School banking programs, including the Commonwealth Bank’s Dollarmites program, will be banned from schools in the Australian Capital Territory. 

The motion to ban the programs was passed yesterday and will be implemented in July. 

The Labor Party is calling for kerbside collections to be reinstated after almost 1300 cases of illegal rubbish dumping in Brisbane over the last year.

The most frequent cases of illegal dumping were at Inala (74), Doolandella (36), Forest Lake (35) and Calamvale (29).

Gold Coast residents have been urged not to mistake native frogs for cane toads. 

Dry conditions over South East Queensland have changed the breeding patterns of cane toads, causing an outbreak and explosive numbers. 

Logan and Gold Coast residents are urged to get tested for COVID-19 if symptomatic after fragments of the virus were detected in sewage. 

The viral fragments were found in Pimpama, Coombabah, Merrimac and Loganholme.

The latest report from the Queensland Audit Office (QAO) has found the 16 bodies established to run Queensland’s hospitals are in substantial debt.

The QAO  found 11 of Queensland’s 16 hospital and health services experienced losses in the last financial year, compared to 8 in the year before.

Ghana’s parliament will suspend its activities for three weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak amongst members of parliament and staff. 

At least 17 MPs and 151 staff members have become infected with the virus. 
 

Australian biosecurity is set to increase to prevent African swine fever from entering Australia.

New variants of the viral disease have emerged in Asia and have wiped out 800 million pigs worldwide. 

Obtained ministerial briefings reveal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton fast-tracked a one-off $880,000 grant to an association after it made a political donation in personal support of him.

The National Retail Association (NRA) made a $1,500 donation to the Queensland Liberal National Party at a NRA event.

Leading youth justice advocates warn the Palaszczuk Government’s new measures on youth crime will fail to reduce offending, and will instead push children further to the margins.

"GPS devices don't prevent crime, all they do is tell the police in a snapshot where somebody was at a particular time," said Former Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts.

"It's something that might make the public feel good, but which doesn't necessarily prevent crime,” said Mr Potts, suggesting the Government instead address the underlying causes of youth offending.