Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is tightening drought assistance pressure on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull by calling for the government’s $12,000 cash grants to farmers to be accelerated to September 1.

Mr Shorten also announced a $20 million scheme to fund outback councils to create jobs.

Mr Turnbull on Sunday announced the scheme to be paid to drought-ravaged farmers on top of their $16,000 annual Farm Household Allowance.

However, some farmers criticised the plan as “too little too late”.

Another case of melting bitumen, this time on the Bruce Highway, has destroyed the tyres of at least one heavy vehicle in central Queensland overnight.

It comes after a similar incident affected a road in the state's far north early last month. The road surface started lifting overnight.

Today, the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) confirmed resealing work had failed on a 2.4-kilometre stretch of the Bruce Highway between Rockhampton and Mackay.

The speed limit on five inner-Brisbane roads could be dropped to 40km/h to ensure the safety of 4000 Brisbane State High School students and parents crossing the major roads every day.

The behaviour of motorists on Cordelia Street, Vulture Street, Merivale Street, Gladstone Road and Ernest Street in South Brisbane is currently being assessed by Brisbane City Council.

The council’s infrastructure chairman Amanda Cooper said the council had progressively been installing school zones on busy multi-lane roads where pedestrian safety concerns existed.

More women candidates than ever will contest US governorships and House seats in November's mid-term elections.

After Tuesday's primaries across four states, there are now 11 female nominees for governor and at least 185 for the House of Representatives.

The results were hailed as a continuing success story by activists for women in politics.

Three young soccer players who were trapped with other team members for almost three weeks in a cave in northern Thailand were granted Thai citizenship on Wednesday along with their 25-year-old coach.

All four had been stateless, and their lack of citizenship deprived them of some basic benefits and rights, including the ability to travel outside of Chiang Rai, the northern province where they live.

The area is home to ethnic minorities with roots in neighbouring Myanmar.

More than three years after category 4 Cyclone Lam smashed into an Arnhem Land community, some residents are still waiting for their homes to be rebuilt.

Asbestos soil contamination has delayed rebuilds by at least six months, according to Kaye Thurlow, the Galiwin'ku's community representative on the East Arnhem Regional Council.

"Just in the last 12 months one lot of contractors discovered there was residual asbestos lying around in some of the locations where old houses had been demolished," she said.

More than 2000 Queenslanders went to hospital emergency departments for help with splinters over the past six months, and more than 1600 for bruises.

Thirty-three people also presented for help with acne, and 13 for hiccups.

The new data has prompted a reminder from Queensland Health that "the emergency department is not the place for these things".

After more than three months of planning and rehearsing, more than 120 people with disabilities from across South East Queensland have taken to the stage in the Sunshine Coast’s annual Battle of the Bands.

It is the Endeavour Foundation's fifth annual event, which includes participants from service providers, schools
and bands where the majority of band members have a disability.

This year's event was the biggest yet with 13 bands coming from Brisbane's southside, Ipswich, Gympie, Caboolture and across the Sunshine Coast.

A herd of 70 cattle had to be euthanised after a crash between their transport truck and a sedan yesterday on the Dawson Highway.

The woman, the sole occupant of the sedan, was pronounced dead at the scene, and the male driver of the truck was also treated for minor injuries.

The Forensic Crash Unit has says they are further investigating the incident.