Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled nations engaging in illegal fishing as ‘thieves’ during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and Pacific Island leaders. 

Scott Morrison said “For Australia, as an island, the Blue Pacific is critically important, it drives our economies and supports life in the Pacific… it is absolutely vital we protect them from those thieves who would come and steal it from you”. 

The swift ban on most construction, repair and renovation work in Great Sydney is expected to double the cost of Sydney’s lockdown. 

The Commonwealth Bank’s head of Australian economics has estimated the economic hit to cost between $1 to $2 billion per week, which is 0.4 percent of the nation’s GDP. 

Australia joined the US and other allied nations in condemning China for large scale Microsoft hack.

The attack on Microsoft took place in January, but the allied nations only now publicly accused China for the cyber attack on Microsoft Exchange Server.

Queensland’s grassroots sport and active recreation clubs are set to benefit from a new $9 million Active Gameday Projects fund to help them develop or upgrade playing fields as part of the Palaszczuk Government’s Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan.

Almost half of heavy vehicles stopped at border highway locations in Queensland were reportedly caught without a pass or documentation to enter the state.

The drivers breached several permit conditions, including the need to wear a face mask while in Victoria, appropriate record-keeping for contact tracing purposes and “effective self-isolation” where practicable when working and during stops.

Two Queensland women have founded a social enterprise to keep Australia’s homeless community warm this winter, particularly in lockdowned states.

The Good Box, provides publicly-purchased packaged gift boxes filled with winter essentials to the homeless community.

The former New South Wales premier and foreign minister Bob Carr has written to UNESCO urging it to send a mission to the Blue Mountains to assess its world heritage status, warning it could be badly affected by the proposed heightening of the Warragamba Dam.

Fifteen national church and civil society groups have banded together to urge the Australian government to support the World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver for fair COVID vaccine access for low-income countries.

The current WTO rules mean that new vaccines have a 20-year protection before cheaper versions can be made.