As it happened: Brisbane on Monday, September 23

Thank you for joining us on this Monday. We will be back tomorrow with more rolling news coverage, so do join us.

Here are some of the day’s main stories:

The Queensland school calendar will be amended to ensure students are on holidays during the 2032 Olympic Games to reduce demand on public transport infrastructure.

The Brisbane Roar has been booted from Suncorp Stadium for its match against Adelaide United early next year, to allow singer Luke Combs to perform, raising questions about the Miles government’s decision not to build a second-tier rectangular stadium ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

A nine-story hotel with a theatre hall and a pool deck extending over the Brisbane River is proposed to transform the popular Howard Smith Wharves, and would serve as a showpiece for the precinct during the 2032 Olympics, its developer says.

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have been accused of breaching the law by misleading shoppers about discounts. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is suing the supermarkets, alleging Woolworths’ “price dropped” promotions and Coles’ “down down” specials mislead customers.

New affirmative consent laws apply in Queensland from today.

The Brisbane Lions will fly to Melbourne a day earlier than they did last year as they prepare to face the Sydney Swans in the first non-Victorian grand final in 18 years.

Workers are still draining water from Cross River Rail’s Roma Street construction site, days after drilling accidentally burst a century-old water main.

New figures show the dimming of Queensland as the nation’s go-to state. In the 12 months to March this year, Queensland had its smallest population intake since the start of COVID.

A preferred corridor will be identified for a proposed rail extension between Salisbury to Beaudesert.

After state and federal governments committed a combined $20 million to develop a business case, the initial planning work confirmed heavy rail was the best option for servicing the fast-growing residential area.

Up to 11 new stations could be built along a 54km stretch of rail, with capacity for the line to also carry freight.

While the Inland Rail project has changed since the rail extension was first proposed, governments believe there will not be sufficient demand for passenger services until the mid-2030s.

“We’re doing the detailed planning work required for this project because we know it has the potential to deliver substantial benefits for people in our area,” said Federal Treasurer and local Labor MP Jim Chalmers.

A corridor protection study and community consultation will start in 2025.

Turning back to state political hustings for a moment: Premier Steven Miles has taken aim at Opposition Leader David Crisfulli’s promise to give $31.25 million to domestic violence support services in the state’s north, including support service DVConnect.

“This commitment from Crisafulli is a drop in the ocean when compared to the $2 billion that we have committed to supporting victims of domestic family and sexual violence,” Miles told reporters on the Gold Coast this afternoon.

LNP Opposition Leader David Crisafulli (left) and Labor Premier Steven Miles.Credit: Brisbane Times

“This is a man who has no credibility when it comes to women and victims of domestic and sexual violence. David Crisafulli had a terrible record when it comes women and victims of domestic and sexual violence.

“When he was in office, they cut funding to NGOs [non-government organisations] supporting women. They [the LNP] argued that victims of DV ... should be excluded from crime statistics and … he voted to make abortion a crime, even for women who are victims of rape and sexual assault.

“That’s his record on women, and I’ll put it against mine, and my government’s any day. We continue to support DVConnect and to increase our investments into their services.”

DVConnect fields 450 calls a day on average across Queensland, connecting many callers with support services on the ground.

At an earlier press conference, Crisafulli said the Miles government was embarking on the “mother of all scare campaigns”.

“We’re offering people hope over fear and we’re offering them a fresh start,” he said.

The Liberal National Party is on track to win government at next month’s election. A Newspoll published in The Weekend Australian has the LNP leading Labor by 55 per cent to 45 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.

Crisafulli was the preferred premier of 46 per cent of respondents, while Miles had the support of 39 per cent and another 15 per cent were uncommitted.

with AAP

A Queensland orthopaedic surgeon has been fined after sending two women a series of photos, videos, and x-ray images making light of his patients’ injuries.

The surgeon, who has not been named, was working at a major Queensland public hospital in 2019 when he made a dozen inappropriate disclosures to his then girlfriend and another woman with whom he was in a relationship.

The orthopaedic surgeon sent images of patients’ x-rays to his then girlfriend and another woman he was in a relationship with.Credit: Tamara Voninski

After a complaint to the Health Ombudsman, the surgeon was prosecuted through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, resulting in a fine of $5000.

“The images the subject of the Health Ombudsman’s referral were sent via text or WhatsApp,” tribunal member Peter Murphy SC ruled last week.

“They consist of graphic images of presenting injuries suffered by patients. The images were usually accompanied by commentary and messages directed to the trauma depicted ...

By way of example, the images included: a video picture of an abdominal CT of a person’s rectum containing a deodorant can, with the following words and emojis overlaid ‘deodorant can up the ass’ with two smiley face emojis;

an image of a severe trauma injury to a patient’s hand, leaving only two remaining fingers with bony protrusion and blood with the following associated commentary and messages, ‘Clap clap,’ ‘Haha,’ ‘Another day,’ ‘It’s like chopsticks,’ ‘Haha. I have more … But am about to go do something to it’;

an image of a patient’s foot with trauma, necrosis or some other injury with an admission label affixed to the top of the foot and the following message, ‘that’s my night. A foot that looks like pizza haha’;

images of what appears to be a compound fracture with bony protrusion through the skin together with three x-rays;

and one image showed a partial patient name, ‘… WELL, BRIAN,’ but otherwise did not identify the patient.”

The tribunal was told the surgeon was suspended after the complaint was made, was unemployed for six months, and had since retrained as a GP and “earned the respect of his peers and his patients”.

The Brisbane Lions will fly to Melbourne a day earlier than they did last year as they prepare to face Sydney in the first non-Victorian grand final in 18 years.

Twelve months after they fell four points short of winning their first premiership since 2003 when they lost to Collingwood, the Lions booked their spot in another MCG decider with an extraordinary 10-point preliminary final win against Geelong.

Brisbane will be on neutral turf this time around, a stark contrast to when the Magpies army helped propel Collingwood to an epic grand final win on their own home ground.

Lions coach Chris Fagan expects the club to travel south on Wednesday, instead of Thursday as they did in 2023.

“We might change things a little,” Fagan said.

“We might come down on Wednesday and just relax into it a bit, get a couple of training runs here in Melbourne.

“I’m not sure that we’re going to be able to get on the MCG twice, but that won’t matter.

“I just think it’s good to be down here and just prepare ourselves for the game.”

Less than five weeks from the state election, Premier Steven Miles has been on the Gold Coast hustings today pledging $4 million for a youth charity.

Esuarve, also known as Everything Suarve, is a not-for-profit centre for at-risk young people.

The state election is less than five weeks away.Credit: Matt Dennien

The centre has been running since 2020 and works to help disengaged youth, reformed prisoners and First Nations people.

“Any [financial] support – wherever it comes from – is not for us, it’s for these kids that need it,” said founder Joseph Te Puni-Fromont.

“What’s been done in the last four years has been done on the smell of an oily rag, that’s just what it is.”

Premier Steven Miles promised $4 million for the program if elected next month.

Keeping with Lions news: A final call on Lions’ star ruckman Oscar McInerney will not be made just yet, with scans this afternoon to confirm the extent of the damage inflicted to his shoulder.

The 30-year-old dislocated his shoulder twice in Brisbane’s preliminary final triumph of Geelong, with the club’s head of football Danny Daly confirming a medical assessment this afternoon would determine his fate.

Oscar McInerney is expected to be ruled out of the Brisbane Lions’ grand final against the Sydney Swans.Credit: Getty Images

Should the worst be confirmed, it puts seasoned campaigner Darcy Fort in line as the favourite to step up to the ruck duties, with 21-year-old Henry Smith another option.

According to Lions’ defender Brandon Starcevich, Fort would not see a looming battle with Sydney Swans star Brodie Grundy - nor the pressure of a grand final - as a burden.

“His form in the VFL has been outstanding. Anytime he needs to be called upon we’ve had absolute full faith in him,” Starcevich said.

“If it’s this weekend, we’ll back him in. I think he’ll thrive, he’d be getting to play in a grand final against a good ruckman, and he’d love the opportunity I think.”

The 2024 Brownlow Medal is on tonight. Follow our live blog on our website this evening.

Premier Steven Miles will watch the AFL grand final from Cairns on Saturday afternoon as the Lions take on the Sydney Swans at the MCG.

“I think they’ve got their best chance yet,” Miles told reporters on the Gold Coast today, adding that all of Queensland will be barracking for the Lions.

Workers are still draining water from Cross River Rail’s Roma Street construction site, days after drilling accidentally burst a century-old water main.

Pre-dig checks apparently did not detect the water main and workers were given the OK to drill at the location last Thursday.

A significant part of the Roma Street Station construction site flooded as a result.

A Cross River Rail Delivery Authority spokesman said workers were still “de-watering” the site today.

“We take safety and our environmental obligations extremely seriously, and any de-watering and rectification works will continue to be carried out in accordance with the project’s environmental management plans,” he said.

The site is expected to be completely drained by tomorrow.

The flooding happened just days after the project marked a major milestone with a train travelling on the underground tracks from Brisbane’s rail yards to Roma Street Station in a test run.

Keeping with the Prime Minister for a moment: The federal government will not consider introducing divestiture powers, with Anthony Albanese accusing the Coalition of having an “anti-capitalist agenda”.

The Coalition and Greens have been calling for divestiture powers that could force the supermarkets to split up, but Albanese says it is “not a rational policy”.

“It is rather extraordinary that you have a Coalition … along with the Greens political party, that have the same policies of breaking up capitalism,” Albanese said at his press conference a short time ago.

“If Coles sells their shop, who is going to move into the local supermarket chain? Chances are they’d be divesting towards each other. That’s not the solution. What the solution is, is making sure that you have an ACCC with pumped-up powers.”