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.
Continue reading...Former celebrity blogger expected to face court. Follow updates live
What will happen if there’s a storm during today’s Taylor Swift concert?
With a thunderstorm forecast at Sydney Olympic Park this evening, many are asking what this means for the Eras tour?
The show will play, rain or shine. The only exception would be severe weather, which could impact the safety of artists and patrons. Such a decision would be made by NSW Police, the event promoters and Venues NSW staff.
Please follow venue screens and staff instructions in these circumstances.
Continue reading...Indigenous leader says yes campaign lacked necessary bipartisanship and federal reform for Aboriginal people has ‘come to a complete standstill’
Indigenous leader Mick Gooda will blame a flawed “crash through or crash” strategy for the failed voice to parliament referendum, arguing in a speech that the result has seen federal reforms for Aboriginal people “come to a complete standstill”.
In a speech to be delivered at the National Aboriginal Press Club in Brisbane on Friday, the co-chair of the Queensland Interim Truth and Treaty Body, planned to say the yes campaign’s strategy lacked necessary bipartisanship or detail, while criticising the negative tactics used by the no campaign, which he believed received funding from people or groups in the US.
Continue reading...Man aged in his 80s kept the substance in his home after it was no longer required for another person, coroner told
A man who took a voluntary assisted dying substance intended for someone else was found dead at home by his adult daughter, an inquest has heard.
“I thought he was asleep in the chair. I put my arms around him. He was cold,” the woman said.
Continue reading...Both Noemi Kondacs and the baby’s father, Reinhardt Bosch, have been charged over son Rhuan’s death in Yugar, near Brisbane, in 2022
A woman accused of murdering her seven-month-old baby boy has been committed to stand trial in a Brisbane court.
Noemi Kondacs was charged with murder and torture after her arrest on the day Rhuan Immanuel Bosch died in November 2022.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Family calls for inquest, saying Wilkinson visited police ‘almost every day’ before she was murdered by her husband in 2021
In the final frantic days before she was murdered, Kelly Wilkinson visited multiple police stations, warning she was in danger. Official police notes say she was “cop shopping”.
On Wednesday, Wilkinson’s estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, a former US Marine, pleaded guilty to her murder. A court has previously heard that Johnston tied Wilkinson to a clothesline and set her on fire on 20 April 2021.
Continue reading...Opposition leader calls on home affairs minister Clare O’Neil to provide explanation on whether government has ‘lost control’ of borders. Follow the day’s news live
About 400 requests for assistance remaining in Victoria, SES says
The Victorian state emergency service says there are about 400 active requests for assistance remaining, after the extreme weather earlier this week.
We’re making good progress restoring services following the severe storms in Victoria, with more than 90% of our mobile sites now back online.
Many of our network sites have back up power that kept services running after the storms hit, but that back-up power may not last during extended power outages.
Continue reading...Candidate in 2022 federal election facing up to 12 months’ prison if found guilty of knowingly providing false or misleading information
A Liberal National party candidate in the last federal election has faced court accused of providing false information about his residential address to the electoral commission.
Vivian Rakesh Lobo was issued a summons to appear in Brisbane magistrates court on Friday after a federal police investigation followed a referral from the Australian Electoral Commission.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall is expected to hit the Gulf of Carpentaria coast with a risk of a possible tropical cyclone from Thursday. This blog is now closed
Not everyone voted to bring Julian Assange back to Australia
Looking at the Hansard, it seems there were 11 MPs who abstained from voting on the Assange motion:
Continue reading...Prosecutors previously alleged Brian Earl Johnston, 37, tied up the mother-of-three before dousing her with petrol and setting her alight
The estranged husband of Kelly Wilkinson, who was doused in petrol and set alight, has pleaded guilty to her murder less than a month before his scheduled trial.
Brian Earl Johnston, 37, appeared before Brisbane supreme court on Wednesday via video link for arraignment on one count of murdering 27-year-old Wilkinson on 20 April 2021 in a Gold Coast backyard as a domestic violence offence.
Continue reading...Cryptosporidium parasite causes 498 diarrhoea cases in NSW this year and 736 in Queensland in January alone
Health authorities are urging people with diarrhoea to avoid swimming pools as cryptosporidiosis infections surge across New South Wales and Queensland.
The cryptosporidium parasite, which causes acute diarrhoea and can survive in chlorinated water for many days, has been responsible for 498 cases of diarrhoea in NSW this year – a five-fold increase on the five-year average of 95 for the same period.
Continue reading...Meat and Livestock Australia says it has reduced emissions by 65% on 2005 levels but data analysis suggests figures underpinning claim are ‘erroneous’
Greenhouse gas reduction figures celebrated by Australia’s red meat industry are based on unreliable land-clearing data and could be erroneous, an independent analysis has found.
In Queensland, where roughly 44% of the national cattle herd grazes and the majority of land clearing has occurred, the Statewide Landcover and Tree Study (Slats) has recorded deforestation at almost twice the rate of the national system used to calculate emissions on the red meat industry.
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Continue reading...The speed of recent pivots reveals there is genuine concern that people are uneasy about the Games amid rising housing and cost of living pressures
Denver, Colorado, is the only place to ever cancel the Olympic Games. The city had won the right to host the 1976 Winter Games, but withdrew amid mounting local opposition.
“We ought to say to the nation and the world, ‘We’re sorry … we made a mistake. Take the Games elsewhere,” state representative Bob Jackson told the Associated Press in 1971.
Continue reading...With less than nine months before an election, lobby group is yet to find an independent candidate who aligns with their values
Less than nine months out from the Queensland state election, not a single ‘teal’ candidate has emerged to attract funding from influential lobby group Climate 200.
Experts say it’s increasingly unlikely credible teal challengers will emerge ahead of the October poll, given the time needed for an independent to build name recognition in the electorate.
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