The Prime Minister has announced one billion dollars in over five years of new fund measures to “close the gap” in life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people in Australia. 

Lead Convener of the Coalition of Peaks, Pat Turner said “the investment includes some very significant initiatives important to our people's wellbeing like the breakthrough in providing reparations to survivors of the Stolen Generations in territories which was long called for but long denied until now.”

Dozens of Australian Churches and other religious institutions pocketed millions of dollars in JobKeeper payments while remaining in black during 2020.

Recent figures from the Australian Tax Office show 35,000 religious entities received over $6 million in JobKeeper payments despite seeing little financial impact from the COVID-19 economic shock. 

​​As an ongoing investigation ensues, only a fraction of the total amount of JobKeeper paid to religious groups can be traced because most religious institutions are exempt from financial transparency rules. 

Former President Barack Obama has scaled back his planned 60th birthday party due to growing concerns over the highly transmissible Delta Variant.

More than 400 guests, including celebrities and the former Obama administration officials were expected to attend the birthday bash with 200 hired staff working the party.

After the party was reduced to close friends and family a spokeswoman for Obama said, "President Obama is appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon."

Calls for AstraZeneca doses to be delivered directly to pharmacies are being urged by Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath to help speed up their delivery into residents’ arms.

Ms D’Ath made a request to Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt asking for the doses to be delivered directly to 224 community pharmacies approved this week.  

The local health minister says, “We still believe the pharmacies and our GP’s are in the position to roll out AstraZeneca to the general population because people have confidence and trust going to them”.

Brisbane’s latest fast-food burger restaurant In & Out Aussie Burgers is being sued for trademark infringements by a US fast food restaurant In-N-Out Burger. 

The business cooks food primarily for food delivery apps and does not have the option to dine in. In response to the lawsuit, the owner of the new restaurant, Puneet Ahori says, “My logo is ‘In & Out Aussie Burgers’, I’m a small operator in Queensland, and they’re basically pressuring me to de-register all the names I have.”

Some Queensland councils that were set to have their Ekka public holiday next week have seen the date rescheduled, after the show was cancelled and the state government postponed Brisbane's public holiday next Wednesday.

The Ekka public holiday is being postponed by Brisbane, Scenic Rim and Moreton Bay Region with other local councils elected to keep their August 9 holiday in place. 

A replacement long weekend will be announced later this year.

Northern Territory and ACT Stolen Generations survivors are set for a redress payment under a new three hundred and seventy nine million dollar reparations scheme.

The reparation package included a one-off 75,000 dollar payment to acknowledge the harm caused by forced removal policies, with the opportunity for survivors to meet face-to-face with a senior government official and receive a formal apology for their sufferings.

The scheme opens for applications from 1st March 2022 until June 2026 for those forcibly removed under policies which targeted Indigenous children.

The Grattan Institute has called for a weekly lottery worth tens of millions of dollars and Labor wants to pay every vaccinated Australian three hundred dollars but the Morrison government has called it an "insult to Australians".

But yesterday, COVID-19 Taskforce Commander Lieutenant-General John Frewen said "an incentive is something we will consider."