More than 60,000 koalas were impacted by the devastating bushfires that swept across the country last summer, with total numbers of wildlife affected estimated to be 3 billion.

A new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) revealed that 143 million mammals were killed or lost their habitat last summer.

Chief executive of WWF Australia, Dermot O’Gorman, said that it is hard to think of an event in living memory that has caused this much impact on wildlife and nature.

In 26 May 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced his plan to reform the industrial relations system in response to the pandemic, but the Australian Council of Trade Unions seems to believe the government would have no intention of addressing the issue of insecure work.

In a statement released this morning, ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said the Industrial Relations Omnibus legislation would take the rights of casual workers backwards as it would make it almost impossible for them to convert to permanent work.

As part of its 5Oth anniversary celebrations, James Cook University has given its Cairns’ campuses local Indigenous names to acknowledge the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the advancement of the University.

JCU’s Smithfield campus has been named Nguma-bada, which means belonging to tomorrow: "Place for tomorrow's learning, knowledge and wisdom" from the Yirrgay coastal dialect of Djabugay.

Extinction Rebellion protesters staged a protest in Brisbane CBD this morning, sitting on top of a stationary rental truck parked at the intersection of Edward and Queen Street.  

Fire and Rescue extracted the protestors from the top of the truck by using a cherry picker. 

Traffic has started to ease along Adelaide street, Edward Street and Queen street.

Facing global anger over their mishandling of the outbreak, the Chinese authorities have been trying to shift the blame by pushing theories that the virus originated outside China.

The Chinese state-run media first published that it started in Italy rather than in China as they misrepresented German scientist Dr Kekulé’s research, to then switch the blame to India after scientists published a paper about packaged food from overseas having brought the virus to China.

What is clear, is China's eagerness to “muddy the waters”.

US President Donald Trump has announced on Twitter that his lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for coronavirus.

Mr Trump wished Mr Giuliani a quick recovery, and claimed he has been “working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA.”

There have been more than 14 million COVID-19 cases recorded in the United States, with over 280,000 deaths.

NSW Police have admitted that they incorrectly let two German travellers transit to Melbourne without undergoing Hotel Quarantine in Sydney. 

Police state there was a ‘language barrier’, between the two travelers and Airport security, who thought they were exempt from Hotel quarantine and escorted them to board their Melbourne flight.

The pair are currently in hotel quarantine in Victoria, and have tested negative for COVID-19. 

Extinction Rebellion announced they will stage a disruptive but non violent action tonight at 6pm in the Swanston street and Bourke street intersection in Melbourne to denounce Rupert Murdoch’s role in using NewsCorp for decades to deny the ecological crisis.

Extinction Rebellion Spokesperson David Urbinder said 68% percent of Australian voters want the government to deliver more ambitious carbon targets, but both the Federal government and opposition support taxpayer-funded fossil fuel energy.

The announcement of the 2020 State Government budget has left little funding for the Longreach and Emerald Agricultural Colleges, causing a significant blow to the agricultural industry and the future training of agricultural workers. 

Ag Force CEO Michael Guerin said despite acknowledging agriculture was deemed an essential industry in Queensland, the State Government was showing a lack of commitment to the colleges which provide industry relevant training.