As it happened: Brisbane on Monday, April 22 (2024)

A man has been shot dead by police on the Bruce Highway in central Queensland, south of Gladstone.

The incident occurred at a rest area, 20 kilometres south of Miriam Vale, not far from Agnes Water, about 10.50am.

“Police investigations and subsequent responses to the incident are ongoing,” a police spokesman said.

He could not confirm reports that the man was travelling in a stolen car.

The shooting occurred just hours before Steve Gollschewski was announced as the state’s new police commissioner.

The Bruce Highway is closed in both directions south of Miriam Vale.

A young cyclist was in the blind spot of a Brisbane City Council bus when he was hit and killed by the vehicle at a busy intersection where both were given a green signal, forensic crash investigators believe.

Coroner Donald MacKenzie is set to examine the circ*mstances of the crash that killed 20-year-old Max McDowall near Buranda train station in Woolloongabba in May 2021.

The bus driver, Andrew Rudnicki, who was aged in his 60s at the time, was initially charged over the crash, but that has since been dropped.

Rudnicki, who is still driving buses for the council, told the Coroner’s Court this morning he had driven the route hundreds of times, but when he entered that intersection, he could not see McDowall.

He said it was impossible to do a shoulder check because of physical barriers inside the bus.

Forensic Crash Unit investigators determined that both Rudnicki and McDowall were given a green signal when they entered the intersection.

Sergeant Carl Cutler told the court his investigation showed there were several blind spots on the bus, and said McDowall was almost “always in the blind spot”.

Read more here.

Fire ant nests have now been found in Oakey, west of Toowoomba, Australia’s Invasive Species Council has reported today.

Stinging fire ants were first discovered in Australia in Brisbane in February 2001, and are thought to have arrived via shipping containers from America.

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Twenty-three years later, fire ants – named because of their severe sting – are now widespread, despite a range of federal and state eradication programs.

Reece Pianta, from the federal Invasive Species Council, said the Oakey fire ant discovery should set bells ringing in the prime minister’s office.

“While we have full confidence in the National Eradication Program’s response to this outbreak, we are very worried that not enough money is being spent by governments on the fire ant invasion.,” Pianta said.

“In recent months, we have had new fire ant detections in New South Wales, at Caboolture north of Brisbane and now west of the Great Dividing Range at Oakey.

“These are all taking vital resources away from the main eradication effort. It is now undeniable that there is not enough money to get the eradication job done.”

Steve Gollschewski is from a policing family: his father was a police officer, as well as his brother.

Speaking to journalists on Monday after his selection was signed-off by cabinet, Gollschewski said: “I stand before you today very honoured.”

“I’ve said already to my organisation, and more broadly, that our focus now among the many priorities we have is fairly simple: it’s to keep our communities safer and make sure that they feel safe.”

Queensland police veteran Steve Gollschewski has been formally named as the state’s new police commissioner.

Gollschewski has been appointed to the top job after a two-month recruitment effort to fill the early departure of his predecessor, Katarina Carroll.

The police officer of 44 years becomes the state’s 21st police commissioner.

Read more here.

Premier Steven Miles and Police Minister Mark Ryan are due to announce the new Queensland Police Commissioner about 12.15pm today.

Steve Gollschewski, who is currently acting in the role, is widely tipped to be named as the new commissioner.

Former commissioner Katarina Carroll called time on her five-year term months ahead of its July expiry, citing distracting “speculation” about her leadership.

The change comes at a testing time for the agency, still emerging from an inquiry highlighting deep cultural problems while managing a surge in domestic violence and heated election-year debate about youth justice, as workload and recruitment pressures bite.

We will bring you more on this as it comes to hand, so do stay with us.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Mackay today with the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, Senator Nita Green.

You can watch below: