Category Archives: Queensland

Brisbane man charged with murder after allegedly throwing elderly resident off balcony

Posted on by

Police allege the accused was ‘aggressively seeking items’ from units before knocking on alleged victim’s door

A Brisbane man charged with murdering an elderly resident by allegedly throwing him off a balcony had been aggressively going door-to-door at the unit complex, police have alleged.

Officers attended the residence on School Road in the Brisbane suburb of Yeronga about 1.40pm on Sunday after reports of a disturbance.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: two die after reportedly attending music festival; bushfire evacuation warning for campers in eastern Victoria

Posted on by

The two men in their 20s reportedly attended the Knockout music festival at Sydney Olympic Park. Follow the day’s news live

Reserve Bank not likely to move on interest rates

Australian borrowers are likely to be spared more interest rate pain this week, following the first Reserve Bank of Australia board meeting under its new governor.

Sydney: 594 auctions with a clearance rate of 71.7%

Melbourne: 159 auctions with a clearance rate of 66%

Brisbane: 82 auctions with a clearance rate of 70.7%

Adelaide: 58 auctions with a clearance rate of 79.3%

Canberra: 64 auctions with a clearance rate of 62.5%

Tasmania: No auctions held with two expected this weekend

Perth: Six of 13 auctions have been held

Continue reading...

Confused cows and more time after work: the pros and cons of daylight saving across Australia

Posted on by

At 2am on Sunday the clocks roll forward an hour in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT. So why aren’t Queensland, WA and the NT onboard?

Depending on who you ask, it’s either the most wonderful time of the year or the bane of their existence.

As most Australians sleep through Saturday night and into Sunday morning, time will skip ahead one hour – but only in some states and territories.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Kenyan politician who said ‘the devil has gone now’ after bashing three-year-old son jailed for manslaughter

Posted on by

Quincy Zuma Wambitta Timberlake, who ran for president in Kenya before moving to Brisbane, sentenced to 11 years

A refugee to Australia who had been a presidential candidate in Kenya said “the devil has gone now” after punching his son in the stomach and throwing the three-year-old against a bathroom wall.

Quincy Zuma Wambitta Timberlake was sentenced on Friday to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Sinclair, who died on his bedroom floor at Kallangur, north of Brisbane, in June 2014.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland court awards temporary order prohibiting the naming of high-profile man accused of rape

Posted on by

The man, facing two counts of rape in Toowoomba, was set to have been named under law changes due to take effect on Tuesday

A high-profile man accused of rape has been granted a temporary court order preventing him from being named when new Queensland laws come into effect next week.

In January the man was charged with two counts of raping a woman in Toowoomba in 2021, but he is yet to be committed to stand trial.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

This story was updated on 29 September 2023 after an earlier version said an interim order had been made by the court. A temporary order has been made.

Continue reading...

Locking up young people doesn’t create safer communities, Queensland children’s advocate says

Posted on by

‘Compassion just dissipates’ among public when young victims of abuse become offenders, expert says

Locking up young people makes the community less safe, one of Queensland’s leading children’s advocates said, as police announced another crackdown on youth offenders in Cairns.

Guardian Australia reported on Monday that a significant number of alleged victims uncovered during a police investigation into the exploitation of vulnerable children in Cairns, are also the targets of a government crackdown on youth crime.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Very little has shifted’: watch house case a major concern for First Nations group advising Queensland police

Posted on by

Exclusive: Leadership needs to act with urgency to address ‘culture of racism’ instead of focusing on ‘performative’ elements, says adviser

A key adviser to the Queensland police on First Nations issues says more urgency is required to fix racism in the ranks, amid concerns the service has failed to address widespread cultural problems exposed by a commission of inquiry.

Christine Thomas, the co-chair of the QPS First Nations advisory group, said the group “holds great concern that little has changed” since last year’s inquiry found a “failure of leadership” had allowed a culture of sexism, racism, fear and silence to take hold unchecked. The government responded by giving police $100m to enact reforms.

Continue reading...

Queensland man who died after snake rescue on weekend did not have venom in system

Posted on by

Family of Donald Morrison now believe he died of an underlying medical condition ‘he was unaware of’

A Queensland man who was thought to have died from a snake bite on the weekend when helping a friend did not have any venom in his body, a toxicology report has found.

Donald Morrison, who was in his 60s, was attending a reunion at Koumala state school in Queensland on Saturday when he was reportedly bitten on the arm and chest while removing the reptile that had coiled around his friend’s leg.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

High-profile man accused of rape could be named within weeks after change to Queensland law

Posted on by

State parliament votes to bring laws governing the naming of alleged sexual offenders into line with other offences and other states

Lawyers for a high-profile man accused of rape have until 3 October to seek a non-publication order or see their client named under new laws passed by Queensland parliament on Wednesday.

The new laws, which were a recommendation of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce in July 2022, bring Queensland into line with most other states and territories to allow the naming of accused sex offenders after they are charged. Previously, alleged offenders could only be named once they had been committed to stand trial.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland anti-corruption boss seeks ‘urgent’ legal change after high court curbs power to publish reports

Posted on by

Ruling in favour of former public trustee Peter Carne is ‘clearly not in the public interest’ according to CCC chair Bruce Barbour

Queensland’s anti-corruption body has criticised a high court ruling limiting its ability to publish the results of its investigations as “clearly not in the public interest”, joining with the state opposition to demand “urgent” legislative reform.

In a milestone decision announced on Wednesday, the court refused an appeal by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) to release its report on the state’s former public trustee Peter Carne.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland government urged to intervene after police staff in racist recordings go unpunished

Posted on by

Retired officers say a lack of accountability within the Queensland Police Service has allowed racism to fester

Former Queensland police say a lack of accountability within the service has allowed racism to fester after revelations that officers who joked about “beating and burying black people” have not been punished.

On Tuesday there were calls for the state government to intervene in the case, as well as stamp out the process of police investigating police, after Guardian Australia revealed four officers recorded making racist comments had escaped sanction.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘It’s like they’re impervious’: fury at let off for Queensland police staff in racist recordings

Posted on by

Exclusive: Lack of punishment follows repeated promises by police commissioner Katarina Carroll to crack down on racism and misogyny within service

Officers recorded making “sickening” racist comments while working inside a Brisbane watch house have escaped sanction, despite repeated promises by the police commissioner to crack down on racism and misogyny within the service.

Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said at a press conference last year she believed officers making such comments “should not be in the organisation” after Guardian Australia exclusively published the leaked recordings.

The tapes revealed officers joking about beating and burying black people, referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos”, and raising fears of “outbreeding” by Muslim immigrants.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Annastacia Palaszczuk digs in with ‘ruthless people’ swipe as leadership speculation swirls

Posted on by

The Queensland premier defends her record as a political underdog but Labor MPs agitating for change remain unconvinced

When Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is “absolutely determined” to lead Labor to another election in Queensland, no one has any doubt that she means it.

“I feel refreshed, I feel energised,” the Queensland premier said on Monday, returning from leave to address worsening polls and growing unrest among government MPs.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland man in 60s dies from snake bite after removing animal from friend’s leg

Posted on by

Ambulance service uncertain of the species that bit the man but says symptoms point to a brown snake

A man in his 60s has died from a snake bite in central Queensland, after helping to remove a snake which had coiled around his friend’s leg.

Two men were treated by the Queensland Ambulance Service in Koumala, a town 60km south of Mackay, shortly after 6.30pm on Saturday evening.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Will she stay or go? Annastacia Palaszczuk returns to slow-motion leadership turmoil

Posted on by

Despite growing discontent and sagging poll numbers, Queensland Labor’s leadership will probably only change if the premier resigns – or deputy Steven Miles mounts a challenge

Twenty-four hours is supposed to be a long time in politics. But the past fortnight in Queensland has felt like watching the continents drift apart.

Annastacia Palaszczuk returns from leave on Monday to confront the first serious threat to her leadership since 2012, when she took the wheel of a Labor opposition that could fit comfortably inside a Toyota Tarago.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Seatbelt camera glitch: hundreds of Queensland drivers had licences taken away by mistake

Posted on by

Design fault blamed for drivers, who were caught with a passenger breaking seatbelt laws, being issued double demerit points

A design fault in Queensland’s mobile phone and seatbelt cameras led to almost 2,000 people being incorrectly fined and more than 600 drivers losing their licence.

Transport minister Mark Bailey said he was made aware of the issue on Wednesday, with his department requesting urgent legal advice.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Deeply disturbed’: names of 64 alleged child sex abuse victims mistakenly given to media in Queensland court blunder

Posted on by

Exclusive: Authorities move to notify families after children’s names were provided in unredacted documents

Authorities are notifying the families of 64 alleged victims of an accused Queensland paedophile after their identities were mistakenly made available to journalists.

The state’s attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, apologised for the “breach of victims’ privacy” on Friday morning and announced an inquiry into the error.

Continue reading...

Sarah Holland-Batt wins $25,000 top prize at Queensland literary awards

Posted on by

The poet’s premier’s award for The Jaguar, a collection about the death of her father, follows Stella prize win earlier this year

Sarah Holland-Batt’s “technically brilliant and experimental” poetry collection about the death of her father, The Jaguar, has won the $25,000 top prize at the Queensland literary awards, fresh after her Stella prize win earlier this year.

The 40-year-old’s third collection, covering her father’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, his time in aged care and his death two decades later, won the premier’s award for a work of state significance on Wednesday night.

Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

‘Should never have happened’: Queensland apologises for neglect and abuse of brothers with autism

Posted on by

Disability royal commission finds state should have done more to protect pair, who were found malnourished in house with dead father

The Queensland government has apologised to two boys with autism who were found severely malnourished, naked and locked in a squalid room after their father died.

The child safety minister, Craig Crawford, said he was “disgusted” to learn about the abuse and neglect experienced by the teenage brothers over two decades, as revealed by the disability royal commission.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland company accused of bribery in Nauru says charge should be dropped as fair trial ‘impossible’

Posted on by

Exclusive: Lawyers for Getax Australia say ‘unjustified and inexplicable delays’ from the prosecution mean evidence has been lost and essential witnesses have died

A Queensland exporter accused of systematically bribing Nauruan politicians for favourable mining deals on the Pacific island has applied to have a charge of foreign bribery permanently stayed, arguing “a fair trial is impossible” and accusing Australian authorities of mishandling the investigation and losing key evidence.

Court documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that lawyers for Getax Australia Pty Ltd have applied for a permanent stay. If successful, it would effectively permanently halt the company’s prosecution.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...