The disappearance of a young boy north of Brisbane yesterday has triggered a police search.
The nine-year-old was last seen about 5.30pm along Nellies Lane in Kallangur yesterday.
He was wearing a green and yellow school uniform, blue socks and white Nike shoes.
Anyone with information on the boy’s location is urged to contact police.
Thanks for joining us for live coverage of today’s news. We’ll be back tomorrow morning.
If you’re just catching up, here’s what made headlines today:
Fourteen members of a fringe religious group accused of killing an eight-year-old girl have been found guilty of manslaughter after one of Queensland’s biggest trials.
Today we were also able to reveal the unseen footage of homicide detectives interviews with Elizabeth Struhs’ parents. In one, a devout mother said she hoped her lifeless daughter would stand up in front of the paramedics and say, “What are you doing here?”
Former Queensland premier Rob Borbidge has admitted to paying thousands of dollars in legal fees for a serial fraudster who has described him as a “father figure” but maintains he was misled and used by the young con artist while trying to help him turn his life around.
The Albanese government is pressing Russia to release captured soldier Oscar Jenkins after the extraordinary revelation the Australian, who travelled to fight in defence of Ukraine, is alive in captivity, rather than dead as had been feared.
Managers for embattled fashion retailer Mosaic Brands were unable to find a buyer for the budget clothing business, which will see remaining brands Noni B and Millers shut down, resulting in the closure of 252 stores and 933 job losses.
And the former US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, he has dropped a bombshell statement to the US Senate – which will soon decide whether her cousin RFK Jr takes a position in Donald Trump’s cabinet as health secretary – calling him a “predator” who led family members down a path of drug addiction in their youth.
The disappearance of a young boy north of Brisbane yesterday has triggered a police search.
The nine-year-old was last seen about 5.30pm along Nellies Lane in Kallangur yesterday.
He was wearing a green and yellow school uniform, blue socks and white Nike shoes.
Anyone with information on the boy’s location is urged to contact police.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie will have his own department review the transport department’s planning for stage four of Gold Coast light rail.
Bleijie said today the review would reconsider the mode of transport, the location of infrastructure, and the route.
“Everything is on the table,” Bleijie told reporters in Hervey Bay.
His comments came after federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King defended the decision to remove the project from the national priority list, saying Queensland needed to do more work.
Amid speculation stage four could be delivered using buses on priority bus lanes, Bleijie vowed to work with Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and local residents who have concerns.
Bleijie has called on the commonwealth to help fund the LNP’s promise to extend rail services to Maroochydore by 2032.
Premier David Crisafulli has defended the government’s intervention in transgender medicine, saying the LNP was focused on the “wellbeing and safety of Queensland kids”.
Under the immediate restrictions announced by Health Minister Tim Nicholls on Tuesday, any existing patients receiving puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy will be allowed to continue.
But hormone therapy will no longer be offered to new patients in state facilities. At the end of December, there were 448 people on the service waiting list.
Nicholls used allegations around the authority for services conducted in far north Queensland to justify the immediate “pause”, which will also allow the LNP government to review the evidence base around hormone therapy.
With Nicholls in Cairns on Wednesday to discuss the allegations, Crisafulli backed his government’s handling of the matter.
“The wellbeing and safety of Queensland kids is what I care about - every decision we take is about that,” Crisafulli told reporters in Hervey Bay.
“What has been revealed is incredibly distressing for the families involved, and just for the broader Queensland population, but I need people to know that the wellbeing and safety of those kids, and indeed all Queensland kids, is what our focus is.”
While an external evaluation of the service last year was largely positive, Nicholls said it wrongly set out to determine “how is the service delivered, not whether the service ought to be delivered”.
Crisafulli rejected claims the LNP was focused on “culture wars” and had sought to hide its intentions before the state election.
The opposition’s Shannon Fentiman, the former Labor health minister, questioned why the LNP was “getting in the way” of conversations between doctors, young people and their families.
Video of a crocodile apparently swimming hundreds of kilometres south of its usual habitat went viral at the long weekend, prompting wildlife officials to launch a massive search.
But those officials announced this morning they’d seen no further sign of the animal and believed it might have headed north.
The video was taken at Coonarr Beach, near the Elliott River in the Wide Bay region, and appeared to show a crocodile entering the ocean – even though croc country is usually considered to start near Gladstone, about 200km to the north.
After day and night-time beach and river patrols, spotlighting surveys and a helicopter survey of about 450km of coastline, creeks and rivers, the Environment Department said it had been five days since the last reported sighting of the animal.
“It is possible that the animal was flushed out of a river system in its normal range by high rainfall or due to a conflict with another crocodile,” senior wildlife officer Tony Frisby said.
“Crocodiles can swim up to 40 kilometres a day, and the animal may be heading north, back into its normal habitat.”
The department thanked the public for sending in sightings, encouraging them to continue if a crocodile was spotted outside its normal habitat again.
The heavy rain and potential cyclones predicted in far north Queensland have prompted dam operators to take precautions should the wet weather head further south.
Seqwater today started lowering the level of water in North Pine Dam, also known as Lake Samsonvale, from 63 per cent capacity to 54 per cent capacity.
“We are aiming to achieve the desired lake level in early 2025, however this timeline may vary depending on rainfall, catchment inflows and other environmental conditions,” Seqwater said in a statement.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for an area between Cairns and Tully, where there is a risk of flash flooding, due to a deepening trough in the Coral Sea.
While Premier David Crisafulli on Wednesday expressed faith in north Queenslanders’ ability to prepare for the wet season, he pointed out that “multiple systems in close proximity poses a greater risk”.
Fourteen members of a fringe religious group accused of killing an eight-year-old girl have been found guilty of manslaughter in one of Queensland’s biggest trials.
Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on January 7, 2022 while lying on a mattress on the floor of her family’s Toowoomba home, west of Brisbane.
Elizabeth Rose Struhs, 8, died in January 2022.Credit: Nine News
The religious group, known as the Saints, were accused of withholding lifesaving insulin from the girl.
Her parents, Jason Richard Struhs, and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, were charged alongside 12 other members of the Saints.
Justice Martin Burns handed down his decision today, finding all fourteen guilty of manslaughter.
Mr Struhs and the Saints’ leader, Brendan Luke Stevens, were both charged with murder. But both were found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
When asked if they had anything to say, Mr Struhs said “no, your honour,” while Stevens said “not that I can think of”.
Read the full story of what Jason and Kerrie Struhs told police about their daughter’s death.
The Crisafulli government’s directive that no new patients be offered hormone therapy through the Queensland Children’s Gender Service will directly affect around 448 people.
New figures show the statewide service was treating 487 patients at the end of December, two thirds of whom were from Greater Brisbane.
Under the immediate restrictions announced by Health Minister Tim Nicholls yesterday, any existing patients receiving puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy will be allowed to continue.
But hormone therapy will no longer be offered to new patients in state facilities. At the end of December, there were 448 people on the service waiting list.
Nicholls used allegations around the authority for services conducted in far north Queensland to justify the immediate “pause”, which will also allow the LNP government to review the evidence base.
While an external evaluation of the service last year was largely positive, Nicholls said it wrongly set out to determine “how is the service delivered, not whether the service ought to be delivered”.
The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) and Equality Australia condemned the move, however it was welcomed by the Australian Christian Lobby.
NRL legend Greg Inglis has joined rugby league’s coaching ranks, named as an assistant to Queensland Maroons’ women’s mentor Tahnee Norris.
The State of Origin great will be joined by North Devils helmsman Dave Elliott in helping Norris and fellow assistant Meg Ward in the state’s shield defence in 2025, after triumphing in the inaugural three-match campaign 2-1.
Inglis scored 18 tries in 32 appearances for Queensland, and another 31 tries in 39 Tests for the Kangaroos. He famously helped South Sydney end a 43-year premiership drought in 2014.
“He’s such a legend of the game. Greg’s always been an advocate for women’s rugby league,” Norris said.
“He’s previously been around our camps as a mentor, so to have the opportunity to put him on full-time this year is going to be a great asset for us.
“The knowledge he brings is just second to none. I know our outside backs in particular will learn a lot from him.”
A 60-year-old Queensland man with alleged links to outlaw motorcycle gangs has been charged after a raid on a Maroochydore backpackers hostel.
The raid, undertaken by Queensland and Australian Federal police shortly before Christmas, uncovered 250 grams of cocaine, 400 grams of cannabis, 50 LSD tablets, $20,000 in cash, and weapons including a semi-automatic rifle, a revolver, ammunition, body armour, knuckledusters, a replica handgun and a gel blaster.
The man was at the hostel at the time and has been charged with various drugs and weapons offences. He was issued with a notice to appear in court today.
“The unlawful weapons and drugs seized in this warrant could have caused untold damage among innocent communities,” said Detective Acting Superintendent Craig Bowman from the Queensland Organised Crime Gangs Group.