As it happened: Brisbane on Friday, August 16

A man has been killed while two police officers were hospitalised following a fiery explosion at a home south-west of Brisbane.

Residents on Langland Circuit in the Ipswich suburb of Walloon told Nine News they heard a loud bang just after 9pm yesterday and ran outside to see a home engulfed in flames.

They heard a man’s screams coming from inside and tried to kick in the front door but to no success.

When firefighters arrived minutes later, they were able to pull him from the property but he died at the scene.

Two dogs, trapped in a sedan parked in the driveway, were freed.

Fire crews battled the blaze for about 20 minutes to bring it under control.

Two responding police officers were taken to hospital in stable conditions, suffering some smoke inhalation.

“Just watching the footy and we heard this big explosion,” neighbour Tayla Callaghan said.

“Not much we could do at the time.”

“A mess, fireball, gone, falling out everything,” another neighbour Shawn Wyllie said.

Fire investigators and police have spent today at the scene, combing the blackened shell of the home to piece together the cause of the explosion.

That’s where we’ll leave our live blog this Friday. We’ll be back on Monday.

In case you missed them, here are some of today’s top stories.

A 26-year-old man has been charged with multiple offences over an alleged “cash for demerit points” scheme, which he ran for over three years out of his Warwick address.

Six of the eight traffic black spot projects put forward by Brisbane City Council for funding were rejected, sparking a political stoush between the LNP and Labor.

A highway might need to be relocated before work to upgrade south-east Queensland’s main water supply and flood-mitigation dam before 2035 can be started.

Two doctors and three other people, including a personal assistant to actor Matthew Perry, have been charged with supplying the Friends star with the ketamine that caused his overdose death.

And last year Carter Gordon was earmarked as the future of the Wallabies. Three games into his shock rugby league defection, he has shown signs of being a future NRL sensation.

Australia’s health ministers have agreed to share intravenous fluid supplies to tackle a severe shortage of the crucial medical product, which has already resulted in doctors being asked to cut back on use and surgeons alter their practices to conserve vital reserves.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler met with his state and territory counterparts in Sydney this morning to co-ordinate a national effort to manage the country’s dwindling supply of IV fluids.

Health Minister Mark Butler.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A joint statement released after the meeting said the group had agreed to share data on usage and supply, co-ordinate logistics, and help local manufacturers stay on top of current supply and production forecasts.

The ministers blamed the shortages on “unexpected increases in demand and manufacturing capacity constraints”.

Delegates from each jurisdiction will meet each week while supply remains limited.

IV fluids are essential for both routine and critical hospital care. They are used in almost all surgeries and to administer medication directly into the bloodstream.

Australia only has one factory making fluids onshore – Baxter Healthcare’s Toongabbie factory in Sydney’s west.

A Baxter spokesman said the factory was “operating at historical volumes and full capacity to help meet the rising demand”.

As noted earlier, the Ekka closes on Sunday, so there’s still time to load up on showbags, sundaes and dagwood dogs.

The Grand Parade, postponed because of rain, will now happen on Saturday at 12.30pm in the Main Arena.

In cinemas, the new film in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus, has opened. Cailee Spaeny stars as a space colonist scavenging a derelict craft occupied by face huggers, chest bursters and xenomorphs.

GOMA’s festival of movies featuring David Bowie begins on Saturday with screenings of 1975 documentary Cracked Actor as well as 1976 sci-fi piece The Man Who Fell to Earth.

On the same day the gallery is holding a Teens Festival where 13- to 17-year-olds can see live performances and talks by their peers, in addition to getting hands-on with activities.

New Light Photography Now + Then, at Museum of Brisbane.Credit: Katie Bennett

Museum of Brisbane has a free exhibition of photography of the city spanning 1890 to 1940, alongside new art responding to it. New Light opens this weekend.

Queensland Symphony Orchestra is performing a concert of Dreams & Stories with music by Mendelssohn and Stravinsky as well as John Williams’ Harry Potter music. Didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton will perform in Peter Sculthorpe’s Kakadu.

And amid some controversy, the Rivermakers Farmers and Artisan Markets are planning to return to Morningside on Sunday with extra measures in place to cope with traffic issues.

Queensland LNP leader David Crisafulli has again been forced to defend his actions after becoming director of an already troubled training company for a short stint almost a decade ago before it collapsed owing creditors thousands of dollars.

After revealing last month that a PwC liquidators report into the Melbourne-based training company Crisafulli was sole director of for four months to April 2016 alleged it “appeared to have traded while insolvent” for some of that period, the ABC has fresh details today.

The new reporting cites three receipts from Crisafulli to the value of $200,000 across 2020 and 2021 for “settlement of other liquidators actions”. In an interview with ABC Radio Brisbane’s Steve Austin this morning, with a state election looming in October, Crisafulli was asked if he admitted any liability in that settlement.

“No, Steve, and let me be really clear about that. This was a company that I came into [and] it was in a lot of trouble. I was there for four months. I met all of my obligations, every one of my obligations, and there were no findings [against me], not one single finding.”

“I’ve addressed this in the parliament and in media conferences. But I want to go back to, in 2017 when I was re-entering the parliament, the Labor Party – in the shadows of that election – tried this [story] very, very hard. In the shadows of this election, the Labor Party is again doing this and shopping this around.”

A 26-year-old Warwick man has been charged with multiple offences over an alleged ‘cash for demerit points’ scheme he ran for three years to help drivers avoid more than 200 infringement notices.

Police allege the man advertised on social media that he would accept other people’s fines and demerit points for payment. After nominating himself as the offending driver, he would then steal a third party’s identity and sign the infringement notice off to them.

Describing it as an “illegal business enterprise,” police say the scheme involved more than 200 camera-detected offence notices worth approximately $141,000 in fines and 695 demerit points.

The man was arrested by road policing officers on August 8 and was charged with one count of carrying on the business of fraud, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and three counts of obtaining identification information.

“People may see this sort of thing as a victimless crime, but the demerit point penalty system is in place to ensure that drivers who commit offences on the road are incentivised to improve their driving behaviour,” Acting Chief Superintendent Janelle Andrews said.

Andrews said many of the people who contacted the alleged offender were young, inexperienced drivers.

Australia’s second-largest aluminium smelter will continue operating after the Queensland government struck a deal with mining giant Rio Tinto to invest in a greener energy supply.

But Opposition government integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson has criticised the premier for not revealing the price tag of the package to keep the Boyne Smelter in Gladstone operational long-term.

Premier Steven Miles and Rio Tinto chief executive Kellie Parker announced the plan to protect the smelter yesterday.Credit: Lyndon Mechielsen/Rio Tinto

“Transparency drives better government and better decisions and that is not happening under Steven Miles,” Simpson said.

“Nothing has changed because once again Labor is hiding behind commercial-in-confidence arrangements instead of telling taxpayers exactly how their money is being spent.”

The Boyne Smelter, Australia’s second-largest aluminium producer, employs around 1000 people and has been open since 1982.

Under the deal, Rio Tinto is required to operate the smelter at full capacity from 2029 until 2040 and commit to ongoing maintenance capital expenditure, meet employment requirements and shift to renewable energy sources.

The Gold Coast Pacific Airshow kicks off today, running until Sunday and featuring performances from Australian, American and British defence and air forces.

Organisers have promised shows from the Australian Defence Force’s aerobatic display team, the Roulettes, as well as historical craft including Vietnam War and WWII-era bombers and light attack aircraft.

The Roulettes aerobatic display team will return to the sky above the Gold Coast.Credit: Pacific Airshow Gold Coast

The defence force said it had made “vital considerations” for safety, noise management and the environment, in the planning and conduct of the event, with crowds expected to surge.

Experience Gold Coast chief executive John Warn said organisers expected the crowd to be larger than last year’s 250,000 attendees over the three-day event, bringing “an economic injection topping $25 million” to the Gold Coast region.

Police are seeking information on a Brisbane teenager missing for almost six months.

The 15-year-old from Sandgate was last seen by family on February 23, but she is believed to have been active online until June.

It’s unknown if she still has access to a mobile phone.

Queensland Police say she was known to visit the Logan area, particularly around Kingston and Woodridge.

Police and family have serious concerns for her wellbeing, saying the behaviour is out of character, and that they do not know if she is still in Queensland.

Annastacia Palaszcuk has picked up another post-politics gig, with the former Labor premier adding a spot on the Australia Post board to her new commitments beyond parliament.

Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland announced the three-year non-executive director appointment today.

Annastacia Palaszczuk resigned as premier of Queensland in December after almost nine years in the top job.

“Palaszczuk brings a wealth of experience in service delivery to regional and rural communities to the Australia Post board,” Rowland said.

“Palaszczuk’s appointment ensures a strong and diverse board to support Australia Post on its modernisation journey.”

Palaszczuk will fill the vacancy left by Tony Nutt AO.

Non-executive directors received annual pay of $103,550 last financial year, according to the 2023 annual report.

She began a part-time role as international ambassador with the Smart Energy Council in May and enlisted celebrity agent Max Markson amid speculation about a memoir.