New research has found the majority of Queenslanders want to join with their southern state counterparts to introduce daylight savings. 

The University of Queensland’s Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Thomas Sigler, has contributed with new research showing that 60% of Queenslanders now support daylight savings, growing as high as 70% in the capital. 

Research from earlier this year suggested that the economic cost to Queensland of resisting daylight savings is more than $4 billion.

Reports of refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia’s immigration detention system testing positive for COVID-19 have confirmed the worst fears of medical experts and reaffirm the need to release all refugees from detention immediately. 

On Sunday October 17 refugees in Melbourne's Park Hotel Alternative Place of Detention said at least three people have tested positive for COVID-19 after reporting symptoms the previous week, with serious concerns of further cases. 

Music venues in Victoria have sent out the desperate message that there is no roadmap to reopening Victoria’s music venues. 

The current roadmap ends at 1 person per 4 square meters which is just a fraction of normal licensed capacity. You can have up to 150 people but only if your venue is over 600 square meters which means most venues won’t be opening at all at that level, or be able to trade sustainably. 

The new rules impact artists, bookers, promoters, technicians, suppliers, publicists and others in the music industry.

The Victorian government has been ordered to release details of confidential lockdown briefings after the state's privacy commission found there was significant public interest. 

The state opposition, which applied for the release of the documents under Freedom of Information laws and has been calling for health advice to be publicly released since the start of the pandemic. The request was initially rejected, a decision partially overturned by the commission. 

Chinese president Xi Jinping recently vowed a reunification with Taiwan amid rising tensions, contradicting his last major speech in July this year where he pledged that China would “smash'' any attempts at formal independence in Taiwan. 

Taiwan responded shortly after by calling on Beijing to abandon its coercion, reiterating that only Taiwan’s people will decide their future. 

According to a statement from the Queensland Police Service there were 16,267 border pass applications submitted between September 5 and October 18 from people who identified themselves as returning Queensland residents and people wanting to relocate to Queensland from a COVID-19 hotspots.

Applications are assessed in chronological order with the assessment team advising applicants once a hotel quarantine vacancy becomes available. 

Extinction Rebellion have continued a week of ongoing direct action in Canberra with giant koalas at Parliament House for the last sitting week before the international Glasgow climate talks.

Koalas are vulnerable and in danger of going extinct unless urgent action is taken to protect habitat and halt global heating. 

In the black summer bushfires of 2019/2020, three billion animals were killed or displaced with Koalas now among them facing extinction in many regions of Australia. 

The federal government will begin winding down Covid disaster payments as each state and territory hits 70% and 80% target vaccination rates for their populations aged 16 and over. 

When a state or territory reaches 70% fully vaccinated people will have to reapply each week for the payment instead of it being automatically renewed. At 80% the payment will be phased out entirely. 

The move is designed to push premiers and chief ministers to minimise their use of lockdowns by withdrawing the financial safety net.