People of Brisbane city should show their colours and team spirit this football season, according to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk With the first State of Origin clash next Wednesday, Cr Quirk said Brisbane should embrace the month of June and the football season. “What we are calling on people to do is to show their […]

Queensland’s south-east will gain 10 new schools, while nine face the axe. Minister for Education John-Paul Langbroek told parliament today the government would build 10 schools in “growth hot spots” including growth belts south of Ipswich and in Brisbane’s outer north. The schools will be built in a public-private partnership, with companies invited to bid […]

Events will be held across Brisbane this August to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Australian South Sea Islanders’ arrival in Australia. In an address to Brisbane City Council this week, spokesperson Jeanette Kirk spoke of the troubled past of the South Sea Island people, known as Kanakas. When she asked for a show of […]

Passionate community groups and talented young performers gathered in Brisbane yesterday to promote awareness of domestic family violence. It was a part of domestic violence prevention month. The Queen Street event, called “Out of the Shadows”, drew attention to the suffering of children and young adults as a result of abuse within families. A variety […]

Overseas trips by councillors were slammed as an extravagance at today’s Brisbane City Council meeting. Opposition leader Milton Dick asked the Lord Mayor to guarantee that ratepayers would not be subject to increasing overseas travel costs for LNP councillors. He said overseas trips were an extravagance the Brisbane City Council could not afford, given the […]

Treasurer Wayne Swan has dismissed Opposition concerns over budget debt as “fiscal fear-mongering”. Speaking during a fiery question time today Mr Swan also compared the Opposition to the Tea Party in the United States. Mr Swan levelled the accusations at shadow treasurer Joe Hockey when responding to repeated questions about the level of peak gross […]

Federal Labor this week joined the fight against a Queensland government decision to cut 32 staff from the Brisbane Sexual Health Clinic at Biala House in Roma Street. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (pictured) and parliamentary health secretary Shayne Neumann voiced their anger on Tuesday night at a meeting organised by the Queensland Nurses Union. […]

Eighteen empty chairs symbolising the 16 Queensland women and two children who lost their lives last year to domestic violence captured the attention of onlookers at a Kangaroo Point candlelight ceremony on Wednesday night. On the two smaller, wooden chairs sat two teddy bears. The event, with guest speakers, a choir and candle lighting, launched […]

Businesses which failed to support sexual equality in the workplace would lose staff, customers and profits, retired High Court Judge Michael Kirby has warned. Mr Kirby, 74, Australia’s longest serving judge, outlined his case to members of the Brisbane Gay and Lesbian Business Network last night. “Being an equality employer is not only the right […]

No longer just grim notifications of death, obituaries have become colourful features in newspapers around the world. Visiting British editor and writer Tim Bullamore (pictured) spoke this week of the evolution of obituaries in a lecture aptly titled “Obituaries to die for”. A classical music agent turned expert obituary writer, Mr Bullamore has written for […]

The flame of the Anzac spirit burns brightly with the youth of the Centenary Suburbs. Flowered wreaths were laid by children paying their respects to the fallen in a moving Anzac Day service this morning. Hundreds of locals gathered at the Centenary Suburbs War Memorial Gardens in Brisbane’s western suburbs, to pay tribute to those […]

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Brisbane today to pay their respects at the city’s annual Anzac Day parade. The march began on George Street at 10am in perfect Autumn sunshine with animated crowds cheering the marchers. Two Super Hornets from the RAAF Base at Amberley flew overhead at the beginning of […]

Thousands of people packed Brisbane’s Anzac Square hours before dawn this morning to honour Australia’s servicemen and women, past and present, the survivors and the fallen. At just seven minutes past four, Anzac Square was declared full and crowds were diverted to King George Square, where they watched a live broadcast of the ceremony. The […]

Plans by the Queensland government to cut back bus routes have been condemned by the Brisbane City Council. In a rare unanimous urgency motion, Liberal National Party and Labor Party councillors called on the government to reconsider the changes. “(They) will have significant impact to Brisbane residents – in particular seniors … and those with […]

An order that Broken Hill City Council pay $7 million to a mining company for overpaid rates was in the spotlight this week as a NSW parliamentary inquiry into state-wide land valuations began hearings. Head of the inquiry, state MP Matt Kean, told a media conference in Broken Hill on Wednesday the NSW Valuer-General did […]