The Department of Agriculture has approved a permit to import bulk wheat from Canada with Australia set to import foreign-grown grain for the first time since 2007.

Since drought has devastated the winter crop of wheat on Australia’s east coast, increasing the cost of grain domestically, there have been months of speculation about potential grain imports.

There are concerns the rising inequality within the UK could soon hit American levels, thus threatening British democracy.

Nobel laureate and Princeton professor Angus Deaton has warned the increasing gap between the rich and the poor is “making a mockery of democracy”.

Professor Deaton is leading a major five-year project, which has just been launched by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the review aims to define causes of inequality in the UK.

Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed yet another date for a new vote on the UK’s Brexit deal.

Ms May has set the week of June 3 as the fourth time the House of Commons will vote on the Brexit deal, after rejecting it in each prior vote.

A Downing Street spokesman announced the date of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to the public after Ms May met with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, saying it’s imperative the vote is done beofre the summer Parliamentary recess.

The city council will spend over $2 million dollars on 20 “smart poles” to be built in the city.

The poles use CCTV to collect data on pedestrian and cyclist traffic, construction and traffic noise levels, flood levels and air quality, as well as offering USB charging ports and free WiFi access.

The poles are to be trialled to determine how much data they can collect to inform council decisions.

In local news, the state government has selected the winning design for a 1,500 person capacity theatre to be built at QPAC.

The project, headed by local architect Blight Rayner, is expected to be completed by 2022.

The project is expected to allow a further 260 performances per year, and will create up to 100 jobs during its construction.

In national news, the reputation of the mining industry is “nearing crisis” in Queensland with a “bulge in distrust” shown via secret research.

A study carried out by market research company Ipsos for the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) found the industry’s wealth is “strongly associated with self-interest, power and influence”.

The results of the confidential research challenge the notion that the electorate is divided between “coal-loving Queenslanders” and voters in southern states who want stronger focus on climate change.

In international news, state school tuck shops and public hospitals are exempt from Queensland’s food safety laws which is proving to be troublesome for officers cracking down on breaking the rules.

The Department of Health, several hospital and health services and the Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns councils were recently audited by auditor-general Brendan Worrall to determine whether food safety was being effectively managed.

In international news, it is believed two Australians have died as a result of two small sightseeing planes colliding mid-air off the coast of Alaska.

Across the two seaplanes were 14 passengers, four of whom have been confirmed dead and two missing, including an Australian, who were travelling on a seven-day cruise ship tour from Vancouver to Anchorage.

Rescuers say the planes were partially submerged upside down in the seawater after crashing on a steep section of rocky shoreline.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will co-chair a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris later today to discuss her plan which has been dubbed the ‘Christchurch Call’.

Ms Ardern’s initiative will ask signatory nations to adopt measures to ban objectionable material online and create a framework for media to report on atrocities without amplifying them.