Tobi Loftus

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Tobi Loftus

Paris Basra has everything she wants in life: a house with a backyard, her husband, and a young child. But like many across Australia, the cost-of-living crisis is biting hard. "It brings stresses, it brings its loneliness, it brings its struggles," she said. She lives in Ripley — a suburb of Ipswich, in Brisbane's western corridor. It is former farmland turned into expanding developments, filled with new estates and first homebuyers like Paris. Ms Basra's mortgage repayments are about $900 a week.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Stephen Clarke |Tobi Loftus

South-east Queensland residents are dealing with an unwelcome pest, fire ants, amid the clean-up from ex-Cyclone Alfred. The invasive species has been a problem for years in south-east Queensland, but floods can help spread colonies which survive by forming "living rafts". The National Fire Ant Eradication Program call centre has recorded a significant increase in fire ant reporting over the past two days.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Tobi Loftus

Helen Youngberry has only just been able to get back on her feet after her homeless charity was devastated by major flooding in south-east Queensland in 2022. With Tropical Cyclone Alfred looming off the Queensland coast, the Goodna local is yet again preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned the system, expected to hit in the early hours of Friday morning, has the potential to cause "major flooding" along rivers in the region.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Tobi Loftus

One of Australia's most renowned rugby league players hopes a nation-first pilot aimed at raising awareness about head injuries in sports will reduce the risks of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Former Maroon legend Wally Lewis, who lives with probable CTE, appeared alongside Sports Minister Anika Wells and Dementia Australia CEO Tanya Buchanan at Lang Park in Brisbane on Friday to announce the new $12.5 million program.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Tobi Loftus

It is a call no one wants to receive a day into a week-long tropical island getaway. "The unit has burnt down."Ashlii Timms had just finished her engineering degree in Queensland and was celebrating her successes in Fiji when she got the call from authorities. "It was just like, what the heck? I got a friend to go around to the place to confirm that yep, the unit had burnt down," she said.