Mental health nurses at three Sydney hospitals say they're unable to keep patients safe from COVID-19 without further support.

This comes after 26 patients in the Nepean Hospital’s mental health unit contracted COVID-19.

In a statement, NSW Health said the priority at the mental health wards at Nepean and Cumberland has been to protect staff, patients and to provide care.

The Federal Parliament is to give the final say on whether troops are deployed to overseas military conflicts, in the aftermath of Australia's 20-year involvement in Afghanistan.

The Senate will today debate a bill put forward by the Greens which would require the government to seek approval from both houses of Parliament before Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel are sent to wars outside Australian territories.

According to government data, England, Wales and Scotland hate crimes related to sexual orientation and gender identity have increased.

In the year to March 2020 in England and Wales, sexual orientation hate crimes average more than 50 reports each day.

Lawrence Barton, the director of Birmingham Pride, says while preventing attacks was important, tackling the wider problem of homophobic views is his biggest concern.

A new Queensland app is making it easier for people to support businesses that are inclusive of minority groups.

SEqueer is an app that allows users to filter their search engine to find businesses that are owned by veterans, hire differently-abled staff, or are members of the LGBTQI+ community.

Users can award businesses badges that identify them as safe and welcoming environments.

A content warning for this next story, which mentions abortion.

Regional women seeking an abortion will find it even tougher to access clinics, with the closure a number of regional clinics.

The leading national abortion organisation Marie Stopes Australia, recently closed its Townsville, Rockhampton, Southport, and Newcastle clinics due to financial pressures.

This means that regional women will have to travel further for abortions, which is already such a stigmatised and often inaccessible health care service.

A number of coffee vans across South-East Queensland are helping veterans and first-responders manage post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Terry McNally, an ex-Navy personnel, founded 3 Elements Coffee to help ex-service people adjust back into everyday life by providing them their own coffee vans, equipment and beans to set up their own business.

The coffee vans, mostly run by ex-Defence personnel or families, give a portion of their sales to the charity PTSD Resurrected.

Confidential leaked reports of New South Wales government data shows a huge gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Covid vaccination rates in every region of the state.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the federal Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt have attributed this low rate to vaccine hesitancy.

Several major prisons in New South Wales are in lockdown after 12 inmates became infected at Parklea Correctional Centre.

A Corrective Services NSW spokesperson said 23 prisons across NSW were taking extra precautions after inmates were recently transferred to those prisons from Parklea Correctional Centre.

The union representing prison guards has called for all guards to be vaccinated as a matter of urgency.

The Public Service Association's Stewart Little says many doses originally earmarked for prison officers had been redirected to high school students.

A Survey by Shanghai University has raised questions after asking colleges to research the political stance and ‘state of mind’ of members of LGBTQI+ communities.

Students and activists have expressed concern that the information-gathering exercise could signal further targeting of students.

Some legal experts on Weibo are questioning whether it would violate China’s new data privacy law.

James Palmer, deputy editor of American news outlet Foreign Policy, says this is not about homophobic persecution, but about identifying and monitoring potential activists.