Brisbane LNP Councillor James Mackay will refer himself to the Crime and Corruption Commission over allegations his private company was paid about $70,000 in ratepayer funds to promote the Brisbane City Council budget. 

James Mackay, who was only sworn in as Walter Taylor ward councillor in May, denied any wrongdoing but said he would refer himself to the CCC "to avoid any doubt" after Labor councillors queried the LNP administration during question time on Tuesday.

Lime scooters will be pushed out of Bowen Hills next Friday as part of an Ekka ban agreed between show organisers and the scooter company. 

Ekka organisers say the popular electric scooters would create too many problems within the Brisbane Showgrounds precinct, and Lime will introduce GPS ‘geo-fencing’ to prevent its users from riding them in the area. 

Lime currently has about 700 scooters operating in Brisbane, but will have to scale back to 400 after a council tender was awarded to allow competitor Neuron to begin operating.

A new report charting the effects of climate change across the Asia Pacific region has found it is also having an effect on the health of the population.

The study from Global Health Alliance Australia outlined a series of areas where the health of the region's population was being affected by changes to the climate, including reduced IQs in the children of people who have survived natural disasters, malnutrition due to declining crops and death from heatwaves.

A senior Liberal Party figure has broken ranks with the party, calling for quotas to get more women into parliament and criticising the party’s attitudes towards women. 

Kathryn Greiner, a businesswoman and Liberal Party member of more than 50 years and the wife of federal Liberal president Nick Greiner says the Liberal Party organisation is less female-friendly than during the 1980s and “had not kept pace” with broader society. 

Journalist Erick Kabendera’s arrest in Tanzania has sparked widespread anger and renewed concerns over press freedom in the country. 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Kabendera was “forcefully removed” from his home on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam capital by plainclothes security men on Monday, and regional police commissioner Lazaro Mambosasa has since stated Kabendera is being questioned over doubts towards his citizenship. 

Ethiopia planted more than 350 million trees in 12 hours on Monday, in what government officials believe is a world record. 

The tree planting occurred as part of a wider reforestation campaign known as ‘Green Legacy’ which has been spearheaded by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in an effort to combat the effects of land degradation, soil erosion and recurrent droughts and flooding. 

The expansion of a planned bikeway in Indooroopilly into a riverwalk has been approved by Brisbane City Council, with the project expected to cost almost $58 million over three years. 

Similar to the New Farm Riverwalk, the over water bikeway will connect the Western Freeway Bikeway and the University of Queensland, taking cyclists off main roads and onto dedicated cycling connections. 

Organisers of a protest today regarding funding agreements between Australian universities and Chinese government-funded education organisations in Queensland expect 500 people to attend. 

The student protest, to be held at the University of Queensland, comes after a violent clash between Hong Kong and pro-China demonstrators at the university last week.

Organisers of the protest, Transparency 4 UQ, say they are working with Queensland police and hope there is no violence at the demonstration.