Australia marked its first 24 hours of no COVID community transmissions or deaths in almost five months on Sunday. This comes as the state of Victoria emerges from a months-long lockdown with a rolling 14-day average of 2.2 cases. 

The damage from the hail storm that hit Brisbane on Saturday is expected to cost $1 billion. The storm left 95,000 houses without power and saw cricket ball-sized hailstones severely damage cars and houses. The Insurance Council of Australia has declared a catastrophe for damages caused by the hailstorm, which has been declared the worst hailstorm Brisbane has seen since 2014.

The Queensland Labor Party led by Annastacia Palaszczuk has been re-elected as a majority government over the weekend. Palaszuzuk has become the first female politician in the country’s history to win three elections. Opposition leader Deb Frecklington conceded defeat on Saturday night but vowed to remain leader of the Liberal-National Party.