As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, June 20

This is where we will leave our live news coverage today. Thank you for joining us, we’ll be back on deck tomorrow morning.

Today’s major headlines:

Two girls ran to a neighbour’s house for help after a man allegedly shot dead a woman in her Mackay driveway on Wednesday. He had previously held a weapons licence, but it was not registered at the time.

A woman was shot dead in South Mackay on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Nine

A truck driver has been arrested on the side of the M1 after Queensland police tracked him from the NSW border to the northern end of the Gold Coast.

Major investors are already rethinking plans to keep ploughing billions of dollars into Australian renewable energy after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear push.

A classic New York-inspired Brisbane CBD burger joint is expanding to Portside Wharf – it will be the same but different, with a slick fit-out, expanded menu, more beers and a punchy wine list.

Dumbo’s Bonnie Shearston and Tom Sanceau - who are behind the successful Red Hook - at Portside Wharf.Credit: Markus Ravik

Another Australian site may be in the mix for UNESCO World Heritage status after a campaign was launched for parts of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula.

Mexican fast-food chain Guzman y Gomez has clinched its place as the hottest (and spiciest) float on the stock market in years.

And we’ve compiled a list of family-friendly things to do over the June-July term break.

A truck driver has been arrested on the side of the M1 after Queensland police tracked him from the NSW border to the northern end of the Gold Coast.

Police tracked the truck as it crossed the border from NSW.Credit: Nine News

Officers and the Queensland police helicopter were tracking the man as he drove into the state from NSW about 1.15pm.

NSW authorities had alerted local police to the truck, which was alleged to have been being driving in an erratic manner between traffic.

It’s alleged the truck was being driven in an erratic manner.Credit: Nine News

The truck was heading north when officers arrested the man at Stapylton.

It has been seized by police and investigations are ongoing.

Holding a media conference in Cairns this morning, you can bet LNP leader David Crisafulli was asked about Peter Dutton’s nuclear power site proposal.

Over the course of seven questions on his apparent difference of opinion with parts of the LNP, and suggestions he would “roll over” after the state election, Crisafulli largely refused to answer.

Asked directly if his position would change if both he and the federal Coalition won power (an expectation voiced by federal Nationals leader David Littleproud on Sky News last night), he said: “My position has been consistent, it remains and will remain consistent – it’s not part of our plan.”

Asked if it was fair to say he thought nuclear power would cost too much, Crisafulli offered the same. Asked “why are you against it”, he replied that Queenslanders were facing high power prices and he owed it to them to let them know his team had “mapped out a strategy to do that”.

His predecessor Deb Frecklington, whose electorate includes the proposed Tarong nuclear site, used the media conference to question the cost of the Miles government’s flagship $12 billion-plus Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro energy storage project – still in detailed planning and slated to not go any further under the LNP.

While pointing to the LNP’s suggestions they would investigate “smaller, more manageable” pumped hydro projects instead, with tightened planning rules, Frecklington did not mention the departmental work which found many smaller projects would likely be more expensive and disruptive.

Another Australian site may be in the mix for World Heritage status after a campaign was launched for parts of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula.

Premier Steven Miles confirmed areas of the cape in the far north had been nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list, describing it as a “monumental” step.

Dune Lake in Wuthathi Country on the Cape York Peninsula.Credit: Queensland Government

Miles today joined federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek in Cairns, saying the areas had been nominated for both their environmental and cultural values after working with traditional owners.

“This is monumental. It is the first step towards Queensland’s incredible Cape York Peninsula being formally recognised on the World Heritage list,” Miles said.

“I want iconic places like the cape to be protected for future generations to love and look after.”

The region is home to almost 20 per cent of Australian plant species and more than 300 threatened species including the green sawfish, the Cape York rock wallaby and the southern cassowary.

It also boasts a rich Indigenous culture including rock art paintings that detail traditional owners’ connection to country.

Air quality is rated poor in the Redlands, Rocklea and South Brisbane today because of smoke haze from controlled burns.

Clearance fires at Mt Gravatt and Belmont around Brisbane City, in Samford Valley, and on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) are all causing smoke haze.

Brisbane City Council is burning scrub at the Brisbane Koala Bushlands on Mt Gravatt Capalaba Road, Brightview Street and Prout Road at Burbank.

A 5.4 hectare controlled burn that began yesterday is still being monitored at the Belmont Hills Bushland between Old Cleveland Road and Ewer Street.

“Smoke may impact the Gateway Motorway and Old Cleveland Road and settle in low-lying areas in surrounding suburbs, particularly overnight,” council said.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services has three large controlled burns underway.

One large clearance fire in the Samford Valley is adding smoke haze over the Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich council areas.

A man who allegedly shot dead a Queensland woman in front of two children, and later shot a man who came to help, had previously held a weapons licence, but was not registered at the time.

Detectives are working to determine the motive for shooting, with police saying the man did not know the woman, or anyone else involved, but simply lived on the same street in South Mackay.

A woman was shot dead in South Mackay on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Nine

The 34-year-old woman was sitting in her driveway with two girls, aged 11 and 12, yesterday afternoon when police believe a single shot was fired at her, killing her.

Detective Acting Superintendent Emma Novosel said the girls then ran to a neighbour’s house on Robb Place who rushed to help.

Read the full story.

It’s hard to believe, but as of this weekend, school is out again for two whole weeks.

To help you fill in the time, we’ve compiled a list of family-friendly things to do, from Saturday, June 22 through to Sunday, July 7.

Some are free, some are cheap, and some, frankly, are going to cost you, but they’re all good, rewarding pastimes for the youngsters, from shows and movies to workshops and tours.

Circus Fun House is the first kids’ show under the big top at Pink Flamingo Brisbane.Credit: Pink Flamingo

Read Nick Dent’s roundup of what to do over the winter school holidays.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has defended his decision not to provide costing alongside the Coalition’s nuclear plan, after announcing yesterday its energy modelling will be released ahead of the federal election.

Dutton has hit back at critics who say there is no detail in the nuclear policy, telling ABC News Breakfast the Coalition had “taken a deliberate step not to be held hostage by the Labor Party”.

“We want the information out there in bite-sized bits, if you like, so that people can consume exactly what it is that we’re proposing and understand what it’s not proposing,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Dutton said the nuclear plan only involved coal-fired power stations that were at the end of life.

“That’s because there’s an existing transmission network, so the poles and wires [are] already there, so we don’t need Labor’s new 28,000 kilometres of poles and wires through national parks and pristine farming land, etc. and it provides the opportunity to talk about that aspect of our proposal and we’ll release the next stage in due course,” he said.

“There’s been months and months and months of work put into this policy. I believe it’s in our country’s best interests.”

Dutton said Australia was an outlier in the world’s biggest economies in its rejection of nuclear power.

“I understand the sectional interests and people who are invested into green technologies and the rest of it, but my job is not to make rich people richer. My job is to provide an environment where electricity is cheaper, it’s consistent, it’s cleaner,” he said.

“We can do that through nuclear power, as 19 of the world’s top 20 economies have done. Australia’s the only outlier in that regard.”

Premier Steven Miles has reiterated his opposition to the federal Coalition’s nuclear plan, telling ABC News Breakfast his Labor state government would continue to pursue a renewables lead future.

Under Peter Dutton’s proposal, announced on Wednesday, seven nuclear facilities would be built in five states - including Tarong and Callide in Queensland.

Miles said the cost of nuclear energy did not stack up and Queensland just “didn’t need it” given a solar, wind and pumped-hydro plan was underway.

He said the two big problems with Dutton’s nuclear plan were the cost and how the waste would be managed.

“We know this will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and that will mean people’s electricity bills will be higher and I’m concerned about the future generations of Queenslanders who will need to manage this dangerous radioactive waste forever,” he said.

“We just don’t need it. We have a detailed, costed plan to get to net-zero emissions in our energy system through renewable, through solar and wind and pumped hydro storage in particular, and that’s the plan we’re pursuing here.”

Miles said the other issue was that Dutton had selected sites owned by the state.

“We still own those generators and we own that land and we own the transmission network from there and so without our cooperation it’s very hard to see how he can do it. You got to assume he’s counting on an LNP state government cooperating with him,” he said, despite state LNP leader David Crisafulli publicly voicing his opposition.

“I tell you what - if Labor is in government we will do everything that we can to block his plan to build expensive nuclear reactors on sites we own here in Queensland.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the Coalition’s nuclear plan a “fantasy”, telling ABC Radio National that a policy more than a decade from fruition is unlikely to get backing from business.

Albanese said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy had fallen apart within 24 hours.

“There’s no costings, there’s no serious timeframe, there’s no proportion of how much nuclear will be as part of their energy system, there’s no details on what type of reactor,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

Albanese said the opposition had not been clear on whether communities in the seven regions chosen for nuclear power plants would have a say in whether the plan went ahead under a Coalition government.

“Is the consultation process just going through the motions? They can’t say whether they have provided a real one or not,” he said.

Asked whether Labor could be trusted when it came to energy costs, given their pre-election promise of a $275 reduction on energy bills, Albanese blamed external impacts.

“What happened was there was a Russian invasion of Ukraine and there was a global increase in energy costs that affected every single western economy and that saw inflation in some countries like the UK hit double digits. That’s just something that happened. That is a fact,” he said.

“But what you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy. Instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors. This is just absurd to have a big build-up for an announcement and then say, ‘Oh well, we’ll give you the details [later]’.”