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A Queensland magistrate has denied or adjourned applications by major media companies to reveal the identity of a high-profile man accused of rape.

The man, facing two charges of raping a woman in October 2021, had his case mentioned for the second time in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Lawyers for News Corp, Seven, Nine and Ten networks, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, and the ABC applied to magistrate Kay Philipson to use her discretionary powers to grant an exemption to Queensland's Sexual Offences Act that prohibits naming people accused of rape unless and until they are committed to stand trial.

The accused man's barrister, Andrew Hoare, said he agreed with Ms Philipson and the crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald when they described the applications as "premature".

Ms Philipson said it was written in the "strict construction" of the law that she could not use those powers unless the matter proceeded to a committal hearing.

"I'm doing no more on this mention than determining where proceedings are at and what the next step is. I'm not holding a committal today, I'm not taking statements or examining witnesses today," she said.

The media organisations had also sought to gain access to court documents about the case but Ms Philipson said she had no power to impose orders on the registrar, who receives and manages court paperwork.

"Where is my power to direct the registrar to do anything?" Ms Philipson said.

Ms Philipson dismissed the application to access court documents as well as one of two applications to name the accused man, with the other application to be considered if the charges are brought to a committal hearing to decide if the matter will go to trial.

The high-profile man was excused from appearing in person and Mr Hoare said there had been issues with some elements of the prosecution's electronic brief of evidence not functioning.

Mr Hoare said prosecutors had sought a forensic download of evidence and a further statement from an expert and his client's legal team would need six weeks to examine the prosecution's brief of evidence.

"We will be requesting six weeks to review the entirety of the brief and to be in a position to inform the court as to how this matter will progress and the next mention," Mr Hoare said.

Ms Friedewald did not oppose the length of the adjournment and said it was appropriate as prosecutors needed a month to prepare their report.

Ms Philipson granted an application for the matter to be adjourned until April 5 at Toowoomba Magistrates Court, extended the accused man's bail and excused him from appearing in person at the next hearing.

The media organisations' lawyer, Zander Croft, said outside court that his clients would continue to pursue their application to name the accused man.

Mr Croft said the application that was dismissed would not affect other application to name the accused.

"The next stage would be that the application will be heard at a committal hearing ... if it proceeds to a committal," Mr Croft said.

The Queensland government last year announced it would change legislation to allow accused rapists to be named earlier in legal proceedings, in line with a recommendation of the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce.

© AAP 2023

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Two NRL stars will fight nightclub brawling charges as they prepare for a round one return.

Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton both pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged fight outside a Canberra nightclub at the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

But their attention now turns to footy, with their hearing not listed until after the NRL season.

Canberra five-eighth Wighton, 30, is facing charges of fighting in a public place and failing to comply with an exclusion direction, while South Sydney fullback Mitchell, 25, is charged with resisting a territory public official, fighting in a public place and failing to comply with an exclusion direction.

But a relaxed Wighton fronted the media on Wednesday afternoon and said the charges hanging over him wouldn't affect how he attacks the season.

"No impact - the show goes on," he said.

"I'm a footy player and I have been since a kid ... I've got a job to do, to play football representing this beautiful club."

The Australian World Cup stars were celebrating Wighton's 30th birthday when the incident occurred on February 5, the duo previously labelling it a "harmless wrestle".

They arrived at and left court together, Wighton laughing off any suggestion there was tension between him and his distant cousin, who are also close friends.

"There's been no dramas there, ever," he said.

"I can't comment on any of that stuff. That will all pan out and work itself out in the future."

Mitchell's lawyer Tom Taylor commented briefly after the duo left court, saying the fullback's version of events would be defended.

"Latrell has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Because he's pleaded not guilty it would be inappropriate to talk about the case in any great detail," he told reporters.

"Every story has two sides and we're gonna defend Latrell's."

Mr Taylor wouldn't comment when asked if police had been heavy-handed when arresting the duo.

Video footage of the arrest shows four police officers on top of Mitchell when arresting him while the fullback yells "my shoulders, my shoulders".

Both will start the NRL season next week with the code's integrity unit already indicating it wouldn't rule on any punishment before the criminal matter wraps up.

Wighton's Raiders kick off their NRL campaign in north Queensland next Saturday before Mitchell's Rabbitohs face Cronulla later that same day.

The duo's three-day hearing is slated for October 30.

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Flight Centre has reported an improved set of half year results, despite not delivering a profit, on the back of a rebound in global travel demand.

For the six months to December 31, Australia's top travel agency narrowed its statutory pre-tax loss to $18.3 million, a significant improvement on the $276.1 million loss announced a year earlier.

Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at $95m, compared with a $184m loss a year ago.

The value of transactions handled by the company more than trebled to $9.89 billion.

Chief executive Graham Turner lauded the group's solid performance in an "improved, but not fully recovered, trading environment".

"The sales momentum that helped drive our recovery last year continued throughout the first half, with total transaction value and revenue both tripling compared to the previous corresponding period," he said.

"In both leisure and corporate, we are achieving our strategic objectives and laying foundations for more meaningful profit recovery in the future."

Flight Centre said all of its regions, apart from Asia, returned to profit in the first half.

Its corporate business delivered a record transaction value of $5 billion and is on track to top the previous annual high of $8.9b generated in 2018/19.

The leisure segment contributed 44 per cent of the group's transaction value.

"We are not currently seeing evidence that the recovery is slowing with the leisure business currently trading at post-COVID highs and corporate travel activity escalating after the traditional holiday period," Mr Turner said.

He expects further recovery in the second half and reiterated the group's target for underlying earnings between $250m and $280m for the full year.

That will be aided by seasonality and an improvement in airline capacity. Flight Centre expects international capacity to Australia will increase to 85 per cent of pre-COVID levels by June 30 as a number of key airlines, including Emirates, China Southern and Cathay Pacific, increase services.

The company did not declare any interim dividend, extending a dry run for shareholders.

Flight Centre shares dropped after the results, and were trading 1.7 per cent lower at $18.29 each at 1300 AEDT, in a weak Australian market.

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Wages have improved again but by less than expected, lifting 3.3 per cent annually in the December quarter.

On a quarterly basis, the Australian Bureau of Statistics' wage price index lifted 0.8 per cent.

ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said the increase in hourly wage rates for the December 2022 quarter was lower than the 1.1 per cent increase for the September quarter.

"It was, however, higher than any December quarter increase across the last decade," she said.

Analysts were broadly anticipating one per cent quarterly growth and 3.5 per cent over the year in the final quarter of 2022.

Despite the improvement in wages, elevated inflation continues to erode gains in worker pay.

In the December quarter, inflation grew by 7.8 per cent over the 12 months, taking the gap between inflation and wage growth to a considerable 4.5 per cent.

Private sector wages grew by 0.8 per cent over the quarter and 3.6 per cent annually, outpacing the 0.7 per cent quarterly improvement and the 2.5 per cent annual lift in public sector wages.

BIS Oxford Economic head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said the softer-than-expected wage growth should temper the Reserve Bank's fears of a "wage-price spiral".

"Nevertheless, the labour market continues to track in a very tight position," he said.

"The wage price index is a narrow measure of wage growth and these data will not completely allay the RBA's concerns over a wage-price spiral," he added.

The RBA hiked interest rates for the ninth time in a row in February and has indicated more tightening will be necessary to tackle persistent inflation.

BIS Oxford Economics expects to see three more interest rate hikes before the cash rate peaks.

© AAP 2023