The Palaszczuk Government has allocated $1 million in grants to fund community groups across the state to keep local waters litter-free.

These grants will enable community groups, organisations and universities to continue to clean up litter, educate the community and develop waste-catching technology.

Environment and Great Barrier Reef Minister Meaghan Scanlon has stressed the importance of these grants, saying “we’ve all seen the distressing images of what can happen to our marine life when people are careless with their rubbish.”

A Victorian teen is campaigning for improved sexual education in schools.

Stephanie Liow, year 12 student, was prompted by the general conversation around consent this year to reflect and take action.

She has petitioned to her state parliament for compulsory holistic sex education in the school curriculum, and this petition was endorsed by leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam.

As the NSW lockdown continues, the Trade unions are demanding the federal government to reinstate JobKeeper.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions wants immediate cash grants for small businesses and says current assistance measures are "confusing, inadequate and often administratively burdensome”.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has also appealed for the reintroduction of wage subsidies.

The prime minister Scott Morrison says he is "very open to considering how we deal with the situation as it further evolves".

The death toll in India from flooding and landslides, triggered by heavy monsoon rains, has reached 159, as experts say climate change has caused the annual deluge to increase in frequency and intensity.

The country's western coast has been inundated by torrential rains since Thursday, with the India Meteorological Department warning of further downpours over the next few days.

Some 230,000 people were evacuated across the state amid the torrid conditions as the search for 100 people still missing continues.

Queensland Health authorities are on high alert after a Sydney man, who was infected with COVID-19, travelled into Brisbane just days before the hard border closure.

The flight attendant who picked the man up from Ballina airport, in New South Wales, has since become infected, however, initial fears that she spread the virus to regional communities while infectious have now been dismissed.

The man tested positive on the 12th of July, however, an error from the pathology clinic meant he was sent a text message saying he had a negative result.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is again under fire for her hotel quarantine stay, after arriving from Tokyo after a successful Olympics 2032 bid.

She is being accused of having organised a stay in an upgraded suite at one of Brisbane’s quarantine hotels, however her office denied those claims.

Acting Premier Steven Miles assured Queenslanders that any other returning traveller could find themselves in the same room at another time, and that she is being treated equally.

Former Queensland Premier and Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman, has resigned from the Liberal National Party.

The reason is being cited as the failure of the political wing to stand up for the party’s core values.

Mr Newman says the destruction of people’s livelihoods, jobs and freedoms under governments’ heavy-handed response to Covid-19 across the nation was the last straw.