It seemed like a relatively straightforward task for Newbytes trainee journalist Abanob Saad, but it resulted in extraordinary behaviour from some of Brisbane City Council’s “media advisors”. Saad’s job was to research and write a news story about the BCC’s recent installation of speakers and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in Fortitude Valley and the Brisbane […]

“Weird” was former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s description of the Liberal National Party bombshell in Queensland. “Either the smartest thing the LNP ever did or the dumbest thing they ever did,” said former Queensland Labor premier Peter Beattie, seemingly with grudging respect at the chutzpah of the deed. For Campbell Newman had suddenly quit as […]

Some Brisbane City Council staff seem to have missed the point of legislation that gives citizens the right to access information it holds. During the past several months Newbytes journalists, reporting the news to inform the public, have routinely been fobbed off, denied information and subjected to intimidation. Newsbytes acknowledges the BCC media office receives hundreds […]

There’s an elephant in the room of Queensland governance. It’s the stranglehold unelected government employees have on government information. Information about policy decisions, new government programs, progress on taxpayer-funded research, business development programs, new legislation and all manner of things of public interest. Every day the Queensland Government sends dozens of media releases directly to […]