They may look clean and pristine at first glance, however one beachcomber says trash is littered along our treasured beaches as cigarette butts, dog poo, used tampons and straws clog our summer playgrounds.

Crews are battling 57 fires across Queensland including one that is out of control on the Gold Coast hinterland, with the QFES declaring the "unprecedented" blazes are just the start of a very severe fire season.

Queenslanders recall the nights in the 60s spent dancing in the hall of the Binna Burra Lodge the same place where hundreds of others have married the love of their life after fire guts the heritage-listed resort.

A singed and injured koala and her joey, who have become a symbol of hope and resilience amid Queensland's bushfire emergency, are slowly recovering in a Brisbane wildlife hospital.

More people over 65 are looking for work than ever before but many are not finding jobs, despite their valuable experience.

Acting Queensland Premier Jackie Trad says the Gold Coast hinterland fire that swept through the area over the weekend included areas of rainforest a highly unusual event, but one that experts say is occurring more frequently in recent times.

A man is taken into police custody in relation to a car that crashed through the front of a house on the Gold Coast early on Sunday morning, leaving a teenage girl trapped inside.

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.

Thunderstorms have rolled west across Queensland's southern inland, bringing more rain than expected to the Gold Coast hinterland as well as numerous lightning strikes raising concerns about the possibility of new bushfires.

Two people are treated for hypothermia after being plucked from the hull of their overturned boat in waters off the Gold Coast overnight.

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.

A Gold Coast couple who funded a "lavish lifestyle" peddling MDMA and cannabis on the dark web is jailed after pleading guilty to drug trafficking.

Visitor numbers plummet on the Gold Coast hinterland and Scenic Rim after devastating bushfires razed parts of the regions earlier this month a double tragedy for local businesses.

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".

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.

A Gold Coast stripper is found guilty of glassing Neighbours star Scott McGregor after a "foul-mouthed tirade" from the actor.

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.

The owner of a troubled aged care centre, which suddenly closed three months ago amid a pay dispute, says he has lost his licence to operate a high-care facility, and the centre will not reopen.

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.

With an influx of 350,000 new residents expected by 2041, locals are concerned the planning and development will continue to alter the Gold Coast's unique identity.

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.

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.

A day after the discovery of a body, confirmed as Comancheros bikie Shane Ross, police divers search for a gun and declare a double homicide investigation linked to another man's death on Friday night.

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.

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.

They often clog up footpaths taking selfies, but as frustrating as tourists can be, they're the lifeblood of Australia's Glitter Strip.

Fewer than one in 10 pregnant women in Australia have access to what is considered to be the 'gold standard' of maternity care, but one outback Queensland town has adopted the model in a bold move to empower local women and midwives.

Drought conditions have revived the old practice of large cattle drives, but drovers face new challenges as competition for feed on previously abandoned stock routes heats up.

Most of the time, acquiring an Australian passport using evidence like a birth certificate means citizenship for life. But sometimes the Department of Home Affairs can ask for more evidence, writes Jan Gothard.

The mayor of Woorabinda, a small Indigenous community in central Queensland, says until their land is converted from a government lease to freehold, it is still like living on a mission.

A fake doctor working at a Sydney hospital was detected as a fraud but allowed to continue working in the health system, an independent inquiry is told.

One side of the tracks has brick homes with pools and watered lawns. Just 100 metres to the other side, generations have lived in an pre-war bush block labelled a "shantytown" with no water, sewerage or roads, underlining two-tier disadvantage in peri-urban Australia.