Girl, 13, taken to hospital with minor injuries after suspected shark attack at Bargara beach in Bundaberg
A teenage girl has been taken to hospital after being injured in a suspected shark attack in Queensland’s north.
Paramedics were called to Bargara beach in Bundaberg on Friday afternoon after reports of a shark attack.
Continue reading...Government report says placing children in prison isolation can affect their health and wellbeing in ‘severe, long-term and irreversible ways’
A Queensland government report has raised concerns over the use of solitary confinement in youth detention, detailing the case of two First Nations children with disabilities who died after spending extensive time in isolation at overcrowded and understaffed youth detention centres.
The Child Death Review Board’s annual report, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, details the anonymised cases of two boys, Harry* and Jack*. The report does not explicitly state their cause of death but Guardian Australia understands it to be suicide.
Continue reading...Housing pressures and the cost of living crisis mean Steven Miles’ government is under threat from the Greens in Brisbane and the LNP in the regions
The old Inala roller skating rink in Brisbane’s south-west has been vacant for more than 15 years. For many locals, it is a symbol that progress moves slower in the outer suburbs.
Earlier this month, the Greens’ campaign for the Brisbane city council election announced plans to buy the building and turn the site into a public pool.
Continue reading...Sunshine Coast man charged with offences including rape, stalking and making child exploitation material
Police allege a Sunshine Coast man groomed two girls aged between 12 and 14 online before sexually abusing them.
Dion Adam Lingard, 31, will face Maroochydore magistrates court again on 18 March on 116 charges including rape, indecent treatment and stalking.
Continue reading...Stretton State College shares photo of students with nappies and dolls among images of events to celebrate the day
A Brisbane school has been criticised for acting “in poor taste” after posting images of a nappy changing activity held on International Women’s Day on Facebook.
Stretton State College posted the photo of students with nappies and dolls among images of different events held to celebrate the day. They included selling cookies and a photo station with a border featuring the slogan “inspire inclusion”.
Continue reading...Review found ongoing ‘mistrust’ among farmers, including many who remain unconvinced by need for pollution regulations
A review of the Queensland government’s Great Barrier Reef protection regulations has found that almost half the affected farmers still believe there is little or no scientific evidence to support pollution reduction rules.
The laws, passed in 2019, were based on scientific advice that limits on sediment and chemical runoff were needed in the reef catchment, amid concerns about water quality.
Continue reading...Emergency services called to the shopping centre car park in Hope Island found a man with life-threatening injuries
A 25-year-old man has been taken into custody in relation to a fatal assault in a Gold Coast shopping centre car park.
Emergency services were called to the car park along Santa Barbara Road in the suburb of Hope Island on Monday afternoon after reports a man had been seriously assaulted.
Continue reading...Donald Day Jr, linked to fatal shooting of two Queensland police officers, claims his right to guns for self-defence has been violated
A US man linked to the fatal shooting of two Queensland police officers has claimed that his right to own guns for self-defence has been violated by charges of alleged firearms possession while a convicted felon.
Donald Day Jr, 58, was arrested in December 2023 by the FBI in Arizona on two counts of “interstate threats” 12 months after the fatal shootings at rural Wieambilla, west of Brisbane.
Continue reading...Bus mounted a kerb and pinned the 18-year-old against wall near one of the city’s busiest intersections during peak hour
Authorities have pledged to find answers after an 18-year-old woman died when she was pinned between a bus and a building in Brisbane’s city centre on Friday evening.
And authorities have said the bus involved in the crash underwent routine testing last month, and will now undergo an engineering investigation to ensure there were no mechanical failures.
Continue reading...Thirty-year-old arrested over death of three-month-old child in September 2011
A woman has been charged with the murder of a baby girl more than 12 years ago in Queensland.
The charge comes after police went to a home in Redland Bay, 35km south-east of Brisbane, on 2 September 2011 and found a three-month-old child who was not breathing.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Influx of reports comes amid concerns about welfare of young people detained in overcrowded adult watch houses
The Queensland public guardian says its community visitors have reported more than 550 issues on behalf of children detained in police watch houses since the start of this year, amid ongoing concerns about the welfare of young people in overcrowded and “unsuitable” lockups.
First-hand reports from watch houses, revealed by Guardian Australia in January and February, detail how the system is struggling to cope with an influx of children, the result of the state government’s “tough on crime” justice policies.
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NSW government urged to double social housing by 2050
Homelessness NSW is urging the state government to spend $1bn each year for a decade to double the supply of social housing by 2050.
NSW has failed to invest in social housing for decades. Last year, just one-fifth of people seeking help from homelessness services could find long-term accommodation.
Right now, many of the 57,000 households on the social housing waitlist are forced to wait up to a decade for a safe and stable place to call home.
Underfunded frontline providers are being flooded with calls for help and forced to turn away one in every two people who need accommodation. Services will be unable to keep staff on or their doors open without more funding.
Even for people who get through the door, help is limited. Half of those who need temporary or crisis accommodation cannot access it. That means women and children are forced to return to violent partners, seek shelter in a vehicle, on a couch or the street.
But there has been no improvement in closing the gap on life expectancy, with Indigenous Australian males and females expected to live 8.8 and 8.1 years respectively, less than other Australians.
The target to reduce the number of children in out of home care is not on track, while the target to reduce adult imprisonment is not on track and worsening.
Continue reading...LNP accuses Steven Miles in parliament of lying, while Labor claims an unnamed opposition MP was trying to intimidate Ali King
Queensland’s opposition has accused the premier of lying, while Labor claims an unnamed Liberal National party member was trying to intimidate a female MP by taking a “creepy” photo of her phone inside state parliament.
Steven Miles stood in parliament on Tuesday to correct the record, admitting he was mistaken when he told the chamber in February that he had not sent a text message to Labor’s Ali King during sittings last October.
Continue reading...Mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan says council would compulsorily acquire the site if party wins poll
The Greens could compulsorily acquire the Eagle Farm racecourse site to make way for council-owned housing if elected at this month’s local poll.
The party has previously released plans to build 4,000 homes on the 49-hectare site. It neighbours Doomben racecourse and the Ascot and Doomben railway stations.
Continue reading...Exclusive: New ‘police efficiency’ laws planned amid political pressure to devote more frontline resources to youth crime
The Queensland government is planning to introduce new “police efficiency” laws that would empower officers to issue on-the-spot year-long domestic violence protection orders, amid ongoing political pressure to devote more frontline resources to youth crime.
Documents leaked to Guardian Australia show the state intends to announce police “modernisation measures” in mid-March, including legislative amendments allowing officers to impose immediate protection orders for up to 12 months without having to make an application to a court.
Continue reading...Coroner finds Ric Blum lied and deceived inquest, but does not recommend charges against him
The New South Wales police investigation into missing woman Marion Barter has been deemed inadequate by the state coroner, who said police failures had resulted in the case remaining unsolved for nearly 27 years.
The Gold Coast woman was last seen on 22 June 1997 by a friend at a bus depot in Southport.
Continue reading...Revelation comes amid NSW asbestos crisis after contaminant found in mulch at more than 60 Sydney locations
A school is one of 25 entities in Queensland’s south-east that were supplied mulch that could be contaminated with friable asbestos.
The state’s department of environment (DESI) confirmed the dangerous material was found at waste facility NuGrow on 20 February in a proactive investigation by the government after asbestos was discovered at more than 60 sites across New South Wales in what has become an ongoing crisis in that state.
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The trade minister, Don Farrell, is at the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi where he had a sideline chat with China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, overnight.
Sideline chats are the unofficial official talks – it’s not considered a bilateral, but both sides have to agree to the talk in order for it to happen. So it’s not just a see them and grab situation between sessions. It’s a little more planned than that.
Continue reading...Former Liberal staffer denies two counts of raping a woman in October 2021, with the case yet to proceed to trial
Lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann will grill witnesses in June as they seek to have allegations he raped a woman in Toowoomba in 2021 dismissed without proceeding to trial.
The former Liberal staffer is facing two charges of rape relating to an incident in Toowoomba in October 2021.
Continue reading...More prematurely victorious candidates in 2024 – 15 mayors and 46 councillors – than any time since 2012
A month out from election day, Queensland’s longest-serving mayor is confident he’ll get another four years in the top job.
That’s because John Wharton is the only candidate. By the end of his next term he’ll have been Richmond mayor for 31 years.
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