A bushfire emergency on Queensland's Fraser Island has been downgraded after massive water bombing efforts.

The fire has scorched more than half of the island with the blaze originally sparked by an illegal campfire. 

Firefighters are managing the blaze as the fire continues to burn in multiple areas but the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services has said that no properties are under threat at present.

Civil liberties groups have criticized the Queensland Government's decision to ban hotel quarantine "fresh air breaks" as an impingement on the freedoms of returned travellers.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young confirmed that individuals undergoing mandatory hotel quarantine would no longer be permitted to leave their rooms for outdoor breaks amid new concerns over the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

A parliamentary inquiry has recommended that Rio Tinto compensate traditional owners for decimating the Juukan Gorge caves.

In May this year, the company blew up the 46,000-year-old rock shelters in Western Australia's Pilbara region to source high-grade iron ore, despite warnings of the caves’ cultural significance.

An interim report released yesterday has made seven recommendations including ceasing mining activity in the area, improving cultural heritage laws and paying restitution to the owners who have described the cultural site’s loss as ‘immeasurable’. 

Almost a year on from the summer bushfires of 2019-20, some community residents are having to hire professional grant writers or rely on volunteers to complete complex grant applications.

The New South Wales Government is overseeing the distribution of numerous state and federally-funded grants for affected towns as some residents still live in tents and caravans.

Indonesians have begun to vote in regional elections as experts warn of potential Coronavirus spread across the country.

Almost 300,000 polling stations have been set up in 24 districts and 37 cities with over 100 million people eligible to vote in what is the world's third-biggest democracy.

However, the election commences as Indonesia struggles to contain South-East Asia's worst Coronavirus outbreak totalling more than 586,000 infections and 18,000 deaths.

China and Nepal have come to an agreement on the height of Mount Everest in an official announcement, ending a longtime measurement discrepancy between the two nations.

The world's highest peak now measures 8,848.86 metres, slightly more than Nepal's and China's measurements and 86cm taller than the previously most accepted height.

The height of the summit which borders both China and Nepal was agreed on after surveyors from Nepal climbed the peak in 2019, and a team from China did so in 2020.