State government apologises for data system breach as victim says it left her ‘completely defeated, broken, scared and worried’
The addresses of domestic violence victims have been shared with offenders by Queensland police, including a “vulnerable woman” who was then allegedly told to relocate by officers.
The state government apologised on Thursday after it emerged a woman felt “completely defeated” when her personal information was exposed by the serious data breach.
Continue reading...Premier Steven Miles will announce the policy on Tuesday as he tries to win votes for October election
A re-elected Queensland Labor government would set up state-owned petrol stations, cap daily fuel price rises and take over operation of council buses from local government, Steven Miles will announce.
The premier will use Tuesday’s state of the state address hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia to make a populist pitch for a fourth Labor term.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labor MP Jonty Bush among those speaking out about state’s youth justice policies after Guardian Australia investigation
Queensland’s most prominent victims’ rights groups say the state government must remove children from police watch houses after the release of confronting footage showing the “brutal” treatment of children in the adult holding cells.
The videos, published after a year-long investigation by Guardian Australia and SBS The Feed, showed young people locked in “freezing” isolation cells, becoming panicked and struggling to breathe.
Continue reading...Ipswich West’s LNP representative informed of his microvascular ischemic disease the day he was sworn in
A 52-year-old Queensland MP has announced his resignation from state parliament after being diagnosed with a brain disease that leads to early-onset rapid developing dementia.
Ipswich West LNP MP, Darren Zanow, has announced his imminent retirement after he was diagnosed with microvascular ischemic disease.
Continue reading...Party’s new policy includes limiting cost increases on 30 essential items, with the shopping list to be determined by a ‘Fair Prices Authority’
The price of 30 basic essentials such as bread, milk and nappies would be capped, with increases tied to wages, under a new policy to be announced by the Queensland Greens on Wednesday.
The party will also lay out a plan to break up the Coles and Woolworths “duopoly” by requiring the companies to sell supermarkets if they own more than 20% of the market.
Continue reading...Policy unveiled by leader David Crisafulli on Sunday means those convicted of crimes such as manslaughter and robbery would face regular criminal code
Queensland’s top social services body has criticised a Queensland LNP proposal to sentence many youth criminals as adults, saying it is “cruel”, “populist” and ineffective.
On Sunday, the opposition leader, David Crisafulli, used the party convention to announce the “adult crime, adult time” policy, which he said would act as a deterrence by subjecting children to much longer potential sentences behind bars.
Continue reading...Double Island returned to state government over leaseholder Benny Wu’s failure to reopen it for tourism
A far north Queensland island has been returned to the state government after a Hong Kong businessman was stripped of a tourism lease for breaching conditions.
Double Island near Cairns was home to a luxury resort that shut down six years ago.
Continue reading...Simon Birmingham contradicts Nationals’ leader, saying renewables are ‘an important part of the mix’ while Queensland LNP leader rules out nuclear
The federal Coalition’s climate and energy policy is in disarray, with a senior Liberal contradicting the Nationals’ anti-renewables push and the Queensland LNP leader ruling out allowing nuclear energy in that state.
After the Nationals further undermined the push for net zero by 2050 by claiming the Coalition would “cap” investment in large-scale renewable energy, the Liberal leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, declared on Tuesday it is an “important part of the mix”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Disabled people, DV victims also at risk after broken promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws, advocates say
The Queensland government will renege on its promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws before the October state election – a move advocates say will leave women fleeing domestic violence, people with disabilities and members the LGBTQ+ community at risk.
Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that the state government was considering watering down reforms proposed by a review of the 33-year-old act.
Continue reading...Opposition leader says Coalition will ‘make our announcements in relation to our targets in due course’. Follow today’s news headlines live
Murray Watt says the opposition has “started the new climate wars” after Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt, two senior Nationals, called for Australia to pull out of the Paris agreement. You can read more on this from Karen Middleton below:
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt said:
We’re back to the same old climate wars in the Coalition. I saw overnight that [Joyce and Pitt] openly called for the Coalition to pull out of the Paris agreement. They’ve spent the last couple of days trying to paper over the cracks in the Coalition, saying that they can withdraw the target without withdrawing from the agreement. Now it’s out there in the open for everyone to see. And you can set your clock by Barnaby Joyce causing new climate wars within the Coalition. It’s seem like we’re back to the bad old days.
We’re on track to get to 42%, which is only 1% short of the 43% target.
Continue reading...A Katter’s Australian party petition says homeowners should be allowed to use ‘whatever force necessary’ – but experts warn of dangers
“A Queenslander’s home is their castle” and they should be able to use “whatever force necessary” to protect themselves against intruders.
That’s according to a controversial petition from the Katter’s Australian party MP Nick Dametto to enact “castle law”, which has gained more than 36,000 signatures in support of importing the self-defence doctrine from the US that allows people to kill intruders threatening their homes..
Continue reading...Premier Steven Miles will announce state’s largest ever investment in green power ahead of next week’s budget
The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, is expected to announce today a pledge in next week’s budget to spend $26bn on renewable energy.
It would be the largest ever investment in green power for the sunshine state, and is about $7bn more than previously earmarked.
$16.5bn towards renewable energy and storage projects
$8.5bn to build a “SuperGrid”, including the CopperString project and renewable energy zones
$500m for network batteries and support of local grid solutions
$192m for the transmission and training hubs in Townsville and Gladstone.
Continue reading...Townsville’s 10 councillors join Queensland premier in calling for mayor to stand down after revelations he exaggerated his military history
Troy Thompson is under growing pressure to resign as mayor of Townsville after revelations he exaggerated his military service, with all 10 of the city’s councillors joining the Queensland premier in urging him to stand aside.
But the former One Nation candidate has dismissed the calls, writing in a Facebook post on Friday that he had “no intention to step aside as some of the naysayers would like”.
Continue reading...Brisbane city council ordered 60 of the electric vehicles, but a cut back in scheduled services means just over half may be needed
Two dozen state-of-the art, multimillion-dollar electric buses could be left sitting idle in a shed when the Brisbane Metro service starts operations this year, because it will operate less frequently than initially planned.
The system was originally designed to operate every three minutes, but it’s now planned to run every five minutes, which would require fewer vehicles.
Continue reading...LNP MP Ros Bates sends concerns notice to Labor’s Shannon Fentiman demanding an apology and money to cover legal costs
A Queensland MP has raised the prospect of defamation action by sending a concerns notice to the state’s health minister over a social media post she claimed fuelled violent threats against her.
An explosive stoush erupted last week after the shadow health minister, Ros Bates, shouted “cross your legs” while the health minister, Shannon Fentiman, was speaking about maternity services in Queensland parliament.
Continue reading...Labor MP Brittany Lauga says she will contest the October state election despite enduring an ‘indescribably tough’ time
A Queensland MP who recently alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted has confirmed she will run in the state election despite an “indescribably tough” few weeks.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Brittany Lauga said she would “be back stronger than ever” to contest the October election as Labor’s candidate for Keppel a fourth time.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Chris Bowen says nuclear energy is ‘slow, expensive and risky’
Chris Bowen is also asked about the latest CSIRO report released today, showing electricity from nuclear power in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than solar and wind.
CSIRO and Aemo have looked at large-scale nuclear for the first time. It finds that that would be far more expensive than renewables, despite claims from the opposition – quite inappropriate attacks on CSIRO and Aemo from the opposition, that they hadn’t counted the cost of transmission. The cost of transmission and storage is counted, and still renewables comes out as the cheapest.
And of course, CSIRO points out that nuclear will be … very slow to build. So nuclear is slow and expensive and is risky when it comes to the reliability of Australia’s energy system.
Continue reading...Advocates fear the hard-won reform could be overturned if the LNP, which voted against the bill, wins government in October
Queensland parliament has passed historic legislation decriminalising sex work in the state, after decades of campaigning.
But advocates are concerned the hard-won reform could be overturned if the Liberal National opposition wins government in October. The party voted against the bill on Thursday evening.
Continue reading...Steven Miles’ government claims to have legal advice from Crown Law and solicitor general that amendments will not violate Human Rights Act or international law
The principle of detention as a last resort will be removed from the Queensland Youth Justice Act, under legislation introduced by the Labor government on Wednesday.
The Youth Justice Act will be redrafted to read: “A child should be detained in custody, where necessary, including to ensure community safety, where other non-custodial measures of prevention and intervention would not be sufficient, and for no longer than necessary to meet the purpose of detention.”
Continue reading...Disappointment and frustration as parliamentary inquiry into youth justice reform ‘degenerates into a squabble’
Queensland’s only independent state MP, Sandy Bolton, had high hopes last October when she was made chair of a parliamentary committee tasked with coming up with solutions on youth crime.
It was the first parliamentary committee to be independently chaired in more than two decades, and Bolton hoped it would stymie the politicisation of the issue by taking “a collaborative and bipartisan approach” that would lead to “constructive solutions”.
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