16 new cases have been recorded in Queensland today, bringing the total for this cluster to 47 cases.

All of the new cases have been linked to exposure sites in the Indooroopilly area, including several primary schools.

Health minister Yvette D’Ath says that everyone in lockdown should continue to stay home, and she remains hopeful the lockdown can be lifted on Sunday.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate has called for the Gold Coast to be released from lockdown this afternoon.

This comment came despite a Thai restaurant in Southport being listed as an exposure site.

Mr Tate proposed a ‘ring of steel’ around Brisbane to prevent people travelling to the Gold Coast, saying “we did it 18 months ago.”

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says that there is no precedent for internal borders within Queensland.

To fight the Sunshine Coast’s rental shortage, a new purpose-built backpacker resort named Bounce Noosa will offer affordable living to local hospitality workers. 

Property owner Mark Baldwin decided to take action against the deepening rental crisis by opening up a portion of the resort to 36 workers.

Mr Baldwin has been working closely with Tourism Noosa to help support the local community. Doors will soon open to the hostel and enquiries can be made to noosa@staybounce.com

Rio Tinto has allegedly underpaid traditional owners of West Australia’s Pilbarra region as much as $400 million over the course of its twenty-four year long agreement with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation (GAC). The mining giant wrote to members of the GAC in July highlighting this oversight and included an enclosed cheque of only $40 million. 

The US State department will implement a refugee program for resettling Afghan refugees at risk from Taliban insurgents into American soil. 

The ‘Priority Two’ program will assist all Afghans who worked for US funded projects or for US based NGOs and media outlets. 

The United States said this program will help thousands ahead of the formal withdrawal later this month, while the Taliban fighting continues.

As Turkey battles its worst wildfires in over a decade, the European Union has come to its aid by sending three firefighter planes to battle the blazes. 

On Tuesday the fires had claimed eight lives and ravaged through Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean coastal resort regions.

More than four thousand Turkish firefighters have been deployed on the ground.

After being resisted at official levels for a long time, Telehealth is now making major strides to better people’s lives, according to a survey conducted by Chronic Pain Australia.

Due to efforts to contain the spread of Covid last year, Telehealth services were implemented by the medical industries. Some respondents noted that having a simple phone call with a doctor relieved enormous stress from them trying to work out appointments in their busy schedules. 

Other patients living in distant regional areas have found Telehealth to be a massive boon for them.

The rental housing shortage is forcing some Queenslanders to choose between their pets and a home. Tony's Community Kitchen in Toowoomba has seen an increase in locals sleeping rough alongside their pets.

With rental vacancy at a record low, low income applicants with pets are among the least likely to be approved for tenancy.

After a one-off payment of five-thousand dollars was announced yesterday for businesses affected by lockdown, business leaders say the state government needs to do more. 

Chief Executive of the Queensland Tourism and Industry Council Daniel Gschwind says the government needs to review fees and charges they levy to businesses. He says these payments must be deferred or stopped, as costs keep mounting.