Two Queensland women have founded a social enterprise to keep Australia’s homeless community warm this winter, particularly in lockdowned states.

The Good Box, provides publicly-purchased packaged gift boxes filled with winter essentials to the homeless community.

During New South Wales and Victoria’s current lockdowns, the group is calling for public help to keep this support service running just as many other support services are forced to shut.

For more information go to The Good Box website.

The former New South Wales premier and foreign minister Bob Carr has written to UNESCO urging it to send a mission to the Blue Mountains to assess its world heritage status, warning it could be badly affected by the proposed heightening of the Warragamba Dam.

Mr Carr says the recent bushfire has burned more than 80% of world heritage-listed forests in the greater Blue Mountains and “destroyed very large numbers of threatened species”.

Experts in the field have also warned raising the dam wall would not necessarily remove the flood risk or lower the maximum flood height.

Fifteen national church and civil society groups have banded together to urge the Australian government to support the World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver for fair COVID vaccine access for low-income countries.

The current WTO rules mean that new vaccines have a 20-year protection before cheaper versions can be made. 

The new waiver aims to prevent pharmaceutical companies monopolising the vaccine through negotiations with governments over quantity and price, thus excluding some countries from having fair access to vaccine supplies.

Athletes struggle to qualify for the Olympics amidst pandemic facing harder training restrictions and authorities fears of athletes bringing home the virus. 

Samoa has already withdrawn three members from its weightlifting team due to the Government's concern about the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Japan.

Developing countries have announced financial aid packages to address the impact of the virus and to enable participating organisations to continue their sports. 

Brisbane's Lang Park conducted major events this weekend despite a similar case in Melbourne being linked to an outbreak of a highly infectious COVID-19 strain. 

Lang Park hosted the Australia vs France Rugby Union test match on Saturday, followed by back-to-back NRL matches on Sunday.

The Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young assured Queenslanders as she claims she is confident any infections could be traced if there was an outbreak, especially if fans were diligent about mask-wearing

The Australian Surf Life Saving Championships have been secured for Queensland with a decade-long deal expected to deliver more than $100 million for the Government’s Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan.

Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says Tourism and Events Queensland has secured the agreement in partnership with Major Events Gold Coast (MEGC) and Sunshine Coast Council.

The championships is marked as one of the iconic Queensland events, bringing more than 7,000 competitors annually from more than 315 Australian clubs.

A Pacific Islander couple are speaking out about breaking the cycle of domestic violence within their culture.

Ipswich couple Moughan Sali-Siaki and Judy Fakaosi are working to unlearn the behaviours modelled to them when growing up, which often placed the father as the sole decision-maker.

After some troubling times in their relationship, the pair made a promise to do better by each other, especially to encourage change for future generations.

They now facilitate the relationship program that once helped them.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is pushing ahead with plans to declare the Great Barrier Reef as an endangered natural site despite federal government objections.

Tain Xuejun, president of the 44th session of UNESCO, dismissed speculation that the decision was related to any political tensions between China and Australia.

An Australian Human Rights Commision project survey, which closed in 2019, shows 80% of Muslims in Australia say they have experienced discrimination in their lifetime.. 

The finalised results of the report show half of the thousand people who took the survey said the discrimination took place when dealing with law enforcement, in workplaces or when seeking employment and in educational institutions. 

The project ‘Sharing the Stories of Australian Muslims’ aims to promote social cohesion, identifying community concerns and priorities and providing evidence for change.