Father faces jail time for using cannabis juice on daughters

A father of two daughters, both diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, is facing jail time after using cannabis juice to ease their pain.

Police allegedly found 107 cannabis plants in Stephen Taylor’s home after the father turned to cannabis juicing for his daughters when no doctor agreed to fill out the application for legal, medical cannabis.

Taylor’s daughters now await medical treatment, with Taylor facing the serious prospect of going to jail.

 

City Council Opposition Leader urges abandonment of male titles

Brisbane City Council opposition leader Peter Cumming has urged the council to abandon the use of gender specific titles.

Despite women making up one third of elected representatives, the council still only employs masculine titles such as chairman.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said that he had no objections to the proposed protocol change.

 

Melbourne Cup trophy to be made from QLD gold

A small mining community west of Bundaberg is celebrating after discovering they produced the gold that will be used to manufacture the coveted Melbourne Cup trophy.

The gold mined from Mt Rawdon, in Queensland’s North Burnett region, will be refined and hand-beaten by jewellers in Sydney in preparation for the 2019 Melbourne Cup.

A spokesperson for ABC Bullion, the company manufacturing the the cup, said they believe this is the first time the cup will be made exclusively from Queensland Gold

Two members of Russia's Pussy Riot disappear after protest in Crimea

Two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot are still missing after disappearing while returning to Moscow from Crimea on Tuesday.

Olga Borisova and Sasha Sofeyev were in the Crimea to protest the actions of Russian and Russian backed authorities in the region and had been harassed by security forces for the duration of their visit.

A third member of the band, Marsha Alekhina, remains in Crimea, in detention.

Indonesia's rapid infrastructure drive takes deadly toll

Indonesia’s rapid infrastructure drive in the lead up to hosting the 2018 Asian Games in August has resulted in five fatalities and dozens of injuries in elevated transportation projects.

President Joko Widodo has halted work after an accident on an elevated toll road in Jakarta last month which followed the balcony collapse at the Jakarta Stock Exchange which heightened concerns around poor construction standards.

Tanya Plibersek calls for removal of GST from tampons

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek has renewed calls for Labor to remove the GST tax from tampons and other sanitary items.

Ms Plibersek said tampons were an essential good citing the tampon tax as a dumb decision we just have to fix.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott disagreed saying we have to broaden the tax base rather than have politically correct exceptions.

Woman almost dies from malaria after doctor advised against preventive

A 46-year-old, Byron Bay woman who contracted a deadly strain of malaria while volunteering in Cambodia is considering taking legal action against her local GP who allegedly advised her against antimalarial medication.

Within days of returning to Australia, Shelley Hill was rushed to Tweed Hospital where she was put on life support after suffering multi-organ failure and has since been transferred to a hospital were she will face the gravity of her ongoing health issues.

Almost one in 10 Queensland primary school classrooms are overcrowded

Government data has revealed almost one in ten primary schools across Queensland are over-crowded.

8 percent of primary school classrooms were overcrowded in 2017, with the Prep to Grade 3 group facing the highest percentage of overcrowded classrooms across the state.

Class sizes however, are decreasing with the aid of the Queensland government working towards an extra 875 teachers being placed in areas that require it for enrolment growth.  

Shipping container washes up on Moreton Island

A shipping container has washed up on the shore of Moreton Island overnight after being spotted floating in waters off the Sunshine Coast for the past week.

The container, owned by the international shipping company Maersk Line, was found empty with the company currently organising for the removal of the container from our shores.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman Dan Glover says it is pretty rare for containers to wash up.