Foreign minister Penny Wong visits Fiji this week to progress the security and economic agreement

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Australia looks close to signing a landmark security and economic agreement with Fiji as part of the Albanese government’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence across the Pacific.

But pushback from Beijing has undermined a separate pact with Vanuatu’s government, resulting in a scaling back of a deal aimed at locking in Australia as the country’s primary security partner.

Exclusive: A Senate committee considering the illegal tobacco trade in Australia hears closed-session evidence from cigarette manufacturers

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Anti-smoking campaigners have accused the Coalition of secretly giving tobacco giants access to a parliamentary inquiry, a move they say undermines more than 15 years of precedent to protect public health.

On Monday, representatives from tobacco company Philip Morris appeared before a Senate committee considering the illegal tobacco trade in Australia.

Review recommends better use of NDIS data to identify repeat rorters and a requirement for providers to register with the government

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Organised crime gangs are using the national disability insurance scheme to launder money, earn income and hide assets, law enforcement officials have warned parliament, seriously undermining probity in the $50bn program.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has told a review into NDIS integrity that criminals are paying cash kickbacks to participants and their families, and sometimes resorting to intimidation and threats of physical violence towards vulnerable people to rip off taxpayers.

Government sources in multiple states say they are worried about the breadth of the changes and possible costs

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The states are increasingly on edge about Labor’s efforts to cut NDIS spending in next month’s budget, with officials asking the health minister, Mark Butler, to explain planned savings before a major speech this week.

It comes as the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, flagged on Monday morning that cuts to the NDIS will be “easily the most important part of the savings package that we will present on budget night”.