Toowoomba council votes for moratorium on coal seam gas projects

Council becomes sixth in Queensland to oppose development of new wells after farmer concerns about sinking soil and water contamination

The largest council in Queensland’s Darling Downs region has called on the state government to put a moratorium on new coal seam gas projects, after local farmers raised concerns about subsidence.

The Toowoomba regional council on Tuesday unanimously passed the motion that requested a temporary prohibition, after discussing a submission to the state government’s proposed amendments to the Regional Planning Interests Act.

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From a quadruple hat-trick to not getting a bowl: Gareth Morgan leaves third grade cricket fans hanging

The Mudgeeraba Bushman became a global star for taking six wickets in an over, but the world will have to wait to find out if he can extend his run

When a local sports reporter told Gold Coast cricketer Gareth Morgan he was going to write “a bit of an article” for the back page about Morgan’s six wickets in an over the day before, the 44-year-old was surprised.

“I said to him: that’s a little bit over the top for third grade cricket don’t you think?” Morgan recalls.

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Australia news live: ‘hunger for justice’ has swept the world, Assange’s father tells Melbourne pro-Palestine rally

Organisers of Sydney pro-Palestine rallies say they have been attended by 30,000 people, as thousands gather in cities around the country. Follow today’s news updates live

Julian Assange’s father to address pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne

A pro-Palestine rally will be addressed by the father of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, with organisers confident a large crowd is set to attend.

The Australian public are disgusted at the Albanese government’s refusal to call for ceasefire.

We’ve had people come who have never before been to a rally and the following week they return with their relatives and friends.

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South Australian police chief’s son dies after alleged hit and run during schoolies

Grant Stevens’ teenage son Charlie sustained a brain injury after allegedly being run down south-east of Adelaide, with a man later charged

The son of South Australia’s police commissioner has died in hospital after being struck by a car in an alleged hit-and-run incident during schoolies celebrations.

Charlie Stevens, 18, sustained an irreversible brain injury after being run down about 9pm on Friday in Goolwa, about 90km south-east of Adelaide, an emotional SA police deputy commissioner Linda Williams told reporters.

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Queensland Muslims ask for police protection over New Zealand far-right activist’s pro-Israel protest

Destinys Church founder Brian Tamaki says his event will include 200 men performing the haka and a speech from Avi Yemini

Queensland Muslims say they are fearful and have requested police protection after a New Zealand far-right activist scheduled a pro-Israel protest for the same central Brisbane location – but an hour earlier – than a planned pro-Palestine rally on Sunday.

The “Anzacs” rally in Brisbane is being promoted by Brian Tamaki, who is the founder of Destiny Church and has a history of Islamophobic comments.

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Australia news live: school strike for climate protests draw huge crowds in Melbourne and Sydney; Albanese says Apec leaders ‘very interested’ in Tuvalu deal

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‘A ceasefire is where we need to get to,’ Zoe Daniel says

Asked by RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas if she supports calls for a ceasefire, Zoe Daniel says:

If you call for a ceasefire, you’re letting down the Jewish community, if you don’t you’re allowing death and destruction to happen in Gaza.

At the end of the day, if I say to you right now, yes, I support ceasefire, that will make zero difference to what is happening in in Gaza.

I’m a former foreign correspondent. I know the logistics of this, of course, a ceasefire is where we need to get to, but you have a terrorist organisation in the middle of this. If there’s just a ceasefire, and there’s no capacity there to try to dismantle Hamas, does that allow Hamas to regroup? What does that actually lead to? That said, I’ve said to you before, very clearly, and I still stick to the position that the Israeli government has to adhere to international law and the rules of war, and I think, in some ways, has not been.

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Queensland government to moving to establish peak youth justice body as crime issues dominate

Exclusive: Palaszczuk government expected to begin process of establishing peak body amid pressure to crack down on youth crime

Queensland is looking to establish a youth justice peak body as the issue threatens to become a major sore point for the Palaszczuk government ahead of next year’s election.

Guardian Australia understands the state government will launch a competitive tender process and seek expressions of interest from multiple organisations across the sector.

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Nearly one in three children on Queensland’s serious repeat offender list under protection order

Government urged to do more to support young people in residential care to ‘break the cycle of offending’

Nearly one in three children on Queensland’s serious repeat offender index is under a child protection order, new figures show.

As of 30 June, 133 of 452 serious repeat offenders had child protection orders, which are made when the children’s court decides a young person needs to be protected from harm.

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Regional roads in dire state as Australian councils made to waste money on grants tribute signs: report

Grattan Institute says Australia’s regional roads are a ‘dangerous disgrace’ due to paltry federal funding

Regional Australian roads have become a “dangerous disgrace”, according to a new report that warns they will get worse due to paltry funding that favours cities and forces poorer regional councils to waste repair money erecting signs in tribute to government grants.

In a new report, the Grattan Institute has found that roads across the country have become riddled with potholes and other hazards because inadequate federal and state government funding has left councils under-resourced and without sufficient knowledge or data to maintain the roads they are responsible for.

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Woorabinda deaths: two toddlers dead after being found hours apart in same car in central Queensland

Police say two-year-old was pronounced dead in hospital before another boy was found at the same address, south-west of Rockhampton

Two toddlers are dead after being found inside the same parked car, several hours apart, in a central Queensland town.

Queensland police said they were investigating “the sudden deaths” of the two boys, aged two and three, after they were discovered in a car parked in the back yard of a Woorabinda home on Friday night.

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Townsville hospital audiology failures prompt millions in compensation and calls for national reform

The Queensland government will pay more than $2.2m to families of 97 patients of the hospital’s audiology unit

Townsville University hospital’s audiology unit programmed cochlear implants in some children incorrectly, misdiagnosed others, and even conducted hearing tests on an infant who was asleep, a damning independent review has found.

The clinic was poorly organised, staff were overworked, and key protocols “did not appear to be followed, leading to poor outcomes, monitoring, measurement, and reporting”, the report released on Wednesday said.

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Scrap stage-three tax cuts to fight inflation rather than cut infrastructure funding, Queensland says

Deputy premier Steven Miles says it’s ‘too late’ to cancel projects and any effect on demand is likely to be years away

The Queensland deputy premier has demanded that federal Labor explain why it is cutting infrastructure spending to fight inflation rather than revisiting controversial tax cuts for high income earners.

Steven Miles has upped the pressure on the Albanese government over looming infrastructure cuts in an opinion piece in the Courier-Mail, arguing it is “too late” to cut projects to fight inflation and urging it to reconsider stage-three tax cuts instead.

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Tired of waiting for a Queensland EPA, conservation group launches own ‘enforcement arm’

The Queensland Conservation Council says new entity will take ‘proactive actions’ to ensure state’s environmental laws are enforced

Queensland’s peak conservation group says it will launch a new “enforcement arm”, amid frustration at stalled government promises to establish an independent environmental regulator.

Every Australian state or territory – except Queensland – has an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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Greens threaten Brisbane landlords with huge rates rises if they increase rents

Greens unveil policy designed to freeze rents at January 2023 levels in battle for Brisbane city council

The Greens say they would introduce an effective rent freeze across Brisbane by enacting massive land rates increases for any property investors who increase the rent.

The announcement on Monday will be a centrepiece of the Greens’ campaign for the Brisbane city council, a city where nearly four in 10 homes are occupied by renters.

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Australia news live: treasurer denies he is interfering with RBA decisions ahead of tipped interest rate rise

RBA has left cash rate on hold for four months while warning it might need to keep pushing up interest rates if still-high inflation does not fall. Follow the day’s news updates live

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the prime minister’s official visit to China is not without challenges but is critical to a “prosperous relationship” between the two countries.

It’s the first official visit by a prime minister into China since 2016 and I think it recognises that this - a stable relationship - is in the interests of both countries. Now, we are clear-eyed about the complexities and the challenges of managing this relationship. But we give ourselves the best chance of prospering together if we engage with one another.

And we’ve already seen some of the fruits of that effort - something like 95% of the trade restrictions by dollar value have been lifted. That’s good for our businesses, our exporters, and our workers. And that’s why it’s so important that this engagement has been happening for some time and why it’s so important that this official visit is taking place this week.

I think this is a sort of rapprochement based on realism. As [Katharine Murphy] was saying earlier, from China’s point of view, they haven’t changed their long-term strategic or economic goals. And neither have we changed our strategic allegiances. But it suits both sides for lots of reasons to get the trade relationship flowing again, to get the economic relationship flowing again, and to be talking again. And that’s what this visit is going to achieve.

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Wet weather relief for NSW and Queensland firefighters while blazes encroach south of Perth

Rainfall is expected to fall on Saturday either side of the border after a torrid week of fires claimed more than 60 homes

Communities across Australia’s east coast are hoping a wet weekend will bring a reprieve to firefighters as rainfall starts to set in across New South Wales and Queensland.

But the bushfire threat has arisen in the west as parts of Western Australia experience extreme fire risk with threats to properties south of Perth.

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Scrap blue cards for First Nations kinship carers, Queensland family and child commissioner says

Damning report finds state’s blue card screening system creates unnecessary barriers to placing children with their families

Queensland’s family and child commissioner has called for blue card requirements to be scrapped for First Nations kinship carers after a report found the system relies on “irrelevant information, overpolicing and subjective assessments”.

Since 2001, Queenslanders who work around children have needed to obtain a blue card, with offences including drug trafficking, murder and child abuse disqualifying a person from obtaining one. But a report by the Queensland Family & Child Commission (QFCC) found blue cards create additional barriers to placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families.

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Wiggles ‘deeply disappointed’ over use of Hot Potato to deter homeless people – as it happened

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Watts has gone on to confirm that there are still 65 Australians stuck in Gaza that the government is “supporting” and are being provided consular assistance.

Watts says Dfat is working to get those individuals to the Rafah crossing and out of Gaza “as soon as possible”.

We know this is an incredibly distressing time for Australians in Gaza and their families and we are providing all possible support we can, communicating through all available channels the best information and options we have about their safety in a very difficult situation.

The circumstances on the ground are incredibly challenging and they are changing on a day to day basis. This is a conflict zone. It is a very difficult operating environment so we do the best job we can in the circumstances.

Crossings like this are the result of an enormous effort from Australian consular officials and diplomats in the region. So many conversations at the ministerial level, foreign minister Wong spoke with her counterparts in the region and we’re grateful that this initial cohort has made the crossing from Gaza to Egypt.

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Qld fires: state will ‘continue to burn’ without rain, as dozens of bushfires flare up across Queensland

Rural firefighters’ chief says Queensland in ‘survival mode’ amid dry weather, with 53 homes destroyed by fire in the Western Downs

Queensland is in “survival mode” as dozens of bushfires burn across the state and there is no rain on the horizon, the head of the volunteer firefighters association has said.

Firefighters have contained a bushfire at Tara, on the Western Downs four hours west of Brisbane, that destroyed 53 homes and claimed two lives. But fires have flared up to the north and south, with emergency warnings in place on Wednesday for a fire between Warwick and Stanthorpe on the Southern Downs.

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Queensland fires: conditions to deteriorate on Tuesday as authorities confirm 46 homes destroyed

More than 80 fires are burning across Queensland, with extreme fire conditions forecast for Darling Downs region

Forty-six homes have been destroyed in deadly Queensland fires as authorities warn conditions will continue to deteriorate on Tuesday.

Extreme fire conditions have been forecast for the Darling Downs region, with strong westerly winds and high temperatures expected to accelerate fires and fatigue firefighting crews.

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