Category Archives: Queensland politics

Troy Thompson refuses to resign as Townsville mayor over false military service claims

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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”.

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Hit the road: will 24 new multimillion-dollar electric buses be left sitting in a Brisbane shed?

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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.

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‘Cross your legs’ controversy escalates as Queensland MP Ros Bates demands $5,000 from state’s health minister

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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.

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Queensland MP vows to come back ‘stronger than ever’ after alleged drugging and sexual assault

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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.

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Dutton won’t rule out a Coalition government quitting ICC – as it happened

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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.

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Sex work decriminalised in Queensland after decades of campaigning

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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.

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Queensland Labor to remove principle of detention as last resort from Youth Justice Act

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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.”

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A bipartisan committee set out to end Queensland’s politicisation of youth crime. It failed spectacularly

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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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300,000ha Queensland cattle station bought for conservation after $21m donation

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State government and Nature Conservancy jointly purchase Vergemont station, which contains habitat for endangered night parrots

A Queensland outback cattle station the size of Yosemite national park which includes key habitat for the elusive night parrot has been acquired for conservation after an anonymous donation of $21m.

Vergemont station, 110km west of Longreach, was acquired in a joint purchase by the Queensland government and the Nature Conservancy, which brokered the deal. The group said it is likely the single largest philanthropic contribution to land protection in Australia.

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Parents fear children are being sent back to asbestos-riddled classrooms at Queensland school

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Premier Steven Miles says experts advise all classrooms at Rochedale state school ‘are safe for staff and students to return’

Parents are terrified their children are still being exposed to asbestos at a Queensland primary school, alleging a patch-up job has not made the classrooms safe.

They fear children may have been exposed to asbestos for months or even years at the school.

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Queensland opposition leader casts doubt over future of state’s new pill testing regime

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David Crisafulli criticises pill testing trial in sign opposition may roll back harm minimisation polices if elected in October

The Queensland opposition leader, David Crisafulli, has criticised the state’s new pill testing regime, a potential sign his party would roll back Labor’s new drug policies if elected in October.

The sunshine state opened its first festival clinic on Thursday and will open the first fixed site clinic in Brisbane next month. The Labor government has committed to open a second once a site has been confirmed.

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Youth justice on the line as LNP and Labor weigh up community fears about safety

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Some Labor MPs are eyeing the LNP’s tough policy on detention in bid to sway anxious voters in October election


Looking down the barrel of the camera, LNP leader David Crisafulli addresses Queenslanders directly in the party’s latest TV ad.

Appearing concerned and candid in his home town of Townsville, Crisafulli delivers a simple message: Elect me, and I’ll keep you safe.

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Queensland LNP vows to ditch ‘detention as last resort’ approach to youth crime

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Opposition leader David Crisafulli says LNP would rewrite Youth Justice Act ‘to put victims first’ if it wins October election

The Queensland Liberal National party opposition has vowed to remove the principle of detention as a last resort from the Youth Justice Act before year’s end if it wins the state election.

Speaking in Townsville on Tuesday, the LNP leader, David Crisafulli, revealed more detail about the party’s “Making Queensland safer laws” and accused Labor of having a “conga line of crises”.

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Peter Dutton in standoff with state Liberal leaders over federal Coalition’s nuclear plan

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The federal opposition leader’s calls to include nuclear power in Australia’s energy mix has so far failed to win support from his state colleagues

The federal Coalition faces a battle with the states on its proposal for nuclear power stations at the sites of decommissioned coal power plants, with state premiers and opposition leaders alike largely against Peter Dutton’s proposal.

Labor governments and Coalition oppositions in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia are either outright opposed to the plan or have failed to endorse it.

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Anti-abortion campaigner wins control of Brisbane LNP division

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Concerns raised after former Cherish Life vice-president Alan Baker elected chair of party’s Griffith divisional council

A prominent anti-abortion campaigner has won control of a Brisbane division of the Liberal National party, prompting alarm among moderates that “fringe infiltrators” were attempting to increase their influence as polls point to a state election win.

Alan Baker, a former vice-president of the anti-abortion lobby group Cherish Life, was elected chair of the LNP’s Griffith federal divisional council (FDC) by two votes on Thursday night.

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No new stadium to be built for 2032 Olympics as Queensland opposition leader reveals plan

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David Crisafulli’s stance means the multi-billion dollar Victoria Park plan recommended by Graham Quirk on Monday is dead

Queensland’s 2032 Olympics will not be held in a brand-new stadium, with both major parties now ruling out the Victoria Park and Gabba rebuild options.

The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, broke his four-day silence on Thursday, promising there will be no new stadium. The LNP leader also ruled out cancelling the Games.

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Queensland to become first state to introduce permanent pill-testing clinics

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Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival will conduct testing onsite at the end of March and first fixed-site clinic will open in Bowen Hills in April

Queensland will establish the first of two fixed pill-testing clinics in Brisbane this year, the first Australian state to back the harm reduction strategy on an ongoing basis.

The Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival near Warwick will be the first to conduct pill testing on site, at the end of the month. In 2019 two people died after taking drugs at the festival.

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The path to re-election for Queensland Labor looks like a narrowing goat track after its ‘Super Saturday’ losses

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Steven Miles’s government is fighting battles on multiple fronts – and shifting right or left will only create new problems elsewhere

Seven months before Campbell Newman was tossed from office by angry Queensland voters, he called a press conference, flanked by members of his cabinet, and apologised.

“I just want to say I am sorry today if we have done things that have upset people,” Newman said, days after his government was humbled, with a 19% swing, at a Brisbane byelection. “We will be doing a lot better in the future.”

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Appeal for information after death of man found injured on Sydney road – as it happened

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Paterson blasts government’s immigration detention policy

Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson is now asked about immigration detention, given the government has been briefing that the high court is unlikely to allow indefinite detention to continue.

We have a risk now, that is that offenders, foreign offenders, are in the community reoffending against Australians. People are victims, who should haven’t been, because these people should not have been released. Once they were, they should have been taken off the streets.

All Australian politicians are active on the platform. I think that is OK as long as they follow the government’s national security advice about mitigating the risks. For example, it shouldn’t be on the same device they have their work or personal information on, on a stand alone.

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Shock losses to LNP and Greens in Queensland elections sound warning for Labor ahead of October poll

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Premier Steven Miles says massive swing against ALP in two key byelections was ‘very bad’ for his government

Queensland premier Steven Miles concedes massive swings against his government at the Ipswich West and Inala byelections are “very bad” for the Labor party and could result in a wipeout at the October general election if it doesn’t acknowledge the message sent by voters.

Labor lost the safe seat of Ipswich West to the Liberal National party after a two-party swing of about 18%.

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