US reaches record job vacancies

Job vacancies have hit a new record in the United States as numbers have jumped from around 9.5 million to over 10 million, surpassing economists’ expectations.

This comes as businesses struggle to find workers in industries such as leisure and hospitality as the economy reopens. 

QLD raises most for Seeing Eye Dog Fundraiser

Vision Australia and the Petbarn Foundation have raised over $850,000 for the 2021 Seeing Eye Dogs Appeal to cover the costs of training and caring for 17 Seeing Eye Dog puppies. 

Queensland raised more money than other states, contributing over a quarter of the national total with over $220,000 raised in the Seeing Eye Dogs Appeal.

Unsentenced remandees now outnumber convicted prisoners in Victoria's women's prisons

Over the past 12 months, more than 1200 women have been held in Victoria's maximum security prison without conviction and sentencing as a result of a series of punitive bail reforms made in the Bail Act introduced in 2018. 

The number of remandees now outnumber sentenced prisoners in Victoria’s women’s system, many spending less than a month on remand but the majority leaving without spending any time under sentence.

The Bail Act 2018 is the strictest bail regime in Australia, and most women entering the system are now denied bail based on having no formal address.
 

Far North Queensland tourism in "depths of despair"

Chairman of Tourism Tropical North Queensland Ken Chapman said that the Government needed to show similar support of that in NSW or else potentially thousands of residents will see an end to business. 

"The community's been fighting for a number of years trying to get more investment and more support around additional social housing, and at this stage it is pretty challenging," he said.