As it happened: Brisbane on Friday, July 12

Kira Korolev had been a regular client of a Gold Coast hairdresser, but stopped going around the time of the Ukraine invasion in 2022.

The hairdresser, who asked not to be named, said Igor Korolev also went to the salon once.

“To be honest, he was a little bit strange, but she was a nice girl,” the hairdresser said.

“She’s much younger than him and they would always argue.”

The hairdresser, who has Russian heritage, said she had discussed the invasion with Kira Korolev. She and her colleagues wondered whether that was why they stopped visiting the salon.

“My colleague said probably they stopped coming because we had a different vision about this war,” she said, without clarifying.

The hairdresser said the couple did not have any children or family. Kira Korolev said she was well-paid by the Australian Army, but had talked about leaving to have a baby.

The state Labor government has rejected a petition from 1,839 people calling for a referendum on the introduction of daylight saving in 2025.

The petition, tabled in parliament, proposed a referendum be held on the same day as the Queensland election in October.

In response, Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said she noted the petitioners’ views that “daylight saving could enhance social, business and community activities in Queensland, including through achieving consistency with other eastern states”.

But D’Ath said the government was not considering any changes to time zones.

“The government believes there are other priorities facing Queenslanders that require attention, including community safety measures and helping Queenslanders with cost of living,” said D’Ath, who will retire at the election.

The response came as NSW farmers called for that state’s daylight saving period to be scaled back.

The Labor government has rejected a petition from 2285 people calling for Brisbane to have a boutique stadium at Perry Park.

The petition, tabled in state parliament, argued “Suncorp Stadium is a magnificent stadium but cannot handle the demand for sport in Brisbane”. It called for Perry Park, in Bowen Hills, to be upgraded and become Brisbane’s home of soccer, and also made available for other events.

Sport Minister Michael Healy was aware the idea also had the support of Football Queensland, but said there was no state funding available and it was not considered a priority.

“The 2018 Stadium Taskforce Report found there was no requirement for another boutique stadium because there is existing capacity in the current suite of stadia,” Healy wrote.

“There are currently four rectangular stadia within an 80km radius of the Brisbane CBD, which includes Suncorp Stadium - the world’s best rectangular stadium - and the newly refurbished Ballymore complex. The existing stadia deliver suitable infrastructure for football. Furthermore, a boutique stadium was not part of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid.”

While the Liberal National Party has vowed to review Games venues if it takes power after the October state election, it has yet to outline a position on Perry Park.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the arrest of a private in the Australian Army and her labourer husband, accused of spying for Russia, shows his government and Australia’s security agencies are effectively tackling foreign interference and espionage.

Speaking at a press conference in Brisbane earlier today, Albanese was asked for his reaction to the arrest that AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess announced in Canberra this morning.

“Australia’s security agencies are doing their job, and they’re doing it well,” he said.

“People will be held to account who interfere with our national interests, and that’s precisely what these arrests represent.”

Albanese said the news also showed “we live in uncertain times” but reiterated Australia’s security agencies were prepared.

The leader of a religious group accused of killing an eight-year-old girl by withholding her medication claims the trial is “religious persecution”.

Brendan Luke Stevens, 62, was the leader of a Christian group that called itself ‘The Saints’ and is on trial for murder along with the girl’s father, 52-year-old Jason Richard Struhs.

“This isn’t really a trial about murder of a child as it is religious persecution,” Stevens told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.

The girl’s mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and the other 11 members of the congregation are charged with manslaughter.

Elizabeth Struhs died at the family home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on January 7, 2022 after her parents and 12 others allegedly withheld her diabetes insulin medication for six days.

All 14 defendants are representing themselves at the judge-only trial and Stevens told Justice Martin Burns he wanted to make a statement to give the group’s “perspective”.

“We believe in God. We see that there is a hypocrisy in the land generally, and we have chosen to walk with God. It is reasonable to believe in God. The prosecution has suggested it is not reasonable,” Stevens said.

Stevens said they had chosen to follow God, rather than man-made laws, and “do not particularly care amongst ourselves what the judgment is”.

The trial continues.

Labor is hoping the upcoming federal election will be ‘third time’s a charm’ for Ali France as she again attempts to unseat Peter Dutton from his Queensland seat.

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continued his tour of the battleground state on Friday, he unveiled France as the Labor candidate for the Brisbane seat of Dickson.

France, who ran for the seat in the 2019 and 2022 elections, came within 1.7 per cent of winning Dickson from the coalition leader at the last federal poll.

The upcoming election, due to be held by May 2025, will be the first time Dutton will contest the seat as opposition leader.

Albanese said France was a strong campaigner and community advocate.

“It’s time that Dickson had someone who would actually stand up for their interests, not just stand up for themselves,” he told reporters.

“Ali France has shown herself to be someone of compassion, someone of strength, someone of intellect and in integrity, and someone who will be an outstanding representative in Dickson.”

At the 2022 poll Ms France recorded a swing towards her of 2.94 per cent, leaving Mr Dutton with a razor-thin margin.

“If she gets that (swing again), she will be the member for Dickson,” Albanese told Brisbane radio station 4BC.

Longtime television presenter Sharyn Ghidella has turned down an offer to say goodbye to Queensland viewers on air after being sacked by Seven.

After learning she would be caught up in widespread media cost-cutting, Ghidella told colleagues she would not give an on-air goodbye and instead make “a clean break”.

“After 17 years at 7, apparently, my time is up,” Ghidella wrote.

“It’s not quite how I expected it to end after 38 years in the industry, but hey, that’s TV.”

Queensland-born Ghidella, who has worked across the commercial networks during her career, said she was also unlikely to see her colleagues again to say goodbye in person.