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.
Continue reading...Food delivery services say the proposed laws will affect their workers, while shared e-vehicle schemes claim the laws could make them uninsurable
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
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.
Continue reading...While path and strength of storm remain uncertain, BoM warns Cape York could again take direct hit if cyclone makes landfall
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
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.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Justice Jim Henry published data from his own court revealing recent cases took more than a year to reach committal
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
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.
Continue reading...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’
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
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.
Continue reading...Second landfall expected over weekend in NT as Queensland premier says relatively limited damage so far ‘an incredibly good news story’
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Commonwealth ombudsman also finds Victoria and Queensland police not keeping adequate records
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The New South Wales police force is overusing intrusive technology to monitor the phones and computers of people suspected of committing less serious crime, the commonwealth ombudsman has found.
The watchdog said Victoria and Queensland police were not keeping sufficient records to justify their use of the electronic surveillance powers, while NSW police “were unable to demonstrate” they were meeting the requirements of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Racial discrimination alleged after police withdrew indecent act charge a year after officer was recorded talking about ‘fucking Indians’
WARNING: this article contains offensive language
Queensland police investigated a Punjabi man for a year – over charges that were eventually withdrawn – despite knowing one of the arresting officers had been caught on camera describing Indians as a “bunch of fucking perverts”.
The rideshare driver named Singh, who asked that his first name not be used because of the distress caused by the case, has now launched legal action against the force due to the alleged racial discrimination he suffered during the investigation that led to him being charged with committing an indecent act, according to his statement of claim.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Queensland Performing Arts Centre board nominated Oodgeroo as preferred name in 2024 but it was not one of four options put to public vote by LNP
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A Queensland government minister intervened to ensure that a new theatre would not be named after the Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, overriding the theatre’s board, according to documents obtained under right to information laws.
The late artist’s name is also set to be stripped from a state electorate, in draft electoral boundaries released by the state’s redistribution commission this week. The Liberal National party lobbied for the change.
Continue reading...Health minister Tim Nicholls corrects claim alleged Bondi terror attack gunman Naveed Akram used controversial phrase, as laws roundly criticised
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Police arresting pro-Palestinian protesters for using the phrase “from the river to the sea” had “all the hallmarks of an authoritarian police state”, according to a Greens MP, amid widespread backlash against Queensland’s new hate speech laws.
The controversial laws went into effect yesterday after passing a vote in parliament last week.
Continue reading...Health minister Tim Nicholls corrects claim alleged Bondi terror attack gunman Naveed Akram used controversial phrase, as laws roundly criticised
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Police arresting pro-Palestinian protesters for using the phrase “from the river to the sea” had “all the hallmarks of an authoritarian police state”, according to a Greens MP, amid widespread backlash against Queensland’s new hate speech laws.
The controversial laws went into effect yesterday after passing a vote in parliament last week.
Continue reading...Moreton Bay council’s clearing of tent city breached human rights, supreme court rules
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Homeless people living in tents in a park were “not treated as humans” while being evicted by a Queensland council, with the supreme court ruling it an unlawful breach of human rights.
A group of residents who had been living in a park off Goodfellows Road, Kallangur, challenged eviction notices issued against them by the City of Moreton Bay last year.
Continue reading...Wilkinson was turned away by police while seeking help four days before she was murdered, Queensland coroner’s court told
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Kelly Wilkinson was turned away from Southport police station and told to “cool off, give Brian a break” while seeking help just four days before her estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, burned her to death in 2021, an inquest has heard.
The allegation was made in an extraordinary 11th hour submission by the lawyer acting for her family as they successfully applied to adjourn the coronial inquiry to hear additional evidence about the allegation.
Continue reading...Syaban Shadikillah told to get new driver’s licence after being issued one using photo of him with colander on his head
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A “Pastafarian” in rural Queensland has vowed to fight to keep his driver’s licence featuring a photo of him wearing a colander on his head, arguing it’s a matter of freedom of religion.
But the state government has told him he must hand it in and get a new one, as it was issued “in error”.
Continue reading...Son of Nathaniel and Stacey Train says he is ‘hoping for a quick sale to someone who will be respectful of the property, considering its history’
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The site of the Wieambilla ambush, Queensland’s worst police shooting, is up for sale.
In 2022, conspiracy theorists Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train killed constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow at their remote property at 251 Wains Road, about 300km west of Brisbane.
Continue reading...Volunteer group Citizens of the Reef made the find as part of the Great Reef Census
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Citizen scientists have discovered what they believe is one of the largest coral colonies ever documented on the Great Barrier Reef.
The coral spans approximately 111 metres in maximum length and covers an estimated area of 3,973 sq m – about half the size of a soccer field.
Continue reading...A 32-year-old has been charged with serious vilification or hate crime and other offences but police say it is not being considered a terrorist incident
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Police have charged a man after a car was used to ram the gates of a synagogue in Brisbane.
Officers say the man was driving a Toyota Hilux utility when he knocked down the gates of the property in Margaret Street in Brisbane’s CBD shortly after 7pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Ashley Jenkinson, who died in the crash on 2 January 2023, was seen inhaling a white powder at a New Year’s Eve party
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A helicopter pilot involved in one of Australia’s worst air disasters had a mental “breakdown” and used cocaine the day before making tourist joy flights, a coroner has heard.
Ashley Jenkinson, 40, was among four people who died when his Sea World chopper collided midair with another outside the Gold Coast theme park on 2 January 2023.
Continue reading...Plibersek said those victims – Hannah Clarke and her children, Kardell Lomas and her unborn child, and Gail Karran – ‘should have been kept safe’
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The federal social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, says Guardian Australia’s “devastating” revelations of failures to protect women fleeing violence must prompt action from governments “at every level”.
Broken Trust, a two-year Guardian investigation, uncovered evidence and allegations of serious police and support service failures in multiple domestic violence homicides in Queensland.
Continue reading...