A senior Queensland politician has fought a push by a handful of federal politicians to reconsider nuclear power.

State Development Minister, Cameron Dick, said a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday that energy and farming sectors will be gutted if Queensland built a nuclear power plant.

Nuclear power is currently banned under federal law.

The Queensland government has announced $7.7 million in funding over four years to establish Australia’s first robotics manufacturing hub in Brisbane. 

Minister for Manufacturing Cameron Dick says the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub would be developed in partnership with QUT and Urban Arts Projects, with a further $10 million in private investment. 

North Korea’s state news released images on Tuesday of leader Kim Jong Un inspecting what appeared to be a submarine under construction, with Kim stating the sub would soon be deployed to North Korea’s territorial waters. 

Professor Kim Young-Joon of the Korea National Defence University says North Korea is attempting to build a viable nuclear-armed submarine to enhance its deterrence capabilities, as submarines are harder to track and destroy. 

British swimmer Duncan Scott refused to share the 200m freestyle podium with Chinese swimmer Sun Yang in the second protest at the World Aquatics Championships against the controversial gold medallist.

Last night’s protest comes after Australian swimmer Mack Horton accused Sun of drug abuse on Sunday, a move Scott said many within elite swimming supported. 

Governing body FINA has warned both Scott and Horton over the protest for inadequate behaviour, saying FINA events should not be used to make “personal statements”.
 

Legislation that could ban overseas Australian citizens with suspected terrorist links from returning home for up to two years is heading to the Senate.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says the bill will guard against potential terrorist attacks in Australia, adding that some Australians are being complacent about the risk.

Security expert John Coyne from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says the legislation could perpetuate feelings of isolation among targeted Australians and worsen the issue.

Brisbane Times has obtained police documents detailing how Aboriginal children were held in maximum security facilities, on average, for nine hours longer than non-Indigenous children in 2018.

Although only comprising 5 per cent of Queensland’s total child population, nearly double the amount of Indigenous children were held in watchhouses compared to non-Indigenous children in the same period. 

The Palaszczuk Labor government has replaced the number of public servants sacked under former premier Campbell Newman more than twice over.

The latest workforce figures show there are over 30,000 more full-time equivalent employees in the Queensland public sector than the Newman government had in December 2014. 

Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk says she is restoring “frontline services”, adding the new “frontline staff” will be making differences every day by keeping communities safe and ensuring Queenslanders can access health services quickly.

A new report by the Australia Institute reveals Queensland’s mining royalties regime is essentially giving subsidies to exporters of low-quality thermal coal.

The new report details how the staggered system in Queensland has low-value coal taxed at a lower rate, which acts to incentivise thermal coal mines such as Adani’s Carmichael project.