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Border security in the Torres Strait has come under fire after a group of men trying to enter Australia on a dinghy were detained.

It is believed five men are in custody on Saibai Island, off the far north Queensland coast, after being intercepted by authorities in the Torres Strait.

The men are reportedly from West Africa but it is unclear whether they have claimed asylum in Australia.

Torres Strait Island Mayor Phillemon Mosby says more federal government funding is needed to police people smuggling in his region.

Mosby says the federal government has not told him about the detainees in his own backyard and he only found out when alerted by a local councillor.

“She was informed by a family member who happened to drive down the road on Monday … and found five guys casually sitting like normal locals.

“I was disappointed I wasn’t informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Office on Thursday Island.”

The five men reportedly travelled through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, allegedly using fake documents before attempting to enter far north Queensland.

Asked about the group’s arrival, the Australian Border Force said it had “well-established processes to manage irregular movements of people in the Torres Strait”.

Native title holders and green groups have come out swinging against the Albanese government’s new future gas strategy, released this morning, which says new gas fields are needed to fill looming shortfalls and underpin the move to renewables.

The strategy, developed by Resources Minister Madeleine King, said new projects were essential to the nation – such as Scarborough, being developed by Woodside off the Western Australian coast, and Narrabri, being developed by Santos in northern NSW and the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory, which is currently under exploration.

Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation, which represents native title holders from the Beetaloo Basin, said gas development would damage their country.

“We don’t need new gas which involves drilling into our land in the Northern Territory and damaging our country, culture and water,” said chair of Nurrdalinji, Djingili Elder Samuel Sandy.

The Australian Conservation Foundation labelled the strategy a climate disaster.

“As climate scientists warn the planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating, it beggars belief Australia’s government would release a plan to detonate the Scarborough, Browse, Barossa and Beetaloo carbon bombs,” said ACF Gavan McFadzean.

Removing kerbside car parks and turning them into cycling lanes could make Brisbane more liveable without hurting small businesses, a researcher argues.

Boundary Street in Brisbane’s eclectic West End was used as a case study by University of Queensland researchers, with Associate Professor Dr Dorina Pojani concluding it would be “appropriate and desirable” to turn at least one on-street parking lane into a bike lane.

Pojani said contrary to popular perception, the parking occupancy rate on Boundary Street was mostly less than 60 per cent on weekdays.

That was because 42 per cent of visitors walked there.

Read the full story.

The nation’s biggest universities are seeking legal advice from federal authorities on how to respond to protestors who call for an “intifada” against Israel amid a political row over public chants that back the use of violence.

The universities have written to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to gain formal advice on whether the pro-Palestinian demand is a breach of federal law, setting up a crucial decision on ways to ban the protestors from university grounds.

“Intifada” is an Arab word for rebellion or resistance, used in protests to refer to an uprising against oppression, but the Anti-Defamation League, founded a century ago to counter the vilification of Jews, argues it is a slogan that calls for indiscriminate violence against Israel.

Vowing to act immediately if they have clear legal authority, the universities also want advice on calls that Palestine should be free “from the river to the sea” because of longstanding concern the words are anti-Semitic and seek the destruction of the state of Israel.

Here’s more on this breaking story.

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather has welcomed any lift to the Commonwealth rent assistance, but wants a rent cap to help address the housing crisis.

The MP has told ABC RN Breakfast that a rent cap continues to be one of the major things the party wants to address housing issues in Australia.

“If the government in this budget fronted up money to help coordinate a national freeze and cap on rent increases, we could save renters on average, about two and a half $1000 a year,” Chandler-Mather said.

He said countries in Europe managed to cap and freezing rents.

“It is sort of shocking that the government seems so unwilling to consider such a practical solution,” he said.

The Greens spokesman said he did welcome government plans to increase Commonwealth rent assistance.

“Last year when they increased it amounted to about a $12 a week rent increase for those few renters who do receive Commonwealth rent assistance, it’s worth noting that most renters don’t receive that. And frankly, if your rent increases $50 or $100 a week … $12 is … a drop in the ocean.”

A homicide investigation has been launched after the death of an elderly man, who suffered serious injuries in an attack at a home west of Brisbane.

Police are appealing for further information regarding the assault at the home on Hood Street in Gatton, between 6pm and 7pm on Anzac Day.

The man, aged 76, died from his injuries in Toowoomba hospital on Sunday.

“The man appeared to be recovering from his injuries before his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he passed away,” police said.

Police are yet to find his attacker. Detective Inspector Heath McQueen is expected to provide an update on the case later today.

Children and the elderly in Queensland are at risk of an expected flu and COVID wave, health chiefs warn.

The Home Affairs Department has failed to effectively regulate migration agents, botching investigations into serious complaints including at least one allegation of sex trafficking.

A damning Commonwealth auditor-general report accused the Home Affairs-managed Office of Migration Agents Registration Authority of failures in supervising the migration agents who facilitate the arrival of vulnerable people into the country.

“Home Affairs’ regulation of migration agents is not effective. There is an absence of regulatory action to monitor the activities of registered agents, and the department does not take timely and effective action in response to complaints it receives about the activities of registered agents,” the Australian National Audit Office report found.

It found the department did not properly monitor agents and had not used the data it had available to take risks from poor conduct out of the immigration system.

In one example, the department failed to properly investigate an agent suspected of sex trafficking after it had been alerted by the Australian Border Force.

The review also urged an overhaul of an approval system that allowed agents to have their registrations automatically approved even when facing numerous complaints.

Here’s the full story here.

Border security in the Torres Strait has come under fire after a group of men trying to enter Australia on a dinghy were detained.

It is believed five men are in custody on Saibai Island, off the far north Queensland coast, after being intercepted by authorities in the Torres Strait.

The men are reportedly from West Africa but it is unclear whether they have claimed asylum in Australia.

Torres Strait Island Mayor Phillemon Mosby says more federal government funding is needed to police people smuggling in his region.

Mosby says the federal government has not told him about the detainees in his own backyard and he only found out when alerted by a local councillor.

“She was informed by a family member who happened to drive down the road on Monday … and found five guys casually sitting like normal locals.

“I was disappointed I wasn’t informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Office on Thursday Island.”

The five men reportedly travelled through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, allegedly using fake documents before attempting to enter far north Queensland.

Asked about the group’s arrival, the Australian Border Force said it had “well-established processes to manage irregular movements of people in the Torres Strait”.

As has been the theme this week, a cloudy day and showers have been forecast for Brisbane. Here’s the outlook for today and into the weekend.

Looking further afield, here are some of the headlines from around Australia and the world.