Cairns, Australia News

THE central Queensland town of Moranbah is about to be hit by a jobs boom, but local residents are not welcome to apply.

At at a time when fishers feel under threat from regulatory and economic pressures, many feel its peak lobby group has been M-I-A. But, Scott Wiseman has challenged members to unite behind the organisation after a year in which it's been stripped of State Government funding and plagued by internal turmoil.

Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says he will not decide on the location for a trial boot camp in the state's far north until a new operator has been picked.

A self-proclaimed "big kid", Greg Inglis has matured into a young man aware of the influence he has on-and-off the field says friend and former Cowboys' star Ty Williams.

A Queensland turtle rehabilitation centre is calling on the Federal Government for funding as the "sentinels of the sea" continue to struggle post-Cyclone Yasi.

The governing body for a far north Queensland Indigenous community says young Aboriginal leaders are emerging as a result of continued welfare reform.

The moon moves in orbit between the earth and the sun and blocks the sun from view in a solar eclipse.

JAMES Cook University vice-chancellor Professor Sandra Harding has moved to allay fears Townsville will be overlooked in favour of Cairns for a multimillion-dollar innovation precinct.

Illegal firearms surrendered during the gun amnesty being destroyed by Senior Constable Tony Fishburn, at Loganholme Police Station.

AUSTRALIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER BOB CARR has used his special powers to cancel the 457 visa issued by the Gillard government to an alleged crime boss wanted in Papua New Guinea over the theft of $30 million.

A KILLER strain of mutant drug-resistant tuberculosis has claimed its latest victim in Queensland as health officials investigate reports of malaria and cholera cases in the state's far North.

Police have reassured residents in Cobram and surrounding districts there is little danger to them in the hunt for wanted fugitive Graham Gene Potter.

NURSES are staging protests in North Queensland as they continue to fight what they say is the privatisation of hospitals and health services.

A senior agronomist says the appearance of yellow cane in Mackay in north Queensland might not be disease-related, but could be a result of local environmental problems.

The Federal Government has kept its funding commitment of nearly $25 million to continue a Cape York welfare reform trial.

POLICE are speaking to a man seen with woman before she fell to her death from a hotel in far north Queensland.

A boost in tourism and a weakening Australian dollar may see greater investment in Cairns later in the year, says mayor Bob Manning.

Queensland's coastal lifeline will receive a facelift over the next decade with the Federal Government allocating $4.1 billion for upgrades to the Bruce Highway.

Fourteen people have been arrested in a series of raids across far north Queensland targeting drug trafficking by outlaw motorcycle gangs.

AUSTRALIAN authorities have seized property in north Queensland owned by Papua New Guinean businessman Eremas Wartoto, who is wanted for the alleged misuse of millions of dollars in PNG government funds.