost at the Fleurieu Peninsula in the Mount Lofty Ranges, where hundreds of firefighters are battling to contain a blaze.

READ MORE: Fears homes may have been lost as bushfires rage in South Australia

The Country Fire Service (CFS) this morning issued a watch and act warning for residents at Deep Creek, Silverton, Blowhole Beach Road and Delamere, urging them to prepare to leave.

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Christie Johnson says other parts of SA will have temperatures above 30 degrees, and possibly up to 40 degrees, raising the fire danger.

"We also have some of these high fire danger areas that are very close to the threshold for extreme fire danger and that includes regions such as the Murraylands and the upper south-east," she said.

Victorian firefighters are also bracing for extreme fire danger across large parts of the state over the coming hours.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) has declared a total fire ban for the North Central, Central and Wimmera fire districts, where temperatures up to 35 degrees are expected.

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"Conditions will make it difficult for firefighters to suppress a fire should one start," said CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan.

The bureau is also forecasting a chance of some thunderstorms, particularly through West and South Gippsland, with the potential for new fires starting from lightning.

Authorities in Tasmania expect a high fire danger across the state today, except for the north-west region.

But modelling by the Bureau of Meteorology suggests conditions could deteriorate.

"We're now expecting high fire danger right across the state, reaching extreme fire danger through the east coast and the Midlands district," said Johnson.

The hot and windy conditions today extend to Western Australia, where an extreme fire danger warning has been issued for some inland parts of Perth.

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British police have opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct related to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The UK government says newly released Epstein files suggest Mandelson – a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party – may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender a decade and a half ago.

London's Metropolitan Police force said detectives had reviewed reports of misconduct and decided they met the threshold for a full investigation.

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Commander Ella Marriott said the force "has now launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former government minister, for misconduct in public office offences."

Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Opening an investigation does not mean Mandelson will be arrested, charged or convicted.

But his friendship with Epstein has now cost him his political career.

Mandelson said overnight he was resigning from the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber, to which he was appointed for life in 2008.

READ MORE: Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify on Jeffrey Epstein rather than risk prison

The Speaker of the Lords, Michael Forsyth, said Mandelson had informed officials he will retire effective Wednesday.

The announcement came as the British government prepared legislation to eject Mandelson from the Lords and remove the noble title, Lord Mandelson, that came with his seat in the chamber.

Mandelson will retain the title after he retires unless lawmakers pass legislation to strip it from him – something that has not been done for more than a century.

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A trove of more than three million pages of Epstein-related documents released by the US Justice Department has brought excruciating revelations about 72-year-old Mandelson, who served in senior government roles under previous Labour governments and was UK ambassador to Washington until Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired him in September over his ties to Epstein.

The newly released files contain emails from Mandelson to Epstein passing on nuggets of political information, some of which critics say may have broken the law.

Starmer told his Cabinet on Tuesday that he was "appalled" by the revelations in newly released Epstein files, and was concerned there are more details still to emerge.

Starmer spokesman Tom Wells said that the government had sent police its assessment that the Mandelson-Epstein documents contained "likely market-sensitive information" about the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath that shouldn't have been shared outside of government.

In 2003-2004, bank documents suggest Epstein sent three payments totaling US$75,000 ($107,003) to accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva. Mandelson has said that he doesn't remember receiving the money and will investigate whether the documents are authentic. But he resigned from the governing Labour Party on Sunday, saying he didn't want to cause the party "further embarrassment."

In 2008, Epstein avoided federal prosecution by pleading guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Emails and text messages show that Mandelson's friendship with Epstein continued after the financier's sentence.

In 2009, Epstein sent da Silva £10,000 pounds ($19,527) to pay for an osteopathy course. Mandelson told The Times of London that "in retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgment for Reinaldo to accept this offer."

Also in 2009, Mandelson, then business secretary in the UK government, appears to have told Epstein he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers' bonuses.

The same year, Mandelson sent Epstein an internal government report discussing ways the UK could raise money after the 2008 global financial crisis, including by selling off government assets. Mandelson wrote: "Interesting note that's gone to the PM."

In May 2010, Mandelson messaged Epstein that "sources tell me 500 b euro bailout" is almost complete. The message was dated hours before day European governments announced a €500 billion ($842.42 billion) deal to shore up the single currency.

Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019, while awaiting trial on US federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of girls.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that Mandelson's friendship with Epstein was "a betrayal on so many levels."

"It is a betrayal of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein that he continued that association and that friendship for so long after his conviction," Streeting told the BBC.

"It is a betrayal of not just one but two prime ministers" – Gordon Brown, the UK leader between 2007 and 2010, and Starmer.

An email requesting comment on the documents was sent to Mandelson through the House of Lords.

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Five years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on, Allan Mercer and Jess Smith reached a fork in the road.

The South Australian couple realised they had two options: pursue the white picket fence dream and buy a house, or leave it all behind to live permanently on the road.

Naturally, the pair of "not-so-grey" nomads chose the latter.

Mercer, 41, and Smith, 32, sold almost everything they owned, gave up their three-bedroom rental and decked out a campervan to permanently explore Australia.

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Around 116,000 kilometres later, they have no plans to ever return to their old lives.

"We were both working normal jobs," Mercer told nine.com.au.

"Jess is a physiotherapist by trade, and at the time, I was running my own personal training business, which was doing well."

The couple often worked six-day weeks and grew weary of the rat race.

And while plenty of their friends and family members back home knuckled down to buy a house, Mercer and Smith wanted something more.

They didn't want to wait until retirement to see their own backyard.

"We hardly ever got to go away. We never really had weekends," Mercer added.

"We kind of got sick of paying somebody else's mortgage for their house.

"While we were sort of saving money, it wasn't enough to be able to get out of the rent cycle."

EPSTEIN FILES: Melinda Gates says ex-husband Bill Gates 'needs to answer questions'

Mercer said he "pestered" his now-fiancee to take the leap.

"One particular day, Jess actually just turned around and said, 'Yep, let's do it'," he recalled.

After ending their lease and holding a garage sale, the couple set off for an indefinite trip alongside Mercer's parents, who also live on the road full-time.

Smith said her own parents were a little "shocked" by their decision.

"They [asked me], but you've got a partner, why don't you buy a house?" she laughed.

Aged in their 20s and 30s when they embarked on their adventure, Mercer and Smith are among tens of thousands of younger Australians who are eschewing mortgages for life on the road.

An Australian Facebook group known as "Not Grey Nomads" has over 300,000 members and counting.

Half a decade and a trove of priceless experiences later, Mercer and Smith have no regrets about buying a van instead of a property.

They have travelled to almost every state and territory in Australia except the ACT.

Their dream life has taken them to WA's Pilbara, Fortescue Bay in Tasmania, the Nullabor Plain, SA's Flinders Ranges, Rottnest Island, Bundaberg and Uluru.

"We've definitely done the coin toss before to decide which way to go," Mercer said.

"I like being spontaneous now, I can deal with not having an exact plan for where we are going," Smith added.

Right now, they are slowly making their way through Victoria's High Country.

When it gets colder, the couple will migrate north to "follow the sun".

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Finances can be the most difficult part of full-time travel.

Smith still keeps her registration as a physio by taking on casual appointments wherever they travel, and they both pick up odd jobs at pubs, caravan parks or bottle shops in small towns to earn cash.

"The most it's ever taken us to find work over five years is two days," Mercer said.

They also run a popular YouTube channel and Instagram page called ExploreOz, which they hope can earn them full-time income.

It can cost between $500 to $1000 per week to live on the road.

That includes petrol, van maintenance, internet bills, flat tyres, food and campsite fees.

Diesel petrol for their 2023 Isuzu D-Max is the biggest expense that eats into their budget.

"We're spending a lot less money per week now compared to what we would be spending on a mortgage," Mercer added.

Mercer and Smith have no intention of ending their travels and say it's possible to live on the road "forever".

"We still get a lot of, 'How's your trip going? How's your holiday?" Mercer said.

"But this is our life now. This is what we do."

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The Queensland government is selling off state-owned land to developers, in a bid to boost housing supply.

Today, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie started the state-wide sale with a 400-home development on Brisbane's northside.

But the new developer-driven housing scheme has drawn criticism from local residents and housing advocates alike.

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The scheme's effectively a land sale program, unlocking under-utilised state-owned land for private development.

The first parcel, a six-hectare block in Banyo, will go from a former Energex depot to 400 new homes.

"We are serious about supply, supply, supply and we're serious about partnering with the private sector," Bleijie said.

"When government and industry work in lockstep, we can actually deliver things faster."

But Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh had questions over affordability.

"The concern is, that this plan won't deliver more social and affordable housing for Queenslanders, which is so sorely needed," she said.

Local residents are also critical, claiming they weren't consulted and calling for better infrastructure in the area.

"[I'm] happy to see it developed and it needs to be developed but now they're talking high density, 400 housing, the streets just can't handle it," neighbouring resident Keith Bitossi told 9News.

Fellow resident Chris Vale agreed.

"The infrastructure for roads, stormwater and sewer just cannot handle what we've got now," he said.

Criticism aside, the deputy premier is expected to announce further sites across the state in coming days and the land sales won't stop there.

Under the new scheme, developers can also register interest in public land not already earmarked for sale.

The government stresses it isn't about selling land for the right price, it's "about land activation and housing supply".

But opposition spokesman for state development Cameron Dick isn't buying it.

"This LNP plan is a big win for property developer and a massive loss for Queenslanders seeking to put a roof over their own head," he said.

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Major banks have begun passing on the Reserve Bank of Australia's interest rate hike.

The official cash rate was today increased by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent, the first hike in two years.

Westpac was the first to announce that it would raise its variable interest home loan rates by 0.25 per cent. 

AS IT HAPPENED: Reserve Bank announces rate hike

The changes will be automatically applied by February 17.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia also announced it would increase its variable rates by 0.25 per cent.

The move is set to come into effect on February 13. 

Today's hike will add around $100 to an average mortgage holder's monthly repayments, although many borrowers have a buffer built up thanks to last year's three cuts.

The central bank's updated economic forecasts didn't bode well for borrowers, with inflation not predicted to come back into the 2 to 3 per cent target band until June 2027, and core inflation not tipped to reach the middle of that range for a further year.

But Governor Michele Bullock seemed genuinely unsure about what her bank's next move will be.

"It is not the same as the tightening cycle when we were coming out of COVID, when we were coming from 0.1 per cent cash rate; it was quite clear that we had to go up and we had to go up quickly," she said.

"This isn't as clear."

CBA's economists expect another hike in May, taking the cash rate to 4.1 per cent, because there's unlikely to be enough evidence by then to show today's hike is slowing demand.

"Inflation is simply too high for the RBA at this stage, and the central bank has signalled a stronger resolve to bring it back within target," Commonwealth Bank head of Australian economics Belinda Allen said.

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Andy Winitana, 46, died in hospital today.