As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, May 15

Plans have been lodged with Brisbane City Council for twin 30-storey residential towers between the convention centre and Musgrave Park.

Dubbed the Merivale Street Residences, the towers would have 480 units, 581 car spaces, and communal areas including sports courts and pools.

If approved, the towers would be built on the site of commercial buildings and the existing Brisbane Bullets Performance Centre at South Brisbane.

An artist’s impression of the lower levels of the proposed Merivale Street Residences, as seen from the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

It follows council’s move to allow higher density in the Kurilpa precinct due to its public transport services and proximity to the CBD.

“The proposal provides an active landscaped ground-floor level offering a pleasant pedestrian experience between Russell Street and Merivale Street and supports the creation of a significant corner site in South Brisbane,” the council has been told.

The towers would be next to a planned five-star hotel, across the road from the park where council recently told homeless people to move their camps.

Thanks for joining us for live coverage of the news in Brisbane today. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with more breaking news. If you’re just catching up, here are some of the stories making headlines today:

Poor wage growth and higher energy costs have contributed to the shift away from Australia’s major political parties since the global financial crisis, new research reveals, with warnings that support for populist right-wing candidates will grow unless the financial needs of poorer people are addressed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Indonesia, while Greens senators are voting on their next federal leader after Adam Bandt’s shock loss. Follow our rolling coverage of the big national and international news.

Meanwhile, Albanese has politely declined an offer of honorary citizenship from the Italian city of Barletta, the birthplace of his late father, due to legal concerns that the gesture could conflict with Australia’s constitutional rules on foreign allegiance.

The boss of a news organisation that has been one of the biggest critics of the NRL’s expansion into Western Australia has been appointed as the inaugural chief executive of the Perth Bears.

Robert Walls, one of Australian rules football’s most fabled figures as player, coach and media figure, has died in his East Melbourne apartment overlooking the MCG, in a medically supervised death.

And down an unassuming CBD lane near Felix Street, discover a pop-up stall that punches out some of the best falafel we’ve had in this city.

The State Assessment and Referral Agency has asked for more information on a commercial tower proposed for a heritage precinct in the Brisbane CBD.

Under plans lodged with Brisbane City Council, the 39-storey tower would rise above the heritage-listed Stock Exchange Hotel and F.H. Faulding Warehouse, and hang over the heritage-listed Edwards Dunlop Building at Penola Place.

SARA has asked the developers to explain how Penola Place would be protected from wind and rain, and whether a planned bike lift would compromise heritage values. It has also requested broader structural engineering reports to determine whether the tower would undermine the heritage-listed buildings.

The information request is similar to the process used for the planned Howard Smith Wharves redevelopment, which this week resulted in a series of design changes intended to alleviate any concerns.

The launch in Bowen of Australia’s first locally made rocket has been delayed due to last-minute faults, but the company behind the launch said the issues weren’t unexpected.

Gilmour Space Technologies co-founder Adam Gilmour told 4BC’s Sofie Formica the company had a two-week-long window to make the launch.

“We’ve missed the ability to launch this afternoon, so we have to go for tomorrow morning’s launch window,” he said.

Gilmour said that there would be other chances to launch the rocket over the next four days.

He added the rocket, made on the Gold Coast, would likely not survive its return journey, and be “pretty whacked up” when retrieved from its landing site in the ocean.

“It’s just to get it back and have a look at how things work … it’s more for learning than anything else,” he said.

“We won’t be looking at fully relaunchable [rockets] until at least the next four vehicles.”

Brisbane Lions star Cam Rayner says his work with a psychologist helped transform him into one of the AFL’s leading talents, admitting talk that followed him since being drafted with pick No.1 had previously hindered him.

Rayner has become the club’s go-to man when in need of a crucial goal, but in the past he had been criticised for failing to live up to what was expected of him straight out of high school.

Cam Rayner of the Lions attempts to mark the ball.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

The 25-year-old has worked with the Lions’ psychologist to come to terms with life in the spotlight, while keeping a journal of his thoughts, which has allowed him to cast aside external expectations while on the field.

“I think it’s probably built me to the player I am, to be honest. At the time, you probably don’t understand how much it’s going to take a toll on your career as you get older,” Rayner said in the lead-up to Sunday’s clash with the Melbourne Demons.

“It’s always something someone brings up or speaks about, even though when you’re out there it doesn’t matter what pick you’ve gone.

“But I think it’s made me focus a little bit more and tap into that side [mental health], because if you don’t it can chew up on you. We put a lot into our physical body … but it’s also important to tap into the other side as well.”

Plans have been lodged with Brisbane City Council for twin 30-storey residential towers between the convention centre and Musgrave Park.

Dubbed the Merivale Street Residences, the towers would have 480 units, 581 car spaces, and communal areas including sports courts and pools.

If approved, the towers would be built on the site of commercial buildings and the existing Brisbane Bullets Performance Centre at South Brisbane.

An artist’s impression of the lower levels of the proposed Merivale Street Residences, as seen from the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

It follows council’s move to allow higher density in the Kurilpa precinct due to its public transport services and proximity to the CBD.

“The proposal provides an active landscaped ground-floor level offering a pleasant pedestrian experience between Russell Street and Merivale Street and supports the creation of a significant corner site in South Brisbane,” the council has been told.

The towers would be next to a planned five-star hotel, across the road from the park where council recently told homeless people to move their camps.

The state government is digging in on its decision to cut funding to the Environmental Defenders Office, saying it is consistent with the promises the LNP took to last year’s state election.

“As per our commitment before the election, we honoured Labor’s funding agreement in its entirety which expired at the end of June 2025,” a government spokesperson told this masthead.

“There is no additional money budgeted beyond that period of time.

“As part of future assessments for programs, the EDO would have to convince the government that proper processes had been put in place to qualify for further funding, after being ordered to pay $9 million in costs after a judge criticised EDO lawyers for coaching a witness.”

This is a reference to the huge fine that the climate-focused legal service was told to pay oil and gas giant Santos, after a court rejected its attempt to block an offshore pipeline near the Tiwi Islands and found it had coached Indigenous witnesses.

The Environmental Defenders Office has lashed out at the Queensland government for its decision to cancel funding to the service, which offers legal aid for environmental disputes.

The service – which has offices dotted around the country, including one in Brisbane and Cairns – said it received the news today the Queensland government would not renew its roughly $500,000 in annual funding.

David Morris, chief executive of the EDO, said the loss of funds would be a blow to farmers, regional Queenslanders and First Nations communities, who relied on the office’s legal advice.

“Even with the environmental legal aid EDO provides, the scales are tipped heavily in the favour of mining companies, big irrigators, and property developers,” Morris said.

“Without it, many communities won’t even know their rights, let alone have the chance to exercise them.”

The EDO has received annual funding for five years and employs two environmental law solicitors.

Morris estimated the service had helped about 1500 people over that time, and said the office would remain open after the funding cut, but might be forced to turn some people away.

Comment has been sought from the Queensland government.

Queensland intends to issue more euro-denominated debt after it garnered strong demand for its first-ever benchmark issuance in the currency as it taps offshore markets to broaden the investor base.

Queensland Treasury Corporation sold €1.25 billion ($2.16 billion) worth of debt maturing in May 2035 on Tuesday after receiving more than seven times worth of orders for the deal, according to terms seen by Bloomberg.

Queensland Treasury Corporation has reported a strong sale of euro debt.Credit: Getty Images

“We are pleased with the interest and investor participation in this inaugural EUR benchmark issuance,” Jose Fajardo, head of funding strategy and investor relations at QTC said in a statement on Wednesday. “QTC is committed to being a regular issuer in euro, in benchmark sizes, and developing a yield curve.”

The state’s inaugural issue of euro debt of a benchmark size comes at a time when local investors are reticent to add to their holdings amid rising state government debt and weakening credit quality.

The semi-government authority also capitalises on cheaper offshore funding. The cost to convert euro funds into Australian dollars is down to about 13 basis points, according to data on 10-year cross-currency basis swaps compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with a peak of 42 basis points in mid-2023.

“The ultimate success of this deal and the overall EUR strategy for QTC will be whether it expands or cannibalises the Semi investor pool,” said Kenneth Crompton, senior fixed income strategist at NAB in Sydney. “Anecdotally, we suspect it will be expansionary and two to three deals of this size will meaningfully reduce the AUD issuance program.”

The deal was issued at a spread of about 67 basis points above Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, Bloomberg calculations show.

The Nationals are urging their Coalition partner to take a hard line against the renewables rollout, calling into question Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s pledge to end the climate wars as Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen accused the Coalition of fuelling the fight over energy policy.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley declared, in her first address to the media on Tuesday, that “there won’t be a climate war” but Nationals senator Matt Canavan told this masthead that his tilt at the junior Coalition partner’s leadership had “mortally wounded” the net zero policy.

When asked whether her party would remain committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and retain its nuclear energy policy, Ley said there would be “no captain’s calls”.

Former opposition leader Peter Dutton took a net zero commitment to the election, but Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud have confirmed the policy is currently under review.

Meanwhile, climate finance expert Professor Ross Garnaut has argued that the government’s crushing election victory has given Australia a chance to move forward decisively on the issue.

The May 3 election has not changed in any way the physics, economics or ethics of climate change. What it has changed is the capacity of government in Australia to establish and maintain policies that will allow us to reduce domestic emissions in line with our international obligations.

Read Garnaut’s opinion piece here.

Newborn babies with vitamin D deficiency have a higher chance of later developing ADHD, schizophrenia and autism, a major study involving The University of Queensland has found.

Professor John McGrath, from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute, led the study and said the research suggested vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and early life could help reduce the risk of the conditions in adulthood.

“Vitamin D is important for a baby’s brain development, and low vitamin D levels are common in pregnant women across the globe,” he said.

Similar to how folate supplements are recommended during pregnancy to prevent spina bifida, researchers suggest vitamin D levels should also be optimised to reduce the risk of ADHD, autism and schizophrenia. Credit: Getty

Vitamin D usually comes from sun exposure but can also be found in some food and supplements.

The research, which involved a population study of 71,793 people, was published in The Lancet Psychiatry.