Queensland government considers HECS discounts for students who take regional fruit picking jobs.
The Queensland government is considering offering HECS debt repayment discounts to students who take jobs picking fruit in regional areas.
The plan has been proposed to make up for a shortage of backpackers due to travel restrictions, and may mean that students on welfare could keep JobKeeper payments while earning a wage.
Queensland government lifts ban on residential evictions.
From the 30th of September the Queensland Government will lift bans on the eviction of residential tenants who have had their income affected by COVID-19.
Advocacy group Tenants Queensland have called on the government to offer tenant protections until at least the end of the year, but Queensland housing minister Mick de Brenni said it is the right time to end the ban.
12pm ZEDLINES - SEPTEMBER 16TH
[IMAGE: Andre Penner, The Bakersfield Californian]
Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands is on fire
Brazil’s Pantanal, the world's largest wetlands, is on fire and threatens thousands of the most biodiverse species including jaguars, anteaters, and caimans.
NASA satellites show the fire is quadruple the size of the largest fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest which threatens 36 species on the verge of extinction.
Rising sea levels causing coastal villages to relocate
Whilst the Pacific island nation of Fiji produces less than 1% of the globe's carbon emissions, the impact of climate change is urgently felt by the nation.
Federal Government draft legislation to share personal data
The Federal Government has drafted a bill to allow more data sharing, the Data Availability and Transparency Bill would allow government bodies to collect more personal data.
Digital rights advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is worried there is no way for the public to argue the decision to share data across the public sector.
Parks Australia under fire after alleged construction on sacred site
The Northern Territory Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority is alleging Parks Australia of illegal walkway construction on a sacred site near Gunlom Falls in Kakadu National Park.
Indigenous man is suing the federal government for spending over 500 days in immigration detention
Brendan Thoms is suing the Australian Government for $4.1million for holding him in immigration detention for over 500 days.
Thoms lawyer, Claire Gibbs, says her client suffered from stress while being detained, calling the case a serious infringement of human rights; the High Court has rulled First Nations peoples are exempt from immigration laws under alien powers in the constitution.
Brisbane City Council introduces new food waste challenge
As food waste currently makes up one quarter of the Brisbane bins, The Brisbane City Council has introduced a new initiative where, According to the National Food Waste Strategy, households could save between $2000- $3000 a year.
Food waste in our city has significantly dropped by 16kg per person since 2017.
Andrew Tuttle: Alexandra Variations
- There’s something essentially Australian about cricket-tragic Andrew Tuttle, something genuinely daggy, something about really not being aware of or concerned with cool; preferring history to judge. Like David Boon’s moustache: cringeworthy at a close historical distance, yet more unmistakably necessary with every passing year..