As it happened: Brisbane on Wednesday, April 2

A fire-damaged and partly derelict Victorian warehouse on Edward Street is set to be given a new lease on life, 135 years after it was built.

Plans have been lodged with Brisbane City Council to convert part of Spencers Building into a four-level, four-bedroom apartment, including a master suite in a new rooftop annex.

An artist’s impression of 47 Edward Street in Brisbane, a heritage-listed warehouse set to be redeveloped as a four-level home with ground floor commercial space.

Under the design by Marc & Co, there would be a commercial space fronting Edward Street, and a two-car garage underneath new windows to be cut into the brick facade fronting Spencer Lane.

A heritage assessment attached to the plans endorses the building’s reuse, saying the new annex is a sympathetic addition “not overly visible to the public”.

“While the external elevations are generally intact and original, the internal fabric of the building is largely modern, due to a fire that caused extensive internal damage and rebuilding some years ago,” the assessment states.

Spencers Building had only recently been completed when Edward Street flooded in 1890. The Victorian warehouse survived further floods, changes in use, and was almost destroyed by fire in 2002.Credit: John Oxley Library

“Furthermore, there are minimal changes proposed to the front elevation of the building, with generally the removal of modern glazing elements and their replacement with new elements.

“The front elevation has the principal characteristics of a late Victorian era warehouse built in Brisbane during the late 19th century. The building will continue to demonstrate these qualities with the redevelopment proposed.”

The building was purchased by an investor in 2023 for $6 million.

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of news in Brisbane today. We’ll be back tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, catch up on some of the stories that made headlines today:

Heavy rain has battered Brisbane as Queensland’s south-east felt the tail end of ex-cyclone Dianne – a system that brought widespread flooding elsewhere in the state.

Brisbane Airport has released a new look to mark its centenary, retiring its existing branding 13 years after it was introduced.

The ABC’s funding will come under scrutiny if the Coalition wins office after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton demanded the broadcaster demonstrate “excellence” to show taxpayers it deserves its annual funding of more than $1 billion.

Star Entertainment may have just days to pull off a deal that would stave off collapse, as it teeters on the brink for the third time in as many months after it failed to secure a $940 million lifeline from investment company Salter Brothers to ensure its survival.

New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker has broken the record for the longest speech delivered by a sitting US senator, with a 25-hour marathon than beat Strom Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster against the Civil Rights Act.

And actor Val Kilmer, best known for his roles in Batman Forever, Top Gun and The Doors, has died in Los Angeles aged 65, The New York Times has reported.

Premier David Crisafulli has doubled down on the LNP government’s intent to overhaul the state’s criminal justice system.

After criticism of the government for ignoring human rights, and calls for a UN investigation into alleged racial discrimination, Crisafulli today told MPs the Queensland parliament was the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong.

“I say to the United Nations, with the greatest of respect, this place will govern its laws, this place will determine how we keep Queenslanders safe, and this place will be accountable to Queenslanders – not United Nations boffins,” he said.

“And when I talk of human rights, I talk about the rights of someone to put their child to bed at night and know they’re safe. When I talk about human rights, I talk about the right of someone to go in the morning and get in a car and go and earn a living. And when I talk of human rights, I talk about the ability of young offenders to turn their lives around.”

His comments came after the government this week moved to expand its “adult crime, adult time” provisions, and extend police wanding powers to allow people to be searched for knives in potentially any public place.

Broncos superstar Payne Haas admits he is considering making a shock international defection to Samoa, but will not confirm his decision until after this year’s State of Origin series.

News emerged on Tuesday the NRL’s leading prop had discussed the possibility of turning away from representing Australia - which he has done on four occasions - which would enable him to play in honour of his grandparents.

Speaking ahead of Brisbane’s Multicultural Round clash with Wests Tigers, Haas stressed he did not “take the green and gold jumper lightly” and donning the Kangaroos’ colours “means the world”.

But he said with his grandfather getting older, a desire to fly the Samoan flag in his later years was proving a tempting factor.

“I’m not really going to talk about it, but I will be transparent and honest, I have been considering it. But I’m not going to make a decision until after Origin,” Haas said.

“That’s me being honest and transparent to everyone. It’s about representing my grandparents, my grandfather is getting pretty old to be honest, and obviously I grew up around my Samoan side so I’d be silly not to consider it.

“I’ll make that decision after Origin, I’m not 100 per cent yet but we’ll see what happens.”

Police have released footage linked to a shooting in North Lakes last week, having already arrested a teenage girl and 40-year-old man last week.

About 9.40pm on Monday last week, officers were alerted to a shooting incident in a carpark on Lakefield Drive in North Lakes.

Police released footage of two men they suspected were linked to a shooting in North Lakes last week. Credit: Queensland Police

A 42-year-old man had been shot in the arm, allegedly by a group of four people including three men and a 17-year-old girl.

Officers arrested the teen on Tuesday last week, charging her with four offences including attempted murder, and she appeared in Ipswich Children’s Court later that day.

On Thursday last week, a 42-year-old man was arrested and charged with five offences, including several drug-related charges. He was expected to appear in court on May 16.

Police today released footage of an additional two men they suspected were involved in the shooting, who they believed were around the Logan area.

Investigators maintained the pair did not pose a threat to public safety, but urged anyone with information – or who had seen the men – to come forward.

Police Minister Dan Purdie says Jack’s Law, which empowers police to search people for knives in specified high-risk areas, will be expanded to allow wanding in potentially any public place.

Wanding is currently allowed in prescribed areas including safe night precincts, public transport stations, shopping centres, and on public transport.

As the LNP government continues its crime crackdown, Purdie today said wanding had been so successful it would be made more readily available to police.

“We are making it permanent, and we are expanding it to not just those defined, prescribed locations, but to any public area that a senior police officer has intelligence to suggest that people there will be carrying and might use knives,” Purdie said.

“This is what the community has been calling out for, this is what police have been calling out for.”

Purdie said there were safeguards in place, such as the use of body cameras, and understood only two people had made complaints after being wanded by police.

With Brisbane experiencing heavy rain today, Seqwater has advised its flood operations centre is on alert.

Flood releases are possible from Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams in the coming days.

Seqwater stopped flood releases from Somerset and Wivenhoe dams only yesterday.

Wivenhoe was at 90.1 per cent capacity and Somerset at 78.5 per cent this morning.

A trough was expected to move east across Queensland today and into tomorrow, bringing moderate to locally heavy rain.

The upper and lower Brisbane River are among those areas on flood watch today.

Ipswich City Council has begun works to build a new green-waste-only recycling facility, which it said would reduce odour issues that have plagued residents for years.

The decision would see the council shift away from waste treatment company NuGrow, which manages the city’s food and garden organics recycling program.

The company was issued a restraint order from the state Department of Environment, Tourism, Science, and Innovation last year following years of resident complaints about foul odours, and has been issued fines for breaching industry regulations at its Swanbank facility.

The change would unfold across three years while the council and waste treatment company Remondis constructed a recycling centre that met new standards for containing polluting smells.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the overhaul would also remove food organics from recycling programs, focusing only on green and garden waste.

“Garden organics is low odour compared to food organics and similar types of waste,” she said.

“Moving to a more bespoke green waste-only facility will mean council’s low odour materials are not contributing to, or associated with, any issues in the precinct.”

Following years of complaints, the state government also launched an inquiry in January to investigate possible health issues linked to odours coming from the Swanbank industrial area, which also houses several landfills, and recycles other materials.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has vowed to deliver more housing sooner by “resetting” the relationship between the state government and councils.

His comments were in response to revelations the former Labor government last year shut out the experts on its Housing Supply Expert Panel.

“Labor’s decade of inaction on housing meant it was tougher for Queenslanders to find, secure and keep a roof over their head,” Bleijie said today.

“We will unlock more affordable and social housing across the State and deliver more Queenslanders their dream of home ownership.

“This includes resetting the planning partnership with local councils to fast-track housing approvals after they were shut out under a decade of Labor.”

On Tuesday, Bleijie told parliament the government had a $2 billion infrastructure fund to support residential developments – half of which would be allocated outside south-east Queensland.

Bleijie said some regional mayors had told him they could only unlock a few lots for development but he believed they had a strong case for infrastructure funding.

“You know what, 10 families moving into western Queensland is a great thing,” he told parliament.

Labor recently accused Bleijie of blocking an affordable housing development in his Sunshine Coast electorate because it had too many homes.

A fire-damaged and partly derelict Victorian warehouse on Edward Street is set to be given a new lease on life, 135 years after it was built.

Plans have been lodged with Brisbane City Council to convert part of Spencers Building into a four-level, four-bedroom apartment, including a master suite in a new rooftop annex.

An artist’s impression of 47 Edward Street in Brisbane, a heritage-listed warehouse set to be redeveloped as a four-level home with ground floor commercial space.

Under the design by Marc & Co, there would be a commercial space fronting Edward Street, and a two-car garage underneath new windows to be cut into the brick facade fronting Spencer Lane.

A heritage assessment attached to the plans endorses the building’s reuse, saying the new annex is a sympathetic addition “not overly visible to the public”.

“While the external elevations are generally intact and original, the internal fabric of the building is largely modern, due to a fire that caused extensive internal damage and rebuilding some years ago,” the assessment states.

Spencers Building had only recently been completed when Edward Street flooded in 1890. The Victorian warehouse survived further floods, changes in use, and was almost destroyed by fire in 2002.Credit: John Oxley Library

“Furthermore, there are minimal changes proposed to the front elevation of the building, with generally the removal of modern glazing elements and their replacement with new elements.

“The front elevation has the principal characteristics of a late Victorian era warehouse built in Brisbane during the late 19th century. The building will continue to demonstrate these qualities with the redevelopment proposed.”

The building was purchased by an investor in 2023 for $6 million.