Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is returning early from a trip to Switzerland because of the ongoing bushfire threat, with more than 80 fires burning across the state and a blaze at Peregian on the Sunshine Coast that is still out of control.

After fires tore through parts of Queensland in an earlier-than-expected bushfire season, emergency services are warning of the growing threat to suburban backyards as the weather gets hotter and drier.

A large bushfire that has claimed 11 properties in the Gold Coast hinterland as well as historic Binna Burra Lodge could have been deliberately lit, Queensland's Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says.

South-East Queensland's bat population is in crisis as the species faces a mass starvation event which is seeing rescue groups inundated with as many as 50 calls a day reporting deaths and injuries in public spaces and backyards.

An investigation is underway after two police officers fired their weapons during the dramatic arrest of a 53-year-old man suspected of lighting up to four fires in north Queensland.

Half a century since the first miniature-golf course came to the Gold Coast, putt putt is still popular with families.

Family and friends post tributes to Jeffrey and Matthew Hills, whose bodies were found in the wreckage of a plane which crashed in northern NSW on Friday.

As the ban on climbing Uluru fast approaches there remains many locations attracting crowds, despite calls from local Indigenous people to stay away.

An assistance package which includes the first two picks in the 2019 player draft will be handed to the struggling Gold Coast Suns to help the club "deliver upon their football strategy".

Champion synchronised swimmer Rachel Presser wants you to know that there's a lot more to her sport than floral caps and sequential dives. Come the next Olympics, she might have a chance to prove it.

Travel giant TripAdvisor will no longer sell tickets to Sea World on the Gold Coast as part of its worldwide ban to help end whale, dolphin and porpoise captivity, with the theme park criticising the decision saying it is based on opinion rather than fact.

In a world first, Queensland researchers say have been able to "cure" cervical cancer in mice using gene-editing technology and they are working towards performing human trials in the next five years.

Australian surfers Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons will have to wait until next May for confirmation they have been selected for the Tokyo Olympics, despite satisfying the qualification criteria.

A software firm develops smartphone keyboards specifically designed to write in traditional languages to help people protect their language.

The Tait twins, Sara and Kristen, had a tough start. One was born with spina bifida, the other with two large holes in her heart. But that hasn't stopped either of them from becoming high achievers.

Marine scientists are calling for new speed limits in waters off the Gold Coast in response to an increasing number of humpback whales calving in the area.

A jockey who rode War Ends for a year and made numerous attempts to rehome him says she recognised the horse being slaughtered in an abattoir on the ABC's 7.30 program and laments she "failed" him.

A Gold Coast father wants to raise awareness about breast cancer in men after he let a lump go undiagnosed for a year.

Authorities say complacent city dwellers need to learn from their regional cousins and have an emergency kit ready for when a natural disaster strikes, including three days' worth of water.

With efforts to ban orca captivity gaining momentum around the world, some experts say it's time to stop treating dolphins "like dogs".

After a police car is pelted with bottles, a senior officer says Gold Coast industrial estates are increasingly becoming gathering places for illegal car hoons.

Bystanders have thrown objects at a police car that appears to be attending the scene where cars at Arundel were doing burnouts.

Police believe a body found in a Gold Coast park is that of missing man Shane Ross, with detectives saying the death is suspicious and possibly related to the death of another man on Friday night.

Police say 47-year-old Cameron Martin died from a gunshot wound to the chest before he crashed a white Mercedes in a Gold Coast suburb on Friday night. His business partner and alleged bikie Shane Ross was also shot and found nearby almost three days later.

For more than 20 years, 178 children have stared at motorists driving along the busy M1 on the Gold Coast. We dispel the urban myths of who they are and why they are there.

While one in six Gold Coast properties could become 'uninsurable' due to natural disasters, its council has not had a climate change strategy since 2014.

Shane van Gisbergen is desperate to make up ground on Scott McLaughlin in the race for the Supercars championship, but he forgot about that in the wake of his countryman's frightening crash on the Gold Coast.

The dramatic crash of Scott McLaughlin's Supercar in Surfers Paradise sent a shock absorber flying onto a nearby balcony, wiping out a table but missing two spectators.

Two sex workers charged with working illegally on the Gold Coast tell the ABC they thought the agency had been a legal operation.

Conservationists are claiming a coup after convincing Gold Coast Council to save a freshwater lake from being turned into a carpark.

Residents of a suburban Gold Coast development site say they are about to start digging for cash, days after a stash of old bank notes was found in their neighbourhood.

Gold Coast Deputy Mayor Donna Gates refuses to comment on a ruling handed down by the Office of the Independent Assessor made public this week.

Mining giant Adani is being accused of providing false information to Queensland's environment department over land clearing at the site of its proposed Carmichael mine.

A Queensland mother says she experienced a parent's worst nightmare when her car was stolen with her four-year-old son and the family puppy still inside.

What is it like on board the 333-metre USS Ronald Reagan that's also home to about 5,000 people at any one time? Step aboard with the ABC's Megan Hendry.