As it happened: Brisbane on Monday, June 24

Incoming governor-general Sam Mostyn is set to benefit from a huge pay bump for the role, from $495,000 to over $709,000, when she takes up the position on July 1.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Pat Gorman has tabled legislation in the House of Representatives for Mostyn’s role to get a 43 per cent pay rise.

Incoming Governor-General Sam Mostyn.Credit: AAP

The explanatory memorandum of the Governor-General Amendment (Salary) bill sets out the salary for Mostyn before her swearing-in on July 1.

“The bill amends the governor-general act to change the sum payable for the salary of the governor-general from $495,000 to $709,017,” the memorandum states.

Outgoing Governor-General David Hurley had his portrait unveiled earlier today to mark his five years in the role before Mostyn takes over next week.

Thanks for joining us for our live updates. We’ll be back tomorrow morning. Here were Monday’s main stories:

A former Brisbane chef accused of more than 20 offences including the sexual assault and stalking of young women told another employee who allegedly witnessed the behaviour “it was all just a joke”.

A man is fighting for his life after his head was impaled by a piece of wood during a boat crash on the Gold Coast.

Brendan Piakura has discussed his exposure to the Queensland Maroons’ camp.Credit: NRL Photos

Australians will be able to buy plain-packaged nicotine vapes from pharmacies without a prescription from October, after the Albanese government walked back its world-leading plan to outlaw all e-cigarette sales without a doctor’s prescription.

Jurors deliberating in the trial of accused double murderer Gregory Lynn have asked a judge what happens if they cannot reach unanimous verdicts a week into considering the evidence against the pilot.

Brendan Piakura has provided an insight into why he failed to retain his place in the Queensland Maroons squad, revealing the taxing impact rugby league’s plateaus could have on young players.

Police say they have found the handgun used to shoot dead a Queensland woman in front of her two young children.

Ryan Geoffrey Cole, 31, is accused of killing his neighbour, Natalie Frahm, as she sat in a car with two daughters, aged 11 and 12, in the driveway of her Mackay home on Wednesday, June 19.

Cole was arrested by police after a manhunt across the Queensland city, about 1000 kilometres north of Brisbane.

Detective Acting Superintendent Emma Novosel said investigators had recovered a homemade, inoperable long-arm rifle, an air rifle and a 22-calibre pistol from Cole’s home.

Natalie Frahm was killed by her neighbour on Wednesday.Credit: Facebook

She said preliminary forensic and ballistic advice led police to believe the pistol was the firearm allegedly used to kill Frahm and seriously injure James McGill, 66, who rushed to her aid.

“None of the weapons located at that residence are currently, nor have they been previously, registered,” Novosel said.

“Investigations are ongoing into the origin of the pistol and how it came to be in the possession of the defendant.”

Cole was a neighbour but did not know Frahm, police said.

“Investigations to date indicate that Natalie and the defendent had had no contact previously,” Novosel said.

More than 50 protesters have rallied outside Brisbane’s LNP headquarters in Albion to slam the federal opposition’s controversial nuclear energy plan.

Stuart Traill, from the Electrical Trades Union, called the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, “Duttonheimer”, and queried why nuclear was now suddenly a priority.

“If they wanted nuclear power they could’ve done it when they were in power for 10 years,” he told the group of protesters.

Anti-nuclear protesters outside the LNP’s headquarters on Monday.Credit: Queensland Conservation Council

Concerned citizen Julia Jackson said the policy was “risky, unknown and goes against the national interests”.

“He [Dutton] is just trying to muddy the water to ensure the government doesn’t reach their renewable goals,” she said.

“It’s just opportunism.”

Protesters outside the LNP’s Albion offices on Monday.Credit: Queensland Conservation Council

In Queensland, nuclear energy is banned under the Nuclear Facilities Prohibition Act 2007 which forbids the construction and operation of particular nuclear reactors and other facilities in the nuclear fuel cycle.

Queensland LNP and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has repeatedly said nuclear energy is not part of his party’s plans ahead of the October state election despite the federal leader’s stance.

The Queensland government will meet with the Property Council next week to discuss proposals to help more frontline workers into home ownership.

As we reported earlier, most nurses, police officers, childcare workers and teachers can’t afford to buy or rent on their own in south-east Queensland.

The Property Council’s Beyond Reach report, released today, shows that if you are a single-income critical worker on an average salary of $85,000 buying a house is “beyond hope” and buying a unit is “beyond reach”.

“Most of southeast Queensland is a ‘no go zone’ for frontline workers hoping to get their foot on the property ladder,” Property Council of Australia Queensland director Jess Caire said.Credit: Glen Hunt

Brisbane is now the second-most expensive city in Australia to buy a home. The median house value in the Queensland capital is $937,479, and $615,429 for a unit.

Premier Steven Miles said there were significant land releases and approvals already under way, but the delay in the construction of new homes was due to building costs and supply chain and workforce pressures.

“We really need essential workers to be able to live close to where they work,” he said.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli lobbed blame on the state government for causing the housing crisis by failing to unlock more supply to meet demand and promised to do more if his party wins the October election.

A man is fighting for life after his head was impaled by a “sizeable” piece of wood during a boat crash on the Gold Coast.

Police said the 47-year-old was with two other men in a dinghy that careered into an unoccupied yacht anchored at The Esplanade at Paradise Point on Sunday.

During the collision, a large splinter of wood penetrated the man’s head behind his right eye.

The dingy crashed into an unoccupied, stationary yacht at Paradise PointCredit: Google Maps

Gold Coast Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles said the three men sought help for their friend at a nearby dock.

“There was an off-duty doctor there at the time and the men had attempted, or were talking about, trying to remove the impaling piece of wood from the man’s head,” he told reporters on Monday.

“Fortunately, this doctor was there to intervene.”

The man was rushed to Gold Coast University with life-threatening injuries where he remains in a critical condition.

“We might be in a different situation if those men had removed that splinter,” he said.

Read more here.

Incoming governor-general Sam Mostyn is set to benefit from a huge pay bump for the role, from $495,000 to over $709,000, when she takes up the position on July 1.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Pat Gorman has tabled legislation in the House of Representatives for Mostyn’s role to get a 43 per cent pay rise.

Incoming Governor-General Sam Mostyn.Credit: AAP

The explanatory memorandum of the Governor-General Amendment (Salary) bill sets out the salary for Mostyn before her swearing-in on July 1.

“The bill amends the governor-general act to change the sum payable for the salary of the governor-general from $495,000 to $709,017,” the memorandum states.

Outgoing Governor-General David Hurley had his portrait unveiled earlier today to mark his five years in the role before Mostyn takes over next week.

Here is the latest lay of the land around the nuclear energy debate, as the fallout from the Coalition’s announcement ripples into the last parliamentary sitting before the winter break.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the nuclear plan touted by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would spell “economic insanity” for Australia.

The opposition has pledged to build seven nuclear plants across five states (two here in Queensland) on the sites of coal-fired power stations if it wins the federal election.

Peter Dutton has a fight on his hands to convince voters of his nuclear power plans.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

Costs have not been revealed and doubt has been cast over its aim to complete the first facility by between 2035 and 2037.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government had “no plans whatsoever” to repeal bans on nuclear power introduced by the Howard government in the late 1990s.

Every affected state leader has condemned the proposal, with NSW and Victorian premiers Chris Minns and Jacinta Allan vowing to block nuclear power plants.

That stance has also been echoed on the Coalition side by Queensland’s Opposition Leader David Crisafulli.

“It’s not part of our plan,” he said.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie said she would love to see nuclear energy, but the Coalition “couldn’t get their s*** together” on energy policy when in power for almost a decade.

A News Corp Australia survey of more than 920 people found about 60 per cent of participants agreed nuclear power “has a place” in Australia’s energy mix.

In a separate survey, conducted for Brisbane Times, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, 43 per cent preferred a Labor plan for renewables supported by gas for the next 10 to 20 years, while 33 per cent opted for a Coalition plan for nuclear power and some gas to support renewables.

Queensland hooker Ben Hunt has rubbished suggestions Latrell Mitchell has got into the heads of the Maroons.

“He hasn’t got into our heads at all,” Hunt said ahead of game two of the State of Origin series at the MCG.

“We have done preparation on him, like you would on any good player.

NSW Blues centre Latrell Mitchell.Credit: Getty Images

“There’s a lot of guys in that team who are going to hurt us as well, so we can’t just go into a State of Origin match completely worried about one player.”

Mitchell has not been sighted in the Blues jumper since 2021 when he tormented the Queensland side.

Hunt conceded he was a threat, but insisted the Maroons were not fixated on him.

“We know what Latrell is capable of and what he has done in the Origin arena. We will have our hands pretty full trying to hang onto him … we have to defend him as a team because if we give him any bit of room he is going to hurt us,” he said.

NSW great Andrew “Joey” Johns, speaking to Channel Nine this week, said North Queensland Cowboys superstar Valentine Holmes was “already talking it up saying he will get in Latrell’s face”.

“So Latrell is in their heads. It is good,” Johns added.

North Queensland Cowboys’ Valentine Holmes.Credit: Getty

Sales season has come early at Myer, with the department store chain unveiling an ambitious plan to acquire clothing brands Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E and Dotti.

The conditional offer for Premier Investments’ Apparel Brands, announced on Monday, would result in Myer taking full ownership of the labels in exchange for new shares in Myer to Premier shareholders.

The purchase, if accepted by Premier, would be a massive boost to Myer’s earnings.

Myer is looking to expand.Credit: Louie Douvis

Apparel Brands is forecast to rake in $130 million in profit in the next financial year, while Myer’s profit for calendar year 2023 was $88 million, says E&P Capital retail analyst Phillip Kimber.

Premier and Myer agreed to conduct mutual due diligence and discuss purchase terms.

The announcement was greeted with cheers by investors, with Myer soaring 17 per cent to 75.5 cents in morning trading.

Premier’s controlling chairman Solomon Lew also owns just under a third of Myer shares.

If accepted, Premier would exit its stake of Myer and its shareholders would be awarded Myer shares directly. Lew would join Myer’s board as non-executive director.

New direct Jetstar flights between Queensland and New Zealand are expected to help offset the void created by the demise of budget carrier Bonza.

Jetstar has announced two new routes, the first between Cairns and Christchurch, and the second between the Sunshine Coast and Auckland.

Feel every bit the tourist while punting down the Avon in Christchurch.Credit: ChristchurchNZ

“Having another aircraft based in Christchurch, as well as the launch of new flights and capacity, will help establish the city as a major gateway for Jetstar in New Zealand, providing more choice and great low fares for South Island residents,” said Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully.

Three weekly Jetstar flights between Auckland and the Sunshine Coast are due to start operating in December 2024, while flights between Cairns and Christchurch are due to start in April 2025.

“The flights will go some way to alleviating the pain of losing Bonza Airlines from the local market,” Queensland Tourism Minister Michael Healy said.