Tricky time for lunchboxes: banana shortage hits supermarket shelves after cool weather in Queensland

19 October 2026 at 15:00

Dearth of bananas coincides with poor apple harvest and lack of summer stone fruit

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A shortage of Australia’s most popular fruit, bananas, has hit supermarket shelves at a tricky time for lunchboxes, right as apple season winds down after tough growing conditions and summer stone fruit is yet to arrive en masse.

Cool weather in key Queensland growing regions has severely slowed banana production, leaving major supermarkets Coles, Woolworths and Aldi with sparse displays or very green stock.

Crisafulli and Co try passing the buck on call to give probe more powers

Sydney Morning Herald

By: Matt Dennien

19 October 2026 at 10:55

This week in our Queensland public sector column, Public Circus tries to find an answer to growing questions about the CFMEU inquiry, finds Stuart Wood’s lunch eaten, farewells a governor, and more.

Mother assessed as posing no immediate risk to others three weeks before Elizabeth Struhs’ manslaughter, inquest hears

The Guardian - World news

By: Andrew Messenger

19 October 2026 at 08:39

Queensland correctional services officer did not have access to details of Kerrie Struhs’ past offending which included child neglect

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Elizabeth Struhs’ mother, Kerrie, was assessed by correctional services as being of no immediate risk to others by an officer who had no access to her offending history, three weeks before she and others caused her eight-year-old daughter to die, a Brisbane inquest has heard.

Kerrie Struhs was sentenced to five months’ jail for child neglect after failing to take Elizabeth to hospital to treat her type 1 diabetes in 2019. Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard has previously heard that Elizabeth was so unwell when she presented at hospital that she was nearly dead, and was in a coma.