Australian sex workers struggling to survive

Australian sex workers are the collateral damage in a new US law.

The law is aimed to stop child sex trafficking.

The Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act passed Congress and was signed into law back in April.

The law intends to target websites hosting ads for illegal sex services, the same websites, however, are used by consenting, adult sex workers all over the world, including in Australia.

Australian sex workers were bracing for the impact of the new law and many are suffering from the financial losses.

Big firms call for new SEQ city deal to deliver infrastructure boost

Queensland’s major construction and engineering companies have called on the state government to back a new city deal for south-east Queensland.

The report calls on the federal and state governments to negotiate Queensland's second city deal after the success of the 2016 Townsville City Deal.

Noted in the report, “a south-east Queensland regional city deal has the potential to be the biggest in the nation involving eleven separate councils.”

Worker hit by steel beam at Sunshine Coast building site

A man has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after being hit by a steel beam at a Sunshine Coast construction site.

Emergency services were called just before 3.30pm and the worker was taken to Sunshine Coast University Hospital with back and abdominal injuries.

Workplace Health and Safety were making initial inquiries and a representative is expected to head to the site this morning.

Israel Says Palestinian Medic’s Death Was Unintentional

Israel’s military has said the killing of a young Palestinian volunteer medic at a Gaza fence protest last week was unintentional and that only “a small number were fired” by its soldiers.

Razan al-Najjar, 20, was trying to help an injured protester near the border fence when she was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers witnesses have said.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, she was the 119th Palestinian killed in the three-month-long Gaza fence protest campaign.

Facebook Confirms Data Sharing With Chinese Companies

Facebook has confirmed it has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese companies which has come under scrutiny from US intelligence agencies.

 

 

Members of Congress raised concerns after The New York Times reported on the practice on Sunday saying data could have been accessed without their explicit consent.

 

 

More than half of the partnerships have already been wound down, Facebook said.

 

 

Unilever Goes Green Powered

Multinational consumer goods producer, Unilever, is committing to run its Australian manufacturing sites entirely on renewable energy within two years.

Chief executive, Clive Stiff, said government policy had made the move from conventional energy initially too risky, but the ongoing closure of coal-fired power plants and the ongoing shift to renewable sources made financial sense.

UQ Solar Farm Approved In Southern Queensland

Residents of a southern Queensland town say they are "extremely disappointed" in a multi-million-dollar solar farm which has been given the green light for construction.

Terrain Solar submitted the application to develop a 154 hectare site at Freestone Valley near Warwick, but the University of Queensland will take ownership of the project when construction begins later this year.

"We're known as the rose city, do we really want to be known as the industrial city?” resident Meryl Strand said.

Brisbane’s Bulk Water Bill To Increase

The government has announced the bulk water charge on Brisbane ratepayers' water bills will rise by three and a half per cent each year until 2021.

Bulk water charges currently account for about 30 per cent of the average household's water and sewerage bill.

To reduce the price impact of significant investments in water infrastructure in response to low water levels, the government decided that price increases for the region should be phased in over time.