In a few idyllic parts of Queensland grows the idiot fruit, a tall tree with intricate flowers and some of the largest seeds in Australia.
Successive governments have seen the Great Barrier Reef not just as a scientific wonder, but as a channel to further economic development.
Superjoseph/Shutterstock.com
The $444 million awarded to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has been criticised as a politically calculated move. But governments have been asking what the reef can do for them ever since colonial times.
The states have pulled far ahead of the Commonwealth on improving transparency around political donations.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
New research shows that refugees in regional Queensland have found it very easy to make friends and feel safe and comfortable raising children in their communities.
The most notable – and underestimated – aspect of the vote count in Longman was the fall in support for the Coalition.
AAP/Darren England
There were lessens for both major parties in Longman- more worrying for the Coalition than Labor. It showed voter volatility and disenchantment, and that One Nation remains a powerful force.
As the name suggests, Windy Hill near Cairns gets its fair share of power-generating weather.
Leonard Low/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons
There are calls from the backbench and elsewhere for the federal government to safeguard the future of coal. But do those calls make economic sense? A look at Queensland’s energy landscape suggests not.
South-East Queensland residents need to prepare for more regular floods, according to new data.
Shutterstock
We rely on climate data to help us make important decisions for our future, such as building infrastructure. But what if a region’s climate has long been more volatile than we realised?
Gavin Webber and Kate Harman in The Mathematics of Longing.
Art Work Agency
In an ambitious new work of theatre and dance, performers read out mathematical theories then build scenes around them.
With, for now, three Senate votes as her bargaining chips, Hanson’s impact – on government policy or on the major parties’ electoral strategy – is still being felt.
AAP/Peter Mathew
Despite its dysfunction and often inconsistent policy positions, the party has cemented an influential place in the federal arena, albeit a status that’s on the verge of diminishing drastically.
Victoria is set to become only the third jurisdiction to introduce industrial manslaughter laws, behind the ACT and Queensland.
AAP/Paul Miller
High-speed rail for Australia has been on the drawing boards since the mid-1980s but has come to nothing. Three states are developing medium-speed rail with federal funding, but NSW is missing out.
Queensland’s Ministerial Code now bans Ministers from using private email and messaging apps.
Shutterstock
The ban on Queensland Members of Parliament using encrypted messaging apps for government business should be accompanied by a willingness to strengthen official accountability across the board.
Dora the Explorer is coming to Queensland but is our local industry too dependent on international movies?
Keith Bedford
This week actors including Cate Blanchett signed an open letter calling on the government to protect our screen industry. More needs to be done to create a sustainable local industry beyond Dora-style, Hollywood productions.
As planning minister, Jackie Trad said legislative changes would make the planning system more open and accountable.
AAP/Darren England
Changes under Queensland’s recently instituted Planning Act give councils much more leeway in their decision-making, which makes it harder for appeals against decisions to succeed.
Floods in South East Queensland follow a 40-year cycle, and planners should take note.
AAP Image
Engineering practice assumes that floods are randomly distributed but science suggests they are not. This raises questions about the reliability of flood infrastructure and management strategies.
Vegetation ‘thinning’ in Queensland - a practice that was originally designed to restore forests and woodlands to a ‘representative state’.
WWF-Australia
Queensland’s new draft land-clearing laws aim to put the brakes on years of environmental destruction. But the bill contains several loopholes that are likely to stymie progress.
Adani faces court over allegations of concealing the amount of coal water released in Caley Valley Wetlands last year.
Ian Sutton/flickr
Indigenous ranger programs have now been running successfully for a decade. Given Queensland’s size and large Indigenous population, there’s a strong case for expanding the program in that state.
An artist’s impression of the Wakaleo schouteni marsupial ‘lion’ challenging a thylacine over the carcass of a kangaroo in the early Miocene rainforest of Riversleigh.
Peter Schouten
‘Marsupial lions’ aren’t really lions - but they did have teeth that formed a pair of secateur-like blades. The newly found species lived in forests of Queensland around 20 million years ago.