A Sydney council is considering scrapping Australia Day celebrations and instead encouraging residents to attend the Aboriginal Yabun festival, in an effort to mark January 26 in a way that's more respectful’ to the indigenous community.

Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne says for Aboriginal people, January 26 marks the beginning of colonisation, dispossession, the removal of children and deliberate destruction of language and culture. 

Former head of the National Farmers’ Federation Jock Laurie, has been removed from his role as the New South Wales government’s drought coordinator after less than a year. 

The deputy NSW premier, John Barilaro says there is a dedicated office of drought establishing by the government, assisting for regional communities.

“State drought co-ordinator Jock Laurie played an important role in helping to lead the immediate response to the drought on behalf of farmers,” Mr Barilaro said.

Sunnybank State High School has trialed a new program that brings ex-students back into the classroom for ‘Year 13’, where teachers provide practical help with finding, preparing for, and securing work.

The program — funded from the school's own budget — started at Sunnybank when teachers realised nearly half their 2017 graduates hadn't found full-time work or study six months after leaving.

The mayor of Indigenous community Woorabinda in central Queensland is pushing for their land to be converted from a government lease to freehold, and claims it's like still living on a mission’. 

Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Cheyne Wilkie says little has changed as the land is still a reserve and residents can’t own land or by a house. 

"But as the mayor of the Woorabinda Shire Council, I need to start asking the questions of when they will release us from the shackles and chains,” Mr Wilkie said.

Doctors were shocked to discover 12cm tapeworm had been eating away at a 36-year-old Chinese man’s brain for 15 years.

The man’s health quickly deteriorated, suffering regular seizures and muscle weakness before deciding to have brain surgery to have the tapeworm removed. 

Dr Gu Youming, a deputy director at Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital said he suspected Mr Wang had eaten snails or another exotic meat that had not been cooked properly.

Scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) analysed data from the last interglacial, to estimate what impact human-driven climate change will have. 

The study’s co-author Fiona Hibbert says, in today’s greenhouse-gas-driven climate change, rapid atmospheric and oceanic warming is happening in both polar regions at the same time and driving simultaneous ice-loss in Antarctica and Greenland. 

The federal government is considering implementing measures to ban directors of companies underpaying their employees, following a series of high profile cases. 

Attorney-General Christian Porter says he’s considering ‘beefing up’ the Fair Work Ombudsman’s power because “Corporate Australia has been asleep at the wheel.” 

"These organisations have a massive amount of time, energy and resources devoted to ensuring they don't pay a cent more tax than they have to," Mr Porter said.

Qantas confirmed it will be cutting jobs in head office, but hasn’t said how many people will be affected. 

The news comes after the head of human resources Lesley Grant, announced her retirement at the end of this year. 

Reports emerged that approximately 1200 jobs could be cut, however, a Qantas spokesperson confirmed these to be false. 

After an array of disturbing evidence from parents who say their children were relentlessly bullied, the disability royal commission has been told some teachers are reportedly ‘resisting diversity’ in their classroom, yesterday. 

Loren Swancutt, regional head of the special education service, says at least one school in Queensland has not yet introduced disabled students in their classrooms.