Queensland's public service will fail to come close to reaching its 2022 target of 8 per cent of its workforce made up of people living with a disability. 

In light of the failure, the government is doing an audit across the public service to reclassify any employers who might have been missed from the official disability count.

Thousands of protestors have gathered at rallies across the country on Monday fighting covid-19 vaccine mandates.

The rallies were held in cities including Melbourne, Sydney and in Brisbane's King George Square which police have said were largely peaceful. 

Victoria premier Daniel Andrews has refused to comment on allegations he knew about Labor’s red shirts rorts scheme in the lead up to the 2014 election. Former government minister, Adem Somyurek, told the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) earlier this week that Mr Andrews knew about the scheme and dismissed him when he tried to warn him about the rorting. 

Kenya’s government has declared a national disaster in 10 of its 47 countries. The United Nations says that more than 2 million people are severely food insecure and observers warn that tensions among communities could sharpen as people are trekking further in search of food and water. 

The flying doctor services that sustain rural and regional Queensland are set to be tested this week, with rescue crews bracing for what a COVID outbreak means in the bush. 

The critical medical lifelines have already rescued and transported 88 suspected or confirmed COVID patients in Queensland since the pandemic began. 

Queensland’s tourism and hospitality sector is facing large numbers of job vacancies ahead of the holiday season, with employers taking drastic action to fill these positions.

Australian firefighters and bushfire survivors have called on world leaders at COP26 to take a stronger action in reducing emissions by 2030. 

Jo Dodds who is president of the group Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, was one of the two Australians to speak at the event co-hosted at the Climate Council at the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow. 

Jasmina Baryaktaravitch Hayward has been elected as new president of the Refugee Council of Australia, the first time the position has been held by a refugee in the council’s forty year history.

Ms Baryaktaravitch Hayward immigrated to Australia  from Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993 during the Bosnian war, and was placed at risk as a child of mixed-ethnicity parents.