As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, October 24

The LNP will scrap pill testing and “three strike” drug possession laws if it forms government after Saturday’s state election.

Leader David Crisafulli confirmed the party’s intentions while campaigning at a YMCA in Victoria Point on Thursday.

“We don’t believe a soft on drugs approach works,” he said.

“I don’t believe in rolling out the welcome mat to drugs and saying that drugs are acceptable here and not here. I just don’t believe that’s the right way.”

The Labor government introduced pill testing – including a mobile van set to travel to Schoolies on the Gold Coast – and laws that give people three chances, and the offer of a diversionary program, before they face charges for minor drug possession.

Labor supporters heckle LNP leader David Crisafulli and candidate Amanda Cooper at Carseldine.Credit: William Davis

The Australian Medical Association urged the LNP to listen to the experts, who support the existing approach, and not risk people’s lives.

This afternoon, Crisafulli was sledged by Labor supporters while attending a pre-poll centre at Carseldine with LNP candidate and former Brisbane councillor Amanda Cooper.

The Labor supporters heckled the LNP about budget cuts, abortion access and emission targets, prompting Cooper to seek to reassure Crisafulli about their approach.

“They’re good at being negative, but we want to do positive things – they should be ashamed of themselves,” Cooper told him.

Thanks for joining our live news blog. In case you missed them, here are some of today’s top stories:

Days after cutting power to the site, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has defended council’s decision to install CCTV cameras at Musgrave Park to prevent further damage to local amenities.

After the death of a cyclist struck by a council bus, a coroner has recommended a review of all traffic lights in the metro area for safer red-arrow signalling.

The Donna Chang and Iris team now bring refined Vietnamese and Thai to Queen’s Wharf in the precinct’s latest opening, Luc Lac.

Luc Lac’s lengthy, intricately detailed bar is one of the venue’s major drawcards.Credit: Markus Ravik

Billionaire businessman Richard White has resigned as the chief executive of WiseTech Global, the logistics software giant he founded three decades ago, after he was accused of bullying and inappropriate conduct.

And in sport, Wallabies skipper Liam Wright has been locked in for surgery over a troublesome shoulder injury, while young Wallaby Tom Lynagh plots his Test return.

And Hall of Famer Mark Knowles, one of Australia’s all-time hockey greats, wants the Brisbane 2032 plan changed to provide a legacy for his sport.

The LNP will scrap pill testing and “three strike” drug possession laws if it forms government after Saturday’s state election.

Leader David Crisafulli confirmed the party’s intentions while campaigning at a YMCA in Victoria Point on Thursday.

“We don’t believe a soft on drugs approach works,” he said.

“I don’t believe in rolling out the welcome mat to drugs and saying that drugs are acceptable here and not here. I just don’t believe that’s the right way.”

The Labor government introduced pill testing – including a mobile van set to travel to Schoolies on the Gold Coast – and laws that give people three chances, and the offer of a diversionary program, before they face charges for minor drug possession.

Labor supporters heckle LNP leader David Crisafulli and candidate Amanda Cooper at Carseldine.Credit: William Davis

The Australian Medical Association urged the LNP to listen to the experts, who support the existing approach, and not risk people’s lives.

This afternoon, Crisafulli was sledged by Labor supporters while attending a pre-poll centre at Carseldine with LNP candidate and former Brisbane councillor Amanda Cooper.

The Labor supporters heckled the LNP about budget cuts, abortion access and emission targets, prompting Cooper to seek to reassure Crisafulli about their approach.

“They’re good at being negative, but we want to do positive things – they should be ashamed of themselves,” Cooper told him.

A bungled lease has caused a $116 million Queensland Police budget blowout, sparking an investigation ahead of the state election.

But Premier Steven Miles says the “unacceptable” gaffe will not affect frontline services amid what the opposition has called a youth crime “crisis”.

Queensland police signed a $116 million, 15-year lease to set up a new station at Stones Corner, in Brisbane’s inner south, with an option to extend it for a total of $240 million. However, the contract was reportedly signed before money was allocated for the major project.

A 5.6 per cent adjustment would need to be applied across all budget allocations as Queensland Police try to fill the $116 million black hole, Nine News reported last night.

But Miles insisted there would be no impact on existing operational expenses, telling reporters there was “no way that this should impact on frontline policing”.

“I’m advised that the police commissioner has ordered an investigation into exactly what has happened, and I’m as interested as you are to get the answers,” he said.

But the opposition set their sights on Police Minister Mark Ryan, with LNP leader David Crisafulli saying it “doesn’t stack up” that government decision-makers were unaware of the gaffe.

Ryan said the Queensland Police Service had significant unallocated funds in their accommodation budget, including an expected $40 million saving on the Wacol Youth Remand project, which would easily address the funding pressure of the Stones Corner station.

A Queensland LNP government would “stabilise” spending on external consultants and contractors to help pay for some of their billions in promised election commitments, shadow treasurer David Janetzki says.

Janetzki used an often-repeated phrase to declare the LNP’s $7.1 billion in election pledges “fully costed and fully funded,” and to be paid for via a new federal-Labor inspired government agency dubbed Queensland Government Consulting.

His party’s acceptance of the last Labor budget means promised lower debt levels are only marginally different.

Opposition treasury spokesman David Janetzki delivering the LNP’s election policy costings.Credit: William Davis

The new body, to sit within Treasury or the Queensland Treasury Corporation at a cost of $85 million over the next four years, would “stabilise” projected spending on external consultants and contractors to the tune of $6.8 billion by doing such work in-house.

“What we’re talking about is, we’re not cutting consultants, we’re flattening the trajectory of their growth,” Janetzki told journalists, who were only given the costings document within minutes of the hour-long media conference.

“I can confirm the Liberal National government will not be borrowing to fund our election promises … a Liberal National government will bring the general government operating balance into surplus in [financial year] 2026-27.”

The LNP costings account for still-hypothetical costs of Labor’s flagship multibillion-dollar Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project not in the current budget to inflate its roughly $9 billion in election promises across the forward estimates.

But Janetzki was unable to explain how much his party’s unaccounted for but much-touted “smaller, more manageable” pumped hydro projects – still requiring government funding – would cost, nor the second half of a new rail line from Beerwah to Maroochydore by 2032.

To NSW now, where three men have been convicted and fined after they were found guilty of performing Nazi salutes outside the Sydney Jewish Museum last year.

Ryan Marshall, Anthony Raymond Mitchell and Daniel Muston each pleaded not guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol in public without reasonable excuse, related to an incident in Darlinghurst on October 13, 2023.

Delivering her decision in Downing Centre Local Court this afternoon, magistrate Jennifer Atkinson found all three men guilty. She said the trio knew what they were doing, but accepted it was not planned, and that they were unlikely to reoffend. The three men were convicted and fined between $500 and $1500.

“We have to say to members of our community, ‘this behaviour is not acceptable’,” the magistrate said, noting that it was a relatively new law.

Anthony Mitchell leaving Downing Centre court in 2023.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Atkinson said CCTV of the incident showed Marshall lifting his arm in a manner “consistent with a Nazi salute on more than one occasion” and walking in a goose step. The magistrate said Marshall’s actions were “intentional” and rejected his evidence that he was “simply holding his arm up and walking”.

The court heard Marshall told police it was “stupid behaviour” and a “stupid incident”.

The magistrate said Muston had copied Marshall and “later apologised for doing stupid stuff”.

“He may have copied his workmate, but that does not constitute a reasonable excuse,” Atkinson said.

The magistrate also viewed a YouTube clip of comedian Ricky Gervais related to Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, in which Gervais brushed his hair forward like Hitler’s and made a Nazi salute. Mitchell’s defence of the charge was that he was “mimicking” the Gervais skit he had seen on Netflix, that they were “having a bit of a joke” and he did not realise where they were at the time.

“Mr Mitchell was walking back from his break ... he was not doing a comedy routine,” Atkinson said, adding that “none of the context that Mr Gervais outlined was there”. She said Mitchell “got caught up in the behaviour of the others and did what he did”.

Lawyers for the three men argued they had educated themselves about Jewish people, were not pushing the hateful ideologies of the Nazi Party, and had been “publicly vilified” and “named and shamed”.

The prosecutor said the offending had occurred six days after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel and outside “a building erected to remember the atrocities committed against the Jewish people”.

After the death of a cyclist who was struck by a council bus, a coroner has recommended Brisbane City Council and the Transport Department review all the metro area’s traffic lights for safer red arrow signalling.

Max McDowall’s family said he was an experienced and cautious cyclist.Credit: Facebook

On Thursday, Coroner Donald MacKenzie handed down his inquest findings into the death of 20-year-old Max McDowall, who was fatally struck by a council bus in 2021.

The bus and McDowall had been given a green light simultaneously as they entered the intersection of O’Keefe and Gillingham streets in Woolloongabba.

McDowall, said by his family to have been a cautious cyclist, suffered critical injuries and died at the scene, near Buranda train station.

Read the full story.

Premier Steven Miles’ attempt to visit 36 seats in 36 days has almost seen him come face-to-face with an independent candidate facing serious criminal charges.

Miles, and the media pack following him, were at Caloundra Cricket Club this morning when local man Don Jessop tried to speak to the Labor leader about claims of political persecution and unfair domestic violence laws.

Jessop, who is listed second on the ballot paper in Caloundra and has run previously, was only recently granted bail over an incident at a Bli Bli property in July.

A passing member of the public (left) accused independent candidate Don Jessop (right) of trivialising domestic violence in his comments to the media pack following Premier Steven Miles.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

He is charged with offences including unlawful stalking, possession of a weapon, wilful damage and possession of a knife.

Police allege Jessop was found with weapons, camouflage, a shovel, axe, gloves, duct tape, and a cadaver bag in his vehicle.

Confronted by the media today, Jessop sought to profess his innocence – he said the items were in his vehicle because he is a “bow hunter” – and argued some domestic violence issues should be regarded as civil matters, not criminal.

Miles was not listening, and Jessop was not able to move any closer to the premier.

A passing member of the public then accused Jessop of “trivialising domestic violence” with his comments.

The leaders might be embarking on a last-minute seat blitz, but one-third of Queensland voters have already made up their mind.

With another 150,000 people voting early yesterday, the total number of early voters for the state election has surged to more than 1.2 million.

There are about 3.68 million Queenslanders enrolled to vote.

There are just two more days of early voting before election day on Saturday.

A nine-year-old boy has died and a 46-year-old man was injured after a crash between an e-bike and a car on the Gold Coast.

Emergency services said the boy and man were riding on the same bike, in a group with other family members, when the crash happened yesterday evening on Robina Town Centre Drive, near Robina Hospital.

Stuart Cutajar, a spokesman for the Queensland Ambulance Service, said the boy suffered significant trauma, including head injuries.

He died in hospital on Thursday.

Bystanders, some with medical experience, started giving CPR to the boy before the ambulance arrived. Paramedics took three minutes to reach the scene.

“All the bystanders on scene did a fantastic job utilising their skills and knowledge prior to the arrival of the ambulance,” Cutajar said.

Cutajar said he understood the boy and man were wearing helmets.

A 47-year-old man, who was driving the Honda Odyssey involved in the crash, was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

Four boys, all aged 14, have now been charged after a rock was thrown through a train window on the weekend, seriously injuring a five-year-old boy.

The train was travelling through the intersection of James and Law streets in Cairns North on Saturday, on its way back from the popular tourist destination of Kuranda, when the rock was thrown into the carriage.

The five-year-old boy, reportedly a tourist from Japan, was hit in the head and taken to hospital, although he has since been discharged.

Two of the teenagers were arrested on Monday and faced court this week, with one remanded in custody and the other granted bail. Two more were arrested yesterday and will appear in court today.

All face charges of endangering the safety of a person in a vehicle with intent.