The City of Sydney is taking steps to make their CBD more pedestrian-friendly, beginning works to convert 9,000 square metres from Town Hall to Railway Square to car-free space.

The works will also include a new public space in Surry Hills, with work set to start in 2022. 

Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the $43.5 million project will be a boost for the local economy and support recovery from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An Extinction Rebellion activist is walking 300 kilometres from Sydney to Canberra along the Motorway in order to disrupt traffic along the major travel route. 

The protest march began on April 2, with participants hitting the 160 kilometre mark over the weekend. A 21-year-old participant was arrested on the Hume Motorway south of Campbelltown, charged with failure to obey police when asked to leave the Motorway.

The activist group is attempting to highlight the need for urgent and drastic climate action and a transition to net zero emissions by 2025.

Queensland hinterlands and beaches are set to hit the TV screens, as the US hit show The Wilds Season 2 starts filming on the Gold Coast this week. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the series is just one of many high-profile projects running in Queensland over the coming months, largely thanks to Australia’s success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ms Palaszczuk said these productions have injected an estimated four hundred and thirty-seven million dollars into the local economy and created approximately 5,500 jobs for Queenslanders.

The Victorian Chief Health Officer designated Greater Brisbane and Gladstone regions as ‘green zones’ as of midnight last night, meaning people travelling from those areas to Victoria will no longer need to quarantine and get tested upon arriving in the state.

The regions were moved from ‘green’ to ‘orange’ just before the Easter long weekend as a result of the Brisbane COVID-19 cluster and lockdown

Thousands marched in Australian capital cities over the weekend to protest continued Indigenous deaths in custody, as Australia is set to mark 30 years since the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody handed down its final report on 15 April.

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services reports that at least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody since the report was handed down, including five people in the last two months, sparking the latest round of peaceful protests.

An ABC/Four Corners report has found that New South Wales detectives were refused permission to travel to South Australia to obtain a statement from the complainant at the heart of a historical rape allegation against former attorney-general Christian Porter.

Despite a recommendation from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad, NSW  Deputy Commissioner David Hudson refused the travel citing COVID-19 restrictions. 

Christian Porter has strenuously denied the allegation and has lodged defamation proceedings against the ABC for their reporting on the story.

Myanmar faced another deadly weekend, with reports that more than 80 people were killed in the city of Bago during continued protests that have been running since the military seized control of the country in February.

Local media is reporting witnesses saw soldiers using heavy weapons and shooting at anything that moved.

Accurate reporting of protests and fatalities is becoming increasingly difficult as residents are forced to flee and access to the internet is cut off.