Brisbane buses will run free for 2 weekends leading up to Christmas with hope it will attract locals to the CBD this festival season. 

Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner, announced the news this week saying that bus riders can “put their go cards away” for the weekend of Friday the 10th to Sunday the 12th and again on Friday the 17th to Sunday the 19th. 

Travel will be free on all of Brisbane’s 1,200 buses and city gliders. 

Queensland is announcing jab mandates for schools, airports and prisons as the state prepares to bring its rules in line with most other jurisdictions, with new rules expected to go live before the start of the 2022 school year. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday this week flagged mandatory vaccine rules for staff at prisons, youth detention centres and airports while there are discussions for all public servants to be vaccinated as well. 

A damning report into Parliament House in the wake of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation has found sexual harassment and bullying is widespread in Parliament with female workers complaining it is “a man’s world.” 

An investigation by Sexual Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, included face-to-face, online and telephone interviews, written submissions, and interviewing hundreds of current and former staff. 

A new report by British Columbia's Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govender, has shown Indigenous people are “grossly overrepresented” in arrests and chargeable incidents across unceded territories in the Canadian province.  

Experts found that while Indigenous people make up only 2.2 % of Vancouver’s population, they were involved in 24.5 % of all arrests captured by the Vancouver Police Department’s data between 2011 and 2020. 

On average, Indigenous people were arrested at a rate of 20,000 per 100,000 – ten times greater than the rate for white people. 

Queensland State Parliament has passed new legislation which could deny prisoners any application for parole for decades. 

The new laws specifically relating to serial killers and child murders, grants the Parole Board President the power to declare inmates are unable to apply for parole for at least 10 years, with no limit on the number of bans.

The Palaszczuk government has announced plans to develop one of Australia’s largest eco parkland areas in Currumbin, South Gold Coast.

The 148 hectares of land is set to begin development in the coming months, as Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles plans on seeking further community consultation for how the site should be used to ensure the project will deliver on community needs.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced a new $39 Million investment for people ineligible to receive HIV treatment through Medicare, at today's World AIDS Day Parliamentary Breakfast. 

The pledge comes on the 40th anniversary of World AIDS day, and introduces a significant change the National Association of People Living with HIV Australia have been rallying for for decades.

NAPWHA President Scott Harlum described the pledge as great news for this highly vulnerable group, and warmly welcomed the new commitments made by the Commonwealth Government.

Unvaccinated Greek Citizens could face fines of 100 euros in a new law introduced by the Prime Minister.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced residents who failed to comply from the 16th of January would be fined monthly, until fully vaccinated. 

Despite many countries mandating vaccines for healthcare workers, the new mandate is the first of its kind in the European Union to specifically target a certain age demographic.