The UK is considering making vaccinations compulsory for school children in England in response to falling vaccination rates. 

Health secretary Matt Hancock announced the plan to the Conservative party conference following figures showing that all routine vaccinations in England for under 5-year-olds fell last year. 

England lost its ‘measle-free’ status this year with 231 reported cases between January and March. 

Parents from the Guluman Centre playgroup in Ngukurr have translated three children’s books into Kriol with the support of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Ngukurr Language Centre. 

Printed as stickers, the Kriol version of the story is plastered below the English so the children can learn both languages from an early age.

Vinette Ngalmi, the Indigenous co-ordinator for early childhood at the language centre, said the playgroup parents had been personally selecting books to translate.

Australia’s transition to prescription-only codeine has seen a 50 percent reduction in the monthly rate of codeine-related poisoning calls and has halved codeine sales. 

A study by the University of Sydney is a world-first and cited an abrupt drop in codeine related poisonings since the removal of the medication in February 2018. 

Lead author Dr Rose Cairns said the study did not show an increase in poisonings with higher-strength codeine or stronger opioids. 

The state and federal governments released news regarding the pacific motorways $749 million dollar upgrades, expected to take at least three years.

The plan will add two new lanes stretching 8km between the Gateway Motorway at Eight Mile Plains to Loganlea Rd at Daisy Hill.

Public information sessions will be held from the 8th to the 19th of October around Logan area. 

Transport advocacy group Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow said the project would go a long way to solving the M1 bottlenecks that Logan commuters suffered on a daily basis.

The Brisbane City Council will be providing seniors with free off-peak travel on buses, CityCats and ferries.

Such times will include free transport Monday through Friday from 8:30am until 3:30pm and again between 7pm until 6am the next morning. 

Free off-peak travel will not include Queensland Rail trains as they are state government controlled.

Five bodies have been recovered from three fishing boats that were stuck when a bridge collapsed into the water below in a Taiwanese harbour yesterday. 

Two of the bodies are Indonesian and one is Filipino. The identities of the other two have not yet been determined said the National Fire Agency. 

A typhoon swept by the island earlier, but the weather was calm when the bridge collapsed and it is not clear if the storm was a factor. 
 

Hong Kong police have arrested 269 protesters, fired 900 rubber bullets, 1,400 cans of tear gas and six live rounds on during the demonstrations for  China’s National Day. 

This included the shooting of an 18-year-old protester who is under arrest on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. They are now in a stable condition after receiving surgery. 

Hong Kong’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Tang Ping-Keung pushed back against criticism of the officers’ actions, saying they were “undoubtedly lawful and reasonable.”
 

Dog baiting has spread to Sydney now with police issuing an urgent warning after chicken mince, spiked with rat poison was found throughout a park in inner-west Sydney yesterday. 

Inner West Police urge pet owners to ‘not to wait for symptoms to appear’ but to take their animals to the vet ‘immediately’ if they suspect they have been poisoned. 

In NSW, the offence is punishable by a maximum of five years in jail and a heft $22,000 fine. 
home.” 

As Labor criticises the government for not producing a national drought strategy, Barnaby Joyce says the Coalition risks ‘political annihilation’ in rural areas if it does not start building dams and the drought worsens. 

“It’s not good talking about the crisis when it arrives, it should have been dealt with years ago, but it must be dealt with now, and it will be political annihilation if we don't,” Joyce said.