Queensland premier launches Olympic stadium review
Joe Hinchliffe
Queensland premier David Crisafulli has officially launched a 100-day review set to determine which stadium will host the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, naming a board of directors stacked with property industry figures.
Crisafulli announced a seven-member board for an independent infrastructure and coordination authority today in a bid to put an end to the stadium debate, which has raged in the sunshine state for years.
It will be chaired by property industry executive Stephen Conry, and also include Property Council of Australia’s Queensland boss, Jess Caire, and developer Laurence Lancini. Former Gold Coast Suns’ chair Tony Cochrane, Jill Davies, Jamie Fitzpatrick and recently axed Transurban executive, Sue Johnson, will also be on the board.
Then-Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced the Gabba would be knocked down and rebuilt as the Game’s centrepiece in 2021. That plan was eventually dumped by her successor, Steven Miles, who opted to refurbish the Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre, which was in turn ruled out by the new premier.
Key events
Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the rest of the day’s news.
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today – and over these past two weeks! It’s been an honour to briefly jump into the political blogger chair to bring you the latest news from Parliament House – alongside the fantastic Guardian Australia team in Canberra.
For the rest of this Friday afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani is here for our rolling coverage. Take care.
The last two parliamentary sitting weeks of 2024, in pictures
After a very busy two weeks here in Canberra, things have well and truly quietened down. After the Senate sat long into the night to pass a raft of legislation, the lower house waved the final amendments through this morning – and MPs and senators are beginning to head home for the holidays.
Mike Bowers has been our eyes and ears throughout Parliament House, during these final two sitting weeks of 2024 – and here is some of the action he has captured:
Read the latest Weekly Beast
It’s a Friday afternoon, which can only mean one thing – it’s time to get stuck into the latest Weekly Beast from Amanda Meade:
Queensland premier launches Olympic stadium review
Joe Hinchliffe
Queensland premier David Crisafulli has officially launched a 100-day review set to determine which stadium will host the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, naming a board of directors stacked with property industry figures.
Crisafulli announced a seven-member board for an independent infrastructure and coordination authority today in a bid to put an end to the stadium debate, which has raged in the sunshine state for years.
It will be chaired by property industry executive Stephen Conry, and also include Property Council of Australia’s Queensland boss, Jess Caire, and developer Laurence Lancini. Former Gold Coast Suns’ chair Tony Cochrane, Jill Davies, Jamie Fitzpatrick and recently axed Transurban executive, Sue Johnson, will also be on the board.
Then-Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced the Gabba would be knocked down and rebuilt as the Game’s centrepiece in 2021. That plan was eventually dumped by her successor, Steven Miles, who opted to refurbish the Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre, which was in turn ruled out by the new premier.
Prepare for ‘challenging’ summer, WA residents warned
WA’s emergency services commissioner, Darren Klemm is warning West Australian’s to be prepared for a “challenging” summer ahead – with more than 93% of the state bushfire prone, but less than 2% of households having a recorded bushfire plan.
I think we have some significant parts of the state, particularly in the southern half, that are incredibly dry … [We] started 2024 [with] a really extended dry hot period, pretty well from the start of January through to late May into June, where we had minimal rainfall. At some point over the course of this fire season that will play out in terms of the impacts of that lack of rainfall on the vegetation being incredibly dry.
WA bushfires remain out of control, says emergency services commissioner
Sticking with the bushfires north of Perth in WA’s wheatbelt: the state’s emergency services commissioner, Darren Klemm, is addressing the media with an update.
He says the situation is still challenging, and people should remain alert:
Over 73,000 hectares of land has been burned so far in this fire and it remains out-of-control and uncontained. The fire is burning in varying fuel loads, including heavy vegetation areas, which burn very high … the 50km long western flank of the fire will continue to challenge crews, with forecast strong easterly winds, which will contest these containment lines.
The commissioner says two volunteers were injured responding to a fire on Wednesday – one received minor injuries and didn’t require an ambulance, and the other sustained non-life threatening burns and has been discharged from hospital.
And yesterday, volunteer firefighters had a lucky escape when a power line came down on top of their fire appliance, temporarily trapping them.
They were not injured and we are investigating both of those incidents.
Residents rescued from beach as WA bushfire nears coastal communities
Stepping away from politics for a moment for the latest on the WA bushfires: residents have been rescued from a beach by boat, as firefighters continue to fight a fierce blaze threatening a series of coastal communities about 200km north of Perth.
As AAP reports, an emergency warning remains in place for parts of Wedge Island, Grey, Nambung and Cooljarloo in the Shire of Dandaragan – this includes the fishing shack villages of Grey and Wedge, and Cervantes, a town with a population of about 500 people.
The fire has burned through more than 70,000 hectares of bushland since it was started by a fatal car crash on Monday
The shire president, Tony O’Gorman, says some residents from Grey were rescued by boat from a beach yesterday:
Our fisheries vessel (in Jurien Bay to the north) and our marine rescue people went down and took those people off the beach because it was just too risky to leave them there.
The bushfire is moving in a westerly direction and is not contained or controlled, with more than 200 firefighters battling the blaze.
Kean warns of ‘vested interests’ detracting from renewables transition
The chair of the Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean, has responded to the latest modelling out this week showing energy bills could shrink by a fifth over the next decade amid the renewables transition.
In a post to X earlier this morning, Kean – a former NSW energy minister – said:
This independent unbiased modelling out this week shows the energy transition to renewables “would lower total household energy expenditure by nearly $1,000 per year” in coming years. Don’t let the vested interests take them away from you.
Dozens of organisations pen open letter calling for focus on prevention and early intervention at NSW drug summit
Ahead of the drug summit in Sydney next week, more than 30 leaders from community, health and Aboriginal organisations are calling on the NSW government to prioritise prevention and early intervention.
The organisations have penned an open letter, saying the summit should include a holistic strategy including:
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Increasing the number and capacity of NSW communities participating in place-based prevention of alcohol and other drugs related harm;
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Developing and implementing targeted information and behaviour change programs and support for young people and their families.
The organisations including the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies, Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Residential Rehabilitation Network, NSW Council of Social Service and the Matilda Centre.
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation CEO, Dr Erin Lalor, says a proactive and balanced strategy is needed.
Prevention efforts, especially those led by communities, play a powerful role in reducing harmful drug use by tackling the root causes at a local level. By investing in targeted programs, particularly for at-risk groups like youth in disadvantaged communities, we not only improve individual wellbeing, but also generate significant returns for our health and social systems; every dollar invested in prevention returns approximately $14.
Petra Stock
More on the review into Parks Victoria
Continuing from our last post: Matt Ruchel said it was odd that the review mentioned customer satisfaction, given a report tabled in parliament – the same day – found 85.9% visitor satisfaction across all parks.
Ruchel said Parks Victoria had a huge task managing 4m hectares of public land, national and metropolitan parks amid pressures related to biodiversity, climate change, feral animals, weeds and increased visitors, and was doing so in the context of funding cuts. Jono La Nauze said:
The biggest question before the government is why it is chronically underfunding conservation in this state, including the management of national parks.
The review will be completed by March 2025, and will be overseen by the Victorian government with the support of Korda Mentha. Graeme Dear, chair of the Victorian Fisheries Authority, has been appointed as interim CEO.
Guardian Australia has asked the minister’s office about the reasons for the review and its terms of reference.
The review follows ongoing consultation on a proposed management plan for the Dyurrite Cultural Landscape (Mount Arapiles – Tooan state park), opposed by some in the rock climbing community. However, the issue was not mentioned by the minister when announcing the review.
Environment groups ‘blindsided’ by Parks Victoria review
Petra Stock
Parks and environment organisations say they were blindsided by the Victorian government’s review into Parks Victoria, announced late on the last sitting day of state parliament.
The state’s environment minister, Steve Dimopoulos, ordered a “comprehensive review” of the statutory authority and announced the departure of Parks Victoria CEO Matthew Jackson.
In a statement, Dimopoulos said the review would focus on Parks Victoria’s priorities, and would “identify ways to reduce red tape, improve customer service and deliver better outcomes for Victorians”.
Matt Ruchel, executive director of the Victorian National Parks Association, said the announcement at 4pm yesterday came “completely out of the blue”.
We are deeply concerned this is a trojan horse for dismantling hard-won nature protections.
Environment Victoria’s CEO, Jono La Nauze, said the environment campaign organisation was also “blindsided”, along with many others in the conservation community.
“We have real questions about the motivation and the basis for this review,” La Nauze said, especially as the government had not provided any evidence suggesting issues or concerns with Parks Victoria.
NSW gambling reform report leak confirms ‘clear industry win’
Henry Belot
Leaked sections of a 530-page report outlining an overhaul of New South Wales gambling policy have confirmed “a clear win” for the gambling industry, with the government urged not to further restrict poker machine operating hours.
This is despite the NSW government publishing independent research that confirms people who use poker machines after 2am are “experiencing significant negative consequences”.
When the draft proposal by executive members of a panel advising the government on gaming reform was first exposed by Guardian Australia, public health campaigners hoped other panellists would be able to see it removed or amended in the final report.
Several members of the panel have previously called for poker machine operating hours to be cut to reduce community harm. Members of the panel are unable to publicly comment on the report until its public release due to confidentiality agreements.
They include representatives for the biggest gaming venues in the state, machine manufacturers, NSW police, Wesley Mission, the NSW Council of Social Services, the United Workers Union, two academics and one person with lived experience.
Sections of the final report seen by Guardian Australia urge the government to “retain the minimum six-hour shutdown period, commencing no later than 4am”. This would allow poker machine venues to stay open from 10am to 4am.
Tim Costello, the chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, has described that recommendation as ridiculous, given the scale of harm caused by poker machines.
That’s clearly an industry win.
The NSW government is now considering the final report.
Elias Visontay
ACCC approves more Qatar Airways and Virgin flights
The competition watchdog has granted interim approvals for Qatar Airways’ plan to increase its flights between Australia and Doha as part of an alliance with Virgin Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it had granted interim authorisation for the two carriers’ plans to enter into an alliance, which allows the two carriers to begin marketing and selling tickets for the new 28 weekly return services from June 2025.
The agreement will see Virgin Australia, which has not owned any planes capable of long-haul flights since its pandemic-induced restructure, enter into a “wet lease” agreement with Qatar Airways, in which it leases not just the Middle-Eastern carrier’s aircraft but also its crew.
In effect, the authorisation via an Australian airline allows Qatar Airways to bypass the requirement for its government to secure increased bilateral air rights with Australia, more than a year after the Albanese government infamously shot down the carrier’s push for an additional 28 weekly flights in a decision that fuelled speculation about Qantas’ influence in Canberra.
The new services will be offered subject to final regulatory approval by the ACCC and other government bodies, meaning that if final approvals are not granted, customers who booked will be offered refunds or moved onto alternate services.
ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said:
Having this court-enforceable undertaking that protects customers was important to our decision to allow Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to start selling tickets now.
The proposed alliance is part of a broader move that will see Qatar Airways take a 25% minority ownership stake in Virgin Australia.
