Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. NSW Premier calls for GST increase.

The NSW Premier, Mike Baird has renewed his pitch for an increase in the GST proposing it be lifted from 10 to 15 per cent from July next year.

As states and the Commonwealth continue to debate tax reform before a meeting in March Mr Baird has voiced an opinion piece calling for the change.

Under his plan the GST would compensate low-income families and allow the federal government to reduce the income tax pool by about 7 per cent and company tax from 30 to 25 per cent reports Fairfax Media.

“It’s trying to bring a consensus position forward,” Mr Baird said.

“We’re at the part of the debate where there are a lot of ideas. How do we start to draw some of those threads together?”

Meanwhile the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has said he would be prepared to accept a higher GST as a trade-off for more health and education funding.

2. Newspoll figures show voters do not support a hike to the GST.

With all hands back on deck in Canberra tomorrow the latest Newspoll figures will be no doubt pleasing for the government, but they do show voters will not tolerate one thing – an increase to the GST.

The poll, released by The Australian, shows the Coalition’s support sits at 46%, gaining 1 point, while Labor also gained one point to reach 34% of the vote.

Malcolm Turnbull continues to lead Bill Shorten as preferred Prime Minister, but lost one point to sit at 59%,

But 54% oppose raising the GST, 37 per cent are in favour of the increase and 9 per cent are undecided.

3. Australian Open Final: Andy Murray’s tearful tribute.

Novak Djokovic has defeated Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open last night 6-1 7-5 7-6 (7-3).

The win is Djokovic‘s record-equaling sixth Australian Open success.

But it’s the post-match interview breaking hearts with Andy Murry’s emotional tribute to his pregnant wife, Kim Sears.

Shortly after the match Murray left to fly back to the UK to be by his pregnant wife’s side.

“Sorry I couldn’t get it done tonight. It’s been a tough few weeks for me away from the court and I thank all of you for that as well.

“To my wife Kim … she’s going to be watching back home now. You’ve been a legend the last two weeks, thank you for all your support and I’ll be on the next flight home,” Murray said as he attempted to fight off tears.

4. Police issue synthetic cannabis warning as teen dies.

Police have issued a warning over synthetic cannabis after a teenager was found dead in the NSW Hunter Valley.

17-year old Dean Shield was found dead by a local resident on Saturday night.

While toxicology reports have not yet been concluded police have said it is believed he bought and took synthetic cannabis.

Emergency services were also called to a Telarah residence after two more men, both aged 22, fell ill from the same substance.

Detective Inspector Mitch Dubojski warned other youths who may also possess the drug to throw it away reports Fairfax Media.

“Anyone using any form of drugs is putting themselves at extreme peril,” he said.

5. Rolf Harris’ plans to release a new album from jail.

Rolf Harris, currently serving time in a UK jail for 12 indecent assaults on four girls, aged as young as seven, between 1968 and 1986 has plans to launch a new album upon his release.

Harris may be eligible for parole by May next year.

The Sun reports that Harris’s album which he has written from inside jail features songs railing against the “injustice” of his imprisonment.

Titled “Justice For All” The Sun reports that it includes titles like Woodworm Women, Can’t Keep a Dingo Down and A Bird in the Hand (is worth two in the bush).

Harris has previously been criticised about Woodworm Women which is about his victims and compensation culture.

When the song first was publicised the lawyer acting for his victims, Liz Dux, called for him to have his chance for parole taken away.

She said: “The point of parole is for people to show some sort of remorse and here is someone behaving as he was before, with disdain and an attitude that he can behave how he wants.”

6. Proposal to match traffic fines to income.

A think tank has proposed that Australia adopts a system whereby traffic fines should be proportional to how much an offender earns.

The Australia Institute has argued in a report that a system like one in Finland, which considers incomes, would be fairer and provide modest revenue increases in most states.

“The impact of a fine on low-income earners can be very hard, leading to financial stress or even to jail time,” they write.

In Finland the lowest income earners fined doing less than 10km/h over the speed limit would pay about $33, while the highest income would pay about $295.

The paper acknowledges that the system might mean some states, like South Australia are left worse off.

7. Youngest ever conjoined twins separated.

Doctors in Switzerland have separated eight-day-old conjoined twin girls – it is believed they are the youngest babies to be successfully parted.

The baby girls, who were born in December, were fused at the liver and chest reports the BBC.

Doctors had originally planned to separate them when they were older but a life-threatening condition meant they brought the operation forward.

Initially their parents were given a 1% chance of success.

The twins, Lydia and Maya, were born eight weeks premature at the Inselspital hospital in Bern, along with a triplet who was fully separate and healthy.

“Such small conjoined siblings had never been successfully separated before,” the hospital said.

The hospital says the children are “still very small” but developing well.

Local newspaper, Le Matin Dimanche said they had put on weight and begun breastfeeding.

8. Father arrested for taking daughter’s Iphone away has faced court.

A father, who took away his daughter’s phone when she sent a rude SMS and was arrested by police in the US on the grounds of property theft has faced court.

In 2013 Ronald Jackson took away his daughter’s phone after she sent a rude message about her step-mother.

“I was being a parent,” mr Jackson told CBS-DFW “A child does something wrong, you teach them what’s right.”

But the local police did not agree – around 2 a.m. in the morning, in 2013, Jackson got a knock on his door, and was arrested after his ex-wife notified them of the dispute.

“I didn’t want the police department telling me how to parent my child. It made no sense to me for them to show up and make a big deal out of something that was a small thing,” said Jackson. “I couldn’t believe they would go to this extent for a cell phone. It didn’t seem right.”

The father, from North Texas said he couldn’t believe it.  “Why would you need to go arrest somebody for something like that? Don’t you have better things to do as a police officer? Aren’t there bigger crimes in the city to go take care of?”

However a year and a half after the arrest a judge has ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove theft had occurred and found Jackson not guilty.

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