The Indigenous-led campaign is urging governments to adopt the Uluru Statement from the Heart and achieve health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

The Close the Gap report released today has 15 recommendations for systemic reform to protect Indigenous health, wellbeing and culture. 

Campaign co-chairs June Oscar and Karl Briscoe say the pandemic proved community-led approaches are the most effective way to achieve better health outcomes.

Experts are calling on Queensland to implement police stations staffed only with women to lower domestic abuse. 

QUT Centre for Justice Professor Kerry Carrington said women-only police stations in Argentina have been shown to encourage victims to come forward.

The Argentinian initiative provides access to social workers, lawyers and psychologists as well as police officers. 

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said more evidence is required before a trial would be considered in Queensland.

Iran's civil aviation body said an error by air defence operators led to a Ukrainian passenger plane being shot down in January last year.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on January 8, killing all 176 people on board.

The aviation body report claimed air defence mistakenly identified the plane as a hostile target. 

Ukraine's foreign minister said the report is a cynical attempt by Iranian authorities to cover up the true reasons for the incident.

Tasmanian general practitioners will legally prescribe medicinal cannabis to specialised patients from the 1st of July. 

The push for legal access comes after only 16 Tasmanians were legally prescribed medicinal cannabis from late September 2017 to August 2020. 

Medicinal cannabis advocate Lyn Cleaver said the current scheme is pushing people into the illegal market.

The Queensland State Government will add 15 and 30 minute observation periods to AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccinations. 

Leading health experts announced the measures following four severe allergic reactions in Queensland and Western Australian.  

Head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration John Skerritt said people with a history of anaphylaxis are still able to receive the vaccine.

Up to 100 teenage repeat, offenders could be considered for GPS monitoring under the Palaszczuk government's proposed tracker trial.

The Queensland government introduced new laws to Parliament last month, which target the 10 per cent of repeat juvenile offenders who are responsible for 48 per cent of all youth offending. 

If passed, the laws will see the Department of Youth Justice and Queensland Police Service be aware of an offender's geographical location outside of their court order. 

Australia will send 8,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Papua New Guinea next week.

PNG is in the midst of a second COVID-19 wave, with more than 14 hundred active cases, although the real figure is expected to be significantly higher.

"It is also true that the escalation of issues with the virus in PNG presents very real risks to Australia as well," said Prime Minister Scott Morrisson. 

He said the risks were particularly high in Queensland and the Torres Strait.

The South Australian government will allow mining company Kelaray to continue drilling the sacred Lake Torrens.

The sacred site in South Australia was approved for drilling in 2020 despite Aboriginal groups filing for judicial review. 

The outback site has been targeted for iron oxide copper gold and is sacred to at least four Aboriginal groups.