The Greens and Labor in the Senate have blocked the Federal Government’s proposed changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

The changes would have reduced the amount of water being returned to the environment in Queensland and New South Wales and instead seen that water used for further supplying irrigation farming.

The move by the Senate could jeopardize the fragile political agreements that make up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan with New South Wales and Victorian governments from both sides of politics threatening to pull out of the plan.

Despite personal claims to be worth near $4 billion, Queensland money magnet and former Federal politician Clive Palmer says he won’t reopen Queensland Nickel’s plant if the company’s liquidators win a submission to freeze $200 million of his assets.

Amongst those hardest hit by Telstra’s most recent dividend slash are around a million, mum, dad, and self-funded retiree investors.

The teleco reported a 5.8 percent fall in net profit to $1.7 billion this year, which translated to more than a quarter cut to December’s dividend passed on to domestic investors.

The reduction in profit comes after the company’s US video arm Ooyala maybe significant losses throughout the year due to quoted ‘non-cash impairments’.

17 people have been killed and others injured after a school shooting in Florida on Wednesday afternoon just before the school day was due to finish.

A fire drill had already been held that day which confused staff and students when a code red was read over the loudspeaker.

The gunman, a 19-year-old former student, was treated for minor injuries and then released into police custody.

An instagram-friendly frame stating “I took the leap” has been placed on a mountain outside Mackay named ‘The Leap’ and caused concern among traditional owners. 

The historical site is said to be named after an event where an Aboriginal woman chased by police jumped to her death in the 1860s. It is now also acknowledged as the site of a police massacre committed against the local indigenous population.

Domestic violence and homelessness outreach groups have renewed their calls for a dedicated female homeless shelter in Alice Springs following a spike in the number of women in the city sleeping rough and being assaulted.

A new report commissioned to review the two days of train chaos Sydney faced last month has found that the city’s tangled rail network and crew shortages were major contributing factors towards the system’s failure.

These major failures stopped trains on the tracks for 48 hours, left thousands of commuters stranded and saw other passengers turned away from stations due to overcrowding.

There are reports Manus Island refugees staying in a Port Moresby hotel have been stripped of their phone cards, just one month after they were also denied their weekly allowance for necessities such as toiletries.

The men had previously been given two phone cards a week, however after the security contract for the hotel was transferred, the cards have not been given out.

The contract states that the refugees staying in Port Moresby, and those still on Manus Island should receive a $30 weekly allowance for phone calls.