Brisbane news live: Coal royalty rates into law | Brisbane airport facelift | Why is Bluey so big?

A Queensland police officer has died in a motorcycle crash while participating in a memorial ride for his fallen colleagues.

The serving police officer was participating in the Wall to Wall Ride of Remembrance on the Gwydir Highway, around 20 kilometres east of Glen Innes, when the 58-year-old lost control while trying to overtake another rider.

The ride left Brisbane on Wednesday with the Queensland police officers making their way to Armidale when the officer lost control.

The motorcycle went down an embankment and crashed. He died at the scene.

Queensland premier Steven Miles shared his condolences on social media.

“Devastated to hear an off-duty Queensland police officer has died during the Wall to Wall memorial ride near Glen Innes,” he said.

“My deepest condolences to family, friends and all members of the Qld Police Service.”

The circumstances of the crash are under investigation.

The Queensland government has passed new anti-vape legislation making the state the toughest jurisdiction in the country, as health data revealed rates of young people vaping had doubled over five years.

Smoking rates in Queensland have decreased since the 1990s, but the habit has been replaced by vaping, particularly in young adults and teenagers. More than one-third of young people aged 12 to 17 had vaped in 2023, which increased to 45 per cent among people aged 18 to 29.

The legislation gives authorities increased powers to close offending businesses for up to six months – a penalty no other state had introduced.

Read the full story here.

Former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Bernie Fraser says he has concerns with Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ reforms to the RBA, arguing the proposal of having a committee of monetary theorist “nerds” would fail to consider people who have expertise in other areas.

This week, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor announced the Coalition would not back the reforms which has left Chalmers in a position to try to negotiate with the Greens and Senate.

Fraser told ABC Radio National this morning his key concern with the reforms would be having an interest rate-setting committee governed by people overly focused on inflation.

“The whole focus of this recommendation is to have a committee of monetary theorists and nerds … calling tunes on interest rates without the consideration from people around the table who have expertise in other areas that need to be taken into account in determining changes in interest rates, and that’s the main concern that I have,” he said.

“Unless you’ve got people that have a feel for these things, and not just for monetary policy and theory, you need people around the table who are calling the decisions on interest rate changes to have these broader judgements and can fit those into the discussions that are going on, otherwise there will be a preoccupation with inflation and that’s been a problem with central banks everywhere.”

Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby will depart the company at the end of September after three-and- a-half years in the role.

The company informed the ASX on Thursday morning Sneesby will be stepping down both as CEO and a director of the board, with chief financial officer Matt Stanton appointed interim chief executive. Stanton will also lead the search for a successor.

Sneesby was criticised for being pictured carrying the Olympic torch in the lead up to the strike, and shortly after Nine had announced 200 staff would be made redundant, including up to 90 in the Publishing division.

During his tenure, Sneesby secured a landmark broadcast rights deal for the winter and summer Olympic Games until Brisbane 2032 in a $305 million. He also retained the free to air broadcast rights for the NRL, and oversaw subscription growth at both Nine’s publishing mastheads.

Nine’s share price has lost 57 per cent since the start of Sneesby’s tenure. Nine’s market capitalisation fell below $2 billion this week, and is currently sitting at $1.96 billion.

Read the full report here.

Labor will expand its plans to crack down on lies on social media by adding political content into misinformation laws before the federal election, setting up a dispute in parliament about whether the revised plan will curb free speech.

The bill gives federal authorities the power to force tech giants to act on alerts about damaging falsehoods and stop them spreading before they cause serious harm, citing the lies spread about the Bondi Junction knife attack this year as proof of the need for tougher laws.

But the revised draft retains a controversial feature that allows ministers to ask the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate a social media platform, despite Coalition calls for this to be removed because it could allow political leaders to meddle in decisions.

The bill will be put to parliament today.

A worker’s life-threatening injury at Brisbane’s Centenary Bridge construction site has prompted a workplace health and safety investigation and drawn the attention of both the government and CFMEU.

The man, in his 30s, was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital after being impaled in the neck by a piece of metal mesh.

Workers reportedly had to cut the man free.

CFMEU workplace health and safety co-ordinator Kurt Pauls said the union had been trying “for months” to access the site, managed by building group BMD.

Most business owners don’t believe they’re likely to benefit from the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

That’s according to a new pre-election report from peak lobby group Business Chamber Queensland, which paints a bleak picture of the state economy and calls for the next government to increase support.

“We’re seeing the longest sustained period of low business confidence in the past 30 years,” CEO Heidi Cooper said in a statement.

The organisation lists wage costs, energy costs, productivity, regulations, housing costs, inflation and interest rates among its primary concerns.A survey the group ran across businesses found:

• Just 18.3 per cent say they are confident their business can benefit from the Olympics.
• Just 6 per cent say the state government is planning for their long-term economic future
• 63.2 per cent cited major or critical concerns about housing accessibility, limiting their ability to employ staff
• 95.4 per cent say they’re not satisfied with the level of government support
• 43.2 per cent cited major or critical concern about access to adequate transport infrastructure

A “state election business blueprint” – which the chamber hopes will be implemented by the next government – will be unveiled at parliament house about 8am.

It’s the last day of parliament this term down on George Street today, and you can expect a day as politically charged with pre-election fervour as we’ve seen already this week.

Up for debate (and passage on Labor’s majority) will be the Miles government bill to set coal royalty rates increased in 2022 as a minimum floor.

This serves the dual purpose of giving the government a chance to spruik its royalty-assisted cost-of-living relief, and sets a law the LNP would need to repeal to lower them. (LNP leader David Crisafulli has said he would not change the royalty regime opposed by his party and the sector within his first term if elected, amid Labor claims he would.)

We’re also set to hear valedictory speeches from the nine departing MPs (four LNP, five Labor), before an event to farewell the 57th Queensland Parliament.

Then it’s full-steam ahead to the election on October 26.