By Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa

Copyright smh

A hearse was stolen from a funeral home at the Gold Coast this morning and was involved in a crash with other vehicles minutes later.A hearse was reported stolen from a Gold Coast funeral home on Friday morning and crashed minutes later.Credit: Nine NewsThe alleged thief, a 38-year-old, was taken into custody at the scene of the crash and is this morning in hospital under police guard. Nine News reported that the hearse was stolen from Integrity Funerals in Parkwood before 5am.A van was knocked on its side in the crash, and the driver needed to be freed by emergency services.Credit: Nine NewsAbout 15 minutes later, the hearse was in a traffic crash, with one of the other vehicles, a van, knocked on its side, trapping its driver.Police and fire crews freed that driver, Nine reported.The accused was expected to be charged today.Latest postsLatest postsWest End Markets are having their Spring Solstice Market tonight from 4pm. Enjoy an Aperol spritz and some slow-cooked meats as well as live music and 150 stalls to browse.On Sunday, thousands of keen runners will jog from Murarrie across the Gateway and all the way to the Showgrounds for the annual 10-kilometre Bridge to Brisbane (the shorter 5km run skips the bridge). Watch out for road closures.Ken Done in his studio.Credit: Luisa BrimbleKen Done was an icon of the 1980s in Australia with his colourful artworks and the many products on which they appeared. Now 85, he’s the subject of Ken Done: No Rules, a retrospective at HOTA on the Gold Coast, opening tomorrow and running for five months.Also on the Goldie, Swell Sculpture Festival begins today with 80 artworks installed at Currumbin Beach and in other pop-up locations (say hi to Sheila).Violin virtuoso Ray Chen is redefining what a classical musician is in the 21st century, with 1 million Instagram followers and a flamboyant stage act – see him at QPAC on Sunday.In Brisbane Festival, Australian pop musical The Lovers is opening at QPAC, with its plot updating A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a cast featuring Hamilton’s Jason Arrow.Also in the festival, The Platypus by Mad as Hell comedian Francis Greenslade is a black comedy about the messy denouement of a marriage, while Batshit is Leah Shelton’s one-woman show about how psychiatry has been shaped by gender bias.And in AFL, the Brisbane Lions will take on the Gold Coast Suns at the Gabba in what will be a monster QClash semi-final on Saturday.Anthony Albanese has backed the flow of migrants to Australia in “appropriate numbers”, saying it plays an “important role” while landing a thinly veiled jab on firebrand senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price after she made false claims about Indian migration.“We welcome people from all over the world in appropriate numbers. They importantly provide a skilled workforce in areas where it’s needed,” Albanese told 4CA Cairns radio moments ago.Anthony Albanese.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen“People need to address these issues, also in a way that promotes social inclusion, that doesn’t target any communities. And unfortunately, on the other side of politics, as we’ve seen, there has been a targeting of particular communities, and we’re a better country than that.”Price was dismissed from the Coalition frontbench on Wednesday after failing to apologise for her remarks about Indian migration, and for failing to back Liberal leader Sussan Ley.

Anthony Albanese has condemned political violence following the assassination of US conservative influencer Charles Kirk, saying his thoughts were with Kirk’s family.“There is no place for political violence,” Albanese told 4CA Cairns radio moments ago. “Our thoughts are certainly with Charlie Kirk’s loved ones at this time.”A well-wisher places flowers at a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters.Credit: APAlbanese said he was observing a “polarisation of politics”, finding that social media was contributing in pushing people “towards extremes”, which he said was “not a good thing here in Australia”.“The fact we have compulsory voting, the fact we have preferential voting as well, pushes people towards more mainstream views of mainstream politics, rather than being at the edges and trying to make people angry and respond emotionally, and it is a real concern when you look at the world, there’s no place you’d rather be than here in Australia.”

Advertisement

A hearse was stolen from a funeral home at the Gold Coast this morning and was involved in a crash with other vehicles minutes later.A hearse was reported stolen from a Gold Coast funeral home on Friday morning and crashed minutes later.Credit: Nine NewsThe alleged thief, a 38-year-old, was taken into custody at the scene of the crash and is this morning in hospital under police guard. Nine News reported that the hearse was stolen from Integrity Funerals in Parkwood before 5am.A van was knocked on its side in the crash, and the driver needed to be freed by emergency services.Credit: Nine NewsAbout 15 minutes later, the hearse was in a traffic crash, with one of the other vehicles, a van, knocked on its side, trapping its driver.Police and fire crews freed that driver, Nine reported.The accused was expected to be charged today.Liberal senator Jane Hume says there has been “mishandling on all sides” in the internal saga resulting in the dismissal of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the Coalition frontbench, sharing relief at the apparent conclusion of the affair and “absolutely” backing Sussan Ley’s leadership.Hume signalled her disapproval at the involvement of party colleague Alex Hawke in the affair, which started after Price made false claims about Indian migration last week, eventually resulting in the firebrand senator’s sacking after she continually refused to apologise and failing to back in Ley’s leadership this week.Opposition Leader Sussan Ley dismissed Jacinta Price from the Coalition frontbench on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen“This has been an entirely unedifying week for the Coalition, not something that we want to repeat, something we should learn from,” Hume told Seven’s Sunrise this morning.“I think there has been mishandling on all sides, but the good news is we have cauterised the wound, we are going to move on now and talk about what’s important to ordinary Australians.”Our Chief Political Commentator, James Massola, writes today that “Price was demoted, not discarded – and that spells trouble for Ley”.Billy Walters has opened up on the controversial sacking of his father, club legend Kevin, from coaching duties at the Brisbane Broncos, and admitted he considered leaving the team.He has spent his Broncos’ days fighting cries of nepotism to ensure he stood on his own.Thrust into the No.9 jumper, cries of father-son privilege rained until the younger Walters became a pivotal figure in the club’s charge to the 2023 NRL grand final.All in the family: Billy and Kevin Walters’
with Billy’s son, Hugo.Now, in sports reporter Nick Wright’s story, he has revealed why he stayed after his father’s axing.

Advertisement

US President Donald Trump has praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a “good man” in the first and only comments he has made about the phone call the two leaders had last week.“He’s a good man,” Trump told this masthead as he left the White House moments ago, after he was asked about the call with Albanese. He did not elaborate.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump spoke on the phone last week in what the prime minister described as a “warm and constructive” call.Credit: VariousTrump spent most of his doorstop talking about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. He answered this correspondent’s question immediately before boarding a waiting Marine One helicopter bound for the airport and New York.But the positive assessment of Albanese backs up the prime minister’s description of his “warm and constructive” call with Trump last Thursday night, covering economics, trade and security.Despite that, there has been no official readout from the White House or other comment from Trump about the call.And there has been no confirmation of a possible meeting while Albanese is in the US later this month for a United Nations meeting.The driver accused of leading officers on an hours-long chase in a stolen food van has been identified.Dylan Fitzgerald has been identified as the driver accused of leading police on a chase in a stolen food truck.Credit: Nine NewsMore than a dozen police cars and a helicopter pursued the vehicle on Wednesday from the Brisbane CBD to just south of Maryborough, where it was stopped.The alleged driver, 39-year-old Dylan Jake Fitzgerald, was arrested and police laid seven charges, including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, driving under the influence, evading police and driving while suspended.He faced Hervey Bay Magistrates Court on Thursday.Fitzgerald did not apply for bail and will remain behind bars.The big bluster blew hats off all over Brisbane yesterday, but we’ve returned to calmer conditions to close out the week. Today we’re expecting a partly cloudy day with a mild top temperature of 24 degrees – although the apparent temperature means it could feel much cooler – and light winds, and the weather bureau predicts the slight chance of a shower around lunchtime.Here’s how the weekend’s weather is looking to pan out, along with a glance at much of next week:

Advertisement

Here’s what’s making news further afield this morning:American authorities have recovered a high-powered rifle believed to be used in the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, as they home in on clear vision of a “college age” shooter who moved through stairwells to a rooftop to fire the fatal shot. Sussan Ley is expected to placate frustrated conservatives with plum gigs in a reshuffle forced by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s sacking, as the Coalition’s right faction splinters over the opposition leader’s future.The scandal over Jeffrey Epstein has spilled into British politics in a slow-motion drama that has claimed the scalp of an influential Labour insider, Lord Peter Mandelson, over his years of friendship with the convicted sex offender.Anthony Albanese was the odd one out in his pink floral shirt.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was caught in an awkward fashion faux pas at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in the Solomon Islands when he walked in sporting a red-and-white, short-sleeved, tropical-style shirt that screamed Sunday arvo beers and snags on the barbie. He stood out like a sore thumb as every other leader at the forum was wearing a sober dark-blue batik shirt – but the PM excused himself and quickly reappeared in another shirt.Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been convicted by a Supreme Court majority of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.