Laura Gartry
Laura Gartry is an award-winning journalist for ABC News based in Brisbane, covering the environment and resources round for Queensland. Previously she worked as a state digital producer, leading the newsroom's online commissioning and analytics. Prior to this, Laura worked in the ABC Perth newsroom as a multi-platform reporter and video journalist. Laura was also a regular contributor to the television current affairs show Australia Wide and radio current affairs programs. Before moving into journalism, Laura worked as a policy analyst in Canberra and in native title across Western Australia's Pilbara region. In 2016 she won a MACA Media Award for her story on Australia's oldest scientist, Dr David Goodall.
Follow Laura on Twitter: @LGartry
'Pets are part of our families': Queensland landlords may be forced to take tenants with pets
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Renters will be free to have pets and hang photos on walls, under impending changes to rental codes aimed at making it easier to obtain accommodation as increasing numbers of people find home ownership out of reach.
Topics: state-parliament, housing, animals, brisbane-4000, qld
Silver-eyed gecko 'double the size' of normal house geckos discovered by researchers
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After five years of tracking it down in remote ranges, researchers discover a new "beautiful" species of gecko, which is about double the size you would normally find in your house.
Topics: animal-science, endangered-and-protected-species, environment, animals, north-gregory-4660, qld, townsville-4810, brisbane-4000
Federal documents raise serious environmental concerns over key Queensland development
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A $1.3 billion development at the gateway to Stradbroke Island off Brisbane sparks major environmental concerns after internal department briefings reveal 32 hectares of internationally protected wetlands will be dredged, threatening dozens of species, including loggerhead turtles and dolphins.
Topics: environment, environmental-impact, urban-development-and-planning, government-and-politics, activism-and-lobbying, community-and-society, public-sector, endangered-and-protected-species, qld, cleveland-4163, dunwich-4183, brisbane-4000, australia
Family of 12yo mauled in Whitsunday shark attack thanks first responders
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The family of a 12-year-old girl who was mauled by a shark at Cid Harbour in north Queensland — the second near-fatal attack in just 24 hours — thanks the first responders who helped save her life.
Topics: shark, animal-attacks, emergency-incidents, disasters-and-accidents, whitsundays-4802, qld, australia, brisbane-4000, mackay-4740, proserpine-4800
Great Barrier Reef Foundation to spend $7.3m of its federal funding on admin this financial year
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The foundation that had six staff when it was handed $440 million in federal funding in June for Great Barrier Reef protection has since spent $800,000 on operational costs, a Senate inquiry is told.
Topics: federal-government, federal---state-issues, great-barrier-reef, budget, environmental-management, environmental-policy, canberra-2600, act, brisbane-4000, qld, townsville-4810, cairns-4870, rockhampton-4700
'People have swallowed them': Expert says strawberry tampering response not appropriate
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A food safety expert says the level of recall issued by Queensland Health over needles found embedded in strawberries was not extensive enough, and should have been escalated to include warnings on consumer websites.
Topics: food-safety, health, consumer-protection, business-economics-and-finance, law-crime-and-justice, crime, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, strathpine-4500, thirlmere-2572, nsw, vic
Fears of secrecy as Qld Government set to ban information requests on mining rehabilitation fund
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The Queensland Government is set to grant a blanket exclusion from right to information requests on a new multi-million-dollar mining and gas rehabilitation fund — going against the advice of the information watchdog.
Topics: mining-industry, industry, business-economics-and-finance, environment, mining-environmental-issues, government-and-politics, activism-and-lobbying, state-parliament, parliament, public-sector, mining-rural, law-crime-and-justice, laws, rural, brisbane-4000, qld, mackay-4740, mount-isa-4825, rockhampton-4700, toowoomba-4350, australia
'Swooping owls' force Brisbane zipline site change to protect patrons from attacks (photos)
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Zipline Australia has revealed it has shifted the location of its operation on Brisbane's Mount Coot-tha to minimise the risk of attack from angry owls nesting nearby.
Topics: environmental-impact, environmental-management, tourism, local-government, animals, human-interest, urban-development-and-planning, community-and-society, mount-coot-tha-4066, qld, brisbane-4000
'If we can't protect them in the Great Barrier Reef where can we': Threatened sharks under pressure
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The population of the internationally endangered scalloped hammerhead shark is rapidly declining, and getting killed on baited drumlines is only the beginning of the animal's woes.
Topics: endangered-and-protected-species, environment, animal-welfare, law-crime-and-justice, activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, magnetic-island-4819, qld, australia, townsville-4810, brisbane-4000
Katter's Australian Party stripped of extra staff over 'final solution' speech
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Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will strip Katter's Australian Party of five extra staff positions it was granted last term, after it refused to denounce federal senator Fraser Anning's contentious maiden speech last month.
Topics: state-parliament, bob-katter, government-and-politics, political-parties, minor-parties, brisbane-4000, australia
130yo Brisbane hotel destroyed by fire months after development application dropped
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Police are investigating the cause of a blaze which gutted the abandoned heritage listed Broadway Hotel in Woolloongabba. Plans to develop the site were scrapped in recent months following community objections.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, community-and-society, industrial-fires, brisbane-4000, woolloongabba-4102, qld, australia
Killer robots unleashed to tackle coral-eating starfish epidemic
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In a bid to eradicate one of the Great Barrier Reef's primary threats, researchers have come up with a tiny yellow submarine that will seek out crown-of-thorns starfish and kill them via lethal injection.
Topics: conservation, environment, great-barrier-reef, oceans-and-reefs, research, marine-biology, environmental-management, marine-parks, pests, robots-and-artificial-intelligence, science-and-technology, townsville-4810, qld, mackay-4740, cairns-4870, whitsundays-4802, brisbane-4000
A mother is now in jail after hiding her kids for years. Here's how she did it
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A Queensland mother who claimed she was a domestic violence victim took her children into hiding, avoiding police for three years. For the first time she tells the story of how she did it, and how she was caught.
Topics: crime, law-crime-and-justice, family-and-children, community-and-society, children, family-law, courts-and-trials, family, divorce, missing-person, brisbane-4000
Woman wins 'landmark' court bid to have baby with dead partner's sperm
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Described as a historic case, the Supreme Court in Brisbane grants a Toowoomba woman the right to use her dead boyfriend's sperm to have a baby, after he took his own life in 2016.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, family, family-and-children, community-and-society, people, human-interest, medical-ethics, health, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, toowoomba-4350
Police union 'inflaming' Palm Island race relations after calling riot payout 'slap in the face' (photos)
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The Queensland Police Union is labelled "inflammatory" and unhelpful to race relations on Palm Island after it says officers, rather than Indigenous residents, are owed an apology after a record $30 million class action settlement was reached over a racist police response to riots in 2004.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, black-deaths-in-custody, indigenous-culture, indigenous-policy, courts-and-trials, public-sector, government-and-politics, palm-island-4815, townsville-4810, qld, brisbane-4000, australia
Buses to replace Brisbane commuter trains during Commonwealth Games
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To get 1 million spectators to the Gold Coast, some of Brisbane's busiest commuter rail lines will be replaced with buses, and other services reduced as trains are diverted for the Commonwealth Games.
Topics: road-transport, states-and-territories, commonwealth-games-organising-committee, people, human-interest, public-sector, government-and-politics, southport-4215, qld, beenleigh-4207, brisbane-4000, australia
Federal coalition MPs push for 45-minute fast rail from Sunshine Coast to Brisbane (photos)
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Queensland Federal Coalition MPs are hopeful their shortlisted proposal for a fast rail project between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast will receive federal funding
Topics: rail-transport, road-transport, government-and-politics, federal---state-issues, maroochydore-4558, brisbane-4000
Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen dies at 97
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The former Nationals senator and wife of Queensland's most controversial premier dies in a Kingaroy nursing home surrounded by family, after a short period of illness.
Topics: people, human-interest, nationals, liberal-national-party-queensland, political-parties, government-and-politics, kingaroy-4610, nanango-4615, brisbane-4000
Suspended Queensland chief scientist charged with 31 more fraud offences
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Suspended Queensland chief scientist Suzanne Miller is charged with 31 additional fraud offences, with corruption authorities alleging she spent more $30,000 on a government corporate credit card for personal items.
Topics: fraud-and-corporate-crime, government-and-politics, public-sector, science-and-technology, courts-and-trials
Emotional reunion with wife for trawler capsize survivor in central Queensland
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The man who is thought to be the sole survivor of a trawler capsize off the central Queensland coast has an emotional reunion with his wife in Gladstone as specialist teams continue to search for his six missing crewmates.
Topics: maritime, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, emergency-incidents, rainfall, weather, seventeen-seventy-4677, qld, australia, agnes-water-4677, bundaberg-4670
'It felt like a mini hurricane': Torrential rain soaks Straddie weddings
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A bride and groom are forced to make a run for it mid-vows as torrential rain interrupts their beach wedding off Queensland's coast, while a bamboo hut hosting a 40th birthday bash is destroyed by wind.
Topics: community-and-society, human-interest, people, weather, dunwich-4183, amity-point-4183, point-lookout-4183, brisbane-4000
Coastal hotel north of Brisbane spending $250,000 to host Mariah Carey
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As Sydney, Melbourne and Perth prepare for the arrival of Mariah Carey's big Australian tour, a suburban hotel an hour outside of Brisbane is confident it can handle the logistics of hosting the megastar — and is spending big to make it happen.
Topics: music, hospitality, sandstone-point-4511, bribie-island-4507, brisbane-4000
Backpackers in Brisbane on edge after fatal stabbing of German tourist
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Travellers staying in the heart of Brisbane's backpacking scene are shocked and unsure about their safety after the fatal stabbing of a German tourist in a "road rage incident" nearby.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, assault, brisbane-4000, germany
Suspended Perth factory workers left in limbo
Posted
More than 100 Perth factory workers are suspended and locked out of their workplace as healthcare equipment company K Care appoints receivers amid claims it can not meet its payroll commitments.
Topics: unemployment, business-economics-and-finance, perth-6000
'Uber for hospitality' app connects workers with gigs (photos)
Posted
Hospitality venues are often left scrambling to find staff at short notice, but a new app aims to change that by allowing hospitality venues to post jobs on demand.
Topics: industry, business-economics-and-finance, hospitality, perth-6000
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