Michael Tate was an academic, a politician, a diplomat and, for the past 26 years, a Catholic priest. “It would be easy to stand here and simply recite that record … it reads almost like four different lives,” his friend Jeffrey McGee told the hundreds gathered for Father Tate’s funeral in Hobart on Tuesday. “But…

The Queensland government will invest $250 million to establish an agency aimed at improving the protection of children from sexual abuse, in response to a review that found multiple opportunities were missed to stop one of Australia’s most notorious paedophiles.  A report by the Child Death Review Board found there were more than 18 points…

Townsville Mayor Nick Dametto says he does not expect to be charged with assault as Queensland police investigate his involvement in an alleged altercation at Magnetic Island.  After six days of offering “no comment” to media organisations, the mayor addressed the matter at a press conference today.  “What I’ve read has been one of the…

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has officially declared El Niño active, and modelling tips it could become the strongest ever event in the modern era. El Niño refers to an extended period of warmer than normal waters in the central tropical Pacific. It is a state that can linger for up to 12 months and…

A man has allegedly assaulted four police officers and woman known to him in Port Augusta earlier today.  SA Police said two officers were called to a home about 9:30am to address a “domestic disturbance” but when officers arrived and attempted to arrest the man, he assaulted them. “When police arrived, they attempted to arrest…

Queensland captain Cameron Munster is confident prop Tino Fa’asuamaleaui will do his late father Fereti proud in tomorrow night’s State of Origin II at the MCG. Fa’asuamaleaui left the Maroons’ training camp on the Sunshine Coast last week after his father died following a battle with cancer. Maroons rally around mourning Tino Tino Fa’asuamaleaui indicates…

Queensland Police have told a regional court they are considering a contempt of court charge against a Cairns man who allegedly published suppressed details about a high-profile Queensland man at the centre of an extortion case.  The 35-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of breaching a non-publication order by continuing to…

A Queensland police officer says saving a “snarky” Chihuahua from a house fire that claimed the home and belongings of the 91-year-old owner was all in a day’s work. Constable Kieren Trannore climbed over a railing onto the verandah of the Blackbutt North home in the South Burnett, 170 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, and retrieved…

A coronial inquest into the murder of a 10-year-old girl in rural New South Wales has commenced. Bridgette “Biddy” Porter, from Orange in the state’s central west, was killed in 2020. Her killer was found guilty but not criminally responsible during a hearing in the Supreme Court in November 2021. They were detained in a…