Townsville Bulletin
RAISING THE ROOF
A critical housing shortage in North Queensland is threatening to derail half of the region’s $40 billion investment pipeline, peak economic body Townsville Enterprise has warned. Despite local home building hitting a five-year high, new analysis...
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SOUL of LIGHT
The young tourist tragically killed in the latest horrific bus crash on the Bruce Highway has been identified. Argentinian and Italian national Serena Andreatta had held a lifelong dream to travel to Australia according to her close friends, who...
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1RAR Band tune up for Sunset Vibes
With family and friends in the front row, musician Miella Sartori can’t wait to be belting out her favourite songs at the 1RAR Band Sunset Vibes concert tonight. The much-loved free concert is at the Crossed Boomerang Amphitheatre at Jezzine Barracks...
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Two critical in bus crash
Two people are fighting for their lives and dozens more are injured after a bus carrying 29 passengers overturned in a mass casualty disaster on the Bruce Highway Thursday afternoon. The Bruce Highway was closed in both directions near Rangemore Road,...
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CAR THIEVES RAM OWNER
Townsville’s youth crime crisis has hit a terrifying new chapter after “insane” CCTV footage captured a local resident narrowly cheating death at the hands of alleged car thieves. The shocking video, filmed at 7am Monday on Gilbert Crescent, shows the...
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North Queensland misses out in the budget of broken promises IT’S GRIM JIM
North Queensland has been left wanting after the federal government failed to deliver any meaningful commitments for the region, with Senator Susan Mcdonald describing it as “devastating”. One MP said Labor was trying to “distract families” with tax...
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WET SEASON
Angela Burling snapped this picture of the Burdekin Dam flowing over the spillway.
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18-HOUR SHIFTS AT NQ PRISON
Staff at Townsville’s plagued correctional centre are being peppered with requests to come in early, stay longer, and sign up for 18-hour shifts, despite the government claiming the workplace is “staffed appropriately”. Sources say the requests are...
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NEW RETAIL HUB ON THE CARDS
Townsville’s North Shore is set for a massive retail upgrade with the second stage of the 65,000sq m town centre ready. Designed to be the commercial heart of the community, the precinct will feature a discount department store and supermarket. The...
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DRIVER WALKS FREE
A Greyhound bus driver has been cleared of all charges following a horror triple-fatality crash on the Bruce Highway, bringing an emotional trial to a close in the Townsville District Court. Late Thursday afternoon, a jury found Peter Jason Cafe not...
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CLEAR BLUE
Angela Burling snapped this picture on a beautiful day at Picnic Bay, Magnetic Island.
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GRAND THEFT KIDDO
BATESSTORY, A wave of car thefts has left Townsville residents on edge after a 10-year-old child was arrested in connection with a weekend rampage involving 11 stolen vehicles. Between May 1 and May 5, a series of brazen thefts culminated in the...
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SEARCH FOR MILLIONAIRE
A Townsville resident could be a millionaire – but they just don’t know it yet. A whopping $2,139,901.06 is sitting unclaimed from Saturday’s Gold Lotto draw, with the ticket purchased at The Avenues News in Kirwan. A desperate search is under way to...
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OUR KIDS, OUR FUTURE
Top doctors have warned the future of Australian children is at a critical crossroads and in dire need of worldleading medical research to reverse a situation where an entire generation’s health is now, for the first time, worse than their...
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‘ARE YOU DEAF?’
A leaked video from a meeting between Townsville Hospital and Health Service Board Chairman Tony Mooney (right) has exposed serious issues between staff and leadership after senior medical officers walked out in protest after one of their colleagues...
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BUDGET’S $2.7BN BLOWOUT
A scathing audit has uncovered that the ADF’S management of the new Hanwha AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles has led to billion-dollar blowouts, delays and technical risks that could put soldiers’ safety and lethality at risk. The Redbacks are...
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MORE CASH FOR COUNCILS
The astronomical cost of running local governments is front and centre of a peak body’s new bid to secure more money for Queensland councils. This comes as Townsville’s mayor reveals the city is facing its “toughest” budget. The Local Government...
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$65M TOWER ON ICE
EXCLUSIVE Plans to build a luxury residential tower project near Ardo have been shelved indefinitely. The Maidment Group revealed there was no path forward for the project with skyrocketing costs and builder availability creating an “undesirable...
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GAZING UPWARD
Angela Burley sent through this snap of our beautiful hill and the surrounding scenery.
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SMART HUB SHUTDOWN
North Queensland faces a crushing brain drain unless funding is secured for Smart Precinct NQ. Operational funding was pulled by Townsville City Council for the venture, as the city attempts to get back into good financial shape. The move will mean...
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Premier concedes crime still too high
Premier David Crisafulli has acknowledged that the state government’s efforts to curb youth crime require more work. The admission comes following a Facebook video where Thuringowa MP Natalie Marr acknowledged that current progress was insufficient....
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CRIME DATA A ‘WIN’ FOR POLICE
New figures show Townsville is on track for a record-breaking year of reported crimes, which police say is proof their efforts are yielding results. The data reveals 4296 offences were recorded in March, taking the total for the first quarter of 2026...
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STREET LAWS UNDER FIRE
New laws designed to sweep “troublemakers” and people exhibiting anti-social behaviour off Queensland streets have been slammed by critics as nothing more than “kicking the can down the road”. The beefed-up legislation, to bolster the LNP’S crime...
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LAWS ON THE AGENDA
Two North Queensland MPS are set to meet with the Attorney-general’s team this week over failing youth crime laws, with one saying “it’s not good enough”. The move comes as the community criticises the LNP over the speed at which adult crime, adult...
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Home ransacked, peed in
Just days after his 18th birthday, a North Queensland teenager was allegedly involved in a home break-in which left a home ransacked and urine in a family’s bed. Zjkya Vincent Stockholmboyd appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on Thursday via...
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DOCTOR SUES OVER ‘WITCH HUNT’
A Townsville doctor dismissed for alleged time sheet fraud has taken on his former employer in court for unfair dismissal.
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KAP holds forum on BRS arrest
Following an influx of phone calls, Katter’s Australian Party hosted a public forum in Townsville to address community outrage surrounding the high-profile arrest of Ben Roberts-smith. The Battle Initiative CEO Andrew Hovenden highlighted a lack of...
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CBD FINES FAILURE
Townsville City Council’s local law designed to crack down on property owners letting their buildings go to ruin in the CBD has failed dismally. Six years after the law was first voted in, the council has handed out zero fines to owners, with Mayor...
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EDIFY VANISHES
Edify Energy’s green hydrogen production facility has been quietly shelved, with the company revealing it struggled to find support from customers.
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‘$20M FUEL ADS NOT WORTH IT’
Herbert MP Phillip Thompson says Australians don’t need a lecture on how to save fuel when it is more than $2 a litre. His scathing attack on the federal government comes after Labor launched the $20m Every Little Bit Helps campaign. “What...
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HELL ON WHEELS
A grieving father says the state’s new e-scooter laws are a long way off what’s needed, dubbing the devices “coffins on wheels” after losing his son, 35-year-old father of four Richard Cooper, in a tragic crash near the Townsville CBD.
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WEEKEND PLANNER 5 THINGS TO DO
1Flower lovers are in for a treat this weekend as the Townsville Orchid Society’s Autumn Orchid Show returns to the city. The popular event kicked off yesterday and runs through to Sunday at the Townsville Orchid Society Hall on Charles St, Kirwan....
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SHOPPING UNDER SIEGE
A concreter was on bail when he allegedly broke into a Townsville medical centre and took off with a large amount of vaccines. Alexander Charles Schwartz, 34, appeared in the Townsville Magistrates Court on Thursday via video link from the watch...
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CLASS CANCELLED
A cornerstone of the LNP’S election commitment to curb youth crime could be in jeopardy. The state government’s crime prevention schools will no longer go ahead as promised with sources revealing the program wouldn’t have achieved intended outcomes...
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CONSTRUCTION BOSS BAILED
Construction boss Paul Raiteri is back on the streets after being charged with 21 serious drugs and weapons charges. Mr Raiteri was granted bail after his lawyer warned the local company would collapse without him.
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TRAGIC REASON NQ NEEDS NEW WILDLIFE HOSPITAL
Almost every second wild animal brought into vet clinics across North Queensland is being euthanised, but a clinic opening later this year hopes to change that with the help of the community. The Wildhaven North Queensland Wildlife Hospital will...
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SICK PLAN TO KNIFE WORKERS
A 19-year-old woman has been sentenced after she stabbed a support worker at a care home through the hand with a cheese knife, before plotting with her boyfriend to attack other staffers at another facility. Amanda Grace Lockwood faced Townsville...
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DEADLY FLEET RETURNS
The armoured vehicles that killed a Townsville digger are back on the road, and they’ve already been involved in another incident.
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COUNCIL BOOTS THE BATS
Townsville City Council has unanimously endorsed a new flying fox plan, marking the first time “active dispersal” has been included as a tool to manage the city’s 16 recorded roosts.
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BLOSSOMS BLOOM
This is a beautiful shot of gum nuts flowering (Corymbia Gum) at Annandale in early January. Picture: David Ryan
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MUM NOT GUILTY
A mother has been cleared of manslaughter after a jury took less than two hours to find her not guilty of the drowning deaths of her two young sons. Leeanne Chrysilla Eatts wept as the verdict was delivered in the Townsville Supreme Court, ending a...
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SWEEPING SHORES
Terry Gillman sent in this snap taken from the mouth of Althaus Creek, looking out towards Rattlesnake Island.
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PLAYGROUND BULLIES
Children as young as four in North Queensland are already acting like “mean girls” to push their classmates out of the group, experts say. Kids Helpline boss Tony Fitzgerald said bullies targeted kids they knew were weaker or shy, just to feel like...
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MASTER OF CREEPY
Prominent NQ media personality Glenn ‘Minty’ Mintern has been accused of a years-long campaign of harassment, including sending unsolicited explicit images to multiple women. Mr Mintern confirmed he is withdrawing from public life to address his...
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ROCKPOOL UPDATE
A man in his 60s was rushed to hospital in critical condition after an altercation in Heatley yesterday morning. Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Nathan and Riechelmann streets after 7am, where Queensland Ambulance Service treated...
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‘PUNISHED ENOUGH’
A mother accused of the manslaughter of her two young children has pleaded not guilty in a Townsville courtroom. Leanne Chrysilla Eatts is accused of not taking reasonable care in supervising her sons, Jhulio, 3, and Barak, 5, who both drowned in the...
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CALM WATERS
Mangrove outcrops stand in the shallows as the sea rests easy under a brooding sky at Balgal Beach. Picture:
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TAINTED HONOUR
A prominent advocate for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse has urged the government to strip a convicted predator of a prestigious national title, saying it’s a “disgrace” he still holds an OAM despite being sentenced to 12 years behind bars.
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PARKING MAD
Townsville’s struggling city traders, currently battling a “ghost town” economy, say parking access and costs weigh heavily on customers, with the business community now urging the city council to reconsider its entire approach to CBD parking.
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RUNNING ON EMPTY
The transport industry could soon be brought to its knees, and the Australian Defence Force impacted, by the fuel crisis unfolding across the nation. The warning comes as truckers sound the alarm about unsustainable fuel prices that have soared past...
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$12M UP IN SMOKE
Federal and state authorities have seized $12m in contraband during raids across the North, including more than 2.5 million illicit cigarettes from a Garbutt storage unit.
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KIDS SNATCHED OFF STREET
Former butcher, 28-year-old Damon Bailey Hargrave, applied for bail in Townsville on Tuesday after allegedly kidnapping two young girls while already on bail for a prior offence against an 11-year-old, a court was told.
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EYESORE TO ICON
Townsville’s North Rail Yards are finally on track for an amazing transformation with $35 million in funding officially unlocked. The derelict 1880s-era site is drawing comparisons to Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves with the project set to save all...
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Spotlight on the monsters
Two sex offenders who could have had unsupervised contact with children were identified and charged under the state’s landmark public register. New figures measuring Queensland’s child sex offender register revealed that in the 75 days since it went...
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CRIME’S CORNER STORE
Organised interstate crime syndicates are strangling North Queensland’s retail sector, leaving veteran business owners fearing for their lives and their livelihoods. Townsville businesswoman Pamela Wright says her world is crumbling as illicit...
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KIDS LEFT IN LIMBO
A pillar of Townsville’s disability support network has vanished overnight. On Wednesday afternoon, the AEIOU Foundation entered administration, giving staff and parents just hours notice before shuttering its Kirwan centre. The sudden move sparked...
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Eight nabbed in crime spree
A major police operation has resulted in the arrest of eight people – including seven juveniles – after a fleet of stolen cars was allegedly used to target patrol vehicles in a series of “deliberate” attacks across the city. The group faces more than...
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‘CRIME DOES PAY’
Business owners have revealed the true cost of worsening anti-social behaviour plaguing the Townsville CBD as the Queensland government calls for input on statewide legislation designed to “clean up” the streets.
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SMASH AND JAB
A Kirwan medical practice is reeling after heartless thieves “cleaned out” more than 800 doses of vital vaccines in a targeted midnight raid. The brazen theft is the eighth break-in for the Kirwan GP Clinic in just 12 months, leaving staff...
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Stadium set to bring in the big Guns
Townsville has again cemented itself as the events capital of North Queensland, with Guns N’ Roses set to perform at Queensland Country Bank Stadium. Stadium general manager Cameron Jones said the stadium would be the home of rock for 2026. “Off the...
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RED SKY AT NIGHT
While the phenomenon used to be known as a shepherd’s delight, this photo was taken by Ben Pitt after a recent thunderstorm at Cranbrook.
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VIOLENT STREETS
New legislation introduced into state parliament will help police crackdown on anti-social behaviour as Townsville grapples with the third vicious attack in the CBD in recent weeks. Mayor Nick Dametto (pictured) says the police need the power to move...
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COWBOYS TOUCHDOWN BACK HOME
Even the toughest trip away couldn’t dampen the moment — especially for the players’ biggest fans, like little Naivy Clifford, who was all smiles as she greeted her dad at the airport
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FIRE UP THE FURNACE
A $130m upgrade to the home of five-time WNBL champions the Townsville Fire is at the forefront of a push for government funding in Canberra this week. Mayor Nick Dametto said after the team clinched another title, it was time to upgrade the...
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GIANT SLAYERS
The Townsville Fire was forced to dig deep against a red-hot Perth Lynx side and their towering big Han Xu on Sunday. The gritty NQ side sealed a late nail-biting win in overtime to secure the championship on enemy territory in one of the best WNBL...
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MOTHER’S TERROR
A deeply traumatised Townsville single mother has revealed how cowardly armed robbers invaded her home and threatened to hurt her terrified young boys.
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FORGING A NEW PATH
The Queensland Police Service’s new deputy commissioner of regional operations has revealed how police plan to crack down on crime, using evidence-based tactics and local intel to make a difference on the ground and put a dent in victim numbers.
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WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
Queensland councils will have better access to flood data, the Bureau of Meteorology has revealed, with plans in place to upgrade its software to deliver information faster. This comes after the BOM axed its long-term weather monitoring software, and...
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SHOW YOUR COMMUNITY PRIDE SMS SAVIOURS
An Outback mayor is relying on station owners to warn of rainfall totals, enacting a decades-old communication train in a bid to keep residents informed about flooding. Richmond Mayor John Wharton (right) has slammed the Bureau of Meteorology’s...
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FANS UNDER FIRE
The WNBL is investigating a clash between a Southside Flyers player and a Townsville Fire fan at Sunday’s game. Maddy Rocci claims the Townsville fan was “targeting players” across the WNBL semi-final series, which led to the ugly incident. Rocci had...
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OPEN-DOOR POLICY
A series of humiliating security bungles has left dangerous inmates roaming free inside the Townsville Correctional Centre. In three shocking midnight lapses, guards failed to bolt the doors, leaving weapons offenders and highrisk prisoners to haunt...
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WE DON’T GIVE A RAT’S
A bitter standoff has erupted at a local school, where a year 6 student faces expulsion over his haircut. A lifelong student at the institution has been issued an ultimatum: cut his locks or lose his place in the classroom.
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BORDER BLITZ BEGINS
Criminal syndicates trafficking drugs through the Torres Strait will be targeted by a new north Queensland joint taskforce involving the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Police Service. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett and QPS Assistant...
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