The Logan City Council has allocated $9 million towards overhauling their planning scheme as the South East region’s population is set to boom.

As a region that faces a massive population spike, expected to reach half a million by 2041, the Council is taking a community-based approach towards future planning.

Their aim is also to increase Logan’s industry operating areas, rather than just being a transit zone, in order to open up more jobs.

Dee Malek, a proud Njamal woman, who lives in Chermside, is helping the community through donations of used baby clothes in the hopes of sending them to communities in need. 

The registered charity called “Friends of Jedda” named after Ms Malek’s daughter, now has seven committee members across Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria helping to facilitate donations.

However, Ms Malek says they are finding it quite difficult for people to reach out to ask for help, besides social media.

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has welcomed the updated Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) advice which strongly urges adults over 18 in Greater Sydney to get any vaccine available to them, including AstraZeneca.

Mr Morrison says 90,000 additional Pfizer vaccine doses will be delivered to New South Wales from next week, amid the state's growing COVID-19 outbreak. 

He also conceded there is brand damage around the AstraZeneca vaccine, but people should consider the evidence around its efficacy.

While state lockdowns have caused a lot of trouble, for many adults on the autism spectrum, the changes have brought some benefits.

The current social distancing rules have meant that there is a lower chance of overstimulation and someone intruding on their personal space.

While the less-crowded spaces are a welcomed change, the pandemic has brought about uncertainty, change in routine and potential social isolation for someone on the autism spectrum.

The international art world is showing concern over the departures of Tanya Barson, the English curator, and Pablo Martínez, the head of programmes, from the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) as a result of restructuring.

The incident prompted two other staff to resign, the philosopher Marina Garcés and the anthropologist Yayo Herrero, who issued a statement describing the departures as “a sad step that once again shows no consideration for staff and students”.

In a statement, MACBA rejected all of Barson’s allegations, including that of xenophobia. 

Queensland authorities will begin to roll out mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras across the state from today, with fines to be issued from November 2021. 

Drivers will be issued warnings rather than fines for the first three months after which they will face the same fines as those issued by police officers.

Queensland is believed to be the first jurisdiction in the world to use fixed-camera technology to detect seatbelt offences.

Record numbers of native marsupials have been spotted across the state this year, including the endangered bilby.

Rangers from the Department of Environment and Science recorded 471 bilbies at Astrebla Downs National Park in far-west Queensland last month.

Senior parks and wildlife ranger Barry Nolan says the boom among various marsupial populations at Astrebla Downs was due to a combination of good rain and a successful feral cat control program.

The national recovery team for the bilby hopes to increase the marsupial's wild population to 10,000.

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.