Newman names 19-member cabinet
Six days after leading the Liberal National Party to a landslide victory Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has revealed his 19-member Cabinet. Mr Newman appointed former LNP leader Lawrence Springborg as Health Minister, with ex-Australian Medical Association head Chris Davis as assistant health minister. Long-term front-bencher Fiona Simpson is to be Queensland’s first woman Speaker. A Liberal Party leader before the parties amalgamated, Dr Bruce Flegg, was appointed Housing... Read More
Review: The Laramie Project
Great team work by Nash Theatre has resulted in a powerful and effective production of The Laramie Project. The play begins with eight actors standing among eight chairs on a dimly-lit stage. Together they proceed to tell the shocking story of the 1998 fatal beating of gay university student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is told through the eyes of Laramie’s citizens, recounting their reactions to the crime and how it affected them as a community... Read More
Assange’s mother fears for his life
Julian Assange’s mother Christine fears for her son’s life. She told a Wikileaks forum in Brisbane at the weekend the Australian government was not doing enough to help her son. “Our government does not stand up for its people and does not stand up for the freedom of press,” she said. Ms Assange said Julia Gillard defamed her son publicly and called him a criminal. “She has not apologised for this.” Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlum told the meeting... Read More
Bligh and Newman trade blows in final contest
In a debate overshadowed by recent opinion polls, Premier Anna Bligh and LNP leader Campbell Newman faced off for the final time today in a leaders’ debate at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Ms Bligh told the 800-strong lunchtime audience she thought the public had given up on her government because of the “tough times” the state had been through. She said the global financial crisis and natural disasters had hit families, making it difficult for an incumbent government. “But... Read More