As it happened: Brisbane on Monday, July 21

Thanks for joining us for today’s live coverage of news in Brisbane and beyond. We’ll be back tomorrow 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:

Dumped Brisbane 2032 Olympic Organising Committee board member Shelley Reys has rejected an invitation to join a newly formed First Nations advisory group, saying it was an insufficient alternative to having Indigenous representation on the board.

The Queensland government has given a first look into the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s new $184 million theatre, revealing the performance space’s name ahead of its 2026 opening.

The locations of metal detection scans carried out by Queensland Police can be revealed for the first time, with dozens of weapons found in shopping centres as well as crime hotspots, including nightclub districts.

A two-bedroom unit in Coorparoo has sparked one of Brisbane’s fiercest first-home buyer bidding wars, with the sale price soaring to a reserve-smashing $800,000 in three minutes.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has delivered a cheeky warning to fans that they may appear on the big screen during the British band’s latest US concert at the weekend – just days after “kiss cam” video from an earlier show went viral because of the reaction of the pair caught on camera.

And meet West End-based Nadine Bates and Kristen Souvlis, the two women who’ve built a global animation studio that’s produced seven feature animations since 2020 – with more and bigger to come.

In case you missed it, four-fifths of the population of Tuvalu have applied to move to Australia in the first round of a special visa recognising the existential threat that climate change poses to the low-lying atoll nation.

More than 8000 Tuvaluans – 80 per cent of the population of the tiny Pacific nation – had registered for the lottery by Friday afternoon.

Frayzel Uale is one of more than 8000 Tuvaluans who have entered a ballot for one of 280 permanent residency visas.Credit: Penny Stephens

Only 280 places are available in the first year.

Read more from Caitlin Fitzsimmons and Nick O’Malley here.

Dumped Brisbane 2032 Olympic Organising Committee board member Shelley Reys has rejected an invitation to join a newly formed First Nations advisory group, saying it was an insufficient alternative to having Indigenous representation on the board.

“I have declined the invitation to be involved in the First Nations advisory body,” Reys said.

“Now that First Nations representation has been removed from the board, the creation of an advisory body is a good alternative, but nothing replaces the role and powers of a board member, that being to ensure lived, professional and informed experience to the decision-making table.”

Shelley Reys lost her place on the Brisbane 2032 Board.Credit: Michael Quelch

The requirement that at least one member of the organising board be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person was removed from the legislation that governs the Brisbane 2032 Olympics in amendments passed into law last month.

Read the full story.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley insists the Coalition will not roll over and accept the government’s agenda as politicians return to Canberra for the first parliamentary sittings since Labor’s big election win.

In interviews with this masthead and others, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called on the Coalition to respect the election result and get out of the way of Labor’s agenda as it puts up legislation on slashing student loans and enshrining penalty rates in law.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley addresses colleagues at the Coalition party room meeting on Monday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“He’s been giving interviews and suggesting we should just get out of the way,” Ley told her MPs in a Coalition party room meeting on Monday morning. “Well we won’t just get out of the way.”

Her rev-up to colleagues comes at the Coalition’s lowest ebb in a generation. Its numbers are vastly diminished, and it no longer has the power, even when teamed up with the Greens, to block Labor bills in the Senate. The opposition has signalled it will back the student debt reduction measure despite opposing it last term.

After polling including this masthead’s Resolve Strategic Monitor showed the Coalition’s support dipping since the election, Ley said the opposition “won’t be judged by headlines of the day”.

Albanese walked from The Lodge to Parliament House earlier on Monday and was asked about the polls, saying such surveys “come and go” and that he was focused on delivering.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud has responded to party colleague Barnaby Joyce’s call for the Coalition to abandon the 2050 net zero emissions target, saying that while an ongoing internal review will determine the official party stance, it was crucial to offer a “sensible position” and that it would be no use “trying to achieve the impossible”.

Joyce continued his crusade against net zero on Sunrise this morning, noting that ditching the target would help to clearly separate the Coalition from Labor, as the opposition hopes to rebound from a crushing election loss in May.

Nationals leader David Littleproud, former leader Barnaby Joyce.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, Dion Georgopoulos

Littleproud told Sky News that the Nationals’ net zero position would be determined by an ongoing review, though said that supporting such a target cannot occur at the expense of regional communities.

“What we are experiencing, particularly in regional areas, that I don’t think people in metropolitan areas understand is the real burden of our landscape being ripped up, our livelihoods being ripped up for this full renewables approach - we are tearing communities apart,” Littleproud said.

“Unfortunately, when you see many parts of the rest of the world now saying that we’re not going to get to net zero, we need to actually make sure that we’re sensible about this, rather than trying to achieve the impossible.”

Joyce has said he will table legislation in the new parliamentary term to abandon the net zero target, although it’s unclear if such a bill would receive the support of his Coalition colleagues.

Powerbrokers and Olympians are among 10 people cut from Brisbane’s Olympic Games organising committee in a dramatic bid to streamline operations.

The changes follow recommendations from the 100 Day Review Report to streamline the committee to improve governance and efficiency.

Wesfarmers chief Rob Scott and former Olympians Tracy Stockwell, Natalie Cook and Patrick Johnson were among 10 people booted from the committee.

Golf champion Greg Norman and business leader Rebecca Frizelle survived the dramatic cuts and will remain as the two independent directors after the 24-person committee was slashed to 15.

Sunshine Coast mayor Rosanna Natoli is the only new member, replacing Ipswich mayor Teresa Harding.

Andrew Liveris AO will serve as president with politicians Tim Mander and Anika Wells as vice presidents.

Mander said the streamlined board was a key step in strengthening governance and allowed Games-related decisions to be made efficiently.

“The changes made to the board are sensible and practical to shape good governance and make for a truly spectacular Games for which all of Queensland can be proud,” Mander said.

A crocodile is believed to have been spotted on the Sunshine Coast twice within hours.

Ross Buckley reported seeing the 3.5-metre reptile was at the Noosa Spit dog beach early on Sunday morning.

An underwater fish finder photo taken at the Sunshine Coast and posted by James Graham, which he says shows a crocodile.Credit: James Graham

“At first I thought it was a bit of driftwood, but then it moved,” he posted to social media.

“I quickly put the dog on the lead and kept my distance.

“Not sure what’s going on with wildlife lately but this gave me a real fright.”

The post was followed six hours later by underwater fish finder photos reportedly taken about 460 metres away by a friend of Buckley’s.

“Tell me that’s not a croc – it’s got the tail, it’s got the snout,” boater James Graham said.

“That’s bizarre.”

The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation appeared sceptical of the claims on Monday.

“We are … investigating the matter further,” a statement said.

“The Boyne River near Gladstone, some 300 kilometres to the north, is commonly considered the southern boundary of typical crocodile habitat.”

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has called on his Coalition colleagues to support the ditching of the government’s 2050 net zero emissions target, finding the matter to be a key issue that can help the opposition rebound from a crushing election loss.

Speaking on Sunrise, Joyce said it was important for the Coalition to adopt fresh ideas on policies that would clearly separate themselves from Labor, noting climate policy as a key example.

The federal member for New England, Barnaby Joyce.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“You have to find issues which are binary, which you are fully for and the Labor Party is fully against. If you try and work on nuances and amelioration and views of a different issue, that’s no good,” Joyce said.

“That’s why such issues such as net zero, I say: find a point of division. You don’t believe in net zero, they do believe in net zero ... if you have another way of going about it, there are your numbers.”

Joyce has previously revealed plans to introduce legislation to repeal the net zero emissions target, although it’s unclear if such a bill would receive the support of his Coalition colleagues.

Two men are dead after a light plane bound for Brisbane crashed into a field.

The aircraft reportedly came down onto a property near Oakey – about 20 kilometres north-west of Toowoomba – about 3.10pm on Sunday.

Two bodies were pulled from the wreckage.

The twin-propeller plane was travelling from Warwick to Brisbane, before it was diverted to Oakey.

Footage captured by Nine News suggests the aircraft went up in flames after crashing.

Plane crash west of Brisbane.Credit: Nine News

“Forensic testing to identify [the bodies] is under way,” Queensland police said.

The personal details of thousands of people across south-east Queensland have potentially been stolen in a data breach.

A man is accused of breaking into multiple mortgage brokers and tax offices, Nine News reported on Sunday.

Court documents show Joseph Kelly, a man in his 30s, is accused of breaking into Mortgage Choice offices and an ITP Tax office between Monday and Wednesday last week. He allegedly targeted three buildings on the Gold Coast, along with one in Logan and another in Ipswich.

Police allege Kelly stole computers and filing cabinets, transferring an unknown amount of sensitive client data onto his own encrypted device.

It’s understood the stolen data might include driver’s licences, passports, payslips and mortgage applications.

ITP Queensland say they have contacted 64 affected clients, while Mortgage Choice is still working to identify how many of its customers have been impacted. The ATO said its systems have not been compromised.

Kelly has also been charged with possessing dangerous drugs and attempting to enter another office in Robina. He’s been remanded in custody and his matter will return to Southport Magistrates Court next Monday.