Gas royalties will increase from 10 per cent to 12.5 percent from July 1st  to raise $476 million over four years to plug revenue shortfalls elsewhere.

Opponents of Queensland's gas royalty hike have labelled the move a kick in the guts for the resources sector, but Treasurer Jackie Trad says it's time for the industry to pay more.

Treasurer Trad says the gas sector is established and growing at a rapid rate and now is the time for it to pay a bit more to the people of Queensland.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged to use profits from the sale of his presidential plane to fund efforts to curb illegal migration.

The move comes after Mexico and the US reached a deal to avoid US tariffs in exchange for Mexico doing more to halt Central American migration to the US.

The President says he will fly commercially instead and use the profits from the sale of the plane to help the poorer communities.

The average level of global peacefulness has improved for the first time in five years, but the world still remains less peaceful than a decade ago, having deteriorated by nearly four percent since 2008.

The Global Peace Index report, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, shows eighty-six countries are more peaceful than last year, with Iceland remaining the most peaceful country in the world.

There is growing support for a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom in response to federal police raids on a newspaper journalist and the ABC's Sydney headquarters.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says if data shows that the laws need to be changed, then the government wouldn’t rule out changing the laws.

Labor also wants to see a joint parliamentary committee review of press freedom and its interaction with national security and other laws.

Aboriginal Artwork discovered in the Blue Mountains was reportedly created by non-Indigenous teenagers 50 years ago, according to a local newspaper.

The handprint artwork was discovered in April in the process of removing a boulder which threatened railway tracks west of Sydney.

Sydney Trains said it was verified as "culturally significant" by an independent archaeologist specialising in Aboriginal heritage, but according to the Blue Mountains Gazette, the rock art was created by non-Indigenous teenage brothers in the 1960s.

Several Queensland Health staff are thinking of leaving Queensland Health over the concerns of patient safety with the new 1.5 billion dollar digital health upgrade.

The upgrade will integrate almost every patient record to an online system — including real-time vital signs — from heart rates to the amount of drugs being administered.

Queensland Health director-general Michael Walsh reportedly admits there are problems with the program but he found himself  having to say positive things about it publicly.

The Australian Conservation Foundation succeeded in its appeal against the Federal approval of the Adani coal mine.

The Federal Government admitted it failed to properly consider and even lost some submissions in response to Adani’s proposal and it will now have to reassess its water infrastructure.

However, the decision will not prevent Adani from starting preliminary construction if it receives approval for its groundwater plans from the Queensland government today.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said The United States has legitimate issues about China and the two countries must negotiate to avoid conflict.  

Mr Frydenberg notes that the trade war that China and America are in has put Australia in a tight position, because China is Australia’s biggest trading partner.

He said tensions between China and the US have weighed on the global economic outlook and affected investment decisions, creating a degree of uncertainty.

BP’s annual global energy report reveals carbon emissions from the global energy industry climbed by 2% in 2018, the fastest rate in almost a decade.

The report shows that global temperature swings, days which are much hotter or colder than normal, are to blame for increasing demand for fossil fuels.

BP’s chief economist, Spencer Dale says the report reveals “a growing mismatch” between society's rising demand for climate change action and the actual pace of progress.