The Queensland premier defends her record as a political underdog but Labor MPs agitating for change remain unconvinced
When Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is “absolutely determined” to lead Labor to another election in Queensland, no one has any doubt that she means it.
“I feel refreshed, I feel energised,” the Queensland premier said on Monday, returning from leave to address worsening polls and growing unrest among government MPs.
Continue reading...Ambulance service uncertain of the species that bit the man but says symptoms point to a brown snake
A man in his 60s has died from a snake bite in central Queensland, after helping to remove a snake which had coiled around his friend’s leg.
Two men were treated by the Queensland Ambulance Service in Koumala, a town 60km south of Mackay, shortly after 6.30pm on Saturday evening.
Continue reading...Despite growing discontent and sagging poll numbers, Queensland Labor’s leadership will probably only change if the premier resigns – or deputy Steven Miles mounts a challenge
Twenty-four hours is supposed to be a long time in politics. But the past fortnight in Queensland has felt like watching the continents drift apart.
Annastacia Palaszczuk returns from leave on Monday to confront the first serious threat to her leadership since 2012, when she took the wheel of a Labor opposition that could fit comfortably inside a Toyota Tarago.
Continue reading...Design fault blamed for drivers, who were caught with a passenger breaking seatbelt laws, being issued double demerit points
A design fault in Queensland’s mobile phone and seatbelt cameras led to almost 2,000 people being incorrectly fined and more than 600 drivers losing their licence.
Transport minister Mark Bailey said he was made aware of the issue on Wednesday, with his department requesting urgent legal advice.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Authorities move to notify families after children’s names were provided in unredacted documents
Authorities are notifying the families of 64 alleged victims of an accused Queensland paedophile after their identities were mistakenly made available to journalists.
The state’s attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, apologised for the “breach of victims’ privacy” on Friday morning and announced an inquiry into the error.
Continue reading...The poet’s premier’s award for The Jaguar, a collection about the death of her father, follows Stella prize win earlier this year
Sarah Holland-Batt’s “technically brilliant and experimental” poetry collection about the death of her father, The Jaguar, has won the $25,000 top prize at the Queensland literary awards, fresh after her Stella prize win earlier this year.
The 40-year-old’s third collection, covering her father’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, his time in aged care and his death two decades later, won the premier’s award for a work of state significance on Wednesday night.
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Continue reading...Disability royal commission finds state should have done more to protect pair, who were found malnourished in house with dead father
The Queensland government has apologised to two boys with autism who were found severely malnourished, naked and locked in a squalid room after their father died.
The child safety minister, Craig Crawford, said he was “disgusted” to learn about the abuse and neglect experienced by the teenage brothers over two decades, as revealed by the disability royal commission.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lawyers for Getax Australia say ‘unjustified and inexplicable delays’ from the prosecution mean evidence has been lost and essential witnesses have died
A Queensland exporter accused of systematically bribing Nauruan politicians for favourable mining deals on the Pacific island has applied to have a charge of foreign bribery permanently stayed, arguing “a fair trial is impossible” and accusing Australian authorities of mishandling the investigation and losing key evidence.
Court documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that lawyers for Getax Australia Pty Ltd have applied for a permanent stay. If successful, it would effectively permanently halt the company’s prosecution.
Continue reading...Local Aboriginal land council says at least six crocodiles have been found shot dead in the past two months
Queensland wildlife officers are investigating the deaths and beheadings of several large crocodiles near the remote town of Normanton, in what appears to be a growing problem in the state.
Rangers from the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (CLAC) have reported six crocodiles shot in the past two months, with some of the dead carcasses missing their heads.
Continue reading...Police say accused was called in ‘as a cleaner’ by another man who has been charged with drug dealer’s murder
NSW police have charged a Queensland man they believe was involved in the disposal of a murdered man’s body found in a metal container floating in a rural creek.
The 33-year-old was arrested in Brisbane in May after NSW homicide detectives travelled to the city while investigating the disappearance of a 22-year-old man they believed was selling illicit drugs in Sydney.
Continue reading...‘Come and live in somebody’s shoes who is at high risk of serious complications from the flu or Covid,’ disability advocate says
People with disability are more likely to feel unsafe in Queensland health institutions and may even avoid them after the state launched plans to drop its vaccine mandate for health staff, according to an advocacy group.
Nicole Lee, president of People with Disability Australia, said Queensland had been a leader in Covid protections and she had hoped the state might make the mandate permanent.
Continue reading...Dylan Voller’s solicitor argues new law retrospectively legalising practice could be successfully challenged
The Queensland government could still face a damages bill in the tens of millions of dollars, some lawyers say, despite retrospective legislation exempting it from liability for holding children in adult police watch houses.
Dylan Voller’s lawyer Peter O’Brien, the solicitor behind the class action against the Northern Territory’s Don Dale youth detention centre, said he believed the retrospective legislation could be challenged in court.
Continue reading...Report reveals that foreign interests hold 11.3% of Australia’s water entitlements – about half of which are in the food and fibre producing Murray-Darling Basin
Foreign interests hold almost 12% of all water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin and the level of foreign ownership in water is increasing, a new report shows.
Foreigners own or have a significant share in 4,503GL of Australian water entitlements, which is 11.3% of all the entitlements across the country, the Australian Taxation Office’s report says.
Continue reading...Charge sheets show the man allegedly assaulted children over 15 years at centres all across Brisbane
The Queensland childcare worker accused of being one of Australia’s worst paedophiles is alleged to have sexually abused seven different girls in a single month, court documents show.
Charge sheets released on Tuesday reveal new details about allegations against the man, who is accused of abusing 91 children in Australia and overseas over a 15-year period.
In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
Continue reading...The UK series, which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew, is the latest victim of cost-cutting measures at Disney and beyond
A big budget series filmed in Queensland which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew has become the latest victim of cuts at Disney, being dropped by the studio after filming – and before it even had a chance to be released.
Nautilus, a UK series that had been set to stream on Disney+, is a prequel story to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Shazad Latif stars as Captain Nemo, an Indian prince who became a prisoner of the East India Company and sets off on a mission of revenge on submarine Nautilus.
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Continue reading...The deputy premier, Steven Miles, called speculation about a challenge ‘rumours and gossip’
Annastacia Palaszczuk has never faced a serious threat to her leadership.
In 11 years as Labor leader – the past eight as premier – there have been no attempted coups or plots, or Canberra-style white-anting by ambitious rivals. Most senior ministers are part of the furniture. Backbenchers rarely vent their concerns, even privately.
Continue reading...Law changes retroactively exempt government from litigation as Labor refuses to release legal advice used to justify rapid changes to Youth Justice Act
The Queensland government has refused to release key legal advice it used to justify urgent changes to the Youth Justice Act, amid criticism over its decision to retroactively prevent children from suing if they were detained unlawfully.
Defending the government’s hurried changes to the law, the deputy premier, Steven Miles, said the solicitor general had advised it could not delay amending the act – even for a few weeks – to accommodate scrutiny by a parliamentary committee.
Continue reading...Possible ‘robodebt’ scenario left Labor to either move the children or suspend the Human Rights Act – and it chose the latter
Queensland Labor MPs found out on Monday that they were expected to vote to suspend the state’s Human Rights Act, for a second time, to allow for the indefinite detention of children in adult police watch houses.
No one else seemed to have any warning. On Wednesday afternoon – on a particularly dreary day in state parliament – the police minister, Mark Ryan, tacked the law change on to an unrelated child safety bill, allowing it to pass through parliament the following day with no committee scrutiny.
Continue reading...Palaszczuk government overriding state’s Human Rights Act to allow for imprisoning children as young as 10 in adult watch houses
Queensland’s human rights commissioner has accused the government of setting a “dangerous precedent” after it overrode the Human Rights Act to allow children to be detained at adult watch houses and prisons.
In a surprise move, the Palaszczuk government introduced legislation on Wednesday to allow it to imprison children in adult watch houses “even if it would not be compatible with human rights”.
Continue reading...Proposed law changes include allowing children to be detained in adult watch houses for the next three years
The Queensland government has introduced legislation to allow it to imprison children in police watch houses for adults “even if it would not be compatible with human rights”.
Police minister Mark Ryan introduced the amendment as part of a swathe of changes to an unrelated bill in state parliament this afternoon. It will require a suspension of the state Human Rights Act.
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