Category Archives: Queensland

Australia news live: defence strategic review ‘a cannibalisation of army mobility’, Hastie says; Victorian jockey dies after race fall

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Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live

Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll

In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.

They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.

People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.

We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.

A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”

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Queensland to decriminalise sex work as review recommends new advertising rules

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Government ‘broadly supportive’ as report recommends allowing for ads and scrapping of police powers

Queensland will decriminalise sex work after a long-awaited review recommended sweeping changes to the industry to combat violence, discrimination and exploitation.

A landmark review into sex work by the Queensland Law Reform Commission has made 47 recommendations, including scrapping the Prostitution Licensing Authority, repealing some police powers and allowing services to be advertised on radio and TV.

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Advice on voice a ‘cynical political tactic’ to confuse voters, Coalition claims – as it happened

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Ed Husic says board appointments alone won’t guarantee RBA diversity

The ministry for industry, Ed Husic, says he believes new appointments to the RBA board alone isn’t enough to bring diversity to the central bank – he says there need to be “deeper structures” put in place.

As a government, I can give you this assurance. We do like to take into account people’s views from different vantage points. I do think it is important that where decisions have an impact – not just in terms of investors or industry but the people that work in them or the broader community – I think it’s a healthier decision …

Some people will fix on ‘well, someone should have a seat at the board’ for that to occur and I understand why they’ll make those arguments. I’m not necessarily convinced that that specifically guarantees that will occur, just having one person on the board. There need to be a lot deeper structures for people to have that sense that they’ve had a say and that they can have an ability to influence and inform decision making.

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Three strikes: NSW falls behind rest of nation as Queensland reforms drug possession laws

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Queensland health minister says progressive changes will open up pathways for people to receive treatment

New South Wales will become the only state that doesn’t allow cautions for people possessing drugs after Queensland moved to mandate a three-strike system.

Doctors, police and drug reform advocates are welcoming reforms, passed on Thursday night, that will see Queensland take a more progressive approach to policing the personal consumption of illegal drugs.

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Untrained cosmetic ‘surgeons’ could face jail time under Queensland reforms

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State government’s move follows agreement of nation’s health ministers to reform the industry

Cosmetic “surgeons” with no recognised medical training face a range of new penalties in Queensland after an overhaul of industry regulations.

The state will introduce tough new legislation after health ministers across the country agreed to a national approach to reform the burgeoning industry.

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Humpbacks spotted having whale of a time at underwater ‘day spa’ off Gold Coast

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Griffith University researcher captures video of five whales doing ‘bizarre rolls’ on the sea floor as they exfoliate and socialise

Whales have been caught on camera enjoying a marine version of a day spa, returning to their favourite spot off the Gold Coast to scratch off itchy skin and parasites, and catch up with their cetacean buddies.

Griffith University whale researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke and his colleagues were trying to shed light on the behaviour of competing pods of humpbacks that use Gold Coast waters to rest, breed and socialise.

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Off-duty Queensland police officer filmed head-butting 14-year-old Indigenous boy

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Youth involved in late-night altercation in Dalby says he feels he was targeted because of the colour of his skin

An off-duty police constable has been filmed head-butting a 14-year-old Indigenous teenager in the face in a late-night altercation outside a McDonald’s in regional Queensland.

The state’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said an Ethical Standards Command investigation has been launched, describing the officer’s actions as “inappropriate”.

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Queensland MP to retire at 2024 election despite being cleared of allegation he misspent taxpayer funds

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Parliament clerk finds claim Labor’s Jim Madden used public money to buy an artwork for former partner ‘not substantiated’

The embattled Queensland Labor MP Jim Madden has announced he will not contest the next state election despite being cleared by parliament of allegations he used taxpayer funds to buy artwork for his then-girlfriend.

Last week the Australian reported allegations that he had spent taxpayer funds buying a butterfly artwork for his former partner Sarah Grist at a school charity auction in September 2018, before later asking for it back.

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Queensland council seeks to block disability housing project over fast-tracking concerns

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Two-storey development south-east of Brisbane at the centre of legal battle amid a housing crisis across the state

A legal stoush has broken out between a disability accommodation developer and a suburban Queensland council over a two-storey project and whether it deserves to be fast-tracked amid a housing crisis across the state.

Disability Homes Investments (DHI) said it is developing the property to house people with disabilities on a quiet street in Cleveland, south-east of Brisbane.

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Man charged with foreign interference to remain behind bars until Monday – as it happened

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The 55-year-old businessman appeared via video link at Parramatta magistrates court. This blog is now closed

‘Really disturbing footage’: David Pocock responds to gas seep video

Senator David Pocock has called the video showing large methane gas bubbles active on the surface of Queensland’s Condamine River “really disturbing footage”.

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Six-year-old girl in serious condition following dog attack south of Brisbane

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Two dogs seized by council from a Woodridge property after the child sustained significant abdominal, chest and shoulder injuries

A six-year-old girl is in a serious condition in hospital after being mauled by a dog south of Brisbane over the Easter long weekend.

Police and paramedics were called to a house in Woodridge just after 4.30pm on Monday after reports a girl had sustained multiple bites from a large dog.

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Cold snap to continue after Easter brings snow to Australia’s eastern states

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‘Very cold and gusty’ winds have lowered temperatures up and down the east coast and brought warnings of wild surf conditions

Australia’s east coast is shivering through an unseasonal cold snap with the cloudy, wet and windy Easter weekend weather expected to linger.

Much of the south-east coast, including New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania will experience cold weather throughout the week, with cooler-than-average temperatures expected until at least Thursday.

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Coal seam gas waste plan risks washing ‘5m tonnes of salt into the Murray-Darling Basin’

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Critics say a proposal to dispose of salt from waste brine by burying it in lined landfill is ‘not a long-term solution’

Local landholders and advocacy groups in southern Queensland have criticised the state government’s plans to store millions of tonnes of coal seam gas waste in lined landfills, saying it risks contaminating the Murray-Darlin Basin.

They have also questioned the integrity of the government’s long-awaited waste management action plan for coal seam gas brine, saying it relies on research from oil and gas lobby group the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) and the University of Queensland Centre for Natural Gas, whose donors include Arrow Energy, Australia Pacific LNGand Santos.

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Queensland police investigate whether disappearance of elderly woman linked to recycling

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Brisbane detectives believe Lesley Trotter has died, and ‘have not ruled out’ potential neighbourhood dispute

Queensland police believe an elderly woman who has been missing for 12 days from inner-city Brisbane has died, and are investigating whether her disappearance is linked to her habit of removing recyclable waste from neighbourhood bins.

Homicide detectives have joined the search for Lesley Trotter’s remains after the 78-year-old last spoke to her family on 27 March and was not at her Toowong home when they visited the following day.

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Pilot walks away from light plane crash near train tracks in Queensland

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AirMedpatient transfer plane forced into emergency landing in Brisbane rail corridor with cause unknown

A pilot was left with only minor injuries after their light plane crash landed on to a rail corridor south of Brisbane.

The aircraft, an AirMedpatient transfer plane, was forced into an emergency landing just after 6.10am on Friday in Hillcrest, with only the pilot on board.

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Police appeal for return of platypus spotted travelling on Brisbane train

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Two people were seen boarding the train with the animal wrapped in a towel

A platypus believed to have been taken from the wild and transported on a Brisbane train urgently needs to be returned to its natural environment, officials say.

Two people were spotted boarding the train at Morayfield on Tuesday with a platypus wrapped in a towel, Queensland police said.

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‘Astonishing’: cost of Inland Rail doubles to $30bn as review savages Coalition over project

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Dr Kerry Schott warns she is not confident her assessment captures the full extent of cost blowouts and delays

The predicted price tag of the Inland Rail megaproject has almost doubled in two years to more than $30bn, as an independent review savages the former Coalition government’s handling of the plan.

In her independent review of the Inland Rail, commissioned by the Albanese government last year and released on Thursday, Dr Kerry Schott also flagged further delivery delays of at least four years.

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Queensland government concedes victims ‘may be disappointed’ by police disciplinary bungle

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Mark Ryan says many will be ‘disappointed’ by court decision that may see hundreds of sanctions overturned

The Queensland government has acknowledged victims “may be disappointed” by revelations that hundreds of disciplinary sanctions against police officers could be invalidated by a ruling of the state’s court of appeal.

The court last week found that disciplinary proceedings against two police officers – Det Sen Sgt David Cousins and Sgt William Johnson – had been brought incorrectly and were “invalid”. The court heard that a delegate for the police commissioner failed to appoint a specific officer to act as the “prescribed officer” after referring the allegations to the office of state discipline.

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Townsville pushes build-to-rent scheme in bid to address rental crisis

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Experts say there’s little evidence that a privately-owned single landlord development would increase housing affordability

Local authorities in Townsville are seeking $40m in government funding to support a 1,000 unit build-to-rent scheme that the local council says could help tackle the rental crisis in the northern Queensland city, where the number of homes available for rent for less than $400 a week has halved in the past three years.

However, critics say there is little evidence to suggest this method, which sees developers act as landlords and let directly to tenants, will increase affordability.

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