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Luke Williams is a police and crime reporter for The Advertiser. He previously covered courts for the Cairns Post.

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Mike Macfarlane, manager of Lotus Glen Correctional Centre inside the facility which holds approximately 870 prisoners. Picture: Marc McCormack

Carpenter busted throwing steroids over prison wall

A Cairns carpenter has been sentenced after throwing a shoe full of steroids, phones and needles into the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre just a few months after he got parole.

Cairns

Former North Queensland Cowboys and Queensland player Matt Bowen visited the Cape York community of Aurukun, 800 kilometres north west of Cairns, along with the Queensland Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Partnerships Curtis Pitt. New, more secure fencing fencing has been erected around the teaching staff accommodation. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

‘Release all their negative energy’: Queensland school under fire for hiring healer

The troubled Aurukun State School has hired a consultant on a six-figure tax payer salary to perform “healing practices” on students without permission from parents, staff say.

Cairns

Ray and Jo Ashby face the prospect of homelessness after the Babinda home they bought together in 2016 was found to be infested by white ants. The discovery was made as their bathroom was being renovated to meet NDIS requirements. The NDIS has funded medium term accomodation for the couple, but once that expires on April 7, Ray and Jo have nowhere to go. Picture: Brendan Radke

Stroke victim made homeless by massive termite infestation

A former chef and Queensland dancing champion left profoundly disabled after a series of catastrophic strokes is now facing homelessness after a massive termite infestation was uncovered in his house.

Cairns

Babinda matriarch Dulcie Schnitzerling OAM celebrated her 100th birthday on Wednesday, March 20. The centenarian was born in Innisfail in 1924, has lived in Babinda for 86 years, was an SES volunteer for 46 years and volunteered at Babinda Hospital for over 25 years. She has met Prince William and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal at 83. Picture: Brendan Radke

Marriage, death, happiness: Dulcie Schnitzerling, OAM, turns 100

On her 100th birthday Dulcie Schnitzerling tells what she did to find happiness after the death 12-year-old son and then her husband.

Cairns

The community of Aurukun in North Queensland. Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth. The land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle. The relatively undisturbed eucalyptus wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognized for their global environmental significance, but native wildlife is threatened by introduced species and weeds. Picture: Marc McCormack

Remote school got $2m in grants ahead of attendance free-fall

State and federal governments gave over $2m in funding to the Aurukun State School in a deal to improve school attendance but rather than improving, attendance rates plummeted.

Cairns

Rape threats, violence, machetes: Inside the FNQ school at ‘rock bottom’

Teachers are calling on the Queensland Department of Education to shut a violent-stricken Far North Queensland school amid increasingly frequent lockdowns due to assaults, threats of sexual violence, and machetes.

Cairns

Barbara Bandicootcha, Aurukun mayoral frontrunner.

Aurukun mayoral frontrunner apologises for drink driving charge

The woman leading the vote count in the race to become mayor of Aurukun has apologised and taken “full responsibility” for her actions after being charged with mid-range drink driving.

Cairns

Bess Price at Yuendumu. generic shots on indigenous children on the main street.

‘Second stolen generation’: Thousands of Indigenous kids removed from homes

The number of Far North Queensland Indigenous children removed by the state government has grown by more than 40 per cent in a decade.

Cairns

The caricature which is the source of the controversy.

‘Belongs in Nazi Germany’: Qld church slammed over Jewish cartoon

A civil-rights group has described a flyer disseminated by a Queensland church as “outrageous, disgusting and hurtful” for its depiction of an “evil” Jewish person.

Cairns

Perceptions of safety have declined across many schools in the region.

Exposed: Students going to school terrified

Many of the Far North’s biggest schools have seen a shocking increase in the number of students who say they don’t feel safe on school grounds, education department data shows. See the breakdown.

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/journalists/luke-williams/page/23