Renewable energy company Fortescue Future Industries has gained planning approval to build one of the world’s largest hydrogen equipment manufacturing facilities in Gladstone.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Steven Miles, said the approval would allow FFI to progress plans for constructing the facility in the Gladstone State Development Area. 

With initial capacity to manufacture up to two gigawatts of electrolysers annually, it will be the largest electrolyser factory in the world when it comes online in 2023. 

The cost of renting in many parts of Queensland continues to rise according to the Rental Affordability Index. 

The report reveals Brisbane has seen a massive decline in affordability, with one year’s decline in rental affordability wiping out four years of improvement in Brisbane.

A similar trend is evident from Maroochydore to Noosa, which are now unaffordable or severely unaffordable.

The report also provides an indication of the impact of COVID-19, measuring rental affordability for households. 

The Australian government has been urged by public health experts to set a date to ban cigarette retail sales through retailers including supermarkets, and find new ways of boosting revenue without relying on tobacco excise taxes. 

It comes as research published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday found 1,466 respondents (over half) of a Victorian Cancer Council survey agreed with phasing out the sale of cigarettes in retail outlets. 

Protesters have marched through The Hague city centre in the Netherlands with flags, banners, horns and loudspeakers denouncing new government Covid-19 measures. 

Police estimated 20,000 demonstrators took to the streets of The Hague in a demonstration march over the new anti-corona measures. 

The demonstrators oppose the use of vaccination certificates and QR codes. 

The city vowed that  COVID lockdowns were a “thing of the past” after it reached nearly 85 % of its adult population fully vaccinated. 

Queensland’s tourism industry is ramping up efforts to get some workers back in jobs ahead of the border reopening and in time for Christmas. 

Around 50,000 jobs have been lost throughout the sector during the course of the pandemic, as a result of closed borders and restricted travel. 

Now that Queensland will reopen its domestic borders, businesses are concerned there won’t be enough staff to cope with the Christmas rush. 

It’s prompting businesses within the sector to advertise positions with major incentives, such as free holidays, birthday leave and cash.

More than 25 community groups have been successful in the latest round of the Investing in Queensland Women grant program for 2021 and will share in $270,000 to drive community initiatives set to empower women.

Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman, announced the grant recipients on Wednesday alongside Queensland Rugby League who received $10,000 to run an education program to dispel inappropriate behaviour and take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse and violence.

Two people have shut down the Newcastle Coal Port on Awabakal and Worimi country in Mulubinba this morning, halting operations at a critical piece of Australia's economic infrastructure.

A community worker, 61 years of age, was locked onto a coal operating machine using a metal pipe and at the same time a law student, 23, entered the site and disabled operation of machines.

This is the 20th action to target the Port of Newcastle and surrounding railway in a series of disruptions over the last 11 days.

The Taliban has announced that it plans to ban the production of opium in Afghanistan but farmers and traders say they are not the only ones who depend on the drug to survive. 

The announcement immediately saw prices of opium almost double. 

Farmers say that the Taliban has benefited from opium production over the last 20 years and that there would be “backlash” from poppy farmers, drug lords and the public if the Taliban bans or restricts production.