A $6.7 billion Chinese mega mine coal project bid adjacent to the Adani venture in Queensland's has been abandoned in the Galilee Basin.

The proposed China Stone open-cut and underground thermal coal mine was planned to be built 300 kilometres west of Mackay, promising more than 3,000 jobs.

It would be the closest mine to Adani's Carmichael coal project, with the sites just 30 kilometres apart.

A new report has shown that the public health system is facing increased pressure as Australians are affected by more vaccine-preventable diseases.

The latest Admitted Patient Care 2017-18 report showed 11.3 million admissions to hospital, with a 3.8 per cent growth in hospital visits.

The Australian Institute of Health said older Australians are a “key driver” of the growth, with older age groups going to hospital at a higher rate.

The United Nations General Assembly has called for Britain to give up control over the Chagos Islands within six months.

The Islands, home to a joint US and British airbase, were detached from Maritius in 1965 to later form the British Indian Ocean Territory.

The call supported an International Court of Justice opinion issued in February which found that Britain had unlawfully participated in the decolonisation process and should relinquish control.

A senior UN security expert has warned that nuclear war is its the highest risk since WWII.

Renata Dwan, UN Institute for Disarmament Research director, said the arms control landscape is changing, partly due to strategic competition between the US and China, increasing the threat of nuclear weapons use.

Dwan told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday that increasing prevalence of armed groups is blurring the line between offence and defence.

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.