Category Archives: Queensland

Police search national park for Queensland teenager Pheobe Bishop after ‘suspicious’ disappearance

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Good Night Scrub park, about an hour from where the 17-year-old was last seen, is ‘crucial’ to land, water and aerial search

The search of a national park is “crucial” to an investigation into a missing teenager in south Queensland as police continue a land, water and aerial search more than a week after her disappearance.

On Saturday, Queensland police said they were relying “heavily” on information from the public for leads, after expanding the search for Pheobe Bishop to include the Good Night Scrub national park.

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Police search national park for Queensland teenager Pheobe Bishop after ‘suspicious’ disappearance

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Good Night Scrub park, about an hour from where the 17-year-old was last seen, is ‘crucial’ to land, water and aerial search

The search of a national park is “crucial” to an investigation into a missing teenager in south Queensland as police continue a land, water and aerial search more than a week after her disappearance.

On Saturday, Queensland police said they were relying “heavily” on information from the public for leads, after expanding the search for Pheobe Bishop to include the Good Night Scrub national park.

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Award judges resign after Queensland state library strips writer’s prize over Hamas tweet

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One resignation letter expresses ‘disgust’ over library’s decision to rescind First Nations author’s $15,000 award after arts minister weighs in

At least four judges for the Queensland literary awards have resigned over the past 24 hours, protesting against the State Library of Queensland’s decision to withdraw a prestigious $15,000 fellowship from First Nations writer Karen Wyld over comment she made last year about the Gaza conflict.

The 2022 Stella award winning poet Evelyn Araluen, Wiradjuri academic and writer Dr Jeanine Leane, writer and reviewer Nigel Featherstone and Gamilaroi poet Luke Patterson all confirmed to Guardian Australia on Friday they have resigned from the awards’ judging panels. It is believed several other judges have also resigned, but wish to remain anonymous.

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Queensland to restrict good character references in sentencing of accused rapists

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Good character references from friends and families of accused rapists had previously been a consideration in a judge’s sentencing decision

The consideration of good character references for accused rapists will be restricted under major Queensland court reforms but some advocates say it does not go far enough.

The changes introduced to Queensland parliament this week are among the recommendations made by a Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council report into rape and sexual assault.

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A bridge too far: Brisbane grapples with the multimillion-dollar cost of revitalising an icon

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Cash-strapped council may seek to raise funds from rate-payers, state and federal governments, or road users to fix 85-year-old Story Bridge

When the ribbon was cut on Brisbane’s Story Bridge on 6 July 1940 it was not an auspicious time to open a new bridge.

Five days earlier, the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge had opened in Washington State.

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Queensland government held 21-minute consultation on puberty blocker ban at same time it announced decision

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Exclusive: Legal challenge launched as expert says an alleged failure to conduct ‘genuine’ consultations could lead to ban being overturned

The legality of Queensland’s ban on puberty blockers has been questioned after it was revealed the state government undertook 21 minutes of internal consultation at the same time as a press conference announcing the decision.

According to one administrative law expert, an alleged failure to conduct “genuine” consultation could lead to it being overturned in a legal challenge launched this week.

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Three children dead after suspicious fire in Toowoomba home

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A nine-year-old boy is believed to have died in the fire while girls aged four and seven died later in hospital from critical burns

Two young children have died in hospital after a ferocious fire at a family home, taking the death toll to three.

The house in suburban Harristown in Toowoomba, about 130km west of Brisbane in the Darling Downs region, went up in flames in the early hours of Wednesday.

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Queensland unions predict ‘hell of a bloody fight’ if LNP attacks nurses’ right to strike

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State government offered to backdate wages for nurses and midwives on condition they do not undertake protected industrial action in May

The Queensland union movement has warned the state’s conservative government it will be in for a “hell of a bloody fight” if it pursues threats to strip nurses and midwives of backpay should they enact their legal right to strike.

A pay dispute between the LNP government and the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU) is ongoing after their previous enterprise agreement expired on 31 March.

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Man charged with murder over wife’s Queensland kayak drowning tried to claim $1m insurance, police allege

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Graeme Davidson lived in Thailand for a ‘number of years’ and was arrested and charged with murder, fraud and attempted fraud while visiting Brisbane

Years after his wife died while kayaking, a man has been accused of murder and trying to claim more than $1m in life insurance.

Graeme Davidson, 55, who now lives in Thailand, was charged over the death of his wife, Jacqueline.

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Two people hospitalised and Anzac Day services cancelled after wild weather hits south-east Queensland

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Lightning strikes hit two houses as parts of Sunshine Coast receive up to 240mm of rain overnight

Wild weather in Queensland has seen two people hospitalised after lightning struck their homes, while some Anzac Day services have been cancelled due to rain.

A spokesperson for the Queensland ambulance service said paramedics had been called early on Friday morning to two incidents north of Brisbane.

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More than 80% of the world’s reefs hit by bleaching after worst global event on record

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An ashen pallor and an eerie stillness all that remains where there should fluttering fish and vibrant colours in the reefscape, one conservationist says

The world’s coral reefs have been pushed into “uncharted territory” by the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the planet’s reefs, scientists have warned.

Reefs in at least 82 countries and territories have been exposed to enough heat to turn corals white since the global event started in January 2023, the latest data from the US government’s Coral Reef Watch shows.

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Trade unionists, conservationists and church groups unite against Dutton’s nuclear plan

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Seven Regions Nuclear Free alliance launches campaign representing groups who oppose the Coalition’s proposed nuclear reactors in their communities across Queensland, NSW, SA, Victoria and WA

Trade unions, conservationists, First Nations groups, church congregations and community organisations have launched a coordinated campaign against opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan for nuclear reactors across Australia.

The Coalition has pledged, if elected, to build seven nuclear reactors to replace retiring or retired coal sites naming Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Liddell and Mount Piper in New South Wales, Port Augusta in South Australia, Loy Yang in Victoria, and Muja in Western Australia.

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Former cricketer Michael Slater sentenced to four years’ prison for DV offences but immediately walks free

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The 55-year-old pleaded guilty to seven charges including two counts of choking a woman

The former Australian Test cricketer Michael Slater has been sentenced to prison for domestic violence offences but will immediately be released from custody on a suspended sentence.

Slater, 55, was sentenced in Maroochydore district court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to seven charges including two counts of choking a woman.

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Australia’s next government may be Great Barrier Reef’s last chance after sixth mass bleaching, conservationist says

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Consecutive and severe bleaching is ‘fundamentally changing’ nature of reef, the International Coral Reef Society says

The Great Barrier Reef was hit by a sixth widespread coral bleaching event since 2016 this summer – the second time the world’s biggest coral reef has seen the phenomenon strike in back-to-back years – according to government authorities.

Scientists and conservationists reacted with dismay that widespread bleaching – driven by global heating – was becoming normalised, with one saying Australia’s next term of government may be the natural wonder’s last shot at survival.

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‘Let Rome burn’: Coalition MP says allowing blackouts the only way to turn voters off renewable energy

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Exclusive: Power outages in major cities would help build opposition to climate policies, Colin Boyce tells podcast

The Coalition MP Colin Boyce says he believes the way to turn voters against renewable energy is to “let Rome burn for a while” and allow power blackouts to occur in major cities.

Guardian Australia reported on Wednesday that Boyce had described blackouts as a “big political opportunity” at a meeting of climate science deniers in late 2023.

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Outback publican finds hostelry coated in mud as residents return to tiny Queensland outpost after flooding

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Avadale’s one police officer says damage is heartbreaking but locals are resilient – ‘They’ll get it done’

When Koss Siwers returned to his pub in outback Queensland nothing was where he left it and pretty much everything was coated with mud.

Residents of Adavale, 900km west of Brisbane, have started coming back to the tiny outpost after evacuations forced by widespread flooding.

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Child killer Rick Thorburn, who murdered Tiahleigh Palmer, found dead in Queensland jail cell

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Thorburn was jailed for life after admitting to killing the 12-year-old foster child after his son Trent confessed to sexually assaulting her

Rick Thorburn, the Queensland man who was serving life in jail for the murder of 12-year-old foster child Tiahleigh Palmer, has been found dead in his cell.

Queensland Corrective Services confirmed he had died in his Woodford Correctional Centre cell on Saturday.

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Revealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species

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Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems

Nearly 2m hectares of forests suitable for endangered koalas have been destroyed since the iconic species was declared a threatened species in 2011, according to analysis for Guardian Australia.

The scale of habitat destruction in Queensland and New South Wales – states in which the koala is formally recognised as being at risk of extinction – has continued despite political promises it would be protected.

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‘Brutal business’: Brisbane boy charged over alleged terror plot targeting Peter Dutton

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PM reaches out to opposition leader as Brisbane teenager, 16, charged with commonwealth offence

The prime minister has reached out to Peter Dutton after allegations the opposition leader was the target of a terror plot.

A Brisbane schoolboy allegedly planned an attack involving the Coalition leader in the first half of 2024 before being arrested in August, according to News Corp.

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‘Every year matters’: Queensland’s critically endangered ‘bum-breathing’ turtle battles the odds

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Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems

A rare “bum-breathing” turtle found in a single river system in Queensland has suffered one of its worst breeding seasons on record due to flooding last December. It has prompted volunteers to question how many more “bad years” the species can survive.

A freshwater species that breathes by absorbing oxygen through gill-like structures in its tail, the Mary River turtle is endemic to south-east Queensland. Its population has fallen by more than 80% since the 1960s and its conservation status was upgraded from endangered to critically endangered last year.

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