THE QUEENSLAND Labor Party has confirmed it won't support Independent MP Peter Wellington's daylight saving Bill.
Caucus met this afternoon to determine its position on the Bill.
Premier Anna Bligh had already foreshadowed that the issue was effectively dead last week, saying she saw no positive momentum for change.
Ms Bligh said this afternoon that the debate in caucus included a number of points of view, but ultimately the vote not to support the bill was unanimous.
North Queensland police are warning residents of a scam that appears to be targeting older people who have accounts with the National Australia Bank (NAB).
Police Sergeant Nigel Dalton says a number of people have contacted police saying they have been called by a man with an Indian accent to say they have unclaimed funds but need to first pay a release fee.
He says the caller also provides a Canberra number that people can call if they have concerns.
"Sometimes when we get those sort of offers we think to ourselves they must be okay because they're actually providing a safety net there, so I won't bother doing that because they're obviously very professional," Sergeant Dalton said.
"So what we need to be [is] very, very careful of, if there's any offer that comes through, whether it's a prize or whether it's a prize or inheritance, if sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
BAC spokeswoman Rebecca McConochie said the temporary call forward area the taxi drivers were protesting over would be moved from Moreton Drive to a deserted area off Airport Drive, near Banksia Place, and house about 400 cabs.
A group of cab drivers locked their doors and refused to take passengers last night following the arrest of one of their colleagues and following a spate of parking tickets for stopping on yellow lines as they waited in the queue.
McConochie said a taxi was parked illegally last night so police requested the driver move.
``As a result the taxi drivers have decided to protest about the call forward area. There's a taxi feeder located at the domestic terminal (and) when that is filled up they go to the call forward area,'' she said.
General Manager of Black and White Cabs, John Tighe, said the lack of taxi ranks was a problem across Brisbane, not just at the airport.
``Facilities for drivers having to wait at the airport is not desirable. I know the BAC is building purpose built feeder ranks, but there is insufficient spaces for the number of cabs that are available in Brisbane,'' Tighe said.
Lee Sims, Secretary of the Cab Association of Queensland, said last night's action was not an organised protest.
``It's nothing we organised and nothing we recommend, but it does show you the frustration that's out there. We've tried to warn the minister for 12 months about this. This gets down to an overload in the industry of too many cabs out.''
He said the incident at the airport was a case of a policeman doing his duty.
``A driver felt he was being unfairly treated. He probably overreacted that then set up something like a powder keg across town.''
`The situation is about standards. There are far too many taxi drivers who were not properly trained en masse which has caused problems.''
...................................................................................................................
COMMENT: The troglodytes running the Brisbane Airport Corporation - whose
PR skills range somewhere between Buckley's and none - are at it again.
How management could possibly allow this situation to degenerate to the
point where some imbecile copper arrests one of the cabbies - beggars
belief. The BAC and the Police have turned the Brisbane Airport into some
third world facility because of their lack of common sense and basic business
acumen.
CAB RAGE: Brisbane taxi drivers revolt after
accusations of police brutality at the Brisbane Airport.
STANDING UP: There were delays for incoming
passengers as Brisbane taxi drivers went on strike
outside Brisbane Airport.
ACCUSATIONS of police violence and anger over unfair traffic infringements have caused hundreds of cab drivers to strike from servicing the Brisbane airport from 8pm Sunday night.
Hundreds of passengers looking to go home were left stranded when drivers from Yellow Cabs and Black and White Cabs refused to work.
The mob of frustrated taxi drivers complained police were moving them on from the ``taxi call forward area'' off Moreton Drive and booking them when they parked against yellow lines while waiting for a spot in the line.
"We don't have a taxi feeder here and we're all suffering here ... cops come down here because we're parking on the yellow line and they're giving us tickets straight away - one guy got a $2100 fine," one taxi driver said.
"And this bloke was in the line waiting to get in the feeder and the policeman asked him to move on and when he said he was waiting the cop got out and grabbed him by the neck and he broke his chain.
"We don't want to keep doing laps because we have to pay for that petrol."
Bank worker Mark Middleton said he was waiting for 40 minutes for a taxi and only saw about five taxis pick people up.
"No one has let us know what is going on," he said.
"I've had to call a friend to come and get me."
Brisbane Airport transport services manager Fiona McKenna urged the drivers to move on and said she would meet with them on Monday.
"We'll talk to them when they're settled down," she said.
"It's traffic infringements and at the end of the day they're the ones disobeying the law."
There was an accident mid-week involving four taxis and a car when cab drivers tried to quickly depart as police approached.
A new taxi parking facility is being built by the Brisbane Airport Corporation, but is not expected to be completed until July.
UNLICENSED builders are using a legal loophole to do jobs priced up to $3300 without any requirement to be qualified or monitored by the peak building association.
The Building Services Authority changed the minimum threshold required for a building licence from $1100 to $3300 last December.
Licensed builders who contacted The Sunday Mail are outraged they are being undercut on a range of jobs by handymen who have no accountability to the BSA or formal trade qualifications.
Homeowners with complaints about dodgy jobs by unlicensed builders costing up to $3300 must now seek compensation through the Small Claims Court.
Licensed builders chasing unpaid bills must also seek payment through the court on any jobs completed for less than $3300.
Unlicensed builders can be prosecuted by the BSA if they do not state in advertisements they can only perform work up to $3300.
Sunshine Coast tiler Matt Williams, from Ocean and Earth Tiling, fears young workers will abandon their apprenticeships because they can make good money doing small jobs without the need for study, trade qualifications or licensing fees.
Mr Williams employs two apprentices and spends thousands of dollars each year on BSA licensing and insurance despite most of his jobs falling under the threshold amount.
"I just don't think it's fair for the mums and dads out there who can easily be ripped off because they have no idea that the person they hired doesn't have to be held accountable to the BSA," he said.
"Most jobs these days are under $3300 because people are doing it tough and this change to the threshold means anyone can just go out tomorrow, pick up some tools and start work.
At $3300 per job you only need to do two a week to make a killing."
Cairns licensed builder Aron Littlemore agrees that the BSA changes will cause headaches for homeowners.
He has been forced to go through the Small Claims Court process to chase up a homeowner who is refusing to pay a $1700 bill for a job he did more than six months ago.
"You have to wonder why I bother getting a BSA licence when they can't help me on jobs below $3300," he said.
A BSA spokesman said its officers had referred about a dozen consumers to take up their complaints with the Small Claims Court since the threshold change.
Jobs under the threshold were regarded as "handyman" jobs and did not require a licence, the spokesman said.
CourierMail.com.au
SEX workers have rallied in Sydney to demand an end to "whore-phobic" attitudes and greater protection under anti-discrimination laws.
Chanting "sex worker rights are human rights" and "no bad whores, just bad laws", dozens of protesters marched from the Opera House today in a bid to have their rights recognised.
Many carried red umbrellas, a symbol of the global movement, while others made statements with T-shirts reading "whore power" and "sluts unite".
"We are human beings, we are people, we do a job and we are continually vilified for that job," sex worker Julie Bates said, noting that little had changed in the way of community attitudes during her 30-year career.
"So whilst we remained silenced, today is a chance for us to speak to the community, so we have a voice.
"What we want society to see is that sex work is real damn hard work, and we provide a service like any other industry."
Organised by the Scarlet Alliance, a peak body representing the nation's estimated 20,000 sex workers, the event was one of several staged in capital cities across the country to commemorate International Whores Day.
The alliance is using the occasion to lobby state governments for amendments to existing legislation that covers the industry.
The campaign focuses on New South Wales, which has the highest concentration of sex workers - about 8000 - yet has inferior anti-discrimination laws compared with other parts of the nation. In the ACT, Queensland and Tasmania, legislation protects against discrimination based on legal sexual activity or occupation, essentially giving mistreated sex workers an avenue for recourse.
The most common instances of discrimination reported to the alliance occur during applications for rental properties, bank loans and credit cards. Sex workers are also forced to pay up to five times more than other advertisers in newspapers, and encounter problems when dealing with police and the judicial system, the alliance said.
It was often seen when women lost custody cases because of negative stereotypes associated with their jobs.
Alliance president Elena Jeffreys said part of the problem stemmed from deep-rooted attitudes within government and mainstream institutions.
"They think that sex workers are not part of the community," she told AAP.
"We are absolutely sick of whore-phobic attitudes.
"Sex work is legalised, decriminalised, brothels are run in a professional and transparent manner, and sex workers are huge contributors to society, yet we face this discrimination every single day.
"It's absolutely untenable and we demand that it be changed."
CourierMail.com.au
SEX workers have rallied in Sydney to demand an end to "whore-phobic" attitudes and greater protection under anti-discrimination laws.
Chanting "sex worker rights are human rights" and "no bad whores, just bad laws", dozens of protesters marched from the Opera House today in a bid to have their rights recognised.
Many carried red umbrellas, a symbol of the global movement, while others made statements with T-shirts reading "whore power" and "sluts unite".
"We are human beings, we are people, we do a job and we are continually vilified for that job," sex worker Julie Bates said, noting that little had changed in the way of community attitudes during her 30-year career.
"So whilst we remained silenced, today is a chance for us to speak to the community, so we have a voice.
"What we want society to see is that sex work is real damn hard work, and we provide a service like any other industry."
Organised by the Scarlet Alliance, a peak body representing the nation's estimated 20,000 sex workers, the event was one of several staged in capital cities across the country to commemorate International Whores Day.
The alliance is using the occasion to lobby state governments for amendments to existing legislation that covers the industry.
The campaign focuses on New South Wales, which has the highest concentration of sex workers - about 8000 - yet has inferior anti-discrimination laws compared with other parts of the nation. In the ACT, Queensland and Tasmania, legislation protects against discrimination based on legal sexual activity or occupation, essentially giving mistreated sex workers an avenue for recourse.
The most common instances of discrimination reported to the alliance occur during applications for rental properties, bank loans and credit cards. Sex workers are also forced to pay up to five times more than other advertisers in newspapers, and encounter problems when dealing with police and the judicial system, the alliance said.
It was often seen when women lost custody cases because of negative stereotypes associated with their jobs.
Alliance president Elena Jeffreys said part of the problem stemmed from deep-rooted attitudes within government and mainstream institutions.
"They think that sex workers are not part of the community," she told AAP.
"We are absolutely sick of whore-phobic attitudes.
"Sex work is legalised, decriminalised, brothels are run in a professional and transparent manner, and sex workers are huge contributors to society, yet we face this discrimination every single day.
"It's absolutely untenable and we demand that it be changed."
ARTIST'S IMPRESSION: A reader from Brisbane's
northwestern suburbs - who is also a forensic artist -
prepared this approximation of the light pattern he
saw in the sky just before 6am on Saturday. His report
is one of many being made today after the bright light
was seen from many suburbs up and down the southeast
Queensland coast.
CourierMail.com.au
SIGHTINGS have been reported throughout the state's southeast of a mysterious light travelling in an erratic fashion across the sky in the early morning hours.
Witnesses reported watching a ball of light move across the sky for up to five minutes at about 5.50am on Saturday.
``It was a perfect spiral of light,'' one Redcliffe witness told The Sunday Mail.
``I realised soon it was not the moon but that it was shooting like a comet from the southern sky and off into the northwest.''
Another Brisbane resident said: ``There was absolutely no sound in a perfectly clear, darkened sky before dawn.''
Police and search and rescue crews confirmed they had received calls from Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast about the UFO.
The weather bureau said there were no weather conditions which would explain the light. A Defence spokeswoman also said she had no explanation.
POLICE want Facebook to ban under-18s from setting up tribute websites after launching the first prosecution of its kind of a Brisbane man accused of posting pornography on online memorials to murdered children.
Disability pensioner Bradley Paul Hampson, 29, faces up to 10 years' jail if convicted of offences relating to the defacement of Facebook memorials for Trinity Bates, 8, and Elliot Fletcher, 12, who died in separate incidents in Queensland earlier this year.
The Australian Federal Police are now negotiating with the social networking giant to prevent future acts of cyber-vandalism by so-called internet "trolls", who post offensive material to provoke outrage.
Detective Superintendent Peter Crawford, of the Child Safety and Sexual Crimes Group of Queensland police, said adults should be required to act as administrators of memorials so they could be held liable for monitoring content. The AFP has, in an effort to improve accountability, raised with Facebook the possibility of banning under-18s from setting up such sites.
Superintendent Crawford said website administrators - and not just Facebook - needed to act quickly to remove offensive material.
"I think the trolling issue will continue to be a problem in the future," he said. "We are really keen to see people who administer those sites take responsibility to ensure that material posted is of an appropriate standard."
Superintendent Crawford revealed that Queensland police had been forced to liaise with Facebook executives in San Francisco. While the organisation has a well-staffed advertising office in Australia, its local representatives insist they are not responsible for content.
"We have to make inquiries overseas for all our Facebook inquiries," he said.
Superintendent Crawford said the fact that children and teenagers sometimes set up tribute pages "presents some problems".
"These are the issues we're endeavouring to discuss with Facebook," he said. "I would rather be using (police) resources to target actual sexual offences that are being committed today, than chasing down trolls."
Mr Hampson, 29, of Tarragindi, was remanded in custody after appearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday on five charges relating to possessing and distributing child exploitation material.
Magistrate Leanne O'Shea refused bail.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Fiona Pedersen, told the court that police had raided Mr Hampson's home early yesterday and found pornographic images on his computer.
"He would appear to have some morbid fascination with deceased children and has expressed fantasies in those regards," she said.
Mr Hampson's legal aid lawyer, Katia Vandenbroucke, told the court her client had been diagnosed with autism.
Facebook said yesterday it had co-operated fully with the police.
Brisbane Car Brokers managing director Martin Corbett was suspicious
when a company called YellowPage faxed him a letter to sign-up and
pay for advertising.
Queensland small businesses and even a consumer watchdog have been targeted in the latest scam that aims to extract money from the unwary in advertising rip-offs.
A company calling itself Yellow Publishing Ltd, based in the United Kingdom, is offering ''free submission'' to internet search engine Google if businesses sign up to a (non-existent) directory.
Last week, Queensland companies received faxes saying registration in the directory for two years would cost $129 a month, payable one year in advance.
''Payment is still required for the agreement term in the event that the customer chooses to remove their record from the directory,'' the fax said.
The fax is headed "YellowPage-Queensland.com" and asks for business details including name, address, phone and fax numbers, email and website details.
It uses a bogus Yellow Pages logo with the distinctive 'walking fingers' pointing up instead of down.
Other faxes have been headed with other states' names or specific cities have been targeted with YellowPage-Sydney, Melbourne or Perth.com.
Martin Corbett of Brisbane Car Brokers at Hamilton said he was unsure at first whether or not the fax he received was legitimate.
''It wasn't until I read all the fine print saying the company was based in the UK and that it was after money that I became suspicious,'' he said.
''People who don't use the internet much and don't understand the technology could be easily taken in so I sent it to Yellow Pages to investigate.''
A spokeswoman for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said she had received a fax touting for business in her office and had forwarded it to other officers. She would not confirm or deny whether an investigation was under way ''in line with ACCC policy''.
Yellow Pages spokesman, Stephen Ronchi last week confirmed the scam and said customers including those from NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia had received faxes. It is believed about one in 20 people are taken in by such scams.
He said Sensis, the owner of Yellow Pages (owned by Telstra), was trying to end the scam and retrieve the domain names involved. He said this was not the first ''rogue overseas business'' falsely claiming to be or have some association with Yellow Pages.
''Other scams involve people posing as our sales consultants and asking to confirm business details such as their ABN, the name of the business owner and directors,'' he said.
''Some ask people to renew their existing advertisements and to pay for advertising in non-existent directories.''
He said Sensis had alerted the ACCC, relevant government ministers and business groups to the scam.
Mr Ronchi warned customers against signing up and recommended they call 13 23 78 if they were unsure about such a fax.
A Google spokeswoman said the company had not received complaints.
What to look out for:
The ACCC's SCAMwatch website says small businesses should be wary of the following in relation to directory and advertising (false billing) scams:
The website recommends that you:
AN inner-Brisbane street has been closed to the public due to falling glass.
Police have closed Edward St, between Charlotte St and Queen St, due to a number of glass panels from a building falling to the street and shattering.
A police spokeswoman said no one was injured during the incident.
................................................................................................................
COMMENT: This is happening in the heart of Brisbane all too regularly.
One day, someone will be killed or injured and then all hell will break
loose. Why don't the Premier and Lord Mayor do something now to
prevent a tragedy.
A Brisbane man accused of defacing the internet tribute pages for two dead children has been refused bail.
Bradley Paul Hampson, 29, is accused of defacing the Facebook pages of Bundaberg girl Trinity Bates, 8, and Brisbane boy Elliot Fletcher, 12.
He appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this afternoon.
The court heard the man allegedly took on another person's name and posted child pornography and offensive comment on the pages.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Fiona Pederson said detectives found a number of illegal images on the man's computer during a raid on his Tarragindi home this morning.
She said his landlord has told police he is being evicted and he has no contact with his family.
Magistrate Leanne O'Shea refused bail on the grounds he has nowhere to live and might contact his housemates who are witnesses.
He will appear in court again next month.
http://www.nytimes.com
President Obama canceled his trip to Australia, Indonesia and Guam late Thursday night as oil continued to stream into the Gulf of Mexico in what he has called the worst environmental disaster in American history.
His decision came as officials reported progress containing the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Obama is to visit the Gulf Friday to assess the situation and meet with officials responding to the crisis. While the White House statement offered no reason for scratching the Asia trip this time, officials in recent days had grown increasingly convinced that it was untenable for the president to leave the country for a week with the oil spill still unchecked.
Mr. Obama telephoned Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia to tell them he could not come after all, the White House said in a statement issued at midnight.
"President Obama expressed his deep regret that he has to postpone his trip to Asia that was scheduled for later this month," the statement said. "The president looked forward to rescheduling so that he can visit both countries soon."
In the Gulf, officials reported making some headway in the latest effort to place a cap over the well that would funnel at least some of the oil and gas to a ship at the surface. Earlier Thursday, 20-foot-long shears were used to snip the damaged riser pipe at the wellhead, and technicians began to lower the cap over it.
Late Thursday, Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard, who is commanding the federal response to the disaster, announced that the cap had been put in place, but warned that "it will be some time before we can confirm that this method will work and to what extent it will mitigate the release of oil into the environment."
Among the concerns was that the cap would not fit tightly and would allow seawater into the oil. That could lead to the formation of icelike hydrates that could block the flow. But the cap was outfitted with pipes for injecting methanol, which acts as a kind of antifreeze to prevent hydrates from forming.
Live video feeds from the sea bed appeared to show oil spewing from valves at the top of the cap, as planned. As oil gradually begins to flow up through a pipe to the drillship, these valves would be closed. "It's looking hopeful," a BP spokesman said.
Mr. Obama's decision to cancel his Asia trip underscored the way the oil spill is forcing the White House to recalibrate plans for this summer. BP and the government have given up trying to plug the leak and are focusing now on siphoning or containing it until relief wells can be completed, perhaps by August. As a result, the president faces another two months in crisis management before he can even turn his focus exclusively to cleanup and recovery.
White House officials said they will not let the focus on the oil spill detract from the rest of the president's economic, legislative and foreign agenda, pointing out that he still seems likely to sign financial regulation reform by next month, push through his Supreme Court nominee and win sanctions against Iran at the United Nations Security Council.
"The American people don't elect somebody, I think, that they don't believe can walk and chew gum at the same time," Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, told reporters earlier Thursday. "Sometimes it feels like we walk and chew gum and juggle on a unicycle all at the same time. I get that."
But, he added, "there's a whole lot of people working on a whole lot of things in the White House, and we're able to do more than several things at once."
To get through the crisis without letting it detract from the rest of the president's agenda, the White House plans to try to wall off those dealing with the spill from the rest of Mr. Obama's team, particularly John Brennan, the homeland security adviser, and Carol Browner, the energy and climate adviser. The White House is counting on a strong jobs report on Friday to reassure Americans that its programs are bolstering the economy.
Yet the president's time and energy are finite and every day devoted to the oil spill is one that he cannot focus as much of his own resources on other issues. The juggling of his schedule Friday showed the complexities in store for the White House over the next two months – the president will visit a commercial truck dealership and truck parts supplier in Maryland to highlight the jobs report in the morning, then fly to New Orleans to assess the latest efforts to combat the spill in the afternoon.
This was the second time Mr. Obama has scrubbed the trip to Australia and Indonesia. He was originally scheduled to travel there in March but canceled at the last minute to stay in Washington to lobby for passage of his health care legislation. The White House announced no date for rescheduling it again, although at a separate event on Thursday, Mr. Obama announced he will visit India in November, which would put him in the general neighborhood.
The Australia-Indonesia trip is the most prominent example so far of what will have to be sacrificed on the president's agenda as a result of the spill. While not the highest foreign policy priority, the trip was considered important by administration officials because Australia is one of America's strongest allies and because Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. Mr. Obama also spent several years of his youth in Indonesia.
In its statement, the White House signaled that it was not abandoning its allies: "President Obama underscored his commitment to our close alliance with Australia and our deepening partnership with Indonesia. He plans to hold full bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Rudd and President Yudhoyono on the margins of the G-20 meeting in Canada." The Group of 20 major nations will be meeting in Toronto in late June.
But Mr. Obama has called the spill his "highest priority" and the White House understands it will absorb a considerable portion of the president's time this summer. The failure to stop the leak after more than six weeks has fed concern about the administration's powerlessness in the face of this crisis, and the White House has been determined to show that it is fully engaged.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House announced that it had sent a $69 million bill to BP for the first installment of clean up costs. The White House has made a point of criticizing BP lately and the Justice Department has opened criminal investigation into what caused the April 20 explosion that ultimately sank the Deepwater Horizon rig, killed 11 workers and touched off the leak.
Mr. Obama, who has also been confronted by questions about his cool public reaction, said Thursday night that he is "furious at this entire situation" but does not show it because it does not accomplish anything.
"I would love to just spend a lot of my time venting and yelling at people," he said on "Larry King Live" on CNN. "But that's not the job I was hired to do. My job is to solve this problem and ultimately this isn't about me and how angry I am. Ultimately, this is about the people down in the Gulf who are being impacted and what am I doing to make sure that they're able to salvage their way of life."
A split daylight saving time zone for southeast Queensland is unlikely, with Premier Anna Bligh declaring there is no momentum for change.
Ms Bligh on Thursday released the results of an online survey of more than 74,000 people, canvassing support for daylight saving in the southeast corner only.
The survey was taken after independent MP Peter Wellington introduced a private member's bill in parliament proposing a referendum on the issue at the next election.
Across the state, 63 per cent of people were in favour of a referendum, while 35 per cent were against.
A total of 64 per cent backed a trial of daylight saving in the southeast before the referendum, with 34 per cent opposed.
When broken down into regions, 67 per cent of people in southeast Queensland were in favour of a referendum, while 55 per cent of those outside the southeast were opposed.
Three-quarters of those outside the southeast were opposed to a trial, while 70 per cent of people in the southeast wanted one.
In surveys by Labor MPs, 56 per cent of southeast Queenslanders were opposed to having a referendum and 51 per cent were against a trial.
Regional MPs found more than 85 per cent of their constituents were against the idea.
Ms Bligh said she was surprised such a significant divide between country and city continued.
"I thought that regional Queensland would be more relaxed about daylight saving if it was restricted to the southeast corner," she told reporters.
"Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case....
"Given this, I can't see any momentum for change."
Ms Bligh said the results showed attitudes were no different now than when the issue was last considered three years ago.
But she denied the exercise had been a waste of time as residents had never before been questioned on a split time zone.
"In order to spend public money on a referendum, I've got to have confidence that there is any real prospect of that referendum at least being close," she said.
The Labor caucus will vote on the government's position on Monday before indicating its position.
"All I'm saying is that on the basis of this data today, I can't see any overwhelming momentum to change the Labor Party's previous position and we'll wait and see," Ms Bligh said.
The Liberal National Party (LNP) has already said it will not support the bill, which is due to be voted upon later in the year.
Daylight Saving for South-East Queensland Party spokesman Jason Furze said there was momentum for change.
"The people of southeast Queensland have been very loud and they would like a trial of daylight saving," he said.
Mr Furze said the model took into consideration regional Queenslanders by leaving them on standard time.
The only way to put the issue to bed properly was to have a referendum, he said.
A former executive director of the Queensland Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association (QRTSA) has been committed to stand trial for victimising directors of a superannuation fund.
Ian Baldock has appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on two charges of victimisation.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is alleging Baldock targeted two trustee directors of a superannuation fund linked to the QRTSA.
The court was told an employee and an auditor of the QRTSA suffered financial losses after they were sacked for carrying out their legal obligations as trustee directors.
The matter has been listed for trial in the District Court in Brisbane on a date to be fixed.
MP Michael Johnson was kicked out of the
LNP a fortnight ago .
Embattled MP Michael Johnson has accused the head of Queensland's Liberal National Party (LNP) of bullying and intimidation following his expulsion from the party.
In an extraordinary move and under the cover of parliamentary privilege, Mr Johnson claimed LNP president Bruce McIver asked him to resign from Parliament at the next election or "he would present certain material in his possession to the police".
Mr Johnson was kicked out of the LNP a fortnight ago for bringing the party into disrepute after he was accused of misusing his parliamentary resources.
But the new Independent Member for Ryan has denied the claims and has written to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to demand an urgent investigation into the matter.
"This culture of bullying and intimidation must have no place in any political party," he said.
"This culture of harassment and pressure must be stamped out of the Australian body politic.
"Individuals in political parties must not be laws unto themselves, as is evidently the case in my view, in the highest echelons of the LNP in Queensland."
In parliament he read from a letter he had sent to the head of the AFP, Tony Negus, in which he refers to two meetings he had with Mr McIver.
He says one of the meetings took place on February 25 and Liberal Party director Brian Loughnane was also present.
"During that meeting, Mr McIver expressed certain language towards me that I personally took to be extremely intimidating and of an entirely improper character," Mr Johnson said.
"During this meeting, Mr McIver called upon me in no uncertain terms to resign from the Federal Parliament at the next election. Otherwise, he informed me, he would present certain material in his possession to the police."
The Leader of Opposition Business, Christopher Pyne, tried to stop Mr Johnson in his tracks.
"I don't wish to interrupt my colleague, the Member for Ryan, but this is a very unprecedented use of indulgence," he said.
Mr Johnson proceeded to read from the letter, which also refers to a second meeting with Mr McIver and Mr Loughnane on March 11.
"It was at this meeting that Mr McIver produced an email off my parliamentary account for me to read," he said.
"He indicated to me that this was evidence of why his demand for me to resign from Parliament was justified.
"The means by which Mr McIver came to be in possession of this email has never been explained by Mr McIver, either to myself or to my lawyers.
"There is absolutely no doubt at all in my mind that Mr McIver's language and his conduct at both meetings was designed to bring enormous pressure upon me to resign my federal seat of Ryan from the Australian Parliament - directly and specifically against my wishes."
Mr Johnson told the Parliament he wants an urgent police investigation during which he would reveal further information.
"It is an act of political corruption upon the integrity of our democracy," he said.
The AFP says it is evaluating Mr Johnson's request.
In a statement, Mr McIver said: "At no time have I or any other appointed representative of the LNP suggest to Mr Johnson that he should resign from Parliament. Mr Johnson was told on several occasions that he should consider his position within the LNP."
..........................................................................................................................................
COMMENT: If Michael Johnson detests the LNP as much as his mouth seems to indicate,
it will be very interesting to see where he directs his preferences at this year's Federal
election, when he contests the seat of Ryan as an Independent. If he directs them to
the endorsed LNP candidate, then all his current ramblings will be regarded as nothing
more than froth and bubble.
PaulGTully@gmail.com
Inner-city residents are complaining about early morning garbage collection.
BT
Inner-city residents have demanded a change in garbage pick-up times to allow them a more peaceful sleep.
Three petitions have been tabled in Brisbane City Council, with a total of 139 residents complaining about the early morning collection times.
Council policy states rubbish must be collected from CBD multi-unit dwellings between 3am and 7am.
The petitions urge for waste contractors to collect no earlier than 6am.
Central ward councillor David Hinchliffe said inner-city residents deserved some reward for going against the suburban sprawl.
"We have seen a reversal of urban sprawl in that sense as the [inner] city has grown from about 200 residents about 20 years ago to more than 12,000 today," he said.
"We need to respect their right to peaceful amenity even though they live in the CBD."
Cr Hinchliffe said collection should occur at the same time as it does in the suburbs.
"I agree that it does need to be outside of the peak traffic periods, the morning peak, the afternoon peak and at lunch time," he said.
Cr Hinchliffe suggested the morning collection window be between 5am and 7am
"Especially since the introduction of the Clem7 tunnel, we have seen some tailing off of the amount of traffic coming through the centre of the city," he said.
However, city business chairman David McLachlan, who oversees the city's garbage collection, said the issue had too many complicating factors.
Cr McLachlan gave an example of a truck "blocking traffic back to Cathedral Square" when it hurried to collect rubbish from inner-city apartments by 7am.
He said just six of the 86 trucks collecting garbage in the inner-city were run by Brisbane City Council.
"The vast majority of services that are provided for the collection of solid waste are provided by contractors who the council has no control over," Cr McLachlan said.
He said noise problems in the early morning in Brisbane's CBD were not provided by council contractors removing garbage.
"The issues relating to noise in the CBD, as far as that noise being contributed to by services provided by contractors is quite minimal," Cr McLachlan said.
UP to 20 Virgin Blue staff have been fired for watching pornography on work computers.
Staff were fired yesterday after an extensive investigation by the airline's head office in Brisbane.
While Virgin Blue would not confirm what staff were involved, it is believed they were members of the airline's pit crew, who are involved in refuelling and minor maintenance.
It is believed that employees from Virgin Blue's Sydney and Brisbane terminals had been caught taking part in a pornographic video-swapping ring.
"First of all I want to make it very clear these staff were not doing anything illegal," said company spokeswoman Danielle Keighery.
"We have a very clear code of conduct . . . about computer usage."
Ms Keighery said the sackings were the result of one incident but would not comment on specifics.
"We did run a very fair process to investigate the situation and that investigation resulted in several terminations."
A small number of Virgin Blue staff had been dismissed in the past 18 months for a similar issue.
A SECRET plan to charge motorists for every kilometre they travel on southeast Queensland's existing and planned motorways has been developed by the Bligh Government.
Ahead of Tuesday's State Budget, The Courier-Mail can reveal the Government has made a detailed analysis of how to squeeze more money out of existing road infrastructure.
Documents obtained under Right to Information laws show the Department of Transport and Main Roads has developed a "distance-based tolling" model for the Gateway and Logan motorways.
A proposal dubbed "Connecting Motorways" also extends to a Brisbane "ring road" system which would include untolled roads such as the Darra to Springfield section of the Ipswich Motorway and the Centenary Highway, as well as the yet-to-be constructed Northern Link tunnel.
Drivers travelling the length of existing tolled motorways, such as the Gateway, would save money under a favoured model to charge 12¢ per kilometre travelled. But thousands of trips which now avoid toll points would draw charges.
Main Roads Minister Craig Wallace yesterday confirmed the plan for distance-based tolls was taken to Cabinet this year.
"Cabinet was of the opinion that our (current) single point tolling was correct," he said.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said the Government had promised before not to do things, such as assets sales, only to proceed when it was politically convenient.
The RTI search identified more than 800 pages of documents in which distance-based tolling was discussed, most produced in the past 18 months.
But 564 pages were not released because of Cabinet secrecy and the potential economic impact on the sale of the Queensland Motorways franchise. Many of these relate to modelling likely to show how much money distance-based tolls would raise compared with the fixed toll regime.
"Further work on DBT (distance-based tolling) for the existing motorway network will be driven by the need to inform the QML asset divestment process and this is being scoped now," one internal email read. But one document shows distance tolls of 10¢ to 20¢, as well as a 12¢ model combined with exiting toll points, could raise up to an additional $80 million a year.
So serious was the Government about distance tolls last year that teams of consultants were hired to develop detailed options and traffic modelling.
In one brief for consultancy services, distance-based tolls were considered all but a foregone conclusion and the role involved developing "political and public acceptance".
The consultant's report was not released.
Mr Wallace said it was investigated along with congestion charging after being promoted by the RACQ but rejected because of the region's "geography". He could not recall when.
"The advice from my department is it wouldn't have had an impact on congestion throughout the network," he said.
RACQ spokeswoman Lynda Schekoske said the motoring body had never advocated distance tolling.
"In fact, we were very concerned that they may use the sale of Queensland Motorways as an excuse to impose distance-based tolls on other parts of the network," she said.
Ahead of the Queensland Motorways sale, the Government will significantly increase Gateway and Logan tolls from July 1, raising a similar amount to the distance model.
Australia Post has welcomed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announcement that they have no objection to increasing the basic postage rate by five cents, effective from 28 June.
The new 60 cent stamp price represents only the third price rise in 18 years. After the price increase, Australia will still have the third lowest basic price rate in the OECD.
Even with the increase, Australia Post makes no profit from its reserved letter service, with the cost of providing the basic postage service exceeding what many Australians pay. For example to send a stamped letter from Brisbane to Perth costs 71 cents.
Australia Post executive general manager, Postal Services, Jim Marshall, said: "While we understand no-one likes a price rise, we've worked hard to keep price rises to minimum. In fact the basic postage rate has not even kept pace with inflation over the last two decades; if it had the price of the 55 cent stamp would actually now be 70 cents."
The ACCC objected to the proposed prices in a July 2009 draft notification, citing a number of issues; Australia Post's subsequent notification has addressed these issues, including further information on letter volumes and cost projections and management.
"It's not just about putting up the cost of stamps; we've found ways to work smarter, employing a cost reduction program over the last year which has extracted an efficiency dividend for our operator," said Marshall.
Marshall said that the ACCC's decision showed that they recognised the changing environment within which the letters business operates and the concerted efforts that Australia Post has made to improve productivity, "Despite declining letter volumes we must continue to find ways to provide a reliable mail service for all Australians no matter where they live."
Marshall said that rapid growth in areas like western Sydney, south-east Melbourne, south east Queensland and parts of Western Australia will add 2.5m new delivery points over the next decade.
"This growth is the equivalent to another Queensland or nearly four Adelaides being added to Australia Post's network over the next ten years. At the same time, costs keep increasing, and letters volumes, which have levelled out over the last five years, are forecast to decline in future years."
In April, Australia Post revealed its new business direction, entitled Future Ready, announcing the creation of four new strategic business units: Postal Services, Retail Services, Distribution and Express Services and e-Services.An ANZ Bank advertising campaign depicting a comically unhelpful middle-aged banker has come under renewed criticism, this time from the banking union which says it unfairly disparages employees.
The Finance Sector Union said the so-called "Barbara" advertisements actually reflect consumer anger with banks and their policies in general, rather than staff.
"We don't think producing ads that denigrate the industry is the way to go," said FSU national secretary Leon Carter, adding that the ANZ's "own behaviour about excessive charges and interest rates contributes to how people feel about the industry".
Customer service at banks have come under closer scrutiny in recent weeks after law firm Maurice Blackburn announced the largest class action suit in Australian history aimed at recouping an estimated $5 billion of "penalty fees" paid by customers to banks over the past six years.
To date, 105,000 Australians have expressed interest in participating in the case, Maurice Blackburn said. The case will name ANZ, its rivals Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac and eight other banks as defendants.
The Advertising Standards Bureau in March dismissed a viewer's complaint that the ANZ ad was "sexist and ageist" and vilified mature female bank employees.
In defending the ad at the time, ANZ said its decision to cast actress Genevieve Morris as the bank manager was based on her "ability to deliver the comedic script in a satirical manner and also because of her expressions and mannerism".
The ANZ today dismissed the FSU's complaint. "The character 'Barbara the bank manager from A Bank' came directly from customer research," an ANZ spokeswoman said.
"Barbara is used in a humorous way to parody the beliefs the public have about the banking industry, and other services industries in general," the bank said. "It's a way for us to humbly admit those customer perceptions - and then try and highlight what we are doing to further improve our services."
Mr Carter said the union would rather ANZ celebrate its positive differences than denigrate others, while conceding that the ads had provoked the odd chuckle.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference in California.
TheAustralian.com.au
RUPERT Murdoch's early bet with applications for the iPad seems to have paid off, with almost 20,000 subscribers paying to download his newspapers.
This includes 4500 subscriptions for The Australian's $4.99-a-month app, launched last Thursday on the eve of the iPad's Australian release.
Mr Murdoch today revealed detailed customer numbers for the first time at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference in California.
Over the weekend The Times in Britain did 5000 downloads, priced at 9.99 pounds a month.
Mr Murdoch's comments came as he introduced the iPad's creator, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who rejected the assumption that people would not pay for online content.
"I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers…I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever," he said.
"Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for.
"What we have to do is figure out a way to get people to start paying for this hard-earned content."
He said Apple and its iPad could help if media companies "price (content) aggressively and go for volume".
Mr Murdoch also reported that The Wall Street Journal had 10,000 paying subscribers for its application, which costs $US17.29 a month for full access, although the app is curently free for existing subscribers to the Journal's products.
In total the Journal has 64,000 users who browse WSJ on Apple's iPad.
Mr Murdoch said the internet and technology was not the enemy, but complementary platforms that media owners could take advantage of.
"There is no great secret here: in response to sceptics who say technology is killing the news business, I believe technology is ushering in a new golden age for those willing to embrace it.
"(It's) giving us new ways to showcase our strengths, enhance our coverage and encourage interactivity."
He said sales figures backed up his view.
"This year The Wall Street Journal was the only one of the top 25 American newspapers to grow in average weekday circulation.
"Much of that growth comes from paying, online subscribers - not counting over 10,000 iPad paid subscribers.
"And now over the past weekend 5000 paid iPad subscribers at the London Times and 4500 in Australia."
The Australian deputy CEO Nick Leeder said he was pleased with the initial numbers but conceded the price was likely to increase in a few months as enhancements were made.
"The intention is to take it (price) up not down. We are thinking of adding more content and improving it as we go along."
Some customers had criticised The Australian selling advertisements despite charging for the iPad application, but Mr Leeder said the combination was here to stay.
"We do it in print so digital will be no different."
The Australian's iPad application has sold advertising to blue chip clients such as Optus, Commonwealth Bank, Emirates and IBM.
In his introduction Mr Murdoch said: "Eight years ago at (the first D conference) Steve Jobs told us how the technology creators and the content creators didn't understand each other. He was absolutely right.
"Steve, I doubt you will say the same tonight."
Globally Apple has sold more than 2 million iPads in less than 60 days. The company has refused to provide local sales numbers but most Apple stores and retail outlets quickly sold out when it launched.
The Premier says flight upgrades are a grey area.
The New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has admitted she has received flight upgrades that she has not declared.
Senior minister Ian Macdonald has been accused of accepting free business class upgrades from Emirates Airlines at a time when he was making decisions benefiting its owners, who are involved in the horse breeding industry.
Mr Macdonald was primary industries minister during the equine influenza outbreak in 2007.
He denies any suggestions of a link but he says he never questioned why the upgrade was given.
"I don't think there's one person in this room that would ask that question," he said.
'They'd say 'thanks you're very kind.'"
MPs are required to declare any gift valued over $500.
Last night Mr Macdonald amended his pecuniary interests to include the flights.
The Opposition's calling for his resignation but the Premier says many politicians receive upgrades and do not declare them, including herself.
'This is a grey area, the rules are not particularly clear," Ms Keneally said.
"I'm asking parliament to provide some advice."
She says Qantas upgraded her children when they flew with her while she was on an official trip to the United States.
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COMMENT: Of all the petty, childish allegations which are levelled at politicians, this would have to be the absolute pits.
The New South Wales Opposition is scraping the bottom of the barrel with this sort of unmitigated muck-raking. NSW
Premier Kristina Keneally is 100 percent right that this a a grey area. If it needs to be clarified, so be it but the Opposition
should be concentrating on serious issues rather than its spineless, irrelevant, political attacks.
West Australian mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has upped the stakes in the debate over the new mining tax, claiming Treasury boss Ken Henry told him privately the tax would not work if it was significantly altered.
And the Fortescue Metals head has lashed out at Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's claims that the mining industry's arguments against the tax are "bunkum".
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COMMENT: Why did Andrew Forrest leak the details of a private meeting?
Is Brisbane's Campbell Newman the best mayor in the world?
An international search for the top city administrator thinks he could be.
The World Mayor 2010 contest has shortlisted Newman among the world's leading 25 mayors.
The German-run online competition included "Can Do Campbell" in its top candidates after 118,000 votes were registered for 840 mayors.
Brisbane's civic leader said he had no idea he had been nominated or shortlisted until contacted by the media.
He would not comment on whether he thought he was deserving.
"My focus is on getting on with the job and working to make Brisbane an even better place to live," Newman told brisbanetimes.com.au.
The competition website says it aims to raise the profile of mayors and "honour those who have served their communities well and who have made contributions to the well-being of cities nationally and internationally".
Past winners include Melbourne's former mayor John So (2006) and Cape Town's Helen Zille (2008).
Newman's bio on the website says his vision for Brisbane is "of a smart thinking and easy living city".
It boasts his work to address heavy traffic congestion in the city despite difficulty squeezing funds out of the state and federal governments.
Posted comments in favour of Newman, apparently uploaded by Brisbane citizens, praise his work to improve the River City's infrastructure and world image.
Included in the comments were:
The standout mayor for 2010 will be chosen based on the number of votes as well as the persuasiveness and conviction of supporting statements.
The winner will be announced in September.
Votes can be lodged at www.worldmayor.com
FrogWatch estimates there are more than 90
million cane toads in the NT.
A group working to control cane toad numbers in the Northern Territory says more than 90 million toads are throwing the food chain into disarray.
FrogWatch NT says more than 92 million cane toads across the Territory are eating 18 billion food items every night.
The group says the competition for food is one of the reasons so many native species are in decline.
Research conducted by the group last year found an average of 209 toads per square kilometre in Territory savanna areas.
"FrogWatch finished in December last year some research in 110 square kilometres of savanna woodland," said FrogWatch coordinator and Darwin Lord Mayor, Graeme Sawyer.
"We spent a fair bit of time and effort trying to eradicate every single cane toad in that area and we got just over 23,000 cane toads."
He says the group then extrapolated that data across other savanna areas in the Territory to come up with the figure of 92 million toads.
"We realise there's huge risks in that sort of mathematics but we used some fairly conservative estimates on numbers so the reality is probably a higher number of cane toads than that."
Mr Sawyer says toads are locking up nutrients, seriously disrupting the food supply for native animals.
He says wildlife authorities have not done anything to control cane toad numbers in national parks, which explains recent data showing a decline in the number of native animals.
The group has called on authorities and researchers to spend less time seeking funding and focus more attention on tackling the invasive pest.
Kevin Rudd will not address the Minerals Council conference.
The nation's biggest miners are descending on Canberra today armed with new ammunition in their fight against the mining profits tax.
The Minerals Council is holding a two-day conference in Canberra, which coincides with the release of a new study on the profits tax.
The council's spokesman, Mitch Hooke, says the report by accounting firm KPMG shows gold and copper mines will not be viable under the new tax, while the net present value of new coal mines will be more than halved.
"They will either be deferred, shelved, or just simply cut," he said.
Mr Hooke says investment will move offshore.
"The international investment community is saying, 'what are you doing, do you understand the ramifications of what you are doing - not just for your industry but for this country as a whole'," he said.
Rio Tinto says the KPMG report found it paid an effective tax rate of 35 per cent, amounting to more than $20 billion, over the past 10 years.
The figures challenge the Federal Government's claim that resource companies pay on average a tax rate of 17 per cent.
Rio Tinto also says the $37 billion it has made over the past decade in profits after tax has been re-invested in Australia
But Treasurer Wayne Swan says the miners cannot be believed.
"What we have is a grievous misrepresentation of what the Government is doing," he said.
Mr Swan says the mining industry's campaign against the tax justifies the Government's decision to do its own advertising.
"We are running a factual campaign. It goes to the core of our plans for the future to modernise, to strengthen our economy by modernising the tax system," he said.
"What we are doing is putting the proposals out there clearly because the have been grossly misrepresented by vested interests who stand to benefit.
"I couldn't think of anything more important for a Government to do than clear up those misrepresentations."
But the Federal Opposition said it was clear the Government was planning a mining tax advertising campaign well before the proposed tax was announced.
The Government has repeatedly said the campaign is needed because the mining industry is spreading misinformation about the new tax.
But a Treasury official has confirmed the Government began doing market research in March and had prepared an advertising campaign by April - before the tax was announced in May.
Liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson says the Prime Minister has been caught out.
"This puts paid to the public line being run by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer," he said.
"Clearly, what is happening is that the great big new tax on mining - and the advertising of it - was in place well before the mining industry got involved."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is skipping the miners' conference, but Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will give a lunchtime address.
APPLE might have sold two million of its new iPad tablet computers in less than two months, but it has a Chinese challenger - the identical looking iPed.
Apple's iPad is not even on sale yet in China but the iPed can be bought in Shenzhen in the country's south for ¥713 ($126), almost a fifth of the price of the new Apple gadget.
The world's first iPad lookalike runs on Google's Android operating system and is apparently powered by an Intel chip.
Pictures of the iPed, filmed by Japanese TV news and posted on YouTube, show the gadget being sold in a Shenzhen computer mall in packaging that even looks like an iPad box.
The change in vowel is seemingly the only major difference in appearance between the two computers.
A review of the iPed on tech website TECHi says "the iPed is exactly what you're thinking: a Chinese knock-off".
"The iPed is an Intel-driven, Android-based copycat packaged like an Apple product and, to be honest, it doesn't look half bad."
Last week, Apple and its contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn refused to confirm or deny rumours that the iPad was being made at Foxconn's massive Shenzhen factory, which had been hit by a spate of staff suicides.
Apple, now the largest US technology company by value, said yesterday it had sold two million iPads, outdoing even the iPhone on its launch.
Last Friday, the flat, 25 centimetre black tablet computer that Apple claimed would revolutionise the industry went on sale in Australia, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
Demand in the United States was so strong that the company pushed back the global rollout.
It goes on sale in nine more countries in July, including Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Last week, Apple dethroned software giant Microsoft as the largest US technology company in terms of market value.
