The SES is encouraging Queenslanders to wear its signature colour today in support of its volunteers.

Wear Orange Wednesday is a national event commemorating the volunteers of the SES.

Fire and Emergency Services Minister, Craig Crawford, says the Queensland SES is comprised of 6000 volunteers who donated 400,000 hours of their time last year to help with storm and flood operations and other search and rescue activities.

The speed limits on two of Brisbane’s busiest roads are being reduced as part of a Council review into pedestrian safety.

Maximum speeds will be cut from 60 km/h to 40 km/h on 400 metre stretches on Oxley Road at Corinda and Old Cleveland Road at Stones Corner as the council contemplates further changes on at least six more roads.

Brisbane City Council Infrastructure Chair Amanda Cooper says the speed reductions will make the roads safer, as there were 11 pedestrian-related accidents at the two locations in the past five years.

The Palaszczuk Government is seeking interested organisations to apply for funding to host a new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Violence Support Service in the Mackay region.

Member for Mackay Julieanne Gilbert says the new service would increase the support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experiencing domestic and family violence in Mackay and surrounding communities, with $260,000 per annum available.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is challenging Labor to back the Government’s $158 billion income tax cut package when Parliament resumes in the new financial year.

The government is planning to put the full package to Parliament to prevent Labor backing tax cuts for those on lower incomes while rejecting those for wealthier workers.

Mr Frydenberg says it’s important the tax changes are dealt with as a package, as the changes are not just about immediate tax relief but also long-term structural reform.

Abortion-rights campaigners in the US gathered on Tuesday to protest restrictions on abortion passed by eight Republican-controlled states, including an outright ban in Alabama.

The new laws are attempting to draw legal challenges, which religious conservatives hope could overturn the 1973 case, Roe v Wade, which established the right for women in the US to terminate pregnancy.

Washington has become the first US state to legalize human composting, where people can elect to have their body turned to soil after death, as an alternative to cremations and burials.

The bill, signed by Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday, aims to reduce pressure on crowded graveyards in inner city areas, and allows loved ones to use the soil for cultivation.

A vision impaired woman has claimed a Townsville taxi driver asked her to put her guide dog in the boot.

It is alleged the driver refused to serve the woman and her guide dog unless the dog were to travel the 15 minute journey in the boot, a request that left the visually impaired woman feeling discriminated against.

She says it is essential for her dog to be by her side at all times and having her dog in the boot is dangerous for both of them.