Brisbane news live: Queensland ‘needs an extra 350 mental health beds'
Latest posts
Latest posts
7.13am
Queensland hospital system needs an extra 350 mental health beds: psychiatrists
By
The imminent closure of Toowong Private Hospital will leave Queensland with a shortfall of 350 mental health beds, according to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.
Loading
Administrators called in to examine the family-owned hospital have decided to shut it down, and are now working with psychiatrists to ensure continuity of care for existing and prospective patients.
Professor Brett Emmerson, chair of the college's Queensland branch, said there were not enough psychiatrists to run private hospitals, partly because the financial incentives were low and support was lacking.
He said the federal government needed to increase Medicare rebates and ensure private health funds paid more, while also increasing training places for psychiatry. The state government also needed to invest in new beds, particularly when the existing beds are old and in such high demand.
'A viable private sector is essential in Queensland because we've got an already overstretched mental health system,' Emmerson said.
He said the loss of 50 beds at Toowong would further reduce inpatient treatment options for private patients and increase pressure on the public system.
7.05am
Cool and cloudy to close the week
Another cool day is on the cards for Brisbane today, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a top of 23 degrees on a cloudy Thursday.
And the forecast is for an even cooler Friday.
Here's the seven-day outlook:
7.02am
While you were sleeping
Here's what's making news further afield this morning:
Liberal leader Sussan Ley has broken from the Dutton era with a reshuffle that rejects Trump-like cuts, goes softer on immigration, and proactively reaches out to women in the cities.
A Christian pastor who founded a drug rehab centre that once treated former game show host Andrew O'Keefe has been charged with faking reports about patients' drug use.
Police dug into Erin Patterson's bank records, shopping history and phone records as part of their investigation into a lunch that killed three of her guests, a court has heard.
Real estate listings companies such as the Murdoch-controlled REA Group are making off like bandits with claims that advertising rates are rising by 10 per cent or more a year. And the ACCC has started sniffing around.
6.35am
The top stories this morning
Good morning, and welcome to Brisbane Times' live news coverage for Thursday, May 29. Today we can expect a partly cloudy day and a top temperature of 23 degrees.
In this morning's local headlines:
There was an eerie sense of deja vu in the way the Maroons were blown off the park at Suncorp Stadium in the opening 40 minutes of the first State of Origin match last night, and it is a matter coach Billy Slater urgently needs to address. Here's how the players rated.
The federal government is yet to recommit to its $3.44 billion contribution to Brisbane 2032 Olympic infrastructure after an inner-city arena was removed from the Games plan.
And on his second visit to Brisbane, the international Paralympics chief says he has no intention of combining the Paralympics with the Olympics in 2032.
More than 80 days after the Story Bridge's footpaths were closed, the saga has taken a dramatic turn, with police taking protesters to court over plans to close traffic lanes for a peak-hour march.
When reporter Courtney Kruk recently found herself questioning a 4.8-star rating, she wondered whether we're all becoming too hooked on online reviews.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
U.S. Tariffs Are Still in Place. Here's What You Need to Know
WSJ's Deputy Finance Editor Quentin Webb explains how trade talks have been impacted by legal challenges to President Trump's tariffs.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Divisions between US and China big global risk: Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron says the division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk confronting the world, as he emphasised the need for building new coalitions between Paris and its partners in the Indo-Pacific. Macron is visiting the region as France and the European Union aim to strengthen their commercial ties in Asia to offset uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's tariff measures. "I will be clear, France is a friend and an ally of the United States, and is a friend, and we do cooperate - even if sometimes we disagree and compete - with China," Macron said in a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defence forum. "You have to choose a side. If we do so, we will kill the global order, and we will destroy methodically, all the institutions we created after the Second World War in order to preserve peace and to have cooperation on health, on climate, on human rights and so on." The French president said Asia and Europe have a common interest in preventing the disintegration of the global order. "The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come, and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so," Macron said. The speech was notable in that Macron delivered it with US President Donald Trump's Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the audience and at a time when France and other countries around the globe are dealing with Trump's fluctuating tariff threats. Both European and Indo-Pacific nations also find themselves increasingly pulled between the competing interests of Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. "We want to cooperate. But we don't want to be instructed on a daily basis what is allowed, what is not allowed and how our life will change because of the decision of a single person," Macron said, in an apparent jab at Trump that could have also been just as easily pointed at Xi. Macron is following leaders of China, Japan and other European countries in visiting the region in recent weeks, in a sign of Southeast Asia's strategic importance amid uncertainties on global supply chains and trade. The French leader also warned that if the United States and Europe were not able to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, it would impact their credibility in the Indo-Pacific region as well. "If the United States of America and the Europeans are unable to fix in the short term the Ukraine crisis, I think the credibility of the U.S. and Europe to fix any other crisis in this region will be very low," he said. Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Russia currently controls just under one-fifth of the country. Though Russian advances have accelerated over the past year, the war is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military spending. Macron also warned of risks to Asia if a precedent were created by allowing Russia to take control of part of Ukraine's territory unopposed. "If we consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any constraint, without any reaction of the global could happen in Taiwan?" China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games, saying the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state. with AP
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Divisions between US and China big global risk: Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron says the division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk confronting the world, as he emphasised the need for building new coalitions between Paris and its partners in the Indo-Pacific. Macron is visiting the region as France and the European Union aim to strengthen their commercial ties in Asia to offset uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's tariff measures. "I will be clear, France is a friend and an ally of the United States, and is a friend, and we do cooperate - even if sometimes we disagree and compete - with China," Macron said in a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defence forum. "You have to choose a side. If we do so, we will kill the global order, and we will destroy methodically, all the institutions we created after the Second World War in order to preserve peace and to have cooperation on health, on climate, on human rights and so on." The French president said Asia and Europe have a common interest in preventing the disintegration of the global order. "The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come, and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so," Macron said. The speech was notable in that Macron delivered it with US President Donald Trump's Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the audience and at a time when France and other countries around the globe are dealing with Trump's fluctuating tariff threats. Both European and Indo-Pacific nations also find themselves increasingly pulled between the competing interests of Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. "We want to cooperate. But we don't want to be instructed on a daily basis what is allowed, what is not allowed and how our life will change because of the decision of a single person," Macron said, in an apparent jab at Trump that could have also been just as easily pointed at Xi. Macron is following leaders of China, Japan and other European countries in visiting the region in recent weeks, in a sign of Southeast Asia's strategic importance amid uncertainties on global supply chains and trade. The French leader also warned that if the United States and Europe were not able to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, it would impact their credibility in the Indo-Pacific region as well. "If the United States of America and the Europeans are unable to fix in the short term the Ukraine crisis, I think the credibility of the U.S. and Europe to fix any other crisis in this region will be very low," he said. Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Russia currently controls just under one-fifth of the country. Though Russian advances have accelerated over the past year, the war is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military spending. Macron also warned of risks to Asia if a precedent were created by allowing Russia to take control of part of Ukraine's territory unopposed. "If we consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any constraint, without any reaction of the global could happen in Taiwan?" China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games, saying the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state. with AP
