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. 

Despite the easing of restrictions, workers have not rushed back to the workforce and economists say “low skilled” jobs are being advertised with not enough suitable candidates. 

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.

The initiative began in 2014 has succeeded in helping vision impaired Australians by training over 100 dogs and raising a total of nearly $5 million.

The Brisbane Indie Winter Project has been rescheduled for Friday 13 August.

The event boasts a wide variety of local music artists and bands, where they can showcase their talent, network with local creatives and expand their reach. Tickets are available at OzTix.

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. 

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. 

Despite the easing of restrictions, workers have not rushed back to the workforce and economists say “low skilled” jobs are being advertised with not enough suitable candidates.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said he wanted a police checkpoint on the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Last week, Councillor Tate called for the Gold Coast to be excluded from the lockdown.

Queensland Police Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said a checkpoint between the two cities would be an operational challenge.

He also said that any decision on a checkpoint will be between the police and the Government.

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.

A study has found alarming levels of toxicity readings in 19% of Brisbane backyards, with the highest levels detected in Yeronga and Holland park.

Professor Mark Taylor and his team from Macquarie university conducted the most extensive study of soil samples in Australia, investigating lead levels in over 17,000 samples across 3600 homes.

Findings revealed that 35% of the soil samples exceeded the Australian guidelines for lead content at more than 300 milligrams per kilogram.

It has come to light in the Senate that Services Australia sent Centrelink debt letters to over eleven-thousand Australians, claiming they were all overpaid while on JobKeeper payments.

The average debt per person was three thousand dollars, but the federal government was not going after businesses which claimed JobKeeper support whilst making a profit.

Greens senator Rachel Siewert says the debt reveals a double standard in how the government treats individuals and businesses.