As it happened: Brisbane on Friday, May 2

After almost a decade servicing Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, Cathay Pacific Cargo’s Boeing 747s will instead fly in and out of Brisbane from next month.

The first of Cathay’s weekly Boeing 747-800 freighter flights landed in what was then known as Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport in November, 2016. At the time, then-Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio said the flights would open up Asian markets to agricultural businesses across the Darling Downs.

Those weekly flights, with a capacity of up to 135 tonnes each flight, will instead service Brisbane from June 17.

A Cathay Pacific Cargo 747 at Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport.Credit: Wellcamp Airport

“We are excited to be bringing Brisbane into our weekly freighter operation and offering suppliers the opportunity to quickly and seamlessly transport their shipments to Hong Kong and beyond from the state’s capital,” Cathay south-west Pacific regional general manager Frosti Lau said.

The flights, a shared service with Sydney and Melbourne airports, will arrive Tuesdays at 7.10pm and depart at 8.40pm.

Current Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald said it was disappointing for the region to lose the link, but remained optimistic about Wellcamp’s potential for local industry.

“The Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport continues to offer boundless opportunities for connecting our region with domestic and international markets,” he said.

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of news in Brisbane today. For all the latest election news, make sure you visit us tomorrow. If footy is more your thing, there will be plenty to read as Magic Round kicks off. And we’ll be back with this local live blog after the long weekend.

If you’re just catching up, here are some of the stories making headlines today:

A long-planned residential project in Yeerongpilly on the doorstep of the Queensland Tennis Centre has made a play to almost triple its height limits.

A raft of government fees and charges will rise, including car registration and fines, as Queensland’s year-long freeze comes to an end.

A Royal Australian Air Force pilot accused of staging his wife’s death as a late-night lawnmower accident will walk free from custody after he was granted bail by a Supreme Court judge.

Three German children have been rescued from a “horror house” in Spain where they spent years living under a COVID-19 lockdown allegedly imposed by their parents.

As the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green prepares to call his last poll on Saturday night, the 65-year-old is as modest as ever. Read this profile by Louise Rugendyke.

And a leader of the craft cocktail scene, with four locations in the US, has chosen Australia for its first step towards global drinks domination. Death & Co is set to open bars in Melbourne and Brisbane this spring.

After almost a decade servicing Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, Cathay Pacific Cargo’s Boeing 747s will instead fly in and out of Brisbane from next month.

The first of Cathay’s weekly Boeing 747-800 freighter flights landed in what was then known as Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport in November, 2016. At the time, then-Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio said the flights would open up Asian markets to agricultural businesses across the Darling Downs.

Those weekly flights, with a capacity of up to 135 tonnes each flight, will instead service Brisbane from June 17.

A Cathay Pacific Cargo 747 at Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport.Credit: Wellcamp Airport

“We are excited to be bringing Brisbane into our weekly freighter operation and offering suppliers the opportunity to quickly and seamlessly transport their shipments to Hong Kong and beyond from the state’s capital,” Cathay south-west Pacific regional general manager Frosti Lau said.

The flights, a shared service with Sydney and Melbourne airports, will arrive Tuesdays at 7.10pm and depart at 8.40pm.

Current Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald said it was disappointing for the region to lose the link, but remained optimistic about Wellcamp’s potential for local industry.

“The Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport continues to offer boundless opportunities for connecting our region with domestic and international markets,” he said.

A tiny kiosk on Noosa’s Hastings Street has sold for over $1.1 million, with its cost per square metre up to 4.3 times that of other nearby storefronts.

The kiosk, located in Hastings Street’s Bay Village open-air shopping precinct, covers eight square metres – about the size of a standard Australian bedroom – and was originally a tour booking booth.

The tiny kiosk has sold for over $138,000 per square metre.Credit: RWC

Other Hastings Street stores sold by Ray White Corporate sold for a cost per square metre between about $31,800 and $88,300.

Sale agents John Petralia and David Brinkley said the new owners were a “well established” coffee business.

Nine News Queensland has announced a new co-host to join long-time anchor Melissa Downes on the evening news desk following Andrew Lofthouse’s retirement earlier this year.

Joel Dry, the new co-presenter of Nine’s 6pm bulletin.Credit: Nine

Joel Dry is set to assume the role from August this year after returning to Australia from London.

Downes – who has been the sole host since late last year, and has 17 years’ experience hosting the Nine Queensland bulletin – said the change would be a “regeneration” for the newsroom.

“I know he will bring a new energy to the newsroom and his insightful reporting will add depth to our bulletin,” she said.

Dry said he was “thrilled” to return to Nine News. He has roughly 15 years of reporting experience that began with the Nine news team in both Adelaide and Brisbane, before a period at Seve.

Car registration and other government fees are due to increase this year.

Most charges will rise by 3.4 per cent when the former Labor government’s freeze expires on July 1.

The hike will temporarily exclude car registration.

Rego prices will remain cut by 20 per cent until September 16, when the previously frozen cost increases by 3.4 per cent.

“The Crisafulli government is working tirelessly to repair the state’s finances after a decade of Labor’s fiscal vandalism,” Treasurer David Janetzki said.

A serial pest in sperm donation groups has joined the cast of bankrupts, fraudsters and fantasists in Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots.

Joseph O’Connor claims in the biography posted on the party’s website that he brings “a wealth of experience in mental health and counselling” to his candidacy.

Trumpet of Patriots candidate Joseph O’Connor has been revealed as a serial pest in sperm donation groups.Credit: Matt Davidson

But he has also presented himself as Dane McDuff, Blake McBeth, Adam Nilsson and Jack DeBevay in Facebook groups for women and couples looking for sperm donations, among a stream of identities that mushroom each time he is banned from a group.

Multiple women have complained to the group administrators that he has engaged in creepy behaviour, sent them unwanted imagery and is using the groups to find sexual partners.

The unwanted material included videos of himself on a porn site called “Chaturbate” where he uses the moniker JackPhallus.

Read the full report here.

Stockwell has lodged a development application with Brisbane City Council for a 15-storey residential tower at 33 Vulture Street, opposite West End State School.

According to the developer, the tower would have 132 apartments, rooftop and podium level communal spaces, with provision for 199 car parks and 165 bicycle parks, and keep “existing character walls” on Paris and Turin streets.

Stockwell has lodged plans with Brisbane City Council for a 15-storey unit tower on a commercial site in West End.

“The site is unique in having three frontages and topography which results in the proposal presenting as 15 storeys to Vulture Street and 14 storeys to Turin Street,” Stockwell has told the council.

Buses have been redirected away from one of Brisbane’s busiest public transport hubs after a fire alarm was activated.

The incident occurred at Queen Street underground bus station in the CBD. Buses due to stop at the site were redirected above ground to Roma Street.

All doors were closed, and no-one could be seen in the station at 10.30am.

Translink says it’s unclear what set off the alarms, but the issue was resolved within about 10 minutes.

The Speaker of the Queensland Parliament, Pat Weir, will use the winter break to take a two-week, taxpayer-funded trip to the United Kingdom.

In correspondence tabled in parliament today, Premier David Crisafulli has approved Weir’s trip, which will see him visit England, Scotland and Wales, including their respective parliaments.

Weir told Crisafulli the trip would cost taxpayers up to $8000, with the rest to be funded through his role with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and, for three non-scheduled days, by himself personally.

“The trip will include participating in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Mid-Year Executive Committee Meeting and meetings with presiding officers and parliamentary staff at the Scottish and Welsh parliament,” Weir said.

“Discussions with the unicameral parliaments will focus on parliamentary practice, committee systems, processes for scrutiny and budget estimates processes.”

A Royal Australian Air Force pilot accused of staging his wife’s death as a late-night lawn mower accident will walk free from custody after he was granted bail by a Supreme Court judge.

Frances Elizabeth Crawford’s body was found by emergency services at the bottom of a retaining wall at the couple’s property on Thomas Road in the Upper Lockyer Valley about 3.30am on July 30 last year.

Her husband, Robert Crawford, 47, stands accused of killing her, with the prosecution alleging he manipulated the scene by sending messages from her phone to himself after her death.

Frances Crawford’s loved ones described her as a devoted mother to three children, a beloved daughter, sister, friend, dedicated health professional, and a valued member of her church and community.

In making the application for bail last month, Mr Crawford’s barrister, Saul Holt, told the court his client denied strangling his wife in a “murderous rage”. Holt described the prosecution case as “very weak”.

Read the full story.