As it happened: Brisbane on Friday, July 18

Thanks for joining us for today’s live coverage of news in Brisbane and beyond. We’ll be back on Monday with more live coverage. If you’re just catching up on today’s news, here are some of the stories that have made headlines today:

The head of Queensland’s embattled state-run forensic testing lab has resigned weeks after being asked to explain why she should not be removed from the job.

Tributes have flowed for a 14-year-old boy who was killed in a car crash as he walked to school at Wynnum this week near a notoriously low rail bridge.

Parents have spoken out about their frustration at a Brisbane childcare centre where a worker was accused of indecent treatment of a child, with many learning of the allegations through the media after police told the company not to give out information about the incident.

The British and Irish Lions have refused to allow Waratahs and Wallabies backrower Pete Samu to represent the First Nations and Pasifika XV in Melbourne because he did not play Super Rugby this season.

US President Donald Trump says he will sue the Murdoch-owned The Wall Street Journal for a story claiming he wrote a cryptic letter – with a drawing – to now-convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday.

And at an unassuming halal Underwood shop, we find what might just be the perfect steak sandwich, complete with perfectly cooked wagyu, shokupan, fries, Swiss cheese and pecorino.

A man has been arrested over the high-profile theft of dozens of right shoes from a shopping centre in Brisbane earlier this month.

CCTV captured the bizarre nighttime robbery at Kenmore Village Shopping Centre on July 7.

A man could be seen walking around the centre with two suitcases, before grabbing the shoes from under sheets on a display table outside business Shoe Fashions.

CCTV footage shows an unknown man collecting shoes at Kenmore Village Shopping Centre.Credit: YouTube

Police arrested a 49-year-old Mount Gravatt East man at Broadbeach last night. He was charged with entering a premises and committing an indictable offence.

All of the stolen shoes have been recovered and returned to the store.

“It’s not every day you come across a case involving the theft of 53 right shoes,” Detective Senior Sergeant Brendan Blyth said.

“While the incident may be a bit unique and different in nature, it’s a reminder that our officers take all reports seriously.”

The man is due to front Southport Magistrates Court today.

“To the person who took off with a rather very UNBALANCED haul, were you aware you were grabbing solos?” Shoe Fashions said at the time of the robbery.

Opposition frontbencher Grace Grace has called for Health Minister Tim Nicholls to stand aside over his handling of the current wave of sickness hitting Queensland hospitals.

On Wednesday night, Metro North Health said non-urgent surgeries were on hold at four hospitals on Brisbane’s northside, including the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Grace’s electorate.

The 48-hour pause came as data released by Queensland Health showed flu hospitalisations had “significantly increased over the past week, with more people currently being hospitalised with flu than COVID-19”.

Grace quoted emergency department nurses describing the RBWH “as a war zone, as dangerous practices taking place, and as not having the staff, and some staff in tears”.

“This government got elected saying that they will fix health and that is far from what has happened,” she said.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that the health minister comes out yesterday and says that a well-known flu season is out of the blue.

“They are letting Queenslanders down ... it’s simply not good enough, and Tim Nicholls should stand aside.”

PNG NRL franchise director Wapu Sonk has stood down from the board of the expansion team at the request of the country’s leader, James Marape, following corruption concerns revealed by this masthead.

“I have spoken to Mr Sonk and, while he is currently overseas, I have requested that he step down from his role as a director on the PNG NRL franchise board effective immediately. He has agreed to do so,” Marape said.

“This reflects PNG’s commitment to the highest standards of integrity, probity and public trust.

“This is not a presumption of guilt. Mr Sonk is entitled to due process and the opportunity to clear his name. Stepping down allows him the space to do so without casting a shadow over the franchise process or compromising the confidence of our partners.”

Sonk led PNG’s campaign for an NRL team, which is being backed by a $600 million investment from the Albanese government.

Evidence that raises serious questions about whether Sonk sought to benefit personally from his power as chief of PNG’s national oil company, and not in relation to the NRL bid, includes confidential documents and corporate records and links Sonk’s company to suspect dealings with a massive Chinese government firm and a plot to funnel contracts to a company Sonk owns in Australia.

Hundreds of illegal handgun parts were allegedly shipped into Queensland in a suspected plot for the weapons to be assembled and sold for $20,000 each on the black market.

A 34-year-old old Joyner man was arrested after he was stopped at Brisbane International Airport on June 26.

Illegal gun parts were allegedly shipped into Australia.Credit: Australian Federal Police

He had reportedly sent the individual parts from the US under false descriptions to multiple addresses in Queensland and Victoria.

Police alleged he planned to assemble the weapons in Australia, and sell them.

Photos show parts for at least 35 handguns, giving a possible value of about $700,000.

The man was charged with nine counts of attempting to traffic firearm parts, and was granted bail at Brisbane Magistrates Court on June 27.

He was due to front court again on Friday.

A law firm has lodged a complaint with Australia’s information commissioner on behalf of Qantas customers whose data was exposed in a June 30 data breach.

Maurice Blackburn lodged the complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner over the data on 5.7 million customers, a potential first step in a class action suit.

Qantas sought an injunction to minimise the impact of the data breach.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The complaint with the commissioner claims Qantas didn’t take reasonable steps to protect the customers’ personal information.

“We think it’s important that privacy breaches are compensated because there are very real consequences for everyday Australians who have to deal with the fallout, whether its scam callers, risks of identity theft or other criminal activity,” Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Elizabeth O’Shea said.

The airline on July 9 confirmed 5.7 million customers had their information accessed, including name, phone numbers, business phone number, addresses and even the food preferences of thousands of travellers.

Qantas later confirmed the “majority” of a subset of 2.8 million customer records had names, email addresses and frequent flyer information, including the level of Qantas membership of the affected customer.

The breached data, which Qantas says to the best of its knowledge has not been leaked, can nonetheless be used by scammers as a list of future victims. For example, the information on membership tiers included whether the frequent flyer is a member of the Chairman’s Lounge.

The head of Queensland’s embattled state-run forensic testing lab has resigned just weeks after being asked to explain why she should not be removed from the job.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington announced the news of suspended Forensic Science Queensland director Dr Linzi Wilson-Wilde’s move, effective immediately, this morning.

Dr Linzi Wilson-Wilde has moved to Griffith University.Credit: LinkedIn

Wilson-Wilde has been in the job since last September, appointed by then-health minister Yvette D’Ath a day before the government entered pre-election caretaker mode.

Frecklington suspended Wilson-Wilde, issuing a show cause notice for her removal, late last month after a pause in testing sparked by contamination issues.

Forensic Science Queensland was established in 2023 after multiple inquiries, one of which revealed a “fundamentally flawed” automated DNA extraction method.

The method may have led to offenders potentially escaping conviction for nine years from 2007. The inquiries also elicited characterisations of a “toxic” culture at the lab.

In her statement this morning, Frecklington said the executive manager of forensic biology, Natasha Mitchell, would continue acting in the director role until an appointment was made.

On Thursday night, Wilson-Wilde announced on LinkedIn that she was starting a new position as an adjunct professor at Griffith University.

A 56-year-old man has been found dead in the yard of a beachfront home in central Queensland.

Police and emergency services went to the home in Dolphin Heads, a northern suburb of Mackay, yesterday afternoon after a request for a welfare check.

They found the man dead at the scene, with police declaring a crime scene and urging anyone with information to come forward.

It comes less than a week after Sunshine Coast man Zdravko Bilic was found dead in his own yard. Two teenagers faced court yesterday charged with his murder.

Clive Palmer’s political party has been hacked in a ransomware cyber-attack that the organisation fears has stolen its emails, documents and electronic records, threatening the personal data of all who have been in contact with it.

In a statement published to the United Australia Party and Trumpet of Patriots websites yesterday, the parties revealed that on June 23 they had “identified unauthorised access to our servers resulting in access to, and the possible exfiltration of, certain data records”.

Clive Palmer after the election campaign launch of his Trumpet of Patriots party in April.Credit: Getty Images

According to the parties’ statement, the leak may “potentially include all emails to and from the Political Parties (including their attachments) and documents and records created and or held electronically by the Political Parties at any time in the past”.

The parties also said the personal information of those communicating with the parties, including email addresses, phone numbers, banking records, employment history and confidential documents, may have been leaked.

Read the full story.

Tributes have flowed for a 14-year-old boy who was killed as he walked to school at Wynnum this week.

Declan Phillips died on Wednesday, aged 14.Credit: Wynnum Wolves FC

Declan Phillips died on Wednesday after he was hit by a Mitsubishi Pajero near the notoriously low Wynnum Rail Bridge, known colloquially as the “Duck Bridge”.

With a clearance of just 1.9 metres – the same height as a new Pajero – it is the lowest bridge in Brisbane.

Declan was a student at nearby Wynnum State High School and played for the Wynnum Wolves Football Club.

Last night, the club posted a tribute to Declan, whose younger brother also played for the Wolves.

“The Wynnum Wolves Football Club community will open its arms and hearts for the Phillips family this weekend following the devastating loss of their son Declan in a traffic accident in Wynnum this week,” the club posted last night.

The club will accept donations on the family’s behalf during weekend matches to help assist the family, and all players will wear black armbands.

The Pajero’s driver, a 17-year-old boy, and two passengers, a 41-year-old woman and 16-year-old boy, were not hurt.

Any witnesses or people with dashcam or CCTV footage from the area have been urged to contact police.

Family friend Lisa Axam, who has started a GoFundMe page for funeral costs, said Declan was a talented mathematician and woodworker.

“Declan had such a promising, bright future,” she said.

“Recently he made a camping stool out of canvas and wood and was looking forward to presenting it to his mum Lily for her birthday this weekend. He was also looking forward to making a wooden racing car in woodwork next term.”