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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Further harassment allegations have emerged against former Liberal-National MP Jason Costigan.

The LNP used parliamentary privilege to detail allegations of stalking and sexual harassment against the Whitsunday MP, who was expelled from the party earlier this month.

The Whitsunday MP intends to run in the next state election as an independent.

Queensland’s Children Hospital will benefit from a $20 million expansion that will allow for 30 new beds, with the first phase delivering 6 new beds to the oncology ward.

Queensland Health Minister Stephen Miles says increasing the number of beds for children with cancer was a priority, with the oncology unit being consistently over capacity.

State LNP Opposition Health spokesperson Ros Bates says they welcomed the new beds, but they should’ve been started already, adding any upgrades should be fast-tracked.