As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, April 10

A man accused of stabbing his brother’s teenage murderer as he was about to be sentenced in court will contest his charges, his solicitor has said.

Police allege Jamal Ahmed Iyow on March 31 took a pen from the solicitor’s bar table in the Queensland Supreme Court and stabbed an 18-year-old male in the shoulder.

Ahmed Iyow, 22, is the brother of Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow, who was fatally stabbed at age 19 by the juvenile defendant at Acacia Ridge in June 2024.

Jamal Ahmed Iyow was excused from attending his first appearance on Thursday in Brisbane Magistrates Court, charged with unlawful assault causing bodily harm with an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

Defence solicitor William Kennedy said outside court “the charges will be contested at this stage”.

“We hope to get a good result for him. Anyone in his circumstances, I’m sure you could understand, would act in that sort of way but as I said, he’s innocent until proven guilty.”

The juvenile defendant, who cannot be named as he was aged 17 at the time, was due to be sentenced for Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow’s murder when Jamal Ahmed Iyow allegedly attacked the defendant before the hearing could begin.

The teen was sentenced at a rescheduled hearing in Queensland Supreme Court on Monday, to 12 years’ detention with a requirement he serve 70 per cent of that time.

Kennedy said outside court on Thursday the teen’s sentence was a “difficult pill to swallow” for his client.

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of news today. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday’s news.

Until then, here are some of the stories that made headlines today:

China is offering to work with Australia to boost trade and defend growth in response to tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump in a new bid to find common ground when the world is spiralling into a catastrophic trade war.

The Australian sharemarket has slowed its rally, but was still sharply higher at lunchtime after US stocks soared to one of their best days in history overnight.

Virgin Australia is offering to refund 61,000 customers who were overcharged after an error was discovered in the company’s pricing systems.

As construction nears completion on South Bank’s new theatre, Queenslanders have been invited to help name it.

And Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf has called for an overhaul of the crackdown on high contact, believing if a player lies down in a bid to draw a penalty they must undergo a head injury assessment.

As construction nears completion on South Bank’s new theatre, Queenslanders have been invited to help name it.

The “85 per cent complete” theatre, with its undulating glass facade, will not host performances until 2026.

The new theatre under construction at QPAC in Brisbane. The building is set to open in 2026.Credit: Lendlease

Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek encouraged the community to submit their naming ideas for the theatre, or vote on one of four pre-selected names, at the Arts Queensland website.

The 1500-capacity theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre will be the venue’s fifth theatre, making QPAC Australia’s largest performing arts centre under one roof.

A man accused of stabbing his brother’s teenage murderer as he was about to be sentenced in court will contest his charges, his solicitor has said.

Police allege Jamal Ahmed Iyow on March 31 took a pen from the solicitor’s bar table in the Queensland Supreme Court and stabbed an 18-year-old male in the shoulder.

Ahmed Iyow, 22, is the brother of Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow, who was fatally stabbed at age 19 by the juvenile defendant at Acacia Ridge in June 2024.

Jamal Ahmed Iyow was excused from attending his first appearance on Thursday in Brisbane Magistrates Court, charged with unlawful assault causing bodily harm with an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

Defence solicitor William Kennedy said outside court “the charges will be contested at this stage”.

“We hope to get a good result for him. Anyone in his circumstances, I’m sure you could understand, would act in that sort of way but as I said, he’s innocent until proven guilty.”

The juvenile defendant, who cannot be named as he was aged 17 at the time, was due to be sentenced for Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow’s murder when Jamal Ahmed Iyow allegedly attacked the defendant before the hearing could begin.

The teen was sentenced at a rescheduled hearing in Queensland Supreme Court on Monday, to 12 years’ detention with a requirement he serve 70 per cent of that time.

Kennedy said outside court on Thursday the teen’s sentence was a “difficult pill to swallow” for his client.

Last month, CBD revealed that mining giant Rio Tinto was bankrolling the Mabo Centre at the University of Melbourne, an initiative to support traditional owners and First Nations youth that is named after renowned Indigenous land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo, whose High Court case ended the doctrine of terra nullius.

A 1990 photo of Eddie Mabo. Credit: Jim McEwan

For the company, funding the centre is the next step in a campaign to repair its relationship with First Nations Australians, which was tainted by its destruction of 46,000-year-old Indigenous rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in 2020. The incident brought Rio worldwide opprobrium and led to the resignation of its chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques.

Despite efforts to buy back goodwill with Indigenous communities – the company donated millions to the Yes campaign in the 2023 Voice referendum – not everyone has forgotten Rio’s recent past. This week, six of Mabo’s grandchildren signed a scathing statement condemning the company’s backing of the Mabo Centre, which the statement accuses of betraying the late Eddie Mabo’s vision.

“We are mortified that the Mabo name is tied to something so hypocritical,” says the statement, written by artist Neta-Rie Mabo, and co-signed by her cousins Mahalia, Maria, Hannah, Cathryn and Peta.

“We cannot reconcile our family’s name being tied to a centre funded by the very forces our grandfather fought against. A centre in his name now accepts money from Rio Tinto, a corporation that has desecrated sacred sites and disregarded Indigenous sovereignty. He would be appalled.”

The statement exposes a division among Mabo’s descendants. His daughter Gail Mabo and grandson Kaleb Mabo both attended the centre’s launch. Gail, a prominent artist, was also featured in an article in The Australian about the centre.

The six Mabo grandchildren who signed the statement want the centre to cut all ties with Rio Tinto.

“Anything less is a betrayal. Our grandfather’s name deserves better. His legacy is not for sale,” they say.

The centre’s advisory board issued a statement on Wednesday night saying it was aware of the criticisms but noting the centre’s name was “gifted by senior members of the Mabo family following extensive engagement with them”.

It said those senior family members were aware of the Rio Tinto investment before deciding whether to gift the name and added that the money did not come with a governance role for the mining giant at the centre. The company declined to comment.

The Queensland education department has undertaken major policy reforms after a damning internal audit into the fees charged by state schools under the guise of the Student Resource Scheme.

The scheme is intended to offer parents and carers a cost-effective alternative to purchasing textbooks and other resources themselves, by allowing schools and the department to use bulk purchasing and hiring arrangements and charge parents a fee to participate.

It collected $101.6 million in additional revenue for taxpayer-funded schools in 2023-24, up from $87.7 million five years earlier.

An internal audit found Queensland state schools failing to comply with procedures for charging parents fees, and the department not monitoring the situation.Credit: Michael Howard

But an internal audit marked as ‘sensitive’, and obtained by this masthead under the Right to Information Act, last year warned the department of major problems with the administration and oversight of the scheme.

Read the full story.

The first baby Komodo dragons have hatched at Australia Zoo, with the three hatchlings now being carefully monitored by staff.

The zoo’s reptiles, amphibians and birds curator Nick Kuyper said successfully breeding the world’s largest lizard was a career highlight.

A Komodo dragon hatching at Australia Zoo.Credit: Australia Zoo

“Komodo dragon eggs have an incubation period of seven to eight months, and our first egg successfully hatched after 214 days, following a long and remarkable wait,” he said.

Komodo dragons were first bred in Australia at the Australian Reptile Park in 2022.

The species is native to the Indonesian islands of Rinca, Flores, and Komodo, and was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2021 due in part to rising sea levels and habitat loss.

Brisbane Airport has been recognised for its friendly staff, taking out the top award for best airport staff in Australia & Pacific at the 2025 World Airport Awards.

Customers passing through the airport are surveyed on a number of experience points, including service, facilities, check-in, arrivals, transfers and immigration.

The staff at Brisbane Airport were praised for their courtesy, attentiveness and professionalism in daily operations.

Brisbane Airport chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaf said they were “incredibly happy” travellers from around the world have recognised their efforts.

“Our philosophy is simple: ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ and that truly reflects our aim for all travellers.”

There are currently over 20,000 staff working at Brisbane Airport, with the figure set to increase by 10,000 by the time the 2032 Games arrives.

An Arizona man accused of communicating with an Australian family who carried out the deadly shooting at Wiemabilla, in Queensland, will face a delayed US trial due to his lawyer’s computer network being hacked.

Brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train used high-powered rifles during an ambush to kill Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow at the remote property in December 2022.

Arizona man Donald Day Jr, 60, was charged a year later in the US with making threats to public figures and FBI agents, and possessing illegal firearms.

US District Judge John Tuchi has now ordered the trial start date be pushed back from April 22 to September 15.

Tuchi had ruled in March that Queensland Police officers would be able to testify at the trial, after US prosecutors said their evidence was necessary to prove Day was serious when he made threats after the Wieambilla shootings.

Day’s lawyer Jon Sands then applied to Judge Tuchi for a pre-trial conference and the trial itself to be delayed.

Sands said the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Arizona had discovered ransomware affecting local file storage and data backup systems on its network.

“At this time, the office has no access to its network and, accordingly, staff are limited in the work they can do.”

Day entered pleas of not guilty to all charges in the Arizona District Court in May 2024 and has denied any involvement in the Wieambilla shootings.

The maelstrom swirling around Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff regime couldn’t feel more removed from the tranquil Cairns region that the prime minister is visiting today, as he campaigns to win the seat back from the opposition.

But the spectre of another political leader looms nearly as large as the US head honcho, with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek nowhere to be seen in Far North Queensland.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on a boat to Green Island from Cairns, Queensland, in the electorate of Leichhardt on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Anthony Albanese this morning is preparing to board a boat and visit the Great Barrier Reef, the environmental asset many voters most closely associate with her role – given Plibersek lists its protection as a key justification for multi-million dollar federal funding – not to mention Labor’s ambitious climate change agenda.

Missing today’s trip freezes Plibersek out of an announcement for the $6 million funding for Kids for the Reef rebates to subsidise school excursions to the Great Barrier Reef.

Relations have been fraught for Albanese and Plibersek for a long time, given both are potential leadership rivals. But the relationship became particularly frosty in November, after the PM’s last-minute intervention to scupper Plibersek’s deal with the Greens for a key environmental reform.

Not even a trip to Plibersek’s favourite tropical idyll could melt the tension.

The Trump tariff turnaround is having an immediate impact on expectations about the Reserve Bank and interest rate settings. On Wednesday, markets had expected the RBA – which next meets in mid-May – to go on a rate-cutting splurge.

RBA Governor Michelle Bullock.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Five rate cuts by Christmas were expected, with a near-80 per cent chance the bank would start with a super-sized 0.5 percentage point cut next month.

But with Trump in retreat, so are interest rate expectations. The chance of a 0.5 percentage point cut next month is down to 40 per cent while markets now reckon the bank will eventually deliver four rate cuts by Christmas.

That’s still a long way from where markets and investors were just a fortnight ago, before Trump’s Liberation Day, when they believed the Reserve only had two rate cuts on the agenda by year’s end.