Category Archives: Queensland

Sydney reaches 33C in potentially warmest start to spring since mid-1800s, while snow forecast in southern NSW

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A total fire ban is in place for greater Sydney with extreme fire danger exacerbated by hot and windy conditions

Summer heat is due to arrive early across much of eastern Australia with potentially record early September temperatures predicted for Brisbane and Sydney, while snow was expected in southern New South Wales.

Maximum temperatures in Sydney during the first days of September were on track to match the city’s midsummer average of 26.4C, warmer than any other start to spring since the city’s Observatory Hill station opened in 1858.

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Identity of high-profile Queensland man drawn into extortion case to remain secret after court ruling

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Man – referred to as MM by court – will keep his identity hidden after legal challenge against suppression dismissed

The identity of a high-profile Queensland man drawn into a Cairns extortion case will remain secret, after the state’s supreme court threw out a legal challenge against a suppression order.

The man – referred to as MM by the court – was drawn into an extortion case earlier this year. He is not a party to the case and is not accused of any offence.

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Queensland concedes law imposing mandatory jail on some offenders as young as 10 breaches human rights

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State government says ‘breach bail, go to jail’ laws raise risk of overcrowding in jails, while one expert warns they may lead to ‘cruel outcomes’

The Queensland government’s latest law and order crackdown – subjecting some children as young as 10 to a mandatory sentence of a year behind bars – could lead to “cruel outcomes”, according to human rights lawyers.

In documents tabled with the legislation on Thursday, the government conceded its laws, dubbed “breach bail, go to jail”, would breach human rights and risk further straining the state’s overcrowded jails, youth detention centres and police watch houses.

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Pregnant woman dead and toddler found unharmed after outback Queensland siege ends in apparent murder-suicide

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A 45-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were found dead in the Charleville home after a near eight-hour police siege

A pregnant woman and a man have been found dead at a home in the outback Queensland town of Charleville, in an apparent murder-suicide after a protracted overnight standoff with police.

Police confirmed on Thursday that a toddler, who was found unharmed, had been at the home during the eight-hour siege that began on Wednesday evening.

Several streets in the remote town, 600km west of Toowoomba, were locked down by police after officers arrived at the property on King Street following reports of “a serious assault”.

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Queensland reveals concept plans for Brisbane Olympic stadium precinct – but critics say they are ‘fantasy vision’

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David Crisafulli says ‘Queenslanders will enjoy for generations’ as opponents point to lack of detail

The Queensland government has released new concept images for a parkland precinct to surround the 2032 Olympic stadium, as it seeks to quell concern at the loss of Brisbane’s largest inner-city parkland.

But opponents of the plans – now entering the early construction phase – to build a stadium at Brisbane’s Victoria Park say the concept images are a “fantasy vision” with no detail, and which overlook the likely need for carparks, roads, transport links and plazas to accommodate large crowds.

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Great Barrier Reef microbiome mapped as researchers discover 500 bacterial species previously unknown to science

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Research identifies 808,585 viral genomes belonging to what scientists estimate to be 362,802 different viruses

More than a decade after the human microbiome was comprehensively mapped, scientists have now identified the vast communities of microbes that make up the Great Barrier Reef.

Analysing DNA from seawater samples of 48 reefs, researchers have mapped the microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef, documenting more than 360,000 distinct viruses as well as more than 500 new bacterial species not previously known to science.

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The Queensland government promised to put victims first. Instead it buried a report from domestic violence survivors

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Exclusive: Report from LNP-convened panel heavily criticises police responses to family violence and calls for civilian oversight

The Queensland government has buried the findings of its own working group of domestic violence victim-survivors, after their report was heavily critical of police responses and called for a “civilian review mechanism” to escalate complaints about police.

The Liberal National government has repeatedly said it would “put victims at the heart” of the state’s justice policies.

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Man dies after cross-border police pursuit ends in NSW northern rivers

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Car chase began in Queensland after report of armed man on Gold Coast late on Saturday, police say

New South Wales police have declared a “critical incident” after a man died following a police pursuit in the northern rivers area, hours after the same man allegedly evaded Queensland police while armed with a gun.

The 25-year-old from Queensland was found unconscious at the wheel of a vehicle, which had driven down an embankment south of Murwillumbah, about 2am on Sunday, NSW police said.

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Brisbane child accused of school stabbing allegedly faced ‘racist’ abuse, court hears

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Alleged attack may have been motivated by a social media post, police prosecutor tells court

A Brisbane child accused of stabbing a fellow student was allegedly subjected to months of “racist” abuse and threats, a court has heard.

The 16-year-old child was arrested after allegedly stabbing a 17-year-old schoolmate on Tuesday.

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Fears Queenslanders could be forced to pay for mine cleanup as LNP reviews environmental ‘red tape’

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Mining minister Dale Last says the state has an ‘enormous opportunity’ to become a global leader in critical minerals

Queenslanders are being warned they could be left to pay for the clean up of abandoned mines if rehabilitation laws are weakened, after the state government announced a bid to cut environmental “red tape” for resources companies.

The state’s treasurer, David Janetzki, and the mining minister, Dale Last, this week announced a review of a scheme that requires resources companies to provide surety to cover remediation and rehabilitation costs when mines close.

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Bruce Lehrmann loses bid to get footage from documentary featuring Brittany Higgins ahead of rape trial

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Judge says ‘no legitimate forensic purpose’ to former Liberal staffer’s subpoena requesting footage, ahead of his Queensland trial

Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost a legal bid to access copies of all footage from a documentary featuring Brittany Higgins.

Lehrmann had subpoenaed the producers of the documentary Silenced and signalled a possible attempt to ban its broadcast before his Queensland trial for rape.

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Man charged with DV murder after allegedly shooting Gold Coast mother who could ‘light up any room’

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Mallorie Jane Roberts, 23, found with gunshot wounds on Sunday evening with her partner arrested at the home

A woman who died from gunshot wounds in an alleged domestic violence murder was “a beautiful young mother” who leaves behind a two-year-old son.

Emergency services were called to a home on Loder Street in the Gold Coast suburb of Biggera Waters, in Queensland, at about 8pm on Sunday.

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Here we Joh again? The spectre of Bjelke-Petersen still looms large over Queensland

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The LNP’s unapologetic moves on crime, transgender healthcare and police-led suppression of protests are a throwback to days many thought had come and gone

A sign stopped Aunty Sandra King in her tracks. The elder of the Yagara, Quandamooka and Bundjalung people, now in her 70s, spoke at a protest last month against plans to build an Olympic stadium in the heart of Brisbane’s Victoria Park.

In the crowd a man held aloft a homemade placard with the words “I Preferred Joh”.

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Teen accused of planning terror attack on Peter Dutton and Brisbane march was making ‘edgy joke’, court told

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Defence barrister claims teenager was a ‘troubled kid’ but crown prosecutor says he was serious when he wrote of copying US domestic terrorists

A teenager accused of preparing a nail bombing campaign was either a “troubled kid” who made edgy jokes or a determined terrorist in waiting, a court has been told.

The teenager, who cannot be named due to his age, spent last week on trial in the Brisbane supreme court after pleading not guilty to one count of acts done in preparation for or planning a terrorist act.

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Almost three tonnes of cocaine found buried under Sydney property in Australia’s biggest ever seizure, police say

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Australian federal police arrested and charged two men after allegedly finding $800m worth of cocaine in ‘bunkers’ under shipping containers

Police claim to have made Australia’s biggest ever cocaine bust after finding $800m worth of the drug buried under false flooring on a semi-rural property.

Two men, aged 21 and 25, allegedly tried to run from police and were arrested on Friday after an operation by Australian federal police, alongside investigators in multiple states.

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Brisbane teenager allegedly plotted terror attacks on Liberal party targets, court hears

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Teenager denies planning attacks on party figures and Labour Day march after allegedly being influenced by the Unabomber

A Brisbane private schoolboy allegedly plotted terrorist attacks against the Liberal party and Brisbane’s Labour Day march in 2024 after being influenced by the Unabomber.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 16 in 2024 when he was arrested by counter-terrorism police.

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‘Osprey cam’ streams life of nesting seabirds perched at tip of 55 metre-long Queensland rainforest canopy crane

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Researchers believe the same pair of birds have been mating and nesting in the unusual spot in the Daintree Rainforest for 15 consecutive years

It started by chance – but it should have come as no surprise that two ospreys would pick a hi-tech research facility to make their home.

James Cook University’s 47-metre tall crane towers over the far-north Queensland rainforest canopy, making it the perfect nesting place for the seabird.

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Brisbane woman who gave lethal medication to terminally ill husband released on bail after murder charge

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David Ronald Mobbs, who had motor neurone disease, had said he didn’t want to live if his illness became intolerable, court hears

A woman who gave a lethal cocktail of medication to her husband who was dying from motor neurone disease has been granted bail after being charged with murder.

Kylie Ellina Truswell‑Mobbs was granted bail on Tuesday after being charged with murdering her 56-year-old husband, who was dying from motor neurone disease.

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

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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

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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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