Category Archives: Queensland

Queensland proposal to remove more large crocodiles could raise risk of attacks, experts warn

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Almost 8,000 people have so far signed a petition against the proposal which has been described as a ‘silent cull’

Critics of a proposal to remove more large crocodiles from Queensland’s populated far north coast say the move will result in a “silent cull” and could actually put more people at risk of attack.

The Queensland government said crocodile numbers had been slowly rising and it was conducting modelling to see what impact taking more animals out of the wild would have on the species.

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Weekend weather: northern NSW braces for heavy rain as wet spring looms

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About 100mm of rain predicted to drench parts of the NSW mid-north coast, including Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie

Intense rainfall is expected in parts of eastern Australia over the coming days in a precursor to what is set to be a wetter-than-average spring.

A large cloudband was shifting east on Friday, expected to cause widespread rain over southern and central Queensland and northern New South Wales until Sunday.

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Labor to relax work tests for pensioners following jobs and skills summit – as it happened

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the policy change will cost around $55m, and the government will do further costs. This blog is now closed

Tasmanian Tafe needs to be fit for purpose before additional places can make a difference, Lambie says

The government yesterday kicked off the jobs and skills summit with the announcement of 180,000 more free Tafe places.

We certainly would like to do more, but some of these issues, of course, are within the budget constraints, which are there … we have inherited $1tn of debt. Yes, it is a worthy idea and worthy of consideration.

No, that’s not on the agenda. But it is a good thing that people are able to put forward ideas.

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Queensland police who arrested author Chelsea Watego did not also approach ‘aggressive white man’ at scene, tribunal hears

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Indigenous academic alleges treatment by two officers during 2018 arrest amounted to unlawful discrimination on basis of her race, a claim the officers and state government denies

Two Queensland police officers who arrested and handcuffed prominent First Nations writer and academic Chelsea Watego have told a tribunal they did not also approach or investigate an allegedly “aggressive white man” who was also the focus of nightclub security guards at the time they arrived.

The Queensland civil and administrative tribunal heard this week that police arrested Watego, a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman, within 18 seconds of arriving at the front of The Beat nightclub in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 2018.

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Free degrees for Victorian nurses could cause workforce shortages elsewhere, unions warn

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Australian nursing and midwifery groups say Victoria’s scheme could see aspiring nurses leave their home states

Free university degrees for budding nurses in Victoria could exacerbate nationwide workforce shortages and pit states against each other, unions and peak bodies have warned.

The Victorian government on Sunday announced plans to pay the entire HECS debt of more than 10,000 nursing and midwifery graduates. Under the $270m scheme, all new domestic students enrolling in undergraduate nursing and midwifery courses in 2023 and 2024 will receive up to $16,500.

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Pocock urges Labor to scrap tax cuts – as it happened

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Independent senator David Pocock says circumstances have changed ‘so much’ since stage three tax cuts policy was legislated. This blog is now closed

McManus: normal part of bargaining to have industrial action as a last resort

McManus is asked if she wants workers in specific business to regain the right to strike in support of workers in other business (otherwise known as sympathy strikes or solidarity action).

Not in support of workers in another business – together. It is a normal part of bargaining to have … as a last resort, to take industrial action, and that is what happens in countries that have multi-employer bargaining, and there [are] not more strikes, there is more pay rises.

Essentially when workers have an option to do that, obviously it means the option to have a better outcome, and a better outcome more quickly.

Basically, workers’ bargaining power has been smashed over that period of time That’s why we have a problem, a huge problem, with wages growth and unless we address that issue, that is not going to change.

We think [sector-wide bargaining] should be open to all, but obviously a lot of places … they are getting pay rises at the moment. They can access the bargaining system.

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Mystery surrounds cluster of satin bowerbird deaths in the Gold Coast hinterland

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Landowner and bird experts cast doubt on Queensland government’s rat poison theory

In a town perched atop the rainforest hinterland of the Gold Coast, one of Australia’s most charismatic birds is suddenly and mysteriously dying.

Rumours and misinformation are swirling around Tamborine Mountain to explain the spate of satin bowerbirds deaths, with fingers pointed at everything from rat poison to 4G phone towers.

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‘Completely laughable’: claims that a mine will create ‘more jobs per hectare’ than the Great Barrier Reef derided

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Clive Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal suggested proposed coalmine is a ‘greater economic powerhouse’

Claims that Clive Palmer’s proposed Central Queensland coalmine would help the Great Barrier Reef – and would generate “more jobs per hectare” – have been derided as “completely laughable” by an environmentalist, economist and First Nations people.

Earlier this month environment minister Tanya Plibersek said she intended to block the coalmine due to its “unacceptable impacts” on the reef world heritage area, which is 10km from the two proposed open cut mines.

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Northern Australia could have dangerously high heat most days of the year by 2100, study finds

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New research also says southern parts of the country may experience deadly heatwaves annually by that time

Tropical regions including northern Australia could experience dangerously high heat levels most days of the year by 2100, while southern regions of Australia may experience deadly heatwaves annually, new research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, suggests that even if the world meets the Paris agreement of limiting global warming to 2C, exposure to dangerous heat will “likely increase by 50-100% across much of the tropics”.

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Man with alleged mafia links allowed to gamble in Queensland after he was barred from other casinos, inquiry hears

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Man became a top 10 player at the Star Gold Coast after being banned from Melbourne and Sydney casinos

Star Entertainment allowed a patron barred from casinos in two states and allegedly linked to the Italian mafia to continue gambling in its Queensland venues for years, an inquiry has heard.

The man became one of the top 10 players at the Star Gold Coast after he was banned from the Crown Melbourne in 2014, and New South Wales police barred him from attending The Star, Sydney, seven months later.

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North Queensland man charged with torture and murder of five-year-old boy

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Police arrested 24-year-old man following tip-off about the boy’s transfer to Townsville hospital from an Indigenous community

A man has been charged with torturing and murdering a five-year-old boy he knew in an Indigenous community in far north Queensland.

The child died from his injuries in Townsville hospital on Monday after doctors had tried to save him for five days.

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Anti-aircraft noise campaigners to target shareholders in bid for Brisbane airport curfew

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Independent review recommends moving flight paths to alleviate noise concerns but disgruntled residents want solutions sooner

Anti-aircraft noise campaigners say they will target investors in Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) as they threaten to ramp up efforts to force a curfew and cap on flights over the city.

Aircraft noise was the defining local issue at the federal election for many who live under flight paths that emerged when the Brisbane airport opened its second runway in mid-2020, playing a role in the election of Greens MPs in three inner-city seats.

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Cost of abortions causing Queensland women to consider self-harm, study reveals

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More than 40% of women seeking help from pregnancy counselling service had exposure to family or intimate partner violence

Queensland women are self-harming and searching for pills on the black market to induce abortions as they face chronic delays, financial pressures and a lack of support from healthcare providers, a new study has found.

The University of Queensland study published in the CSIRO’s Sexual Health journal analysed almost 2,000 anonymous client records from the pregnancy counselling service Children by Choice between December 2018 and June 2020.

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Australia news live: Greens seek to reconvene Senate committee into former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate’s dismissal

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Departments – not politicians – should decide government grant recipients, Grattan Institute recommends

The Grattan Institute has a very timely report out today with a plan to end pork barrelling, which calls for departments rather than ministers to make the call on who receives grants.

Ministers should be able to establish grant programs and define the selection criteria, but they should not be involved in choosing grant recipients.

Shortlisting and selecting grant recipients is an administrative function for the relevant department or agency. Ministers should have bigger fish to fry.

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Queensland police commissioner’s evidence to inquiry sparks new call for submissions

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Commission examining responses to domestic violence says Katarina Carroll’s appearance led to ‘further communications’ from officers

Queensland’s commission of inquiry into police responses to domestic violence has unexpectedly reopened submissions to the public, citing the reaction to evidence given by the state’s police commissioner as a driver for the decision.

Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, was interrogated for more than eight hours at a public hearing in Brisbane last week after she initially declined an invitation to attend.

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Brisbane man shot twice by officers as children hid in bushes, police say

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The 43-year-old was allegedly armed with a sharpening file when he was shot outside home

A man will undergo surgery after being shot twice by a Queensland police officer he had allegedly lunged at with a large metal sharpening file during a “horrible incident” at a house in Brisbane’s south.

Queensland police said the 43-year-old’s wife and four sons – aged seven to 14 – were at home during the confrontation on Sunday night.

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Advocates angered by news Queensland police boss declined request to appear at inquiry

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Katarina Carroll declined invitation on same day police said they will ‘fully cooperate’ with domestic violence inquiry

Advocates say it was “disingenuous” for Queensland police to claim the commissioner would “fully cooperate” with a domestic violence inquiry when she had declined an initial invitation to attend.

The Queensland police service’s (QPS) commissioner, Katarina Carroll, told the inquiry on Thursday that she initially rejected an invitation to appear at a public hearing on 5 August.

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Queensland police deputy commissioner resigns over ‘vagina whisperer’ comment

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Paul Taylor apologises for remark at policing conference, which was aired at domestic violence inquiry

A senior police officer has announced his immediate resignation after an inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic violence heard he had referred to his friend as a “vagina whisperer” at a policing conference.

The deputy commissioner, Paul Taylor, who has been a police officer for 45 years, said he was “deeply apologetic” for the harm his comments had caused and it was never his “intention” to offend anyone.

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Australia news live: John Howard criticises lack of detail on voice to parliament as Anthony Albanese arrives in Torres Strait

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The former prime minister has spoken at a National Press Club event at the Canberra Writers Festival

‘Cringeworthy’: energy minister says Morrison’s media conference was embarrassing

Circling back to Chris Bowen’s interview on ABC Radio, where the discussion on climate policy was followed by questions on the biggest story in Canberra – Scott Morrison’s secret appointment to five additional ministries.

I think to be fair that the governor general was in a difficult position, he has to accept the advice of the government or the PM of the day.

It was pretty pathetic, embarrassing and cringeworthy to be honest.

He should call Andrews.

The right thing to do would be to call all ministers concerned.

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Queensland’s police commissioner declined an initial invitation to appear at domestic violence inquiry

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Inquiry hears Katarina Carroll was asked if summons was needed for her to appear

Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, rejected an invitation to appear at an inquiry into police responses to domestic violence, prompting the commission to ask if they needed to issue a summons for her to attend.

During a hearing on Thursday, counsel assisting the inquiry, Ruth O’Gorman, said the commission first asked Carroll to give evidence on 4 August after they “formed concerns about lack of resourcing” after the testimony of assistant police commissioner Brian Codd.

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