As it happened: Brisbane on Tuesday, July 1

Community healthcare access is expanding from today as Queensland’s new pharmacy prescribing laws come into effect.

The changes remove the need for patients to visit a GP or hospital in some circumstances, instead enabling eligible community pharmacists to treat minor health issues.

The services include treatments for ear infections, minor wound care, skin conditions, and reflux.

Prescriptions can also be provided and filled for such things as hormonal birth control and hay fever medications.

The expanded rules will save Queenslanders a trip to the GP for minor ailments. Credit: Getty Images

Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland president Chris Owen thanked the government for making the program permanent after its trial ended earlier this year.

“The continuation of these services marks an important shift in how primary health care is delivered in Queensland, making better use of pharmacists’ clinical skills, and improving patient access to frontline care,” Owen said.

“Most Australians live within 2.5 kilometres of a community pharmacy, many of which are open after hours or on weekends.”

Pharmacists must complete additional training to be eligible for the program.

Thanks for joining us today for our live coverage of news in Brisbane and beyond. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with another live coverage. If you’re just catching up, here are some of the big stories that made headlines today.

Flights to and from Brisbane have been cancelled or delayed, with “severe weather” forecast to lash parts of the east coast.

The Queensland government will set up a new Treasury Transaction Team to attract private capital to help the government deliver its infrastructure pipeline, the treasurer has announced.

The identity of the Melbourne childcare worker charged with more than 70 offences, including child rape, has been revealed, as authorities say 1200 children must get tested for infectious diseases.

Videos, police fact sheets and court documents reveal the moments leading up to and after the violent melee that left former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas with a gruesome eye injury.

Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater has confirmed that lingering injury concerns for Reece Walsh had nothing to do with his State of Origin omission in favour of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

Community healthcare access is expanding from today as Queensland’s new pharmacy prescribing laws come into effect.

The changes remove the need for patients to visit a GP or hospital in some circumstances, instead enabling eligible community pharmacists to treat minor health issues.

The services include treatments for ear infections, minor wound care, skin conditions, and reflux.

Prescriptions can also be provided and filled for such things as hormonal birth control and hay fever medications.

The expanded rules will save Queenslanders a trip to the GP for minor ailments. Credit: Getty Images

Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland president Chris Owen thanked the government for making the program permanent after its trial ended earlier this year.

“The continuation of these services marks an important shift in how primary health care is delivered in Queensland, making better use of pharmacists’ clinical skills, and improving patient access to frontline care,” Owen said.

“Most Australians live within 2.5 kilometres of a community pharmacy, many of which are open after hours or on weekends.”

Pharmacists must complete additional training to be eligible for the program.

The median Brisbane house price has broken $1 million for the first time, according to new figures.

Property data group PropTrack released its June Home Price Index on Tuesday morning.

It showed median house prices jumped 8.3 per cent over the past 12 months, to $1.015 million.

The median unit price jumped 12.9 per cent – or $82,300 – $708,000.

The state budget announced last week included a range of incentives for Queenslanders attempting to break into the property market.

Stamp duty for first home buyers has been waived for new builds or vacant land, and the first home owners grant has been doubled to $30,000.

A $165 million Boost to Buy scheme – where the government effectively co-owns a stake in a property up to 30 per cent – was also announced.

The Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen brands have been accused of greenwashing, with the consumer watchdog alleging products were advertised as “reef friendly” despite containing chemicals that can harm coral and marine life.

On Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it had launched federal court proceedings against Edgewell Personal Care Australia and its US-based parent company, over the claims made on more than 90 products, marketed under the Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic brands, which were sold between August 2020 and December 2024.

The Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic brands have been accused of including chemicals in their sunscreens which can harm coral and marine life.Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez

The ACCC said that while the sunscreens marketed as “reef friendly” did not contain two chemicals – oxybenzone or octinoxate – that have been banned in some jurisdictions due to their potential to damage reefs, the products contained other ingredients which the ACCC alleges either cause harm or risk causing harm to reefs including coral and marine life.

These ingredients were octocrylene, homosalate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane.

The ACCC also alleged that while Edgewell removed “reef friendly” claims from these products in the US market in 2020, the company continued to make the claims on their products sold to Australian consumers until December last year.

“Many consumers consider environmental factors when purchasing products. By engaging in this alleged greenwashing, we say Edgewell deprived consumers of the ability to make an informed decision and may have prevented them from purchasing a different brand of sunscreen that did not contain chemicals which risked causing harm to reefs,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

Flights to and from Brisbane have been cancelled or delayed, with severe weather set to lash the east coast.

Heavy rain and high-speed winds are predicted across much of NSW from today, and the Brisbane Airport website shows a significant number of flights have been postponed or cancelled.

“[We have] been working with the aviation industry overnight to manage the impact of severe weather,” a spokesperson for Airservices Australia said.

“Aircraft movement rates have been reduced this morning.”

In a statement, Virgin confirmed Brisbane flights are impacted.

“The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority, and our meteorologists continue to closely monitor the weather system,” the airline said.

“We regret the impact of this on guests’ travel plans and are working hard to ensure they reach their destination safely and as soon as possible.”

This masthead has also contacted Qantas for comment.

A representative for Sydney Airport – which is expected to be heavily impacted – said passengers should reach out to airlines directly for information on their flights.

As the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland’s child protection system begins today, the CREATE Foundation says young people with experience in the system must be heard.

CREATE Foundation is the national consumer body representing the voices of children and young people with an out-of-home care experience.

“Too often children’s voices are ignored,” the foundation’s CEO, Imogen Edeson, said.

“Many young people tell us they don’t get to have a say about their care and that they are not taken seriously.”

Edeson said the public narrative around residential care in Queensland had sidelined the real-life experiences of young people.

“When residential care is in the media, it’s often talked about in the context of youth crime,” she said.

“But what’s often missing is the real story – that many children in care are being criminalised because we’ve failed to meet their most basic needs.

“These are kids who have likely faced childhood trauma, racism, poverty, unstable housing, family violence, mental health challenges or unmet disability.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has talked down a report that his deputy Richard Marles, who is also the defence minister, hasn’t received a formal briefing on the readiness of the army, navy and airforce to be deployed on missions for two and a half years.

“That’s just absurd,” Albanese said when quizzed on Nine’s Today.

“That’s just absurd”.

Albanese has rubbished claims that his deputy Richard Marles was kept in the dark, calling it “absurd”.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But he admitted he had not read the report in the Australian Financial Review which cited a report from the government’s own Auditor-General.

The report said six-monthly formal reports had stopped, but that information was being provided through other means such as direct conversations.

Albanese said the national security of cabinet, which he and Marles were part of, regularly received briefings from defence chiefs.

Albanese’s audio dropped out at a convenient moment on Nine’s Today show when host Karl Stefanovic put to him that Trump had disrespected the prime minister by failing to find time to meet with him, despite Australia’s history as a steadfast US ally.

Stefanovic suggested the prime minister tell Trump to “bugger off” but Albanese did not respond, saying his audio had failed.

Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump’s planned meeting at the G7 was cancelled.Credit: Nine

When co-host Sarah Abo repeated the question, Albanese disagreed with the premise.

“No [I do not feel insulted] at all,” Albanese said. He said he respected Trump and the president had repaid that.

“He’s been respectful of me as well,” he said, citing the president’s call to congratulate him after his election win.

A Commission of Inquiry into Queensland’s child safety system, which is responsible for 12,500 children in state care, will start work today.

The 17-month inquiry, led by former Federal Court judge Paul Anastassiou KC, will look at how to reform the residential care system, review its effectiveness and the case load of child safety officers, and examine failures.

A 2024 Census found children entering out-of-home care had suffered significant trauma, with almost half having been physically abused, 88 per cent had been neglected and 68 per cent exposed to domestic violence.

Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm said the inquiry’s terms of reference were broad.Credit: Queensland government

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing reliance on individual placement support, which was intended to be a short-term bridging response, with costs increasing from $82 million in 2014/15 to $766 million this financial year.

The Crisafulli government in May ordered a full forensic audit into one for-profit residential care provider after it was uncovered that dividends paid to three shareholders totalled $5.25 million last financial year.

The organisation received tens of millions of dollars from the state government to run residential care services, with financial statements showing they increased their management fees by 1000 per cent.

Read more about the inquiry in this story by our crime and court reporter, Cloe Read.

In fascinating news out of The University of Queensland this morning, researchers say common beetles equipped with microchip backpacks could one day be used to help search and rescue crews find survivors of building and mine collapses within days.

UQ’s Dr Thang Vo-Doan and research assistant Lachlan Fitzgerald have shown they can remotely guide darkling beetles fitted with backpacks via video game controllers.

Beetles equipped with removable microchip backpacks could be used to help locate survivors during search and rescue operations, University of Queensland researchers say.Credit: University of Queensland

The removable backpacks prompt the beetles to move in specific directions through electrodes that stimulate the insect’s antenna or hardened forewings, known as elytrons.

“Beetles possess many natural gifts that make them the masters of climbing and manoeuvring in small, complex spaces such as dense rubble, that are difficult for robots to navigate,” Dr Vo-Doan said.

Researchers hope to test the technology in a live situation within five years.