As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, June 19

The top cop in Queensland has confirmed investigations into the burning of a baby boy at a Brisbane park last year are progressing – but would not reveal if officers have been to China to bring back their suspect.

Nine-month-old Luca was playing with his mum and a friend at Hanlon Park, Stones Corner on August 27 last year when a man snuck up on the group and poured hot coffee over the young boy.

He suffered serious burns across much of his body.

Days later police identified their chief suspect had fled to another country – believed to be China – but investigators have since gone quiet on the case.

“This isn’t something we’ve parked in a corner,” police commissioner Shane Chelepy told 4BC’s Peter Fegan this morning.

“This is a very serious offence, and they’re working hard on it.

“What I can say is we’re still working with our international partners, to progress this matter and to get a resolution here.“

Asked if detectives have been to China, Chelepy said he could not comment.

“The detectives have done such a great job on this piece of work … I don’t want to compromise their investigative strategy,” he said.

Thanks for joining us for live coverage of the news in Brisbane and beyond this Thursday. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with another live coverage, so please join us then.

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

Union protesters completely shut down streets in Bowen Hills, gathering outside the CFMEU headquarters at the Campbell and Hazelmount streets intersection.

Brisbane’s lord mayor has defended a rate rise that will cost inner-city unit buyers an extra $100 a year, saying the measure will ensure “everyone contributes their fair share”.

A Qantas plane was damaged in a collision with an airbridge at Brisbane International Airport last night, with images showing the windscreen was shattered.

Australian universities have slipped in global rankings after a “turbulent year”, with experts calling it a wake-up call as growing competition in the region and the politicisation of international students pose a threat to progress.

Overseas, Donald Trump met top advisers in the White House earlier today but gave no clear stance on whether the US would be joining Israel in attacking Iran. Follow our live updates of the Israel-Iran conflict.

And encouraging more low-impact, nature-based tourism is an excellent proposition, writes reporter Courtney Kruk – but there’s an oxymoron at the heart of Queensland’s latest plan.

A firefighting plane that crashed and killed three people in outback Queensland had a “long-term intermittent defect” which affected cabin pressure, an investigation has found, and a phone call made minutes before the tragedy was a “missed opportunity” to save their lives.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released a report today into the crash of the twin-engine charter plane, which was conducting aerial fire surveillance operations for bushfires in Queensland’s north-west on November 4, 2024.

There were radio communication issues with the pilot, indicating he was suffering from a lack of oxygen in the body known as hypoxia, before the plane crashed near Cloncurry, the report said.

A pilot and two camera operators, including 22-year-old American William Jennings, were on board the plane, operated by AGAIR, which specialises in aerial firefighting and agricultural services.

Senior AGAIR management had tried to rectify a defect with the pressurisation system, but did not formally record it, communicate it to the safety manager, undertake a formal risk assessment of the issue, or provide explicit procedures to pilots for managing it.

“Instead, AGAIR management personnel participated in and encouraged the practice of continuing operations in the aircraft at a cabin altitude that required the use of oxygen, without access to a suitable oxygen supply,” the bureau said.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has defended his council’s bin changes, saying he was making Brisbane’s green bin like the yellow recycling bin.

In yesterday’s council budget, it was revealed all houses would get a green bin, and unit owners could opt-in. This would increase waste charges by about $50, for people who don’t already have a green bin.

“Everyone gets one,” Schrinner said, speaking on 4BC.

“If you live in an inner-city apartment, you don’t need one, necessarily – you won’t get one.”

Questioned by 4BC Mornings host Bill McDonald, who said people who didn’t want a green bin and opted out would still have to pay more, Schrinner said everyone would pay the same now for waste removal.

“It’s like with your yellow-top recycling bin – you don’t pay extra for that,” he said.

Schrinner said the changes helped council avoid the state government’s “bin tax”.

“Every year, there’s a tax that increases on waste going to landfill … our green waste recycling program saves about $1.6 million a year in state government taxes,” he said.

Brisbane’s lord mayor has defended a rate rise that will cost inner-city unit buyers an extra $100 a year, saying the measure will ensure “everyone contributes their fair share”.

Brisbane City Council’s budget, delivered yesterday, included a new rating category that would apply to anyone buying an inner-city unit or apartment from October 1 this year.

Brisbane residents purchasing an apartment or unit in the inner-city will pay an extra $100 a year under council’s new rating category.Credit: Courtney Kruk

Under the category, the minimum general rate will increase by $25 a quarter, bringing the total rate rise to $100 a year, double the inflation rate.

In an interview with 4BC this morning, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the increase was inconsequential in the scheme of capital needed to buy into Brisbane’s inner-city market.

“If you look at the new inner-city apartments that are being built, some of them are multimillion-dollar, or many of them are multimillion-dollar apartments,” he said.

Read the full story.

The top cop in Queensland has confirmed investigations into the burning of a baby boy at a Brisbane park last year are progressing – but would not reveal if officers have been to China to bring back their suspect.

Nine-month-old Luca was playing with his mum and a friend at Hanlon Park, Stones Corner on August 27 last year when a man snuck up on the group and poured hot coffee over the young boy.

He suffered serious burns across much of his body.

Days later police identified their chief suspect had fled to another country – believed to be China – but investigators have since gone quiet on the case.

“This isn’t something we’ve parked in a corner,” police commissioner Shane Chelepy told 4BC’s Peter Fegan this morning.

“This is a very serious offence, and they’re working hard on it.

“What I can say is we’re still working with our international partners, to progress this matter and to get a resolution here.“

Asked if detectives have been to China, Chelepy said he could not comment.

“The detectives have done such a great job on this piece of work … I don’t want to compromise their investigative strategy,” he said.

A Sydney plumber is among three Australians who have been charged with murder in Indonesia over the shooting of two Melbourne men at a luxury villa in Bali at the weekend.

The Australian government said late on Wednesday it was “urgently seeking further information from local authorities” after the arrests of the Australian men – who could face the death penalty if tried and convicted in Indonesia.

Sydney man Darcy Jenson has been arrested by Indonesian police over the fatal Bali villa shooting.

Darcy Francesco Jenson, 27, was arrested at an airport in Jakarta on Monday while trying to leave the country for Cambodia via Singapore, Indonesian authorities said. Two other men with Australian passports, Mevlut Coskun, 23, and Paea I Middlemore Tupou, 26, were detained overseas with the help of Interpol.

The men were returned to the island on Tuesday night after an extensive manhunt put Bali on high alert. All three have since been charged with premeditated murder, Bali police chief Daniel Adityajaya said.

Indonesian detectives said they seized cars, motorbikes, a sledgehammer and a blood-stained shirt as part of their investigation into a fatal ambush on Saturday that left one Melbourne man dead and another, with links to the underworld, seriously injured.

Read the full story here.

Penny Wong declined to directly answer how Australia would react if the US entered the Middle East conflict by striking Iran.

Asked by Natalie Barr on Sunrise what Wong’s answer would be “if Trump calls and says we want Australia’s help”, Wong responded this morning: “Look, we’re not a central player in the Middle East, obviously we’re a long way from this conflict, but it does affect, as you know, regional stability and global stability, and it also affects Australians.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

She later added:

The world does certainly face a dangerous moment.

But our message to Iran, along with so many countries of the world, is it’s time to stop any nuclear program, and it’s time to come to the table.

We see what is occurring on the ground, we see the risk to civilians in the region.

It’s time for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy ... Iran must return to the table, and it must stop any production of nuclear weapons.

Police have released footage of two people riding an e-bike as part of their investigation into an attack on a baby with a fire extinguisher.

Two people, riding an e-bike discharged a fire extinguisher into the open back window of a Silver Suzuki Vitari that was stationary at traffic lights on High Street at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday, about 7.50pm.

A 29-year-old male driver and a five-month-old baby girl received minor injuries.

Police have confirmed the fire extinguisher was stolen from a nearby car park on Courage Street, Sippy Downs earlier that night.

Officers are asking anyone who recognises the two people in the footage to contact police.

For those who missed it, Donald Trump remained ambiguous earlier today when asked if the US would join Israel’s attack on Iran.

Here are his latest public comments on the issue, which were made just before 5.30am AEST:

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the numbers of Australians who have registered for consular assistance has reached about 1500 in Iran and 1200 in Israel.

Australian officials in Israel “took the opportunity to get a small group out by land crossing yesterday, and we’ll seek to continue that,” Wong said on ABC News Breakfast moments ago.

“It’s a very, very difficult situation on the ground at the moment. It’s a very complicated situation.”