The Secretary of the QLD Nurses and midwife’s union has called for daily Rapid Antigen Tests to be made mandatory for all essential workers, as the state recorded 22,069 Covid cases yesterday.

Secretary Beth Mohle stated that it was ‘an incredibly stressful time for everyone with thousands of nurses unable to work due to contracting or being exposed to COVID-19.

The union’s call has come as QLD has struggled to keep up with demand for Rapid Antigen Tests as the Omicron variant continues to spread rapidly throughout the community.

Opposition education and arts spokesman and member for Moggil Christian Rowan has called for more bridges to be built spanning the Brisbane River, in order to alleviate congestion and improve road safety.

Specifically, Rowan has called for a full traffic road bridge that would connect Bellbowrie and River Hills and connect with the centenary highway, stating that traffic planning in the area was ‘just madness and piecemeal’

A new report has found that a proposed gas development in the Lake Eyre Basin in QLD could increase national carbon emissions by 60%.

The proposed gas development in the environmentally fragile Basin Area has been done so without the consultation of local traditional owners and experts have said that if just 25% of the gas was recovered, that would be ‘incompatible’ with QLD’s emission reduction targets. 

Novac Djokovic has acknowledged an ‘error in judgement’ for failing to isolate after he returned a positive COVID test on the 16th of December as it remains uncertain whether the World No. 1 will be allowed to remain in Australia to play in the Australian Open.

In a statement posted to Instagram yesterday, attempting to address ‘Continuing misinformation’ over his arrival in the country, he citied an administrative error by his agent as the reason for declaring that he had not travelled in the two weeks before his flight to Australia. 

35 of the nation’s top academics, doctors and community leaders have penned an open letter calling on Australian governments to open schools to face to face learning on time, in spite of QLD’s move to delay the start of the school as COVID-19 surges throughout the state.

QLD’s currently stands alone in its delay to the school year with both Victoria and NSW committing to opening schools on time, and South Australia planning to announce its plans on Friday.

US President Joe Biden has made an impassioned speech on protecting voting rights in the US, calling for Senate rules to be changed to make election laws easier to pass.

Biden’s attempts to pass legislation to expand access to the polls and prevent the suppression of minority votes have been hampered by a parliamentary maneuver known as the filibuster, which changes the requirement for a bill to pass from a simple majority to a supermajority (or 60/100 votes). 

A group of health professionals have lobbied the national cabinet to re-negotiate a return back to school as normal, as Queensland forges ahead with its plan to hold students back by two weeks. 

In an open letter, the health professionals voiced that delaying school starting would only result in ‘anxiety and harm. 

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not directly criticised Queensland, he has suggested the Omicron wave is unavoidable. 

The Queensland government plans to push the opening date to flatten out spread of the virus.