More Queensland Teens now vaccinated against HPV
The number of teenage recipients of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine has been rising for the last five years.
New figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that 77.6 per cent of 15-year-old girls and 70.8 per cent of 15-year-old boys were fully vaccinated between 2015 and 2016;
This is up from 76.7 per cent of vaccinated girls and 70.8 percent of vaccinated boys between 2014 and 2015, with this upward trend believed to be continuing.
Papua New Guinea schooling crisis after Earthquake devastation
Many children in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea could go without schooling for more than a year due to the slow reconstruction of facilities damaged during a magnitude 7.5 earthquake last month.
Save the Children's Jennifer El-Sibai said authorities need to plan for the education of young people in the region and not only the provision of basic necessities to communities.
Many students will likely be asked to transfer to nearby schools to continue their education due to a shortfall of funding for the Papua New Guinea Department of Education.
Prince Charles Hospital blocked from giving shock treatment
The Prince Charles Hospital has been temporarily blocked from giving shock-treatments to a man after 140 treatments were administered without guardian consultation.
The Supreme Court of Queensland made the ruling on Wednesday after claims the patient experienced memory damage from the treatments.
The patient began receiving shock treatment for his paranoid schizophrenia in November 2015.
Queensland LNP accept banned donation
The Liberal National Party in Queensland say they will return a $5,000 donation from a company which owns a property development firm, despite developer donations being banned by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in October last year.
A spokesperson for the ABC responded by pointing out “the Labor Party receives donations from unions such as the CFMEU who benefit financially from property developers like CBUS."
Queen Street Bus Station vandalised
The recently refurbished Queen Street Bus Station has been vandalised, with lights broken and graffiti scrawled on some walls.
The $3million upgrade is the station’s first major refurbishment since 1989. It improves accessibility and and gives the facilities a more modern look and feel.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey is very disappointed the vandalism has occurred, but said that it will be quickly fixed.
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Texas bomber goes out with a bang
In Austin Texas a three week hunt for the person responsible for a series of package bombings ended when the perpetrator, 23 year old Mark Anthony Conditt, detonated an explosive killing himself after he was tracked down by police.
Two people have been killed and five injured by the six bombs Mr Conditt is known to have placed since the 2nd of March.
Police have not yet confirmed Conditt’s motive.
Zuckerberg admits “Mistakes” over Cambridge Analytica
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted the scraping of 50 million user’s personal data by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica was a “breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us.”
Zuckerberg’s response comes after five days of outrage following reports Russian academic Aleksandr Kogan had used a third-party app to scrape the data, which was then transferred to Cambridge Analytica for commercial and political purposes.
Kaurna people recognised as traditional land owners in Adelaide
Adelaide has become the first capital city in Australia to recognise the local indigenous people as the traditional land owners of the area.
The Kaurna people have been officially recognised by the Federal court, 18 years after the application for native title was first lodged.
The land rights run from Myponga to Lower Light and from the foothills to Adelaide's coastline.
Kaurna woman Katrina Karlapina said “South Australia has positioned itself on the national map in terms of history and significance — it's a celebration for us all.”
Disability groups not invited to education reform meeting
Disability groups in Tasmania haven’t been invited to a meeting taking place next Monday to discuss reforming disability funding in schools across Tasmania, according to two of the groups.
The Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby and Down Syndrome Tasmania both said the government haven’t yet responded to their calls over the snub.
Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby founder Kristen Desmond said “It is certainly being perceived by us as an unwillingness to work with us”.