Alan Jones is stepping down from his prime time position at Sky news. 

The broadcaster says that he was notified by Sky news management that his contract will not be renewed when it ends on November thirtieth. 

This news comes soon after the scrapping of his regular column in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph with the paper’s editor Ben English saying Jones’s writing no longer resonated with readers. 

Mental Health experts say there has been a notable increase of people presenting with OCD symptoms since the onset of the pandemic, and that these symptoms have become harder to easily detect.

Psychologist Cassie Lavell, from the Children's Centre for Anxiety and OCD on the Gold Coast, has observed a nearly 50 per cent increase in patients over three months.

According to Ms Lavell, the pandemic had made treating OCD more difficult due to it masking some sufferer's symptoms, including the normalisation of hand sanitiser usage and avoidance of touching surfaces

South Australia has set records in their solar energy generation, producing more electricity from solar than they consumed for periods of time on five different days in the past five weeks. 

The South Australian Power Networks say that this is a world first for a gigawatt-scale power grid. 

Spokesperson Paul Roberts says that in the near future we can expect to see South Australia's midday energy needs regularly being supplied one-hundred per cent from rooftop solar

Ethiopia has announced a nationwide emergency as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has gained territory. 

The announcement has come after the Tigrayan rebel’s seizure of two towns in their push towards the capital, Addis Ababa.

Much of Northern Ethiopia is currently under a communications blackout.

Queensland will welcome the return of international students from January next year in time for semester one.

More than 20,000 international students enrolled in Queensland universities have been continuing their studies online from more than 160 home countries. Under the plan, 250 international students will return each fortnight before that number is increased.

Students must be fully vaccinated, with priority initially given to those studying medicine, medical research or in the allied health field.

Queensland's Health Minister says she is not concerned about widespread disruption in the state's hospital system after the suspension of thousands of health workers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Ms D'Ath said there would be disruptions while dealing with the staff shortfall, but Queensland Health director-general, John Wakefield, told staff that unvaccinated employees would not be allowed to work on-site and could lose their job if they cannot provide a valid reason for refusing the mandate.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the annual cost of living increased by more than 2.5% in the September quarter. 

The change is driven by petrol prices, which have risen 25% over the past year. 

Though the cost of living has increased, wages rose just 1.7% over the year to the June quarter.