A Noosa backpacker hostel will convert to house hospitality workers.

To fight the Sunshine Coast’s rental shortage, a new purpose-built backpacker resort named Bounce Noosa will offer affordable living to local hospitality workers. 

Property owner Mark Baldwin decided to take action against the deepening rental crisis by opening up a portion of the resort to 36 workers.

Rio Tinto allegedly unperpaid traditional owners

Rio Tinto has allegedly underpaid traditional owners of West Australia’s Pilbarra region as much as $400 million over the course of its twenty-four year long agreement with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation (GAC). The mining giant wrote to members of the GAC in July highlighting this oversight and included an enclosed cheque of only $40 million. 

Telehealth making positive impact

After being resisted at official levels for a long time, Telehealth is now making major strides to better people’s lives, according to a survey conducted by Chronic Pain Australia.

Due to efforts to contain the spread of Covid last year, Telehealth services were implemented by the medical industries. Some respondents noted that having a simple phone call with a doctor relieved enormous stress from them trying to work out appointments in their busy schedules. 

Other patients living in distant regional areas have found Telehealth to be a massive boon for them.

New one-off payment to assist impacted businesses

After a one-off payment of five-thousand dollars was announced yesterday for businesses affected by lockdown, business leaders say the state government needs to do more. 

Chief Executive of the Queensland Tourism and Industry Council Daniel Gschwind says the government needs to review fees and charges they levy to businesses. He says these payments must be deferred or stopped, as costs keep mounting.