For news updates as they happen in Brisbane and beyond, follow us here.
For news updates as they happen in Brisbane and beyond, follow us here.
The Crisafulli government will change the name of the satellite hospitals established by Labor to call them satellite health centres instead.
After criticism that the satellite hospitals did not contain all the services of actual hospitals, and people might be misled in an emergency, the LNP went to the election promising to rename them.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls told 4BC today it was prudent to rename the “so-called satellite hospitals” and there was unanimous support among stakeholders for the alternative.
“It’s a common-sense landing, it calls them what they are,” Nicholls said.
Nicholls suggested it would cost up to $30,000 per site to rename the facilities, which would amount to more than $2 million he said would be absorbed by the health budget.
But Nicholls said if it prevented even one person making a life-threatening mix-up it would be “time and effort and money well-spent”.
It is the biggest renaming exercise in Queensland Health since the former Labor government changed the name of the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, established by the LNP, to call it the Queensland Children’s Hospital instead.
Health Minister Mark Butler has rejected the Coalition’s claim that a one-year $1.7 billion boost to Medicare is a broken promise, given the government’s stated aim to sign a longer funding deal with the states and territories.
Asked about the accusation on ABC’s AM radio program, Butler said negotiations for a longer deal were proceeding and were tied to satisfactory progress on NDIS reform.
“Frankly, given what the Liberal Party and particularly Peter Dutton tried to do to the public hospital system when he was health minister, I don’t take their criticism particularly seriously,” Butler said.
“We’re working hard on this, but we did not want to nickel and dime state and territory governments in the interim. That’s why we’ve provided $1.7 billion in additional funds to tide them over next year at a time when all your listeners know public hospitals are under very serious pressure.”
Butler also noted that the requirement that all jurisdictions sign the deal at once meant it needed to be finalised before the WA government entered its caretaker period before the state’s election.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denies backflipping on his party’s policy platform by slapping mandatory jail time on Nazis and terrorists.
Last night, Labor caved to weeks of Coalition demands to force automatic jail time on terrorists and people displaying Nazi symbols, avoiding a political fight but defying the party’s own policy platform in a major backdown.
Speaking this morning on Nine’s Today program, Albanese disagreed with questions that suggested he had backflipped.
“No, not at all, we go through all of our proper processes on these items. So caucus approved everything that we do … we believe that the strongest action is required here,” he said.
“We introduced this legislation last year to outlaw Nazi symbols and hate symbols as well. Things like those flags that praise essentially terrorist organisations. We outlawed them before that. There wasn’t any legislation before our government.
“We have been the government that has introduced this legislation, we’re the government that outlawed these hate symbols, we’re the government that continued to defend our laws.”
Brisbane’s office vacancy remains well below the national average, sitting at 10.2 per cent, with the city facing a “critical shortage” of new office space in the medium to long term.
Property Council of Australia Queensland executive director Jess Caire said 205 North Quay and 360 Queen Street would provide relief this year by adding new supply, and Waterfront would deliver in 2028.
“However, there is nothing after that,” she said.
Knight Frank partner Jennelle Wilson said private sector tenants had veered towards renewing leases recently, rather than relocating, due to a perceived lack of suitable options over the next few years.
“As a result, landlords have benefited greatly from rental reversions with gross effective prime market rents up by 14 per cent in the past year, and 25 per cent over the past two years,” she said.
To global news now, namely US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to “take over” Gaza, remove millions of Palestinians from the region, level the site and rebuild it in a vision of a “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has responded, telling 2GB’s Ben Fordham that he thought the proposal was part of Trump’s “desire to see peace and stability in the region”.
“Let’s be honest, what’s gone before us has failed. And people who dismiss President Trump and say that he’s not serious or whatever derogatory comments they want to make, I just think it defies the reality of the gravitas that he brings to the situation, the might of the United States.”
He continued that Trump was trying to leverage the “best possible outcome” to allow people to “raise their kids in an environment that is conducive to them for leading a good life, not being blown apart”.
Despite the huge dollar figure that the US would foot if it were to “own Gaza” and rebuild the region as Trump has suggested, Dutton noted that the US election was won because of middle Americans who felt “ripped off by the system” and questioned why the “government is out spending our money that we’ve paid in taxes on causes around the world”.
“When you look at it in that context, it’s perfectly reasonable that he would try and leverage near neighbours who don’t want to take any Palestinians,” Dutton said, alluding to the possibility that Trump’s proposal is a negotiating strategy.
“That’s the reality of the position of many of the near neighbours; he wants them to contribute to a peaceful solution, to a rebuild.”
A man has died after the sedan he was driving crashed into a tree in suburban Brisbane.
The 27-year-old driver’s Ford Falcon crashed off Manly Road in Manly West about 3.45pm on Wednesday.
The Capalaba man was declared dead at the scene by emergency services.
No one else was injured.
Investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing. Anyone with information was urged to contact police.
President Donald Trump has not committed to putting troops on the ground in the Gaza Strip as part of his proposal for a US takeover of the Palestinian enclave, the White House said overnight.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump believed the United States needed to be involved in the rebuilding of Gaza.
“It’s been very made very clear to the president, that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort, to ensure stability in the region for all people,” Leavitt said.
“But that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza. It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort.”
Leavitt also said Trump wanted to see Palestinians who lived in Gaza “temporarily relocated” in order for the enclave to be rebuilt. Trump had called on Tuesday for a permanent resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza, drawing global condemnation.
Leavitt did not elaborate on the shift in rhetoric.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last night flew to Queensland to visit flood-affected communities in the north today.
Albanese will miss a sitting of federal parliament, at a crucial time, to tour affected areas and hold talks about ongoing recovery efforts.
He said yesterday he had been working with the Crisafulli government to support people affected by the natural disaster.
“I’m in regular contact with David Crisafulli and will be personally engaging there as well,” he said.
The Australian Defence Force has helped deliver supplies and will be involved in construction of a temporary, replacement bridge on a section of the Bruce Highway.
Albanese also extended his condolences to the family and friends of an 82-year-old woman whose body was found outside Ingham.
“This is the second loss of life that we’ve seen in the Queensland floods,” he said.
Police on Wednesday were searching for a man missing in Ingham since the night before.
After another balmy, wet Brisbane night, we’re waking to a Thursday forecast to be cloudy.
The top temperature today should creep into the low 30s, and the weather bureau predicts the chance of a shower. As the seven-day forecast shows, we can expect much of the same heading into – and throughout – this weekend.
Spare a thought for many in the state’s north-east, after days of downpours forced hundreds to evacuate.
Ingham has arguably been the worst hit, with road access cut as the nearby Herbert River rose beyond a 15.2m flood record set almost 60 years ago.
And about 7000 people have been without power for days, with telecommunications also affected and food supplies dwindling.
Reports emerged yesterday of residents lining up at a petrol station to fill jerry cans to power generators, with diesel reportedly running out on Tuesday.
Here’s what’s making news further afield this morning and overnight:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sidestepped criticism of Donald Trump’s radical plan to take control of Gaza, declaring he would not provide a running commentary on the US president as both Jewish and Palestinian advocates blasted the proposal.
Here’s what you need to know about Trump’s plan for Gaza.
At home, Labor has caved to weeks of Coalition demands to force automatic jail time on terrorists and people displaying Nazi symbols.
ABC managing director David Anderson has conceded the public broadcaster did not seek appropriate advice from its people and culture department before sacking Antoinette Lattouf, as the blockbuster unlawful termination case continues in Federal Court.
Matildas star Samantha Kerr has told a London court police treated her differently because of the colour of her skin after a drunken incident in which she claims she and her partner were taken “hostage” by a taxi driver.
An international panel of neonatal and paediatric specialists has raised grave doubts about the evidence used to convict Lucy Letby, a British nurse who was found guilty in 2023 of murdering seven babies at the hospital where she worked and attempting to murder seven others.
And in the NRL, we break down every NRL club’s under-the-radar prospects who are coming off contract, but will need to find greater gears for their clubs and futures in 2025.
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