South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi, who broke away from the Liberals to form his own conservative party, has announced that his 13-year career in politics will come to a close at the end of the year. 

Senator Bernardi attracted controversy during his political career over his calls to ban burqas, condemnation of gay marriage, climate scepticism and support for a nuclear industry.

More than 100 schools have been closed in South Australia today, as much of the state braces for catastrophic fire danger conditions.

Seven regions of the state have been given catastrophic fire danger ratings by the Bureau of Meteorology, while the rest of the state has an extreme or severe rating, resulting in a total fire ban across South Australia for the rest of the day. 

Queensland Police have revealed that more than half of the 18 people arrested for deliberately lighting fires amidst the state’s bushfire crisis are children.

The announcement has split the state’s two major parties; LNP leader Deb Frecklington says the juvenile offenders should be prosecuted, while State Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath says that youth detention is not the answer.

Ms D’Ath says that despite the jump in arson-related offences, the state’s reintroduced Fight Fire Fascination project had already seen young offenders meet their victims face to face.

The State Government has announced plans for Australia’s first commercial drone-testing facility in North-West Queensland next year.

The $14.5 million facilities is set to be built at Cloncurry Airport and is scheduled to open in mid-2020.

State Development Minister Cameron Dick says that the facility, which will be first used by the Boeing Company, will make North-West Queensland Australia’s drone technology capital.

Volunteer firefighters and landowners are criticising the red tape involved in backburning approval, saying that it impedes their ability to fight the fires currently burning across Queensland.

They say the length of time it takes to get back burning approved leaves properties vulnerable to fast-moving fires. 

Popular spread Vegemite will soon be available to customers outside Australia and New Zealand for the first time. 

The spread will be sold to people in the US, UK, and Canada due to an increase in global demand.

“We often hear from our Vege-mates who are looking to source Vegemite products overseas,” said Vegemite Senior Marketing Manager Matt Gray.

“We have dialed up our Vegemite ‘Mitey Merchandise’ online store offering to make Vegemite more accessible to our Vege-mates located across the world.”

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he wants older Australians to work longer to improve the national economy, which is burdened with debt.

“As a nation, we need to effectively leverage the three P’s - population, participation, and productivity - to meet this challenge,” said Mr. Frydenberg.

He said 80 percent of education happens before Australians turn 21, which will have to change for Australians to stay engaged in work for longer.

Some country schools in Queensland and New South Wales have introduced campdrafting as an official school sport thanks to one student who is passionate about the sport.

16-year-old Emily Curr says “I thought by doing it, it would allow everyone at boarding school and state high schools to come in and have a bit of a run and be able to do their sport as part of their school.”

Thousands of Disney customers said they were hacked after signing up for their online streaming service.

According to a report, since Disney+ went online, hackers have stolen thousands of customer accounts and sold them in the dark.

People waited a few hours on the phone and online chat lines, and many still said that Disney had not solved their problems.

The company has not yet responded to the request for comment.