Category Archives: Queensland politics

In the face of grim polling, can Annastacia Palaszczuk and Queensland Labor retain the state?

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Daniel Andrews went out on top but in Queensland the premier fights on, even as the LNP gears up to go all-in on regional seats

“What you see is what you get” has been Annastacia Palaszczuk’s unofficial political motto. She’s used the line dozens of times, as the fledgling “unexpected” premier in 2015; ahead of a leaders’ debate in 2017; and again and again during the bruising Covid campaign of 2020.

It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that a year before the next election and with polls showing Palasczuk and her government on shaky ground the Queensland premier has retreated to familiar territory.

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Brisbane Greens vow to oppose 2032 Olympics at council election as Gabba stoush escalates

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Lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan says $2.7bn plan to redevelop the stadium is unpopular ‘right across’ the city

The Greens candidate for Brisbane lord mayor, Jonathan Sriranganathan, says the party will go to next year’s election opposing the city’s 2032 Olympic Games unless organisers abandon plans for a $2.7bn redevelopment of the Gabba stadium.

Sriranganathan’s high-profile campaign seeks to build upon the Greens’ recent success in Brisbane – including capturing three inner-city seats at the last federal election.

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Worst-case scenario isn’t jail but climate breakdown, Queensland activists say as day in court arrives

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Fourteen protesters charged with disrupting state parliament to appear before Brisbane magistrate

Rob Keller, a 73-year-old retired teacher and small business operator, will arrive at Brisbane magistrates court on Monday facing the prospect of three years in prison.

But that is not what worries him most.

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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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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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‘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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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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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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Locking up young people doesn’t create safer communities, Queensland children’s advocate says

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‘Compassion just dissipates’ among public when young victims of abuse become offenders, expert says

Locking up young people makes the community less safe, one of Queensland’s leading children’s advocates said, as police announced another crackdown on youth offenders in Cairns.

Guardian Australia reported on Monday that a significant number of alleged victims uncovered during a police investigation into the exploitation of vulnerable children in Cairns, are also the targets of a government crackdown on youth crime.

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High-profile man accused of rape could be named within weeks after change to Queensland law

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State parliament votes to bring laws governing the naming of alleged sexual offenders into line with other offences and other states

Lawyers for a high-profile man accused of rape have until 3 October to seek a non-publication order or see their client named under new laws passed by Queensland parliament on Wednesday.

The new laws, which were a recommendation of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce in July 2022, bring Queensland into line with most other states and territories to allow the naming of accused sex offenders after they are charged. Previously, alleged offenders could only be named once they had been committed to stand trial.

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Queensland anti-corruption boss seeks ‘urgent’ legal change after high court curbs power to publish reports

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Ruling in favour of former public trustee Peter Carne is ‘clearly not in the public interest’ according to CCC chair Bruce Barbour

Queensland’s anti-corruption body has criticised a high court ruling limiting its ability to publish the results of its investigations as “clearly not in the public interest”, joining with the state opposition to demand “urgent” legislative reform.

In a milestone decision announced on Wednesday, the court refused an appeal by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) to release its report on the state’s former public trustee Peter Carne.

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‘It’s like they’re impervious’: fury at let off for Queensland police staff in racist recordings

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Exclusive: Lack of punishment follows repeated promises by police commissioner Katarina Carroll to crack down on racism and misogyny within service

Officers recorded making “sickening” racist comments while working inside a Brisbane watch house have escaped sanction, despite repeated promises by the police commissioner to crack down on racism and misogyny within the service.

Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said at a press conference last year she believed officers making such comments “should not be in the organisation” after Guardian Australia exclusively published the leaked recordings.

The tapes revealed officers joking about beating and burying black people, referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos”, and raising fears of “outbreeding” by Muslim immigrants.

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Annastacia Palaszczuk digs in with ‘ruthless people’ swipe as leadership speculation swirls

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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.

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Will she stay or go? Annastacia Palaszczuk returns to slow-motion leadership turmoil

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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.

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Seatbelt camera glitch: hundreds of Queensland drivers had licences taken away by mistake

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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.

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‘Should never have happened’: Queensland apologises for neglect and abuse of brothers with autism

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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.

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Queensland may face damages bill for unlawful detention of children in watch houses, lawyers say

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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.

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Rumours of a Queensland coup are premature – but Palaszczuk’s popularity is waning

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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.

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