Law & order

The Crisafulli Government’s 2025-26 Budget lays the foundation for the fresh start Queenslanders voted for, addressing Labor’s youth crime, health, housing and cost of living crises. The Budget focuses on making Queensland safer, delivering a place to call home for more Queenslanders, driving down cost of living pressures for families…

There is much discussion, usually futile, about the social aspects of law and order. Here is a look at the flood of public funds unleashed by an individual's action.

A Queensland man, 63, is scheduled to face Cairns Magistrates Court today (18 June, 2025) charged with allegedly producing child abuse material in the Philippines. Australian Border Force (ABF) officers searched the man’s phone after he returned to Australia on an international flight at Cairns Airport on 25 December, 2024. 

Joe Lauria. The Australian government whistleblower David McBride is headed back to jail with no end of incarceration in sight. He is serving nearly six years for leaking documents to the media exposing Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. A three-judge panel at the Supreme Court in Australia's capital on 28th May spent less than one minute dismissing all appeals by David McBride ...

A large number of people from Lajamanu and from Yuendumu, the home town of Kumanjayi White who died in custody on May 27, came to Alice Springs to attend a vigil, to march and mourn ... Coles staff welcomed into the store several small groups of men and women to aisle four – “chocolate, juice, lollies” – where the confrontation had taken place a short time before Kumanjayi’s death.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO), with support from Victoria Police, has seized and destroyed over 20 tonnes of illicit tobacco from a property North-East of Shepparton, Victoria. On Thursday 5 June a search warrant revealed a mature tobacco crop spanning nearly 6 acres, the equivalent of approximately 456 tennis courts.

Shadow Minister for Local Government, Kirrilee Warr MLA, has labelled the implementation of the Cook Labor Government’s Stop Puppy Farming laws a "dog’s breakfast" after the Government abandoned a $9.8 million contract just days after the new laws had taken effect.

Clarence Valley Council has been directed by the Northern Regional Planning Panel to agree to an amended proposal for a Yamba manufactured home estate which is subject to an appeal in the Land and Environment Court.

Kumanjayi White, who died in custody in Alice Springs this week, had his own house in Yuendumu but in recent times his family and the community had found it impossible to make satisfactory arrangements for his care. Ned Jampjinpa Hargraves, a respected elder who in a statement on Thursday called White “my jaja” (grandson), said this in an exclusive interview with the Alice Springs News.

Allora recently hosted a session at the Allora P-10 State School with an aim to create more awareness and empower members of the community about the early warning signs of coercive control.

Police allege a teenage boy was threatened with a gun during an attempted break-in at Ramsay property last Saturday. Police have charged three men in relation to the incident ... It is then alleged one of the offenders with a firearm threatened a teenage boy, who was a neighbour, before the three offenders left the scene in a red 2008 Holden Commodore utility ...

Local police intelligence personnel track known regional grievances, according to a spokesman, replying to questions from the Alice Springs News whether initiatives are in place to prevent criminal payback after alleged events such as last Thursday’s in Gregory Terrace ... “As part of preparedness and prevention, Alice Springs police [act] to ensure possible flare ups are managed, for example [by considering] court appearances or community source information."

Two men – one from Butler and the other from Narrogin – have been fined for fishing for marron out of season. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) said 22-year-old Butler man was ordered to pay $7000 and a 39-year-old Narrogin man $6500 for their involvement in marron fishing offences committed at Harris Dam in December 2023.

Domestic violence perpetrators in Queensland who repeatedly use violence or abuse to control others in relationships can now be charged with the new offence of coercive control. The new criminal offence applies to acts of violence or abuse forming a course of conduct committed from today (26 May) and carries a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.

Gannawarra Shire Council has formalised its opposition to the State Government’s implementation of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund. Councillors approved an urgent item motion at last week’s Council meeting opposing the fund, which will come into effect in July to support VICSES, Triple Zero Victoria, the State Control Centre, Forest Fire Management Victoria and Emergency Recovery Victoria, as well as the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV).

The proposed State Government levy at the centre of a recent community meeting in Baringhup has been passed by the Victorian Parliament ... During her visit to Castlemaine Station, Premier Jacinta Allan responded to a TT query about the timing of the new levy.

Blake Lee. Thousands of firefighters, farmers and regional Victorians rallied on the steps of State Parliament ... Producing a cacophony of sirens through Melbourne streets during peak hour, fire trucks and volunteer firefighters made the journey from all corners of the state, bringing an estimated 300 fire trucks into the city.