Brisbane news live: Virgin flight took off from wrong runway | 10 department bosses turfed out by the incoming LNP government | Police union urges changes to DV law

A Virgin Australia flight to Melbourne took off from a partially closed Brisbane Airport runway because the distracted crew didn’t notice the warnings.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Boeing 737-800 with eight crew – including a first officer flying under supervision – took off from runway 19L on November 30, 2022.

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There were 169 passengers on board and the flight made it to Melbourne without incident.

Unbeknownst to the passengers, they took off from a closed section of the runway. The crew should have known the plane was too heavy to become airborne in the distance available.

The crew told ATSB investigators they didn’t see any visible runway works when they arrived from Melbourne.

“This, combined with time pressures and distractions from prioritising training needs, contributed to the flight crew then inputting the incorrect runway data during pre-flight calculations prior to the departure from Brisbane,” the report concluded.

The crew also misinterpreted dispatcher notes and seemingly missed a broadcast alerting them to the runway issues.

Virgin Australia has since made changes to its safety management procedures.

Domino’s chief executive Don Meij is stepping down from the pizza business he helmed for 22 years, saying the time was right to step back and make way for new leadership.

He will be replaced by Mark van Dyck, a former Coca-Cola executive and current adviser to the board, who will start as chief executive on Wednesday.

Meij said it had been an honour to be part of the business for 37 years and thanked the board and shareholders for their support.

“Domino’s really has been my life. When I started as a delivery driver in Redcliffe, Queensland, I never imagined I’d become CEO of a truly global company with more than $4 billion in sales,” he said in an ASX statement this morning.

Here’s the full story.

A double murderer who bludgeoned a couple with an axe while they slept has failed in his attempt to bring forward his application for parole.

Peter William Neyens changed his plea to guilty four days into his trial at Brisbane Supreme Court in March 2002.

He was jailed for life for the murder of Timothy Caddy, 40, and Bobbie-Lee Sheehy, 29.

Neyens was denied parole in 2019 and declared a restricted prisoner, which blocked him from applying for parole again until September 2026.

Justice John Bond on Tuesday denied Neyens’ attempt to overturn the restriction.

Neyens had met Mr Caddy in prison and later invited him and his girlfriend, Ms Sheehy, to live with him at Coopers Plains, south of Brisbane.

The couple were murdered soon after moving in, with Neyens then dumping their bodies in bushland at Mount Nebo, west of Brisbane.

A Virgin Australia flight to Melbourne took off from a partially closed Brisbane Airport runway because the distracted crew didn’t notice the warnings.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Boeing 737-800 with eight crew – including a first officer flying under supervision – took off from runway 19L on November 30, 2022.

Loading

There were 169 passengers on board and the flight made it to Melbourne without incident.

Unbeknownst to the passengers, they took off from a closed section of the runway. The crew should have known the plane was too heavy to become airborne in the distance available.

The crew told ATSB investigators they didn’t see any visible runway works when they arrived from Melbourne.

“This, combined with time pressures and distractions from prioritising training needs, contributed to the flight crew then inputting the incorrect runway data during pre-flight calculations prior to the departure from Brisbane,” the report concluded.

The crew also misinterpreted dispatcher notes and seemingly missed a broadcast alerting them to the runway issues.

Virgin Australia has since made changes to its safety management procedures.

It is still not clear whether 100-day review of venues for the 2032 Games will consider any private sector proposals for a new stadium, nor whether a rebuild of the Gabba is within its scope.

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The change of government has reignited the debate over the best athletics venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the most appropriate legacy infrastructure for Brisbane, and whether AFL and cricket deserve better than the rundown Gabba.

In Townsville today, Premier David Crisafulli avoided clarifying whether his “no new stadiums” pledge ruled out privately funded options or a rebuilt Gabba.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner wants all options on the table, and there have been calls for a new stadium at Victoria Park or even Hamilton North Shore, along with speculation around the future of Roma Street Parkland and even the former Toombul shopping centre site.

Crisafulli said he loved the fact people were talking about “generational infrastructure” and wanted to feel part of the Games.

While he would not be drawn on the terms of reference, Crisafulli promised a comprehensive review and broad public and government consultation.

“There will be a plan that turns around the sense of embarrassment that Queenslanders are feeling,” he said.

Former Queensland premier Steven Miles looks set to run unopposed to lead Labor after the party’s defeat at the polls led to the Liberal National Party taking power.

Miles confirmed he would nominate himself to lead the opposition in the next term of parliament when the Labor caucus meets today and was expected to be voted in unanimously.

“I think you saw during the campaign just how I intend to hold [premier] David Crisafulli to account, and that’s the kind of opposition leader I will be,” he told reporters.

“That’s my job now, is to hold this new government to account. They’ve broken five promises in their first five or six days, they don’t look very much like a fresh start to me.”

Miles will support former deputy premier Cameron Dick to remain his right-hand man as deputy Labor leader.

“He’s been a good and strong deputy leader to me,” Miles said.

He flagged there would be significant changes to the shadow cabinet and MPs could expect a portfolio reshuffle.

“We had a very significant refresh less than 12 months ago,” he said.

“I had a chance during the campaign to show Queenslanders who I am and what I stand for, and I’ll continue to do that for these next four years.”

A man facing likely death from his own immune system has been saved by an experimental, AI-powered therapy co-developed by a team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

Scientific breakthroughs typically take at least a decade to go from lab to clinic if they ever make it at all.

But in a single dramatic stroke, the team cracked the condition’s code, developed a therapy, saved a life and took a big step forward for a new field of medicine: “spatial proteomics”.

They are a little giddy with their success.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has rebuked coalition MPs pushing for a federal debate about abortion in Australia, declaring there will be no change to access under a government he leads.

Dutton told a private party meeting in Canberra today that the debate, which had flared during the Queensland state election last month, had cost the Liberal National Party votes in the state that was a must-win for the Coalition at the federal contest due by May.

During the Queensland election campaign, Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter said he would force a vote on winding back abortion laws. Now-Premier David Crisafulli then endured days of questions about his party’s stance on the issue.

One MP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Dutton told the joint party room the issue was largely not a federal one and the debate had been “done and dusted” in the past.

“We will not be changing our position, it cost us votes in Queensland, in metropolitan seats in particular the reaction from women was visceral,” the MP recalled Dutton saying. “It’s fair to say he laid down the law, there will be no change to abortion laws and he reminded us that we all need to be disciplined.”

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