Scott Morrison will travel to Queensland today despite being identified as a casual contact of a person with COVID-19 after his attendance at a Sydney high school graduation. 

The Morrison government has confirmed that Queensland authorities passed  Morrison’s travel as safe. 

Scott Morrison will be in Queensland all this week to set up an online safety youth advisory committee to assist the esafety commissioner with issues of online privacy and abuse. 

A recent study conducted by the University of Queensland has found a potential link between victims of childhood trauma experiencing psychotic symptoms through cannabis use. 

The trial explored responses from over 2,000 young people aged 16-25 including their use of cannabis, history of childhood trauma, psychotic-like experiences, and subjective effects when using cannabis.

Tourism chiefs want the Northern Territory government to ease strict rules for visitors and residents, which they say will ruin Christmas for tour operators and others in the industry. 

Among other regulations, the NT government wants vaccinated people to remain in approved high-vaccination zones for 14 days on arrival in NT.

Tourism central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said these rules would stop visitors traveling to  key tourism destinations over summer including Uluru and Kings Canyon 

Scallop fisheries in Western Australia’s Abrolhos islands will not be operating this season due to the effects of a marine heatwave earlier in the year. 

Scallop populations have been heavily impacted by the three degree celsius increase in water temperature, with the effects of reproduction being felt almost immediately by the scallops’ short lifespan.

While scallop fishing has not been entirely cancelled, limited numbers means remaining scallops will be left to reproduce, potentially increasing demand ahead of the next season.

The Australian share market is set to open lower today, as US investors get spooked by fresh inflation figures and the global spread of Omicron. 

At 8am this morning, A S X 200 futures were down 0.3 per cent. 

As well as Wall street, European stocks were also down as cases of the latest strain of COVID surge becoming the dominant strain in London. 

The region’s central banks are also meeting this week to determine economic policy to combat this.

An explosion in Haiti’s North has killed over 50 people and left dozens injured, amidst a national fuel shortage and increased petrol prices.

The gasoline truck exploded late Tuesday afternoon in the city of Cap-Haitien, with residents flocking to the streets to scoop remaining petrol into buckets.

 The city’s mayor Patrick Almonor says the explosion occurred after the truck overturned to avoid a collision, and that he expects the death toll to continue to rise in coming days. 

An annual report tabled by the Hospital and Health Service across Queensland has confirmed the state’s health system has been in decline this year.
 

It was revealed that along with emergency departments becoming overcrowded, that nearly 1 in 10 people will not have their surgery in a clinically recommended time.
 

It was also found that half of all ambulances arriving at Queensland hospitals will wait longer than 30 minutes to offload their patients. 

Queensland has hit a new vaccination record with over 62,000 jabs in one day, beating the previous record by more than 3,000.

At this stage, 81.3 per cent of Queenslanders are fully vaccinated, with vaccination rates in border communities such as the Gold Coast doubling in the past 24 hours.

Chief Health officer John Gerrard has commended the achievement, however he also warns Queenslanders against becoming complacent as borders reopen to interstate hotspots.

Research undertaken by the Salvation army has revealed that this year more than 10 and a half million Australians are feeling financial and emotional pressure this Christmas. 

It was revealed from those who sought support from the Salvation army that  83 per cent of households with children are worried they cannot afford presents for their children, and 56 per cent are worried about not being able to afford a special Christmas day meal. 

This follows the COVID-19 pandemic which saw increased numbers turning to the salvos for emergency food or support to pay their bills.