Former prime minister Tony Abbott has accepted an offer to become Scott Morrison’s special envoy on Indigenous affairs, and says school attendance and performance will be his major focus.

The drought crisis in Queensland and New South was has created a surge in dog surrenders.

The controversial Ferny Grove-Upper Kedron Neighbourhood Plan that has been debated for almost three years will come into effect next month.

The Brisbane City Council about to start its stage review of Brisbane’s bus services, but has been met with resistance from the state government.

If you don’t like bees you better buzz off now because thirty thousand bees have swarmed onto the umbrella of a hot dog stand in Times Square.

Police shut down the street and a beekeeper was called who vacuumed the bees into a bucket.

It is not known what attracted the bees to the umbrella.

Officials in Puerto Rico have revised the Hurricane Maria death toll from 64 to 2,975 people.

Governor Ricardo Rossello accepted the new findings and said he is giving an order to update the official number of deaths as soon as possible.

The latest findings were made in a report by researchers from George Washington University.

The storm, which struck the US island territory in September 2017, has left Puerto Rico struggling to repair its infrastructure and power grid.

At least 30 children on Nauru are suffering from trauma withdrawal syndrome, according to a report released by Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

The rare and life threatening mental disorder causes bodies to shut down and can include complications such as organ failure and brain damage.

Psychiatry expert Louise Newman from the University of Melbourne says this epidemic is indicative of how traumatic the situation has become on the island.

New immigrants would be forced to settle in regional areas for up to five years under a federal plan to ease congestion in Sydney and Melbourne.

The move to impose regional settlement as a condition of migrant visas is in response to community concerns about urban pressures and social integration.

The Australian reported a decision on a time period for mandatory settlement was due to go to the Turnbull cabinet last week.

New immigrants would be forced to settle in regional areas for up to five years under a federal plan to ease congestion in Sydney and Melbourne.

The move to impose regional settlement as a condition of migrant visas is in response to community concerns about urban pressures and social integration.

The Australian reported a decision on a time period for mandatory settlement was due to go to the Turnbull cabinet last week.