South East Queensland residents could be on mandatory water restrictions in just four months amid fears the region’s dams will struggle to supply water to the booming population.

Water Minister Glenn Butcher’s office was emailed a report last December warning about the need for new water resources stating the water demand would increase significantly as the population is expected to grow by more than two million in the next twenty-five years.

A  Townsville student who attended school at Pimlico State High School for three days this week has been forced into home quarantine after travelling to the COVID-19 hotspot of Sydney without isolating on their return last Friday.

Queensland police were alerted on Wednesday after a teacher learnt the Pimlico State High School student had been to Sydney. The student was immediately sent home. 

Police are conducting investigations about how this took place and have assured the public that all precautions were taken and that the chance of spread was low risk.

Children in Brisbane schools who tested positive to Covid-19 have reported cyberbullying from classmates upon returning to class.

Child psychologist Larne Wellington said that it’s really important we break the stigma and tell children there is nothing to be ashamed about getting an infection.

Ms Wellington said some school communities are looking for people to blame.

A content warning as this story mentions suicide and abuse.

An aboriginal woman discovered her daughter committed suicide when scrolling on social media.

Her daughter was in Victoria’s  residential care system at the time, having been taken from her mother several years ago by authorities due to safety concerns.

The mother cites at the time she had been in an abusive relationship that she has since managed to escape. 

Women working on construction sites said they often have to plead with their employers to get them to install a female toilet.

A report released yesterday by the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) said the reason for a lack of female facilities is due to the small number of women working in trades.

Electrician Vashti Arndt said she's worked on sites where she’s been the first woman they’ve worked with and that she’s been the victim of sexist slurs at work.

Journalists overnight have become the latest targets for the Taliban’s brutality with reports of family members of a Deutsche Welle reporter being killed and others severely injured.

The German public broadcaster said the Taliban fighters were searching homes in Western Afghanistan for the reporter and will not reveal any more details about the family members.

Deutsche Welle said the reporter himself is safe in Germany where he was already based for work.

Farmers are seeing troubling signs that the mouse plague that devastated regional communities earlier this year could surge again, in perhaps a bigger and more widespread way.

The mouse plague was halted in wintertime as the pests stop breeding, their high numbers going into the colder months means exponentially higher numbers coming into spring. 

And with that comes mice ravaging themselves on grain canola and other vegetation while breeding at an extraordinary pace.

A trend emerging out of south east Queensland is seeing the humble backyard shed transformed from a storage solution into a recreation getaway amidst frequent lockdowns.

Dubbed the "She Shed" by some, a play on the term "Man Cave", the trend has led to an enormous growth of four hundred and fifty percent in the past twelve months.  

Qantas has announced it is making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all staff.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce had called on the federal government to mandate the jab for the aviation industry but is not waiting for it to move.

Mandatory jabs are increasingly becoming a global standard and Mr Joyce expects more Australian companies to adopt it.

Qantas will grant exemptions for employees who provide documented medical proof as to why they cannot be vaccinated.