One Nation leader Pauline Hanson tells rally Ben Roberts-Smith is a person ‘I respect and I admire’

Hanson compares former soldier’s prosecution for war crimes to her 2003 jailing for electoral fraud, which was later overturned

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, told a rally in support of Ben Roberts-Smith that the former soldier accused of war crimes is a person “I respect and I admire”, before its organiser called for “an army of civilians” to support him.

About 100 supporters gathered in Rocks Riverside Park in Seventeen Mile Rocks in southern Brisbane on Sunday.

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‘Imminent threat’: charges laid against 13-year-old who allegedly planned attack on Queensland school

Alleged threat on regional school north of Brisbane was ‘quite well advanced’, state counter-terrorism police say

Queensland counter-terrorism police have charged a 13-year-old with planning an attack on a regional school north of Brisbane.

The teenager was arrested last Thursday after allegedly making threats at a business in Maryborough, armed with a knife.

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Queensland police shoot pet dog after running it over as distressed residents watch on

Graphic videos on social media appear to show upset onlookers after police accidentally ran over animal in Mount Isa street

Confronting footage has emerged of police shooting dead a pet dog as it lay prone in the middle of a street in front of screaming onlookers, after they accidentally ran over the animal in an outback mining city.

The graphic videos, posted to social media on Sunday afternoon, appear to show one resident in distress and being led away wailing and pulling at her hair in distress as a shot rings out.

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Government declines to protect Indigenous sacred site to be bulldozed for Brisbane Olympic stadium

Environment minister Murray Watt decides against emergency declaration to halt construction but does not rule out ‘longer term protections’

The federal government has decided against an 11th-hour intervention to halt construction of an Olympic stadium and aquatic centre in the heart of Brisbane, in a park that traditional owners say is a First Nations sacred site.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, issued a statement on Sunday afternoon to say he had considered applications made under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act for him to stop construction in Victoria Park.

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Brisbane teenager accused of using a police car as a BMX ramp in viral stunt at Scientology church

Zeppelin Witheridge charged with public nuisance over ‘Scientology speedrun’ social media trend

A social media stunt that treats churches like video games has gone from TikTok to the dock, landing an alleged teenage “speedrunner” in court.

Zeppelin Witheridge, 18, has been accused of using a police car as a BMX ramp after a viral challenge went awry at the Church of Scientology in Brisbane’s CBD.

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Wild weather unleashes thunderstorms across south-east Australia, triggering flash flooding

Wet weather batters parts of Queensland, NSW and Tasmania amid warnings of heavy falls on Friday

Wild weather more typical of summer than the last days of autumn has caused chaos in south-eastern Australia, unleashing a string of severe thunderstorms.

Heavy rainfall accompanied by 500,000 lightning strikes across Queensland and New South Wales triggered widespread flash flooding, road closures and travel disruptions.

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Shark attack: man dies on Great Barrier Reef in far north Queensland

The 39-year-old was reportedly fishing at Kennedy Shoal between Cairns and Townsville when emergency services alerted about midday

A man has died after a shark attack on the Great Barrier Reef south of Cairns.

The 39-year-old had reportedly been fishing at Kennedy Shoal, a shallow reef about 50km off the Queensland coast, between Cairns and Townsville.

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‘Vein of racism’: race discrimination commissioner accuses One Nation and Coalition of scapegoating immigrants

Exclusive: Australia faces a ‘pronounced political fault line’, Giridharan Sivaraman tells Brisbane seminar on human rights

One Nation and the federal opposition are “dehumanising” and “scapegoating” immigrants while drawing on a “deep vein of racism”, Australia’s federal race discrimination commissioner says.

Giridharan Sivaraman made the comments as part of a panel discussion at a Brisbane seminar on human rights, hosted by the state’s human rights commission.

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Australia news live: Albanese congratulates Delta Goodrem on Eurovision fourth-place finish; Queensland Labor set to win Stafford byelection

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Jim Chalmers says the opposition’s policy to index tax brackets would cost the budget a quarter of a trillion dollars over ten years, while claiming that the government is returning bracket creep to taxpayers.

It’s a slightly tricky position, as Angus Taylor argues that Labor is “betraying” itself because the high figure is actually how much the government is keeping and spending through bracket creep ever year.

This is a Government that returns bracket creep when it is responsible to do that.

That [policy] would cost tens of billions of dollars in extra debt interest, because he’s got these uncosted, unfunded, tax announcements that he [Taylor] made in his Budget reply, which was all about trying to stave off One Nation.”

What Angus Taylor is proposing to do is to pump the most money into the economy when inflation is already at its highest.

“This betrays the fact that the government plans to raise income tax rates to the tune of $35 billion This says more about their plan than our plan ...

If Labor’s saying that they plan to raise income taxes to the tune of $250 billion in the next 10 years ... [if] that is their tax hike, that’s their planned income tax increases.”

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LNP falls ‘agonisingly short’ in Stafford byelection as Labor suffers swing against it

Opposition expected to retain the northern Brisbane seat, with Luke Richmond ahead of Fiona Hammond by more than 700 votes

Queensland opposition leader Steven Miles says he has caucus support to remain Labor leader “right now”, after the party suffered a swing against it at a byelection in the north of Brisbane.

Labor is expected to retain the northern Brisbane seat of Stafford, but recorded an 8% swing against it on primary votes. Candidate Luke Richmond was ahead of the Liberal National party candidate, Fiona Hammond, by 768 votes as of Sunday morning, with counting expected to continue later in the day.

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‘Culture of misogyny’: teacher surrounded by hundreds of students and pelted with food at elite Brisbane boys’ school, court told

Teacher at Marist College Ashgrove claims she suffered ‘serious psychiatric injury’ after the schoolyard incident, as school claims matter has been dealt with

A teacher at one of Brisbane’s top private boys’ schools has claimed she was subject to a “culture of misogyny” after being surrounded by hundreds of Catholic school students and pelted with food in an incident that left her with a “serious psychiatric injury”.

A barrister acting for Victoria Sparrow, a teacher at Marist College Ashgrove, told the Brisbane supreme court that the school allowed a culture of misogyny to “develop and exist”.

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Australia’s south-east set for drier and hotter winter as BoM forecasts potential El Niño

Queensland and NSW set for lower than usual rainfall in May, June and July, while temperatures in most of the country likely to be higher than normal

Large parts of south-east Australia look set for drier and hotter conditions over the next three months as a potential El Niño weather phenomenon takes shape in the Pacific Ocean.

Much of Queensland and New South Wales are forecast to have lower than usual rainfall in May, June and July, with almost the entire country likely to experience hotter than average maximum temperatures.

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Men accused of raping cellmates mistakenly allowed to stay in shared cells by Queensland prison staff

Strict protocols violated by corrections staff who wrongly believed sexual assault cases were ‘closed’, ombudsman finds

Men charged with alleged prison rapes were allowed to stay in shared cells – against strict protocols – by Queensland corrections staff who mistakenly believed their cases were “closed” and that they posed no risk, a report by the state’s ombudsman has found.

The ombudsman’s inspection report of the Brisbane correctional centre raises a number of concerns about the facility, including extensive overcrowding, health facilities that are not fit for purpose and complaints that chicken served to detainees and staff is often undercooked.

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David Malouf, Australian author of Remembering Babylon and Ransom, dies aged 92

Acclaimed Brisbane-born writer was known for his work exploring his own childhood, great myths and colonial Australia

David Malouf, the acclaimed Australian author of books including Ransom, An Imaginary Life and the Booker prize-nominated Remembering Babylon, has died aged 92.

Malouf died on Wednesday, his publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, said in a statement on Thursday.

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Queensland ebike laws could cripple Uber Eats, DoorDash and shared e-vehicle schemes, industry warns

Food delivery services say the proposed laws will affect their workers, while shared e-vehicle schemes claim the laws could make them uninsurable

Legislation that would crack down on ebikes and e-scooters in Queensland could curtail food delivery services and potentially end shared e-vehicle schemes, industry figures warn.

The proposed laws would set an age limit of 16 on ebikes and e-scooters, require users to obtain a driver’s licence, and set a limit of 10km/h on almost all cycle lanes.

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Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila could hit far north Queensland three weeks after Narelle tore through

While path and strength of storm remain uncertain, BoM warns Cape York could again take direct hit if cyclone makes landfall

Another cyclone may hit the Queensland coast just over three weeks after the same area was smashed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

But a meteorologist warned forecasts predicting the path and strength of Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila remained uncertain, with the storm likely to make landfall over the weekend.

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Senior Queensland judge criticises ‘glacial’ years-long delays in serious criminal trials

Exclusive: Justice Jim Henry published data from his own court revealing recent cases took more than a year to reach committal

A Queensland supreme court judge says serious criminal cases are taking “excruciatingly longer” to finalise due to “glacial” delays in the state’s magistrates court, where some matters are spending several years in procedural limbo.

Justice Jim Henry, who is based at the supreme court in Cairns, published data from his own court revealing that of 31 recent criminal cases he finalised between November and February, on average each case took more than a year (370 days) in the lower courts before a committal.

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Queensland government criticised over ‘absurd’ decision to appoint former police officer to Legal Aid board

Barrister who represented Indigenous Palm Island community says appointing Darren Robinson to the Legal Aid board is a ‘slap in the face to the family of Mulrunji Doomadgee’

A barrister who acted for Mulrunji Doomadgee’s family says it is “unacceptable” for a former police officer criticised for his conduct in investigating the 2004 death in custody to serve on the Queensland’s Legal Aid board.

Andrew Boe represented Doomadgee’s family and the Palm Island community council at an aborted coronial inquest in 2005 and then in subsequent inquests in 2006 and 2010.

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Tropical Cyclone Narelle barrels west after ripping off roofs and downing trees in far north Queensland

Second landfall expected over weekend in NT as Queensland premier says relatively limited damage so far ‘an incredibly good news story’

Tropical Cyclone Narelle weakened in intensity on Friday evening after barrelling into far north Queensland as one of the state’s fiercest cyclones in living memory – downing trees, ripping off roofs and swelling rivers.

As of 4pm local time, the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Narelle from a category 3 to category 2 storm, meaning while it was less severe there were still destructive winds near the centre of 100 km/h and wind gusts up to 150 km/h.

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Tropical Cyclone Narelle to make landfall in far north Qld on Friday as category 5 storm, bringing 315km/h wind gusts

Massive storm tracking a path to Queensland coast, which intensified offshore Thursday morning to category 5, fuelled by warm waters in Coral Sea

Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday morning as a monster category 5 storm, bringing destructive wind gusts of 250km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The severe cyclone rapidly intensified over the past 48 hours and in the early hours of Friday morning had built to a category 5 storm that was barrelling west, sitting about 150km east of the small town of Coen. Coen has a population of approximately 330.

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