As it happened: Brisbane on Thursday, June 5

A man who worked at an educational facility in Brisbane has been charged with child sex offences.

The 30-year-old from Brighton allegedly engaged in inappropriate behaviour with several children in Tasmania between 2024 and 2025.

He was working at the facility in McDowall, Brisbane at the time.

The man was hit with a long string of charges on Wednesday including possessing child abuse material, using the internet to procure children and grooming children under 12.

He remains in custody and is due to appear at Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 14.

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

A housemate of missing Bundaberg teenager Pheobe Bishop has been released from custody without charge, after being questioned by police for hours on Wednesday.

Champion former rugby league player Johnathan Thurston and his long-time manager, controversial player agent Sam Ayoub, are embroiled in an explosive lawsuit involving a former employee who has accused Ayoub of serious sexual misconduct and Thurston of allegedly ignoring the behaviour.

Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young says Senator Dorinda Cox should have quit parliament when she defected to join Labor earlier this week, escalating the minor party’s criticism of its former First Nations spokeswoman.

As she again takes the stand in court, accused triple-murderer Erin Patterson says she didn’t intentionally put deadly mushrooms in a beef Wellington.

US President Donald Trump has announced a total ban on citizens from a dozen countries entering the United States, and a partial ban on several more nations, in a move that revives a controversial measure from his first term.

And top Woolloongabba restaurant Clarence is set to bring its exceptional produce-driven menu to a new, bigger Fish Lane location.

A man who worked at an educational facility in Brisbane has been charged with child sex offences.

The 30-year-old from Brighton allegedly engaged in inappropriate behaviour with several children in Tasmania between 2024 and 2025.

He was working at the facility in McDowall, Brisbane at the time.

The man was hit with a long string of charges on Wednesday including possessing child abuse material, using the internet to procure children and grooming children under 12.

He remains in custody and is due to appear at Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 14.

A 17-year-old driver has been flown to hospital following a crash between his car and a truck north of Toowoomba this morning.

Emergency services received reports about 6.30am of a car and truck crash on the New England Highway in Cabarlah, a township about 15 kilometres north of Toowoomba.

Paramedics said the 17-year-old Meringandan boy driving the car suffered arm injuries, and was airlifted to Brisbane’s Mater Hospital, then transferred to Princess Alexandra Hospital by ambulance.

The 39-year-old male truck driver declined transport, with police saying he reported no physical injuries.

Both drivers were the sole occupants of their vehicles.

Elderly Queenslanders could be impacted by more than 100 job cuts planned at a major aged care provider.

BlueCare – run by not-for-profit UnitingCare – is set to axe 120 staff across the state, according to the ABC.

UnitingCare did not confirm the figure, but told Brisbane Times it is proposing a restructure to ensure “operational sustainability” long-term.

“Regrettably … some roles are no longer viable or required,” executive Maria McLaughlin-Rolfe said in a statement.

“We want to reassure our customers, their families and concerned communities, there will be no redundancy impacts to front-line care staff.

“Our priority remains providing exceptional care to those we serve, while adapting to the changing needs of our industry.”

It comes ahead of major federal aged care reforms going into effect from November.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is seeking a fair and free trade deal for Australia with the European Union and will not sign up to if it “is not in our national interest”.

Trade Minister Don Farrell has flown to Europe and trade officials have been dispatched to Brussels with Albanese saying Farrell would “negotiate in good faith”.

“We will seek a deal that is good enough for Australia. If it benefits us, we’ll be in it,” the prime minister said.

“If it doesn’t, we’ll continue to not sign up to something that is not in our national interest. So we’ve had discussions, as well, with farming groups and the agricultural sector as well. If you look at the benefit from the UK free trade agreement that has led to an increase in meat products as well as wine and other products going into the UK.”

The EU-Australia agreement has been stalled since late 2023, largely due to deadlock over agricultural market access, particularly Australian beef and lamb exports.

“The Australian government [is] on a bipartisan position, it must be said, of support of free and fair trade, as have the Europeans. I think that the last time around, there wasn’t a good enough deal for Australia,” said Albanese.

Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young says Senator Dorinda Cox should have quit parliament when she defected to join Labor earlier this week, escalating the minor party’s criticism of its former First Nations spokeswoman.

The comment reflects the depth of anger towards Cox in the Greens and goes further than comments by party leader Larissa Waters, who said this week that she wished her former colleague well.

Hanson-Young said that for an MP to be elected to represent one party and then shift to another was unfair on the people who voted for them.

“I do think the honourable thing is to resign from the parliament,” Hanson said in Canberra. “But you know, they are not the rules, and so we’re left where we are.

“Anthony Albanese helped secure Cox’s defection. But last year, he criticised Senator Fatima Payman for doing the same thing as Cox by leaving the party under whose banner she was elected, but retaining her position in the Senate.”

Read the full story.

Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has shot down comments by former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, who claimed Liberal women were “sufficiently assertive” that the party might need to consider reverse quotas for men.

Stockdale made the extraordinary comment on a Zoom call to the NSW Liberal Women’s Council on Tuesday night, which was set up to plead the case for the federal intervention of the troubled state division to be extended.

He later issued a statement apologising and insisting he made the comment in jest, but his description of women in the Liberals has been widely condemned, including by Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie and Deputy Liberal Leader Ted O’Brien.

“There is nothing wrong with being an assertive woman, in fact, I encourage assertive women to join the Liberal Party,” Ley said in a statement.

“The Liberal Party must reflect, respect and represent modern Australia and that means recognising the strength, merit and leadership of the women in our ranks.”

O’Brien also joined his colleagues in denouncing Stockdale’s comments.

“We need more women engaging with our party, running for our party,” O’Brien told the ABC.

“I’m proud to have Sussan Ley as our leadership. In a leadership team with Michaelia Cash and Anne Ruston, and so for the women of Australia, the Liberal Party is your party, that’s my message.”

Read the full story here.

The Caloundra community has remained cautiously optimistic, following the release of the first stage of an independent review into management of Bribie Island at its breakthrough points yesterday.

The Pumicestone Passage Catchment Management Body (PPCMB) welcomed the “hefty read”, which collated more than 200 technical and historical sources to detail the waterway and island’s current state, and previous government intervention.

“It appears to be … extremely comprehensive in its approach, which is encouraging in its thoroughness,” a statement from the group said.

“We’ve not seen a report of this rigour ever in the history of Caloundra.”

The group said it hoped to see recommendations soon, noting the natural island barrier that protected Caloundra’s tidal beaches from the open ocean continued to erode.

The second stage of the report was expected to detail immediate stop-gap solutions and long-term action, which Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said would be shaped by more than 1200 community submissions received during consultation.

Australia Post has announced it will be equipping posties with citronella spray to combat rising threats of dog attacks.

“The decision follows an alarming number of dog-related incidents in the past six months, with more than 44 posties a week falling victim to a threatening dog – an average of nine per day,” a statement said.

“Despite repeated appeals for dog owners to secure dogs during deliveries, new Australia Post data reveals over 1150 dog-related incidents have occurred in the past six months.”

Australia Post is urging people to keep their dogs secure when they are expecting a delivery.Credit: Australia Post

Queensland had the most dog incidents in the country – 388 over six months – with the worst areas Darra in Brisbane’s south-west, Bundamba and Toowoomba.

Australia Post said the spray would not be harmful, and only be used “as a last-line-of-defence measure to protect team members from imminent attack”, with all posties to have the spray by the end of July.

Postie Bronwyn Adamson said she was a veterinarian nurse for 17 years and had adopted rescue dogs with traumatised pasts, but was now nervous after a dog escaped from behind a gate and bit her while she was delivering a parcel.

“I’ve dealt with many animals who lash out due to stress and fear,” she said.

“As a postie, I am more nervous around dogs than ever before, particularly since I was attacked,” she said.

Human activity has sped up natural coastal reshaping on Bribie Island, a review by coastal engineering experts RPS and International Coastal Management has found.

Bribie Island, at the north edge of Moreton Bay, was first split in 2022 amid rough surf brought on by ex-tropical cyclone Seth.

The first Bribie Island breach (top), caused by ex-tropical cyclone Seth in 2022, has now widened to about 2km, with Alfred causing more breakthroughs (bottom) in March this year.Credit: Bluey's Photography

Water broke through in two more places this year, when ex-tropical cyclone Alfred hovered off the south-east for several days.

The report notes parts of Moreton Bay have been dredged for navigational access since before 1865, and other impacts were made by logging, farming, clearing mangroves and hunting dugongs.

Read the story from our journalist Catherine Strohfeldt.