An Essential Poll has found only 38 per cent of Australians agree that stronger laws are needed to protect those who express their religious faith in public, in the wake of Israel Folau’s dispute with Rugby Australia. 

Of those polled, 58 per cent believe employers should not have the right to dictate what their employees say outside of work, but 64 per cent agreed “people should not be allowed to argue religious freedoms to abuse others.” 

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have adopted the name ‘Eco’ for a planned single currency to be used in the region. 

The 15 member group announced the planned launch of the currency in 2020 with six member countries, including Nigeria, Liberia and Ghana, potentially swapping their national currencies for the new Eco. 

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have created a device that can produce electricity from sunlight while simultaneously purifying water, an invention they say could solve two problems at once. 

The team found the device can be used to purify saltwater as well as seawater to safe drinking standards as per World Health Organisation regulations, while producing energy from a solar panel at 11% efficiency, on par with regular solar panels. 

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has ruled out selling the NBN to Telstra when the rollout of the $51 billion project is completed. 

Mr Fletcher says safeguards within existing laws prevent retail telcos like Telstra from owning the network and doesn’t foresee “any prospect of that restriction being changed.”

The rollout of the NBN is expected to be completed next year, but Mr Fletcher says the government is still "quite some way" from looking at any change of ownership to the taxpayer-funded network.
 

The Queensland government is looking to reform a 110 year old rape defence “loophole” that allows an accused rapist to argue they had a misinformed but genuine reason to believe the sex was consensual.

The “mistake of fact” defence has been used by defendants to argue that a woman’s behaviour such as flirting or coming to a man’s house was consent.

Uber’s global head of urban mobility, Colin Tooze, spoke at the 2019 Asia Pacfic Cities Summit in Brisbane, saying Uber wants to see a shift from private cars to a mix of shared modes using energy-conserving technology. 

Mr Tooze says an international transport forum study estimated if every private vehicle on the road was shared, we would need only 3 per cent of the vehicles “clogging” our streets today, and would still be able to move the same number of people. 

The national sheep flock is forecast to fall to 65.8 million head this year, one of the lowest numbers since the early 1900s, according to Meat and Livestock Australia. 

Since the end of the wool reserve price scheme in the 1990s, where farmers were guaranteed a price, national sheep numbers have dropped by almost 100 million, raising the price for wool and lamb to record highs.

The Wheelchair State of Origin is providing an opportunity for disabled people to compete with and against able-bodied people in a game of wheelchair rugby league.

The annual State of Origin match, won by NSW this year, allows people of all abilities to compete on a level playing field to provide an entertaining spectacle all while facilitating an important conversation.