GP’s are urging Queensland Health not to go through with a trial which will allow pharmacists to dispense antibiotics without a prescription, saying it will increase the risk of antibiotic resistant superbugs.

The trial was proposed after a state government review of how pharmacists operate, and will allow them to provide some medicines without a prescription, such as the contraceptive pill.

Public health authorities are attempting to contain the first outbreak of Dengue fever in a Queensland city since the 1950s, with 13 cases confirmed so far. 

All the current cases have connections to the North Rockhampton areas of Park Avenue and Kawana. 

Over 1000 properties in the region have been inspected as part of ongoing Dengue control measures, with 100 of those found to have Dengue mosquitoes. 

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has called for Scott Morrison’s government to explain why the Australian Federal Police were able to access a journalist’s private travel records from Qantas.

The call comes after reports yesterday revealed the travel records of ABC reporter Dan Oakes were requested as part of the AFP’s recent investigation.

Albanese says the attorney general, Christian Porter, needs to explain these actions given he previously stated journalists were not likely to face legal prosecution.

As widespread drought continues for the woo production industry and sheep numbers proceed to decline.

National sheep flock numbers hit 100 year low and are predicted to fall to 65.8 million head this year, according to meat and livestock Australia.

The drought is making it harder for farmers to feed stock as prices are unsustainably high, with a lot of sheep now being reluctantly offloaded.

Protests were underway last week in the Chinese city of Wuhan over a planned waste incineration plant they say will bring dangerous levels of pollution to their town.

Thousands of local people took to the streets for several days, demanding that the location be re-thought and be moved further away from settlements.

As the protests steadily grew over the week, a censorship and public security operation kicked in to try and mask the unrest.

Two farmers have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit on Thursday against Monsanto and Bayer on the use of Roundup, a glyphosate-based weed killer.

The claim alleges the farmers were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using the herbicide. 

The action was filed by Halifax law firm on behalf of farmers David Mitchell and Gretta Hutton who have used the weed-killer for years without any warning to use protective gear.

A measles alert has been issued in Brisbane after a child who travelled to an unknown country came back to Brisbane without realising they contracted the virus. 

The child traveled to Murrumba Downs shopping centre and Taigum Square shopping centre early last week.

Anyone who has been to these locations and is suffering symptoms of fever, runny nose, fatigue and sore, red eyes is encouraged to seek immediate medical attention.

An inquiry by the Queensland Productivity Commission found that the number of drug users being locked up in Queensland prisons is pushing the system to breaking point, with more people being sent to prison now than any time in the past 120 years. 

The inquiry was set up by the Palaszczuk government to work out what was causing the surge of people in the state’s prisons.

The commission also found that locking up drug users was often a waste of time and money and recommended that some drug offenders be kept out of the prison system.