Brisbane news live: No bail for man accused of orchestrating partner’s hit-and-run murder | Boy suffers life-threatening burns in backyard | PM visits Great Barrier Reef

An Arizona man accused of communicating with an Australian family who carried out the deadly shooting at Wiemabilla, in Queensland, will face a delayed US trial due to his lawyer’s computer network being hacked.

Brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train used high-powered rifles during an ambush to kill Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow at the remote property in December 2022.

Arizona man Donald Day Jr, 60, was charged a year later in the US with making threats to public figures and FBI agents, and possessing illegal firearms.

US District Judge John Tuchi has now ordered the trial start date be pushed back from April 22 to September 15.

Tuchi had ruled in March that Queensland Police officers would be able to testify at the trial, after US prosecutors said their evidence was necessary to prove Day was serious when he made threats after the Wieambilla shootings.

Day’s lawyer Jon Sands then applied to Judge Tuchi for a pre-trial conference and the trial itself to be delayed.

Sands said the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Arizona had discovered ransomware affecting local file storage and data backup systems on its network.

“At this time, the office has no access to its network and, accordingly, staff are limited in the work they can do.”

Day entered pleas of not guilty to all charges in the Arizona District Court in May 2024 and has denied any involvement in the Wieambilla shootings.

The maelstrom swirling around Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff regime couldn’t feel more removed from the tranquil Cairns region that the prime minister is visiting today, as he campaigns to win the seat back from the opposition.

But the spectre of another political leader looms nearly as large as the US head honcho, with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek nowhere to be seen in Far North Queensland.

Anthony Albanese this morning is preparing to board a boat and visit the Great Barrier Reef, the environmental asset many voters most closely associate with her role – given Plibersek lists its protection as a key justification for multi-million dollar federal funding – not to mention Labor’s ambitious climate change agenda.

Missing today’s trip freezes Plibersek out of an announcement for the $6 million funding for Kids for the Reef rebates to subsidise school excursions to the Great Barrier Reef.

Relations have been fraught for Albanese and Plibersek for a long time, given both are potential leadership rivals. But the relationship became particularly frosty in November, after the PM’s last-minute intervention to scupper Plibersek’s deal with the Greens for a key environmental reform.

Not even a trip to Plibersek’s favourite tropical idyll could melt the tension.

The Trump tariff turnaround is having an immediate impact on expectations about the Reserve Bank and interest rate settings. On Wednesday, markets had expected the RBA – which next meets in mid-May – to go on a rate-cutting splurge.

Five rate cuts by Christmas were expected, with a near-80 per cent chance the bank would start with a super-sized 0.5 percentage point cut next month.

But with Trump in retreat, so are interest rate expectations. The chance of a 0.5 percentage point cut next month is down to 40 per cent while markets now reckon the bank will eventually deliver four rate cuts by Christmas.

That’s still a long way from where markets and investors were just a fortnight ago, before Trump’s Liberation Day, when they believed the Reserve only had two rate cuts on the agenda by year’s end.

Anthony Albanese is touring Far North Queensland today, as he campaigns to win back the seat of Leichardt based around Cairns. He’s announcing $10 million in funding for the region, including for tourism operators and $6 million to subsidise school excursions to the Great Barrier Reef.

He will travel by boat to Green Island, near Cairns, to announce the funding.

Speaking to Cairns radio station 4CA, the PM touched on local infrastructure and tourism, before issuing his first response to Trump’s latest tariff move.

The PM said it’s “a very uncertain world that we live in”.

“That is why I’m absolutely certain now it’s not a time for chaos. Now it’s not a time for inexperienced people coming into government. Now it’s time for us to have a steady hand on the ship.”

He added that he believed holding firm was the best course of action in response to the trade war.

A Coalition senator has rejected China’s suggestion Australia should join hands with the global superpower in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war.

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan told Nine’s Today that everyone was “having a meltdown” over Trump’s tariffs, despite the fact that Australia only exports 5 per cent of its products to the US, while suggesting Australia has “self-imposed” tariffs because of economic red tape and taxes.

“Get rid of those things. That’s what we should do and free up our own country.”

The senator continued that it was clear Trump’s tariffs were “largely about trying to rein in the behaviour of China”.

“That leaves us a little bit exposed because we are very exposed economically to China. And instead of diversifying our economy, the Anthony Albanese government has doubled down on that.”

Asked for his take on China’s bid to “join hands” with Australia in response to the trade war, Canavan said it is clear that Australia should be “reducing our exposure to China”.

He said he couldn’t see how the two countries could work together in the trade war given that in 2020 China issued demands that Australia refused, leading to tariffs on various Australian products.

“What we’ve got to do is look after ourselves and look after our own country. What have so many resources in this nation that we should be investing in our own country.”

Police are searching for a man last seen more than one week ago.

Joe-Dylan Coombes went missing from Maryborough, about 250 kilometres north of Brisbane, on the night of March 29.

He was reportedly seen about 9.30pm walking west along Alice Street towards the Bruce Highway, and again about 30 minutes later on the Henry Palmer Bridge.

The 26-year-old has short brown hair and green eyes.

Police and the SES searched from the water and in helicopters near the bridge on Wednesday.

Police are appealing to anyone with dashcam or CCTV vision of the area from that night to come forward.

An 11-year-old boy has suffered life-threatening burns from a backyard fire at an east Brisbane property.

Emergency services were called at 10.46pm last night, and arrived at the Britannia Avenue home to find the primary-school-aged boy had suffered burns to his face, head, arms and chest.

He was transported to Queensland Children’s Hospital in a “serious but stable” condition last night.

Police were investigating the circumstances leading to the fire.

A man accused of murdering his ex-partner by having her run over by an SUV to “break her legs” has been denied bail, with a judge citing the risk of witness tampering.

Prosecutors allege 23-year-old Kiesha Thompson was deliberately struck by a Toyota LandCruiser Prado while walking home on a footpath from a childcare centre in Daisy Hill, in Brisbane’s south, on July 19, 2024.

Thompson died in hospital that night.

Tyler Scott William James, 27, of Acacia Ridge applied for bail in Queensland Supreme Court on Wednesday.

He was charged with murder as a domestic violence offence when first arrested and later charged with attempting to pervert justice.

James is accused of conspiring to have 24-year-old Larissa Rita Mae-Leigh Sant fit the SUV with false number plates and then drive the vehicle at Thompson.

Here’s the full report.