As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, February 27

Librarians and other Brisbane City Council workers will walk off the job between 2pm and 4pm today, as part of their union’s campaign for a new pay deal.

Earlier this week, the council disputed that the industrial action would force libraries, call centres and other public services to be closed.

But today they’ve released a statement acknowledging the public will be impacted by the strike.

“Residents are asked to avoid visiting libraries during the two-hour period of industrial action,” the statement says.

“Longer than usual wait times may be experienced at council’s contact centre during the industrial action.

“We thank residents for their patience.”

Bus drivers, also fighting with the council for a new pay deal, are planning their next strike for the afternoon peak tomorrow.

Thanks for joining us for live coverage of today’s news. We’ll be back tomorrow morning.

If you’re catching up, here are some of the stories that made headlines today:

The Albanese government has tapped its $5.5 billion election war-chest so Labor can promise $200 million for a series of existing and co-funded projects in south-east Queensland.

A Gold Coast beach was closed down this morning after a torpedo was found washed up on the sand at the Spit, near Main Beach, shortly after dawn.

The first home dream is under siege in Brisbane, even for couples earning a typical salary and targeting a modest home.

The day after Marty Sheargold said he would rather “hammer a nail through the head of my penis” than watch women’s soccer, the comedian and presenter claimed endometriosis was “made up”.

Social media giant Meta has been profiting from hundreds of Facebook scam advertisements preying on Australians experiencing financial hardship, leaving taxpayers and charities to foot the bill.

Dolphins star Max Plath has been safeguarded from any potential poaching raid by the NRL’s newest incoming franchise, with the Redcliffe-based club moving to retain the young forward long-term.

Police are confident the fatal shooting of a woman west of Brisbane yesterday is not a random attack, but detectives are still trying to establish a motive in their homicide investigation.

Police swarmed Christmas Street, not far from Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, in North Toowoomba about 2pm after reports of a shooting.

When police arrived, a 27-year-old Wilsonton woman was found with serious injuries. She was taken to Toowoomba Hospital, where she died.

Police later said three associates of the woman were assisting police with their investigation, but as of this afternoon, no one had been arrested or charged.

Read the full story.

Underground tunnelling work on the Snowy 2.0 project in the Australian Alps has been halted after an industrial ventilation fan malfunctioned, sending parts flying, according to the Australian Workers Union.

“This latest incident represents a significant near-miss that could have resulted in workers being killed,” Australian Workers Union NSW Secretary Tony Callinan said.

Snowy Hydro said on Thursday it would conduct an immediate safety review and was considering changes to the leadership of Webuild, the principal contractor on the massive hydroelectric dam.

The project has experienced multiple cost and deadline blowouts since it was first spruiked by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in March 2017 with a completion date of 2021 and a price tag of $2 billion.

The project is now expected to cost $12 billion with a 2028 completion deadline.

The mayor of the City of Moreton Bay says his council’s move to ban homeless people camping in public parks came after overwhelming community support for a crackdown.

Yesterday, the council announced it would repeal its Persons Experiencing Homelessness Camping Framework, starting from March 12, after receiving complaints about campers’ alcohol and drug use and aggressive behaviour, and escalating public health concerns.

An image released by the City of Moreton Bay Council earlier this month shows Gayundah Arboretum Park, where homeless people had been camping.Credit: City of Moreton Bay

Speaking to 4BC’s Bill McDonald this morning, Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said changing the rules in December – which meant that people in caravans or with pets were not classified as homeless – had not fixed the issue.

“We asked the officers to go and do some more work, and they’ve come back now and said that the policy framework was restricting what we could do, in dealing with some of these people and trying to get them support and accommodation,” he said.

“And those other people, who were coming in and abusing the privilege that the community was offering them, was having a detrimental impact.”

Flannery said his council was doing everything it could, but needed “a different line of thinking” from other agencies, including the state government. He foreshadowed working with other south-east Queensland mayors on the issue.

“We’ve all got the same problem,” he said. “We all need to be working on the same page and the same process to deal with these people and, and get those who need support, the support, and those who are just abusing the system, to move them on their way.”

You can listen to the full interview on 4BC’s website.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the deal that will see Qatar Airways take a 25 per cent stake in Virgin Airlines was made “in the national economic interest”.

Speaking at a steel fabricator in Kurri Kurri in NSW’s Hunter region, Chalmers said the deal would put “downward pressure” on the price of flights and attract more tourists.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says a deal that will see Qatar Airways take a 25 per cent stake in Virgin Airlines was made “in the national economic interest”.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It means more options and more flights for Australians. It means more competition in aviation, and it means more customers for our tourism businesses here and right around Australia,” he said.

“More flights is good for competition, more competition is good for prices and that’s been my motivation here.”

Chalmers said the agreement was subject to “some very strict, enforceable conditions” including around local jobs, data sharing and the number of positions the airline could hold on the Virgin board.

As part of the acquisition, Qatar can appoint two of the 12 Virgin board members, one of whom must be an Australian citizen, Chalmers said.

“We’re really confident this is the right call because more competition, more flights, more options puts downward pressure on prices,” he said.

In October last year, Virgin confirmed Qatar’s intention to take a 25 per cent stake in the Australian airline, and flagged it may soon fly to Doha from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth under a “wet-lease” agreement with its new backer.

Librarians and other Brisbane City Council workers will walk off the job between 2pm and 4pm today, as part of their union’s campaign for a new pay deal.

Earlier this week, the council disputed that the industrial action would force libraries, call centres and other public services to be closed.

But today they’ve released a statement acknowledging the public will be impacted by the strike.

“Residents are asked to avoid visiting libraries during the two-hour period of industrial action,” the statement says.

“Longer than usual wait times may be experienced at council’s contact centre during the industrial action.

“We thank residents for their patience.”

Bus drivers, also fighting with the council for a new pay deal, are planning their next strike for the afternoon peak tomorrow.

With a federal election around the corner, the Albanese Labor government has today pledged millions of dollars to plan bridge and public transport projects in Brisbane.

That includes $50 million towards a business case to expand the Brisbane Metro to the northern suburbs, including Carseldine.

There is $2.25 million to investigate the cost and scope of works to restore and maintain the Story Bridge – Brisbane City Council had asked for more than $4 million.

Another $1 million in federal cash will deliver an updated business case for the construction of a new active travel bridge from Toowong to West End.

Brisbane City Council will also get $5 million towards a $12 million project to construct the Sylvan Road Bikeway to complete the link between the Western Freeway Bikeway and the Bicentennial Bikeway, to provide 20 kilometres of cycling path between Brisbane’s west and the CBD.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King is in Brisbane today to announce the funding pledge, and it comes after federal Labor this week announced $2 billion for Melbourne’s airport rail link.

Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser says the bank’s interest rate call is made first thing in the morning on the day of the decision.

Appearing before the Senate economics committee estimates hearing today, Hauser said the formal interest rate decision, which happens approximately every six weeks, is the first item of business on the second day of the RBA’s two-day meetings leading into every decision.

Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser in Parliament House last week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“What the governor likes, usually, to do is to go around the table in the morning on Tuesday,” he said, after board members had reflected overnight on what they’d heard both from staff and one another the day before.

“We usually have a discussion that can be short or can be a bit more extended, and the governor will then take the temperature at the table.”

Hauser said there was no ban on board members discussing matters with each other outside of the meeting but said that “frankly speaking, the substance of that conversation happens there”.

Nine News has revealed a closer-look at the suspicious device that washed up on a Gold Coast beach this morning.

Police were called to the scene before 6am and have set up a 100-metre exclusion zone at The Spit near Main Beach.

The device looks like a torpedo, but has not been formally identified.

An image of the device found on a Gold Coast beach.Credit: Nine

Brisbane fuel retailers charged motorists more than double the retail margins compared to other capital cities, according to the ACCC’s latest quarterly fuel price report.

While average fuel prices fell in Brisbane in the December quarter, fuel company gross retail margins increased.

Brisbane’s gross retail margins were 24.1 cents per litre.

Brisbane’s gross retail margins are 14.5 cents per litre higher than in Perth.Credit: Eddie Jim

Dr Ian Jeffreys, from the RACQ, said there was no reason Brisbane drivers should be paying so much more to fill up their cars.

“This is why we’re calling for the state government to regulate the market and impose a five-cent daily cap on fuel price increases to bring an end to dramatic and unjustified margins,” he said.

The ACCC report also found Brisbane had the second-longest fuel price cycle in the country, lasting six weeks, while Perth has a weekly cycle.