The rise in tolls for the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges was too expensive, two out of three respondents to a NewsBytes survey said today. The toll for the bridges will rise to $3.85 for a private car on July 1. In a poll of 100 people at the opening of the second bridge, 67 said […]

The Australian Greens are ready for the tensions of holding the balance of power in the Senate following the next election, party leader Senator Bob Brown said in Brisbane yesterday. Senator Brown said he was experienced in managing internal party tensions arising from holding the balance of power since the Greens-ALP accord in Tasmania in […]

Bulimba protests over the ferry terminal prompted Council’s decision to rush through this week’s decision to delay the project, Opposition leader Cr Shayne Sutton said today. Cr Sutton said the only reason Council decided to vote urgently on the matter was because a protest sign (pictured) had appeared on a pontoon next to the terminal. […]

Liberal National Party councillors today voted to delay a $4 million upgrade to the Bulimba ferry terminal after Labor refused to support the proposed design. Transport chair Jane Prentice said the upgrade would be delayed until 2012-13 because the council couldn’t afford to play political games on the project. The council has already spent two […]

The resignation of two MPs will make it more difficult for the LNP to win the next Queensland election, Member for Indooroopilly Scott Emerson said today. Last week MPs Aidan McLindon and Rob Messenger quit the party to become independent members of Parliament, saying they believed party politics was corrupting the political process. Mr Emerson […]

More than 300 Brisbane people formed a giant “life ring” in King George Square on Saturday to protest the government’s laws on border protection and asylum seekers. Amnesty International spokesman Michael Hayworth said in addition to the 300 people who turned up in Brisbane, more than 1000 people attended similar protests held in Sydney, Melbourne, […]

A Brisbane Islamic community leader yesterday condemned Liberal MP Cory Bernardi’s call for a ban on the burqa. Recently resigned president of the the Kuraby mosque, Dr Sikander Sabdia, said politicians like Senator Bernadi used hate as a political weapon but he believed the average Australian accepted Islamic culture. “The average Australian just like me […]

Brisbane City Councillor Nicole Johnston remains without office facilities during council meetings at the temporary City Hall at Ann Street. Council chairman Margaret de Wit refused to discuss new arrangements during Question Time at Tuesday’s council meeting. Cr Johnston was suspended from the LNP in March after she voted with the ALP in November against […]

Suspended LNP councillor Nicole Johnston was thrown out of this week’s council meeting after confrontation about the Sherwood Graceville Neighbourhood Plan. Cr Johnston said the council deliberately did not send her a letter that was sent to all Tennyson Ward residents regarding the plan. “Despite multiple requests in writing over the past three months to […]

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman today defended his traffic congestion strategy as patronage of the Clem7 tunnel dropped by more than 50 percent. Clem7 operator RiverCity Motorway Group today released figures showing average daily traffic fell from around 51,000 trips per day to just 21,178 after the tunnel’s toll-free period ended. The numbers are well below […]

The serious decline in media freedom in the Pacific was passionately condemned yesterday by veteran ABC foreign correspondent Sean Dorney. “The situation confronting journalists in Fiji at the moment is positively appalling,” Mr Dorney said. “There have been military appointed censors in every newsroom for more than 12 months now.” Mr Dorney, a keynote speaker […]

The Northern Link Tunnel project would be the most extensive and stringent ever for a transport infrastructure in Queensland, according to an evaluation report for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by Coordinator-General Colin Jensen. The report contains 34 conditions and Department of Infrastructure and Planning media officer Andrew Evans said extra conditions were the result […]

Infrastructure and Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe used his powers earlier this month to block a court appeal against a 31-storey building planned for Railway Terrace, Milton. Mr Hinchliffe said last week he would “call-in” the application and make a final, binding decision about the development by 17 May. Mr Hinchliffe said the development complied with […]

The release of land to mining organisations to find carbon dioxide storage locations was an excuse for the coal industry to continue with an outdated industry, according to veteran environmental campaigner Drew Hutton. “It’s an excuse for the [coal] industry to keep going when there is no viable future for them at all,” the former […]

The Queensland Teachers’ Union has been ordered to drop its boycott of national school reading writing and maths tests, the union said today. The order came from the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission after a conference held today to discuss the May boycott of the NAPLAN tests. The union has not yet announced its response to […]