Madura McCormack

The state government has promised to slash $757m in consultant and contractor costs by the end of June, but can’t say how or when a taxpayer-funded firm critical to the commitment will be set up.

Restrictive trading hours, planning red tape and high property taxes make Queensland one of the worst places to do business in Australia.

A whopping $1.4bn of Queensland’s budget to build Olympic and Paralympic Games venues was set to be gobbled up by pro-union construction perks, the state government has revealed.

Queensland’s progressive three-strike drug possession laws will be repealed under an LNP government Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has confirmed.

Millions of dollars will be pumped into fixing Queensland’s forensic DNA lab crisis, up to 20 frontline staff hired, and a new judge added in Townsville under a $21.5m LNP plan to boost Queensland’s justice system and clear a growing backlog of cases.

Queensland’s public service gender pay gap has fallen to record lows, but new government data reveals one under-fire agency has been going backward.

The LNP hasn’t pledged enough money to its ambitious child protection plan, the state government has alleged, slamming the Opposition for rubbery figures.

Hundreds more child safety officers will be recruited, a new safe house built, and a new “professional” foster carer program trialled under the LNP’s multimillion-dollar promise to reform the child protection system.

Asbestos-riddled schools and poorly maintained education facilities will be the early focus of the last day of budget estimates.

A dedicated night life commissioner will be appointed by the Miles Government in a bid to revitalise Queensland’s 24-hour economy amid shock closures of live music venues and cancellations of major festivals.

Premier Steven Miles has sensationally labelled LNP frontbencher Ros Bates “one of the nastiest people in the Queensland Parliament” and called on Opposition Leader David Crisafulli to “pull her into line”.

The state’s mayors and councillors have been granted pay bumps worth thousands of dollars, with a major rejig of how councils are classified delivering four mayors a five-figure increase.

A school camp on one of Queensland’s most idyllic islands will be turned into a low-security facility to “redirect” young offenders from a life of crime under an audacious One Nation plan.

A majority of Queensland’s senior public sector workers are paid more than the Premier, with comprehensive analysis of the salaries of top executives revealing two people are now paid more than $1m each a year.

Almost half of Australia’s 23.5m cattle herd is in Queensland, with the state to be hit the hardest in an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The state has stepped up its biosecurity measures.

There is enough vaccine supply in Australia right now for Queensland to open mass vaccination hubs according to federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.

GLADSTONE man Nathan Smith decided to pack up his family and close his business to head to the Queensland Police Academy - then missed his first day of cop school.

EXCLUSIVE: Mackay Regional Council will wrangle a hodgepodge of landlords in another attempt to find the key to resuscitating the flat-lining CBD.

EXCLUSIVE: Ten cents and a bagful of empty tins is about to become big business for a small family-run Mackay business - to the benefit of community groups, the environment and local business.

THE search for the wreckage of the helicopter involved in a crash that claimed the lives of two American tourists in the Whitsundays has been suspended.