Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested the army barracks in Pinkenba to be the site for a new quarantine hub after rejecting the state government's request for a site near Toowoomba.

The site near Toowoomba at Wellcamp Airport was selected by the state government for being cost-effective and larger than the other options, but the federal government says the site fails to meet key requirements according to the quarantine hub criteria.

The Cairns Regional Council is considered a visitor levy to prop up the city’s struggling tourism industry.

Similar proposals in the past have centered on a 2.5% tax on visitor accommodation. 

The Council has called upon the State Government to change the legislation and allow the proposed levy, which is expected to generate sixteen million dollars annually to invest in the tourism industry.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is backing the New South Wales government in keeping Sydney open, despite the city’s current Covid-19 outbreak. 

The decision comes after the state’s proposal to raise police activity, in order to apprehend offenders of the heavy new restrictions.

Despite experts calling for tougher measures, Mr. Morrison says ‘Sydney residents can feel confident that if anyone can get on top of this without shutting the city down, it’s the NSW government.’

Australian Bureau of Statistics released a survey and found twenty seven percent of businesses are struggling to find staff. 

The accommodation and food services sector has seen a job increase of thirty six percent over the past year but is over fifty thousand positions short of its pre-pandemic levels, suggesting workers have moved into other sectors. 

The health and social services sector may be one of those sectors, as it has seen a record increase of people in employed positions and now accounts for one in seven jobs. 

Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, has printed its final edition yesterday after being the latest institution found breaching the national security law China introduced last year. 

The newspaper was forced to close their doors after the government froze their assets last week and arrested five company executives. 

Apple Daily’s founder and owner along with its editor-in-chief have been in jail since December last year for allegedly committing foreign collusion.

In space news the US has had a report published by the Air Force Research Laboratory suggests the U.S. Space Force must prepare for operations beyond the earth's orbit. This comes as Joe Biden has asked for an increase of $2.2 billion in additional funding.

“A Primer on Cislunar Space” was released June 23 by AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate. Its intended audience are military space professionals who one day might have to develop spacecraft and concepts for operations in regions beyond Earth’s orbit.

A Vietnamese man has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his role in protecting one of the world's most trafficked animals -  the Pangolin. 

As well as establishing Vietnam’s first anti-poaching unit to destroy animal traps, and arresting nearly 600 poachers between 2014 and 2020, conservationist Thai Van Nguyen won the Asia award for rescuing more than one and a half thousand Pangolins from the illegal wildlife trade.

Nguyen’s role will continue to make immense positive changes for the species.

The federal government will increase Australian citizenship application fees by seventy five percent as of next week on July 1st. 

This will see the current fee of two hundred and eighty five dollars go up to four hundred and ninety dollars. 

Immigration minister, Alex Hawke, says the increased cost better reflects the complex process of approving applications and allows the government to recoup 100% of the fees, unlike the 50% that they were recouping before.

Queensland might close its borders to all of New South Wales, but the Gold Coast Mayor wants a travel bubble with Tweed.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said yesterday there was “absolutely” a chance all of New South Wales could again be shut out of Queensland.
 

Dr Young is advising Queenslanders to reconsider travelling to New South Wales, but Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is concerned about people who live and work on either side of the border.

Mr Tate said Tweed residents should not be punished for “Sydney COVID issues”.