Chinese leadership is drastically increasing control on the Hong Kong government by introducing a mechanism to vet candidates’ loyalty to Beijing and reducing the share of directly elected lawmakers. 

Zhang Xiaoming, a senior Chinese official, says even one “anti-China” person is too many for Hong Kong’s legislature.

According to the official proposal released on 11 March, an election committee filled with mostly Beijing loyalists will be empowered to nominate candidates for Hong Kong’s governor and legislators in the future.

Strawberry prices are expected to sky-rocket in Queensland amidst a shortage of pickers as a result of the international border closures.

Farmers have had to resort to limiting their strawberry crops or not planting at all from fear of the fruit rotting in the ground without enough people picking them.

Queensland Strawberry Growers Association president Adrian Schulz says holiday makers and backpackers normally pick up to 80 per cent of the fruit in Australia.

The Crime and Corruption Commission has released several of the Queensland Premier’s private emails after she was found to have been conducting government business through her private accounts. 

The Triple-C also revealed that other Queensland government ministers were conversing using their private emails. 

Queensland’s Shadow Integrity Minister Fiona Simpson says that the Triple-C revelations are “deeply concerning”.

The Queensland Government has passed a law banning single-use plastic and polystyrene takeaway containers.

From 1 September, single-use plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, plates and expanded polystyrene products will join single-use plastic shopping bags on the banned list in Queensland.

The laws include exemptions allowing the sale or supply of plastic straws at healthcare businesses or schools, so people with a disability or medical condition can still access them.

The exact results of the Western Australian state election could take longer than normal after a large uptake of early and post-in votes.

The WA Electoral Commission says that the official results may not be known for some weeks.

Despite the delay, Mark McGowan of the Labour Party has taken the win in what has been a landslide victory, so far securing 50 of the 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said Queensland's tourism troubles are "entirely self-inflicted" as controversy over the Commonwealth's $1.2 billion travel stimulus package continues.

She mentioned in hope of seeing more people to spend money in the Sydney CBD.

The travel stimulus package is also criticised the stimulus package by The Queensland Government, saying Queenslanders will not be supported to travel within their own state.

Prime Minister Morrison joined his United States, Indian and Japanese counterparts in the first leadership meeting of “the Quad” over the weekend, with the US President hosting the video link-up.

The Heads of States gathered to discuss a broad purpose of "practical solutions and concrete results" to global problems including COVID-19, climate change and cyber security.

Experts are expecting that the meeting may again disrupt the relationship between Canberra and Beijing.

A LGBTQIA+ event on the Gold Coast has been making waves after their launch in January, with the self-described “Queens of Paradise” creating the event as a safe space to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.

The event, Flamboyance, runs each Sunday at the Pink Flamingo in Broachbeach and the event on Facebook boasts it’s a “stunning drag show taking you on a journey from the deepest parts of space to the camp side of air travel.”