TONY EASTLEY: Queensland's plan to relax tree clearing laws has been criticised as risking Australia's Kyoto Protocol commitment.

The Liberal National Party Government wants to make it easier for farmers to carry out what it calls "routine" tree thinning or clearing.

The changes would enable farmers a degree of self assessment and reverse the onus of proof for illegal activities. 

Annie Guest reports from Brisbane.

ANNIE GUEST: Under Australia's commitment to the second stage of the Kyoto Protocol it agreed to a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.

But Labor's Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Yvette D'Ath says that could be threatened by Queensland's plans to relax tree clearing laws. 

YVETTE D'ATH: Any action that in any way waters down the laws in relation to land clearing does put meeting our targets at risk.

ANNIE GUEST: But in a speech titled "Taking the Axe to Queensland's Tree Clearing Laws", the state's Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps has described the proposals as responsible.

ANDREW CRIPPS: These reforms do not encourage, indeed they do not allow for indiscriminate land clearing.

ANNIE GUEST: Among its suite of proposals the Liberal National Party Government wants to allow farmers to self-assess their plans for what it calls "routine" tree thinning, or clearing.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3739519.htm

ALMOST a quarter of all properties advertised in Australia are distressed sales, according to alarming new figures.

And in stark contrast to reports that Queensland’s real estate sector is back on its feet, the state accounts for the majority of those listings.

New figures released by valuation group LandMark White reveal that the sunshine state accounted for a massive 54 per cent of properties advertised by a mortgagee, receiver or liquidator during the March quarter.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/realestate/selling/property-in-a-dismal-state/story-fndbawks-1226622499500#ixzz2QlicyTjp

Mr Bleijie says he is not aware of anyone being raped in Queensland jails in the last 12 months.

"I reject that rape happens in jail - we have protections," he said.

"I did actually visit all our jails - jails are not nice places.

"They are not meant to be nice places but there are adequate staff to ensure those sorts of things aren't happening and prisoners have their own cells and so forth."

Lawyer and prison reform advocate Debbie Kilroy says Mr Bleijie cannot be serious.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-19/prisoners-not-being-raped-in-qld-jails-bleijie/4638566

QUEENSLAND Government statistics show the state’s overall carbon output has been consistently increasing since the start of the 21st century.

Net carbon emissions rose every year between 2000 to 2009, only dropping slightly in 2010.

Griffith University School of Science Professor Ian Lowe says this drop could be related to many households installing solar power while the previous government was offering incentives.

He is however firmly of the belief that is unlikely to continue:

“The enthusiasm of the Newman Government for energy-intensive economic activities like mining will probably see emissions grow in future.”

Over the last 10 years, annual emissions have increased by more than 27 million tonnes, in line with population growth.

Professor Lowe is also of the opinion that, if the population continues to grow at current rates, improving end-use efficiency and reducing the carbon-intensity of energy supply are the only ways to stop emissions rising.

He says it is “unfortunate” the Newman Government is

“…ideologically opposed to both renewable energy and the Commonwealth Government’s modest carbon price.”

The figures clearly show the rate of carbon related pollution has slowed.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/environment/newman-pushes-power-prices-higher/

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has promised to review a 42 per cent MP wage hike after anger from unions, the Opposition and the public.

The Queensland Government has been criticised over the salary rise for state MPs, which comes after broad cuts to public sector job cuts.

The increases would see MPs get an extra $57,000 a year, ministers an extra $90,000, while Mr Newman's pay would rise by $117,000.

Mr Newman, who has faced massive public backlash over the issue, has also apologised for the way the pay rise for state politicians was handled.

The Premier returned from holidays today to announce what he says is a five-point plan to deal with the issue.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-11/newman-announces-five-point-plan-to-deal-with-politicians27-al/4814426

Campbell Newman... making Rudd's job easier, daily...

http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/54066/mps-anger-pay-rise-ipsa-david-cameron

Queensland Independent MP Peter Wellington says the State Government is trying to hose down the political pay rise saga before the federal election.

Premier Campbell Newman has announced an independent tribunal to set wages for Queensland politicians, following widespread outrage over a 42 per cent hike.

It put Mr Newman's pay on a par with that of the US President.

Yesterday Mr Newman admitted he knew about the impending pay problems 16 months ago.

Mr Wellington says the Premier wants the tribunal to make a decision in another three months to keep the issue out of the media before the federal election.

"Quite frankly, three months is not acceptable," he said.

"I would urge all Queenslanders to email, phone and write and tell your members of parliament there is 89 members contact them and say it is not acceptable keep the pressure on.

"Let's get the Premier to lead our state and make a better decision than what he has come up with at the moment.

"This tribunal does not need up to three months to make a decision.

"This simply part of the liberal national strategy to keep this matter out of the news, off the front page because it may damage Tony Abbott's plan to be Prime Minister of Australia."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-12/qld-mp-says-pay-tribunal-timing-unacceptable/4815654

"Giving more expensive bananas to the monkeys does not make better monkeys" Abe Leonisky (a monkey's' cousin).

I was a bit too prude and left out the second part of Abe's quote... His full quote says:

"Giving more expensive bananas to the monkeys does not make better monkeys but more expensive shit..." I though you should know... It sounds better in Russian — the word "monkey" is replaced by "bear" and "banana" with "turnip".

The company of prominent Queensland businessman Dick Karreman has given $75,000 to the LNP in recent years, making it one of the largest donors to the party.

Mr Seeney does not deny changing the law to benefit a quarrying company, but denies it was a favour because the business had donated money to the LNP.

He says the business raised the issue with the State Government and an amendment was passed so it could continue to operate.

"It will affect anybody who has a pre-existing right to extract sand and gravel from that situation and I don't know of any other compliance notices that have been issued," he said.

"But I know of many other examples of operations that could be easily in the same situation."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-24/deputy-premier-rejects-special-treatment-given-to-qld-lnp-donor/5545454

------------------------------

Please Mr Seeney, list the "other" examples of operations that could be easily in the same situation. Then we'll know if you're telling the "truth", which is quite dubious anyway, or not. The favours continue in the sunshine state...

Former Queensland corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald has launched another scathing attack against the Newman Government.

Mr Fitzgerald says constant requests for interviews about politics in Queensland have forced him to make a statement.

The former corruption fighter says the Newman Government is using its majority to dominate debate both inside and outside Parliament.

Mr Fitzgerald also hit out at News Corporation Australia, accusing them of publishing biased reports favouring the Liberal National Party (LNP).

"Queensland is extremely vulnerable to the misuse and abuse of power.

"There are almost no constitutional limits on the power of the State's single house of parliament.

"Unless there is an effective parliamentary opposition to advocate alternative policies, criticise government errors, denounce excesses of power and reflect, inform and influence public opinion, the checks and balances needed for democracy are entirely missing."

— Tony Fitzgerald

Mr Fitzgerald said it would be unlikely he would comment on the matter further, citing his wish for anonymity and privacy in retirement.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-29/tony-fitzgerald-criticises-queensland-government/5557762

Even with the NSW Liberal Party losing MPs daily from revelations of dodgy donation, suspicious donations in Queensland are being shrugged off by Queensland's unaccountable LNP Newman Government. Alex McKean andStephen Keim SC report.

‘They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind’ (Hosea 8:7)

THERE HAVE BEEN REVELATIONS, this week, of another cash for legislation deal involving the Newman Government. But, like those that have gone before, it has just been shrugged off by those involved.

The Australian Financial Review has revealed that the largest single donor to the Queensland LNP was granted approval to dredge his Airlie Beach marina, close to the Great Barrier Reef, a week after making a donation of $150,000.

Billionaire Paul Darrouzet, a former mining magnate who owns the Abell Point marina in Airlie Beach, made the donation in two installments through his privately owned investment company. He has yet to individually declare the payments to the Electoral Commission.

A week after the payments were made, the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection amended the environmental authority relating to the marina, allowing the dredging of 100,000 to 200,000 cubic metres of material.

But Andrew Powell MP, the Queensland Environment Minister, is reported to have strongly denied any link between the donation and the dredging approval, saying it was

"... an outrageous link to be making."

"Riverside Industrial Sands immediately removed the sand for sale, removed the website reference to the sand being for sale, and sourced another supplier of sand for sale to our clients."

Richard Carew, an environmental lawyer and mine opponent, sent the transcripts of the recordings to the Queensland Government and says they failed to investigate.

That has angered traditional owner Dale Ruska, a staunch opponent to the mine.

"It's become a bit of a mockery and it's a miscarriage of criminal justice because if the average individual was to commit a crime equivalent to that which the company has committed, you could guarantee that they would be charged and prosecuted with committing a serious indictable offence," Mr Ruska said.

Queensland's Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, who also declined to be interviewed, issued a statement to 7:30.

"The most appropriate authority to investigate any allegations of theft is the Queensland Police Service and I have repeatedly advised the complainants to make a complaint to police," he said.

"It is inappropriate to comment further on matters currently before the court."

Queensland Police also declined to investigate the new claims, citing the current prosecution.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-21/fresh-allegations-of-unlawful-stradbroke-island-sand-sales/5687616

Honouring the memory of the late Queensland premier Wayne Goss should not be an excuse to deride the accomplishments of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, says federal frontbencher Barnaby Joyce.

Mr Goss died yesterday aged 63 following the recurrence of a brain tumour.

He became Queensland premier in 1989 in the immediate aftermath of the Bjelke-Petersen National Party era.

Sir Joh was Queensland’s longest-serving premier, holding office from 1968 to 1987.

National Party governments were in power in Queensland for 32 years before Mr Goss became premier.

Mr Goss gained a reputation as a reformer who enacted the recommendations of the Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption and reformed social policy, electoral laws and the Queensland Police Service.

Mr Joyce said he welcomed Mr Goss's move to implement the Fitzgerald reforms.

"Absolutely, because who brought about the Fitzgerald inquiry, who called for it – Bjelke-Peterson," Mr Joyce told the ABC’s RN Breakfast.

"Remember that Queensland [was] a backwater and Bjelke-Petersen turned it into an economic power house.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-11/wayne-goss-federal-minister-barnaby-joyce-praises-joh-era/5881992

One has to remember that Joh was a dictator, using his massive gerrymander to get elected on less than 27 per cent of the votes... Joh's entourage was corrupt as cheese gets mouldy after 30 years. Goss brought Queensland back into the land of democracy and decency. The "powerhouse" that Joyce describe was mostly benefiting Joh's mates, including that tycoon Hancock... 

The Queensland government has ruled out helping car dealerships which are facing closure after Thursday’s hailstorm.

The Insurance Council of Australia said claims for home and contents and motor vehicles damage had exceeded $145m as of Saturday.

Greater Brisbane was battered by a super cell system that packed cyclonic winds of up to 140 km/h and peppered the city with hail stones the size of tennis balls.

Brisbane suburbs which bore the brunt of the storm included Annerley, Moorooka, Fairfield, Kangaroo Point and West End.

While the premier, Campbell Newman, said his “heart goes out” to businesses including car dealerships which may be facing closure in the absence of hail insurance, the government would not step in to help.

“I’m afraid that’s one of the risks of this state and its climatic extremes,” Newman told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday.

“Government is not and never has been in the business of bailing out businesses from extreme weather events.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/30/hail-damage-queensland-car-dealers-facing-closure-wont-receive-help

-----------------------------

Very well sir... But government should not be into increase of "extreme weather events"... Any decision taken by the federal and Queensland governments to dig and sell more coal adds to the frequency and strength of "extreme weather events"... 

The insurance industry knows that global warming is happening and mostly due to CO2 coming from humans burning coal, gas and oil. This is why flood premiums are going through the roof... Hail insurance is only going to go up by two fold when renewal is due... The only thing that is keeping insurance price down is the entry of new players, such as Coles and others, who don't know what to do with their cash since there is so many supermarkets that one can install in towns/cities. Thus they "diversify"... In the end when the dust is settled the premiums will all go beserk as more "extreme weather events of the century" will be common-place twice a year.

It would be hypocritical for a gas-guzzling car company to sue the government for its contribution to global warming, though... But that could make a fascinating drama for TV say in about 10 years from now when the reality of global warming could not be fought by fudge of the murdoch press and other silly sceptic anymore...

The Queensland Government will force more councils to remove climate change references from their regional plans, the Moreton Bay Mayor has warned.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney ordered Moreton Bay Regional Council to remove any assumption about a "theoretical projected sea level rise" from its plan.

Mr Seeney said the reference to climate change would have restricted the right of residents to build and develop their properties.

Mayor Allan Sutherland said the edict meant his council would be out of step with Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and other councils that had incorporated the same assumption of a 0.8 metre sea level rise by 2100 into their plans.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-10/fear-over-forced-removal-of-climate-change-references-from-plans/5958492

Campbell Newman, the former Queensland premier, has labelled bookstores who refuse to stock his authorised biography as anti-democratic and anti-free speech.

Can Do: Campbell Newman and the Challenge of Reform, written by former Liberal National party MP Gavin King, was officially launched on Monday but some book stores are refusing to stock it.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/07/newman-critical-of-anti-democratic-stores-refusing-to-stock-his-biography

But I will defend Newman against, of all places, the Avid Reader bookshop, the premier independent bookshop in my hometown of Brisbane. Avid Reader is routinely named the best bookstore in the city, with a “ridiculously comprehensive” selection.

Its owner, Fiona Stager, is a former head of the Australian Booksellers Association and a leading cultural figure in Brisbane. This is a flourishing place, comparable to Readings in Melbourne or Gleebooks in Sydney. It’s the sort of place I love.

Avid Reader is refusing to stock Newman’s authorised biography, written by former Queensland MP Gavin King. Stager told ABC radio that Newman’s decision soon after winning office to scrap the premier’s literary awards was a key reason.

“We saw that as an attack on the writing, editing, book-publishing, book-selling community in Queensland. It seemed ironic that the first thing he did after losing was to turn around [and] be involved in the publication of a book,” she said.

Stager says the store has “always reflected the views and feelings of its community” and that many of its customers were devastated by Newman’s public service job cuts.

So why does it matter if Avid Reader refuses to stock Newman’s book, which presumably is as self-serving as most political tomes? So what if five or six shops across Australia refuse to have it on their shelves, as King claims?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/08/i-dont-like-campbell-newman-but-heres-something-i-can-do-defend-his-awful-book

Why should one read about Newman's self-delusions? Should his book be placed on the self-help-yourself shelves, in the remainder bins, or straight away sent back on a no sale-return contract? Someone should find something to sue about and the entire print-run could be pulped... 

Actually the best way to deal with this would be to give him the "Premier's Book Literary Award" for fiction.

“He was a modern urban Liberal and, in Brisbane, Campbell could be Campbell,” he told Guardian Australia. 

“But when he was conscripted by the LNP, which is heavily National party-dominated, very country-centric, and with the rise of some crazy types within the LNP who are hugely wedded to a very fundamentalist Christian and rightwing perspective, things changed.” 

Hinchliffe said the notion of his subject in a “hi-vis vest and helmet” was his, and when he asked the former army engineer to bring some along for the sitting, Newman “liked the idea”.

“He said, ‘Where do you want me to sit?’ I said, ‘Campbell, you have not been made to sit still in your life. I think I’m reconciled to the fact that you’re going to be standing and moving around.’ And he did.

“Then there was one particular moment where, in his hi-vis vest, he was looking out the window and I said, ‘That’s it, stop. You’re looking at your next project.’ That was it: he was itching to get on to the next job, it was always the way he was.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/03/campbell-newman-p...

A winner for this year 2017 Archibald Prize no less... Pity the professional artists.

Read from top...

Rates of clearing surged when Campbell Newman promised to scrap restrictions, which his Liberal National party (LNP) government did in December 2013. Rates then reached a plateau of about 300,000 hectares for several years.

The minority Labor government tried to reverse the legislation last year, but wasblocked at the 11th hour in August 2016 when its former MP turned crossbencher Billy Gordon sided with the LNP.

The Newman changes included wiping out protections for high conservation value regrowth, which made up about a third of clearing in 2015-16. The resurgence of clearing shown in the latest figures raises concerns about a fresh bout of “panic clearing” by rural landholders – primarily graziers – in anticipation of Labor’s changes going through.

Labor has promised to push through protections if returned to office with a majority at the upcoming election, while the LNP and One Nation – which could hold the balance of power – have said they will scotch reforms.

The environment minister, Steven Miles, said the latest report was “nothing short of devastating” because of the effects on wildlife, reef waters and coral, and Australia’s carbon emissions.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/05/alarming-rise-in-que...

Read about the king of rubbish from top... and time to give Adani's mine the boot...

The [new] Queensland government has moved to rein in soaring land-clearing rates with new native vegetation laws reintroduced to state parliament. 

The state government introduced the land-clearing laws last year, however they lapsed when the election was called.

The state’s natural resources minister, Anthony Lynham, reintroduced the laws to parliament on Thursday, after the Labor government promised to do so if elected to a second term in power.

Lynham told parliament that the new laws would put back in place a framework for the protection of native vegetation in Queensland.

“These laws will protect our climate, our wildlife and our Great Barrier Reef, and the tens of thousands of jobs that depend on the Reef,” Lynham said. “Landholders will still be able to maintain their land and clear fodder trees to feed their stock, and the majority of landholders will continue to do the right thing, as they do now.”

Labor says the policy will reduce land degradation, protect water quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sustain biodiversity.

The Queensland Conservation Council has welcomed the introduction of the new laws.

The Queensland Conservation Council head, Dr Tim Seelig, said land-clearing rates had escalated dramatically in Queensland since they were weakened by the Newman government but the new laws would draw a line “on a brief but shameful period in our recent history”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/08/queensland-labor-...

Read from top.

The former Queensland Premier joins the rank of Great Climate Deniers, and restores consumer confidence in the burgeoning tinfoil hat industry.

If you’re a lover of politics, particularly its history, then Campbell Newman is quite something.

And by quite something, we mean, Newman is arguably the most inept politician to grace Australian shores, which is ‘saying something’, because he’s coming off a pretty low base.

In case you’ve forgotten him, Newman is the former Queensland premier who led the Liberal National Party to what is unarguably the most spectacular political defeat in Australian political history.

In 2012, as leader without a seat (Newman was the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, and led the state party to an election from outside parliament) Newman oversaw a 13.7 per cent swing to the LNP, winning 78 seats in an 89-seat parliament. 

Queensland Labor was reduced to just seven seats.

But after four years of Newman leadership, he somehow managed to squander a record-breaking lead and reverse his party’s fortunes, delivering Labor a 14 per cent swing, and government. 

In the melee, Campbell actually lost his seat of Ashgrove, signing him up to a rare and undistinguished club. John Howard lost his seat while PM in 2007; Sir James Mitchell as Premier did it at the 1933 West Australian election; and former Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce achieved it in 1929. Tony Abbott, of course, lost his seat earlier this year, but not while PM.

Speaking of things unprecedented, Newman has been busy denying the effects of climate change on Australia’s bushfire emergency, putting to rest any speculation that Newman is (a) human, or (b) learned anything about leadership following his calamitous political career.

Read more:

https://newmatilda.com/2019/12/30/campbell-newman-slams-bom-these-are-no...

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