Southeast Queensland may be experiencing some welcome wet weather but out west are farmers are still in the grip of a prolonged and crippling drought.

In fact, real drought breaking rains aren’t forecast to arrive until March or April next year.

It makes the work of the Buy A Bale charity absolutely vital and CEO Charles Alder tells Mark every donation is precious and goes directly to help farmers and rural communities.

The state government has announced a local software developer has been given the job of putting together a system to introduce real time petrol price monitoring in Queensland.

Informed Sources will develop aggregator software that collects petrol prices then distributes it free to smartphone apps and comparison websites.

Mark tells state Energy Minister Anthony Lynham that while he hopes it work he is skeptical it will make a real difference to the wallets of motorists.

An Australian study, believed to be the largest in the world, has shown that lap-band surgery is a long term solution to dealing with obesity.

It followed 8,000 people for 20 years and found that on average patients are still 30 kilograms lighter than when they had the procedure.

Study lead author from the Monash Centre for Obesity Research Prof Paul O’Brien tells Mark success depends on patients playing by the rules.

The Ipswich Turf Club was today forced to cancel its scheduled race meeting because of an unsafe soggy patch just past the finish post.

A fortnight earlier stewards cancelled the meeting at the 11th hour after someone left the sprinklers on.

Brisbane horse trainer Bryan Dais tells Mark that while stewards had no choice today it is very frustrating for trainers and owners.

An online petition opposing the Brisbane City Council’s plan for a zipline on Mt Coot-tha has attracted almost 4,000 signatures.

A the council has now lodged a development application and is about to hold information sessions about what is being proposed.

Environmental Scientist and zipline opponent Alan Lee tells Mark he believes it is a conflict of interest for the council to assess its own DA.

A charity that rescues unwanted food to feed the needy has opened a huge commercial kitchen at Morningside.

FareShare is aiming to cook 1.25 million meals in the first 12 months which will be distributed to soup vans, homeless shelters, women’s refuges and community food banks.

FareShare Queensland director Kellie Watson tells Mark the plan is to eventually do 5 million meals a year but it requires the support of businesses and the community.

Doctors and the state government have condemned a billboard put up by an anti-vaccination group that questions the safety of immunisation.

The billboard at Carseldine is the work of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network and next to a picture of a young child asks "Unvaccinated or vaccinated, who is healthier?"

AMA Queensland Vice President Dr Michael Cleary tells Mark the billboard is designed to sow the seeds of doubt and is not only irresponsible but dangerous.

New figures show that last financial year fire crews were called out 1,818 times.

The figures also reveal that Logan had the highest number of house fires in the state with 132, closely followed by 111 in the Gold Coast North area.

Louie Naumovski from the Logan House Fire Support Network tells Mark the area has a lot of older homes that are basically tinderboxes.

The National Good Food Guide Awards 2019 have been presented in Melbourne with only one Queensland restaurant taking out a top gong.

Brisbane’s Otto restaurant was honoured for having the best wine list in the country.

National Good Food Guide editor Myffy Rigby tells Mark the good news though is that 22 eating establishments in the state were hatted including a number in Brisbane that earned two hats.

In a world that has never been more connected loneliness remains an ever present problem.

Research commissioned by Movember show that a 13% of men said they had no close friends and that men over 55 were the most isolated.

The situation is not much better for women.

Graham Cowan from the charity R U OK? tells Mark that social media is no substitute for real face to face contact.