The 2025 Australian of the Year Awards recipients for Queensland have been announced at a ceremony in Brisbane this evening. 

The Queensland recipients will join those from the other states and territories for the national awards to be announced on 25 January 2025. 

The 2025 Australian of the Year for Queensland is Geoffrey Smith, co-founder, Australian Spatial Analytics. 

Laine Clark

During her eight-year-old son's hospital stay, Jodie — a registered nurse — kept telling staff something wasn't right.

However, she was left feeling like "that dramatic parent who is worrying about nothing".

Barely 48 hours after being admitted to hospital, her autistic son Hunter was dead.

Bianca Wylie

New funding will help educators develop classrooms to be more inclusive of children with autism, federal Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth says.

Keith Woods

High needs NDIS clients risk losing their homes after a complaint to council amid claims they have been subject of antagonism from a minority of neighbours.

A GROUP of high-needs people are at risk of being thrown out of their homes after the company leasing units on their behalf was issued a show-cause notice by council.

Tom Gillespie

Robyn Vahua dedicates a huge chunk of her week just trying to prove to the NDIS that her son has a disability and needs funding. Now she’s worried he won’t be able to keep living with her.

Robyn Vahua might not be able to keep her 11-year-old son Aristotle at home, because the National Disability Insurance Scheme doesn’t believe he deserves funding for his complex conditions.

Georgie Hewson

When Isaac Lappin's son was 18 months old, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to speak.

"I noticed the first change was within that first 18 months, which is a big turnaround with a lot of autistic kids," Isaac says.

"With that 18 months, the visual signs were like most [autistic] kids — like lining up toys, cups had to be the same, and just little things like that we really noticed.

"Then being non-verbal … back then, there wasn't much help."

Georgie Hewson

Daniel Stanley is a carer for his wife and two daughters but has spent most of his days for the past five years learning to navigate the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Kaitlyn Smith

The teen used to undertake an hours-long commute before the sun had even risen in order to complete his TAFE studies

IPSWICH teen Anthony Taikato has never been one to back down from a challenge.

Diagnosed with a learning difficulty and autism at a young age, the 19-year-old has since gone on to achieve a growing list of both personal and professional milestones.

He recently marked 18 months since joining the ranks at Garstone Design Furniture in Carole Park after taking up work as a labourer on the production line.

A family who claim their disabled child was discriminated against because he was restrained in a Queensland school have lost their appeal in court.

Steve Zemek

A disabled boy who sued the Queensland government because he was suspended and tied up at school due to his behaviour problems has lost his bitter legal feud with the state after having his appeal dismissed.