A new study by James Cook University has found about half of cat owners reported feeling their cats were "put out" by their increased presence during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns.

The study surveyed nearly 400 people living alone during lockdown and looked into how pet ownership interacted with reported levels of mindfulness, depression and anxiety.

Record numbers of music lovers and happy campers have returned from the Big Red Bash music festival in outback Queensland this weekend, despite COVID-19 restrictions locking some people out of the state.

A record breaking ten thousand attendees have ventured to the festival outside Birdsville which was armed with a government approved COVID-Safe plan.

For the second year in a row COVID-19 is causing headaches for grain farmers, who are begging the Federal and state governments to allow them to bring in overseas machinery drivers for this year's harvest.

Last year, with borders closed due to COVID-19, farmers were so desperate for labour they trained stood-down pilots to drive their harvesters.

Victoria has gone another day with no new local COVID-19 cases, as the state prepares to take further steps out of restrictions from Friday.

It's the eighth consecutive day without a locally acquired case being recorded and from 11:59pm today, masks will no longer be required in schools and private workplaces such as offices and factories.

Two Olympic Village workers in Tokyo have tested positive for COVID-19 days before the village opened to athletes.

The Tokyo Organising Committee revealed the pair tested positive last week and had been eating with two other village workers.

Dining with other workers is forbidden under the Committee's own regulations.

The Queensland Premier has defended her decision to fly to the Tokyo Olympics this month, as an online petition trying to stop her surpasses 30,000 signatures.

Many of those signing the petition are believed to be Australians stranded overseas who are calling for Annastacia Palaszczuk to remain in Australia until she changes her stance on cutting hotel quarantine numbers.

The W&J Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians, a group of Traditional Owners of Wangan and Jagalingou Country have raised the alarm over environmental practices by Adani Mining. 

A parliamentary inquiry has opened into section 131a of the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act, with advocates calling for something more clearly defined and tougher penalties for hate crimes. 

Basketballer Patty Mills has been named Australia’s first Indigenous flag bearer for the Tokyo Olympics, alongside Cate Campbell.

Patty Mills said "As the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag bearer, my connection between our country and this particular moment runs extremely deep.”

Victoria is the only state in Australia recording data about ethnicity as part of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, which some experts argue is vital to understanding the impacts of the pandemic on different communities.