Category Archives: Queensland

Highly potent synthetic opioids found in teddy bear-shaped pills linked to a death in Queensland

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Public health warning issued after drugs known as nitazenes detected amid move to ban pill testing

Teddy bear-shaped pills laced with synthetic opioids have been linked to a death in Queensland, triggering a public health warning about a group of highly potent illicit drugs called nitazenes.

N-pyrrolidino-protonitazene and protonitazene were detected in toxicology and samples taken from pale yellow pills marked with the letter “Y” in the state’s south-east.

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Fiery Senate exchange reveals investigation into coal firm allegedly clearing endangered greater glider habitat

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Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called environment department bureaucrats ‘weak’ - though later withdrew the remark

Australian government officials are investigating whether a coal mining company is putting threatened greater gliders and koalas at risk by illegally clearing bushland in central Queensland without approval under federal law.

The revelation came in a fiery Senate estimates hearing in which the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young criticised the Albanese government for not doing more to stop the clearing and described environment department bureaucrats as “weak” – an allegation she later withdrew.

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Cause of Gold Coast mass fish kill unknown with marine heatwave most likely culprit, scientists say

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Local community group says whatever the cause ‘kids shouldn’t be in the water’ with dead fish

Queensland authorities are investigating the deaths of thousands of fish that washed up on a popular Gold Coast beach.

The state environment department said dead baitfish had been observed at The Spit, at the northern end of the Gold Coast since last Wednesday, but no obvious source of pollution had been found.

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Australia news live: Moreton Island fire warning downgraded; Melbourne’s final Metro Tunnel station complete

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Crews worked through the night to contain a bushfire in the popular camping destination. Follow today’s news live

The alert for the Moreton Island fire has been downgraded to “advice” level this morning after fire crews worked over the weekend to contain the blaze.

The fire broke out on the island off Queensland’s south-east coast in dense national park near Eastern Beach at 10.30am on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of 20 campers to the western side of the island on the long weekend, AAP reports.

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Crisafulli insists on more shark nets to protect human lives despite trapped mother and baby whale

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Queensland premier says he won’t protect whales ‘at the expense of one single human’

Queensland’s premier said the state is “not for turning” on its plan to expand shark netting, and won’t put protecting whales “at the expense of one single human”.

A mother and baby humpback were discovered trapped in shark netting near Rainbow Beach on Saturday, the eighth and ninth whales to become entangled in nine days.

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Controversial Queensland mayor Troy Thompson resigns after corruption inquiry

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Thompson, accused of misleading voters about his military record, says he will now nominate in the byelection caused by his departure

A controversial north Queensland mayor accused of misleading voters about his army service has resigned.

Troy Thompson was suspended on full pay in November while the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) conducted an investigation.

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BHP blames ‘coal tax’ for job layoffs. But there’s obvious reasons coalmines aren’t as profitable anymore

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Rising wages and costs of having to dig deeper for minerals – not royalty payments – are behind job cuts in a sector that appears to be in decline

Australia’s big miners are not averse to a political fight.

Consider the biggest miner of them all: BHP.

Jonathan Barrett is business editor of Guardian Australia

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When Ziggy’s bond was withheld after eviction without cause from his Sydney rental, he challenged it – and won

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Advocates say it should be easier to dispute bond claims, as tenants in Australia’s toughest rental markets are increasingly losing their deposits

Ziggy Tow and his housemates thought they had had enough trouble after their property manager evicted them without grounds and listed their inner-Sydney home for an extra $300 a week.

Then the property manager claimed back all of the $3,400 they paid in bond to cover cleaning and repair fees.

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Queensland deputy premier labels BHP ‘unAustralian’ as mining giant blames job cuts on coal royalties scheme

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Jarrod Bleijie defends levy as BHP Mitsubishi Alliance moves to mothball Saraji South mine and slash 750 jobs

Queensland’s deputy premier has labelled BHP “unAustralian” and defended the state’s mining royalties scheme after the mining giant blamed it for its decision to mothball a coalmine and cut hundreds of jobs while also reviewing the future of its training academy.

On Wednesday, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) announced a decision to suspend operations at its Saraji South coalmine and slash 750 roles across the state, blaming “unsustainable” royalties and market conditions.

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Queensland government to ban pill testing in move criticised by health advocates

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Liberal National party expected to legislate ban this week, putting an end to testing of illicit drugs at festivals

Queensland’s state government is expected to ban pill testing, including at festivals, by attaching amendments to an unrelated bill in parliament in a move criticised by health advocates.

Under the previous Labor government, Queensland was the first state to establish a fixed pill-testing strategy on an ongoing basis, in 2024. Clinics were opened on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.

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Human rights commissioner blasts Queensland government’s ‘hostile’ approach to First Nations people

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Scott McDougall uses speech at parliament to warn the LNP is ‘walking us backwards’ on reconciliation as he prepares to exit role

Queensland’s human rights commissioner has blasted the state government’s “hostile”, “assimilationist” approach to First Nations people in a speech at Parliament House.

Scott McDougall, Queensland’s first-ever human rights commissioner, has consistently criticised both sides of politics over a range of issues, particularly the state’s youth law and order crackdown. His seven-year term in the role comes to an end next month.

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Up to 20 deaths linked to ‘end of life’ business that sourced veterinary drug through fake whale charity, police allege

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Police allege Gold Coast business owner used charity to secure euthanasia drugs as 53-year-old charged with aiding suicide and trafficking dangerous drugs

Police have uncovered an alleged “end of life” business believed to be linked to as many as 20 deaths, with investigations across three states after a man died from a veterinary euthanasia drug.

Queensland police have charged a Gold Coast man alleged to have operated the business, Brett Daniel Taylor, with two counts of aiding suicide and several drug offences including trafficking dangerous drugs.

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Jessica has 77 half-brothers and sisters through the same sperm donor. She wonders how many more there could be

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Queensland woman says its time for clinic to destroy 30-year-old samples as state and federal health ministers meet to push for reform

Queensland woman Jessica Hamilton has 77 half-brothers and sisters. But this week she learned that number could grow even further – swelled by new births.

In 1995, the year she was born, Queensland Fertility Group told Hamilton’s mother that she could expect to have between three and five siblings to other families.

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Brisbane teen faces court on terrorism charges after violent extremist material and chemicals allegedly seized

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Max Belter, 18, had a document linked to ‘proscribed terrorist organisations’ on his electronic devices, police allege

A teenager charged with terrorism offences has wept in court after violent extremist material and chemicals for explosives were allegedly found during a police raid.

Max Belter, 18, appeared in a green prison jumper in Brisbane magistrates court on Thursday after a joint terrorism taskforce searched his property at The Gap in Brisbane’s north.

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Bob Katter distances himself from neo-Nazi group associated with megaphone at anti-immigration protest

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Separately, Greens call on Queensland MP to ‘apologise or resign’ for verbal altercation with Channel Nine reporter last week

The federal MP Bob Katter has distanced himself from a neo-Nazi group that claimed ownership of a megaphone he used at a Townsville rally against mass immigration, with the veteran politician claiming he has been the victim of “bullying” in the media.

The Greens have separately called on Katter, the member for Kennedy, to “apologise or resign” over his verbal altercation with a Channel Nine reporter last week, asking the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission to investigate his conduct.

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‘Gender ideology’, quotas and anti-discrimination laws on the agenda for Queensland LNP state conference

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Despite premier David Crisafulli’s wish for his party to maintain a moderate outlook, members have presented a number of divisive social issues for debate this weekend

At this weekend’s state conference, Queensland Liberal National party members will debate banning gender-affirming care for children, repealing a ban on conversion practices and adopting a policy “whereby batteries, solar panels and wind turbines should no longer be deemed as renewables”.

Seven separate motions reference “gender ideology”, gender-affirming care or transgender people, but the word “abortion” does not appear on the agenda for the LNP’s first convention since winning last year’s state election.

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Rain and storms forecast for much of Australia’s east coast for every day next week

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Meteorologist says while there is disagreement over how much rain will fall, the general consensus is NSW and Queensland will have another wet week

For Australia’s east coast, the wet weeks are dragging on with no immediate reprieve in sight.

“I know people in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales will be sick of hearing this,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines told the ABC on Saturday. “But it will be another wet week across the eastern coastline, all the way from the Illawarra through New South Wales, through Sydney, Newcastle, through Brisbane up to the Wide Bay in Queensland”.

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Plan to extend Queensland coalmine would bulldoze ‘critical’ koala habitat

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Glencore says it is working with state and federal governments to minimise the impact of flora and fauna in the 680ha area west of Mackay

Habitat for threatened koalas that are part of a population described by one expert as nationally significant would be bulldozed under plans to extend a Queensland coalmine.

The campaign group Lock the Gate used drones with thermal imaging cameras to find 13 koalas in one night in trees earmarked for clearing by mining company Glencore.

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Byron writers festival cancelled and warnings for Sydney’s City2Surf due to east coast rain dump

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Major flood warning remains in place along Namoi River as parts of coastline receive almost double August monthly rainfall in eight days

Heavy rainfall across Australia’s eastern states has prompted the cancellation of the Byron writers festival and a warning for participants in Sunday’s City2Surf race in Sydney to take care, after parts of the east coast received nearly double the typical August monthly rainfall in eight days.

The Byron festival organisers said they were “devastated” to announce the cancellation of the annual event due to the condition of the festival site and ongoing rain, and that it was a “deeply regrettable but necessary decision”.

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Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching

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Researchers warn reef may reach tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events

The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its biggest annual drop in live coral in two out of three areas monitored by scientists since 1986, a new report has revealed.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) report is the first to comprehensively document the devastating impacts of the early 2024 mass coral bleaching event – the most widespread and severe on record for the Great Barrier Reef.

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