Campbell Newmans

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Commitments and Action Taken

Fix the Budget
Debt
Campbell Newman calls Queensland the "Spain of Australia"
Had a sudden, mysterious revelation upon becoming elected that the
state's budget was far, far worse than he had claimed beforehand.
Convieniently ignores the spate of natural disasters in recent years and
their impact on the state's economy.
Hired Peter Costello on the taxpayer dollar to assess the state's
finances. Unsurprisingly recieved very doom and gloom report back to
use as justification.
Newman says Canberra is stalling Qld economy, despite waning
investment in mining and a noticeably higher unemployment rate
compared to the national average
Treasurer Tim Nicholls said it may take a combination of privatisation,
raising taxes and cutting services to restore the state's debt to a
manageable level: "It may involve a combination of all of those three,
but let's have a discussion with Queenslanders first and see what they
would like to see happen."
The Newman Government seeks feedback from Queenslanders using
the Strong Choices for Queensland questionnaire
Newman has thrown his support behind setting aside a portion of
income tax for the states and territories, arguing that too much federal
funding for local services comes through the Canberra mix master
with strings attached.
The Strong Choices consultants under Treasurer Mark Gray admitted
the decision to embed two Phillips Group consultants within his
department to help it better sell its message cost just under $385,000
(without GST) for six months work, during a budget estimates hearing

Privatisation
Completely outsourcing the management of Australia's largest publicly
owned teaching hospital to a commercial operator
Selling the Clem 7 tunnel for 618m. It cost $3 billion to build
Treasurer Tim Nicholls warns state coffers will run dry in three years
without asset sales
Federal MP Clive Palmer has threatened to reverse any Queensland
government asset sales: "If any assets are sold between now and the
next election, and we are forming part of the Queensland government,
we will immediately resume them without compensation,"

Treasurer Tim Nicholls announces 'cautious' budget with billions in

asset sales
Queensland government public servants moving into a landmark new
office building will be encouraged to buy information and
communication technology services from the private sector, despite
concerns the industry may not be up to the task.
Queensland could lease its entire electricity network for up to 99 years
to pay down state debt.

Miscellaneous Spending
Building a multi hundred million dollar redevelopment of the
parlimentary CBD and new office building for himself. Tossing money at
his mates in the process.
Yet sponsoring $5000 to fund a pop-up picnic, often held in prestigious
parts of the city without authorisation
Taxpayers have footed the bill for almost $40,000 worth of security
upgrades at Premier Campbell Newman's family home in the wake of
the state government's crackdown on criminal motorcycle gangs,
including upgrades to security screens, CCTV, external lighting, alarms,
locksmith work and intercoms.
The State Government, meanwhile, says it makes no apology for
looking to appoint public relations consultants to promote its
controversial laws. The cost of the campaign has not been finalised, but
it has been reported that it could cost around $500,000.
The Strong Choices consultants under Treasurer Mark Gray admitted
the decision to embed two Phillips Group consultants within his
department to help it better sell its message cost just under $385,000
(without GST) for six months work, during a budget estimates hearing
Building a $25 million greyhound racing track.

Boost productivity, reduce regulation and create jobs

Promising to cut 20,000 public sector jobs to help balance the budget.
Got rid of that Fair Work Queensland something or other
Already cut 2000 jobs in Transport and Main Roads.
Publicly claimed Queenslanders
were thankful for the job cuts.
Told fired workers they should apply for jobs in the police force.
Axed Office of Climate Change, offered 70 odd workers including Anna
Bligh's husband who he had promised not to fire out of spite and then
gave them a $6500 redundancy package so he could claim he wasn't
firing them.
Sacking 14000 public service workers to help fund a $57000 wage rise
for MPs while his office think 'politicians are worth what they get paid
every day of the week' while blocking a 2.2% payrise for public

servants. They later backed out of the opportunity for Newman to have
the same salary as Barack Obama ($400k)
Cutting 30 staff at Brisbane's only free sexual health clinic, despite
having one of the highest rates of chlamydia in Australia and a
doubling of HIV diagnoses in 10 years
Cutting 430 IT jobs and won't guarantee the jobs will stay onshore
Abolishing Skills Queensland, set up to address the state's skills and
workforce priorities
30 positions were quietly abolished in the Environment department,
including 2 koala specialists
The low-emission, gas-fired Swanbank E power station west of Brisbane
will close for three years because it has become more lucrative to sell
the gas than to burn it and sell electricity. 25 jobs will go from
Swanbank E, while the Electrical Trades Unions Peter Simpson argues
33 of the 40 staff at Swanbank E will lose their jobs.
Public sector technology workers are becoming an endangered species
in Queensland with the latest figures suggesting their numbers fell 24
per cent in the past 18 months. Their ranks will be further reduced
when the government offloads its commercial technology services
bureau CITEC, slated for sale by August 2015. The agency employs
about 400 staff and is the governments primary ICT service provider.
ITnews article: More than 1300 ICT jobs have been cut from the
Queensland public service in the 15 months between September 2012
and the end of December 2013.
Electrical firm PSG axes 600 jobs as firm goes into receivership. The
secretary of the Victorian branch of the Electrical Trades Union, Troy
Gray, said the cuts were the result of mismanagement on some large
projects in Queensland.
Queensland MP Freya Ostapovitch has claimed abortion increases the
risk of breast cancer. A quick Google search brings up many studies
which have debunked the claim
Queensland's unemployment rate continues to rise, reaching its
highest level since June 2003. The latest statistics from the Australian
Bureau of Statistics showed Queensland's seasonally adjusted rate
increased from 6.3 per cent in June to 6.8 per cent in July 2014.
The official Australian Bureau of Statistics data for July showed yearending youth unemployment had hit 13.7% in July, up from 11.9%
when Campbell Newman was elected.

Unions
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie introduced new laws which mean unions
will have to give at least 24 hours notice before entering a workplace
on suspicion of a breach of the Work Health and Safety Act. The laws
also remove the right for union safety officials to direct workers to
cease unsafe work. If unions ignore the changes they face fines of up
to $22,000.

The Maritime Union of Australia and a group aligning itself with the
Electrical Trades Union have given $5000 and $10,000 to the United
Motorcycle Council's fighting fund. Newman responds: 'I think many
hard working union members would be unhappy about their money
being used to bankroll criminals'
The Health Minister said health union bosses must explain to their
members why they should continue to use Membership fees to either
bankroll or give support in kind to the Labor Party
The Australian Medical Association fears the Queensland government's
unprecedented attempt to stop unions from providing advice to
members and its introduction of individual contracts for public hospital
doctors could embolden other states to follow its example. Unions say
they will not be silenced or intimidated by the Queensland
Government's attempt to take them to court over doctors' contracts.

Other
Liberal National Party members in Queensland have urged the federal
government to investigate how a temporary ban on live cattle exports
has affected drought stricken farmers.

Deliver better services and a better society

Infrastructure
Closing down CITEC, which delivers centralised IT services to
departments and agencies

Health
Cancelling BreastScreen (Mobile breast cancer screening)
Cut family planning/women's health funding.
Cutting 30 staff at Brisbane's only free sexual health clinic, despite
having one of the highest rates of chlamydia in Australia and a
doubling of HIV diagnoses in 10 years
Closing the only mental health unit that houses teenagers with severe
mental disorders
Queensland Health is preparing to put thousands of senior medical
officers onto contracts, sparking fears doctors will have no protection
against pressures to work while fatigued
The Health Minister said health union bosses must explain to their
members why they should continue to use Membership fees to either
bankroll or give support in kind to the Labor Party
Newman has called on federal health authorities to investigate the
possible trial of medicinal cannabis.
More than 500 Queensland doctors have voted to reject individual work
contracts proposed by the State Government. The Australian Salaried
Medical Officers Federation, which represents more than 3,000

Queensland specialists, says the Government has downgraded

conditions and other protections from the workplace agreements.
Axing a free booster program for expectant parents, then two weeks
later a 6 week old baby died from whooping cough, a vaccinepreventable disease. He was too young to be vaccinated and his
parents had not received pertussis booster shots.
The Newman government is facing a revolt within its own ranks, with a
senior MP threatening to resign over the escalating dispute with the
states doctors.
Elective surgery in Queensland's public hospitals could cease by July if
the state government fails to give more ground to senior doctors in its
long-running dispute over individual contracts. The threat from the
Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF) comes as
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says doctors who resign en
masse can be easily replaced.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman is being urged to sideline his
health minister as doctors at public hospitals threaten to resign en
masse over individual contracts.
Two breast cancer surgeons working for Queensland Health have quit,
blaming the proposed Newman Government contracts as the final
straw. The surgeons have quit the Royal Brisbane and Womens
Hospital during the contracts dispute, saying the threat of hospital
managers controlling their rosters, and the impact on their families,
had been a precipitating factor.
The Australian Medical Association says the Queensland premier has
inflamed an industrial dispute by threatening to hire doctors from
interstate and overseas. Newman: If people do choose to resign, we
will have in place arrangements to replace those people and if we have
to replace people from interstate or overseas ... we shall do that, Do
not doubt the Governments resolve. Do not doubt that we will see this
thing through,
The doctors themselves have taken to the streets on letterboxing
campaigns. This link includes a letter from a senior doctor at the Prince
Charles Hospital. Pastebin archived link
The Queensland Government remains prepared to employ doctors from
interstate and replace any medicos who quit over new contracts. Keep
Our Doctors spokesman says the state government's contracts are so
bad that employment warnings have been issued interstate and
overseas warning doctors to avoid working to Queensland: "There are
going to be very few, if any, top doctors willing to come and work under
these conditions."
Rebuttals to the Director-Generals comments to the Senior Medical
Officers
The Australian Medical Association fears the Queensland government's
unprecedented attempt to stop unions from providing advice to
members and its introduction of individual contracts for public hospital
doctors could embolden other states to follow its example. Unions say

they will not be silenced or intimidated by the Queensland

Government's attempt to take them to court over doctors' contracts.
Queensland has seen a dramatic spike in HIV notifications, with 93
people diagnosed this year, up 34 per cent on the same period 12
months ago.
Labor moved a motion condemning the Abbott Governments $7 GP Tax
and the Newman government refused to support it
Health minister Lawrence Springborg is urging private patients to stick
to private hospitals and steer clear of the most outstanding hospital of
its kind in the country. Mr Springborg said there was now real
evidence the $1.8 billion Gold Coast University Hospital was luring
private patients to the public sector and with significant budget
increases to the health service, there was nothing left to do but to get
the message out.
Federal Senator David Leyonhjelm has lashed out at the Queensland
government - labelling Premier Campbell Newman a "control freak" after the government moved to make e-cigarettes privy to the same
regulations as their tobacco counterparts.

Education
Changing the staffing allocation formula, has resulted in fewer teachers
for the same amount of students this year, leading to an increase in
classes over the target size
Considering a move for Independent Public School principals the power
to boost school chaplaincy hours at the expense of literacy and
numeracy programs, or other staff including guidance counsellors and
psychologists.
States should stop 'bleating' about Gonski, says Qld Education Minister
John-Paul Langbroek
A study found 34.8 per cent of state education staff believed their
workplace was functioning less efficiently as a result of changes in the
previous 12 months. The results were even worse for the Department
of Transport and Main Roads (52.9 per cent), Department of Community
Safety (52.7 per cent), police (40.9 per cent), along with the state
health department (49 per cent) and numerous hospital health
services. Four out of 10 surveyed education staff said they were
burned out from their jobs.
Student groups around south-east Queensland have raised concerns
about recent State Government changes to student concessions on
public transport. Students who are enrolled in a course with less than
12 contact hours are not eligible for the new Tertiary Transport
Concession Card (TTCC), even if their workload is classified as full-time
by their educational institution.
Students in south-east Queensland say they face hefty fines on public
transport as they wait for a backlog to clear in applications for new
concession cards. State Transport Minister Scott Emerson denied there
was a backlog, even though some students claimed they submitted

their TTCC applications up to four months ago and had received neither
the card nor a reply from TransLink.
Academics, parents and Queensland's peak teaching union have
questioned the State Government's plans to reconsidering introducing
Teach for Australia (TFA) graduates into schools as it tries to plug the
teacher shortage, despite rejecting similar proposals last year. The
organisation has come under criticism for placing graduates with less
experience rather than those who complete university diplomas and
degrees in teaching.
Premier Campbell Newman has criticised Queensland parents for not
reading to their children: "Only about half the parents are actually
doing this 10 minutes a day of reading at the moment,"

Deliver stronger and better communities

British newspaper, The Independent, describes Queensland as adopting
populist, hard-line laws 'reminiscent of Soviet Russia and Hitlers
Germany'

New laws on the public

Drafting legislation which includes 12 months behind bars or a $12,000
fine for parents who allow their children to hold uncontrollable parties.
Police and Community Safety Minister Jack Dempsey on the Police
Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill,
currently before State Parliament, which proposes jail terms and fines
of more than $12,000 for the organisers of events that are deemed to
be out-of-control: "The majority of people who do the right thing have
nothing to fear,"
Introducing new laws that can imprison someone for up to 25yrs for
supply a 16yr old with marijuana and up to 7yrs for graffiti vandalism
The G20 Safety and Security Bill, now before State Parliament, would
allow police to search people on the spot, arrest and detain anyone
deemed a threat without giving them bail for at least the week of the
summit while publicly broadcasting the names and photos of people
listed "prohibited" from the city
'Naming and shaming' repeat offenders as young as 10
Attorney-General Jarrod Blejie has given himself a special ministerial
decree so that he can overrule Supreme Court judges and prevent the
very worst criminal offenders from being released from jail
Despite Parliament enacting controversial new laws giving Queensland
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie power to override court rulings and keep
Fardon and other sex offenders in jail, Bleijie has withdrawn an
application to keep convicted sex offender Robert John Fardon in prison.
The Queensland Government has abandoned plans for a High Court
appeal to keep serial sex offenders like Robert John Fardon behind bars.
Fardon was freed from jail last month and moved into a residential
facility at Wacol in south-west Brisbane when Attorney-General Jarrod

Bleijie lost a second appeal against his release. The Court of Appeal
also ruled new laws giving the Government the power to keep some
sex offenders behind bars were invalid.
Newman declaring that people who do not support his government's
laws giving politicians power to overrule the courts in some cases, are
"apologists for sex offenders and pedophiles"
Newman has hit out at media hypocrisy, saying his government will not
stop appealing judiciary decisions it considers "inappropriate" and out
of step with community expectations.
Convicted criminals living within restricted zones for next year's G20
Summit in Brisbane could get a short holiday at taxpayers' expense
For a few days during the G20, it will be illegal for people to carry
certain household objects such as eggs and glass jars in central
Brisbane or Cairns - unless they have a "lawful excuse" (e.g. a person
who purchases a longbow from a sports store in a security area and
then carries the longbow in a case to the person's vehicle to take it
home)
The Queensland government is under pressure to ignore expert advice
and retain laws requiring cyclists to wear helmets.
Increasing the value of notes that can be fed into poker machines in the
state from $20 to $100
Campbell prefers to target alcohol-fuelled violence through tougher
penalties and more police rather than cutting drinking hours: "Higher
taxes on alcohol and curtailing drinking hours punish the many
(partygoers) for the sins of a few, He describes the measures as
authoritarian
Campbell Newman wants to protect young Queenslanders's right to
sow their wild oats. Mr Newman said he didn't believe earlier closing
times for clubs and pubs was a magic bullet solution and those
advocating it should think back to the 6 o'clock swill.
Newman announced a new plan to tackle alcohol-related violence.
The plan, if implemented, will set up 15 trial safe night precincts
across Queensland, with rest and recovery services and sober safe
centres where police can detain people they judge to be too
intoxicated, charging a $200 fine for the first offence. Late trading clubs
will also be required to introduce ID scanners linked to a state-wide
database to track people banned from clubs in other cities.
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie wants to overturn the 800-year-old
double jeopardy law which he says is a roadblock to justice, making it
totally retrospective: This is about re-balancing the scales of justice
and putting victims first,
The Queensland Parliament has rejected legislation that would have
compelled people to remove burkas and face veils for identity checks.
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the legislation was unnecessary:
"This Government believes in a multicultural Queensland,"

New laws on bikie gangs

Three months into the campaign by the Queensland government
against outlaw motorcycle gangs, some meaningful analysis of the
effectiveness and justification for the unprecedented measures is
possible. Officers as part of Operation Resolute, created in response to
offending behaviour of Criminal Motorcycle Gangs (CMGs), have
arrested 384 people on 817 charges since October 6. But of the 817
charges, only 28 or 3.4% can be considered organised crime type
charges such as drug trafficking and extortion. In Queensland, 73,309
offences were reported in October and November 2013. Bikies
accounted for only 1% of these offences.
Introducing tough anti-bikie laws including: No gym facilities or TV
access in jail, a bikie-only prison and only one hour of contact time per
week
Queensland widens bikie law assault with plans for jobs bans
Considering a plan to force jailed members of gangs to wear fluoro pink
prison uniforms
Police who disagree with the crackdown on bikie gangs have been told
to reconsider their future with the service
Newman creates bikie refugees as they head as far away as Perth to
escape the crackdown on criminal motorcycle gangs
A legal expert has described Premier Campbell Newman's recent swipe
at Queensland's judicial system as "unprecedented" and
"reprehensible" - includes long list of QLD anti-bikie laws
A typographical error in Queensland's new anti-bikie laws means gang
members who commit grievous bodily harm will spend only one year in
jail as opposed to a one year minimum
Campbell Newman refuses to back down in an escalating row with the
state's judiciary
Newman says gang-related crime in the state is a bigger problem than
corruption issues that sparked the Fitzgerald Inquiry in the late 1980s
If bikies meet in groups of three or more interstate all police need to do
is get some recording of it, such as from a security camera at an
airport, restaurant or service station, and if the bikies return to
Queensland, they can be arrested and face up to three years in jail.
Police also raided the Vietnam and Veterans Motorcycle Club (VVMC) at
its clubhouse, which includes men mostly in their 60s and 70s who
fought in Vietnam and ex-servicemen who hold an Active Service
Medal. In a statement Queensland Police said the raid was "part of a
strategy to develop a rapport with legitimate members of the
motorcycle riding community in the interest of effective policing".
Chief Magistrate issues an edict that could see alleged outlaw bikies
kept behind bars for up to a week before they can even apply for bail
The Chief Magistrate also issued an edict that will effectively ensure he
makes all the decisions in cases of disputed bail for accused bikies,
stripping this abiliy from Queensland's 88 magistrates

Victoria launches their own specialist federal anti-gang squad aimed at

the growing bikie menace
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie decides Office of the Director of Public
Prosecutions takes over contested bikie bail applications
Mr Newman said he had no regrets his governments new antiassociation laws were used to arrest three alleged criminal motorcycle
gang members while they drank at the Palazzo Versace bar on the Gold
Coast.
Three bikies waiting to testify in a trial in a Maroochydore Magistrates
Court were ordered by a police sergeant to disperse from the area or
face possible jail due to the new anti-association laws.
A YOUNG soldier has told of being strip-searched by police in front of
his home as the Queensland Government's tough anti-bikie laws
continue to take a toll on recreational riders.
Retired Brigadier Bill Mellor, under whom Mr Newman served when he
was in the army, is overseeing the State Government's bikie war
strategy
A Rebels motorcycle club member set to be charged under
Queensland's hardline anti-bikie laws says the Newman Government
has made it illegal to have a beer with your family.
Campbell Newman declares Queensland tattoo artists and parlours will
require a licence to operate, with applicants being screened by
Queensland Police Service to ensure that they have no links to
motorcycle gangs
Tattoo parlour owners are citing discrimination as their criminal records
are put under the spotlight in the Newman Government's next phase of
the anti-bikie laws. Queensland tattooists have just one week left to
apply for new licences, which will only be granted after strict police
checks. They will have their finger and palm prints taken and be forced
to reveal details about close associates including staff, business
partners and even their landlord.
FIVE alleged bikies from Victoria will spend at least six weeks behind
bars after being arrested for breaking anti-bikie laws in Queensland.
Police allege that the men walked down the street together and met at
a hotel bar during their stay on the Gold Coast.
A man was placed in solitary confinement in a Brisbane jail after
allegedly delivering a pizza to his boss and his brother-in-law at a
country pub. Unable to explain the intricacies of Queensland's new antibikie laws to their two young children, his wife told them their father
missed Christmas because he "was solving a mystery with Scooby
Doo".
Incoming human rights commissioner, Tim Wilson, has called for
Queensland's anti-bikie legislation to be repealed, arguing Bikies have
just as much right to freely associate as other Australians.
Anyone who has declared their membership to a proscribed club,
through words or action, sought to have been a member, or attended

one or more meetings or gatherings of people who are members or

associates is in danger of losing their electrical licence or not having it
renewed: So we have electricians with no criminal record having their
honest livelihoods taken off them."
Queensland's police commissioner has apologised to law-abiding
motorcyclists after one rider said he'd been pulled over 21 times since
the bikie crackdown began: He said there was an up side to the video
(posted below): that it showed police carrying out a respectful and
professional intercept
Newman says he doesn't like his own government's tough anti-bikie
laws: But he says they're necessary for now and must, by law, be
reviewed within three years of their introduction.
Campbell Newman has renewed his government's promise to review its
contentious anti-association gang laws in 2016, a condition which was
written into the act in October 2013
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has been accused of "pure hypocrisy" in
his defence of VLAD laws on a speech the then opposition justice
spokesman gave to Parliament in 2009 in which he spoke critically of
the Bligh Government's proposed Criminal Organisation Bill.
Five men who were granted bail for meeting at a local pub included a
pizza parlour owner, his employee, a renderer, a truck driver and an IT
student - all had been linked in some way to the Rebels before they
allegedly broke anti-association laws by meeting at the Yandina Pub
over several hours on November 1.
The Maritime Union of Australia and a group aligning itself with the
Electrical Trades Union have given $5000 and $10,000 to the United
Motorcycle Council's fighting fund. Newman responds: 'I think many
hard working union members would be unhappy about their money
being used to bankroll criminals'
A library assistant has become the first woman charged under
Queensland's anti-bikie laws
The State Government, meanwhile, says it makes no apology for
looking to appoint public relations consultants to promote its
controversial laws. The cost of the campaign has not been finalised, but
it has been reported that it could cost around $500,000.
Gold Coast pubs, clubs and bars are refusing to admit patrons with
visible tattoos in the wake of the State Government's war on bikies.
While many venues have had "no tattoo policies in place for years,
revellers say operators have only started enforcing the rule in the past
few months.
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said he expected the focus of his anticrime laws to "ease off" on checking the credentials of ordinary people
who happen to ride big motorbikes and shift more to gathering
intelligence information about "bad criminals" and criminal
organisations
Campbell Newman sullies the entire profession of solicitors by
suggesting bikie lawyers are hired guns who belong to a ``criminal

gang machine and hits back at comments made by corruption buster

Tony Fitzgerald describing him as describing them as "political
vigilantes fantasising about Dirty Harry" A Gold Coast law firm is
threatening to sue Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and the
state's attorney-general for suggesting they are part of the "criminal
gang machine" for defending bikies.
Stephen Keim, a prominent Brisbane barrister, spoke about the human
rights implications of the anti-bikie legislation at a legal conference on
the Gold Coast today: "I think it will generate long-term problems for
our community and I think that the public are already coming to realise
aspects of this,"
Prison authorities refuse to release images of the cells being used to
hold bikies in solitary confinement, citing safety and security
considerations. According to those statements, prisoners are forbidden
from wearing underpants and, in the bikies-only facility at Woodford
prison, are clothed in pink uniforms. They are held in lockdown for 23
hours each day in cells the size of a large dining table, with only a
mattress and a toilet.
Leonie Murray of Sunshine Powder Coating which has employed Eric
Fehlhaber for the past 10 years said he was a model employee,
husband and father whose alleged bikie associations were not the sum
total of who he was. She said he was the company's only boilermaker
and the only one with a licence to drive its delivery truck. His arrest had
created major problems for the small business. Ms Murray said the
company was now scrambling to make deliveries
The Queensland government is trying to win public support for its
controversial anti-bikies legislation by using it to target pedophiles, a
civil libertarian says.
Letter from Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie highlighting that a person
charged under the VLAD laws have "the opportunity to provide that the
organisation to which they are connected to is not an organisation that
engages in criminal activity" (guilty until proven innocent)
Outgoing solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff has slammed Queensland
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, saying he cannot be trusted and the
public should be alarmed by his behaviour. Campbell Newman said he
fully supported Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie after his latest spat with
the Queensland judiciary. Mr Bleijie has come under fire after accusing
Court of Appeal president Justice Margaret McMurdo of nepotism.
Two interstate lawyers have weighed and measured Jarrod Bleijie's law
reforms in historical context: to illustrate that together they constitute
a great leap backward that unravels centuries of gradual reform
calculated to improve the state of human rights in criminal justice.
A Queensland lawyer who represents outlaw motorcycle gang members
is seeking more than $1 million in damages from the state's Premier
and Attorney-General in a defamation suit over claims that bikie
lawyers were part of a "criminal gang machine" and would do anything
to defend their clients.

The 52-bed "bikie-only" prison at Woodford, north of Brisbane, is

virtually empty with just one "bikie" prisoner, while the Maryborough
jail remains over capacity.
The head of one of Queensland's anti-bikie taskforces is warning that
criminal motorcycle gangs may be back in business if the state's tough
new laws against bikies are overturned.
The Queensland Government could be emboldened to launch a new
wave of anti-bikie laws, with internal research suggesting a rise in the
number of people supporting additional measures
Queensland motorbike rider simulator

Police
Hiring something like 1100 new cops
Told fired workers they should apply for jobs in the police force.
Proposing to relax gun Control laws
The Queensland Police union is pushing for powerful Remington R4
carbine .223 guns with scopes, shotguns and personal body armour
tailored to individual officers in the fight against bikies
Queensland police want to take guns home to protect families amid
bikie fears, while considering a policy allowing district duty officers to
carry high-powered semi-automatic Remington R4 carbine .223 rifles in
their vehicles
Queensland police officers allowed to ditch name badges ahead of G20
summit
Making moves to protect police officers from being sued
Australian Federal Police have been providing funds for studies to test
Queensland's sewage for illicit drugs
A man who filmed three Queensland Police officers attacking a man
outside a gay nightclub in Brisbane has said that he plans to leave the
state amid a highly publicised law and order drive by the Newman
government. He later destroyed the footage, despite police making a
public appeal for it.
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart has vowed to cut crime by 10 per cent
as the service rolls out scorecards for cops across the state. The
average number of traffic fines, RBTs, street checks and calls for
service per officer will all the assessed on the scorecards along with
budgets and overtime.
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) says police will be
pressured into breaking the law to keep their figures up on scorecards.
A representative from the QCCL says it is a return to the so-called "kill
sheet" quotas of the 1970s and 80s.
Qld Police Service accused of double standard over officer suspension
as the report provided next to no information while a person arrested
earlier had their details released to the media even before their first
court appearance

The president of Queensland Police Union, is calling for the Queensland

Police Service to be renamed the Queensland Police Force, the better to
represent its role in fighting serious organised crime.
Queenslanders may never know why 26 bikie gangs have been
declared criminal organisations. Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says
police evidence and detailed criminal histories are behind his
declarations. The University of Sydney's Dr Greg Martin says the laws
override the court process and the fundamental concept of a fair trial
has been stripped away.
Queensland Police have confirmed they are investigating a complaint
that a serving officer has been posting racist comments on Facebook.
Campbell prefers to target alcohol-fuelled violence through tougher
penalties and more police rather than cutting drinking hours: "Higher
taxes on alcohol and curtailing drinking hours punish the many
(partygoers) for the sins of a few, He describes the measures as
authoritarian
Queensland's jails have reached capacity, with the number of prisoners
exceeding the number of built beds, putting staff safety at risk. The
Opposition Leader says it is a result of Government cuts to programs
that replaced jail time
Obtained documents show police intelligence is being kept on protest
groups in Queensland.

Indigenous Australians
Cut funding to aboriginal health groups.
Used over 200 police to brutally bust up Brisbanes Aboriginal Tent
Embassy

Social Services and other organisations

Won't give more money to National Disability Insurance Scheme (stuff
even his Federal counterparts wouldnt dare oppose)
Cuts funding to a Child Protection project that went on to win an award
Abolished funding to the Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Service. The
funding was provided from the interest on tenant's own bonds that are
held in trust by the RTA.
Abolishing Skills Queensland, set up to address the state's skills and
workforce priorities
The Attorney-General rejects claims youth boot camp plans axes - A
program at Kuranda near Cairns in far north Queensland was
suspended in April after the first two participants ran away and robbed
a neighbour
Juvenile crime rises by 21.6% after cutting a juvenile offenders
program. More than 1500 juveniles went through the program during
the last six months of 2012, with offenders and their families meeting
with victims and a police officer, it had a satisfaction rate of 99 per
cent. The Government responds by introducing legislation which

"includes naming and shaming repeat offenders, making juvenile

criminal histories available to adult courts and creating a new offence
for breaching bail"
Cut $10 rebate for pensioners to get their lawn mowed

Same-sex Rights
Got rid of civil unions in Queensland
Axed the states only (and excellent) community support organisation
for LGBT Queenslanders based on lies and demonstrably false
justifications. It is widely known that QAHC considering outspoken
support and campaigns for equal rights to be a part of its job was a
major factor in the decision.
Planning to make it a criminal act punishable with jail time for same sex
couples to be involved in surrogacy.

Other
Scrapped the Premier's Literary award to save money.
AND then gave an almost equivalent amount to the producers of Big
Brother.
Cutting funding for a school band competition
Having a inquiry into sexually explicit outdoor advertising and
recommending that ads featuring adult themes be reviewed by the
Advertising Standards Bureau automatically, all outdoor ads to carry
information of how people can lodge a complaint and a review board to
assess complaints and refer any breaches of a code of ethics to the
Attorney General in Queensland, who can decide on any fines to apply.
Inquiry document
The member for Gregory and parliamentary chief whip, Vaughan
Johnson, has been campaigning for a driving and road rules test for
foreigners wanting to drive in Queensland.Im not against Asian
people, dont get me wrong but a lot of those Asian people come from
an environment where they have no comprehension of road rules in
their own country, Premier Campbell Newman was forced to publicly
slap down his MP, with Mr Johnson later apologising for any offence
caused by his inappropriate comments.

Deliver a cleaner environment

Climate change and energy production
Axed Office of Climate Change, offered 70 odd workers including Anna
Bligh's husband who he had promised not to fire out of spite and then
gave them a $6500 redundancy package so he could claim he wasn't
firing them.
Denies climate change.

The low-emission, gas-fired Swanbank E power station west of Brisbane

will close for three years because it has become more lucrative to sell
the gas than to burn it and sell electricity. The stations owner, state
government-owned Stanwell Power Corporation, will instead re-start the
coal-fired Tarong power station to meet electricity demands.
Nuclear and wind power could be part of Queensland's energy mix
within 30 years as the government considers how the state will be
powered by 2044.
Energy Minister Mark McArdle today announced an end to the
mandated 8-cent solar feed-in tariff by government-owned electricity
companies Energex and Ergon, leaving nearly 50,000 QLD households
using solar energy to negotiate directly with the retailers over a price
for the energy they produce.
Queensland treasurer Tim Nicholls has described solar panels as the
preserve of the "champagne sippers and the latte set" while attacking a
solar bonus scheme set up by Queensland Labor. An analysis of solar
installations and ATO figures tells us that poorer Queensland suburbs
are more likely to have a greater number of solar installations than
wealthier suburbs.
Australia's peak solar power body fears Queensland's electricity
companies are trying to put people off installing new solar systems.
Queensland businesses are being hit with daily service charges of more
than $500 a day on their electricity bills, in a move the solar industry
says is designed to kill the roll-out of commercial-scale rooftop solar
across the state. The charges were quietly unveiled by the Queensland
Competition Authority and the state government in July.

Removal of environmental funding and protections

Ignored a UNESCO report regarding developments and increased
shipping threatening the great barrier reef.
Ignored UNESCO warning about developing ports on the Great Barrier
Reef
Wants to open up conservation areas to logging and grazing
Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman reduce environmental checks,
unwinding thirty years worth of protection for Queenslands nationally
significant environmental icons
30 positions were quietly abolished in the Environment department,
including 2 koala specialists
Dredging for the development of deep water port facilities would be
prohibited outside of five established ports for the next 10 years,
although UNESCO is worried about the current dredging proposals
within those five areas
The board of the agency charged with protecting the Great Barrier Reef
has failed to adopt its own experts' recommendation that it ban port
developments which threaten the reef. Former Townsville mayor Tony
Mooney earns $250,000 a year working for a coal company, and

Queensland's top public servant Jon Grayson owns a one-sixth

shareholding in a company called Gasfields Water and Waste Services.
Both men helped set the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's
position on ports at a number of board meetings.
A north Queensland fisherman says the decision to dump dredge spoil
from the Abbot Point coal terminal in the Great Barrier Marine Park will
seriously damage the local fishing industry: "Once it's in the ocean,
there's no controlling it,"
The deputy premier of Queensland, Jeff Seeney, will put a plan to state
cabinet that would reverse the decision to dump sediment from the
Abbot Point coal port development on the Great Barrier Reef, disposing
of it on land instead,
When the Queensland LNP went to the 2012 election, it claimed it
would protect Cape York. Yet the State Government is now proposing to
prioritise development over biodiversity values in most of Cape York
and enabling a paper-thin, discretionary level of protection for key
iconic areas.
The Wilderness Society says the passage of Queensland government
legislation to repeal the states Wild Rivers Act is a tragedy for some of
the last free-flowing rivers on the planet.the Wilderness Society said
the repeal would do away with buffer zones created under the act to
protect rivers from risky development such as strip mining, intensive
agriculture and in-stream dams. It said the laws had been trashed to
satisfy miners and developers.

Approval of projects etc.

Allowing oil and gas development in Queensland's Lake Eyre Basin
MULTI-national mining companies will be offered discount royalty rates
for being the first to open up for business in Queensland's Galilee
Basin.
The Queensland government has signed off on what could be the
biggest coal mine in Australia and one of the largest in the world. The
proposed $16.5 billion Indian-owned Adani Carmichael coal mine
project in the Galilee Basin has been approved by the state's
coordinator-general
An independent inquiry into a major dredging project in the Great
Barrier Reef World Heritage Area finds environmental conditions on a
central Queensland port expansion were too vague to be enforced.
The Queensland Government last week approved Indian company
Adani's plan for a giant mine in the Galilee Basin west of Rockhampton.
In giving it the go-ahead with conditions, the State Government sided
with Adani against the Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC)
on coal seam gas and large coal mining developments, set up in 2012
to advise state and federal governments. The IESC said not enough was
known about how the coal seams connect to the Great Artesian Basin,
or the likely effects of mining.

Queensland's major gas export projects to further expand may have

been derailed by the latest mega deal for Russia to sell gas to China,
the largest market in Asia.
Five mega ports will be allowed along the Queensland coast, mainly in
areas near the Great Barrier Reef. Abbot Point, one of the world's
biggest coal terminals, has been declared a port development priority
area.
A new paper called Mining the Age of Entitlement: State Government
Assistance to the Minerals and Fossil Fuel Sector shows that since
2008-09, the Queensland government has provided more than $9.5
billion in direct support to mining and energy companies.
Australian state Queensland is soliciting investments from Indian
corporates for mining uranium and coal to enhance economic ties
between the two sides.

Other
Increasing free range egg densities from 1500 birds per hectare to
10000 per hectare (a 667% increase)
In 2013, 43 sharks, were caught in shark nets off the Sunshine Coast,
30 were over two metres and considered dangerous to humans. Only
four of the 43 sharks caught were released alive. The net also trapped
a small number of dolphins, turtles and whales, and a dugong. No
whales died, but three dolphins, one turtle and the dugong did.
Environment Minister Andrew Powell wants Australians to boycott Ben
and Jerry's ice cream for supporting WWF's propaganda save the Reef
campaign, saying it has damaged the reputation of the Reef and
jeopardised jobs and tourism dollars. SBS Opinion article The LNP then
referred the ice cream comapny to the consumer watchdog
The Queensland Resources Council releases a series of TV commercials
on the Great Barrier Reef
James Mackay is the head of corporate affairs for QCoal, a mining
company which is at the centre of an environmental dispute. He also
happens to have been in charge of developing policy on the
environment for Queensland's ruling Liberal National Party (LNP) since
2012.
A Northern Rivers whale expert has spoken out following claims
Queensland's Department of Environment may euthanise whales off
the east coast in future due to sickness brought on by food shortages.

Deliver strong, sustainable and accountable government

Former Queensland corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald has launched
another scathing attack against the Newman Government:
"Queensland is extremely vulnerable to the misuse and abuse of
power"

Corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald believes Queenslanders should shun

both major parties until they reform the states political system and
commit to operating without self-interest.
Corruption complaints have decreased by almost 70 per cent since the
states crime and corruption watchdog shifted the threshold for what
constitutes major corruption.

Secrecy and control

Appointed Fiona Simpson to speaker, where she has enacted a series of
draconian crackdowns on the rights of the public and the media to
observe and be present at parliament.
Banned media from parliament because they had the audacity to report
on people protesting
Rumoured to be re-implementing Joh era secret dossier's on known
dissidents.
Cut public Q & A sessions from community cabinet meetings.
Is spending 1.2 billion on a new centralised 'Tower of Power' / 'Beacon
of Beaurocracy' to provide centralised access to government services,
complete with secret tunnel to allow politicians to avoid mingling with
everyday traffic.
Literally kicked the opposition out of their offices in the Parliament and
made them all move down the street.
Charging the Media ($33,000) for the privilege of being in the
Parliament building.
Sacking the cross-party Parlimentary CMC committee to protect the
(LNP appointed) CMC boss who is accused of corruption and impartiality
after writing an editorial supporting the new anti-association laws,
which it was later revealed was written after meeting with Newmans
top media advisor.
The government will have the power to appoint the Crime and
Corruption Commission chair, CEO and commissioners without
bipartisan support under its planned reforms. Attorney-General Jarrod
Bleijie introduced the changes to parliament on Wednesday, giving the
parliamentary review committee six weeks to complete its report on
the bill.
Queensland's former Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff has called for
the Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to resign after the Attorney-General
publicly revealed details of a conversation between himself and Court
of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo. Mr Bleijie said "everyone will
move on" and he would not resign over the affair.
Queensland judges may blacklist Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie for
leaking details of a private discussion with Court of Appeal president
Justice Margaret McMurdo.
A top Queensland corruption fighter says changes to Queensland's
Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) are designed to spare the
Newman Government political embarrassment: "It's quite obviously not

intended to encourage corruption, but it's equally clearly intended not

to impede the Government in its many activities, including its fundraising activities,"
Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has moved to update his
parliamentary register of interests after the ABC discovered he was
listed as a joint owner of a property in Cairns that he had not declared.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has apologised to the people of
Queensland as he announced a reversal of several controversial policy
positions. The Premier said the Crime and Corruption Commission
(CCC) chair would again be a bipartisan appointment, estimates would
revert to their previous schedule and jailed bikies would no longer be
isolated.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, former prime minister John Howard and
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman are holding a $5,000-a-head
dinner to raise cash for the Liberal National Party (LNP) ahead of next
year's state election. LNP state director Brad Henderson defended the
October 9 event and said the party did not have the financial backing
of unions, as Labor did, and instead had to rely on the general
community for support. "The event ... complies with all state and
federal electoral laws,"

Changes to political donations, electoral rules etc.

Planning to implement a proof of identity requirement for voting,
opponents say it will result in those already marginalised sectors of the
community, such as the homeless, those who speak English as a
second language and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders being
denied their democratic right to vote. Director of advocacy and
research at the Victoria-based Human Rights Law Centre: Homeless
people for example have difficulty obtaining ID, there is evidence that
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have difficulty obtaining
birth certificates and Medicare cards, there are a whole range of
reasons why people may not have identification." Voter ID laws are
commonplace in the United States where they are justified as a
necessary way to combat voter fraud despite there being little
evidence that fraud is a significant issue.
Removed Labor's cap on political donations
Minor parties have warned Queensland voters are in danger of having
their representative choices limited to the two major parties if
controversial electoral reforms proposed by the government are
passed, including donation caps for parties and individual candidates
will be abolished and the donation declaration threshold will be lifted to
$12,400. In addition parties would need to win at least 10 per cent of
the vote to receive public funding.
The latest financial returns, published by the Australian Electoral
Commission, showed the Queensland LNP received just under $17
million in 2012/13. The biggest single donations came from now-former
member and billionaire Clive Palmer ($43,300), Gold Coast window and

door company Jeld-Wen Australia ($100,000), the Manildra Group

($49,500) and Beach Energy ($55,000).
The governments proposed changes to the Electoral Act 1992 cover a
lot of ground. Among the changes the LNP is proposing is a removal of
caps on donations and expenditure, increasing the donation disclosure
amount from $5000 for parties and $2000 for candidates to $12,400,
and upping the threshold from 4 per cent to 10 per cent of the vote
before political parties received public funding. That last amendment
would mean the Greens, which at the last election polled at just under
8 per cent and minor parties, which given Queenslands unicameral
parliamentary system have struggled to win long-term representation,
would also struggle to access public funds.
Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says an inquiry into
February's Redcliffe by-election, north of Brisbane, has recommended
changes to practices at polling booths during elections: "(Such as)
limiting the numbers of scrutineers, authorising electoral staff to give
lawful directions to people, restricting the display of certain political
statements, and of course introducing involuntary codes for people
participating in the electoral process."
The majority of political donations in Queensland are set to go
unreported under new laws. The declaration threshold will rise from
$1000 to $12,400, to align with the federal government. In the last six
months of 2012, only 15 of the 352 donations to the LNP were over
$12,400, and only six of the 161 donations to Labor were more than
that amount.
Former Queensland assistant health minister Dr Chris Davis says that
he had raised concerns with the Premier about looming changes to
political donation laws, which is partly why he was sacked. A
spokesman for the Premier says Dr Davis never raised any concerns
about electoral donation laws with either himself or the AttorneyGeneral, and any claim that he did is completely wrong.
A top Queensland corruption fighter says changes to Queensland's
Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) are designed to spare the
Newman Government political embarrassment: "It's quite obviously not
intended to encourage corruption, but it's equally clearly intended not
to impede the Government in its many activities, including its fundraising activities,"
The Pirate Party sends an open letter to Newman regarding the
Queensland State Governments consideration of banning canvassing
at polling booths during elections.
The government has used its huge majority to pass laws that will keep
political donations under $12,400 a secret from voters.
The Newman government has legislated to make voters present
identification at polling places. However, evidence reveals that voter ID
at the polls is unwarranted and unnecessary. Electors already have
their identity witnessed when they enrol.
Parties would need to win at least 10 per cent of the vote to receive
public funding.

A donor to Queensland's Liberal National Party has escaped possible

prosecution for unlawful quarrying after a last-minute, unannounced
change to the law by Campbell Newman's government.

Ministers and other parliamentarians

Queensland MP David Gibson has stepped down as chairman of
Parliament's Select Ethics Committee after it was revealed he was
charged with theft in 1999. Court documents showed Mr Gibson was
charged with four counts of theft while serving in the Army. He was
accused of creating false invoices worth about $7,000.
Premier Campbell Newman sacks Chris Davis as assistant health
minister. Dr Davis was on borrowed time after siding with doctors in
their pay dispute with the government: I realised theres always a fine
line in politics between speaking out for ones electorate and the notion
of Cabinet solidarity so the decisions been made. Dr Davis is a former
Australian Medical Association state president and first-term MP for
Stafford.
Former Queensland Government MP Chris Davis has put in a
membership application to join the Labor Party, less than 24 hours after
resigning from the LNP.
Supreme Court judges snub public ceremony for Queensland's new
Chief Justice Tim Carmody

Parliamentary entitlements
Sacking 14000 public service workers to help fund a $57000 wage rise
for MPs while his office think 'politicians are worth what they get paid
every day of the week' while blocking a 2.2% payrise for public
servants. They later backed out of the opportunity for Newman to have
the same salary as Barack Obama ($400k)
Premier Campbell Newman, his ministers and opponents have been
awarded pay rises backdating to July 2013. Newmans wage will jump
21.8 per cent, from $311,635 to $379,562, almost $70,000 more
Travelling members of the Newman Government ministry are being
funded to eat and drink their way through $167 a day, without a
requirement to produce a single receipt.

Jobs for mates etc.

Hired Peter Costello on the taxpayer dollar to assess the state's
finances. Unsurprisingly recieved very doom and gloom report back to
use as justification.
Protecting his mates from claims of nepotism by hiding documents
related to their employment
Retired Brigadier Bill Mellor, under whom Mr Newman served when he
was in the army, is overseeing the State Government's bikie war
strategy

Sacking the cross-party Parlimentary CMC committee to protect the

(LNP appointed) CMC boss who is accused of corruption and impartiality
after writing an editorial supporting the new anti-association laws,
which it was later revealed was written after meeting with Newmans
top media advisor.
The board of the agency charged with protecting the Great Barrier Reef
has failed to adopt its own experts' recommendation that it ban port
developments which threaten the reef. Former Townsville mayor Tony
Mooney earns $250,000 a year working for a coal company, and
Queensland's top public servant Jon Grayson owns a one-sixth
shareholding in a company called Gasfields Water and Waste Services.
Both men helped set the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's
position on ports at a number of board meetings.
Newman has become the latest political figure to be embroiled in an
inquiry into the Obeid-linked Australian Water Holdings (AWH). The
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has heard a $5,000
donation was demanded as the price of a meeting with Mr Newman
when he was Brisbane's lord mayor in 2007.
James Mackay is the head of corporate affairs for QCoal, a mining
company which is at the centre of an environmental dispute. He also
happens to have been in charge of developing policy on the
environment for Queensland's ruling Liberal National Party (LNP) since
2012.
The mining group New Hope seeking to expand its coal mine at Acland,
west of Toowoomba, taking the operation's output from 4.8 million
tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes per year, donated $700,000 to LNP, federal
Liberal Party
Legal figures question the suitability of Tim Carmody as the new
Queensland Chief Justice. The decision has been condemned by former
corruption inquiry chief, Tony Fitzgerald QC: "it's deeply troubling that
the megalomaniacs currently holding power in Queensland are
prepared to damage even fundamental institutions like the Supreme
Court and cast doubt on fundamental principles like the independence
of the judiciary." Days after being appointed chief magistrate in
September 2013, Mr Carmody and Mr Bleijie had a private dinner at the
upmarket Urbane Restaurant in Brisbane, documents show. Civil
libertarians are describing the appointment of Queensland's next chief
justice as a throwback to the corrupt era of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. The
Australian Bar Association has warned the independence of the
judiciary is under threat in Queensland and the state's law society
has also added its voice to concerns over the Newman government's
appointment of Tim Carmody QC as chief justice of the supreme court.
Newman has said it is time to get on with the job of getting behind
incoming Chief Justice Tim Carmody, the premier said, with the
government looking to move on from the controversy his appointment
created.
Karreman Quarries was facing legal action by the Department of
Natural Resources and Mines over unlawful extraction of sand and

gravel from the Upper Brisbane River when an amendment, slipped

unnoticed into a package of reforms to the Water Act, retrospectively
legalised its activities, ordered by the Deputy Premier. Queensland
Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has denied giving special treatment to a
company that had donated money to the Liberal National Party (LNP).
A new paper called Mining the Age of Entitlement: State Government
Assistance to the Minerals and Fossil Fuel Sector shows that since
2008-09, the Queensland government has provided more than $9.5
billion in direct support to mining and energy companies.
The Strong Choices consultants under Treasurer Mark Gray admitted
the decision to embed two Phillips Group consultants within his
department to help it better sell its message cost just under $385,000
(without GST) for six months work, during a budget estimates hearing.
Treasurer Tim Nicholls all but confirmed the Phillips Group staff were
the architects of the controversial $6 million campaign.

Conduct in parliament
Federal MP Clive Palmer has served defamation papers on
Queensland's Premier, Campbell Newman, over claims Mr Palmer had
tried to "buy" the State Government. He said Mr Newman falsely
accused him of trying to "buy" the LNP State Government and implied
he had offered incentives to Northern Territory MPs to join the PUP.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney uses parliamentary privilege to
call Clive Palmer a "crook".
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says federal MP Clive Palmer
should withdraw his defamation action to spare taxpayers from paying
the legal bills.
Clive Palmer files $1.1 million defamation suit against Queensland
Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney
The Queensland premier has rejected Clive Palmer's claim that he is a
'Nazi', but has not signalled whether he will take the matter further.
Clive Palmer has declared the Palmer United party (PUP) will push
ahead with plans to convene a Senate committee inquiry into the
actions of the Queensland government, escalating his long-running
dispute with the premier, Campbell Newman.

Blaming Labor
On a former Federal Liberal MP who used his taxpayer-funded budget to
employ his wife who was never seen in the office: "I've always had a
standard in my team that it's not at all preferable to employ family
members" "I'm not saying it's never happened in my Government,
there've been some instances, but our standard is one where we don't
encourage it." "The Labor Party, by the way, do it all the time."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, former prime minister John Howard and
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman are holding a $5,000-a-head
dinner to raise cash for the Liberal National Party (LNP) ahead of next
year's state election. LNP state director Brad Henderson defended the

October 9 event and said the party did not have the financial backing
of unions, as Labor did, and instead had to rely on the general
community for support. "The event ... complies with all state and
federal electoral laws,"

Stafford by-election
Independent Australia: Stafford by-election shows up Campbell
Newman's drunken shambles
Former LNP MP Chris Davis has called for an early state election after a
large swing against the Queensland Government in the Stafford byelection.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has said he is determined to
stand firm in his Brisbane seat of Ashgrove despite his party's massive
loss in the neighbouring electorate of Stafford over the weekend with a
huge swing of 18.6 per cent against the LNP.

Polling in Newmans electorate

Online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au is reporting that 91% of money
placed on Newman retaining his seat at the next State election has
gone AGAINST him doing so the price now $1.30 from $1.38 in 24
hours.
A poll has indicated that he would lose his seat of Ashgrove if an
election was held today (Nov 27 2013 A new opinion poll shows
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman would probably lose his
Brisbane seat if an election was held this weekend (Feb 16 2014)
A ReachTEL survey of 739 residents in the Queensland state electorate
of Ashgrove found that 54% of respondents are less likely to vote for
the LNP at the next election after the issues surround doctor's work
contracts

Other
The LNP Newman government announcement that it is moving
Queenslands Labour Day holiday continues its vindictive and petty
attitude towards Queensland workers, unions say.
The number one parliament across five countries for overrepresentation (share of seats relative to share of votes)
Attorney-General, Jarrod Bleijie, introduced the Crime and Misconduct
and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 to Parliament, which
includes the renaming of the head of the Crime and Misconduct
Commission from 'chairperson' to 'chairman'
Labor has indicated it will support a Palmer United Party (PUP) push for
a federal Senate inquiry into the Newman Government.
Alleged rorting and corruption in the Queensland government and the
possible nationalisation or taxpayer bailout of struggling companies will
be investigated by two extraordinary parliamentary inquiries at the
behest of Clive Palmer.

Clive Palmer says PUP will contest Queensland election, vows to repeal
all Newman legislation: "The only separation of powers we want is
Campbell Newman out of Parliament,"