Category Archives: Queensland

LNP vows to cut Queensland’s use of consultants if it wins power at 2024 state election

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David Crisafulli promises real-time health data and housing fund changes in budget reply

A Liberal National party government would take an axe to the Queensland government’s “obsession” with consultants in a wider public service overhaul if the party wins next year’s state election.

The state’s opposition leader, David Crisafulli, also used his budget reply to promise to make real-time health data available, establish a social enterprise investment fund, changes to housing funding and appoint a victims of crime commissioner.

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Police search for mother and child after newborn taken from Queensland hospital

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Police have issued an amber alert for a missing child after two women were seen taking a baby from Ipswich hospital

The search continues for a mother who is believed to have taken her newborn baby from a Queensland hospital.

Two women were seen taking the baby from Ipswich hospital on Monday and putting her into a white Suzuki, which has since been located.

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Treasurer Cameron Dick all smiles as coal fight results in billions flowing into Queensland’s budget

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Labor’s voter-pleasing cost-of-living handouts, new housing and health funding have now been linked to increasing royalties on mining profits

A year ago, common logic suggested the Queensland government was taking a huge political risk by increasing royalties on record-high coal prices, and picking a fight with the cashed-up mining sector.

Plans to increase taxes on the miners have been historically fraught. Meanwhile, the wounds inflicted on Labor by the Adani saga still feel fresh.

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Queensland promises 500 new homes under $320m social housing commitment

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Annastacia Palaszczuk says the government is ‘pulling every lever possible’ amid a housing shortage

The Palaszczuk government will unveil more than $320m for 500 homes under a new social housing pledge when it hands down the Queensland budget on Tuesday.

As the state continues to grapple with a housing shortage the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the government was “pulling every lever possible” to ensure Queenslanders had a roof over their heads.

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Boy, 16, charged after woman and girl allegedly found stabbed in family tragedy in Queensland

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Police say emergency services found woman, 39, and girl, 11, with a number of wounds at home in Rosewood, west of Brisbane

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after a woman and a girl were allegedly found stabbed in a family tragedy in Queensland.

Queensland police said emergency services went to a home at Rosewood, west of Brisbane, on Thursday night, where they found the woman, 39, and the girl, 11, with a number of wounds to the abdomen.

In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

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Innocent Queensland children pleading guilty to avoid harsh bail laws, lawyers say

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Many children on remand who may be exonerated or not sentenced are pleading guilty to escape long periods of detention

Young people in Queensland are pleading guilty to offences they did not commit – or where there is little evidence to support charges – to avoid spending extreme periods on remand in the state’s buckling youth justice system, lawyers say.

Queensland has the nation’s largest youth prison population, and recent data obtained by Guardian Australia reveals 88% of children in detention centres and police watch houses were being held unsentenced.

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Alleged sexual assault victim unable to be examined at local hospital due to staff shortages, Queensland MP says

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Labor MP Tom Smith raises concerns after speaking to alleged victim who was taken in the back of a police car to a hospital 90 minutes away

An alleged victim of a sexual assault was transported by Queensland police to a hospital 90 minutes away as staff shortages meant she was unable to be examined at her local hospital, a state Labor MP has claimed.

Tom Smith, the MP for Bundaberg, said he was concerned about the pressures on the state’s health system after speaking to the alleged victim.

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Fraser Island no more: K’gari’s official name change corrects a historic wrong

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Queensland government reinstates name at ceremony attended by hundreds of traditional owners

Queensland’s iconic Fraser Island has had its name reinstated to K’gari in a historic ceremony attended by hundreds of traditional owners and government officials.

It’s a fitting title for the world’s largest sand island, with K’gari (pronounced gurri) translating to paradise in the local Butchulla language.

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School bus driver and two camels killed in central Queensland crash

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The man was on his way to work when he crashed into the escaped animals in Livingstone, police say

A school bus driver has been killed after he crashed into two escaped camels in central Queensland.

Both camels were also killed in the crash on Emu Park Road in Livingstone, east of Rockhampton, shortly after 5am on Monday, police said.

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Can your suburb help fix Australia’s housing crisis? It all comes down to density

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Despite adding millions of people and dwellings over the past decade, our cities are well behind globally in terms of population density

Skyrocketing rents and a projected home shortage have sparked fierce debate on the most effective ways to address Australia’s housing crisis.

Experts say one of the most effective fixes is to increase the supply of housing, specifically infilling urban areas to increase the density of areas where people actually want to live.

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Palaszczuk pledges $500m for renewables as Labor sharpens pitch for 2024 state election

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Premier suffered lowest approval rating on record in recent poll but message at Queensland Labor state conference was about unity

The first day of the Queensland Labor state conference was as rehearsed as the government probably hoped, with little infighting or division on display.

In the sugar town of Mackay, where Labor has held the state seat for more than a century, MPs were keen to portray the government as a united front ahead of next October’s election and to keep the focus on three key pressure points: cost of living, health and youth crime.

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Marion Barter disappearance: former lover challenged over assertion missing woman is still alive

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Final day of inquest concludes as key witness Ric Blum tells counsel he ‘can’t remember’ details of important conversation with Barter

The former lover of missing woman Marion Barter has been challenged over his assertion to the inquest into her disappearance that he believed she was still alive.

Ric Blum on Thursday told the long-running inquest he had come to that conclusion because Barter had told him “she wanted to separate from her family. She didn’t want anything to do with any member of her family”.

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March of the fire ants could reach Sydney’s outskirts by 2035, costing economy up to $1.2bn a year

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Exclusive: Study finds pests could damage crops, and households would incur costs for pesticides, veterinary bills and electrical faults

Failure to stop the spread of an outbreak of invasive fire ants in south-east Queensland could cost the Australian economy more than $1bn a year, including damage to high-value crops, infrastructure and homes.

A previously unreleased cost-benefit analysis, commissioned by a steering committee managing the outbreak of red fire ants and obtained by Guardian Australia, says that eradication of the species provides “much higher returns” than suppression measures that simply limit its spread.

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Lonely hearts ad led another woman to key witness in Marion Barter’s disappearance, inquest hears

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Coroner seeking to establish what happened to Gold Coast school teacher, subject of The Lady Vanishes podcast

Ghislaine Dubois-Danlois was 72 and at a low point in her life when she put a lonely hearts ad in a newspaper in 2006. A widow, she was “exhausted” and “wanted to think about something new”.

“I wasn’t looking into the future,” she told a Lismore court via satellite link from her home in Brussels on Wednesday.

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Warm winter weather awaits Australians after month of record-breaking cold

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After shivering through an unexpectedly cold May, BoM forecasts higher-than-average daytime temperatures, along with colder nights and less rain

Winter is coming … even though it may not feel like it.

With Thursday marking the first day of winter, much of Australia can look forward to a warmer-than-average season, after a historically cold May for much of the east coast.

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‘Elevated’ lead levels detected in water at far-north Queensland hospital

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Atherton hospital staff were offered blood tests but the state’s chief health officer says he would be ‘very surprised’ if they showed high levels of lead

Lead contamination has been discovered in the water at a new hospital building and at an Aboriginal health clinic in far-north Queensland.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) announced that a number of water samples taken at the new clinical services building at Atherton hospital and at a health facility in nearby Yarrabah contained lead at levels that exceeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended guidelines for safe drinking water.

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‘Doesn’t make any sense’: call for Queensland home park rent caps to apply to all tenants

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Advocates for renters say state shouldn’t play favourites with proposed limits on rent increases

It’s “unfair” that a proposed rent cap for Queensland manufactured home park residents will not be considered for tenants in the wider private housing market, advocates say.

Manufactured home parks are marketed as retirement villages for those over 50, where residents lease the land from the park owner, with rent going towards shared facilities and utilities.

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Nationals leader repays Gold Coast travel expense claim he made after he ‘sought the wrong advice’

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David Littleproud left parliament early in February to travel to the Gold Coast, three days after he and his spouse settled on a new apartment there

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has repaid travel expenses he claimed after leaving parliament early to travel to the Gold Coast in February.

In a statement Littleproud said he had “mistakenly sought the wrong advice” and “incorrectly” re-entered Queensland in between sitting weeks via the Gold Coast.

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Queensland changes laws to accommodate UN prisons inspectors

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A UN anti-torture subcommittee suspended its inspections last year after being refused access to some facilities

The Queensland government has passed a bill to remove legislative barriers that prohibited UN officials from visiting places of detention during their visit to Australia last year.

A UN anti-torture subcommittee suspended its tour of Australian detention facilities in October after Guardian Australia revealed Queensland refused access to some mental health facilities that hold people charged with crimes, while New South Wales blocked inspectors from entering all of its detention facilities.

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Meteor blazes across north Queensland sky with blast of light and sound

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Footage captured from Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria shows growing fireball exploding with a loud boom

The north Queensland sky was briefly set alight on Saturday night as a meteor blazed through the atmosphere, exploded, and came to earth with a tremendous boom.

Footage captured on smartphones, dashcams and security cameras by businesses and residents from Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria circulated on social media on Sunday, showing a fireball growing rapidly in size as it approached the Earth, followed by a blast of greenish-blue light.

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