Airbnb is calling on the Queensland state government to introduce a ‘bed tax’ for guests staying in any Queensland Bread and Breakfasts or hotels, in the hopes to boost local infrastructure.

Under a model, guests would be expected to pay a 5 per cent surcharge for their short-term stay.

Airbnb Head of Public Policy for Australia and New Zealand, Brent Thomas, says small Queensland towns with only a few thousand residents are inundated with tourists during summer and school holidays, putting pressure on council budgets.

Brisbane City buses may soon face delays towards the West End Peninsula as a result of the Victoria Bridge redesign.

The Blue CityGlider, and University of Queensland busses will face the main delays, and the changes will see the Brisbane Metro system from four lanes to three.

This redesign will see up to 10,000 cyclists a month using the planned cycling lane across the Victoria Bridge.

India’s high court has approved the legality of the world’s first biometric database, saying it does not violate its citizens’ rights to privacy.

The Aadhaar database already has 1 billion people enrolled in it, handing over personal details such as fingerprints and iris scans.

The system was designed to reduce welfare fraud, and if citizens don’t sign up, they can’t receive basic welfare services such as food rations.

The largest bird to ever live has been revealed as the Vorombe Titan—an extinct feathered leviathan from Madagascar.

This bird has been described as an ostrich-like elephant, standing at almost three metres tall and weighing just under 800kg.

Experts have spent decades debating which bird is the largest to exist. According to scientists from the Zoological Society of London, a study of Madagascar’s elephant birds is what brought the final answer.

Australian universities have been revealed to have slid down in the 2019 world university rankings, with six of the country’s top nine moving down in rankings.  

Three Universities have had major declines, including the University of New South Wales sliding 11 points and University of Western Australia sliding 23.

Cane Toad’s on Kimberley Island in Western Australia are baffling researchers as they continue to thrive and prosper alongside our native wildlife.

WA’s cane toad strategy team are surprised that the national pest is able to coexist with animals that in the rest of the country are negatively impacted by the toads.

There is no permanent water on the island, and it is believed the cane toads spend more time underground where the soil is moist, leaving more food sources for species like yellow spotted goanas, and quolls.

Four landmark trees near the Wheel of Brisbane are going to be cut down to make way for the new Neville Bonner Bridge, connecting South Bank and the Casino at Queen’s Wharf.

Three fig trees and a poinciana will be removed, and hopefully replanted, as the area is redesigned to have more concrete rather than grass and trees.

These plans are not yet finalised, and changes could still be made to the landscaping around the new bridge.