The NSW Government has announced shires along the coast of Tweed Heads to Byron Bay and west to Moree Plains will have lockdown lifted from midnight tonight, despite Covid-19 being detected in sewage.

Queensland Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk has said she will wait until more details on the lockdown relaxation are announced before considering a border bubble, remaining concerned about the ongoing high infection rates in NSW.

Residents in parts of Northern NSW have been treated with a magical display of fireflies this spring, with thousands being seen on a single night.

The bioluminescent beetles have appeared earlier than usual this year with local resident Janine Howe putting it down to the warmer weather.

Mrs Howe said she has never seen so many in her 15 years in the area and with everything going on, it is a blessing to see.

Australians have expressed concern over the legality of Federal MP Craig Kelly’s mass-distributed text messages to Australians spreading Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.

Mr Kelly who is a member of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party has sent two rounds of text messages urging Australians to follow a link to a ‘Vaccines Risk Adverse Events Report.’ 

Regulators have since responded to complaints by saying that not much can be done because the texts “do not appear to constitute advertising under the Act”. 

Australia and Indonesia have strengthened their military ties after both countries’ foreign and defence ministers engaged in security talks.

Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said they’re looking at opening up Australian training areas for Indonesian troops to join regular training exercises as part of the deepening of the alliance.

He also said cadets from Indonesia's armed forces can expect to study at Australian defence education facilities.

The Queensland African Communities Council said it has “no confidence” in media regulator the Australian Press Council after it ruled a front page newspaper story labelling two African Australian women “enemies of the state” was not racist.

Responding to complaints made to the council, News Corp’s Courier-Mail denied responsibility for a torrent of racial vilification and death threats the women received after the story was published. 

Australian Artists Fear Shattered Arts and Creative Industry has been forgotten by the Australian Government.

An open letter to the Australian Government calling for a vital reform in the way that the Arts and Creative Industries is represented in the Federal Parliament of Australia has been left unanswered.

An investigation has been launched after a blaze ripped through several stores in Capalaba, south of Brisbane, causing extensive damage.

Emergency services responded to the blaze about 4am this morning on Old Cleveland Road with the affected areas declared a crime scene.

An investigation will be launched into the cause of the fire, which caused extensive damage.

It was initially suspected the fire started in the Chemist Warehouse at the complex, which stretched around 50 metres long.

Throngs of angry protesters, denouncing coronavirus vaccines and lockdown measures, are becoming a fixture at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election campaign stops.

In Ontario on Monday, gravel was thrown at Trudeau from a crowd of demonstrators, many of whom held signs for the far-right People’s Party of Canada

Barbara Perry, a professor at Ontario Tech University and director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, says anger at Trudeau “Has been building for years among right-wing groups in Canada.”

The Australian Olympic Committee, known as AOC has confirmed it does not give money to retiring athletes, even if they finished on the podium at the Games.

Tokyo Olympic medallists will only receive a payment from the AOC if they continue training.

The $20,000 for gold medallists, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze is an incentive for athletes to continue representing Australia at an elite level.

Compensation payouts to more than 6,500 Queensland flood victims will now be divided from the $440 million available from the Queensland government and Sunwater.

In November 2019 the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that Seqwater bore 50 per cent of the liability for flood compensation claims, while the Queensland government and Sunwater shared the remaining 50 per cent.

However, on Wednesday Seqwater won its appeal against that decision, ruling out its 50 per cent share of the liability for its management of Wivenhoe and Somerset dams in January 2011.