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.

Staff at the Luxury Escarpment Group of Blue Mountain Hotels have been warned against speaking to the media after the Herald Sun exposed migrant workers are being exploited.

The Fair Work Ombudsman raided the hotel group’s operations last month and found they were taking wages from migrant workers through overpriced accommodation and unpaid overtime. 

The Victorian state government is promising a new deal for mental health, admitting that the current system is ‘letting people down’.

It’s Royal Commission into mental health conceded that people are ‘bounced around’ the present system.

It has heard shocking stories of mistreatment and mismanagement, with one expert witness describing the state’s system as ‘collapsed’ and ‘in need of a complete overhaul’. 

The Russian collective Pussy Riot will perform a sold-out concert on Thursday in Alabama to raise money for women’s rights groups. 

This concert comes in light of the state’s recent passing of a near-total ban on abortion, making it a felony even in cases of rape or incest.

Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova says she finds the ban ridiculous and wants to come to Alabama to support women who are in a critical and vulnerable position in the state right now. 

African leaders have launched a landmark 55-nation trade zone, the agreement was signed on Sunday by Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari and Benin’s President Patrice Talon.

AU commission chairman Moussa Faki dubbed the African continental free trade area deal a “historic” moment.

The trade zone will create a 3.4 trillion economic bloc and will unite 1.3 billion people, helping a new era of development across the continent.

The USS Ronald Reagan, one of the world's largest and most powerful military ships, has arrived in Brisbane with tourism bosses expecting thousands of American sailors on board to spend big.

The 333-metre long ship, which is more than 20-storeys' high, docked in Brisbane on Saturday morning ahead of a joint military exercise between the US Navy and the Australian military.

In Queensland about 25,000 military personnel will train near Shoalwater Bay between July 11 and July 24.

A south-east Queensland maternity support program for Indigenous families has almost halved the odds of pre-term births, a result hailed by researchers as "quite extraordinary."

The Birthing in Our Community program aims to close the gap in maternal and infant health outcomes, and Brisbane mother of three Rebekah Hauiti says using the program ensured the health of her children.

 Adelaide doctors have received access to a non-invasive and cutting-edge form of radiation therapy which treats brain tumours.

Cancer treatment specialist Andrew Potter, says the new system uses an imaging system which destroys cancer cells with minimal damage to healthy cells.

Dr Potter said the type of brain tumour treated by the new system is estimated to occur in up to 40 per cent of cancer patients.