As it happened: Brisbane on Monday, March 25

Premier Steven Miles insists his government’s decision to revamp the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) in Brisbane’s south will deliver an Olympics “legacy” to the state.

The Miles government rejected a proposal to build a new 55,000-seat Olympic stadium at Victoria Park in favour of refurbishing QSAC (formerly QEII stadium), as well as upgrading the Gabba and Suncorp stadium.

The Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, formerly known as QEII Stadium.Credit: Google Earth

“It will be the first Olympics for some time, where the athletics track isn’t just ripped up after the Games. So it’s wrong to say that this outcome doesn’t deliver legacy. It does. It’s just a different kind of legacy,” Miles told reporters today.

Miles was also asked about his conversation with Olympics supremo John Coates in the days before announcing his decision on March 18.

“I wanted to talk through with him his submission, as well as the process of negotiating with the IOC [International Olympics Committee] to agree on that outcome,” Miles said.

“I was deeply conscious that in making these changes we are changing what we have contractually committed to the IOC to do. And so, it was really important that whatever we settled on, we were going to be able to agree with the IOC was suitable for hosting the Games.”

Thanks for joining us. Our live blog will return tomorrow morning. Until then, these were the stories that mattered today.

The premier has doubled down on his decision regarding stadiums for the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. Amid criticism over the choice to focus funding on QSAC, Steven Miles said, “It will be the first Olympics for some time, where the athletics track isn’t just ripped up after the Games. So it’s wrong to say that this outcome doesn’t deliver legacy. It does.”

And when, exactly, did Miles make up his mind to reject the Victoria Park proposal? Earlier than most people would have guessed.

Queensland’s biggest high school has surged beyond 4000 enrolled students – although according to its enrolment management plan, the school has a maximum enrolment capacity of 3444 students.

Dru Baggaley, the brother of Olympian Nathan Baggaley, has been refused bail after being accused of having drugs in his cell within weeks of winning a retrial over an alleged $200 million cocaine smuggling plot. It is alleged he obstructed officers trying to search his cell by jamming the door’s locking mechanism before flushing a mobile phone, which was later found in the prison’s plumbing.

In the vast, shallow bay that sits off south-east Queensland, a dead zone is growing with each new flood. A damaging dump of muddy water smothers the bottom of Moreton Bay and changes what can survive there.

Further afield, read about the hotel guest who walked into his room and refused to leave … for years. And Nickelodeon TV shows from the 1990s and 2000s such as The Amanda Show and iCarly were rife with harassment, according to a new investigative series.

In sport, the NRL concede they were wrong not to charge Panther Taylan May with dangerous contact for his hit that fractured Bronco Reece Walsh’s face. As the team reels from the loss of Walsh, Adam Reynolds’ return from a knee injury could not come at a better time.

Kathleen O’Shea travelled from Melbourne to far north Queensland to visit her son and await the arrival of her first grandchild.

That was 18 years ago. O’Shea would never meet her granddaughter.

The then-44-year-old, known as Katie, was last seen leaving a bottle shop at the Atherton Hotel in the company of two men on December 29, 2005.

Police are offering a $500,000 reward for information in relation to the disappearance and suspected murder of Kathleen O’Shea in 2005.Credit: Queensland Police

There has been no trace of her since.

A coronial inquest in 2014 found that O’Shea likely died shortly after December 29, 2005, in the Atherton Tablelands area.

Police are now offering a $500,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of the person or people responsible for O’Shea’s disappearance.

“Mum was funny, quirky, she loved to laugh and there was nothing she wouldn’t do for the people she loved, especially her kids,” O’Shea’s daughter Lily Parmenter said.

“Eighteen years ago, someone took her from us and our family would like to be able to get justice for her and to lay her to rest.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Brett Devine said police believe O’Shea’s disappearance was suspicious.

“There are people who know what happened,” he said.

“Kathleen’s disappearance was out of character; she was in far north Queensland pending the arrival of her first grandchild. We know that Kathleen was very excited to be a grandmother and intended to be present for the birth.

“Any information no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, could be the key to bringing closure for Kathleen’s family.”

You can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or online via www.crimestoppersqld.com.au.

More than half of Queenslanders who have applied for social housing are homeless and are waiting more than two years, amid a lack of supply and skyrocketing demand.

Latest data from the state’s social housing register shows there were 24,991 applications to December, with half of those people already homeless and average wait times blowing out to 28 months.

Homeless people are living in around a dozen tents in South Brisbane’s Musgrave Park.Credit: Tony Moore

Nearly one-third of those applicants had children.

“We’re continuing to see an increasing number of families with young children who have nowhere to go,” Queensland Council of Social Services CEO Amy McVeigh told reporters on Monday.

“It’s incredibly concerning.”

The state government is trying to tackle the growing housing issue with the “Homes for Queenslanders” plan: a $3.1 billion funding boost to deliver 1 million homes, including 53,500 social properties, by 2046.

Premier Steven Miles and his cabinet have promised a home for every homeless Queenslander.

There is also a call to explore more options for temporary housing such as the federally-owned Pinkenba 500-bed quarantine facility that was meant to be used during the height of COVID-19 but remained untouched.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said given Pinkenba was owned and operated by the federal government, it was the Commonwealth’s decision on whether the facility was repurposed.

Homeless people under the Go Between Bridge.

Premier Steven Miles insists his government’s decision to revamp the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) in Brisbane’s south will deliver an Olympics “legacy” to the state.

The Miles government rejected a proposal to build a new 55,000-seat Olympic stadium at Victoria Park in favour of refurbishing QSAC (formerly QEII stadium), as well as upgrading the Gabba and Suncorp stadium.

The Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, formerly known as QEII Stadium.Credit: Google Earth

“It will be the first Olympics for some time, where the athletics track isn’t just ripped up after the Games. So it’s wrong to say that this outcome doesn’t deliver legacy. It does. It’s just a different kind of legacy,” Miles told reporters today.

Miles was also asked about his conversation with Olympics supremo John Coates in the days before announcing his decision on March 18.

“I wanted to talk through with him his submission, as well as the process of negotiating with the IOC [International Olympics Committee] to agree on that outcome,” Miles said.

“I was deeply conscious that in making these changes we are changing what we have contractually committed to the IOC to do. And so, it was really important that whatever we settled on, we were going to be able to agree with the IOC was suitable for hosting the Games.”

This extraordinary crime in Sydney has captured our attention today ...

A 71-year-old man has been jailed for arson after claiming his daughter stole his life savings. His teenage grandchild was in the house he torched.

Bourhan Hraichie was angry with his daughter, Carol, for allegedly stealing $145,000 from him, Downing Centre District Court heard.

Police compiled an array of evidence to arrest Hraichie, including a WhatsApp voice recording a family friend sent to Carol at 2.20 on the morning of the fire.

In Arabic, Hraichie said: “I have left my house and I’ve gone to her house. I’m planning on something. I promise to God I’m going to burn her heart just like she has burnt mine. Yeah, if God is willing.”

Read more here.

If you are just joining us, here is what is making news today:

• Queensland Premier Miles has ticked over 100 days in his run as the 40th premier of this state and says he is focusing on cost of living issues ahead of the state budget and the October election.
• Miles has defended his decision to reject the pitch for a new $3.4 billion Olympic stadium at Victoria Park saying, “I’ve been criticised for it, but I think it was right.”

Queensland Premier Steven Miles.Credit: Dan Peled

• The Premier has also revealed he spoke with Olympics powerbroker John Coates as he prepared to reject the proposal for a new stadium at Victoria Park days before Graham Quirk’s final report on Games’ venues was handed to him.
• The Queensland government has announced a free immunisation program for infants and young children most at risk of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, better known as RSV. From April, RSV jabs will be available at no charge for all newborn infants either at birth or prior to discharge from hospital, and for infants born on or after the program commencement date who were not immunised in hospital (up to 8 months of age).
• Queensland’s electoral commissioner has conceded polling booths were understaffed for Brisbane’s council election when voters faced lengthy queues and a shortage of ballot papers. Premier Steven Miles has announced a review of the election day failures.
• The ANZ bank has reached an agreement to settle a class action for $57.5 million over interest the bank charged on so-called “interest-free” credit cards between 2010 and 2019.
• Queensland’s biggest high school - Marsden State High School - has surged beyond 4000 enrolled students, amid an increase in children turning up after the start of the school year.
• Owners of the Breakfast Creek Hotel and their industry lobby group have come out in opposition to a mixed-use 18-storey apartment tower pitched to neighbour the heritage-listed Brisbane pub.
• ‘More like a bowl of lollies’: A dietitian has ranked 10 popular breakfast cereals and explains how to choose a good one.
• ‘Red flag! I’m in the middle of the track’: Stranded F1 driver George Russell pleaded for protection moments before the end of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Stranded in the middle of the track, with his Mercedes on its side and cars approaching at speeds of more than 210 km/h, Russell called for a red flag on his radio 12 times. Read about all the action and the drama on the track here.

Ferrari teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Lecler celebrate on the podium.Credit: Eddie Jim

• In overseas news, Russia charged four men it accused of gunning down scores of people at a concert outside Moscow in the country’s deadliest attack for two decades.

Back to the issue of the Gabba …

Premier Steven Miles told ABC Radio Brisbane this morning that he anticipates spending about $500-$600 million on the Gabba and a similar amount on Suncorp Stadium to make them fit for the 2032 Olympics.

But the Gabba is forecast to reach the end of its “useful life” by 2030.

On the prospect of having to tear down the Gabba, as was raised by the Graham Quirk review of Olympic venues, Miles said: “I’m not sure that does have to be the case.

“There’s lots of old buildings around and we can invest in them and continue to make them useable ...

The Gabba will reach the end of its “useful life” in 2030.Credit: Getty

“It has a theoretical end of life, but so do old buildings and we keep those buildings going.”

Miles was asked whether the government intends to keep refurbishing the Gabba “ad infinitum”.

“We’ll talk about those things then,” Miles said.

Consultants who were tasked with evaluating Queensland’s local government elections have been asked to pay more attention to what went wrong on the day.

The Electoral Commission of Queensland had already engaged the Nous Group to evaluate its performance, but will now await a much broader review aimed at preventing a repeat of the election day problems.

Premier Steven Miles said the move followed complaints that the level of preparation and support for people to vote in council elections, and two byelections, was “far from ideal”.

“Long lines, not enough ballot papers – and other issues that made voting confusing or difficult – are all things that really shouldn’t be happening in 2024 and we owe it to Queenslanders to make sure the ECQ gets this right,” Miles said.

The announcement came after the electoral commissioner conceded polling booths were understaffed because the ECQ expected more people to vote early.

The Queensland government has announced a free immunisation program for infants and young children most at risk of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, better known as RSV.

From April, RSV jabs will be available at no charge for all newborn infants either at birth or prior to discharge from hospital, and infants born on or after the program commencement date who were not immunised in hospital (up until 8 months of age).

Also eligible are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants who are younger than 8 months, infants with certain complex medical conditions who are younger than 8 months, and infants with certain complex medical conditions who are aged 8 months to 19 months (inclusive) until 31 October 2024.

More information about RSV is available here.

Premier Steven Miles has revealed he spoke with Olympics powerbroker John Coates as he prepared to reject the proposal for a new stadium at Victoria Park days before Graham Quirk’s final report on Games’ venues was handed to him.

Coates, who had pitched the idea to refurbish the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) for the 2032 Games – the plan Miles settled upon – was flying to Lausanne, Switzerland, for meetings with the International Olympic Committee on Saturday, March 16.

Olympics powerbroker John Coates and Queensland Premier Steven Miles. The pair spoke in the days before Graham Quirk’s final report on Olympic venues was released.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

“We’d had a draft of the review. John was on his way to IOC meetings. He was leaving Saturday night, so I knew I needed to talk to him before cabinet discussed it,” Miles told ABC Radio Brisbane this morning.

The premier said he spoke to Coates “on the Thursday or Friday before” announcing his decision on Monday, March 18, to reject the Victoria Park proposal and dust off QSAC instead.

When asked how demanding Coates was, Miles replied: “John wasn’t demanding. He put forward that as a proposal. I spoke to him once over the phone, just to get into a bit more detail.

“Graham Quirk indicated to us what his likely recommendation would be and I knew that was likely to be unacceptable, and so we started working then on what an alternative would be.

“The fact is, anything we decided would have to be negotiated with the IOC (International Olympic Committee). We have a contract with them to deliver the Games and so adopting the proposal that came from John Coates effectively jumped us ahead on that process of negotiation.”

Miles insisted his decision to reject the Victoria Park stadium was made in the “best interest of Queenslanders”.

“I know there’s a lot of criticism around about it, but I have to make choices about what we allocate funding to, and in this case I decided to save that money.”