Category Archives: Queensland

‘Dying for their story to be heard’: Queensland’s truth-telling inquiry begins amid questions over its future

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Historic moment celebrated despite LNP vow to abolish process should the party win government

Queensland’s historic Indigenous truth-telling and healing inquiry has commenced in Brisbane, nearly two centuries to the day after a penal colony was established in Queensland.

Counsel assisting Angus Scott said the first settlers landed at what was now known as Redcliffe on 12 September 1824. In 1825, they resettled in Meanjin – later named Brisbane, a few hundred metres from where the inquiry is being held.

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Queensland’s 50c public transport fares to remain with support of both major parties

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Premier Steven Miles says scheme saves money and ‘takes cars off the road, gets people home sooner and is great for the environment’

The Queensland opposition says it will match the state government’s commitment to keep 50c public transport fares in place beyond the October election.

The cut-price bus, train and ferry tickets were initially slated as a trial – to run three months before and after election day – and had been criticised as a “desperate political gimmick” from a government struggling in the polls.

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Contrasting polls spell out disaster territory and green shoots for Labor ahead of Queensland election

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Mixed messaging for government as they try to conquer the ‘Queensland paradox’ – wooing both urban and regional voters

Six weeks out from the Queensland election, two polls dropped this week. They both told remarkably different stories.

Resolve Strategic, published in the Brisbane Times, put Labor’s primary vote across the state at 23%. That’s disaster territory. For context, when Anna Bligh’s Labor government was obliterated at the 2012 election, its primary vote was 26.7%.

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Calls grow for total ban on gambling ads as Australia’s annual losses surge to $32bn

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Exclusive: On a per capita basis, ACT residents posted the heaviest gambling losses and Western Australia the least, according to new data

Australia’s gambling losses have surged from $25.6bn annually pre-Covid to $32bn in 2022-23, according to new data from the Queensland government.

The data, released on Tuesday, revealed Australians are now losing $1,555 per capita, up from $1,395 in 2021-22.

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Weekend cold front to bring hail, snow and chilly winds to parts of east coast

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BoM modelling shows chance of above average rainfall for eastern states in coming months, and high bushfire risk for parts of NT and Queensland

A cold snap will hit Australia’s south-east over the weekend, with cool winds and rain sweeping up through Tasmania to Brisbane from Friday evening.

Victoria will face chilly weather, showers and potential thunderstorms on Saturday, with Melbourne expecting up to 10mm of rain and potential hail amid daytime temperatures of just 12C.

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Gold Coast man found not guilty of helping murder workmate’s estranged wife

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Jury finds Bradley Bell, 27, was not responsible for Kelly Wilkinson’s April 2021 death

A man accused of helping a workmate carry out the murder of his estranged wife has been found not guilty by a jury.

Bradley Bell, of Pimpama, faced trial in Brisbane supreme court after pleading not guilty to the murder of Kelly Wilkinson, 27, on 20 April 2021.

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John Howard weighs in on stoush between NSW and federal Liberals – as it happened

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Assistant treasurer says Elon Musk post is ‘crackpot stuff’

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has said Elon Musk labelling the Australian government as “fascists” is “crackpot stuff”.

And whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals.

And, for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean is this what he thinks free speech is all about?

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Fear for koalas after bushwalker finds fire ant nests near Queensland sanctuary

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Calls for suppression efforts to be extended after at least five nests discovered at Logan in the Daisy Hill koala bushlands

Fire ants have reached protected koala habitat and a koala priority area in south-eastern Queensland, with experts warning of the danger the highly invasive pest poses to native wildlife.

At least five red imported fire ant (Rifa) nests were discovered in Neville Lawrie reserve at Logan, which is part of the Daisy Hill koala bushlands, at the end of August.

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Australian politics live: Labor confirms aged care deal; AEC abolishes Kylea Tink’s electorate; parliamentary standards bill passes Senate

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Helen Haines condemns ‘stitch up’ over Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission bill

Independent MP Helen Haines is furious at what she calls a “stitch up” between Labor and the Coalition that “weakens the transparency of the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission”.

The bill as currently drafted means serious findings could be made about an MP, but they could face no sanction and the public could never know.

I want to see more transparency around this process.

The government made two last-minute changes to its own legislation that would reinforce the major party duopoly, ensuring no member of the crossbench can be deputy chair of the parliamentary standards oversight committee. What a stitch up!”

We’re going to have the same people on the joint select committee as on the privileges committee, meaning the people who are meant to make sure the whole system is working are the same people who are part of it.

I’m really staggered by this, and it isn’t right.

We’re taking a stand against the unchecked greed that’s fuelling the cost-of-living crisis, and we’re urging the parliament to support this critical reform.

Our bill will put an end to corporate price gouging by making it illegal for corporations with substantial market power to charge excessive prices for goods and services.

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Australians urged to get whooping cough vaccination as infections rise more than tenfold in year

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Health authorities say infants are at greatest risk so pregnant women, parents and others in close contact with babies should be vaccinated

Health authorities across Australia are urging people to get vaccinated as cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, continue to surge.

The latest national data shows more than 26,700 cases reported so far in 2024, compared with 2,451 cases for all of 2023. The numbers are being driven by cases in Queensland and NSW.

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Kelly Wilkinson’s murderer takes the stand in trial of workmate accused of aiding in plan to kill

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Brian Earl Johnston, who stabbed and set wife on fire, tells Brisbane court Bradley Bell did not know of murder plot

The man who murdered Kelly Wilkinson has told a jury a workmate accused of aiding him in the crime did not know of his plan to kill.

Convicted murderer Brian Earl Johnston, 37, on Wednesday was called as a witness during the Brisbane supreme court trial of Bradley Bell, who has pleaded not guilty to murder.

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Australia politics live: Labor’s hate speech bill will not not criminalise vilification; man who ‘flipped the bird’ in parliament was not signed in by politician

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Dan Tehan outraged over tattered flag after devastating winds

Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan is continuing to moonlight as Australia’s flag hall monitor.

While values are still rising at the national level, albeit at a slowing pace, beneath the headline figure, we’re starting to see some weakness, particularly in Victoria.

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Australia politics live: Littleproud heckled at Canberra farmers protest; Greens senator urges Chalmers to override RBA and cut interest rates

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Peter Dutton and David Littleproud addressed the crowd of hundreds from as far as Western Australia. Follow today’s news live

PM speaks on social media ban for kids

Anthony Albanese is doing the media rounds this morning, speaking on the government’s announcement it will ban children from social media platforms. This came after the South Australian announcement yesterday it would be moving to ban children under 14.

Well, we want to work with the states and territories. What we didn’t want to develop is eight different systems. We know this is a national issue and it’s pretty simple. We want to get kids off their devices and on to the footy fields, on to the netball courts, into the swimming pools.

We want them to have real experiences with real people, and we know that social media is causing social harm, which is why we put funding in the budget to have a trial to make sure that we get it right.

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‘It’s okay to poo at work’: Australian health department praised for tackling taboo with humorous campaign

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Queensland Health lauded for social media campaign raising awareness of the dangers of ‘holding it in’

An Australian health department has been praised for breaking a taboo with a novel health campaign telling people: “It’s okay to poo at work.”

Health and marketing experts are hailing as “world-leading” the social media campaign released this month by the Queensland health department for normalising a healthy human behaviour.

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News live: Australia’s ability to fight off deadly bird flu to be put to test in series of exercises

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Julie Collins describes avian flu situation as ‘dynamic’ as she highlights concerns about the impact to wildlife and agriculture

Census to include questions on gender and sexuality

Speers finishes up by asking Chalmers about the ongoing census questions palaver.

We have listened to the community. We worked very closely with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. LGBTIQ+ Australians matter. They have been heard and they will count in the 2026 census.

Really the message that we want to ensure that Australians hear from us today is that we understand the feedback that we got, we listened to that, we took it very seriously, we listened very genuinely.

We said we would find the best way to do this and I believe that we have and we will and the ABS will continue to refine the actual wording of the questions now that this additional topic has been add.

We want to make sure that we are maximising this really important economic relationship with our key trading partner. It’s a relationship which is full of complexity, but also full of opportunity and I want to help the government maximise that opportunity for the Australian people, workers, businesses, employers, investors.

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Elizabeth Struhs death: accused sect members speak as extraordinary trial concludes

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Members of Toowoomba religious group accused of causing death of eight-year-old diabetic girl deliver closing statements

The extraordinary trial of 14 members of Toowoomba religious sect “the Saints” over the death of an eight-year-old girl has adjourned 58 days after it began.

The prosecution alleges the group caused the death of Elizabeth Struhs, who had type 1 diabetes, by counselling her father, Jason, to withdraw her insulin. The accused sect members argue their charges of murder and manslaughter amount to “religious persecution”.

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Senate committee told foreign student cap would ‘gut’ private education sector – as it happened

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Michele O’Neil said this isn’t about “expecting everyone to have the same opinion all of the time” but continued:

We’re a diverse movement, and people have strong opinions, but it is at its core about who we are and what we stand for. And we don’t walk away when things get tough, we face up to them. And angry individuals lashing out and blaming everyone except themselves doesn’t get us through this.

We need to stay steady on what is in the interest of working people and what’s in the interest of working people is good, clean, strong, effective unions with leaders who see their job as representing workers and their members, not acting in their own self-interest.

No … I think that it’s important that we realise that the union movement – the vast bulk of unions – want to stay part of the united union movement, and have made that really clear.

What I’m saying, Patricia, is we’re talking to all of our unions all of the time … I haven’t had any other unions threaten to quit.

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Australia news live: severe weather warnings for parts of NSW and Victoria; Tasmania flood warnings downgraded but river rises still possible

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Moving to the 2026 census, Katy Gallagher was asked about comments from some of Australia’s major health institutions who say data on gender diverse Australians will be critical to inform care.

Is that something the government will consider, given that this is the advice from a lot of major health bodies?

It is, as you say, really important and it’s no surprise that health groups are saying that because, you know, it informs future health policy and identifies gaps and responses.

But the PM has already said there will be questions. We need to work with people about what those questions are and we’ll be doing that, but I’m very positive there’ll be a good outcome here.

You can see that from this data. You can see that household consumption, particularly on discretionary spending [which has] really declined substantially. I think that shows that household budgets are smashed and contributing to that, of course, is those 13 interest rate increases.

And the bank’s got a job to do to get inflation down, but we have also got a job to do to explain what we’re seeing in the economy and what we know is happening and that is that households are under huge pressure. So I think, you know, there’s been a lot said about this this week but it really is stating the facts and [that] played out for all to see in the national accounts yesterday.

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Police officers accused of assaulting prisoner in Queensland watch house

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Two male senior constables suspended and charged after alleged assault of 23-year-old at Mareeba watch house in far north Queensland

Two police officers have been charged after being accused of assaulting a prisoner in far north Queensland earlier this year.

The alleged incident involved a 23-year-old man at the Mareeba watch house, near Cairns, in January.

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Australia news live: Murray Watt ‘concerned’ at Iran reaction to ambassador’s social media posts; children removed from AI image database

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IRNA said the foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador Ian McConville to Tehran, and condemned the publication of photos on social media. Follow today’s news live

Tehan responds to Asio boss’s accusation his comments on Palestinians have been ‘distorted’

Dan Tehan was also asked about comments from Asio boss Mike Burgess, who used an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday to hit back at people who had “distorted” what he had previously said about the security vetting process for Palestinians seeking to come to Australia.

I won’t talk about what Mike Burgess may or may not be talking about when he says that. As you know, we had the prime minister also leave an important sentence out of what Mike Burgess said in the parliament, which basically distorted what Mike Burgess was saying. But I’ll leave that up to Mike Burgess, because our issue has never been with [him]. Our issue is with the prime minister …

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