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Thousands of Australian pub goers risk being ripped off at the bar over the size of their drinks, a new government report found.

Results from the National Measurement Institute (NMI) show 30 per cent of licensed premises visited by undercover inspectors were not serving customers what they paid for.

Officials went to 436 venues across Australia last October for "secret shopper" trial purchases to check the size of every pot, schooner, middie, pint, nip, shot and glass poured was correct when sold by measurement.

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The results of the inspections led to 130 non-compliance notices being issued, mostly for the wrong glasses and also spillage.

But overall, the NMI report says the vast majority of pubs – seven in 10 – were serving correct drink sizes to their patrons.

"The results show good compliance overall, with 84 per cent of measuring instruments accurate and 68 per cent of trial purchases delivering the correct amount," the report.

The major shortcomings at non-compliant venues were inaccurate or unverified instruments, unapproved glassware or simple measures and pillage during pouring, meaning customers got less than they paid for.

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Australian Hotels Association national chief executive Stephen Ferguson said the industry group recognised there were issues over non-compliance notices to "some venues regarding short pours".

"The aim of every venue is to ensure our patrons receive the accurate amount for their beer or spirit – and pubs are working hard to do just that," he said.

"Unfortunately, issues sometimes arise due to incorrect measuring devices and spillage – especially when things are busy at the bar.

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"We are working with our membership to ensure we fix any short comings to ensure all patrons receive exactly what they have paid for."

Sydney publican Brian McGettigan says the findings show some industry "rogue operators" were ripping off customers.

"The hotels industry by and far does an amazing job for customers and ensuring the training is right and the pints and the schooners and the wines are all poured correctly," he told Today this morning.

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The family of two girls who have died in hospital following a house fire in Townsville in North Queensland on the weekend say there are no words to describe the pain of losing them.

Evie, 13 and Hallie, two, were pulled from the burning two-storey home on Gum Court in Bushland Beach by first responders early on Sunday morning.

The girls were taken to Townsville University Hospital in a critical condition, where they died yesterday from their injuries.

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A statement released by the girls' family said they were devastated to confirm the girls had "passed away, surrounded by loved ones".

"There are no words to describe the pain being experienced by the girls' parents, Karah and Zac," the statement said.

"Both parents would like to thank friends, extended family and the wider community for the care, compassion and support shown during this incredibly difficult time.

"As the family grieves and supports their other children and loved ones, they kindly ask that their privacy is respected.

"Thank you for your understanding and kindness."

A fundraising page has been set up to support the girls' mother Karah, a nurse and single mother-of-four.

Two teenage boys were able to escape the fire.

The investigation into the circumstances of the fire is ongoing, but it is being treated as non-suspicious.

Anybody with informaton is urged to contact police.

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Parts of Australia that recorded temperatures of 50 degrees are forecast to soon receive a drenching, with storms and rain likely to impact every state and territory in the coming days.

This week, huge amounts of moisture have been building over northern and central Australia, reports weather channel Weatherzone.

Forecasters say it will trigger wet and stormy weather over the entire country during the weekend and possibly into next week, with flooding likely in some areas.

READ MORE: Thousands of pub goers risk being ripped off with drink sizes, report says

Parts of northern and central Australia could record weekly rainfall totals of 100mm, while some areas might receive several hundred millimetres.

They include communities that sweated through temperatures over 40 degrees only a few days ago.

The South Australian town of Marree, where the mercury soared to 49.8 degrees last Thursday, could be soaked by 50mm to 100mm of rain by tomorrow.

READ MORE: $23 billion tax break could be overhauled in matter of months

This downpour raises the chance of flooding and may cut off roads in central Australia.

The wet weather system may also raise a tropical low over Western Australia and the Northern Territory to tropical cyclone level, warns the Bureau of Meteorology.

Today the lower pressure system is forecast to move off the Kimberley coast in northern WA, and strengthen over the weekend as it tracks west.

The bureau is warning gales of up to 120km/h are possible for some coastal parts from late tomorrow.

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Speculation is building one of Australia's most controversial tax breaks will be overhauled as the centrepiece of this year's federal budget, with senior government ministers refusing to categorically rule out changes despite days of reports.

Under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Labor has previously baulked at tinkering with the capital gains (CGT) discount following the party's particularly ill-fated attempt at the 2019 election.

But with young Australians becoming increasingly priced out of the property market, the budget desperately needing a way out of its structural deficit, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking of the need to address the country's widening intergenerational divide, some signs are pointing towards a possible overhaul in the coming months.

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Why is the capital gains tax discount up for discussion?

Readers would be forgiven for thinking all of this is old news – the capital gains tax discount seems to become a major political flashpoint every couple of years.

It was only in late 2024 that reports emerged of the government directing Treasury to investigate a potential overhaul of the tax break.

This time, there are a couple of fresh factors at play. 

The first is a Greens-led Senate inquiry into the tax, which has received dozens of submissions and is due to report next month.

The second – and more significant – are reports, published first by the Australian Financial Review, that the government is considering changes to the CGT discount.

FROM 2024: What is negative gearing and why are calls to change it so controversial?

That, in turn, followed ALP national secretary Paul Erickson, the mastermind of Labor's last two election victories, hinting this year's budget on May 12 will include some significant, ambitious reform.

"You will see some pretty substantial contributions over the coming months from the PM and from the treasurer, and the lead-up to the budget that will set that out," he told the AFR over the weekend.

Senior Labor figures have since had the opportunity to categorically rule out the changes, but declined.

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Take a look at what Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said in October 2024, when he was asked to rule out changing the discount:

"I just did. And not only have I done that, the prime minister has made that clear."

Compare that to yesterday morning, when Marles was asked about capital gains once again but wasn't quite as demonstrative:

"Our position in respect of housing policy is clear. And that hasn't changed. And nor has our position in respect of the tax arrangements around housing. 

"And we've got to have more houses in this country and that is a real challenge."

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Why is the capital gains tax discount so controversial?

Alongside negative gearing, the CGT discount provides property investors with generous tax incentives at the same time as housing has become unaffordable for many, particularly young, Australians.

Introduced in 1999 by the Howard government, the policy allows investors to sell an asset they've owned for at least a year and to only be taxed on half of the profit.

While it applies to all types of assets, it has coincided with a significant increase in property prices:

READ MORE: How much more you could be paying on your mortgage after cash rate hike

Unsurprisingly, the policy is popular with many Australians who have benefited from it over the past three decades, and a proposal to wind back the provisions has been widely cited as a reason why Labor lost the 2019 federal election.

But, at the same time as the concession is costing the nation's coffers around $23 billion a year – a number that will only rise – the government desperately needs to find new revenue for the federal budget, which is forecast to be stuck in the red for the foreseeable future.

Parliamentary Budget Office modelling commissioned in early 2024 by independent senators Jacqui Lambie examined five options for winding back both negative gearing and the CGT tax discount for property, all of which included so-called "grandfathering" provisions – that is, exemptions for existing property investors from the changes.

The analysis found reducing the concessions could save the federal budget between $15.6 and $59.9 billion over the next 10 years, while also making housing more affordable.

Leading economists including former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, Saul Eslake and Richard Holden have also thrown their support behind various changes to the CGT tax discount.

READ MORE: NSW urges federal government to scrap $23 billion tax discount

Would any changes get through parliament?

One factor in the government's favour is that, if it does decide to go ahead with winding back the tax discount for investment properties, the overhaul would likely sail through parliament.

Labor easily has the numbers to get any bill through the lower house, and only needs the support of the Greens – who have long supported scrapping tax concessions for property investors – to get laws past the Senate, where the likes of Pocock and Lambie are also likely to lend their support.

"There's a real opportunity here for sensible reform to the capital gains tax discount on investment properties to incentivise the new housing supply our country so desperately need," Pocock said earlier this week.

"It won't solve housing affordability on its own but it will help."

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Now you see her, now you don't.

The face of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni that was painted on a cherub in a church in Rome has been removed following outrage and an investigation by the country's cultural ministry.

Meloni's likeness appeared on the body of an angel following restoration works at the Chapel of the Holy Souls of Purgatory in the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina, in central Rome.

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Although completed late last year, the issue came to light at the weekend when before and after photos posted on social media showed that the original angel's face had been replaced with an image that looked like the prime minister.

At first the volunteer restorer, Bruno Valentinetti, denied the claims, saying that he'd copied the original images from drawings.

But on Wednesday, he told La Repubblica newspaper that it was indeed the prime minister. However, he insisted that it was similar to the original artwork, the paper reported.

Valentinetti was tasked with smudging out his work, which has left a ghost-like white blob on the angel's body.

"I covered it up because the Vatican told me to," he told La Repubblica.

The Vatican has not weighed in publicly on the controversy.

The culture ministry, which ordered an investigation earlier this week, put out a statement on Wednesday about the removal of the image, saying that works in churches in Rome had to be pre-approved with drawings for proposed changes.

"In light of the removal of the face from the decoration in the chapel of the crucifix of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in agreement with the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, the Special Superintendent of Rome, Daniela Porro, has informed the rector of the Basilica that any restoration work requires a request for authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior's Fund for Places of Worship, which owns the property, the Vicariate, and the Special Superintendency of Rome, attaching a sketch of the image," the ministry wrote in a statement posted on its website.

Hundreds of visitors have visited the chapel in recent days to take photos of the image, the parish priest Father Daniele Micheletti said.

"I've always said that if it had created divisions, I would have had it removed," he told Sky Italia.

"From a regulatory standpoint, the painting could have remained there for a hundred years, but it has created too many divisions in the church."

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New polling tonight has exposed rising worker anxiety about the expanding use of artificial intelligence, as both the federal and state governments push to regulate the emerging technology

The Redbridge poll published by Unions NSW today shows 29 per cent of workers report being monitored by AI.

Another 24 per cent say AI is doing their rosters and 38 per cent think the risks of AI outweigh the benefits.

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The vast majority of those polled – 69 per cent – support tougher rules.

It's something both the federal government and NSW state government are both trying to push through.

Under new powers that have already passed the NSW parliament lower house, unions will be able to demand access to a business' AI software.

"They're entitled to ask, if it's not provided by an employer, then a court determines it," NSW Premier Chris Minns said in parliament today.

But businesses are warning the changes would give unions "spy powers" to sift through the emails of every company, cafe and corner store in the state.

Bran Black from the Business Council of Australia warned it would give unions personal data employees might not want them to have access to.

"It is dangerous in the context of the access that it affords to union officials," Black told 9News.

"To personal data, to emails, to HR systems, to payroll systems, to confidential information."

Businesses fear it would over-regulate AI and scare off investors, as well as delaying major housing and infrastructure projects. The laws are expected to pass through the upper house next week.

'Specific AI tax' for reskilling

The federal government has the first phase of an AI plan but everyone in Parliament House acknowledges the plan will need to change as the technology changes, and that will require a new level of agility.

"As we look to greater take up of AI in the workplace, that needs to be worked through with workers and unions," Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said.

While AI promises increased productivity, it will also bring disruption, lay-offs and the need for reskilling or retraining.

"What we know is, if AI is done the right way and workers are involved you get much better outcomes," Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil told 9News.

The Albanese government has made fee-free TAFE a cornerstone of two campaigns – hoping to address the skills shortage in technology and AI sectors – as governments around the world weigh up what's next.

Tech pioneer Bill Gates says from the victor should come the spoils.

"You might have a specific AI tax to raise money from the winners to support the losers," Gates told Nine's Charles Croucher this week.

The unions say all options should be considered.

"They need to pay for the intellectual property they're sometimes stealing," O'Neil said.

"But they also should pay for the training, and pay for the jobs they're creating."

Black said we haven't yet seen the "significant disruption as a consequence of artificial intelligence in the work place", in terms of jobs.

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