Tobi Loftus

3 days ago | abc.net.au | Tobi Loftus

A buzzing sound fills the usually calm evening air on the edge of a forest in Logan, south of Brisbane. The sun sinks fast, taking the warmth with it and bringing an autumn chill. Locals begin gathering near a group of people clustered around monitors. They wonder: 'What's going on? What is that noise?'. Then they see it — a drone about the size of a bedside table, hovering in the dark. A powerful spotlight beams from beneath it, scanning the surrounding bushland.

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Tobi Loftus |Claudia Williams |Julius Dennis

Not so long ago Queensland was considered an integral part of Peter Dutton's path to the Lodge. Instead, Labor gained seven seats in the Sunshine State, including five from the LNP. Suburban Brisbane seats once considered home to Howard's battlers — and later Scott Morrison's quiet Australians — turned away from the Coalition on a scale beyond even Labor insiders' predictions. Forde, to Brisbane's south, and Petrie to its north, are prime examples.

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Jack McKay |Jack Mckay |Tobi Loftus

The voters of Dickson made history when they cast their ballots in this year's federal election, causing Peter Dutton to become the first federal opposition leader to lose their seat. His margin had often been tight — and Labor had long held hope of ousting Mr Dutton from the outer metropolitan electorate just north of Brisbane. His defeat on Saturday made him the highest-profile casualty in the 2025 poll, as locals elected Labor's Ali France in her third tilt for Dickson.

1 month 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.

2 months 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.