Queensland's deputy premier, Steven Miles, has challenged the federal government to provide better quarantine sites after the rejection of a suggested quarantine facility in Toowoomba.

Miles has been an active critic of the Federal Government's handling of Hotel quarantine saying "Hotel quarantine was not designed to be in place for 18 months" and, "that it is not designed to deal with the new highly contagious strains."

The Disability Doesn’t Discriminate but the Government Does, is a national campaign launched this morning by Queensland’s Spinal Life Australia, aiming to prevent age discrimination against people aged over 65 living with a disability.

The campaign sheds light on the decision made in 2013 to exclude the National Disability Insurance Scheme from the Age Discrimination Act.

Spinal Life Australia Chief Executive Officer, Mark Townend, says age shouldn’t matter because disability can impact anyone at any time. 

The new Brisbane Winter Sessions festival will kick off in August this year to celebrate the cities’ local music scene.

Supported by the Brisbane City Council, Triple J and Q-Music, the festival aims to support Brisbane’s local music scene, featuring a mix of established and emerging artists across a wide range of genres.

This follows calls from performers, venue owners and QMusic for the state government to support the live music industry, and a $7 million funding commitment from the state budget last week.

Overnight the Great Barrier Reef has been recommended by UNESCO for inclusion on its List of World Heritage in Danger.

Reports indicated the site is continuing to rapidly deteriorate, arguing that while welcome, government measures to address global warming are inadequate to protect the World Heritage site.

Greenpeace Head of Research and Investigations Dr Nikola Casule said the government has done very little to fight climate change and has consequently failed the reef.

Australia’s vaccination plan will undergo a complete refresh, before the expected arrival of 3.4 million more Pfizer doses arriving next month.

Health Department secretary, Brendan Murphy said National Covid Vaccine Taskforce is reviewing the rollout strategy and timeframes, and looking for opportunities to accelerate the vaccine delivery plan.

Taskforce Lieutenant General Frewen, said possibilities include investigating other players such as pharmacists, to relieve some of the burden on GP’s.

The United States, European Union, Britain and Canada have joined forces to slap sanctions on Belarus over the hijacking of a passenger plane.

The countries have imposed asset freezes and travel bans on a number of officials linked to the forced diversion to Minsk of a plane travelling between two EU countries last month.

Raman Protasevich, a dissident journalist, was arrested during the hijacking by the orders of Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko.

A Gold Coast based manufacturer has announced it will open its doors to industry delegates in July, in a move the state government hopes will invite other local manufacturers to share in its techniques and technologies.

It’s part of the “Inside Advanced Manufacturing” industry event organised by the state government, in efforts to contribute to its COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.

The economic recovery plan, updated in the state budget last week, prioritises job creation in the manufacturing and resources industries.

Scientists from The University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience, believe a highly venomous caterpillar may be used to help treat disorders such as epilepsy.

The nettle caterpillar found in South East Queensland, has peptides in the toxins which could be used to develop into medicines to help calm the central nervous system.

Toxins, according to UQ’s Dr Sam Robinson, have previously been used to understand human nervous and cardiovascular systems.