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.
Racist messages plastered across a Brisbane street have been removed.
The posters said “ANZACs died for a white Australia” and used racial slurs against multiple ethnic groups.
They were found at the intersection of Milton, Park and Baroona roads in Milton on Friday and removed by Brisbane City Council the same day.
The Queensland Police counter-terrorism command has been notified.
“It’s repulsive that individuals are exploiting our ANZACs to perpetuate evil and division in our community,” Deputy Mayor Fiona Cunningham said in a statement.
“Brisbane is an incredibly vibrant multicultural community, and we must all do what we can to protect that by stamping out hateful and divisive behaviour.”
Brisbane Times has chosen not to publish photos of the posters, which promoted a hate group’s website.
The state Labor opposition has cast doubt on the government’s early efforts to fix issues in Queensland’s public health system, after the health minister released new data and a funding boost for elective surgeries yesterday.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls said thousands of extra patients waiting for elective surgeries in the public health system would be treated in private hospitals before July, at a cost of $100 million.
More than 66,600 Queenslanders are now waiting for elective surgeries in the public system, an increase of about 2500 since the last quarterly report in October.
Opposition health spokesman Mark Bailey said this “significant jump” contradicted the new government’s claims.
“This is a disappointing set of numbers for the new government, because they’ve spent their time cutting rather than investing … and now we see the results.”
Bailey acknowledged data released yesterday showed a decrease in ambulance ramping since the last report, but said this was misleading.
“If they were really serious about ramping, they would include it in their real-time data,” he said. Yesterday, Nicholls said the government would start reporting ramping on a monthly basis, rather than quarterly.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has confirmed that two health workers from Bankstown Hospital in Sydney’s west have been identified as the staff in an antisemitic video, where they claimed they would not treat – or would even kill – Israeli patients.
Minns told 2GB’s Mark Levy that the two workers had been stood down immediately.
Read more about the video, and watch NSW Health Minister Ryan Park’s press conference, here.
Health Minister Mark Butler has backed the call of his NSW counterpart to sack two hospital workers who appeared to brag about killing Israeli patients in footage posted to social media.
Butler expressed shock at the footage, noting that if they were identified as NSW health staff, he supported NSW Health Minister Ryan Park’s call for the pair to be dismissed.
NSW Health called in police this morning to investigate the footage, which was shared widely on social media.
Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, Butler said there were many wonderful doctors, nurses and health professionals in the country but expressed shock at the video.
“The idea that a couple of health professionals would say that they refuse to treat someone because of their race or because of their religion runs contrary to the most fundamental principle of healthcare,” he said.
A man has been charged with murder after a 21-year-old was found dead on the back seat of his own vehicle on a rural road in December.
The 21-year-old Townsville man was found in Woodstock – a township about 40 kilometres south of Townsville – on the morning of December 14, and was described as having no clear injuries.
Police charged a 26-year-old man with murder yesterday.
The accused man, who police suspected had known the 21-year-old, appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on February 11 and was remanded in custody, until his next appearance in the court was set for June 13.
Insurers have received more than 5690 storm and flood-related claims since North Queensland’s severe weather event began on January 29.
Insurance Council of Australia members are supporting residents in Ingham, Cardwell, Mission Beach and Innisfail, and an insurance hub has been set up in Townsville, with customers receiving advice from Suncorp, RACQ, IAG, Hollard, Allianz, QBE and Youi.
Insurance Council of Australia CEO Andrew Hall said while the clean-up was beginning for some parts of North Queensland, for others, it was still an active weather event.
“Ongoing rain is seeing opened roads re-close and causing further inundation to already saturated communities,” he said yesterday afternoon.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has urged a focus on the future when it comes to the debate around US President Donald Trump’s new 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium, touting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s success in getting Trump to agree to consider an exemption for Australia.
The development was clouded by a later statement from Trump administration officials accusing Australia of breaking a promise to limit the export of aluminium to the US.
Chalmers told Seven’s Sunrise he wasn’t aware of any breached agreement but that the deal in question had been made under the former Turnbull Coalition government.
“They may be able to provide a bit more colour and context around some of these sorts of claims,” Chalmers said before noting he’d read Malcolm Turnbull’s reply that claimed he’d given “no such assurance” around the export of aluminium during the 2018 negotiations.
Keen to focus on the current discussions, Chalmers noted that the deal in question happened “almost a decade ago”.
“The conversation that happened yesterday was very productive, very positive,” Chalmers said.
“I think it’s a good thing that President Trump said he would be willing to consider that exemption. We obviously don’t take any outcome for granted, but I think yesterday’s conversation between the two leaders was a positive step.”
More than 900,000 people have crossed the Breakfast Creek bridge by walking, riding or scooting since it opened 12 months ago, exceeding forecasts by more than 70 per cent.
Brisbane Times last month reported on the popularity of the city’s car-free bridges, including the Breakfast Creek Bridge, which had 2616 daily trips on average, since it opened in February 2024, when it was expected to get 1500 daily trips by 2031.
Brisbane City Council has also released updated figures for the Kangaroo Point Bridge, which has recorded more than 520,000 crossings since it opened eight weeks ago in December.
The council expects people will continue to be drawn to the Kangaroo Point Bridge with the opening of two dining destinations, Mulga Bill’s Cafe and Stilts this month.
The resumption process for the landing site on the former ABC headquarters for the Toowong to West End bridge was completed late last year, and the council continues to seek funding from the federal government for a business case for the bridge.
A man has been hit by a forklift on a popular street in Brisbane’s inner south during yesterday’s evening rush hour.
Paramedics received reports about 5.30pm yesterday of an accident involving a pedestrian and a forklift on Montague Road, in South Brisbane.
The man was treated at the scene, and transferred to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition about 6pm for further monitoring.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has formally announced his government is supporting Rex Airlines.
Speaking from Merimbula, Albanese said the initiative would ensure regional Australia is supported.
Today, I can announce that my government is continuing to support Rex Airlines and we will ensure that regional communities have access to crucial air services.
Beyond the cut-off date of administration of June 30, we will work with the short list of bidders to maximise a successful sale, and will negotiate to provide support to bidders.
If there is no sale, we will work on contingency plans with relevant state governments, including the potential for Commonwealth acquisition. We’ll provide a waiver of the use-it-or-lose-it test for Rex regional flight slots at Sydney Airport, which will ensure its access to those slots until October 24, 2026.
This is absolutely critical … we’re determined to make sure that regional communities are not left behind. It’s a core commitment that I made. No one held back, no one left behind.”
US President Donald Trump’s commitment to consider Australia’s request for an exemption from new 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium was not made lightly, says Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
In an interview with ABC’s 7.30 on Tuesday evening, Marles said both men had “made clear” that the exemption was under consideration.
“That’s not said lightly. It was said by the president in his media statement as it was said by our prime minister.”
Marles was asked if the further statements from the White House that accused Australia of breaking a promise to limit aluminium exports were accurate.
He said he “couldn’t speak for the former government in terms of what it did or didn’t do”.
“That’s really a matter for them to explain,” Marles said, before again redirecting the conversation to the fact that the exemption request was under consideration.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who negotiated the carve-outs for Australia in 2017 and 2018, told this masthead he gave no such assurance and the discussion at the time focused on steel.
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