Melbourne Airport Hotel to close for COVID case investigations
The Holiday Inn quarantine hotel at Melbourne Airport will close until further notice as an investigation into three coronavirus cases gets underway.
The government agency responsible for Victoria's hotel quarantine system, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, says it is a highly precautionary measure.
New Zealand restricts Māori business attire
The New Zealand parliament kicked out the Māori Party co-leader for wearing a stone pendant around his neck, instead of a necktie.
Rawiri Waititi, breached the parliamentary dress code which requires male politicians to wear a tie when asking questions.
Mr. Waititi says the stone pendant he was wearing is the Māori equivalent of a necktie and considered it Māori business attire.
Raised concerns over China arrests
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Monday, Chinese authorities informed Australian government about the arrest of Australian journalist Cheng Lei.
Ms Payne says the government has consistently raised concerns regularly at the most senior levels.
Chinese authorities arrested Ms Lei on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.
Gold Coast resident named as one of world's top food photographers
A Gold Coast photographer has been named one of the world’s top food photographers.
Paul William’s was named Australia’s best food photographer and placed in the top 10 of photographers world-wide in prestigious Foodelia International Food Photography awards.
Mr Williams has been working as a food photographer for 16 years and has worked in studios in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, where he is currently based, as well as Singapore and Dubai.
Extinction Rebellion protest gas-led recovery in Brisbane.
The motorway off-ramp at turbot street was blocked by a triangle of temporary fencing, with two Extinction Rebellion Protesters attached by bike locks around their necks and the fencing.
The pair say they took this action to put pressure on Governments driving the climate and ecological emergency with the gas-led COVID recovery.
Protesters supporting the action also gathered in front of gas company Santos who plan to drill 850 coal seam gas wells through the Great Artesian Water Basin which will have damaging effects to the environment.
UQ finds a deep-water fish's eye structure in the Great Barrier Reef
University of Queensland researchers have found fish in the Great Barrier Reef that have similar eyes to fish found in deep ocean darkness.
Not much is known about how deep-water fish are able to see but with species being found in reef shallows, researchers hope to be able to understand their eye structure better.
It is not known why fish that live in the great barrier reef would need elaborate eyes for seeing in the dark.
1 in 5 deaths world-wide are linked to fossil fuel emissions.
A study released by Harvard University today has found that 1 in 5 deaths world-wide are linked to fossil fuel emissions.
Researchers from Harvard University, the University of Leicester and University College London collaborated in a large-scale atmospheric modelling project to investigate the impact of air pollution on global health.
The study which is published in The Journal of Environmental research estimates in 2018, 8 million people died globally from conditions exacerbated by air pollution. In Australia, this represents 4 percent of deaths.
WHO says Coronavirus unlikely spread to humans from Chinese Laboratory
A WHO team says it is unlikely the coronavirus has spread to humans from the Chinese laboratory.
The team has finished a month-long investigation and the leader of the team Peter Ben Embarek said WHO had not dramatically changed their picture of the outbreak.
He says WHO found no evidence of large outbreaks, related to cases of COVID-19 prior to December 2019 in Wuhan or elsewhere.
Melbourne Design Week's project ask for more non-English information on public health
A Poster Project has invited artists to redesign information to fix issues in non-english speaking COVID-19 posters
The project, part of Melbourne Design Week, is asking people to reimagine the government's COVID-19 messaging “with care” and in languages other than English, as part of an effort to “demonstrate how design can support our most vulnerable communities”.
Federal and state governments came under fire last year when translation errors were uncovered in official COVID-19 messaging.
Youth justice advocates criticise QLD government over youth crime
Youth justice advocates are slamming the Queensland government's crackdown on youth crime as a knee jerk reaction pushed by the police.
Former commissioner of the Northern Territory's Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children, Mick Gooda, says this crackdown is “not based on evidence, and you can’t punish kids into doing the right thing.”
Prisoner advocate and CEO of Sisters Inside, Debbie Kilroy, says the crackdown would help cement a cycle of traumatised children who will be pipelined into adult prisons.