The Sex Discrimination Commissioner for Australia, Kate Jenkins, is pleaing for women to be placed at the forefront of the coronavirus recovery to help discuss the systematic elements pushing domestic violence. 

Jenkins states women have suffered most from the ensuing health and economic crises, which have spurred an increase in need for domestic violence services. 

In Japan, authorities have found a washed up lifeboat on a south-west Japanese island among their search for the live export ship that went missing last week.

However, it has been confirmed there were no passengers on board. 

The quest to find the 43 crew members is becoming increasingly urgent. Two patrol ships and an aircraft are set to enter the area today to try and locate the crew members.

Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who fell ill on a plane flight last month from a suspected planned poisoning, is now out of a medically induced coma. 

The Berlin Hospital has stated Navalny is able to respond to verbal communication and his condition is slowly improving, but long-term effects are not yet able to be determined.

Twenty people have been confirmed dead after an explosion at a Bangladesh mosque. The explosion occurred on Friday night, 20km south of the nation’s capital. The cause of the explosion is yet to be formally identified, but members of the Fire Service Department said a gas leak may have been the cause.

In international news, the UK has recorded nearly 3,000 new cases of coronavirus overnight. Yesterday’s results mark the first 24-hour period in which cases have passed 2,000 since the end of May. The UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock admits the rise is "concerning" and has urged Britons to not become complacent in their fight against the virus. 

The Victorian Government has released its plan to gradually ease pandemic restrictions in the state, which has seen 666 COVID-19 deaths. The road map has announced the dates restrictions will be eased according to the number of new cases, with two different plans for regional and metropolitan areas. The state has recorded 41 new cases and nine deaths in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase since June.

A study has found that nearly three-quarters of the Northern New South Wales koala population perished in last summer’s bushfires. The study, commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia, reported an overall 71 per cent fall in the koala population across fire grounds from Port Macquarie to Ballina. WWF Australia chief, Dermot O'Gorman has called for national environmental laws to be strengthened, in order to protect koalas and all threatened species.