Brisbane parents jailed for keeping woman "like a slave", & more in News in 5.

– With AAP.

1. Couple jailed for keeping Fijian woman as servant.

A Brisbane couple will remain behind bars for at last the next two years for callously exploiting a Fijian woman for eight years.

Malavine Pulini, 48, and Isikeli Pulini, 60, were sentenced to six and five years prison with a non parole period of two years in the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday.

The parents of four were last week found guilty of forced labour offences and they pleaded guilty to harbouring and illegal non citizen.

Mrs Pulini was convicted of an additional human trafficking offence.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was treated so badly her freedom had been taken and her human rights were “seriously compromised”, according to Judge Leanne Clare.

The woman was trafficked into the country on a tourist visa by Brisbane mother Malavine who gave her a bogus promise of being able to get her a longer visa. But when she arrived in the country the couple took her passport from her and forced her to work as a nanny, maid and cook until her escape in 2016.

She was paid about $250 per fortnight, but there were periods where she had to stretch that amount to last up to seven weeks.

On Tuesday Judge Clare was scathing in her judgement as she sentenced them to prison with a non parole period of two years. Judge Clare said the pair tried to enhance the quality of their own lives by oppressing another person. She said the pair had shown no remorse for the years they restricted the woman’s life.

While the public gallery featured a number of supporters for the Pulini couple, Judge Clare said it was difficult to reconcile the presentation they made to their friends in the church and their neighborhood with the way they treated the woman.

Earlier in the hearing, the court was read a victim impact statement from the woman who said she felt “helpless” and “treated like a slave” as she toiled on call and around the clock for them for eight years.

“I still experience nightmares about the way they treated me,” she said, according to ABC.

“They abused my trust and knew what they were doing was wrong.

“I often ask, ‘why me? What have I done to deserve this treatment?'”

2. French authorities believe the Notre Dame blaze was ‘probably accidental’.

The fire that tore through Notre-Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors say, after firefighters doused the last flames in the ruins.

More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to bring the fire under control some 14 hours after it began.

"We are favouring the theory of an accident," Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said, adding that 50 people were working on what was expected to be a long and complex investigation.

One firefighter was injured; no one else was reported hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening.

From the outside, the imposing bell towers and outer walls, with their vast flying buttresses, still stood firm, but the insides and the upper structure were eviscerated by the blaze.

Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its stone walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound.

"The fire is fully extinguished," fire service spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters.

The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's timbered roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to collapsed balustrades and crumbling gargoyles, as well as the spire's wooden frame.

The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into "involuntary destruction by fire". Police on Tuesday began questioning the workers involved in the restoration, the prosecutor's office said.

Hundreds of stunned onlookers had lined the banks of the Seine river late into the night as the fire raged, reciting prayers and singing liturgical music in harmony as they stood in vigil.

Firefighters who entered the burning building saved many of its treasures, although some paintings remained inside and risked smoke and water damage.

President Emmanuel Macron promised France would rebuild Notre-Dame, considered among the finest examples of French and European Gothic architecture and visited by more than 13 million people annually.

Notre-Dame is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a years-long row between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should bear the brunt of costs for badly needed restoration work.

A centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France, were saved, Notre-Dame's top administrative cleric, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, said.

Copper statues representing the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists were removed by crane last week as part of the restoration work.

3. Scott Morrison has rejected the idea of establishing a government-backed Notre Dame aid fund.

Scott Morrison has scotched the idea of having a government-backed Australian fund for people who want to help rebuild the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, saying the French can pay for it themselves.

As news of the destructive fire at the Parisian landmark broke on Tuesday morning, the prime minister reminisced about visiting it with wife Jenny nearly 30 years ago.

"It's a pretty special place and to see it in flames today was just really sad," he told Adelaide's 5AA radio on Tuesday.

"Paris is an eternal city and it will rebuild and it will restore."

Later, Mr Morrison dismissed a suggestion by his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull that the government should establish a charitable fund for people who wanted to donate to Notre Dame restoration efforts.

PM @ScottMorrisonMP & Oppn Leader @billshortenmp should today agree to establish an Australian fund to support the restoration of Notre Dame so that Australians can show their solidarity once again with the people of France.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) April 15, 2019

"I'm sure that President Macron is able to deal with this as is the Catholic Church and, if individual Australians want to do something, well, it's a free country - they can do whatever they like," he told reporters in the Victorian seaside town of Torquay.

"We're not making a government fund."

Mr Turnbull said there was precedent for establishing a charitable fund, along with a possible direct government contribution.

Earlier, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he had no doubt many Australians would want to chip in.

"Absolutely, if money is going towards the restoration and Australians who want to contribute can, that is to be supported," he told ABC TV.

Labor leader Bill Shorten noted the "brooding, gothic cathedral" had been an important landmark in the days before GPS when he visited Paris as a young backpacker, and again during early morning runs on a more recent visit.

"I think Australia should contribute to a restoration fund," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"Notre Dame doesn't just belong to Paris or France, it belongs to the world. I think we, all of us who've enjoyed that architecture, that history, we too should perhaps rally around and help Paris and Notre Dame."

French President Emmanuel Macron said an international campaign would be launched to raise funds for the cathedral's rebuilding.

The massive fire gutted and destroyed the roof of Notre Dame, but firefighters say they have saved the shell of the stone structure from collapse.

4. Peter Dutton apologises to Labor rival Ali France after calling her disability an “excuse”.

Peter Dutton has offered Ali France an on-air apology after claiming his Labor opponent was using her disability as an excuse for not living in the electorate.

Their contest for the Brisbane-based seat of Dickson got off to a controversial start after Mr Dutton made the incendiary remarks last week.

Peter Dutton is debating Ali France on ABC radio in Brisbane. On remarks he made about Ms France's disability he says "I apologise to Ali for it now" and adds "I could've done it (made the initial comments) in a more sensitive way." @9NewsAUS #auspol #auspol19

— Jonathan Kearsley (@jekearsley) April 16, 2019

However, Mr Dutton repeated an earlier apology when the pair took part in a live radio debate on Tuesday afternoon.

"I apologised for it the other day and I apologise for it now," he told ABC Radio Brisbane.

Mr Dutton said he was conveying views raised by his constituents.

"I could have done it in a more sensitive way," he said.

"But we all make mistakes, I made a mistake, and I apologise."

Ms France thanked her incumbent Liberal opponent for his apology, saying she didn't want to rake over old coals, adding that the contest should be a battle of ideas.

But the amputee sent a clear message to other people with disabilities.

"Your disability is not an excuse, it is our reality," Ms France said.

"We don't want pity. We don't want special treatment. But what we do expect - particularly from leaders - is that they have an understanding."

The Labor candidate also confronted claims she'd received strong support from GetUp in her bid to unseat the Home Affairs minister.

Ms France said she'd had no contact with the left-wing activist group during her campaign.

Meanwhile, Mr Dutton was forced to defend his instrumental role in last year's ugly Liberal leadership spill.

Mr Dutton did not resile from trying to roll Malcolm Turnbull, but his challenger argued the people of Dickson were sick of the leadership turmoil in Canberra.

5. The victim of the drive-by Melbourne nightclub shooting remains in critical condition.

A man who was shot while waiting to get into a popular Melbourne nightclub remains in a critical condition, as police probe gang links to the drive-by shooting.

The shooting at Prahran venue Love Machine on Sunday morning has claimed one man's life and another man, named in reports as talented soccer player Richard Arow, is fighting for life.

Tributes have flowed on social media for Mr Arow, 28, of Maidstone, but the hospital said on Tuesday he remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Police are examining links to outlaw motorcycle gangs and Middle Eastern organised crime groups as part of a "thorough" investigation into the shooting.

"We think this is quite a specific, targeted attack, but we do not understand the motive, nor the people who are involved in it at this time," Victoria Police Crime Command Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh told reporters on Monday.

"Clearly there are tensions escalating."

Security guard Aaron Khalid Osmani, 37, was also rushed to hospital after the shooting and died later on Sunday.

Three other men were injured by the shots fired from a stolen black Porsche SUV about 3.20am.

The Porsche, which was stolen from Dandenong in March, was found burnt-out in Wollert after the shooting.

Ms Walsh said there was no evidence to link the nightclub shooting to other recent fatal gun attacks, including one at a boxing match.

"We are extremely confident we will solve this crime and this horrendous murder," she said.

Detectives are asking for public information to help solve the crime.