A union representing correctional officers have warned that Tasmania’s Risdon Prison is ‘a powder keg waiting to explode’ following increasing prisoner unrest culminating in a fire on Wednesday night. 

Prisoners Legal Service chairman Greg Barns says the overcrowded environment of the prison coupled with COVID-related visitation restrictions and lockdowns are likely behind the incident. 

Clients of the law firm HWL Ebsworth have had their details exposed in invoices filed in the New South Wales Supreme Court despite believing they would be kept confidential.

Australia’s northern hairy nosed wombat population has just surpassed 300, after decades of concerted conservation work. It was once hanging in the balance at just 35 individuals spread over Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in the 80s.

The only two colonies of the species are located in Queensland, but conservationists are searching for suitable habitats to establish more. 

The Botanica Contemporary Art festival opens in Brisbane’s botanic gardens tonight, featuring the work of nine of Australia’s leading and emerging artists.

Executive producer Bella Ford says the interactive exhibits are an antidote to the year’s isolation from social and cultural experiences, touching on the themes and lived experiences that have defined the past year. 

Hong Kong democracy activist, Joshua Wong has been sentenced an additional ten months for participating in a gathering to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Last year was the first time the annual 4 June vigil was banned in Hong Kong, with authorities citing COVID restrictions on group gatherings.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is set to announce the restart of flights from India to Australia after a proposal was approved by the national security committee.  

The repatriation flights will only land in the Howard Springs facility in Darwin initially; up to two hundred passengers will be allowed on the first flight.

Rio Tinto investors have voted against giving big bonuses to top executives at the company’s AGM. 

This decision follows the mining company’s destruction of sacred Aboriginal caves at the Juukan Gorge in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, all for an iron-ore mine.

A community housing provider, Brisbane Housing Company, is pushing for the opportunity to do more for the affordable housing shortage in Brisbane.

Brisbane Housing Company recently constructed one affordable housing complex in Woolloongabba and is beginning projects in Yeronga, Mount Gravatt, and South Brisbane, but says more needs to be done to shorten the public housing waitlist.

Australia’s largest regional art gallery will open its doors to the public this weekend on the Gold Coast.

The HOTA gallery will showcase its never seen before $32million collection; 46% of the collection is produced by female artists, a ratio not common in most galleries.