For three years Crime Stoppers in Queensland had been unique in Australia, operating independently of the Police Service.

The arrangement ended in February when it was absored back into the QPS with the loss of dozens of fulltime and volunteer jobs.

This week Crime Stoppers Queensland CEO Trevor O’Hara stepped down after more than 12 years in the job telling Mark he leaves with great pride in what his team has acheived for the people of Queensland.

It’s estimated the flu contributes to more than 3,000 deaths in Australia each year.

Flu season is traditionally between May and October but already this year more than 6,600 Queenslanders have contracted either the Influenza-A or Influenza-B virus.

The state government is now distributing vaccines to GPs and pharmacists but the perennial problem is the flu virus can change from season to season and no single shot protects against all strains.

Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast though are about to trial a “universal” influenza vaccine which would require just one injection for life.

USC Clinical Trials Director Lucas Litewka tells Mark he needs a thousand volunteers for the trial.

Anyone interested in taking part can go to www.usc.edu.au/trials

Political troubles and the Robert Mugabe era made tourists wary for years about traveling to Zimbabwe, but recent changes and greater stability is convincing travelers to take a closer look.

It boasts five World Heritage sites including the Great Zimbabwe Ruins and the Victoria Falls.

Sean Lues from Journeys Worldwide tells Mark the people are super friendly, although he might be a bit biased because he was born there.

Two time ARIA winner Megan Washington started out performing jazz before moving into indie pop and now she’s about to try her hand at something new.

She’s in Brisbane for the inaugural New Opera Workshop (NOW) which is bringing together leading composers, directors, librettists and producers to look at the future of the artform.

Megan plans to preview excerpts from her new modern opera based on the 2017 Stella Prize-shortlisted novel Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain.

She and Opera Queensland’s artistic director Patrick Nolan joined Mark in the studio.

Australia’s newest warship HMAS Brisbane has dropped anchour in Brisbane for the first time since being commissioned in October last year.

The Hobart Class guided missile destroyer is the third Australian Navy ship to bare the name Brisbane and on Saturday the ship’s complement will perform a Freedom Of Entry march through the CBD.

The Brisbane’s commanding officer Commander Josh Wilson tells Mark entering the Brisbane River was a very proud moment for his crew.

Despite tougher driving tests and greater driver education the numbers of Queenslanders being pinged for speeding continues to climb.

Last year, more than 700,000 drivers were issued more than 900,000 fines and those numbers don’t include the Christmas period.

More than 24,000 who were fined twice in a week, more than 12,000 who were caught twice in a day, while one driver was pinged eight times in just 24 hours.

Russell White from Driver Safety Australia tells Mark the scary thing is that those are just the drivers who were caught.

At a time when most performers have long since retired to rest of their laurels Petula Clark is still going strong at 86 years young.

The two time Grammy winning singer and star of stage and screen is set to tour Queensland in the coming weeks, including a performance at QPAC on Sunday the 5th of May.

Mark caught up with Petula on the phone from her home in Geneva, Switzerland and she told him it is still a thrill to perform live.

The Queensland Police Task Force Argos is world renowned for its work tracking down paedophiles and luring them within reach of the long arm of the law.

Researchers from Griffith University are now going “undercover” to underrstand how officers are able to impersonate children online to catch the predators.

Associate Professor Benoit Leclerc from the Griffith School of Criminology tells Mark he wants to find ways to make police even more effective.

Sadly, the world’s oceans are awash with plastics which break down into microplastics and end up being eaten by a range of fish and other marine creatures.

Seafood is usually gutted and so those microplastics don’t end up being eaten by us, or at least that’s what we hope.

Dr Amanda Dawson from the Australian Institute Of Marine Science is stuyding whether plastics in the gut of fish can cross the barrier into the meat.

The work has earned her the 2019 Queensland Women in STEM prize and she tells Mark that microplastics has only really been studied for 10 years and there are still a myriad of questions that need answering.

Josh Frydenberg’s election budget has a lot to recommend it with a forecast return to surplus and the bringing forward of tax cuts for low and middle income earners.

For seniors and pensioners though the budget offers relatively slim pickings.

Ian Henschke from National Seniors Australia has labelled the budget “disappointing” and tells Mark almost nothing seniors had labbied for was included.