As it happened: Brisbane on Wednesday, February 12

The government has unveiled its five-member “expert legal panel” advising on youth crime policies, which includes several high-ranking legal professionals, a former police officer, and a First Nations elder.

Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber said the panel was “the best of the best across Queensland”, and would consult on future changes to the state government’s youth justice legislation.

“We have three members who have over 20 years’ experience in legal practice and over 43 years of law enforcement, a victims’ advocate, and an Indigenous elder,” Gerber said.

“I think that represents the breadth of Queensland.”

The panel is yet to meet, and chair April Freeman declined to comment on any matters that it might discuss – including adding attempted murder to the list of eligible “adult time” offences, after a Coles worker was stabbed last month.

“Understandably, there is considerable community concern about youth crime in Queensland,” Freeman said.

“At the bar, I have prosecuted juvenile offenders. I’ve also acted for juvenile offenders as their defence lawyer. I’ve seen both sides of the coin, and I can see what a vexed issue this is.”

The panel’s other members include victims’ advocacy expert Lyndy Atkinson, former police officer and barrister Douglas Wilson, former Detective Superintendent Robert Weir, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service chief executive and First Nations elder Randal Ross.

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If you’re just catching up, here’s what made headlines:

A world-leading expert says Brisbane could be chosen over Sydney and Melbourne to host future Games after 2032.

Police have been called in, and an urgent investigation launched, over social media footage allegedly showing two NSW hospital nurses bragging about killing and refusing to treat Israeli patients.

The High Court has ruled that all judges are immune from lawsuits, sparing Federal Circuit Court Judge Salvatore Vasta, who was sued by a Brisbane man for false imprisonment.

Donald Trump’s top trade adviser says Australia is “killing” the US aluminium market, in a blow to Canberra’s hopes for an exemption from the president’s 25 per cent tariffs on aluminium and steel.

Billionaire tech boss Elon Musk has admitted making errors of fact as the head of Donald Trump’s razor gang, but he denied having a conflict of interest over the government contracts secured by his companies.

Sam Kerr leaves Kingston Crown Court after being found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment.Credit: AP

Australian soccer star Sam Kerr says she wants to put a “challenging period” behind her after a British jury cleared her of racially aggravated harassment of a UK police officer.

One of the NRL’s most luckless players, North Queensland Cowboys sensation Tom Chester – who has suffered another setback – is among those declared too good to be confined to the code’s fringes.

Top musical Sister Act opens tonight in Brisbane at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC.

Described as “a funny and charming romp” by the reviewer for Brisbane Times stablemate The Sydney Morning Herald, the musical is an adaptation of the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg.

In the biggest stage role of her career, Casey Donovan leads the cast as Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer hiding out from the mob at a convent.

Genevieve Lemon plays the Mother Superior and Rhonda Burchmore is choir leader Sister Mary Lazarus.

The music is by Tony and Oscar-winner Alan Menken (Disney’s Aladdin and The Little Mermaid).

Sister Act runs until March 15.

The government has unveiled its five-member “expert legal panel” advising on youth crime policies, which includes several high-ranking legal professionals, a former police officer, and a First Nations elder.

Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber said the panel was “the best of the best across Queensland”, and would consult on future changes to the state government’s youth justice legislation.

“We have three members who have over 20 years’ experience in legal practice and over 43 years of law enforcement, a victims’ advocate, and an Indigenous elder,” Gerber said.

“I think that represents the breadth of Queensland.”

The panel is yet to meet, and chair April Freeman declined to comment on any matters that it might discuss – including adding attempted murder to the list of eligible “adult time” offences, after a Coles worker was stabbed last month.

“Understandably, there is considerable community concern about youth crime in Queensland,” Freeman said.

“At the bar, I have prosecuted juvenile offenders. I’ve also acted for juvenile offenders as their defence lawyer. I’ve seen both sides of the coin, and I can see what a vexed issue this is.”

The panel’s other members include victims’ advocacy expert Lyndy Atkinson, former police officer and barrister Douglas Wilson, former Detective Superintendent Robert Weir, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service chief executive and First Nations elder Randal Ross.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls has confirmed he has blocked a bid by the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to place or leave grieving mothers alongside newborns in its maternity ward.

Nicholls said he blocked the move, which would have left grieving mothers in the maternity ward, or placed them there had they lost their baby elsewhere.

“This was a matter that was actually started under the previous government, and I have here in front of me the briefing note that was dated the 11th of September noting that proposal,” Nicholls said.

“This is an opportunity for a diligent minister to ask questions and to say yes or no in relation to this matter … it wouldn’t be brought to the minister’s office if there wasn’t concern about it.”

He added the co-location, first proposed in 2022, was blocked by then health minister Yvette D’Ath.

“This is the second bite of the cherry, and on the second bite, it’s gone through a negligent minister’s office,” Nicholls said.

The size of the average Australian home loan has jumped to an all-time high with the average mortgage in NSW cracking the $800,000 mark for the first time.

Fresh data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday revealed the continued climb in the value of Australian home loans, which climbed by $25,000 in the December quarter to an average of $666,000.

NSW led the pack, with the value of an average home loan reaching an all-time high of $811,000. In Victoria, the average value climbed to $632,000 but remained below the peak of $639,000 in June 2022.

The number of new home loan commitments rose 2.2 per cent in the December quarter nationally, along with a 4.2 per cent increase in the value of mortgages, indicating demand from home buyers remains robust despite interest rates being held at 4.35 per cent for more than two years.

However, demand from investors dropped off, with the number of new loan commitments among that cohort sliding by 4.5 per cent in the quarter, and the value of loans falling by 2.9 per cent.

Police have released footage of two men who are accused of beating a 70-year-old man by the side of a road near Caboolture last month.

About 6pm on Friday January 24, the pair were seen getting out of a light-coloured dual cab Toyota Hilux ute on Beerburrum Road, in Elimbah.

They walked up to a roadside stall where the older man was sitting, allegedly beat him, and left before emergency services arrived. The victim suffered serious injuries.

Police are asking anyone who recognises the men in the footage – or the men themselves – to come forward.

The High Court has allowed appeals in the case of a judge held personally liable for wrongly jailing a man, effectively ruling that judges cannot be sued for making a mistake.

A Brisbane man, known by the pseudonym Mr Stradford, sued Federal Circuit Court Judge Salvatore Vasta, who had jailed him for contempt during a divorce case and was later awarded $309,000 compensation.

Vasta’s lawyers argued in the High Court last August that an “inferior court” should be afforded no less judicial immunity than a superior court judge.

Federal Circuit Court Judge Salvatore Vasta.

In a judgment on Wednesday, the High Court allowed appeals by Vasta, the Commonwealth and State of Queensland.

Read the full report, from AAP.

The state Labor opposition has cast doubt on the government’s early efforts to fix issues in Queensland’s public health system, after the health minister released new data and a funding boost for elective surgeries yesterday.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls said thousands of extra patients waiting for elective surgeries in the public health system would be treated in private hospitals before July, at a cost of $100 million.

More than 66,600 Queenslanders are now waiting for elective surgeries in the public system, an increase of about 2500 since the last quarterly report in October.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Bailey said this “significant jump” contradicted the new government’s claims.

“This is a disappointing set of numbers for the new government, because they’ve spent their time cutting rather than investing … and now we see the results.”

Bailey acknowledged data released yesterday showed a decrease in ambulance ramping since the last report, but said this was misleading.

“If they were really serious about ramping, they would include it in their real-time data,” he said. Yesterday, Nicholls said the government would start reporting ramping on a monthly basis, rather than quarterly.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has confirmed that two health workers from Bankstown Hospital in Sydney’s west have been identified as the staff in an antisemitic video, where they claimed they would not treat – or would even kill – Israeli patients.

Minns told 2GB’s Mark Levy that the two workers had been stood down immediately.

Read more about the video, and watch NSW Health Minister Ryan Park’s press conference, here.

Health Minister Mark Butler has backed the call of his NSW counterpart to sack two hospital workers who appeared to brag about killing Israeli patients in footage posted to social media.

Butler expressed shock at the footage, noting that if they were identified as NSW health staff, he supported NSW Health Minister Ryan Park’s call for the pair to be dismissed.

NSW Health called in police this morning to investigate the footage, which was shared widely on social media.

Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, Butler said there were many wonderful doctors, nurses and health professionals in the country but expressed shock at the video.

“The idea that a couple of health professionals would say that they refuse to treat someone because of their race or because of their religion runs contrary to the most fundamental principle of healthcare,” he said.

Read more about the footage in our full story here.