More than 150 religious leaders have issued an open letter urging Prime Minister Scott Morrison to show moral leadership on the issue of climate change and address it as his top priority. 

The letter, which also called on the government to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030, was signed by the heads of the National Council of Churches, the Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils, senior rabbis and the Sunni muslim Grand Mufti of Australia. 

The construction industry is facing a crisis across Queensland, Victoria and NSW with building surveyors unable to access professional indemnity insurance as a result of flammable cladding.

The Master Builders Association says up to 30 per cent of surveyors are required to renew their insurance by the end of June and if the insurance offered is not sufficient it may cause building projects to be halted.

Secular activists are renewing calls for the Queensland Labor government to remove volunteer-run religious classes in state schools after discovering a scathing 1972 state government report on the issue. 

Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools spokeswoman Alison Courtice says the report was buried at the time by the Bjelke-Peterson government and recommended discontinuing Christian-run religion classes in favour of historical instruction on all major religions. 

Queensland’s corruption watchdog has denied the State Government’s claim its staff visit children being held in adult maximum-security watch houses. 

Police Minister Mark Ryan says he has “been assured young offenders in watch houses receive regular visits from independent agencies, including the Crime and Corruption Commission and the Public Guardian.”

The corruption watchdog says the government “does not have a general program of work where it visits individuals in watch houses.” 

Queenslanders will pay an average of almost $3,000 each in state taxes this financial year, with the Palaszczuk government expecting to increase taxation revenue by 8.3 per cent to $15 billion in 2019-20. 

A spokesman for Treasurer Jackie Trad says Queenslanders pay $643 less in tax compared to the average taxpayer in other states and territories and are $100 better off under Labor than they were under the previous LNP government. 

The Queensland government has lost an appeal to uphold its solar regulations after Queensland’s Court of Appeal ruled the laws, which require licensed electricians to install panels in solar farms, invalid. 

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace says the regulations were important to protect the safety of electrical workers and denied regional jobs had been threatened by the laws. 

Aged care facility owner Japara Healthcare Limited has dismissed the Aged Care Royal Commission’s findings suggesting there is a systemic problem with staff assaulting residents in their 49 nursing homes. 

The commission's senior counsel Peter Rozen claims almost 300 reports of suspected assaults on residents were made at Japara facilities between September 2015 and May 2019.

Japara Healthcare Limited CEO Andrew Sudholz says fewer than 100 of those were substantiated, also adding the company is soon to trial CCTV cameras in one facility.

Conservation group BirdLife Tasmania is calling on state and federal governments to implement a strategic approach to wind farms that considers all environmental effects. 

BirdLife spokesman Dr Eric Woehler says wind farms have an unintended impact on critically endangered birds, with 29 cwedge-tailed eagles flying into overhead power-lines on Tasmanian wind farms just last year alone.

A Manus Island asylum seeker who set himself on fire will be charged with attempted suicide and arson by Papua New Guinea police.

Under the PNG criminal code, attempting suicide is considered a misdemeanour which carries a penalty of up to one year in prison, whilst arson can result in a sentence of up to life in prison.

The chief of Manus police, Inspector David Yapu, says the incident was the fourth deliberately lit fire at the refugee centre and says incidents of suicide and self-harm were beyond the control of police.