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.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has appointed former Governor Paul de Jersey as disaster recovery coordinator for the Fraser coast, as the region continues to battle raging floodwaters.

Maryborough recorded over 650 millimeters of rain in the past 24 hours, however Queensland police have since withdrawn an emergency declaration in the CBD to begin recover efforts.

This comes after the body of a 52 year old man was recovered from flood waters near Tiaro, and police continue to search for a 14 year old girl who has been missing near Gympie since Saturday.

Changes may be afoot to Queensland’s cultural heritage laws after Indigenous leaders and conservationists have called on the government to mandate consultation with traditionals owners before large scale clearing on private-owned land. 

This protest comes as the state government is reviewing the findings of a criminal case which ruled in favour of a Cape York grazier being accused of breaching cultural heritage protections on his Kingsvale station. 

The red crab population on Christmas Island has drastically increased due to additional pest control measures to protect the crabs from invasive crazy ants.

Christmas Island National Park Invasive species program coordinator Tanya Detto says a recent survey estimates the current red crab population at over 190 million, which indicates an almost four fold increase in population average over the past 20 years.

A third Chinese city has been subject to strict lockdowns and flight cancellations due to a COVID-19 outbreak, raising the number of people confined to their homes in China to 20 million. 

The lockdown of Anyang, which is home to 5 and a half million people, was announced after two cases of the Omicron variant were reported. 

These lockdowns are the broadest since the shutting of Wuhan and nearby provinces in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

Russian soldiers are set to withdraw from Kazakhstan over the next few days after successfully diffusing civil unrest sparked by fuel prices.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on the Moscow based Collective Security Treaty Organisation to send troops and help stabilise the growing conflict, in what he has described as an attempted coup d’etat.

The withdrawal of troops is expected to take no more than 10 days, following conflict that left dozens dead and over 10,000 detained.

A Gold Coast company is currently in talks with the Australian Space Agency to potentially launch new technology capable of detecting bushfires.

The rockets developed by Gilmour Space Technologies are able to produce 110 kilonewtons of thrust over a 75 second test period last week, which is the most powerful in Australia’s history.

Chief Executive Adam Gilmour is confident the successful test will allow space agencies to launch low-Earth orbit satellites capable of detecting bushfires in seconds later this year.