The nominations have been announced the annual Matilda Awards celebrating the best in the south east Queensland theatre scene.

Among the productions in the running for statuettes are a new work by legendary Australian playwright David Williamson and play set against the backdrop of Johnathan Thurston’s grand final winning goal.

Lead judge Elise Greig tells Mark it’s an embarrassment of riches.

Around one in four children suffer from asthma and as parents prepare to send them back to school they are being advised to make sure they have a plan in place.

Astha Australia warns that spikes in asthma flare ups are common when children return to school, resulting in significant increase in hospitalisations and days off school.

CEO Michele Goldman tells Mark parents need to update their child’s Asthma Action Plan and make sure their kid’s school is aware.

Brisbane paramedics have reported a spike in the number of people being treated for injuries since the trial of Lime Scooters began in mid November.

Around 60 people have had to be treated at hospital emergency departments for injuries including broken bones, fractures and head injuries.

Members of the QAS Bicycle Response Team are usually first on the scene and paramedic Jeremy Lodge tells Mark things are especially busy on weekends and alcohol is sometimes involved.

Often when someone reveals they have lung cancer the first thought many have is that the person ‘only has themselves to blame.’

What many people may not realise is that 20% of lung cancer patients have never smoked, 40% had given up years before and only 40% are active smokers.

The Lung Foundation is worried that sufferers are stigmatised in a way that other cancer patients aren’t.

The LFA has launched a new awareness campaign and CEO Mark Brooke tells Mark people need to “Stop asking the wrong question about lung cancer.”

Getting a foot on the property ladder is often a challenging experience for novices as they navigate inspections, organise building reports, arrange finance and make offers.

Mark’s son Jarryd was lured to an auction just before Christmas on the understanding he was in the hunt to buy a unit at Red Hill, only to find himself on the day $100,000 short of the reserve.

4BC Real Estate show host Kevin Turner tells Mark any responsible agent would have told Jarryd not to waste his time and money.

A six year old boy continues to recover in hospital after being bitten on the leg by a dingo on Fraser Island on Saturday afternoon.

The boy from Cairns had been holidaying with his family for six days and they report that a pack on dingoes had been skulking around for days.

Dingo attacks are rare but certainly not unheard of on Fraser Island and Simon Stretton, the owner of the Durong Dingo Sanctuary, tells Mark the place where the boy was bitten is a bit of a ‘dingo hot spot’.

Hits such as Bus Stop, He Ain’t Heavy and The Air I Breath made The Hollies as much the sound of the 60s as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

The band is headed to the Gold Coast next February on thier The Road Is Long Australian tour.

Singer and guitarist Tony Hicks tells Mark he always looks forward to returning to Australia.

Following a recent spate of shark attacks in the Whitsundays there have been calls for a cull and claims that numbers are out of control.

An analyses of Queensland Shark Control Program data all the way back to the start in 1962 tells a different story.

Dr George Roff from the University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences tells Mark numbers are in serious decline and not only that sharks are getting smaller.

Queensland health authorities have raised the alarm about an increasing incidence of whooping cough.

In the last few months there have been 14 outbreaks notified in schools in North Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Darling Downs, while there have been 1,595 notifications across the state this year, a 25% increase on 2017.

Dr Heidi Carroll from the Queensland Health Communicable Diseases Branch tells Mark that Queensland experiences an epidemic about every four years and the last was back in 2012.

The latest figures from the National Health Survey show asthma rates across Australia on the rise with 2.7 million people suffering the condition.

The situation is particularly bad in Queensland which is above the national average with almost 12% of Queenslanders affected.

Asthma Australia CEO Michelle Goldman explains to Mark that while we know what triggers asthma, the medical explanation remains difficult to pin down and requires more research.