Queensland is one step closer to building its next passenger train fleet after shortlisting three leading train manufacturers to enter the next phase of the Rollingstock Expansion Program.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said it builds on the two hundred and eighty three jobs saved by the Palaszczuk Government in 2017, and all up delivers a $1 billion guaranteed pipeline of train building work in Maryborough.

Despite community outcry, the Brisbane City Council have not elected to reinstate the Norman Park cross-river ferry.

The cancelled service provides transport to 139 residents a day. 

Whilst the Norman Park service was cut, the Council budget directs $22 million to new services and upgrades to existing terminals at South Bank and Howard Smith Wharves. 

Residents of New Farm and Norman Park have taken to Facebook to express concerns the cancellation turns a three minute journey into a 45 minute commute.

A species of palm-loving coconut rhinoceros beetle may threaten home gardens, plantations and biodiversity in Australia as biological controls fail.

Over the past few years, the pest has spread through Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, causing severe agricultural and economic damage.

If the coconut beetle spreads to Australia, garden palms would be at risk along with the country’s emerging date industry. 

Farmers have supported Scott Morrisson’s trade agreement that will see Australia export beef and lamb to the UK as import taxes are phased out.  

The deal negotiated between the prime minister and UK counterpart Boris Johnson sees beef and lamb tariffs eliminated after ten years of duty free quotas rising over the period.

The deal also means that UK backpackers applying for working holiday visas will no longer be required to complete 88 days of labour on farms to extend their stay. 

Israeli forces have launched airstrikes on Gaza, the first offensive since a new coalition government took power, coming just weeks after an 11-day conflict with the Palestinian enclave.

Blasts were heard at multiple locations in Gaza on Wednesday, while a radio station operated by the huh-mas (Hamas) militant group said strikes targeted a Palestinian training camp. 

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the operations in a statement on Twitter, also sharing footage of one of the strikes.

Councillor for the Gabba Ward Jonathan Sri says he was asked to leave a Council meeting after interrupting Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s budget speech yesterday to call out a lack of measures to address homelessness. 

Councillor Sri says “People are sleeping in their cars, sleeping on park benches, rents are going through the roof, and BCC is doing nothing to address it,” he said.

Councillor Fiona Cunningham has joined the defence, of lord mayor Adrian Schrinner after the LNP council released its budget plan yesterday. 

The local government has secured funding for a range of projects that will improve the Brisbane area. Funds will be directed towards better parks, community sport, road infrastructure and supporting local businesses. 

Councillor Cuningham said she will share more details over the coming days and can’t wait to see projects delivered in the months ahead.

Federal Labor MP Richard Marles has clarified on ABC’s Breakfast program that there is no difference between the LNP’s and his party’s policy on border protection.

While Marles criticised the treatment of the Biloela family, critics online have criticised Labor’s stance on the issue as appearing too hardline.

Marles’ said the family did not fit the criteria for the offshore processing program.

A spokesperson for the Refugee Action Collective said Marles “is correct,” and that “there’s very little difference between Labor and the conservatives on refugee policy.”

Federal funding will allow international collaboration of researchers to test the effectiveness of using sterile water injections for labour contraction pain. 

The Commonwealth Government's medical research future fund has granted more than three hundred thousand dollars to the two year project, run by the University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's hospital, Charles Darwin University and the University of Skovde. 

Australia's lowest-paid workers will receive a bigger pay rise than last year after the Fair Work Commission decided on an $18.80-a-week wage increase to $772 per week. However, many workers will not see immediate benefit.

SDA National Secretary, Gerard Dwyer and other Unions are expressing dismay that retail workers will have to wait another two months to receive any increase in their pay packets.