There has been an intensified push to get far North Queenslanders vaccinated ahead of the border's reopening. 

A pop-up clinic in Cairns Central opened on Saturday in a bid to ensure QLD hits the 80 per cent target in December. 478 doses were administered. 

To ensure the state reaches the target, Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles announced pop-up clinics will open at 20 surf life-saving locations across the state.

Premier Annastacia Pałaszczuk is refusing to say if Queensland will mandate the Covid jab for teachers.

The premier urged the community to get their jab before the December 17 reopening date. She did not reveal whether she would mandate the jab for teachers like Victoria and New South Wales have done to protect children who are too young to be vaccinated.

She said “Just on the children’s issue, I saw reports this morning that the US is looking at potentially vaccinating children from November so they’re going through their final assessment processes.”

Crown Resorts Melbourne will retain its casino license despite findings it had engaged in “disgraceful misconduct”.

The royal commission found Crown Melbourne “unsuitable” to hold a casino licence after findings of “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative” conduct. 

Despite this, Commissioner Ray Finkelstein did not recommend Crown to have its licence revoked. Instead, recommending a “special manager” be brought in to oversee a reform process. 

Victorian Gaming Minister, Melissa Horne, says the casino has two years to turn things around. 

Regional New South Wales locals express mixed emotions ahead of reopening to tourists. 

One local, Clark Webb from Coffs Creek on the NSW north coast says he has lost essentially 100 percent of trade for his stand up paddle board business. 

Despite the loss in revenue, Mr Webb says he remains “apprehensive and nervous” about reopening.

On the contrary, Coffs Harbour City Mayor Denise Knight says, “The Businesses are screaming out, we need the tourists here, we need the visitors.” 

Democrats are pressing Biden admin to lift the embassy ban on discussing gay marriage.  

Over 60 house Democrats are calling on secretary of State, Anthony Blinken to lift the state department’s ban on US diplomats lobbying for gay marriage in an official capacity.

This comes after testimony from Scott Busby, acting principal deputy assistant secretary, revealing the department’s official policy is to not advocate for or against same-sex marriage overseas.

A group of lawmakers said the policy was outdated and should be “rescinded as a matter of urgency.”

The Gold Coast death tolls are reaching tragic highs.

The Gold Coast highways have seen 18 traffic accident deaths so far in 2021.

These figures are just short of 2020’s total of 22 deaths, which proved to be the worst year on record. This data shows the Gold Coast featuring in the top ten most dangerous regions in Australia.

With the busy Christmas period coming up, Queensland Police acting inspector Sonna Stewart pleads drivers to make better decisions behind the wheel.

Palm beach residents are urging local councils to introduce better bollards to prevent hoons from whizzing down the beachfront pathway.

A slew of cars are mounting footpaths which teem with families and toddlers.

Despite temporary blocks being installed, local resident Bradley Daley says, “The temporary bollards in place at each end of the section of pathway won’t stop vehicles from accessing it for long.”

The bollards are a series of concrete blocks and are set to be installed this month along the stretch of Palm Beach Oceanway.

Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals are staying silent on the net zero emissions deal

The prospect of the Nationals signing up to net zero has been a subject of internal division within the coalition with concerns over how the transition would impact regional Australia.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Joyce admitted he was in support of the decision of the party room. He said quote “The decision was going to be made, either with us or without us. I believed it was best for regional Australia.”