Latest news with #CrisafulliLNP
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Queensland public servants forbidden from including acknowledgments of country in email signatures, Labor says
Queensland's Labor opposition claims the state's public servants have been issued a 'strict directive' not to include acknowledgments of country in email signatures. The shadow minister for reconciliation, Leeanne Enoch, tabled a partly redacted document in question time on Thursday which reads: 'Departments are no longer permitted to add additional departmental branding elements such as the First Nations acknowledgement.' Enoch said the document was sent by a whistleblower within a government department, and prohibited modifying standard signature blocks in any way. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Enoch is one of two Indigenous members of parliament, both of them Labor MPs. She said the decision was 'an insult to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people'. 'Under this Crisafulli LNP government we've seen a systematic attempt to erase Aboriginal and Torres Strait people from all aspects of government life. And this is just another attempt at doing that,' Enoch said on Thursday. 'What happens if you are an Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander person working in a department? Are you not allowed to follow your own cultural protocols?' Fiona Simpson, the minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, denied that the government had 'issued a directive to departments prohibiting a First Nations acknowledgement in email signatures'. Earlier on Thursday, deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie was asked if the government intended to honour the Indigenous heritage of the site of their planned Olympics stadium. 'The golf club?' he said. Barrambin, also known as Victoria park, had been the town camp for the north part of Brisbane and is a massacre site. Part of it served as a golf club from 1931 to 2021. Legislation passed on Wednesday night overrides a swathe of planning and heritage laws to permit construction of the stadium. Blejie said the legislation still includes a provision honouring cultural heritage laws 'because we do recognise a historical connection', but did not commit to a cultural centre or other physical acknowledgement. The stoush comes just days after stinging criticism of the speaker of the state's legislative assembly, Pat Weir. Since 2007, upon opening parliament, the speaker has acknowledged the traditional owners of the land on which parliament assembles. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion But Weir acknowledges 'the former members of this parliament who have participated in and nourished the democratic institutions of this state' and 'the people of this state, whether they have been born here or have chosen to make this state their home'. On Tuesday, Greens MP Michael Berkman said the acknowledgment had been 'watered down almost beyond recognition' since last year's change of government 'to the point of being insipid, offensive and feigned'. 'It is the acknowledgment you give when you want to be offensive.' Weir said he had adapted the wording to make it more inclusive. 'The intention is not to 'water down' the acknowledgment, the intention is to be inclusive of all nationalities that have helped develop this state,' he said. 'I come from Irish heritage. If there were any doubts on my decision, when I listened to the maiden speeches of new members, whose families come from England, Scotland, Pakistan, Greece and Northern Ireland, that is exactly the reason I did it. 'I have used the more inclusive acknowledgment statement since the start of the parliamentary term and note that the member for Maiwar has not raised his concerns directly with me.' The Liberal National party's first act in government was to cancel the state's pathway to treaty process and close its truth-telling and healing inquiry.
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
E-scooter injury toll revealed in study just ‘tip of the iceberg' in Australia, doctors warn
Every three days, a child injured on an e-scooter would come through the emergency department doors at the Sunshine Coast university hospital, according to Dr Matthew Clanfield. Between 2023 and 2024, 176 children were treated at the Queensland hospital. Some got off lucky with a scuffed knee. Others suffered life-threatening brain injuries requiring neurosurgery and psychological care. Clanfield's analysis of these injuries in under-16s treated at the hospital have been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. It is the first data in Australia to capture paediatric e-scooter injuries, and it's 'only the tip of the iceberg', Clanfield said. Analysing paediatric ED triage notes, the ages of those injured ranged between five and 15 years old. One in 10 had life-threatening or potentially life-threatening injuries, and more than a third suffered at least one bone fracture. Based on self-reported data from the patients, at the time of the accidents, 42% of children were not wearing a helmet; 36% were exceeding the legal speed limit of 25 kilometres an hour for e-scooters on Queensland roads; and in 13% of cases two people were riding one scooter. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'We had one child who got up to 70 kilometres an hour on an e-scooter and T-boned a car,' Clanfield said. In May, the Crisafulli LNP government announced a parliamentary inquiry into e-bike and e-scooter safety, but Clanfield's study has called for 'immediate governmental action' raising the age limit to protect children and match other states. In Queensland, children aged 12 to 15 are allowed to ride e-scooters if they are supervised by an adult riding alongside them on another device. Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory are the only jurisdictions that allow 12-year-olds to legally ride e-scooters. In New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania e-scooter users must be aged at least 16. The age limit is 18 in the Northern Territory and South Australia, according to Assoc Prof Terry Slevin, the CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia. E-scooter accidents are a 'growing problem', Slevin said. But a lack of national data to identify the size of the problem and no nationally consistent rules or enforcement of those laws make it a difficult problem to solve, he said. A University of Melbourne researcher, Assoc Prof Milad Haghani, searched local news stories published between January 2020 and April 2025 to gather data on e-scooter related deaths. He identified 30 fatalities. Of those, 11 were aged under 18. Slevin said a serious problem was that children did not have a sophisticated understanding of the road rules or road safety. However, he said e-scooters were also a 'general community safety issue' because other road, footpath and cycle path users could be struck by e-scooters. Dr Sarah Whitelaw, the Australian Medical Association's federal emergency medicine representative, said the study reflected what was happening in other states and territories. Whitelaw said it was 'heartbreaking' when injured patients and their families said 'they had no idea that they could get so badly injured on an e-scooter'. 'Emergency care and trauma specialists right around Australia are increasingly concerned about the number of injuries that we're seeing with regards to children under 18,' she said. Children were 'massively over-represented' in cases of e-scooter injuries and deaths, despite e-scooters being mostly ridden by adults. Part of the problem, Whitelaw said, was that 'these devices are unfortunately marketed to kids … [and] it's not clear to parents that, in fact, in many states and territories, it's illegal to ride them outside your home on public property unless you're over 16'. She said rather than banning e-scooters, governments should improve safety laws.
The Age
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Federal funds for Brisbane Olympics stalled after arena shift
The federal government is yet to recommit to its $3.44 billion contribution to Brisbane 2032 Olympic infrastructure after its preferred project, an inner-city arena, was removed from the Games plan two months ago. The Albanese government had agreed to fund the Brisbane Arena, which would host Olympic and Paralympic swimming events, leaving the main Olympic stadium to be delivered by the state. But when Queensland's new Crisafulli LNP government adopted its Brisbane 2032 delivery plan in March, the arena – which the previous Labor government planned to build at Roma Street – was left for the private sector to deliver at Woolloongabba. Swimming would be held at a new National Aquatic Centre to be built next to the Centenary Pool at Victoria Park, where the main 63,000-seat Olympic stadium would also be built, though its exact location and design were yet to be determined. The change meant the $7 billion joint funding agreement between the Albanese and Palaszczuk governments in 2023 needed to be renegotiated. Noting what she called the 'positive changes' coming out of the Crisafulli government's 100-day review, Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells said she was keen to come to a new agreement. 'The prime minister wrote to the premier saying, 'you don't have to worry about us squibbing on the deal' – we love the Games, we want to make it a success, but we need to see that detail,' she said. Wells said there had to be value for money to justify the use of federal taxpayer funds, which was something the Albanese government had identified in the Brisbane Arena. 'One of the things we loved about the Brisbane Arena is that we could say to people from Karratha or Bendigo, this is something that you can enjoy when you come to Brisbane,' she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Federal funds for Brisbane Olympics stalled after arena shift
The federal government is yet to recommit to its $3.44 billion contribution to Brisbane 2032 Olympic infrastructure after its preferred project, an inner-city arena, was removed from the Games plan two months ago. The Albanese government had agreed to fund the Brisbane Arena, which would host Olympic and Paralympic swimming events, leaving the main Olympic stadium to be delivered by the state. But when Queensland's new Crisafulli LNP government adopted its Brisbane 2032 delivery plan in March, the arena – which the previous Labor government planned to build at Roma Street – was left for the private sector to deliver at Woolloongabba. Swimming would be held at a new National Aquatic Centre to be built next to the Centenary Pool at Victoria Park, where the main 63,000-seat Olympic stadium would also be built, though its exact location and design were yet to be determined. The change meant the $7 billion joint funding agreement between the Albanese and Palaszczuk governments in 2023 needed to be renegotiated. Noting what she called the 'positive changes' coming out of the Crisafulli government's 100-day review, Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells said she was keen to come to a new agreement. 'The prime minister wrote to the premier saying, 'you don't have to worry about us squibbing on the deal' – we love the Games, we want to make it a success, but we need to see that detail,' she said. Wells said there had to be value for money to justify the use of federal taxpayer funds, which was something the Albanese government had identified in the Brisbane Arena. 'One of the things we loved about the Brisbane Arena is that we could say to people from Karratha or Bendigo, this is something that you can enjoy when you come to Brisbane,' she said.
The Age
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Lord Mayor says new Visy site plans still allow for ‘South Bank 2.0'
Brisbane LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has backed in his state party colleagues' plans for the riverside Visy recycling factory at South Brisbane, despite being a vocal supporter of the former Labor government's now-abandoned vision for the site. The Palaszczuk Labor government bought the site in 2022 for $165 million, on which it planned to build the Brisbane 2032 International Broadcast Centre, which would house the world's media during the Games. But the Crisafulli LNP government-commissioned 100-day Olympic review undertaken by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority found: 'Preliminary design and costing works have identified that the temporary delivery of an International Broadcasting Centre on the Visy site may be cost prohibitive.' Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie confirmed on Thursday that the Visy site had been abandoned as the IBC, with the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre emerging as a possible alternative. Schrinner, who had been a supporter of the former Labor government's plans for the site, said the new LNP government's plan for the Visy factory was also in line with his council's 'South Bank 2.0' vision. That vision was itself borrowed from former Labor premier Anna Bligh's 2012 proposal for a South Bank expansion, which was abandoned when the Campbell Newman-led LNP won office later that year. 'South Bank was transformed after Expo '88 into a fantastic urban precinct with a mixture of homes, retail and parkland,' Schrinner said on Thursday.
