AAP

Origin Energy has been fined $2 million after the Federal Court found it guilty of illegal door-to-door sales.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described it as a "conversation starter" but some issues in the government's tax discussion paper, released today, are already proving debate stoppers.

A steep fall in iron ore prices has dragged the resource-heavy Australian share market lower.

Gold has fallen, snapping a seven-day rally, as investors remained cautious ahead of comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, but the metal still looked set to post its second straight weekly gain.

A slide in iron ore prices has whacked the Australian dollar back below 78 US cents.

Evolution Mining has confirmed media reports that it is in discussions on the potential puchase of La Mancha Resources' gold mine in Kalgoorlie, for a price understood to be around $400 million.

The share market has clawed back some of the ground lost in Thursday's heavy fall as bargain hunters moved in.

Australians will have two years of their metadata stored by phone and internet providers after the Abbott government's controversial data retention laws passed parliament.

The Australian share market is marginally firmer as a Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen boosts oil stocks.

An appeal by local residents against an expansion of James Packer's Crown casino in Perth has been dismissed in Western Australia's highest court.

Wall Street stocks have ended lower in volatile trade spurred by the Yemen crisis.

A batch of upbeat US data has whacked the Australian dollar back down toward 78 US cents following a short-lived rally overnight.

Oil prices have surged after Saudi Arabian jets struck rebel targets in Yemen, sparking fears that an escalating crisis in the country could threaten crude producers in the Middle East.

Gold has pared gains after hitting a three-and-a-half-week high, after a knee-jerk reaction to escalating tensions in the Middle East knocked stocks and drove investors into lower-risk assets.

The share market has suffered its largest one-day fall in more than three months as investors turned cautious.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten is reluctant to back a solution to a stand-off with Western Australia about how GST revenue is divided among the states.

The Australian share market is lower with the banking sector suffering, after heavy losses on Wall Street.

World oil prices have advanced on worries that political instability in Yemen could threaten key Middle Eastern petroleum producers, offsetting concerns about a growing US crude glut.

US stocks have fallen sharply, with the Nasdaq suffering the deepest declines on worries that technology and biotech equities have become overvalued.

Gold has hit two-and-a-half-week highs, rising for the sixth straight session as upbeat German sentiment data helps drive the euro higher against the US dollar, and as expectations for an imminent US interest rate rise recedes.

The Australian dollar has drifted lower despite weaker economic data out of the US overnight.

Victoria have won the Sheffield Shield for the 29th time.

Perth's infamous unfinished mansion, dubbed the Taj on the Swan, may finally be torn down after the local council made a unanimous decision to seek a demolition licence.

The Australian share market has finished flat as lacklustre trade failed to spark momentum.

Despite a slowdown in Chinese demand for Australian resources, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is confident the best days of the trade relationship are yet to come.

The Australian share market is in the green as strength in the yield trade pushes the financial sector higher.

Fortescue Metals Group has cited the finer points of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act to justify calls by its chairman Andrew Forrest for Australia's biggest iron ore miners to cap production in order to lift prices.

Gold have risen to a two-and-a-half-week high, lifting for the fifth straight session on growing expectations that a US interest rate increase could be pushed to September.

Better economic figures out of the US have failed to deter the Australian dollar, which rallied to a two-month high overnight.

Wall Street stocks have finished lower after positive economic data lifted speculation the US Federal Reserve could move more quickly to raise interest rates.

Oil prices have endured a mixed day of trading as the market weighed disappointing manufacturing data out of top energy consumer China.

A quick-fire century from opener Marcus Harris has put Western Australia back in contention, opening up a 280-run lead over Victoria at stumps on day four of the Sheffield Shield final.