As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, July 10

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of news from Brisbane and beyond today. We’ll be back again tomorrow morning for more coverage of local news.

If you’re catching up on today’s news, here are some of our top stories:

Brisbane is the most expensive place to build in Australia, according to new data. It could push house prices higher and cause further blow outs or delays for major projects.

Thai Police have confirmed white powder was found with Brisbane lawyer Christopher Saines, who was found dead at a Koh Samui massage parlour. It has been sent for testing, with police expecting a result within a month.

The Queensland branch of the CFMEU cultivated a culture of violence that included threats and intimidation of women and children, a report commissioned by the union’s administrator has found.

Australia’s antisemitism envoy has told the Albanese government to strip funding from universities, charities and cultural institutions that fail to combat hatred against Jewish people.

The owner of a Brisbane shoe shop says an unusual theft at Kenmore Village Shopping Centre while CCTV cameras were watching left her and her staff scratching their heads.

The Maroons had been written off and cast aside going into the State of Origin decider. That is exactly how they like it, and these are the moments that proved decisive in their series triumph.

The ousted leadership of the Queensland CFMEU has rejected a report outlining their “culture of violence” for lacking credibility and misrepresenting their response to the investigation.

Michael Ravbar and Jade Ingham, the state branch’s ousted former secretary and assistant secretary, were alleged to have “very likely planned and directed” the actions detailed in the report for administrator Mark Irving KC.

“It is riddled with errors, based on selective and untested accounts, and falls far short of the standard you would expect for such serious allegations,” the pair wrote in a joint statement via the group established to support their recently failed High Court challenge.

“Through our lawyer, we asked [the report’s author] that we be given basic details of the matters that he wished to discuss with us. He was unwilling to do that, and accordingly, we did not participate in an interview.

“There is, of course, no reference to this exchange in the report … Mark Irving’s comments about the union being misogynistic, violent and abusive under our leadership are offensive and untrue.”

Jacqueline King, the general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, has called for former CFMEU Queensland leaders to take accountability for a culture of bullying, violence, and harassment detailed in a report released last night.

“Being a union leader is a privilege not a right … only a select number of people get to have that privilege,” King said.

“The conduct and behaviour that is outlined in the report is not union.”

Kate Ruttiman (left) and Jacqueline King (right) called on former CFMEU Queensland branch leadership to apologise for their behaviour.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

Apologising on behalf of the union movement, she called on former CFMEU Queensland branch secretary Michael Ravbar, and national president Jade Ingham — who were named in the report — to front up for their behaviours.

“They have brought the union into disrepute and need to step aside to allow the union to better itself for its members,” King said.

“It’s a shameful part of our history but now we need to move forward.

“We need to allow the CFMEU as a union to reform itself — to become the once again proud union that … we know it was in its heyday.

“We look forward to working with them in the future when they can demonstrate that they can apply our values as a union movement.”

Ravbar and Ingham have been contacted for comment.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced his government will take on board a number of recommendations outlined in the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism’s plan to stop hate in Australia.

“Antisemitism has risen to deeply troubling levels in Australia in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East,” the report found.

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal.Credit: Nick Moir

The Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, says the plan is “grounded in Australian values”.

“It’s proactive, and it’s adapted to our federal legal framework,” she said.

The plan “addresses antisemitism in many places, in our laws, classrooms, universities, media, workplaces, online spaces and public institutions, and it calls on government and society or leaders to support the initiatives”.

The report will also look into if it is necessary to “strengthen hate crime legislation”, including “provisions relating to not only incitement and vilification and prohibitive symbols which we have, but actual hatred and the speaking of hatred and demonstrated hatred”.

Federal Industrial Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has labelled the culture of violence and intimidation within the CFMEU uncovered in a new report as “horrific and reprehensible”.

The Labor government minister also praised the swift response from union administrator Mark Irving, who immediately distanced the scandal-plagued group from its former leadership in Queensland, specifically Michael Ravbar and Jade Ingham.

“The administrator’s response is rightly definitive, ensuring those responsible are held to account for their actions,” Rishworth said in a statement this morning.

Amanda Rishworth praised the swift response from union administrator Mark Irving.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“This is exactly why our government stood up the administrator in the first place – to uncover and stamp out this disturbing behaviour and institute lasting change.

“We are committed to the administration to get the job done.

“There is no place for this kind of violence and misogyny in Australian workplaces.”

Irving was appointed as the independent administrator at the CFMEU last year by the Fair Work Commission following allegations of corruption and criminality within the militant union.

A man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly struck a man with his car following an argument on an Ipswich road.

Police say the 26-year-old was involved in an altercation with another man, who he did not know, on Fernvale Road at Brassall yesterday about 1pm.

After the incident, he allegedly went home to get his Mitsubishi Outlander, before driving back to the scene, where police say he deliberately struck the other man with his car before driving off.

The 30-year-old Brassall man was rushed to the Princess Alexandra Hospital with life-threatening head injuries.

Officers later found the driver, and took him into custody.

He will face the Ipswich Magistrates Court today.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said he had no sympathy for Labor ministers subjected to the threats from the CFMEU that were detailed in yesterday’s report into the union.

He said the party had enabled and emboldened the CFMEU, adding there was “no way in hell” he felt sorry for any of the former ministers mentioned in the report.

“If … any former minister comes out today and says they were a victim of the CFMEU? No way, cry me a river,” Bleijie said.

“I feel sorry for the workplace health and safety inspectors over the years. They should have had a minister protecting them [and] are doing an amazing job in the most difficult of circumstances.”

He doubled down on the LNP’s promises to crack down on the union and construction sector, saying the report would be factored into an ongoing Productivity Commission probe, and that he expected police and the Office of Industrial Relations would also launch investigations.

“We want all workers on construction sites to be well paid and be safe, but we will not let what has happened for 10 years continue,” he said.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie held a press conference this morning to speak about the CFMEU report, saying he thought he’d “seen it all in the CFMEU”.

“Even I was shocked by the findings in the report: the violence, the cruelness, the misogyny, the bullying, the threats,” he said.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie, speaking at 1 William Street on Thursday.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

Bleijie said the LNP had prosecuted the embattled union for more than 10 years, and vowed to continue investigations and overhauls in the building sector.

“We hung up the CFMEU bat phone that was their direct connection to the Office of Industrial Relations,” he said.

“I want to make to abundantly clear the Crisafulli government does not tolerate violence on construction sites in Queensland.”

“Last time we were in government we legislated to protect workers on construction sites.”

The administrator of the CFMEU, Mark Irving, says there will be “no comfort” for those who say some of the allegations in a blistering 45-page report did not lead to criminal charges, promising to expel members of the union.

A 45-page report, commissioned by the union’s administrator, was published online on Wednesday evening, and allegedly exposed a regime that was “violent, cruel, misogynist”.

Members of the CFMEU protesting in Brisbane last month.Credit: William Davis

Irving said he did not need to wait for police complaints to act.

“Where there is clear and credible evidence of violent, cruel, or misogynist behaviour then I can deal with that behaviour now, rather than wait years for other authorities to act,” he said.

Irving said he would exercise his powers of dismissal on some union employees and some delegates, while the head of legal and integrity of the administration would initiate disciplinary procedures against union bosses Michael Ravbar and Jade Ingham.

Irving said people who received directions from the old leadership would be dismissed, as would those who met with or communicated with them or their intermediaries.

New employment contracts will be offered to CFMEU employees who are continuing, which will be linked to a code of conduct, with a program of training and cultural change, and people who cooperated with the investigation will be protected.

As part of the investigation, Ravbar and Ingham were invited to be interviewed or respond in writing, but declined.

Read more in this story by our editor Rosanna Ryan.

Star Brisbane casino workers walked off the job during the State of Origin decider, staging a four-hour protest last night on one of the busiest nights of the year.

The walkout followed the first strike by workers at the casino on Friday, and came after management failed to present an improved offer during wage negotiations.

Star Brisbane casino workers striking on State of Origin night on Wednesday night.

The United Workers Union said there had been no progress on key issues, including a cut to Sunday penalty rates.

“These are the workers who kept Star afloat through thick and thin,” United Workers Union national casinos director Andrew Jones said.

“The ball is in Star’s court.”