Families will be reunited, grandchildren held for the first time and stranded Queenslanders allowed to return home when the state’s border wall falls on Monday after almost two years.

Councils are spending up to $100,000 defending complaints, amid accusations that Queensland’s controversial ­Independent Assessor is improperly exercising its powers to stifle political freedom.

No Queensland coal-fired power stations will be forced to close early, nor coal mines forced to close under Labor’s climate plan, senior Opposition frontbenchers are pledging.

And more than a thousand kids are headed back onto the cricket pitch after pulling up stumps last summer.

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