For today’s news updates in Brisbane and beyond as they happen, follow us here.
For today’s news updates in Brisbane and beyond as they happen, follow us here.
The Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal has granted MPs a $6500, taxpayer-funded allowance to pay for home security systems.
In a determination released this morning, the tribunal revealed it has previously rejected a request for MPs to be given the flexibility to use existing allowances for home security.
The clerk of parliament then proposed a separate security allowance, in response to “the potential safety risks that members and their family face as a result of their role in servicing the electorate, including at public engagements, in transit or in their home”.
While more senior politicians, such as ministers, the opposition leader and speaker, already receive taxpayer-funded security, the tribunal ruled an allowance for other MPs was appropriate.
MPs will be able to seek reimbursement for security expenses of up to $6500 each term, if it has been recommended following a risk assessment undertaken by police or a security adviser.
“The allowance may be used to purchase, install, repair or upgrade home security systems or for other measures appropriate to the member’s personal circumstances, such as, for example, installing security screens and improving line of sight and lighting for CCTV,” the tribunal ruled.
“The allowance may also be used to engage security services by third-party providers, if that is recommended as necessary by a security adviser in its assessment.”
Three teenage boys have been arrested over a spate of break-ins in Cleveland this morning.
The boys, aged 13, 14, and 15, are accused of trying to break into cars parked along Anchorage Drive just after midnight.
The 13-year-old from Yamanto was arrested at Anchorage Drive, while the two other boys, both from Cleveland, ran away.
Police and the dog squad searched for the pair, finding and arresting them at another reported break-in at Captains Court.
The 14-year-old was charged with six offences, and was expected to appear in Brisbane Childrens Court today. The 13-year-old and 15-year-old remained in custody and had yet to be charged.
The Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal has granted MPs a $6500, taxpayer-funded allowance to pay for home security systems.
In a determination released this morning, the tribunal revealed it has previously rejected a request for MPs to be given the flexibility to use existing allowances for home security.
The clerk of parliament then proposed a separate security allowance, in response to “the potential safety risks that members and their family face as a result of their role in servicing the electorate, including at public engagements, in transit or in their home”.
While more senior politicians, such as ministers, the opposition leader and speaker, already receive taxpayer-funded security, the tribunal ruled an allowance for other MPs was appropriate.
MPs will be able to seek reimbursement for security expenses of up to $6500 each term, if it has been recommended following a risk assessment undertaken by police or a security adviser.
“The allowance may be used to purchase, install, repair or upgrade home security systems or for other measures appropriate to the member’s personal circumstances, such as, for example, installing security screens and improving line of sight and lighting for CCTV,” the tribunal ruled.
“The allowance may also be used to engage security services by third-party providers, if that is recommended as necessary by a security adviser in its assessment.”
Finally, the Kangaroo Point Bridge is open and, as of this morning, so is the first of its two much-anticipated eateries.
Mulga Bill’s sits on the Landing Plaza on the city side of the bridge, where it meets the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.
A 60-seat open-air spot named after the Banjo Paterson poem, Mulga Bill’s Bicycle, it’s hospitality powerhouse Tassis Group’s first all-day eatery, intended to appeal as much to the morning grab-and-go crowd as it does to casual diners in the afternoon and evening.
“We’re trying to make it a great spot for the whole day,” says venue manager Alex Abson. “You have that breakfast trade, which includes takeaway pastries and coffees, and then we’ll roll into lunch and dinner.”
Revered hip-hop act Bliss n Eso have announced a three-month tour on the back of forthcoming album The Moon (The Light Side).
The Sea Is Rising rappers will play 28 dates across regional and metropolitan Australia on their Party on the Moon tour.
The tour kicks off in Queensland, and the trio will play the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on Saturday, May 24 with special guest Ivan Ooze.
“When making this album we constantly envisioned playing these new songs and the electric energy they would create between us and the crowd,” said Bliss.
Presale commences next Tuesday, February 18. The album is released on Friday, April 11.
A stunt performer died on the Brisbane set of a Bliss n Eso video in 2017 after a blank round was fired from a sawn-off shotgun.
Crocodiles are losing their cool over climate change, and researchers say it’s having detrimental effects on the behaviour of the hardy tropical predators.
Research led by the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment has found that crocodiles in northern Australia are heating up as the climate warms, and higher body temperatures mean they’re forced to spend more time trying to stay cool.
The researchers analysed 15 years of information from sensors and trackers on 203 wild saltwater crocodiles on the Wenlock and Ducie rivers on Cape York Peninsula.
PhD candidate Kaitlin Barham, who co-authored the research published in Current Biology, said crocodiles were spending more time at or close to their critical thermal limit of 32-33 degrees.
“[Because they’re cold-blooded], crocodiles can’t regulate their own temperature like birds and mammals, so as their environment is becoming warmer, the animals in our study are also getting hotter and needing to spend more time on cooling behaviours,” Barham said.
“But if their time and energy is dominated by the need to stay cool, activity necessary for hunting, keeping safe from predators or reproducing is reduced.”
Increases in both air and water temperatures were impacting the crocodiles and co-author Professor Craig Franklin said their diving and swimming performance was affected.
“Hotter crocodiles don’t dive for as long which is concerning, because as ambush hunters, they need to wait underwater holding their breath for a wallaby or feral pig to come past,” Franklin said.
Casey Donovan is starring in the crowd-pleasing musical Sister Act, about a nightclub singer hiding out from the mob in a convent, which has opened at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, and runs until mid-March.
Comedian and architecture fan Tim Ross is presenting The Australian Dream? at the State Library tonight and tomorrow night. Rosso will talk about alternatives to the quarter-acre block and share some nostalgic photos and footage.
Wellbeing, health and spirituality meet at the free Mind Body Spirit Festival at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre all weekend. Browse jewellery, cosmetics, music, books, giftware, clothing, crystals, educational courses and body treatments.
UK rave pioneers The Prodigy are playing the Riverstage on Sunday evening, performing bangers like Firestarter and Breathe.
The Hills of Rivermakers at Morningside is presenting Unicornland, Saturday and Sunday 10am-2.30pm. Kids can take part in interactive unicorn meet-and-greets, bubble shows and face painting. Entry is free, but book online.
At the movies, lovelorn diarist Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) returns in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, with a love triangle involving her son’s schoolteacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a younger man (Leo Woodall).
The Souled Out R&B music festival has been cancelled, just over a week before it was scheduled to begin a run of three dates in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
In an Instagram post yesterday afternoon, the festival organisers said the event did “not reach the level of support needed to remain financially viable”.
Billed as “Australia’s biggest modern R&B festival”, the event was set to feature headliners Don Toliver, Jhene Aiko and Vince Staples, with a host of support acts and DJs.
The festival was set to be held in Melbourne on February 22, Sydney on February 23 and in Brisbane on February 28.
It comes just weeks after major festival Splendour in the Grass was cancelled for the second year in a row and joins a growing number of Australian music festivals to have hit the wall amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
New details on the disappearance of a Queensland woman west of Brisbane have emerged as police request all public dashcam footage from the day be reviewed.
Tayla Spies was last seen driving near the Condamine turnoff of the Carnarvon Highway, in the Western Downs, on February 2.
Police believe the 29-year-old left a hotel in Dalby at about 8am and travelled west towards Surat.
She was driving a white 2017 dual-cab Toyota Hilux at the time.
A witness has reported seeing Spies at the intersection of Burrowes Street and Cordelia Street in Surat about 11.10am.
The vehicle has a distinctive black bumper bar, blacked out wheels and registration plates 559 GJ7.
Spies has brown shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, a slim build and the word KARMA tattooed on her chest.
CCTV shows she was wearing a fluorescent pink long sleeve shirt with light-coloured shorts on the day she went missing.
She is known to frequently travel between Roma and Dalby.
Extensive searches of the area on land and by air are continuing.
A feisty 91-year-old great grandmother has defended her home from a thief, chasing the intruder out and retrieving some of her items from him.
Joanna De Loryn – who goes by the name Jopie – was taking out her bins at her Holland Park West home when she spotted an intruder in the kitchen, who had entered by cutting through a bedroom screen door.
“I thought he should not have my stuff, and the cheek of them, to come in my house,” Jopie told Nine.
“So I went after him and I grabbed my handbag, and I ran after him over on the patio … I should have tossed the flowerpot on top of him, but I didn’t.”
Jopie said despite her efforts, the intruder left with some irreplaceable items, including her engagement and anniversary rings, and a watch given to her by her late husband, Bart.
“I yelled out at him – I won’t say the word,” she said. Upon being prompted, she revealed she’d called the thief a “dirty bastard”.
“They don’t know how much it meant to a person – you can buy another ring but it’s not the same.”
Jopie’s family were concerned about the potential danger of her actions, although community members had rallied around the 91-year-old.
“I’ve been living in this house for 65 years … we’ve got so many friends and neighbours and it’s great,” she said.
To the intruder, Jopie said: “Go and get yourself a job.”
Brendan Piakura’s place on the Broncos’ left edge is under threat, with fringe rival Jack Gosiewski confirming he was in line to take his spot in the backrow.
Piakura emerged as one of the NRL’s most promising forwards in 2023, before replacing the departing Kurt Capewell in the starting side full-time and earning a call-up into the Queensland Maroons squad.
However, Gosiewski’s impressive preseason has caught the eye of Brisbane coach Michael Maguire – who gave the 30-year-old his debut at South Sydney – and he will have a chance to prove he belongs at the top level on Sunday in a preseason trial clash with the Gold Coast Titans.
“I am in the picture. There are only four of us [Piakura, Gosiewski, Jordan Riki and Jaiyden Hunt] at the moment and I have been training really hard,” Gosiewski said.
“When round one comes in a couple of weeks I want to be there and ready to be picked. It is highly competitive.
“Everyone is fighting for a spot and you have to be at your best every day.”
Gosiewski has a standing combination with incoming five-eighth Ben Hunt, following the pair’s time playing alongside each other at the Dragons.