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A young teenage girl has allegedly been assaulted in Brisbane’s King George Square outside City Hall.
Paramedics responded to the incident about 7pm on Wednesday.
The girl was taken to the Queensland Children’s Hospital in a stable condition after paramedics treated her for facial injuries.
Police said they had not received a complaint regarding the incident.
Brisbane’s own Chelsea Gubecka has been unveiled as Australia’s first Olympian who will compete at the 2024 Paris Games.
The open water swimmer, fresh off her silver and bronze medal exploits at July’s World Championships, will compete in the 10km marathon swim to be held in the Seine River.
Gubecka has cast aside the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics to make this dream a reality, and the 25-year-old declared her desire to remain a force in the sport up until Brisbane 2032.
“It certainly gives me an itch to potentially stick around long enough to at least be a part of it,” Gubecka, a product of Yeronga Park Swim Club, said.
“If I’m not certainly in the mix of it, I certainly want to be around the sport. We’re only looking to Paris at the moment … it’s so surreal.”
More than half of serious accidents at Queensland coal mines this year involved fingers, the health and safety regulator has warned.
Since the beginning of 2023, 28 of the 55 incidents involved fingers. Most recently, a man in the Bowen Basin had his finger partially amputated in a drill rig before surgeons were able to reassemble his hand.
“It’s just not good enough, especially when we know these injuries are preventable,” said Resources Safety and Health Queensland Chief Inspector of Coal Mines, Jacques le Roux.
“Even though these injuries are not life-threatening, they have a serious impact on the lives of workers.
“Because hands are complex body parts, they don’t always perform the same way, or as well, after they have been seriously injured, even after rehabilitation.”
The state government has introduced a set of proposed changes to force casinos to ensure gamblers use a verified player card, limit cash transactions and pre-commit to how much they are willing to lose.
Among the recommendations are that casino operators will be charged a levy to help fund oversight of the sector.Credit: SMH
Last October’s damning state inquiry into gambling giant Star Entertainment, which runs the casinos in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, recommended the changes, which have been accepted by the government and introduced to parliament in a bill this week.
Under the other recommendations to be implemented, casino operators will be charged a levy by the government to help fund oversight of the sector and programs aimed at reducing gambling harm.
“The new laws will ensure organisations associated with Queensland casinos are subject to inquiries every five years,” Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said in a statement. “This will assist in determining the ongoing suitability of those organisations.”
The report on the state government’s finances is out today and the surplus is even bigger than expected.
After the May budget forecast a $12.3 billion surplus for the 2022-23 financial year driven by the property and coal boom, the figure has actually come in at $13.9 billion.
This is said to be due to early federal government payments for disaster relief and social housing.
General government sector borrowings are also nearly $1 billion lower.
“Our progressive coal royalty tiers are delivering for Queenslanders right across the state, as they rightfully should, at a time that coal producers are benefiting from extraordinary prices,” Treasurer Cameron Dick said in a statement.
A young teenage girl has allegedly been assaulted in Brisbane’s King George Square outside City Hall.
Paramedics responded to the incident about 7pm on Wednesday.
The girl was taken to the Queensland Children’s Hospital in a stable condition after paramedics treated her for facial injuries.
Police said they had not received a complaint regarding the incident.
Shark nets are being removed from Queensland beaches ahead of forecast high winds and rough seas.
Contractors have begun removing the nets from Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast beaches, with strong winds and swells of up to five metres expected over the weekend.
Main Beach on the Gold CoastCredit: FFX
The conditions will put the nets at risk of becoming dislodged and endangering swimmers.
On the Gold Coast, nets were being removed from Main Beach, Surfers Paradise, Kurrawa, Mermaid Beach, Miami, Burleigh, Tallebudgera, Currumbin, Bilinga, Kirra and Coolangatta.
On the Sunshine Coast, contractors will begin removing the nets on Thursday from Rainbow Beach, Noosa, Coolum, Marcoola, Maroochydore, Alexandra Headland, Mooloolaba, Wurtulla Beach and Caloundra.
Drumlines will continue to be baited and the Agriculture and Fisheries Department will monitor the situation.
Gusty winds and hot temperatures will test firefighters battling central Queensland bushfires.
Further afield, here are more of this morning’s headlines:
And in sport and entertainment:
Australia’s Glenn Maxwell celebrates his century.Credit: AP
Good morning, and thanks for joining us for Brisbane Times′ live news blog. Scattered showers are forecast for Thursday in Brisbane, with a high of 31 degrees.
Leading the news today, federal police have swooped on suspected members of the “Long River” Australia-wide crime syndicate, accusing them of serious financial crime. Queensland’s public service is mired in a new and unusual controversy after a GIF in a group chat was deemed racist and sexually provocative. And with the next state election now a year away, we’re keen to know what you want Labor and the LNP to focus on.
And in other headlines: