Latest news with #Mareeba
ABC News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Queensland crocodile cull plan supported by some councils, slammed by conservationists
On George Adil's cane farm in Far North Queensland, the day-to-day of life and work keeps him busy. It means he doesn't always have time to be vigilant of crocodiles on his Mareeba property, inland of Cairns, especially when he has to get into the river to service his irrigation equipment and pump by hand. "It is definitely worrying when you have to get into the river," he says. "I'm focused on farming, and I'm focused on the next problem." He believes saltwater crocodiles have been an increasing problem since a major flood in 2000, now leading a petition to expand an existing crocodile removal zone. He says, aside from the impact on his farming, he and his family have also had to stop swimming in the Barron River. Mr Adil is supportive of a proposed bill, which would allow crocodile culls and removals in populated areas. But says decisions about the management of the species should be made by those who live in crocodile country. The proposed legislation from Katter's Australian Party, which would also allow Indigenous groups to run safari-style hunting trips, is currently being examined by a Queensland parliamentary inquiry. At a public hearing held in Brisbane today, it received support from some local councils, who say more needs to be done. Speaking at a public hearing into the bill on Wednesday, Mareeba Shire deputy mayor Lenore Wyatt said Mr Adil was far from alone in his frustration with crocodiles. She says it was taking to long to remove crocodiles or obtain the permits needed to move them — including within an existing special zone "F" where saltwater crocodiles are already removed upon sighting. Councillor Wyatt says in one case a farmer had contacted the state environment department in January about a large crocodile in his dam, but had yet to have it removed in June. She says this slow response time highlighted an "urgent need for reform". Councillor Wyatt told the committee it's believed crocodiles had not been native to the area, and instead had ended up in the area's waterways in the 1990s after escaping a crocodile farm. She said this made it a "unique" situation, and was urgently calling for more to be done regarding crocodile management. "We're not asking for crocodile eradication, but we are asking for a more responsive and place-based approach to crocodile management," she said. Crocodiles were hunted to the brink of extinction in Queensland prior to the 1970s. Saltwater crocodiles are currently considered a threatened species and are protected. The Department of Environment estimates there are between 20,000 and 30,000 salt and freshwater crocodiles in Queensland waterways. Further south, the Whitsundays Regional Council says it's also dealing with growing crocodile populations. The Proserpine River has the largest population of saltwater crocodiles along the east coast. It's also supportive of the bill and moves to address numbers, and to make it easier to get permits to move crocodiles. "Crocodiles are an important tourist attraction for the Whitsundays," council's natural resource management and climate manager Scott Hardy told the committee. "They can also be a hazard as well." He says crocodiles are regularly sighted offshore at Airlie Beach as well as occasionally off Whitsunday Islands, and a growing population in popular tourist locations is causing concern over the risk of "inevitable" crocodile interactions with tourists and residents. Like in Mareeba, Mr Hardy says council is struggling to relocate crocodiles due to the length of time it takes to obtain permits to do so. He is also supportive of a better way to record crocodile sightings, such as by using a QR code, and is calling for better education and more frequent surveys. Meanwhile, conservationists including Bob Irwin and the Environmental Defenders' Office (EDO) appeared at the inquiry to speak in opposition of the bill. Mr Irwin, who founded what would go on to become Australia Zoo, said he'd been working with crocodiles in the wild and captivity for more than four decades. He said over that time he and his son Steve had worked hard to get into their heads and understand them. Mr Irwin said he was "frustrated" to once again hear calls for crocodile culling, describing it as a "pointless exercise". He told the committee he was concerned that as large crocodiles were extremely territorial, killing one or removing it would simply lead to smaller ones, with potentially worse behaviour, replacing them. Mr Irwin said he wasn't against moving crocodiles away from areas where people exercised their dogs or from waterways near a boat ramp, but said he remained concerned about crocodiles returning to their own territory. He also called for more education, saying most deaths around crocodiles occurred due to human recklessness and was scathing of people who filmed themselves getting close to crocodiles. For Queensland premier David Crisafulli, it was human safety which had to come "first absolutely". "I'll always say that. We also have to balance good environmental outcomes and that's why everyone should have their say on this bill," he said on Wednesday. The committee will deliver its final report in August.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Teen dies in e-scooter crash
A young man has died after falling from an electric scooter in regional Queensland. The crash tragic accident happened in the town of Mareeba, near Cairns, on Tuesday night. A police spokeswoman told NewsWire, as of late Wednesday morning, the deceased male was yet to be identified. Local media reports it is a teenager who has died. The spokeswoman said the police believe there were no other vehicles involved in the crash. The forensic crash unit is investigating. The tragic incident is the latest electric scooter crash to rock the country and follows the release of a report last week from doctors and researchers in Queensland highlighting the 'significant risk' to children from e-scooters. The report, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, analysed 176 child e-scooter injury cases that presented to Sunshine Coast University Hospital between January 2023 and December 2024. The research found 71 per cent of cases were male, falls accounted for 78 per cent of crashes, while 13 per cent involved motor vehicles. Helmet noncompliance was documented in 42 per cent of the presentations, 12 per cent involved doubling, and 36 per cent exceeded the 25km/h speed limit. Further, fractures occurred in 37 per cent of cases, 18 per cent required computerised tomography scans and 11 per cent sustained life-threatening or potentially life-threatening injuries.
News.com.au
11-06-2025
- News.com.au
Teen dies in e-scooter crash at Mareeba, far north Queensland
A young man has died after falling from an electric scooter in regional Queensland. The crash tragic accident happened in the town of Mareeba, near Cairns, on Tuesday night. A police spokeswoman told NewsWire, as of late Wednesday morning, the deceased male was yet to be identified. Local media reports it is a teenager who has died. The spokeswoman said the police believe there were no other vehicles involved in the crash. The forensic crash unit is investigating. The tragic incident is the latest electric scooter crash to rock the country and follows the release of a report last week from doctors and researchers in Queensland highlighting the 'significant risk' to children from e-scooters. The report, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, analysed 176 child e-scooter injury cases that presented to Sunshine Coast University Hospital between January 2023 and December 2024. The research found 71 per cent of cases were male, falls accounted for 78 per cent of crashes, while 13 per cent involved motor vehicles. Helmet noncompliance was documented in 42 per cent of the presentations, 12 per cent involved doubling, and 36 per cent exceeded the 25km/h speed limit. Further, fractures occurred in 37 per cent of cases, 18 per cent required computerised tomography scans and 11 per cent sustained life-threatening or potentially life-threatening injuries.
The Guardian
07-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Geographic narcissism': the battle to fund aged care providers in rural Australia
In the final stages of Angiolina Moro's dementia journey, she would revert to speaking Italian. 'She was in her late 20s when she arrived in Australia,' her son, Joe Moro, says. 'So as her dementia creeped in, she lost the capacity to speak in English.' Angiolina died in February. She spent the final five years of her life at an aged care facility in Mount Kooyong, 50km north of Mareeba, the far north Queensland town where she had lived most of her life. Moro says his mother would have preferred to stay in Mareeba, where language wasn't as much of a barrier. Ten per cent of Mareeba's population is Italian. 'I know the staff [at Mount Kooyong] spent a lot of effort trying to communicate,' he says. 'I think they did a fantastic job. 'A lot of older people in the [region] are the first lot of immigrants who came back in the 50s and worked hard and are now deteriorating and ending up in homes. So language is a big barrier up here for getting good outcomes in care.' Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Moro says because of the relative isolation of the region there are limited options for aged care. Some travel to Cairns, about 60km from Mareeba, to fit in with their adult children's work schedules. But, Moro says, most of their elderly parents would prefer to stay in smaller communities. Ross Cardillo sold his business several years ago to help around the family lychee and longan farm at Mareeba. He and his sister are supporting their mother, 77, who is providing in-home care for their father, 83. 'There's just not sufficient care in Mareeba,' Cardillo says. '[Dad] wants to stay home, which is fair enough. If he goes to an aged care facility, he will die. And my mother won't let him die.' It is a common story in rural Australia. In-home aged care services are limited the further you travel from capital cities and regional centres. Cardillo has many friends who travel an hour to access aged care homes and the distances increase as you move further inland. Cardillo is the chairman of Mareeba and Communities Family Healthcare, a social, not-for-profit enterprise founded five years ago to provide improved medical services in the town. 'We are trying to cater for our ageing population with little or no support from anyone else,' he says. 'As a community, we see it as valuable and important and we're pursuing that. 'It's about opening up funding to more providers that are available up here.' In May, the enterprise set up an outreach clinic in Mutchilba, 35km south-west of Mareeba, to service the 600 locals. 'Most of them are elderly, so we didn't want them to travel as far,' Cardillo says. Moro, who is also the Mareeba Chamber of Commerce president, says Mareeba and Communities Family Healthcare was set up to focus on general medical services but could expand to aged care if there was adequate 'dollars, cents and expertise'. 'We have an overall shortage here,' he says. 'There are numerous councils trying to get investment and there's talk of something going to happen – at the end of the day it's an investment issue.' A 2023 report by the National Rural Health Alliance estimated that rural Australians missed out on $850 worth of healthcare services each year due to a lack of access to or availability of services in their local area – equating to a total annual rural health underspend of $6.5bn. The Alliance chief executive, Susi Tegen, says many communities have resorted to raising funds on their own. She described the failure of governments to adequately fund aged care in the regions as 'geographic narcissism'. 'Some communities are coming up with models that are much better and allow for support from the local community,' Tegen says. 'However, they are often not funded. They rely on volunteers and they are often not considered by government funding to be good enough. And yet, we seem to see a population that is being told by the lack of funding that they're not as important as urban people.' In New South Wales, the Snowy Mountains community of Bombala shot a nude calendar to raise funds to keep the Currawarna assisted living facility open after it closed due to staff shortages in 2022. Tegen says rural communities need a commitment from state and federal governments to ensure they receive equitable funding to keep pace with the ageing population. The number of Australians aged over 65 years is projected to almost double from 3.8m in 2017 to 6.4m in 2042, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Tegen says it is difficult to attract healthcare workers to move to regional areas because they 'feel they're not being supported'. 'They're having to beg and scrape, and they're having to jump through hoops to get the money that everyone else seems to be getting in the city,' she says. The federal government in March said it would invest $600m in in-home care in regional Australia and for people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences. There is also almost $1bn in the federal budget for the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program, which provides grants to build, extend or upgrade aged care services or to build staff accommodation where older Australians have limited or no access. But Cardillo says it seems as though that money never filters down to his community, and the people at the top do not understand the reality of those in regional communities. He says the community will keep doing what they need to do to cater for their ageing population. 'They get things done themselves and they do it themselves,' he says. Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
The Australian
07-06-2025
- Sport
- The Australian
Group 1 roughie king Ryan Maloney strikes again in Queensland Derby with Maison Louis
Jockey Ryan Maloney seized a sliding doors moment to again prove the king of the Group 1 roughies, as Maison Louis pinched the Queensland Derby for proud former Queenslander John O'Shea. It wasn't quite the blowout result that Maloney conjured in last year's Group 1 Queensland Oaks when Socks Nation shocked everyone including Maloney as a $101 winner. Racenet iQ members get full access to our Pro Tips service, where Greg and our team of professional punters provide daily tips with fully transparent return on investment statistics. SUBSCRIBE NOW and start punting like a pro! But Maison Louis, trained by O'Shea and his training partner Tom Charlton, was sent out at $21 in a Derby which was set alight by a mid-race move by James McDonald on favourite Belle Detelle who shot to the lead. Belle Detelle couldn't go on with it, finishing seventh, as the O'Shea team grabbed the quinella with King Of Thunder ($12) finishing runner-up. The Derby had been meant to be raced seven days earlier with Ben Melham poised to ride Maison Louis. But with Melham pre-planning a family holiday, Maloney made the most of his opportunity to score another Group 1. The former Victorian jockey now has six career Group 1 wins and four of them have come in his adopted Queensland home. O'Shea was born and raised in Mareeba, Queensland, and loves few things more than having Group 1 success in the Sunshine State including winning the Stradbroke Handicap with Private Steer in 2003. • What the jockeys said: 2025 Queensland Derby 'I'm a proud Queenslander, not just a Queenslander, so it's a big thrill today,' O'Shea said. 'He's just a tough, resilient little horse and he's come from obscurity to win a Queensland Derby so we're very excited. 'He's just been a progressive horse by a top young stallion in Super Seth. 'I think the key was that he was able to cope with the workload.' The rescheduled Derby lost a runner before the start with one of the fancies, South Australian visitor Party Crasher, being taken out at the barriers. It meant Craig Williams was without a ride. But there was a hungry Queensland jockey looking to seize his chance on Maison Louis. Ryan Maloney returns to the winner's stall on Maison Louis. Picture: Trackside Photography • Dale ponders shot at Stradbroke with Front Page 'It was a very dawdling run Derby, and when J-Mac sort of made his move at the half-mile, he increased the tempo, but not by a hell of a lot,' Maloney said. 'When he got the gap, he pinned his ears back and was just tough as nails. 'Last week, my (Derby) emergency got a run. 'But this week, I didn't have a Derby ride initially and luckily I picked it up. 'It is amazing what a week can do.' Mark Zahra, riding the winner's stablemate King Of Thunder, thought he had the race at his mercy. 'He ran really well, I thought we had it won but the stablemate just beat him,' Zahra said. Statuario, trained by Emma-Lee and David Browne, started well fancied at $5 but was never in the picture and finished 14th and beaten 10 lengths. 'Very disappointing,' jockey John Allen said. 'We never got into a good rhythm, and we were always just on one rein. 'We struggled from the 500m mark.'
