Ian Besomo



Newman government in debt to the power of metaphor

The contentious issue of government debt saw a medley of metaphors hurled across the chamber during question time in State Parliament. Answering a question yesterday from Labor MP Curtis Pitt about the government’s plans to lift debt to $85 billion by 2014-15, Premier Campbell Newman said the government was like an aircraft in a power […]


Opposition quizzes Newman over state debt

The Opposition this week sought to embarrass Premier Campbell Newman by quoting statements to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission by Queensland Commission of Audit Commissioner Doug McTaggart. Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mulherin referred to Dr McTaggart’s statement to the QIRC that the projected State debt by 2014-15 of $85 billion was “manageable”. “Will the Premier […]


Photo exhibition tells of the horrors of war

A mother comforts her injured son. The scene echoes the Christian iconography of the Pietà – Mary holding a crucified Jesus. Except this mother and son are inside a mosque. On display at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the 55th annual World Press Photo exhibition is the Photo of the Year for 2011, taken […]


Review: Le Havre

Le Havre is a fairy tale. Set amidst domestic shabbiness and commercial ugliness in the French port city from which it takes its name, it radiates a charm buoyant yet wistful. Finnish writer-director Aki Kaurismäki has composed a film about small miracles which is itself a small miracle. Its deceptively subdued surface shimmers with wonders […]


Demands for better conduct by politicians

The Senate has postponed the reporting date of a committee inquiring into setting up an integrity commissioner and code of conduct for parliamentarians, prompting renewed debate on the topic. A Newsbytes street poll showed people had strong views about acceptable standards of behaviour for parliamentarians. The Senate’s decision came two days after Fair Work Australia […]


Crime tourists relive Brisbane’s worst murders

Brisbane has seen some horrific murders, the worst the 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub firebombing that killed 15 patrons and staff. Then there’s the gruesome Patrick Mayne case from 1848, Karl Kast’s 1955 shooting spree, and the 1989 slaying of City Council worker Edward Baldock by self-confessed “vampire” Tracey Wigginton. The Queensland Law Society’s […]


Gold Coast celebrates a multicultural Labor Day

With flags fluttering and to the bagpipe strains of “Hills Of Argyle”, the Gold Coast Labor Day march set off this morning from outside the Southport Workers’ Club. After a tough 12 months dealing with issues like the health payroll crisis, the Queensland Nurses’ Union led the cavalcade along Scarborough Street to the Broadwater Parklands. […]


Community mourns respected judge

A wide cross-section of the community attended St Stephen’s Cathedral yesterday for the funeral of former District Court Chief Judge Pat Shanahan who died last Sunday aged 82. Among the mourners were members of the judiciary, legal profession, Indigenous community, police and military, reflecting the many public-spirited activities of Judge Shanahan (pictured left) over the […]


Review: A Dangerous Method

1904: young, attractive, Jewish, Russian Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) suffers from hysteria. At the start of the film we see her, writhing and laughing maniacally, carried from a coach into a psychiatric hospital in Zurich. Thirtyish, good-looking, Protestant, Swiss Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) has hopes of helping Sabina using a new talking treatment known as […]


Teenage candidate wants fewer Gold Coast nightclubs

It’s not what you’d expect — a young man campaigning for fewer nightclubs in the glitter strip of Surfers Paradise — but teenager Alex O’Donnell wants to close some of them down. Mr O’Donnell (pictured left) says nightclubs cause too much anti-social behaviour. He is standing for election to the Gold Coast City Council with […]


Yachts set sail in Brisbane to Gladstone race

Fine weather and a 15 knot south-easterly breeze saw a fleet of 45 monohulls set sail this morning from Bramble Bay in the 64th running of the Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race. Nearing the halfway point in the 570km race, the leading yachts were Lahana, Black Jack and Wild Thing. All three were expected to […]


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 […]


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