Your daily local news briefing // Wednesday 31 May 2017

WEATHER FORECAST
Cairns: 21-29C max, 60% chance of rain
Port Douglas: 23-27C max, 80% chance of rain
Mareeba: 17-27C max, 30% chance of rain
Innisfail: 20-25C max, 80% rain


TODAY'S TOP STORIES

BLUES NARROW FAVOURITES IN TONIGHT'S ORIGIN OPENER
The bookies are backing the Blues. Despite a decade of dominance, online bookmakers have the Blues at $1.88 favourites to beat the Maroons ($2.05) in tonight's game 1 of the State of Origin.
Queensland coach Kevin Walters expects Johnathan Thurston's replacement Anthony Milford to step up and shine in tonight's clash.

COLLUSION CALL MISSING FROM FUEL INQUIRY 
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch says he's disappointed the ACCC study into Cairns fuel prices didn't find evidence of "collusion between retailers that could be pursued through prosecution".
"It's not a coincidence that as soon as one retailer changes their price, the others are quick to follow and in the course of 10 minutes you can see the same Cent Per Litre (cpl) price across multiple petrol stations," he said.

WHITE ROCK SET FOR RECREATION FACILITIES
A fishing platform and boardwalk could form part of upgrades at White Rock as part of a new council study into the suburb. Residents in Cairns’ southern suburbs are urged to have their say into the White Rock Recreation Study via an online survey or by dropping into Bak Park this Thursday afternoon.
Division 3 Councillor Cathy Zeiger said the study would analyse current recreation opportunities in the White Rock area and identify emerging needs and opportunities to respond to those needs.
“An important feature of the study will be to investigate the need and feasibility of a new nature-based recreation feature with a boardwalk and fishing platforms,” she said.

CAIRNS BUSES GET SAFETY UPGRADE
Cairns and the Gold Coast have been chosen as trial sites for a Sunbus safety upgrade. The state government will spend $50,000 installing shatterproof film to windows and doors on buses. Statistics show Cairns and the Gold Coast hold the dubious honour of being the worst spots in Queensland for rock-throwing at buses.