As it happened: Brisbane, February 5

That’s where we’ll leave our live updates. Here’s what was making news today.

• Five youths have been arrested with one charged after 70-year-old grandmother Vyleen White was fatally stabbed in front of her young granddaughter in a car park near Brisbane.
• The service provided by police in Queensland has been rated six out of 10 by more than 10,000 residents and businesses in a state-first survey.
• A man has pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court over the murder of his parents at their south-east Queensland home in 2020.

Taylor Swift in custom Schiaparelli.Credit: Getty Images

• Taylor Swift has made history at the Grammys, becoming the only person to have won Album of the Year four times after getting the gong for Midnights.
• Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has vowed to pursue every avenue to save Australian father Yang Hengjun, who has been handed a suspended death sentence in Beijing on vague espionage charges.
• Work has halted on 21 building projects in Queensland and NSW after construction firm St Hilliers called in administrators over the weekend.
• Police are investigating an incident between Brisbane-born Hollywood actor Jacob Elordi and a producer for Kyle and Jackie O after an attempted prank went awry.

We’ll be back with you on Tuesday.

Envirobank has advised that the drink container recycling pods it operated for Containers for Change have been “abruptly” closed down.

In an email to customers, Envirobank said it could no longer offer Drop’n’Go services for Containers for Change, and its green pods would be physically removed from various sites across Queensland.

The email described the news as “challenging” - it is understood 39 pods were cut off at the weekend - and said “we are compelled to close these locations abruptly”.

The decision comes after the recycling scheme was expanded to include clear glass wine and spirit bottles in December.

In a statement, COEX, the not-for-profit than runs Containers for Change, said Envirobank had decided to remove bag drop services from its new collection agreement. Other bag drop options were being investigated, and customers should check the website for alternatives.

We brought you news last week that a former top public servant had been appointed to review the state’s homelessness service (for free) – a situation Premier Steven Miles admitted he could have handled better.

At the time he also faced questions about his former chief of staff Danielle Cohen, who was being seconded to a new public service role from her job at Stanwell.

Cohen has now quit the job after criticism from the LNP and some media, who framed it as part of a Labor “jobs for mates scandal”, only one week after she announced the tap on the shoulder from Miles’ director-general Mike Kaiser, himself facing renewed LNP criticism.

Cohen said suggestions the new team within the Department of Premier and Cabinet, focused on improving service delivery and similar to others used in governments from both sides of politics in Australia and abroad, was a political unit were “absolute rubbish”.

In a post of his own on LinkedIn, Miles said the LNP had “dragged the reputations” of the pair through the mud “to try to damage me”.

King Charles has issued a message to Queenslanders after the state was hit by tropical cyclones, torrential flooding and storms that destroyed homes and took the lives of several people in recent weeks.

The King and Queen said in a statement they were deeply concerned by the weather in Queensland.Credit: Getty Images

In a statement released by Governor-General David Hurley, now visiting recovering areas on the Gold Coast, the King said he and Queen Camilla were “deeply concerned by the devastating impacts of recent weather events”, which had brought “unbearable pressure” on communities.

“We are full of admiration for those brave rescue crews and all the others who help protect life and defend property in difficult and often very dangerous circumstances,” the statement read.

“That spirit of mateship and helping those in need reflects the very best of Australian characteristics and makes us so proud of the resilience and determination of the Australian people.”

The King and Queen are expected to visit Australia this year.

Do the major supermarkets offer good value for money? We asked you in our weekly reader survey, and most of you (69 per cent) said you didn’t think they did. “We have few alternatives to buying at supermarkets and they know it,” said one reader.

We’re less than six weeks from local government elections, so we also asked which party you would vote for in the Brisbane council poll.

While this isn’t a representative sample – and about a quarter of you didn’t pick a party at all – among those of you who did, your top choice was the LNP (34 per cent), followed by the Greens (22 per cent) and Labor (20 per cent).

And following Cameron Atfield’s recent Perspective on the risks of artificial intelligence, we asked if you were worried about how AI might affect local political campaigns. Most of you (77 per cent) were concerned.

“I think all political candidates should be on watch for AI deepfakes on social media,” one reader added. “It’s quick and viral, and many won’t see the truth or rebuttal from its victim. It may be removed on social media within a few hours, but many who had seen and shared it would not question its veracity without significant publicity.”

Want to be part of our weekly reader survey? Sign up at the IdeaXchange.

Principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn and chair of Multicultural Australia Giridharan Sivaraman has been appointed as the next Race Discrimination Commissioner.

The role is a part of the Australian Human Rights Commission and is responsible for combatting all forms of racial discrimination and promoting understanding, tolerance and harmony across all sectors of Australian society.

Sivaraman will commence his appointment on March 4, filling the vacancy resulting from the conclusion of Chin Tan’s appointment.

He has run numerous state and national race discrimination cases and led the pro-bono compensation scheme for underpaid 7-Eleven workers, many of whom came from migrant backgrounds.

Also a member of the Queensland Multicultural Advisory Council, Sivaraman appeared at a state parliamentary inquiry to demand legal reform to better protect the rights of victims of racial vilification, while his work with Multicultural Australia oversees the continued support provided to new arrivals in Queensland.

A man has admitted murdering his parents at their southeast Queensland home in 2020.

Christopher Puglia pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday to two counts of murder.

The bodies of Frank and Loris Puglia were found by a relative who was going to the couple’s home in Joyner, in Brisbane’s north, for a catch-up.

Read the full story here.

Queensland has had announcements around homelessness support, planning and housing supply, and rental support already from the government in the past week. All have been broadly welcomed by stakeholders ahead of further detail from a wider long-term housing plan to be released this week.

Today, Premier Steven Miles has announced an extra $1.25 billion for social housing. This would complement a target, based on work done by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, of 53,500 new social homes by 2046.

Such a boost would come close to the 5000 new homes social service and housing groups have long been urging are needed each year to catch up and meet demand.

But it’s only expected to ramp up to 2000 each year by 2028, after 5000 were added in the eight years since Labor came to power, amid construction sector pressures.