As it happened: Brisbane on Tuesday, December 3

Electricity subsidies and the Queensland government’s public transport handouts, coupled with a big increase in defence spending, is likely to have kept the economy growing over the past three months.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed public spending lifted by 2.1 per cent over the September quarter, adding 0.7 percentage points to total economic growth.

The Queensland government has committed to net zero emission buses by 2025.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

The bureau will tomorrow release the September national accounts with public spending the key driver of growth that economists are tipping is likely to be around 0.4 to 0.6 per cent. Without the big contribution from government spending, the economy may have contracted.

The single largest increase in public spending was on defence capital goods which jumped by 34 per cent over the past three months to more than $4.4 billion. Over the past year spending on defence capital goods has lifted by 56 per cent.

In the quarter, government spending on capital goods – such as roads and railways and defence – lifted by 6.8 per cent.

But the federal government’s energy subsidies, which it is using to reduce inflation, and the now departed Miles’ government’s 50¢ public transport fares in Queensland also contributed to the lift in public spending.

The Reserve Bank has previously noted government spending has been a key factor in overall growth and the inflation pressures facing the country.

While the energy subsidies and cheap public transport are treated as government spending, they flow directly to households.

Separate figures from the bureau showed the sixth consecutive current account deficit which rose by $2.2 billion in the quarter to $14.1 billion.

The trade surplus halved to $3.3 billion, the smallest it’s been since 2018. That was due to a further fall in the prices for Australia’s key export commodities such as iron ore.

Trade will add just 0.1 percentage points to tomorrow’s overall GDP result.

Thank you for joining us today. We will be back tomorrow with more rolling news coverage.

If you are just catching up, here are some of the stories making headlines today:

A parliamentary inquiry into the LNP government’s proposed changes to youth justice laws has drawn heavy criticism from youth advocates and peak organisations, with concerns the legislation violates human rights and disregards evidence-based approaches.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has been forced to defend his government’s proposed laws, which have faced significant criticism since their introduction on Thursday.

An average childcare worker who lives alone in metropolitan Brisbane would have to fork out as much as 40 per cent of their income on rent for a median-priced one-bedroom apartment, analysis of income data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.

A man in his 30s may lose his leg after being struck by a ute on a Brisbane worksite on Tuesday morning, with investigations launched within hours by the workplace safety body and CFMEU.

Ukrainian-born contortionist Misha Makarov amazes Brisbane theatre goers in Blanc de Blanc Encore, but is haunted by what he left behind.

And in sport, a Brisbane-based football academy will coach 60 boys and 60 girls aged eight to 16 in the beautiful game free of charge, putting Australia on track to win a World Cup within the next two decades, according to internationally recognised football coach Raymond Wood.

Church groups are signing up for federal funds to build homes for people in need and fill a gap in the broader housing market, prompting the government to offer them more cash if they are willing to release land that has been unused for decades.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil told faith leaders on Tuesday that they stood to gain a bigger share of a $10 billion federal housing fund if they followed the example of Baptists and other churches by using their land for emergency accommodation.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has turned to faith leaders to tackle the housing crisis.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The proposal is being backed by Faith Housing Australia, chaired by former NSW Liberal cabinet minister Rob Stokes, as a way to build homes on some of the best-located land in major cities and regional centres.

O’Neil set out the offer with a call to replace the common objection to new developments – known as NIMBY for “not in my backyard” – with an approach she called “yes in God’s backyard”, or YIGBY.

Full story here.

A 27-year-old man has been charged over an incident at a house in Ripley yesterday, where a 71-year-old man was allegedly shot at and assaulted after confronting two men.

Investigators said the pair arrived at a Ripley Road home in a white Mitsubishi Magna and a blue motorcycle about 1.25pm yesterday.

The 71-year-old confronted the men, police said, before one of them pulled out a gun and fired at him, although he was not hit.

He was then allegedly assaulted. Paramedics took him to Ipswich Hospital shortly afterwards.

The two men allegedly fled the scene, and the 27-year-old was arrested about 4pm yesterday in Bundamba.

He was charged with eight offences, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed.

He was expected to appear in Ipswich Magistrates Court later today.

Back to today’s state government media conference for a moment, to note Premier David Crisafulli’s comments justifying the abrupt repeal of the state’s path to treaty laws last week.

Asked by a journalist if he thought the surprise move was done respectfully, as he had promised it would be before the election, when it was not named as a priority, Crisafulli said this:

David Crisafulli speaks to media at the Women’s Legal Service in Annerley on Brisbane’s south.Credit: Matt Dennien

“I’ll pose this question, would it have been right for us to have allowed the [First Nations truth-telling] inquiry to spend money on a process that we said wouldn’t continue? And I think the answer is no.”

Crisafulli then said that the government needed to act to end the inquiry after it made clear it would use its independent status to continue to fulfil its obligations under law to continue accepting online submissions only and prepare a report by January.

“The inquiry made a decision to continue on that process, despite the fact we said that we wouldn’t pursue it. Now, to have not closed that loophole would not have given the signal that the inquiry said it needed,” he said.

“Now the work begins on where does the first tranche of money [previously set-aside for the inquiry] be spent? And my preference is for it to be in one of those 16 discrete [First Nations] communities.”

Electricity subsidies and the Queensland government’s public transport handouts, coupled with a big increase in defence spending, is likely to have kept the economy growing over the past three months.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed public spending lifted by 2.1 per cent over the September quarter, adding 0.7 percentage points to total economic growth.

The Queensland government has committed to net zero emission buses by 2025.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

The bureau will tomorrow release the September national accounts with public spending the key driver of growth that economists are tipping is likely to be around 0.4 to 0.6 per cent. Without the big contribution from government spending, the economy may have contracted.

The single largest increase in public spending was on defence capital goods which jumped by 34 per cent over the past three months to more than $4.4 billion. Over the past year spending on defence capital goods has lifted by 56 per cent.

In the quarter, government spending on capital goods – such as roads and railways and defence – lifted by 6.8 per cent.

But the federal government’s energy subsidies, which it is using to reduce inflation, and the now departed Miles’ government’s 50¢ public transport fares in Queensland also contributed to the lift in public spending.

The Reserve Bank has previously noted government spending has been a key factor in overall growth and the inflation pressures facing the country.

While the energy subsidies and cheap public transport are treated as government spending, they flow directly to households.

Separate figures from the bureau showed the sixth consecutive current account deficit which rose by $2.2 billion in the quarter to $14.1 billion.

The trade surplus halved to $3.3 billion, the smallest it’s been since 2018. That was due to a further fall in the prices for Australia’s key export commodities such as iron ore.

Trade will add just 0.1 percentage points to tomorrow’s overall GDP result.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has been forced to defend his government’s proposed youth crime laws, which have faced significant criticism since their introduction on Thursday.

The premier was fronting a media conference in Brisbane to spruik a federal funding arrangement for community legal services.

But asked to name an expert supportive of his government’s approach to youth crime, Crisafulli did not, instead pointing to “a lot of Queenslanders” including frontline workers.

“And I come back to the importance of, not just stronger laws, but also gold-standard early intervention and rehabilitation purpose,” Crisafulli said.

“Just on some of those [making] commentary, in many cases, it’s the same people who led to the same situation for the last decade.”

David Crisafulli made the comments while visiting the Women’s Legal Service in Annerley.Credit: Matt Dennien

Asked whether he was suggesting groups including statutory bodies, such as the human rights and family commissioners, were wrong, the premier was not drawn.

“They have a different view, and they should be able to express that view,” he said, also declining to detail modelling around the extent of pressure the new laws will heap on youth detention centres and police watchhouses in “the months ahead”.

Premier David Crisafulli and Attorney-General Deb Frecklington are holding a media conference at the Women’s Legal Service in Annerley.

A killer driver who fled to Queensland before he was to be sentenced for killing an off-duty paramedic has been caught after a week on the run.

Mingen He, who was on bail, was expected to be sentenced in Melbourne on Thursday last week after pleading guilty in September to one count of dangerous driving causing death over a May 2022 crash.

He killed 53-year-old Pauline Smith, a paramedic and former police officer who was on her way home from night shift, after he veered into the wrong lane on the Western Highway at Great Western, in regional Victoria.

The victim’s devastated family and friends, who attended the County Court last week for the sentence, were instead told He was on the run.

Investigators wasted no time in tracking the 25-year-old man down in Queensland.

Within hours, Tactical Crime Squad officers and Upper Mount Gravatt Criminal Investigation Branch detectives visited a house in Macgregor and arrested the man at the scene.

He faced court in Brisbane where an extradition order was granted, and is now expected to face the County Court of Victoria tomorrow.

Students across over 300 schools across the state have donated over $1 million and over 400m of hair in a record year for Cancer Council Queensland’s Ponytail Project.

The council said this year marked the biggest year for the program since its inception in 2018.

A student at St Margaret’s in Brisbane has her hair cut.Credit: Cancer Council Queensland

Bradley Cameron, the council’s head of growth and impact, said the program had been “a great way for Queensland schools to foster that community spirit and service to others amongst students”.

Money raised helped fund Cancer Council research, prevention, and support programs, and donated ponytails were made into wigs for patients.

“It can take between 20 to 25 ponytails of the same hair type to make just one wig, so
every donation and every ponytail counts,” said Cameron.

Police have located a 14-year-old girl reported missing from Boondall last week.

The teen had been reported missing from Sandgate Road about 9pm on Thursday, with police issuing a call for information yesterday.

Police reported she had been found safe and well, and thanked the public and media for their assistance.