Category Archives: Brisbane

Proposal for motels to house homeless people to be brought to Queensland summit

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Repurposing of existing accommodation and other facilities to be suggested at government-convened housing meeting

Hotels and motels would be repurposed to house homeless people under a proposal to be tabled at Queensland’s affordable housing summit on Thursday.

The proposal is among a string of ideas to be floated for urgent relief for the tens of thousands of people who are on the state’s social housing waiting list, couch surfing or sleeping in cars or on the streets.

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Siev X: man denies involvement in 2001 people-smuggling operation that ended in significant deaths

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Maythem Kamil Radhi pleads not guilty facilitating the proposed entry of non-citizens into Australia

More than 20 years after the asylum seeker boat known as the Siev X sank, causing a “significant number” of deaths, a man has denied involvement in an alleged people-smuggling operation in an Australian court.

Appearing in the Brisbane supreme court on Monday, Maythem Kamil Radhi pleaded not guilty to facilitating the proposed entry of at least five non-citizens into Australia between 1 July and 19 October 2001.

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Brisbane real estate agency advises landlords to increase rents by over 20% amid housing crisis

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Agency claims most tenants ‘are agreeable’ to the rent increases, which Tenants Queensland calls ‘opportunistic price-gouging’

A Brisbane real estate agency has urged landlords to consider raising rents by more than 20%, as Australia grapples with a worsening rental crisis.

An email, sent by Ray White West End, asked landlords if their properties were being “under-rented” before advising them to increase rents by more than double the rate of inflation.

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Third person arrested in fatal Brisbane shooting while two suspects remain on the run

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A 38-year-old man died after being shot in the chest at close range at a home in Oxley in the early hours of Tuesday morning

A third person has been arrested after a man was shot dead in the front yard of a home in south-west Brisbane as two male suspects remain on the run.

Officers from the Acacia Ridge criminal investigation branch and homicide unit arrested the 30-year-old east Brisbane man on Friday evening after he was intercepted in a vehicle at Riverview.

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Woodchipper murder trial: ‘Thou shalt not kill’ message left in letterbox of accused, Brisbane court hears

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In recordings played in court, Sharon Graham says to co-accused ‘I don’t want to be in this house any more’

The message “thou shalt not kill” was left in a shaken Sharon Graham’s letterbox during a woodchipper death investigation, a Brisbane court has heard.

Graham, 61, and partner Gregory Lee Roser, 63, have pleaded not guilty to murder after Bruce Saunders died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

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Image of Bruce Saunders’ legs in woodchipper kept murder accused awake at night, court hears

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Gregory Lee Roser denies feeding friend into chipper and told police in 2018 it wasn’t in his nature ‘to be nasty to people’

The image of Bruce Saunders’ legs in a woodchipper kept Gregory Lee Roser awake at night, a Queensland court has been told.

Roser, now 63, told police he “felt responsible” after Saunders died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017. But Roser, in a 2018 police interview played in court on Tuesday, denied feeding his friend into the chipper, saying it was not in his nature.

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‘Dark ages’: Brisbane lord mayor pushes for Queensland to adopt daylight savings

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Adrian Schrinner promotes economic benefits in latest bid to change clocks, saying state is ‘letting good daylight hours go to waste’

In Hervey Bay, Paul unwittingly switched on Sunday night’s NRL grand final 60 minutes after kick-off. The game he was watching had a half to go but the result had already been decided.

Paul was among those suffering after Queensland’s reluctance to join much of the country in winding clocks forward an hour for the annual introduction of daylight savings.

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Man jailed over involvement in identity theft syndicate that laundered millions of dollars

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Detectives found Karthik Pappu’s fingerprints on a book containing information about 305 bank accounts and 68 compromised identities

A man who was part of a syndicate that stole identities before laundering millions of dollars through jewellers and a coffee shop has been sentenced to six years in jail.

Karthik Pappu, who pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering, was identified by police investigating a cold calling scheme in which victims provided offenders with access to their computers before being tricked out of money, a Brisbane court was told on Wednesday.

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Murder accused had premonition about ‘terrible accident’ before man found in woodchipper, Brisbane court hears

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Barry Collins says his ex-wife Sharon Graham told him someone was ‘going to get hurt’ while clearing land

Weeks before Bruce Saunders was found dead in a woodchipper, Sharon Graham had a premonition about a terrible accident, a Brisbane court has been told.

Graham, 61, and Gregory Lee Roser, 63, are on trial having pleaded not guilty to murder after the 54-year-old Saunders died when working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

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Suggestion Queensland man fell into woodchipper by accident ‘didn’t make sense’, murder trial hears

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Property owner Sharon Beighton tells court she thought ‘where’s Bruce?’ before being told 54-year-old had fallen into woodchipper

Sharon Beighton was initially in shock when told Bruce Saunders had fallen into a woodchipper during a “terrible accident” on her property in 2017.

But Beighton later thought it did not make sense after she asked Gregory Lee Roser questions about the incident, the Brisbane supreme court heard on Tuesday.

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Australian house prices falling at fastest rate since 1980s as ‘sharp’ downturn widens

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CoreLogic says every capital city except Darwin fell in August, with Sydney dropping 2.2%

Every capital city in Australia except Darwin is now in a housing downturn, according to a new report, with values falling at a trajectory not seen since the 1980s.

CoreLogic’s home value index shows national housing values are falling rapidly, after rising about 29% during a period of sharp growth.

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Queensland police who arrested author Chelsea Watego did not also approach ‘aggressive white man’ at scene, tribunal hears

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Indigenous academic alleges treatment by two officers during 2018 arrest amounted to unlawful discrimination on basis of her race, a claim the officers and state government denies

Two Queensland police officers who arrested and handcuffed prominent First Nations writer and academic Chelsea Watego have told a tribunal they did not also approach or investigate an allegedly “aggressive white man” who was also the focus of nightclub security guards at the time they arrived.

The Queensland civil and administrative tribunal heard this week that police arrested Watego, a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman, within 18 seconds of arriving at the front of The Beat nightclub in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 2018.

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Pocock urges Labor to scrap tax cuts – as it happened

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Independent senator David Pocock says circumstances have changed ‘so much’ since stage three tax cuts policy was legislated. This blog is now closed

McManus: normal part of bargaining to have industrial action as a last resort

McManus is asked if she wants workers in specific business to regain the right to strike in support of workers in other business (otherwise known as sympathy strikes or solidarity action).

Not in support of workers in another business – together. It is a normal part of bargaining to have … as a last resort, to take industrial action, and that is what happens in countries that have multi-employer bargaining, and there [are] not more strikes, there is more pay rises.

Essentially when workers have an option to do that, obviously it means the option to have a better outcome, and a better outcome more quickly.

Basically, workers’ bargaining power has been smashed over that period of time That’s why we have a problem, a huge problem, with wages growth and unless we address that issue, that is not going to change.

We think [sector-wide bargaining] should be open to all, but obviously a lot of places … they are getting pay rises at the moment. They can access the bargaining system.

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Anti-aircraft noise campaigners to target shareholders in bid for Brisbane airport curfew

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Independent review recommends moving flight paths to alleviate noise concerns but disgruntled residents want solutions sooner

Anti-aircraft noise campaigners say they will target investors in Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) as they threaten to ramp up efforts to force a curfew and cap on flights over the city.

Aircraft noise was the defining local issue at the federal election for many who live under flight paths that emerged when the Brisbane airport opened its second runway in mid-2020, playing a role in the election of Greens MPs in three inner-city seats.

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Brisbane man shot twice by officers as children hid in bushes, police say

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The 43-year-old was allegedly armed with a sharpening file when he was shot outside home

A man will undergo surgery after being shot twice by a Queensland police officer he had allegedly lunged at with a large metal sharpening file during a “horrible incident” at a house in Brisbane’s south.

Queensland police said the 43-year-old’s wife and four sons – aged seven to 14 – were at home during the confrontation on Sunday night.

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NRL grand final to be played in Sydney, ending NSW and Queensland battle for event

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  • Game returns to Olympic stadium after year away in Brisbane
  • ARLC chair Peter V’landys touts future ‘Super Bowl’ concept

This year’s NRL grand final will be played in New South Wales after the Australian Rugby League Commission confirmed October’s showpiece event would be played at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.

But the long-term location of the game remains uncertain, with ARLC chair Peter V’landys touting a “Super Bowl” style concept, where the game could be taken around the country to the highest bidder.

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Queensland police told victim her assault complaint was not ‘valid’ after speaking to perpetrator, inquiry hears

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Commission of inquiry into QPS response to domestic and family violence hears from women who say police did not take them seriously

A victim-survivor was told by a Queensland police officer to focus on being a “good mother” after reporting a “significant assault” by her ex-partner, a commission of inquiry has heard.

The inquiry into Queensland police service’s (QPS) responses to domestic and family violence on Tuesday heard multiple accounts from disillusioned victims who said their complaints had not been taken seriously.

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‘Have you recently had an abortion?’ Australian transiting through US questioned then deported

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Madolline Gourley says she was on her way to Canada for a holiday when US immigration officials intervened

An Australian woman who planned to house-sit in Canada during a holiday has said she was detained, fingerprinted, interrogated about her abortion history and quickly deported during a stopover in the US.

Madolline Gourley, a Brisbane resident, says she was treated like a criminal during her transit through Los Angeles on 30 June, where she was detained at the border due to suspicions about her intention to house- and cat-sit in exchange for accommodation while holidaying in Canada.

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Queensland woman who tried to smother father in aged care says he begged her to ‘please just kill me’

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Rebecca Louise Burden pleads guilty to attempted murder but tells court she believes ‘I am a good person who made a grave mistake’

The first time Rebecca Louise Burden was allowed to visit her father after Covid restrictions lifted at his aged care home, she tried to smother him with a cushion.

Burden has told a court her “lapse of judgment” came after her 68-year-old father – who had a brain injury and severe dementia – asked her to “please just kill me”.

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Queenslanders embraced Greens because they saw politics was broken, says Adam Bandt

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Flush from winning three seats in Brisbane, Bandt debunked the myth that sunshine state residents are conservative

Far from being “inherently conservative”, as the political class assumed them to be, Queenslanders in fact went into the federal election with a “better understanding that politics was broken”, according to Greens leader Adam Bandt.

Bandt made the comments on Friday as he became the first Australian Green to address the Queensland Media Club in its 17-year history, but not before he had to deal with an elephant in the room when thanking the event’s sponsors, among whom was the Brisbane Airport Corporation.

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