Category Archives: Queensland

Queensland heat records for March broken as state’s south-east soars above 40C

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Gatton, Beaudesert and Archerfield among towns with record-breaking maximum temperatures for the month

Multiple Queensland heat records have been broken for March, with some areas recording temperatures of more than 10 degrees above their average maximum.

Highs of 40C or more in the state’s south-east were recorded for the first time in March, with the town of Gatton reaching 40C on Monday and 41.1C on Tuesday, about 11 degrees above its average maximum temperature for the month.

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Queensland to repeal police discipline system set up after Fitzgerald inquiry

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Exclusive: Civil liberties experts sound alarm, saying ‘police have given us no reason to trust that they can investigate themselves impartially’

Queensland is poised to repeal the police disciplinary system established after the landmark Fitzgerald corruption inquiry, prompting concerns from civil liberties experts that the proposed changes have “fundamental” flaws.

Legislation to establish a new police discipline system was tabled in the state parliament last month, after years of pressure from the influential Queensland police union. The bill has bipartisan support and will likely pass later this year.

The police union president, Ian Leavers, has hailed the demise of “the old punitive police discipline system” established in 1990, in the immediate aftermath of the Fitzgerald inquiry.

The new system encourages the use of “management strategies” rather than formal sanctions for police misconduct and misbehaviour. Officers can no longer have their salary reduced. Complaints are to be “streamlined” to ensure they do not take longer than 12 months.

Related: Queensland police accused of 'whitewash' over investigation into shredded rape file

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Nationals rebels put the boot into their leader as party feels regional backlash

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Many MPs are exasperated with Michael McCormack and despairing about where they have washed up post-Barnaby Joyce

In practical terms it’s a strange thing to demand – calling on the leadership to pass a package that has no obvious prospect of passing the parliament without amendment in the time left available.

But six Queensland Nationals have elected to put the boot into their leader, Michael McCormack, for failing on two fronts: failing to pressure the Liberals to pass the so-called “big stick” package, which they believe will lower power prices, and failing to sign up to new taxpayer-backed investments in power generation. For most Nationals north of the New South Wales border, that means new coal generation.

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Snake on a plane goes 9,300 miles from Australia to Scotland in woman’s shoe

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Holidaymaker shocked to see stowaway python in her slip-ons on return from Queensland

As souvenirs go, it is a unique one. A woman has returned to Scotland from a holiday in Australia to discover a stowaway snake hidden in one of her shoes.

In an incident that will confirm the worst fears of visitors to Australia, Moira Boxall unpacked her luggage after the more than 9,300-mile journey from Queensland to find the small and very much alive creature curled up in her slip-ons. It even shed its skin during its voyage in her footwear.

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Mother of drowned baby girl wrote in diary her daughter was ‘evil’, court documents show

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Mother charged with failing to provide for girl whose body was found on Gold Coast beach

The mother of a baby girl whose body washed up on a Gold Coast beach after drowning in the Tweed River has briefly faced court.

The woman, who cannot be identified, is charged with failing to provide her daughter with the necessities of life. The baby’s father, 47, was charged on 22 November with murdering his daughter.

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Cyclone Oma: surfers enjoy wild swell but downgraded storm could yet intensify

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‘Unpredictable’ storm could continue to bring abnormally high tides and damaging winds

East coast surfers have defied warnings about large swells whipped up by ex-cyclone Oma, a sub-tropical system that intensified into a category two storm early on Saturday but was downgraded by 11am after taking a south-eastern turn.

The storm, twice the diameter of 2017’s deadly cyclone Debbie, was tracking south towards Lord Howe Island but was predicted to turn and head north again.

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Bulk carrier runs aground on Solomon Islands reef spilling oil

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Cyclone delays cleanup after ship runs aground in rough seas near Rennell Island

Solomon Islands authorities are scrambling to clean up an oil spill caused after a bulk carrier came aground about a fortnight ago on a coral reef on the southern coast.

Category 2 cyclone Oma and rough weather had delayed efforts to salvage the ship, MV Solomon Trader.

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Four Gold Coast school girls rushed to hospital after suspected drug overdose

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The Southport State high school had to have paramedics come out three times during the day

A Gold Coast high school has had to call paramedics three times in one day after four girls became ill from an unknown prescription drug.

It’s not known if the Southport State high school girls took the drug together or at different times throughout the day.

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Queensland girls subjected to female genital mutilation in Somalia, court told

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Mother is on trial in Brisbane after girls were allegedly taken from grandmother’s house and subjected to procedure

Two Queensland girls were playing outside their grandmother’s house in Somalia when they were allegedly taken away to have their genitals mutilated, a court has heard.

Their mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is on trial in Brisbane district court.

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Townsville floods: dam management under scrutiny as experts demand greater preparation

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Study rates this week’s unprecedented monsoonal rainfall as comparable to a one in 1,000-year flood

Australian authorities must plan for more severe floods, experts have warned, amid concern that the management of the Townsville Ross River dam contributed to extensive flooding when a massive amount of water was released downstream.

The decision to open the floodgates when the dam water level reached 43m was based on a 2012 study that warned doing so could cause more extensive property damage during the most extreme flooding events.

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Australian authorities deliberately flood 2,000 Queensland homes after record downpours

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State government warns residents to beware of crocodiles and snakes, which were reportedly heading into suburban areas

After eight days of heavy monsoonal rain, authorities in the north Queensland city of Townsville had no choice but to open the floodgates of the Ross River Dam, deliberately flooding about 2,000 homes.

The decision was made as the Queensland government also published a warning to people to beware of crocodiles, snakes and other wildlife, which were reported to have left the swollen river and headed into some suburban areas.

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Queensland flooding: thousands of homes in Townsville under threat as waters rise – live

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Torrential rain forces authorities to open Ross River dam floodgates, releasing 1,900 litres a second in ‘once-in-a-century flood’. Follow all the developments • Townsville floods: Queensland premier warns ‘we haven’t got to the peak’

At this stage, authorities expect the Ross River to peak about 11am, and for the peak to last most of today.

That’s potentially good news for Townsville residents, especially those under threat but not yet underwater. It’s also a sign that the flood emergency is unlikely to end any time soon.

Overnight, Townsville residents were warned to stay out of the water – and for good reason. A number of crocodiles sightings have been reported, while the authorities also warned of snakes in the water.

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Townsville dam floodgates fully opened, putting more homes at risk

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Residents urged to seek higher ground as water surges at 2,000 cubic metres a minute from Ross river dam

Residents in the Queensland city of Townsville – where up to 500 homes are already under water – were urged to seek higher ground on Sunday as heavy downpours forced the floodgates to the city’s swollen Ross river dam to be completely opened.

A heavy deluge of rain on Sunday pushed dam levels to almost 250% capacity with authorities having to open the floodgates, almost doubling the amount of water flowing out of the catchment.

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Queensland floods: Townsville reels under record water levels as more rain arrives

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There are several more days to go in this flood event, Bureau of Meteorology warns

Queensland authorities have said the state’s north was entering “unprecedented territory” as monsoon rains battered the city of Townsville, setting record flood levels and destroying homes.

As the natural disaster entered its four day, the state emergency service confirmed on Saturday that 80 people had been rescued. It was too early to quantify the damage to homes, although some media reports said at least 50 homes had been affected so far.

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Queensland warned to prepare for ‘dangerous’ flooding as premier declares disaster

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Bureau of Meteorology expecting rainfall totals of up to 400mm per day for multiple days

Residents in northern Queensland have been warned to prepare for more downpours and flooding over the weekend and into next week amid a monsoon that has dumped more than 1.2 metres of rain in some places.

A huge swath of the state stretching 850km from Daintree in far north Queensland to Mackay in the southern end of the tropical belt has been designated as a flood watch zone. The area includes the Great Barrier Reef tourist centre of Cairns as well as parts of Cape York peninsula in the far north.

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Queensland floods: emergency dam release as Townsville hit by 1.1 metre of rain

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Up to 100 more homes face flooding after mayor orders high-risk plan to open floodgates on the Ross River dam

One hundred homes could be flooded in Townsville after the city’s mayor sanctioned the high-risk release of dam water to save the area from more widespread inundation following more than 1.1 metres of rain.

Announcing the emergency measure for the Ross River dam on Friday, the mayor Jenny Hill said there were no guarantees the plan would work. Between 90 and 100 homes downstream from the dam were being evacuated, she added.

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Daintree River flooding: hundreds cut off after deluge breaks peak record

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Ferry crossing in far-north Queensland closed after 500mm of rain in 24 hours pushed river to highest level in 118 years

Hundreds of people remain cut off after a deluge pushed far-north Queensland’s Daintree River to a record level.

The river peaked at close to 12.6 metres on Saturday night, breaking a record that stood for 118 years.

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Man arrested over Gold Coast balcony death of Breeana Robinson in 2013

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Cheerleader was allegedly thrown off 11th-floor balcony of luxury Southport apartment

A man is expected to face court accused of throwing a Gold Coast cheerleader off an 11th-floor balcony six years ago.

Breeana Robinson, 21, died when she plunged from the balcony of a luxury Southport apartment in January 2013.

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Temperatures to soar as heatwave hits every state and territory

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Much of Australia will bake this week with meteorologists forecasting the hot conditions will last for days in some parts

Every state and territory will bake through a heatwave on Monday with meteorologists saying soaring temperatures will last for days in some parts.

The Bureau of Meteorology said hot days were expected in January but multiple days in a row of temperatures above 40C were unusual.

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