As it happened: Brisbane on Friday, October 11

Premier Steven Miles says he does not know how much money he has made from rental properties, but believes the investments have never clouded his judgment on housing policy.

The Queensland Greens reported the Labor leader had earned more than $450,000 in rent from tenants at four properties since 2020, which they suggested was a conflict of interest when considering their rent cap proposal.

“I’d have to check,” the premier said when asked if the $450,000 figure was accurate.

“Two of the properties that Kim and I own were our first housing investments, we have sentimental attachments to them, and that’s why we’ve kept them.”

LNP leader David Crisafulli would not be drawn on claims he had made about $165,000 from three properties, saying he would “let the Greens run their analysis”.

“I’ve been a renter, I’ve been an owner, and I’ve been someone who wants to see young people own a home,” Crisafulli said.

“And that’s what Queenslanders will get from me — a system where we increase the supply, people will have a crack at homeownership, and vulnerable people will have a roof over their head.”

Miles said the Greens had failed to achieve meaningful change in Queensland, and pointed to their stalling of a federal housing bill.

“There’s been a Greens MP in our parliament for seven years now, and they can’t point to a single thing that they have achieved,” Miles told reporters.

“The Greens political party might be interested in throwing dirt around like that, but they’re certainly not interested in achieving anything.”

Thanks for joining us this Friday for our live coverage of Brisbane news. Have a great weekend and we’ll be back on Monday morning.

In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories that made headlines today:

In awkward scenes on the Sunshine Coast, the Premier has again forgotten the name of a local Labor candidate.

Police allege a man accused of murdering his wife moved her body before she was found dead near a ride-on lawnmower at a property west of Brisbane.

It began as a tropical disturbance, then transformed into a category 5 monster hurtling towards the US coast. Here is how Hurricane Milton left a trail of destruction.

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Defence Minister Richard Marles should resign if he is found to have breached the ministerial code of conduct by ousting his chief of staff after she raised bullying allegations against her colleagues.

Greens MPs bullied and intimidated staff, according to raw testimonies from staffers who blew the whistle on the party’s workplace habits four years ago, while Greens candidates seduced volunteers.

Titans captain and Maroons star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui has flown to the US for an intensive two-week training camp with world-renowned expert in sports reconditioning Bill Knowles, who has helped fellow NRL stars Ryan Papenhuyzen, Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell.

And Howard Smith Wharves has welcomed two new bars in as many weeks – the latest being B-SIDE, featuring DJ-spun vinyl, Japanese snacks and drinks designed by one of Australia’s best bartenders.

Premier Steven Miles says he does not know how much money he has made from rental properties, but believes the investments have never clouded his judgment on housing policy.

The Queensland Greens reported the Labor leader had earned more than $450,000 in rent from tenants at four properties since 2020, which they suggested was a conflict of interest when considering their rent cap proposal.

“I’d have to check,” the premier said when asked if the $450,000 figure was accurate.

“Two of the properties that Kim and I own were our first housing investments, we have sentimental attachments to them, and that’s why we’ve kept them.”

LNP leader David Crisafulli would not be drawn on claims he had made about $165,000 from three properties, saying he would “let the Greens run their analysis”.

“I’ve been a renter, I’ve been an owner, and I’ve been someone who wants to see young people own a home,” Crisafulli said.

“And that’s what Queenslanders will get from me — a system where we increase the supply, people will have a crack at homeownership, and vulnerable people will have a roof over their head.”

Miles said the Greens had failed to achieve meaningful change in Queensland, and pointed to their stalling of a federal housing bill.

“There’s been a Greens MP in our parliament for seven years now, and they can’t point to a single thing that they have achieved,” Miles told reporters.

“The Greens political party might be interested in throwing dirt around like that, but they’re certainly not interested in achieving anything.”

LNP leader David Crisafulli has left the door open to a further expansion of warrantless police metal detection scanning powers into schools.

Crisafulli was today asked whether an LNP government would consider a move by the new Country Liberal government in the NT to wand schoolkids as young as 10.

“Our first focus is to make Jack’s Law permanent,” Crisafulli said, referring to a sunset clause in the laws that technically makes them a trial until April 30 next year.

“If you see the figures from that trial, it shows it works, and we’re open minded about how Jack’s Law can be used in other settings.”

Asked whether he would be open-minded about the use of such powers in schools, Crisafulli said any expansion would go through a parliamentary committee process.

“Now, if it is to be expanded to other areas, that needs to be part of a proper consultation process, people deserve the right to have their opinions heard,” he said.

“I do think, first and foremost though, people shouldn’t be carrying weapons. And increasingly, they’re becoming like a fashion accessory for some young people — and they shouldn’t”.

One week into the search for Jack McLennan, a Sunshine Coast man who went missing in the South Burnett region, police have uncovered a hat believed to belong to the 27-year-old.

McLennan was last seen on Friday afternoon last week, at Ficks Crossing, a recreational ground on the Barambah Creek shoreline, between Murgon and Wondai.

The hat was found in Murgon yesterday, several kilometres from the location where police uncovered shoes earlier this week – near John Krebs Bridge.

Police have located two shoes and a hat believed to belong to missing 27-year-old Jack McLennan.Credit: Queensland Police

While dive teams have finished their search in water bodies and shorelines near the site, ground and air search efforts remained extensive.

“As previously advised, we’ve used SES, we’ve used helicopters, remote-piloted aerial systems, ATVs, and motorbikes in a very broad area,” said South Burnett patrol group inspector Scott Stahlhu.

He said the public remained a key source of information, having spoken to family and friends who said it was “out of character” for McLennan to disappear without telling those close to him.

Police continued to urge motorists, property owners, and anyone in the region to be on the lookout for McLennan, paying particular attention to sheds and structures on land and along the nearby Bunya Highway.

Police also sought one potential witness – known to have camped overnight at Ficks Crossing and last seen travelling in a dark-coloured vehicle with a rooftop tent – to come forward.

Jack was described as fair-skinned, around 185cm tall with light brown hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a black t-shirt and dark shorts.

Around 30 SES personnel were expected to continue search efforts tomorrow.

One energy expert yesterday suggested LNP leader David Crisafulli’s preparedness to extend the use of coal-fired power indefinitely implied the party was “not actually serious” about emissions targets.

At a media conference on Thursday, Crisafulli appeared to downplay the importance of Queensland’s legislated target of a 75 reduction on 2005 carbon emissions levels by 2035 — which his party voted for this year.

“Our primary target, the biggest focus, is net-zero by 2050,” he said.

“We will continue to make sure we are on the journey, that we have a credible path to get there.”

Crisafulli said an LNP government would move to repeal laws setting a target his party definitely did not support — the need for 70 cent of the state’s power to be from renewables by 2032, and 80 per cent by 2035.

Coincidently, Labor’s Deputy Premier and Treasurer Cameron Dick was at the same Rockhampton shopping centre where the Crisafulli campaign had stopped.

Speaking to journalists after the LNP event, Dick labelled the idea of indefinite coal power “a fantasy” that would scare off renewables investment underway as part of his party’s renewable energy and jobs plan.

“I think it’s the worst possible signal to send to investors at a critical time for the future of our state and its economy, and David Crisafulli has just sent that signal to investors, not just here in Australia, but around the world,” Dick said.

A woman has been rushed to hospital after her arm was severed in a vicious dog attack in north Queensland this morning.

Emergency services were called to reports of a dog mauling at a Lonerganne Street property in Garbutt, a suburb of Townsville, just after 7am.

The woman in her 30s was rushed to Townsville University Hospital with significant injuries to her arm, which is believed to have been severed during the attack.

Police attempted to subdue the dog but were unsuccessful and it was “euthanised” at the scene.

Officers said investigations into the attack are ongoing.

The Greens have accused the major party leaders, Steven Miles and David Crisafulli, of making steep profits off their own investment property portfolios, and renewed calls for a rent freeze.

The party’s analysis, based on parliament’s register of interests and median rents data, estimated that Miles had made more than $450,000 from four properties in and around Brisbane, and Crisafulli about $165,000 from three investment properties, over the past four years.

Amy MacMahon outside her electorate office in South Brisbane.Credit: South Brisbane Electorate Office

“Miles and Crisafulli care more about their own bank balances than they do about the 1.8 million Queenslanders who rent,” said Greens members for South Brisbane Amy MacMahon. “No wonder people are sick and tired of politicians.”

Declaring that the Greens would “always stick up for renters and first home buyers”, MacMahon outlined plans to freeze and cap rent increases, and introduce a state-owned bank offering cheaper mortgage rates to owner-occupiers.

A party spokeswoman said neither Greens MP had investment properties. MacMahon rents in her inner-city electorate and member for Maiwar Michael Berkman owns one property, which he lives in.

Homelessness is higher in areas where there is a lack of affordable private rental housing to meet demand from lower-income households, new research shows.

There are more people experiencing homelessness in the suburbs than often thought, and an ambitious supply of affordable private rental housing and social housing would be needed to make a difference, the paper found.

An increase of 1000 affordable private rental homes within one capital city would reduce homelessness rates by about 10 per cent, according to The changing geography of homelessness in Australia (2001–21) and its structural drivers by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, released on Thursday.

“Homelessness is becoming increasingly suburban in our capital cities,” researcher Dr Deb Batterham from the Centre for Urban Transitions at Swinburne University and Launch Housing said.

“In terms of homelessness services, services have been consistently unable to meet demand for a very long time.”

For a fifth-straight day, questions around how the LNP will deal with some internal beliefs, and a crossbench push, to recriminalise abortion have plagued David Crisafulli’s election campaign.

While spruiking promised funding for a youth drop-in centre in Rockhampton, and criticising Labor for a perceived refusal to talk about youth crime, the local LNP candidate avoided even saying the word “abortion”.

Donna Kirkland was quizzed about whether her views on the issue had changed since she shared a post in 2019 from The Australian Christians Party which labelled it “the greatest human rights abuse of our time”.

LNP Rockhampton candidate Donna Kirkland, Opposition leader David Crisafulli, Keppel candidate Nigel Hutton, and youth justice spokesperson Laura GerberCredit: Matt Dennien

In response, she offered only variations of the same lines Crisafulli and others have been repeating: “we’ve ruled that out” and “it’s not part of our plan”.

Asked what “it” and “that” was, Kirkland would not even say the Aword.

As to whether she considered the procedure healthcare, Kirkland said “we have ruled out any conversation around that”.

Crisafulli then stepped in, to bat away the questions himself, before describing it as a “serious issue”.

“And the fact that we have as a team taken a decision that it’s not part of our plan, and we’ve ruled it out, should give comfort to every person in Queensland,” he said.

In awkward scenes on the Sunshine Coast, the premier has again forgotten the name of a candidate.

Steven Miles was asked who was representing the Labor Party in Kawana, when the candidate did not appear at a campaign announcement this morning.

“That’s a good question,” he said before spending well over 10 seconds quietly shuffling through papers without finding an answer.

“We’ll get that for you, and we’ll be with them later.”

Steven Miles campaigns in Kawana with Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and journalist-turned-adviser Lane Calcutt.Credit: William Davis

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and nearby media advisers also appeared not to know who was running in the seat.

Jim Dawson is the Labor candidate for Kawana. The seat is safely held by the LNP’s deputy leader Jarrod Bleijie.