As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, April 18

The Walker Corporation has withdrawn its application to build Toondah Harbour on the Cleveland foreshore, ending a decade-long fight to protect international wetlands.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last week said she planned to reject the project on environmental grounds, but gave the company 10 days to consider its bid.

An artist’s impression of a small part of the Walker Group’s planned Toondah Harbour development, which includes up to 3600 units and a 400-berth marina.Credit: The Walker Group

The Walker Corporation was expected to scale back the project, which originally extended into Moreton Bay, but on Thursday announced it would withdraw altogether.

“We have been overwhelmed by calls and messages of support over the past week from the Redlands community as well as local, state and federal political and community leaders, who understand how critical this project is to the region’s future,” the company said in a statement.

“We respect the minister’s opinion that she does not believe the project in its current form provides the protections for the environment and we need the appropriate amount of time to understand and address those concerns, to satisfy the government’s reasonable, high environmental standards.”

That’s where we leave our live posts today, and thank you for joining us.

Among the headlines today, we close with a billion-dollar bombshell – Walker Corporation withdrawing its application to build a massive residential and retail precinct at Toondah Harbour in Cleveland. For a decade, the council-backed project has been mired in controversy.

Also today, the prime minister has suggested the government will grant citizenship to a heroic security guard who confronted knife attacker Joel Cauchi.

Brisbane Arcade.Credit: Courtney Kruk

Nestled in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD is the city’s oldest shopping arcade. As it celebrates its 100th anniversary, can it survive the evolving demands of retail?

Some might have wondered how Justice Michael Lee arrived at his ruling that Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins. Our deep dive shows how he “trudged unyieldingly” through CCTV footages, texts, bank records, receipts – and hours of testimony.

And seven-time World Cup winner and Australia’s most decorated captain Meg Lanning has explained why she ultimately walked away from the game at just 32.

The Walker Corporation has withdrawn its application to build Toondah Harbour on the Cleveland foreshore, ending a decade-long fight to protect international wetlands.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last week said she planned to reject the project on environmental grounds, but gave the company 10 days to consider its bid.

An artist’s impression of a small part of the Walker Group’s planned Toondah Harbour development, which includes up to 3600 units and a 400-berth marina.Credit: The Walker Group

The Walker Corporation was expected to scale back the project, which originally extended into Moreton Bay, but on Thursday announced it would withdraw altogether.

“We have been overwhelmed by calls and messages of support over the past week from the Redlands community as well as local, state and federal political and community leaders, who understand how critical this project is to the region’s future,” the company said in a statement.

“We respect the minister’s opinion that she does not believe the project in its current form provides the protections for the environment and we need the appropriate amount of time to understand and address those concerns, to satisfy the government’s reasonable, high environmental standards.”

Triple M has overtaken B105 to win the breakfast slot in the latest Brisbane radio ratings, despite being one of the seven out of 12 stations to lose market share in the period.

According to the GfK Radio 360 Survey, Triple M had 13 per cent market share, down on the previous ratings period but still enough to topple B105, which suffered the biggest loss and ended with a 12.8 per cent share. KIIS, 4JJJ and 4BH increased market share.

B105 was still the most popular overall (11.9 per cent share), followed by Triple M (11.8 per cent) and Nova (10.3 per cent), while the leading AM station was 4BH (9.5 per cent) followed by 4BC (7.0 per cent), and with ABC Brisbane still languishing (4.2 per cent).

4BC is owned by Nine, publisher of Brisbane Times, whose Queensland TV and podcasting teams this week won a New York Festival Radio Award for the Hannah’s Story podcast.

A cattle property in outback Queensland will be turned into a national park after one of the largest philanthropic donations for protected land in Australia.

James Fitzsimons from Nature Conservancy.Credit: Leigh Henningham

The purchase of Vergemont Station near Longreach will conserve almost 350,000 hectares, thanks to the $21 million donation from an anonymous philanthropist.

The acquisition by the Queensland government was completed with the support of Nature Conservancy, to which the donation was made.

The working cattle farm is a habitat for the elusive and endangered night parrot, the vulnerable yellow-footed rock wallaby and threatened Opalton grass wren.

“This purchase is most likely the single largest donation to buy land for conservation in Australian history,” James Fitzsimons from Nature Conservancy said.

The government said boulder opal mining operations would be allowed to continue on 40,000 hectares of the property, but the rest of it would be converted into a national park.

The work done so far by the now-dumped bipartisan youth justice reform committee has just been tabled in parliament for all to see.

Its release was taken from the hands of Labor and LNP MPs on the seven-person special committee, led by independent Noosa MP Sandy Bolton, after delays and lack of agreement on the contents and recommendations.

You can read the report for yourself below, and we’ll take a closer look at some of its details – not to mention unpack some of the claims made by MPs.

At first glance, there are 60 recommendations with many requiring the government to do additional investigation or planning work to support longer-term change, or things the government has said it would do such as increase Childrens Court transparency.

Among the more concrete calls is to lower the threshold for serious repeat offender declarations.

While not making any recommendations, the report also details debate among MPs about the role of social and traditional media in the community’s understanding and perception of youth crime.

Scientists fear time is running out to protect the Great Barrier Reef, which is enduring one of its most extensive coral bleaching events.

The full extent of the impact is still unknown despite a “gut-wrenching” update yesterday that revealed almost three-quarters of the reef has been affected.

The reef has suffered the worst summer on record after being hit by two tropical cyclones and severe flooding plus an outbreak of coral-munching crown-of-thorns starfish.

This has culminated in one of the reef’s most widespread and severe mass coral bleaching events on record.

The 2023-24 summer update was released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the CSIRO.

It gives insight into the reef’s fifth mass bleaching in eight years due to heat stress driven by climate change.

James Cook University’s Professor Terry Hughes said the shortening gap between bleaching events was a major concern, casting doubt over any subsequent full recovery.

“We’ve already seen back-to-back bleaching events in two consecutive years in 2016-17 and the last three events, including this one, have only been two years apart,” he said.

“That’s nowhere near enough for a full recovery or anything like it.”

Announced in an effort at bipartisanship last year, a rare independent-led parliamentary committee tasked with laying out solutions to youth crime has been blown up by party politics.

Established in October by then-premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the group of seven MPs was led by Noosa independent Sandy Bolton and included three MPs from Labor and three from the LNP.

It held dozens of meetings and public briefings across the state and fielded more than 200 submissions from individuals and stakeholder groups.

But for weeks its members – who are required to convince at least one from the other side to make a decision – have been stuck trying to finalise an interim report and recommendations due last Friday.

Instead, as parliament prepared to wrap up last night, Labor’s Leader of the House, Mick de Brenni, moved a motion to dissolve the committee.

LNP members cited concern about some of the proposed recommendations aimed at media reporting of crime, while Labor MPs criticised the LNP for “hijacking” the group, now instructed to table its interim report today.

While Melbourne captain Harry Grant appears the likely next Queensland captain, coach Billy Slater says he has no succession plans in place for when Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans calls time on his State of Origin career.

Maroons captain Daly Cherry-Evans during State of Origin last year.Credit: Getty

Star hooker Grant appeared at Tuesday’s State of Origin launch at the MCG alongside Slater and joked he still had to win selection for the series, which starts in Sydney on June 5.

“I’m not big on succession plans when it comes to representative football,” Slater said. “I think you earn the right to play in the jersey.

“There’s a number of great leaders within the Queensland State of Origin team, and to be honest, if you’re representing Queensland at this level, you’re probably a leader in some way anyway.

“So that’ll naturally take its course, that’ll naturally happen, so I don’t think it’s appropriate to go and try and create leaders as a succession plan.”

Cherry-Evans took over in 2019 from another Melbourne hooking great, Cameron Smith, when he stepped back from representative football.

The brother of Brisbane Broncos prop Payne Haas is considering taking civil action against authorities after police withdrew all drug charges against him.

Zeda Haas had been accused along with another man after being stopped in a ute at Beresfield in the NSW Hunter region in August shortly after collecting a package.

Police said they detected the package at the border and had removed 1.8 kilograms of methamphetamine from the shipment before sending it on.

Australian Border Force officers intercepted two parcels from the United States containing a combined four kilograms of methamphetamine, with a street value of $3.5 million.

Haas was charged with one count of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of a controlled drug.

Both charges were dismissed at Newcastle Local Court last week.

At a bail hearing in September, a NSW Supreme Court judge described the case against Haas as “extremely weak”.

“The extent of the evidence against him is (that) he was in the car with someone who went to this place and picked up this package,” Justice David Davies said at the time.

His solicitor Abdul Reslan confirmed on Wednesday that Haas was considering taking civil action over the dropped charges.

A Frenchman who bravely fought off killer Joel Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction with a bollard will have his permanent residential visa approved today.

Damien Guerot, known as “bollard man”, was on a work visa that was due to expire within months.

On Hit Central Queensland radio on Thursday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he spoke to Immigration Minister on Wednesday night, and Guerot’s visa would be approved today.

“He chose to stand at the top of those escalators with the perpetrator coming up armed with a big knife,” he said.
“What an extraordinary act of bravery.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Guerot and his friend Silas Despreaux, who also assisted, were heroes, while sharing his condolences to the six victims who died in the attack on Saturday.