Indonesia has comic strip of gay Muslim characters removed from Instagram

The world’s biggest Muslim Nation, Indonesia has had an Instagram account removed for posting comic strips depicting the struggles of gay Muslim characters.

The Ministry of Communications said the account under the username Alpatuni was pornographic, which violated the law on information and electronic transactions.

The government frequently threatens to block Western social media and internet companies for content deemed illegal but has never taken such measures.

Calls to ban app which allegedly controls women in Saudi Arabia

There are calls to the CEOs of Apple and Google Play to remove a Saudi government app from their platforms.

US Senator and Ron Wyden and human rights groups say the Absher app is a tool to for Saudi men to track and control the movements of Saudi women.

Human rights group Amnesty International have asked tech giants to investigate the app and assess the risks it poses for human rights abuses on women.

If this issue has affected you, there are services to help. Call 1800RESPECT or visit 1800respect.org.au.

Christmas Island “not equipped” to handle new asylum seekers, Council says

Christmas Island’s local council has claimed they are not able to cope with new asylum seekers as Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the detention centre will be re-opened.

The local council chief executive David Price says the island’s hospital is not equipped to deal with asylum seekers with complex medical needs.  

He says the hospital lacks much-needed mental health specialists, and that it makes more sense to transfer patients to mainland Australia in the first place.

Sharing intimate photos without consent a crime in Qld

It is now a crime in Queensland to threaten to share, and sharing, intimate pictures or videos of people without their consent.

The laws apply to anyone who shares intimate photos without a person’s consent, even if they consented to the pictures being taken in the first place.

Both Labor and Liberal National Party MPs have voiced their support for the bill, saying the act is a form of violence against women.

‘We cannot remain silent’, Qld clinicians’ concerns over electronic medical record

Clinicians at Queensland's public hospitals say they “cannot remain silent” over patient safety risks with Queensland Health’s electronic medical record system.

A group of clinicians have voiced concerns that the system can cause difficulties with giving medications and medications going missing in the software.

Health Minister Steven Miles says there have been no reports of patient harm with the implementation of the software and that system improve patient outcomes.

Heatwave grips Queensland as Roma and Brisbane suffer

Severe heatwave conditions along the length of the Queensland coast have brought a record-breaking run of high temperatures from the southern inland Roma to Brisbane.

After a momentary reprieve this weekend, extreme temperatures are likely to continue into next week.

The heatwave has impacted the volunteer “mud army” helping with the flood clean-up effort in Townsville.

NSW bushfires destruction

At least five homes in the Northern NSW town of Tabulam have been destroyed by a bushfire that has so far scorched 4000 hectares of land.

The fire also ripped through Jubullum Aboriginal community, where an unknown amount of structures have been destroyed.

A second blaze has has burnt through approximately 5600 hectares of land at Tingha, and a total fire ban remains in place.

Senate passes medical evac bill

The opposition’s medical evacuation bill has passed the senate, pushing border protection to the forefront in the lead up to the Federal Election.

The new law will allow sick refugees in detention centres to come to Australia for treatment.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the Christmas Island detention centre will reopen, as he believes people smuggling is set to increase.