Category Archives: Queensland

Queensland treaty is going ahead, assures interim body charged with implementing it

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Co-chair of truth and treaty group, Aaron Fa’Aoso, says he remains confident after meeting government representatives on Friday

The co-chair of Queensland’s interim truth and treaty body, Aaron Fa’Aoso, says the state government has given assurances that its treaty process will proceed, after the opposition Liberal National party withdrew its support.

Fa’Aoso, a descendant of the Saibai region in the Torres Strait, said board members of the truth and treaty body met government representatives on Friday.

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LNP’s cold political calculation dares Annastacia Palaszczuk to make treaty an election issue

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Iron-willed during Covid, it’s become harder to know what Queensland’s premier really stands for

In the Queensland parliament in May, Annastacia Palaszczuk spoke bluntly about “uncomfortable truths”.

“Each generation is called to make its mark on its age,” Palaszczuk said. “A treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is ours.

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Australians told ‘do not travel’ to Lebanon – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

No move on paying super to people on paid parental leave

But so far, the government has not moved on paying superannuation to parents (mostly women) on paid parental leave.

Super, of course, is really important and it’s something we would very much like to look to in the future when the budget can afford it. But this is a very big step forward, the current arrangements, but we’ll continue to look around superannuation into the future and consider it in each budget context.

I think with the reserved period as well, we’re going to see an increase in shared care, both parents taking some time out, which is really, really important if we want to get a more equal burden of, you know, of that share of care.

So that is really important as well.

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Selesa Tafaifa had spent significant time in solitary confinement before altercation that led to her death, inquest hears

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The 44-year-old Samoan died in Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre after being restrained in handcuffs and placed in a spit hood

A mentally ill woman who died in custody after a confrontation with prison officers had experienced a decline in behaviour around the period she was isolated in the jail’s detention unit, an inquest has heard.

Selesa Tafaifa died in Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre in November 2021 after being restrained in handcuffs and placed in a spit hood. The 44-year-old Samoan woman had become engaged in a physical altercation with guards after becoming upset at not being able to call her family.

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High-profile man accused of Toowoomba rape takes fight to maintain anonymity to supreme court

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Media companies, including Guardian Australia, oppose the man’s application to avoid being named under new Queensland laws

Lawyers for a high-profile man accused of rape have been reprimanded by a Queensland judge for failing to promptly submit their application for a judicial review to keep their client’s name secret.

The man’s identity will remain protected following a decision in Brisbane’s supreme court on Tuesday to extend an interim non-publication order.

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Police issue $1 million reward to solve two linked cold-case murders, then raid NSW property on same day

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Officers believe Iain Hogg was killed in northern NSW in 2002 before his stolen car was linked to another death in Queensland three days later

A man is being questioned by police after a million dollar reward was announced to help solve two linked cold-case homicides.

NSW police raided a property in Murwillumbah in the state’s north on Tuesday as part of their investigation into the 2002 deaths of Iain Stewart Hogg and Frederick Rosson.

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Queensland Police Union willing to challenge officer misconduct rulings after ‘unmitigated debacle’

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Prospect of appeals causes disquiet among police, with one harassment victim fearing some union members ‘will now be supporting our abusers’

The Queensland police service is facing further potential challenges to bungled internal discipline cases, despite the state government changing the law to validate the “unlawful” process used to sanction hundreds of officers.

The QPS was this year forced to rescind punishments, including several sackings and demotions, for about 300 officers, after a court ruled the process used for internal discipline was invalid.

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Woodchipper victim’s greatest fear was woman accused of his murder would leave him, court told

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Prosecutors allege Sharon Graham was ‘architect’ of plan to murder Bruce Saunders and get money from his insurance

Weeks before Bruce Saunders’ body was put in a woodchipper, the butcher spoke about taking out a life insurance policy and marrying the woman now accused of his murder, a jury has heard.

Saunders was hit on the head with an iron bar after sunset on 12 November 2017 and his body fed into an industrial woodchipper to make it look like an accident, a Brisbane court has been told.

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High-profile man accused of Toowoomba rape loses court bid to maintain anonymity

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But man’s identity will remain secret for now after lawyers in court immediately flagged they would lodge an appeal

A high-profile man accused of raping a woman in Toowoomba has lost a legal battle to maintain his anonymity but his identity will remain secret pending an appeal.

An interim order preventing his name from being published will remain in place until Tuesday despite magistrate Clare Kelly on Friday dismissing the arguments made by his lawyers when seeking a permanent non-publication order.

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Queensland police lodge complaint to hospital over treatment of alleged teenage rape victim

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Exclusive: Central Queensland child protection investigation unit complained after family reported alleged assault in August

Queensland police lodged an official complaint to a hospital in August about the treatment of an alleged teen rape victim who said she left the facility feeling “humiliated” without undergoing a full examination.

The Central Queensland child protection investigation unit complained to the hospital after learning of the girl’s alleged assault from her family.

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‘Green coal’ company owned by LNP figures received $5.5m grant a week before Morrison government entered caretaker mode

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Exclusive: Green Day Energy has had its bank account frozen after going into administration amid a legal dispute between its owners

A fledgling “green coal” company owned by two Queensland Liberal National party figures has had its bank account frozen and become mired in legal action, 18 months after being awarded a $5.5m commonwealth grant in the dying days of the Morrison government.

Guardian Australia can reveal the federal government is “considering its position” in relation to the grant to Green Day Energy, after the company was placed in voluntary administration by director David Hutchinson, the former LNP president. Hutchinson is being sued by Green Day’s largest shareholder, Brad Carswell, a former party official and candidate.

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Woodchipper murder plotters acquired larger unit to carry out plan, court told

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Trial in Brisbane of Sharon Graham hears that a bigger machine was found to carry out the killing of her ex-partner, Bruce Saunders

A woman asked two men to murder her ex-partner to gain $700,000 from his insurance and later asked them why he was still alive, a jury has been told.

Sharon Graham, 62, faced the second day of her trial at Brisbane supreme court on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to the murder of Bruce Saunders at a rural property in Goomboorian, about 70km north-west of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

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Australia news live: Sydney pro-Palestine rally to go ahead without NSW police approval; Cheng Lei freed from China

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Heavy traffic near Sydney airport after truck crash and fluid spill

Traffic remains heavy near Sydney airport after a two-truck crash caused a fluid spill.

This is one of the most important priorities for us coming out of what’s occurred in the previous days.

Minister Wong is [working] really hard on that. The Australian government will do whatever is necessary to protect [its] citizens.

We’ll do whatever is necessary to make sure we can secure the safety of Australians … We’re working very hard to make sure we protect Australians not just overseas, but here at home.

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Queensland to make stealthing illegal under new affirmative consent laws

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Exclusive: removing a condom without consent will be considered rape and could attract a maximum penalty of life in prison

Removing a condom during sex without consent will be considered rape and attract a maximum penalty of life in prison under sweeping laws introduced to Queensland parliament on Wednesday.

The new laws, aimed at criminalising the tampering with or removal of a condom without consent – commonly referred to as stealthing – will be introduced into parliament as part of an affirmative consent model.

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Australia news live: Parliament House in Canberra to be lit up in blue and white in support of Israel

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AAP has the latest polling results ahead of the Indigenous voice referendum day this Saturday:

Two surveys show the no campaign is still ahead a week out from referendum day despite one poll indicating a slight late gain in support for the yes vote in the past month.

Not at all. It’s only done when people cast their ballots.

We’ll wait and see when they cast their vote. I’m not getting ahead of the Australian people.

I know there’s some arrogance has crept into the no side campaign, but it’s a campaign based upon fear and it’s similar to the sort of arguments that were put prior to the apology to stolen generations. And if people think about that … there weren’t any negative consequences for anyone.

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Fringe-right favourite Amanda Stoker returns to politics as LNP moderates worry about her Christian faction ties

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Former federal senator says her conservative views will take a back seat to kitchen table concerns during Queensland state parliament election

A few days after Amanda Stoker announced her run for Queensland state parliament in June, the former federal senator was due to appear at a panel discussion organised by the libertarian lobby group, the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance (ATA).

Stoker has built her reputation pitching herself to groups like the ATA, which exists in a political space that brings together folks from the Liberal National Party’s conservative fringe and the coterie of small freedom parties that have splintered to the right.

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Woman in spit hood told Queensland prison guards four times she couldn’t breathe before dying, inquest hears

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Selesa Tafaifa, 45, died in November 2021 after being restrained by staff at Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre

Selesa Tafaifa told Queensland prison guards four times that she couldn’t breathe and pleaded for her asthma medication six times before dying in custody, a coronial inquest has heard.

Tafaifa, a 45-year-old Samoan woman, died in November 2021 after being restrained by staff at the Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre and placed in a spit hood.

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Restrictions on gay men donating blood should be scrapped, Queensland health minister says

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Exclusive: Shannon Fentiman urges federal government to ‘expedite’ applying individual risk assessments to donors, in line with the UK, Canada and US

The Queensland health minister has called on the federal government to consider scrapping restrictions that prevent most gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

In Australia, sexually active gay men, bisexual men, transgender women and some non-binary people who have sex with men – including those in long-term relationships – are unable to donate blood unless they abstain from sex for three months.

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Alleged childcare paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith attacked in Queensland jail

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Gold Coast man, 45, reportedly had hot water thrown in his face by fellow prisoner on Friday and was taken to hospital for assessment

A man accused of being one of Australia’s worst paedophiles has been hospitalised after he was attacked inside a high-security Brisbane jail by a fellow prisoner.

Queensland police are investigating the alleged assault of Ashley Paul Griffith inside Wolston Correctional Centre on Friday. Griffith reportedly had scalding water thrown in his face and was taken to hospital suffering burns.

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‘Sovereign citizen’ conspiracists targeting Aboriginal Australians put native title claims at risk

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Anthropologist Pascale Taplin says native title being likened to ‘slave’s title’, as conspiracists exploit concept of Indigenous sovereignty

Indigenous Australians are backing out of participating in native title claims after being targeted by proponents of a racist conspiracy theory exported from the US, according to new research.

Senior anthropologist Pascale Taplin is the lead author of a new paper warning sovereign citizen conspiracists are exploiting the concept of Indigenous sovereignty to target Aboriginal communities, disrupting native title claims in the process.

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