As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, July 17

Thanks for joining us for our live news blog. We’ll be back with more live coverage tomorrow, so please join us.

And if you’re just catching up on today’s news, here are some of the stories that have been making headlines:

Police have charged a 21-year-old Cleveland man over an offence allegedly involving a child at a Tingalpa childcare facility on July 10.

Police have revealed they tracked two teenage boys, aged 15 and 17, about 100 kilometres before the pair were arrested over the alleged murder of Sunshine Coast man Zdravko Bilic.

A Sydney-based banker who was charged with grooming underage girls for sex has been found dead on the Gold Coast hinterland, two days after he was released from a Brisbane cell on bail.

Senior Labor women say rogue MP Mark Latham is a “pig” who would be sacked in any other workplace, after allegations he took photos of female colleagues while in the upper house and claims his office was used to film “sordid” sexual trysts.

Only an unexpected surge in inflation is likely to prevent the Reserve Bank from delivering borrowers and businesses interest rate relief in August after unemployment lifted to its highest level since the end of the COVID pandemic.

While the prime minister was content to watch the “very chill” animals in Chengdu, Coalition MPs were fired up over whether parts of Albanese’s trip were “strictly necessary”.

US President Donald Trump has explicitly abandoned his MAGA supporters who are still demanding answers over the Jeffrey Epstein saga, claiming they are doing the Democrats’ bidding and saying he no longer wants their support.

A cockpit voice recording of doomed Air India Flight 171 indicates it was the younger co-pilot who asked his more experienced colleague why he turned off the plane’s fuel-supply switches, according to people familiar with the matter.

Police are asking for public help to identify a man who may be able to help in investigations into indecent acts in Redcliffe earlier this month.

Between 4 and 4.30pm on July 3, witnesses reported seeing a man perform an indecent act at a family event at a venue on Downs Street.

Police are asking for two men pictured together in Redcliffe on July 3 to come forward to help in their investigation into an incident where a man performed an indecent act at a family event.Credit: Queensland Police Service

After being confronted by staff at the venue, the man left the area and walked towards Sutton Street.

Police are appealing to the two men seen travelling together towards Anzac Avenue to come forward, saying they may be able to help with investigations.

Police did not elaborate on the nature of the indecent act.

A Brisbane mother has revealed her “shock” at allegations of child abuse at the centre looking after her kids.

The woman – who asked not to be named – was picking her children up from Milestones Early Learning Centre in Tingalpa about 1.30pm after reading in the media charges had been laid against a staff member.

Milestones Early Learning Centre in Tingalpa, where a staff member was charged with indecent treatment of a child.Credit: William Davis

“I was shocked – it’s too close to home,” she said.

“You want to trust your gut instinct, and I never had anything to tell me that they were unsafe here.“

Staff at the centre would not say if they were proactively contacting parents about the allegations a 21-year-old worker abused a child earlier this month.

The mother said she had not seen any communications from the centre.

“We just kind of have to wait and see what the allegations are,” she added.

“I know that the centre will do what’s right by the kids.”

Tributes have rolled in for Zdravko Bilic, a 57-year-old who died at his Warana home on Sunday in a suspected murder.

Sunshine Coast Detective Inspector Chris Toohey said Bilic was “a strong member of the Warana community” and greater Sunshine Coast district.

Bouquets left at the Napalle Street house in Warana, where Zdravko Bilic was found stabbed to death.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

“Mr Bilic is a proud member of the community through his links with coaching soccer, as well as the employment he had in childcare centres,” Toohey said.

“The Warana community is a really tight community, they visit each other’s houses, they have Christmas party, street parties, they really are shocked.

“He will be well missed by this community.”

Toohey said he had met with Bilkic’s wife, Gry Tomte, twice since Bilic’s death on the weekend.

“She is distraught – she is full of memories and stories about a man that is her life, and she wants to remember him and wants the community to remember him for the man he is and how important he was to them in the community,” Toohey said.

Tomte was away at the time of Bilic’s death, and while Toohey said Tomte had not yet returned to the house her husband died in, tributes have been left by members of the community at the Warana property.

Police have revealed they used mobile phone evidence to track two teenage boys around 100km before making arrests over the alleged murder of Sunshine Coast man Zdravko Bilic last weekend.

Sunshine Coast Detective Inspector Chris Toohey said police had arrested the 15-year-old in Chermside last night, and the 17-year-old in Toowoomba.

“A number of strategies occurred for us to locate the boys, including following phone evidence and knowledge of where they were going to be and what plans they had,” Toohey said.

“The 17-year-old youth caught a bus from Brisbane to Toowoomba and was arrested as he disembarked the bus.”

He said evidence had been recovered at Bilic’s Warana home, including a set of Bilic’s keys on the driveway.

Toohey said the teens were suspected of being involved in a string of break-ins on the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, including one on Saturday night, and one earlier the same night that Bilic was allegedly fatally stabbed by the pair.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has described the charge laid against a man for indecent treatment of a child at a Tingalpa childcare centre as “horrific and sickening”.

Speaking to media in Cairns, Crisafulli said he had asked Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek to contact the centre’s operators to ensure parents of other children were aware.

“It is absolutely essential that that occurs following these charges,” he said.

“What parents are comprehending at the moment right across the state is not what any parent should have to go through when they are dropping their kids off to a place where they need to know that their kids are safe.”

He said the government was working on including early childhood education in the first stage of the state’s new reportable conduct scheme, and said the state’s blue card system needed strengthening.

Nearly 450 people were hospitalised with flu or COVID-19 in Queensland last week, with the spike forcing hospitals on Brisbane’s northside to pause elective surgery in a bid to free up beds for emergency patients.

On Wednesday, Queensland Health confirmed category two and three elective surgeries at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The Prince Charles Hospital, Redcliffe Hospital, and Caboolture Hospital had been delayed for 48 hours, affecting about 185 patients.

Data released by Queensland Health on Thursday morning shows a significant increase in flu hospitalisations in the past week, with more than 250 hospitalisations between July 7 and 13, and an average of 169 public hospital beds occupied by flu patients.

More than 190 people were hospitalised with COVID-19, occupying an average of 149 hospital beds.

The figures add to nearly 3,600 people hospitalised with the flu since the start of the year, a 16 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The state’s health department said it’s not too late to get vaccinated, a measure that reduces the risk of serious illness and hospitalisation.

The Reserve Bank has been given a warning about the state of the economy with the jobless rate climbing to its highest level since the end of the COVID pandemic.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics this morning reported unemployment lifted by 0.2 percentage points to 4.3 per cent in June.

It is the highest unemployment rate since November 2021.

There was a 34,000 increase in the number of people out of work, while the total number of people increased by just 2000.

There was a 38,000 fall in full-time employment, offset by a 40,000 lift in part-time work.

Unemployment lifted in both NSW and Victoria by 0.2 percentage points, to reach 4.4 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively. It also lifted in Queensland (to 4.1 per cent), South Australia (to 4.4 per cent) and Western Australian (4.1 per cent).

Rangers on K’gari have issued a public plea for information after a decapitated dingo was found on the island last month.

The animal was found at Ngkala Rocks, north of Waddy Point on the eastern side of the tourist hotspot previously known as Fraser Island, on June 1.

A veterinary examination confirmed it had likely been killed by a vehicle, before the legally protected native species’ head was deliberately removed.

“Anyone who was visiting the Orchid Beach and Waddy Point area north to Ngkala Rocks in late May or early June or has dashcam footage is urged to contact DETSI,” the department of environment, tourism science and innovation said in a statement.

Deliberately killing a dingo on K’gari, or taking part of the dead animals from the island, carries a maximum penalty of $493,000 or two-years jail.

After formally beginning work this month, Queensland’s $20 million, 17-month child safety commission of inquiry will hold its opening hearing next week.

Commissioner Paul Anastassiou KC confirmed the date yesterday after two days of public engagement with key figures in Townsville.

“I look forward to speaking further about the commission’s approach to its work at the formal opening next week,” he said in a statement.

The hearing will take place next Wednesday, July 23, in Brisbane. Subsequent hearings, featuring evidence from witnesses, are yet to be confirmed.

On Sunday, Premier David Crisafulli announced the government would soon launch a second major public inquiry, this time into the conduct of the CFMEU.