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Two die in Brisbane flooding

At least two people have died amid rising flood waters in south-east Queensland after three severe storms in five days. The drama began on Sunday night as Brisbane endured the most damaging storm in around a quarter of a century, during which a twenty year old man was swept away while photographing the torrential rain with a friend. The initial storm left up to 230,000 homes and businesses without power and on Thursday Premier Anna Bligh activated the state’s natural disaster plan after a further 250mm of rain fell in the space of seven hours on Wednesday night. An elderly woman died on Thursday morning after her car was swept off a crossing at Forest Hill, and Lord Mayor Campbell Newman warned there could be more damaging storms this weekend.

Rudd receives cold shoulder at G20

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described last weekend’s G20 summit in Washington as ‘useful’ but warned there will still be hard economic times ahead. Mr Rudd agreed to a six point plan at the summit designed to tackle the recent slump in economic activity, including moves to regulate markets that exacerbated the current crisis, boosting transparency and reforming compensation practices. It was evident the relationship between the US president George W. Bush and Mr Rudd had been hurt by a report in The Australian newspaper which alleged that during a conversation between the leaders President Bush was said to have asked Mr Rudd, ‘What’s the G20?’ The claims have since been refuted by both leaders.

Image: Karen Eliot

Hicks to be free of control order by Christmas

Former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks has claimed he ‘owes the Australian people a lot’ for their support as the Australian Federal Police announced they would not seek an extension to the control order placed on him, due to expire this Christmas. Hicks is currently working in a Sydney nursery though is rumoured to be considering co-authoring a book about his experience, with his father Terry. Attorney-General Robert McClelland said that Hicks would now be granted an opportunity to get on with his life like any Australian citizen, though the man who spent almost six years at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay still requires treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and maintains he is not yet ready to tell his story to the Australian people.

Image: planegeezer

Further failures at Qantas

There was more trouble for Qantas this week after two Qantas 747s collided while on the ground at a maintenance base and another was forced to land at Brisbane airport after smoke filled the cockpit. One of the 747s involved in the collision was previously damaged in a mid-air explosion earlier this year. Qantas stood down an undisclosed number of workers pending an investigation into how the planes came into contact while being towed. Emergency crews were also on standby at Brisbane airport after a plane headed for Roma in central Queensland requested an emergency landing. No passengers or crew were injured and engineers are investigating the cause of the smoke in the cabin which forced the aircraft to land.

Image: Fir0002

Local councils the winners as government ready to spend surplus

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has given $300 million to local councils to stimulate the economy after Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said Labor would not shy away from spending more of the budget surplus prior to June next year and was ready to do anything to kick start the economy. Speaking at the Australian Council of Local Governments in Canberra Mr Rudd announced that $250 million would be granted to councils in cash grants for small projects, while a further $50 million would be made available for councils to bid for grants of $2 million or more for bigger projects. Meanwhile the ASX fell to a new four year low on Thursday after fears of sustained recession lead to sharp losses in miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

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‘Australia’ meets mixed reviews

Director Baz Luhrmann’s latest epic ‘Australia’ premiered on Tuesday in four locations around the country, receiving cautious but positive initial reviews. The $180 million movie starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and newcomer Brandon Walters is set in Western Australia and the Northern Territory in the lead up to the Second World War. Tipped to revive the Australian film industry and boost tourism, $40 million of the most expensive Australian film ever produced was provided by the taxpayer through tourism advertising and tax breaks. It was the tourism tie-in that received criticism from Indigenous elders this week, who complained after advertising featured people standing and swimming at protected culturally significant sites.

Image: Serendigity

Howard doco sparks debate

The release of ABC1’s ‘The Howard Years’ documentary this week has raised fresh controversy over the government’s handling of the 2001 Children Overboard affair in which photos were released of asylum seekers allegedly throwing their children into the sea. A Senate Inquiry later found the Howard government continued to insist children had been thrown overboard even after being told there was no evidence to support the claim, in order to reinforce the government’s tough stance toward asylum seekers. Former Liberal Party minister Peter Reith dismissed claims from the chief of the Australian Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie, that he had a ‘testy’ conversation over the legitimacy of the photographs which suited the 2001 election theme of border security.

The Australian Sex Party is launched

A new political party was launched in Melbourne this week, at the Sexpo exhibition. The Australian Sex Party has promised to advocate that Viagra be placed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and has also attacked the Federal Government’s plan to introduce a web-filter. Australia’s adult industry association, Eros, launched the party amid warnings that the Rudd Government’s plan to introduce the filter could apply to them and hence is an attack on free speech. Also on the party platform is a call for a 50% quota of women in the Senate and state upper houses, although the Christian lobby has vowed to push other political parties to preference the group last as it allegedly promotes the degradation of women through pornography and prostitution.

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November 22nd 2008

Covering Australian News of 15/11/2008 to 21/11/2008