Health researchers around the world are calling for better Indigenous perinatal care, using indigenous and community led and based solutions.

50 health researches from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US were part of a recently published paper in Women and Birth, the official journal of the Australian College of Midwives.

The paper revealed current health practices are failing indigenous women, with indigenous women more likely to have pre-term births, and more likely to die during childbirth.

Instagram is being applauded for its inclusion of gender expression on its platform, with users now able to display their pronouns in their page bio.

Users are now able to add up to 4 gender pronouns to their profile which can be edited or removed any time.

Currently the feature is only available in Australia, the UK and the US  with plans to make the feature more widely available in the future. 

Telstra has been ordered to pay $50 million in penalties for unconscionable conduct after it was found 108 Indigenous customers were signed up to contracts under false pretences. 

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims said the illegal practises included manipulating credit assessments to allow the customers to make purchases they were not eligible to make, and exploiting cultural and language barriers to misrepresent some products as free.

The Palaszcuk government has called for the Sunshine State to take the lead in domestic vaccine manufacturing.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles said Queensland in particular could play a greater role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with supporting more long term biomedical research in the state.

Minister Miles hosted a Biomedical Industry Ministerial Round table at Parliament House, where vaccine production was on the agenda.

State LNP leader David Crisafulli has demanded an apology from the state government after Education Minister Grace Grace claimed they were exaggerating stories of failures in the healthcare system for ‘political points’. 

Patricia Clayton is one of two Queenslanders who appeared alongside Crisafulli to describe her experiences of failure in the public health system, citing the extreme pain she has been in while waiting 150 days for a double hip replacement.

The Queensland Presbyterian Church has entered a receivership in a move that has some worried for the future of its schools and aged-care facilities.

The receivers, PwC Australia, intend to continue the church’s operations while conducting a thorough review of the financial position and activities of the church.

Presbyterian Church Queensland’s moderator, Reverend Dr. Philip Strong, says that despite the unexpected announcement, the priority of the organisation will continue to be the wellbeing of those involved with the church.