It’s a sad day for our beloved Queensland police.

My heart is heavy for their loss, though grateful for the way they impacted this world and the next.

Love and prayers from all of us

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Quote for Today

Today in History

1642: Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sights the South Island of present-day New Zealand; initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland.

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A few headlines from this morning :

• Two police officers shot dead during the siege at Queensland property were identified as Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold.

• The founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has been arrested in the Bahamas, ahead of possible extradition to the United States.

• Ash Barty has won her fifth Newcombe Medal despite her shock retirement in March.

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The AFP has this year seized more than two tonnes of ‘tea packet methamphetamine’, depriving organized crime syndicates of more than $1 billion.

Tea package designs have been adopted by criminal syndicates since 2012 and are used by criminals to reflect the source and purity of methamphetamine.

The AFP has seized 35 consignments weighing almost 10 tonnes of methamphetamine concealed in tea packets from January 2012 to date.

There has been an increase in tea packet methamphetamine concealment since 2019, with the highest amount of 2.8 tonnes seized in 2020.

In 2022 alone, the AFP prevented more than 2.1 tonnes of ‘tea packet methamphetamine’ from reaching Australian streets. It would have had a street value of more than $1 billion.

In April this year, a Melbourne woman was charged with allegedly attempting to import 400kg of methamphetamine concealed in tea packets from Malaysia.

The amount of methamphetamine is estimated to have had a street value of at least $360 million.

In September 2020, three criminal syndicate members imported 180kg of methamphetamine into Sydney via Malaysia in vacuum-sealed tea packets.

In October, 2022, these three members were sentenced to jail terms of between 7 to 10 years.

Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Indonesia were identified as the top five countries contributing to the importation of ‘tea packet methamphetamine’ seized.

AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Tim Knight, a senior officer posted to Malaysia, said the AFP was working closely with South East Asian authorities to disrupt criminal syndicates trafficking methamphetamine.

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The Australian Medical Association says the federal government’s $2.8b COVID-19 package has failed to extend a critical lifeline to public hospitals with the 50-50 COVID-19 funding agreement between the states and the Commonwealth ending on 31 December. 

In a statement, AMA President Professor Steve Robson said while the current agreement was temporary, COVID-19 was still having a significant impact on the health system and the health of Australians.

“While we wait for broader funding reform through a new 50-50 funding agreement, the COVID-19 funding has been so important to help our struggling public hospitals meet community demand,” Professor Robson said.

“We are about to hit one of the busiest times of the year for our public hospitals and there will likely be a surge in COVID-19 cases out of the 4th wave — this is the worst time to pull the financial rug out from under the states” He added.

“COVID-19 is not over, no matter how much the federal government wishes it was. It is a deadly and debilitating disease which is playing havoc with lives and the health system. Without this extra funding the health system will fall even further down the rabbit hole”, Robson said.

“This is a bewildering decision by the government and goes against the advice of many experts including the AMA. We call on the health minister to reconsider.” He disclosed

GOOD VIBES

Year 12 students of MLC overjoyed with VCE results

This cohort of year 12 students faced many challenges during their senior schooling years, and have persevered through disruptions and illness to make the MLC community immensely proud.

This year’s results demonstrate the importance of offering an extensive breadth of learning and wellbeing opportunities, as students have excelled across all types of subjects to achieve state-leading scores.

Key results

–     18 students (7.26% of the cohort) achieved an ATAR of 99 or above, in the top 1% of the state

–     26.61% of students achieved an ATAR of 95 or above, in the top 5% of the state

–     42.34% of students achieved an ATAR or above 90, in the top 10% of the state

–     There were 16 perfect study scores of 50, across 10 subjects, which includes perfect study scores in Biology, Business Management (2), English (3), Food Studies, French, Legal Studies (2), Further Mathematics (2), Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics, Psychology

FROM THE NEWSWIRES