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ABC News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Lawrence Springborg stepping down as Liberal National Party president
Queensland political figure Lawrence Springborg is stepping down as president of the Liberal National Party (LNP). The party elder – who played a decisive role in the formation of the LNP – informed members today that he intended to bow out of the job next month. Mr Springborg was elected party president in 2021 after a decades-long stint in state politics, which included serving as leader of the opposition and health minister. In an email to LNP members, Mr Springborg said he wouldn't renominate for the presidency when the LNP convention is held in August. He said it had been a 'rare honour' to serve in the role and that he will always be grateful for the opportunities the LNP had given him. 'My personal undertaking when I took on this role, was, that I would steward the party until the year after the state election, which also was a federal election year,' he said. 'This was known to my family and very few others, for obvious reasons. 'I wanted to make this announcement now, to provide our party's membership with enough time to properly contemplate the critical decisions that they will need to make around the party's leadership going forward into state convention.' Mr Springborg, who is also currently the mayor of Goondiwindi, said he would now spend more time with his wife and family. 'My farm which in so many ways defines my heritage and my values and my role as local mayor will continue to keep me occupied and other business opportunities as they may arise,' he wrote. 'Thank you for your kindness, friendship and support over many years, I will continue to cherish it.' Mr Springborg led the conservative side of politics in Queensland to three state elections during the 2000s. He was health minister in the Newman government, before briefly serving again as opposition leader when Annastacia Palaszczuk was premier. In 2008, Mr Springborg played a crucial role in the merging of the Liberals and Nationals in Queensland – and was the inaugural parliamentary leader the LNP.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Former Gold Coast councillor to stand trial for his stepfather's murder
A former councillor will stand trial for the alleged murder of his stepfather as a court heard Google searches made on his phone will form part of the evidence. Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden, 32, is accused of murdering Robert Lumsden, 58, at his family's Gold Coast home in Arundel on August 23, 2023. Bayldon-Lumsden was serving as the division seven councillor for the Gold Coast City Council for the Liberal-National Party at the time of his arrest. He voluntarily stepped down from the position about a week later. Prosecutor Nicole Jackson laid out the Crown's case against the former politician during a committal hearing at the Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday. She said police would allege the defendant put his stepfather in a 'chokehold' following a verbal and physical argument, the ABC reported. The court also heard Bayldon-Lumsden admitted to strangling his stepfather in the kitchen of their Arundel home during a police interview. Defence barrister Craig Eberhard said Bayldon-Lumsden had been subject to an abusive and controlling relationship with his stepfather. Mr Eberhard told the court Mr Lumsden had pushed his stepson, who pushed him back, causing the older man to fall backwards. The barrister said Bayldon-Lumsden then put his stepfather in a chokehold during a struggle on the kitchen floor. A forensic pathologist told the court Mr Lumsden was 'morbidly obese' and suffered heart issues. Mr Eberhard said the 'million-dollar question' was whether Mr Lumsden had a heart attack and whether it would have occurred regardless of the altercation. Digital forensic analyst Senior Constable Alastair Smith told the court police had accessed internet browsing data on Bayldon-Lumsden's phone. Among the results were searches relating to 'escaping domestic violence and coercive control' and 'coercive control and the rights of women', which were made the day prior to the alleged murder, the ABC reported. The homepage of the domestic violence support service White Ribbon had also been visited on the same day, Mr Smith told the court. Separate analysis of Mr Lumsden's phone found his stepson's contact had been saved under the name: 'c**k gobbler', Mr Smith said. He said his wife's contact, Bayldon-Lumsden's mother, was saved as 'Grumpy'. Magistrate Lisa O'Neill committed the former politician to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court at a date to be determined. Asked whether he had anything to say to the charge, the accused said: 'Not guilty'. Bayldon-Lumsden launched a controversial bid for re-election as an independent ahead of the 2024 Gold Coast City Council election. At the time, state MP Sam O'Connor described the bid as 'completely irresponsible', telling AAP he would likely be suspended if he was re-elected. He was ultimately unsuccessful, placing third on first preferences with 21.72 per cent of the vote in the seat he had resoundingly won four years earlier.
7NEWS
24-06-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
Inside the 2025-26 Budget lock-up in Queensland's Parliament
A budget that's big on debt and low on the sugar hits has been revealed by Queensland's new Liberal National Party Government, which says it is facing the biggest redistribution of GST revenue in Australian history. Treasurer David Janetzki handed down the 2025-26 Budget in Queensland's Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, his first since the LNP won the election in October. Earlier that morning, 7NEWS headed into the lock-up to dig through the budget papers. It was busier-than-normal at parliament, even for a sitting week, with dozens of journalists converging on the house. 7News State Political Editor Marlina Whop leads the way and we take our seats on one of four long tables inside the room, before bundles of plastic-wrapped budget documents and brochures are handed out. The media have 30 minutes to get started before the Treasurer enters to give a presentation. We then keep pouring over the papers until a midday press conference. The budget shows that cost of living relief has been scaled back and Queenslanders will receive a modest number of sweeteners. For families, there's a $100 Back to School voucher to cover the cost of primary school essentials each year and previously announced $200 Play On! sports vouchers. For years, Queenslanders have received an electricity rebate in the state budget, which ended under the new government. However, the Electricity Rebate Scheme for vulnerable households will continue and increase by 3.8 per cent from $372 to $386 in 2025-26. 'This modest cost of living relief, frozen by the former government in 2022, will be indexed every year under the Crisafulli Government,' Janetzki tells parliament in his budget speech. Homeownership is a key focus of the 25-26 budget and, from July 1, first home buyers will be able to register their interest in a new government shared equity scheme. The government says it will help reduce the deposit gap, meaning a first home buyer with a deposit of just $15,000 could buy a home valued at $750,000. There are only 1000 spots up for grabs over two years, but the government says the program could be expanded if there is strong interest. Asked whether the program could make housing more expensive and encourage people to spend more than they would otherwise be able to afford, the treasurer refused to accept that the initiative won't get people into homes. Janetzki argued people would still have to go through normal lending processes. 'There are the normal lending criteria, the normal credit practices that must be adopted, and so they will be assessed in the usual way,' he said. The Crisafulli Government has its own debt to shoulder, too. Total debt will skyrocket over the next four years to a record $205.7 billion by 2028-29. It's more than $30 billion dollars higher than last year's budget forecast under the former Labor government, but lower than the $218 billion dollar figure the LNP predicted in the Mid-Year Fiscal Economic Review. An $8.6 billion deficit is predicted in 2025-26 before falling in the forward estimates to $1.1 billion by 2028-29. The treasurer blamed a hit to revenues from coal royalties and a GST reduction, arguing the government is stepping in to save projects and deliver jobs. 'We are front loading the investments into jobs and services now in this budget so Queenslanders can reap the benefits sooner,' Janetzki told media in the budget lock-up. 'We made a range of commitments at the election. We've seen a range of services that were left unfunded by the former government that we have stepped in to fund.' 'None of the promised cost of living relief' The Labor Opposition has defended their record in government. 'When we left office we had a stable rating from ratings agencies, that's a fact,' Shadow Treasurer Shannon Fentiman said. 'We had a (debt) figure of $172 billion, that's a fact. 'We have now had an outlook downgrade since the LNP have been in office, since they handed down MYFER, and we now have a debt figure that's higher despite them promising it would be lower. 'There is none of the promised cost of living relief.' In the LNP budget, $18 million will be saved with a hiring freeze on bosses in the public service. Government fees and charges are increasing by 3.4 per cent and a 20 per cent discount on car registration is ending in September, which means most drivers will pay an extra $10-20. The health operating budget has also increased by 10 per cent to $29.4 billion dollars. $18.5 billion will go to the Hospital Rescue Plan and more than $3 billion will go to tackle ambulance ramping in the 2025-26 budget. There's also a new Surgery Connect program that will aim to slash the elective surgery waiting list by 30,000 patients. The Australian Medical Association praised the Government's commitment to 4,500 health workers in 2025-26, while the Queensland Teachers Union slammed budgeted pay rises for frontline workers, as tense talks with unions on enterprise bargaining agreements continue. On Tuesday afternoon, more than 100 teachers rallied outside the gates of parliament, calling for a better pay offer from the government. 'What's currently on the table gets us third lowest paid teachers in the country and that does not recruit and does attract people to this profession in Queensland,' QTU spokesperson Cresta Richardson said. The Opposition will deliver its budget reply on Thursday.
The Guardian
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Queensland MP calls for return of vagrancy laws to allow police to prosecute homeless people
A Gold Coast Liberal National party MP has called for the return of vagrancy laws to allow police to prosecute homeless people amid an ongoing crackdown on tent cities in Queensland. Ray Stevens, the member for Mermaid Beach, made the call in a speech to parliament last week. He spoke about the rise of 'presumably homeless people' setting up in tents in 'some of the most sought after locations anyone could wish for – absolute beachfront' in his electorate. 'There are many local voices contacting my office to ask what I am doing to protect their residential amenity. My first call of course is to my local police station,' he said. 'The police reluctantly tell me they have no legislative power to move these people on, which I find incredibly disappointing. The vagrancy act is no longer applicable and unless there is demonstrable public disturbance the police, I am told, cannot move them on. This is unacceptable.' 'It is imperative a solution be found that includes giving law enforcement officers the legislative power to enforce the removal of these illegal camp sites,' he said. The 1931 Vagrants, Gaming, and Other Offences Act made 'having no visible lawful means of support or insufficient lawful means' an offence subject to six months' prison. It also banned begging, public drunkenness, fortune telling, using bad language and more. It was repealed in 2005. South-east Queensland is facing its worst housing crisis in generations, with hundreds living in tent cities or sleeping bags. Councils in the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Brisbane have carried out a campaign of clearing the camps in recent months. Council rangers don't have the same powers of detention as arrest, though they can levy a fine and can remove property such as tents from public land. Police typically accompany them during homeless camp clearances but only as a supporting element. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A University of Queensland law professor, Tamara Walsh – who has long studied laws criminalising homelessness – said police can still charge people with public nuisance offences. But they tend not to because doing so is extremely expensive to the taxpayer, due to the cost of putting an offender through court and jail. 'If people are living in poverty and unhoused, then that is a housing issue. It's a social welfare issue, it's not a criminal law issue,' she said. Walsh said homelessness is typically not a choice, so punishing people for being homeless can't make them stop. 'I wonder how many people would swap their very comfortable, warm home for a beachfront squat at the moment, I certainly wouldn't. Yeah, the view is spectacular, but at night you can't see a thing and all you are is in the freezing cold,' she said. North West Community Group president, Paul Slater, said bringing back the act would be a step in the wrong direction. 'Making homelessness illegal would be a disgrace and would be shameful for our country,' he said. The attorney general, Deb Frecklington, was contacted for comment. The state government is also considering bringing back laws against public drunkenness, contrary to the recommendations of the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Stevens said that he understood 'that there must be solutions to where the homeless people can be moved to' but that he had heard several reports of bad behaviour on the part of the homeless, including one father who saw two of them 'fornicating in the public toilets'. Council rangers moved on a tent city in Rebel Wilson park in the Gold Coast on Tuesday. A few kilometres away, the National Homelessness Conference was being held at the same time.
The Age
17-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
Queensland to stump up $600m to ease homelessness crisis
Queensland has announced it will invest hundreds of millions of dollars into crisis accommodation and homelessness services, amid cries that the state is whittling down support for rough sleepers. Housing Minister Sam O'Connor said the funding totalled almost $600 million over four years, and would include an extra 20 per cent for specialist homelessness services, and $365 million for emergency accommodation. 'This is both our hotel and motel accommodations, where we have thousands of vulnerable Queenslanders staying at the moment because there's nowhere else for them to go,' O'Connor told reporters after giving the keynote speech at the National Homelessness Conference on Tuesday. 'It's also more than doubling our headleasing program … where we will take a lease out on a private market property and will help support the tenant to have a safe and secure place to call home while we find them a more permanent, longer-term solution.' The announcement came a week before the Liberal National Party was set to deliver its first Queensland budget since Premier David Crisafulli took power in October. Loading It also follows announcements last week that public housing tenants would face a 'three strikes and you're out' rule if found to have breached the terms of their tenancy, and that social housing tenants earning over the income thresholds would face eviction. Meanwhile, people sleeping rough in Brisbane's CBD have faced increased uncertainty after moves to remove tents from public parks in the wake of Cyclone Alfred. Asked whether it was too difficult for vulnerable Queenslanders to access crisis accommodation, O'Connor said new rules that came into effect this year made the policy 'more targeted'.
