As it happened: Wednesday, January 24

Hundreds of people in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill were left without power – and air-conditioning – during Monday’s hot night.

But Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has emphasised the outage was not because of a lack of supply or the state of the electricity distribution network.

“The outages in Camp Hill which affected 450 people earlier in the week have nothing to do with the age of the poles or wires in that street,” the minister told journalists on Wednesday.

Instead, de Brenni said, it was likely that unforeseen home renovations, new pools and additional air-conditioning added to the “level of pressure applied to the system because of the heatwave”.

Energex engineers were investigating the issue and “they have worked hard to rebalance that load,” he said.

That’s where we’ll leave our live updates today. Here are the headlines you might have missed:

• Cyclone crews race north as authorities caution long-weekend plans
• ‘Right decision, not easy decision’: Albanese defends broken promise on tax

New ABC chair Kim Williams.Credit: Matt Davidson

• Opinion: The ABC’s new boss is often the smartest person in the room – but he doesn’t always read it

Abroad, here’s what was making news today:

Felix Cameron stars as Eli Bell in the adaptation of Trent Dalton’s memoir Boy Swallows Universe.Credit: Netflix

• Boy Swallows Universe gobbles up viewers around the world for Netflix
• Opinion: Divider-in-Chief Trump seizes Republican crown, but not yet America’s
• Alan Joyce quits as Sydney Theatre Company chairman after Israel-Gaza scandal

And in the world of sport:

Suliasi Vunivalu will not rule out a return to the NRL, but it is not on his radar at the moment.Credit: Getty

• Two premierships, 86 tries. Is there more NRL left in Wallabies star?
• Vegas training costs of $400,000 the latest issue for crisis meeting
• Green, McDonald test positive to COVID-19 before Brisbane Test

A man has been extradited to Queensland where he is accused of shooting at another driver in an alleged road rage attack.

The 37-year-old Oxenford man was arrested in western Sydney in relation to an incident on a busy Gold Coast road in November.

Police say the man was driving an Isuzu D-Max when he was involved in a road rage incident at Mermaid Waters.

He is accused of firing a handgun at a 53-year-old man driving a Ford Ranger, leaving a bullet hole in a rear door.

The accused was allegedly on bail for serious offences at the time and wearing an electronic monitoring device.

He was extradited to Queensland on Wednesday and due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court.

Hundreds of people in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill were left without power – and air-conditioning – during Monday’s hot night.

But Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has emphasised the outage was not because of a lack of supply or the state of the electricity distribution network.

“The outages in Camp Hill which affected 450 people earlier in the week have nothing to do with the age of the poles or wires in that street,” the minister told journalists on Wednesday.

Instead, de Brenni said, it was likely that unforeseen home renovations, new pools and additional air-conditioning added to the “level of pressure applied to the system because of the heatwave”.

Energex engineers were investigating the issue and “they have worked hard to rebalance that load,” he said.

Five proof-of-concept trials are under way into the dashcam technology needed for Queensland police vehicles after an audit found existing cameras had a blinkered view of the world.

Assistant Commissioner Matthew Vanderbyl said that while the issue was still under discussion, there was a need for enterprise-grade cameras that were robust and unable to be manipulated.

His comments came after an internal audit report, obtained by Brisbane Times, criticised police over their use of body-worn cameras and failure to properly store footage.

The report found dashcams used in four districts were all front-facing, while a separate review found only 62 per cent of vehicles had dashcams. Storage policies were again unclear.

“Based on jurisdictional research, in the age of modern policing, every first-response vehicle should be fitted with multidirectional dashcams to protect both the officer and the community,” the report recommended.

After making the state’s approach to helping Queensland kids get a better start to life at the first cabinet meeting of the year earlier this week, the government is running with the theme.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has announced a further $130,000 to help school tuckshops provide healthier food and drink options under the government’s Smart Choices strategy.

In a statement, she cited state agency Health and Wellbeing Queensland research that 39 per cent of families rely on the services once a week or more, with kids consuming a third of their daily energy at school.

“As the cost-of-living goes up, hardworking tuckshop convenors and volunteers are an essential service for busy families who may not have the ingredients at home to prepare a healthy lunch for their children,” Queensland Association of School Tuckshops chief executive Deanne Wooden said.

Meanwhile, Sport Minister Michael Healy has announced a 10th round of the government’s FairPlay program had opened, with more than 40,000 vouchers of up to $150 to help eligible families cover the cost of sports memberships, registration or participation fees.

Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is now expected to form later on Wednesday and lash the coast overnight, with a risk of flash flooding from Thursday.

The Bureau of Meteorology has advised the Queensland Disaster Management Committee the cyclone will likely make landfall between Cardwell and Bowen on Thursday night as a category 2.

The forecast track map for Tropical Cyclone Kirrily, released by the Bureau of Meteorology at 10.49am on January 24.Credit: Bureau of Meteorology

The latest forecast has the cyclone hitting Townsville, with winds capable of bringing down power lines and damaging smaller structures. Flash flooding is likely in the city and further south.

Premier Steven Miles on Wednesday urged Queenslanders to reconsider travel ahead of the long weekend.

“I understand Townsville has already cancelled its (Australia Day) activities on Friday,” Miles said.

“I just encourage people to look at the forecasts and make sensible decisions.”

Miles said the Whitsundays would start to feel the impact of the cyclone from Wednesday night.

Around 100 emergency services officers have been pre-deployed to Townsville, including swift-water rescue crews. Scores of emergency generators will also be sent to the area to help respond to outages.

As authorities prepare for the Queensland coast’s next coastal cyclone crossing, at this stage expected near Townsville on Thursday night, those in Brisbane are still urging caution and preparation.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner held a media conference this morning to remind residents of the free sandbags available at sites across the city – its ground already saturated from recent storms and carrying heightened risks of flash flooding.

“We hope that this is a false alarm. We hope that there’s no major impacts for south-east Queensland. But regardless, we need to be ready,” Schrinner said.

Premier Steven Miles is set to give an update after a meeting early this afternoon after a meeting of the Queensland Disaster Committee.

While previous Bureau of Meteorology advice has suggested the weather system could bring heavy rain to the state’s west, centre, south or south-east, senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said this morning there was still uncertainty about its movement as it loses intensity over land into the weekend and beyond.

Labor lord mayoral candidate Tracey Price has used an expected wet weekend in Brisbane to spruik her suburban drainage election commitment.

Price said, if she got the keys to City Hall, she would work to make Brisbane the most climate-resilient city in the country.

“We have been having severe weather events for years and they are getting worse and more frequent,” she said.

“I want to ensure that we work hard towards building a better climate-resilient city and work on real and practical solutions for the residents of Brisbane.”

That included an additional $2.8 million a year on a suburban drainage program, an extra $6.3 million on new drainage infrastructure, and more money for stormwater system maintenance and desilting drains.

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted showers and storms across the Australia Day long weekend for Brisbane.

If you want to see fireworks this long weekend, there are 12 official events on Friday evening, including at Darra, Oxley, Brighton, Lawnton and Bribie Island.

But the explosives regulator, Resources Safety and Health Queensland, has reminded Queenslanders it’s illegal to light fireworks without a permit.

“We know when fireworks are used incorrectly they can lead to serious injuries, so we’ll be cracking down on anyone who risks the safety of those around them this Australia Day long weekend,” chief inspector Hermann Fasching said in a media release.

He said it was great that the number of people reporting illegal fireworks kept going up. (This New Year’s Eve, the regulator received 57 complaints, up from 42 the year before and 38 the year before that.)

The penalty is up to six months’ imprisonment or a fine of up to $61,920.