Latest news with #Brisbane-based
Wales Online
2 days ago
- Sport
- Wales Online
Horseracing jockey hospitalised after 'physical altercation' with rival half his age
Horseracing jockey hospitalised after 'physical altercation' with rival half his age A jockey was taken to hospital after a physical altercation broke out with a rival at a Doomben race meet in Australia on Wednesday, with stewards launching an investigation Noel Callow (Image: Getty Images ) A tussle between two jockeys at an Australian race meeting resulted in one needing medical attention, as reports emerged about the incident. The conflict unfolded during a race day at Doomben on Wednesday, prompting officials to initiate an inquiry into what provoked the fight. The clash involved Group 1 victors Noel Callow and Kyle Wilson-Taylor, escalating after rising 'ill-feeling', stated Racenet. The report also mentioned that Wilson-Taylor denied being the initiator of the fracas, and it appears he is set to continue his racing activities. On the other hand, Callow had to be taken to hospital and was temporarily relieved of his riding duties due to medical concerns. Kim Kelly, the Deputy Commissioner for the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission, confirmed: "I can confirm that a stewards' inquiry has been opened into a physical altercation between two riders at the Doomben race meeting today. "A considerable body of evidence has been taken and the matter was adjourned to a date to be fixed to allow a rider who was taken from the course for medical treatment to give evidence," reports the Express. As of now, it remains a mystery how the dispute between the 25-year-old Wilson-Taylor and the seasoned 50-year-old Callow ended up turning violent. The veteran racer Callow, fondly referred to as 'King', has accumulated over £22million in prize money throughout his illustrious career in horse racing. Callow boasts a tally of five Australian Group 1 victories and has enjoyed a lucrative career stretch in Singapore, showcasing his horseracing prowess across the globe. Since 2023, Wilson-Taylor has been counted amongst the distinguished Group 1 ranks. Last year, the Brisbane-based Wilson-Taylor candidly discussed enlisting a sports psychologist to combat a spate of suspensions mainly attributed to careless riding. Speaking to Racenet, he revealed: "I had a really bad record for suspensions, I just kept getting suspended. Article continues below "I wasn't going out there to cause interference, but it felt like I would be suspended for two or three weeks then back for a week and then suspended again." He continued, explaining the positive impact of seeking psychological guidance: "It got to the point where stewards said that I needed to go and see a sports psychologist. "It was a slow burn at the start, he comes around to my house and sits here for a couple of hours and we talk. But it has now really been a game-changer for me."
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Tempopo review: Conducting a delightfully dippy orchestra
Brisbane-based Witch Beam impressed us in 2021's Unpacking, a thoughtful synthesis of Tetris-esque puzzles with poignant storytelling about moving house. Tempopo dials back the sentiment, foregrounds the soundtrack and weds it to a set of 3D puzzles that echo the influential Lemmings or the more recent Humanity from 2023. Each level contains a handful of flowers to be collected, obstacles to be avoided and a mazy 3D structure with an exit as your final goal. You control a small party of sprites who wander aimlessly unless you plant movement instructions such as turn, fly or push block. The bouncy tunes underpin the little helpers' energetic and infectious dances. But your squishy friends effectively go nowhere except off the edge into the abyss until you start conducting their progress by drawing from a limited set of moves. You might need to squash a prickly bramble bush, plug a gap with a block or waft a helper upwards like a helicopter to a higher level. Mercifully, there's no punishment bar a rapid restart for screwing up and your principal step in every level is to watch the sprites fail over and over until you've grasped the choke points and begun to plan their ultimate route. Witch Beam has made Tempopo with all ages in mind, from the vividly coloured visuals to the forgiving difficulty options. A hint system goes as far as telling you what to plant and where but is graduated to the extent that you can seek just a single nudge in the right direction. The 60-plus levels offer a gentle on-ramp to the concepts within but by the 10th mission or so, you'll be juggling the simultaneous interactions of multiple sprites, orchestrating their criss-crossing paths like a superpowered traffic cop. The ultra-compact nature of the levels does mean it can be quite the challenge to mentally untangle the 3D space, no matter how much you rotate it before pressing start. Outside of the puzzles, Witch Beam lets you experiment with a lightweight music generator that remixes the in-game tunes based on sounds and notes placed on the playfield. It's hardly GarageBand but might just catch the attention of a younger player hankering for a breather from the main game's brainteasers. Tempopo won't have the same impact for adults as Unpacking but it's a fun diversion brimming with cheer and pitched at a very reasonable €20.
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Captain Cook College fined more than $30 million for overcharging 5,500 students for courses most never logged in to
An Brisbane-based vocational college will pay $30 million in fines after engaging in "unconscionable conduct" where thousands of students racked up debts for courses that most never logged on for. Captain Cook College faces tens of millions of dollars in penalties after it was taken to Federal Court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The college, which has received millions from the Federal Government, removed consumer safeguards in 2015 from its enrolment and withdrawal processes that are designed to protect students from being overcharged. This led to about 5,500 students facing debts under the former VET FEE-HELP loan program totalling more than $60m. The ACCC said the 'vast majority' of affected Captain Cook College students failed to complete any part of their course and about 86 per cent never logged in to their online course. The Federal Government was forced to waive the debts of the affected students and withheld some payments from the college. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the college's actions had ramifications for both the students and the government. 'Captain Cook College's conduct not only cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, but it also caused distress to the thousands of consumers enrolled in their courses who for many years were told they had significant debts to the Government,' Ms Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement. The college has been fined $20m for unconscionable conduct and $750,000 for making false or misleading representations to students. Its parent company Site Group International is facing a $10m penalty while Site's former chief operating officer Blake Wills has received a $400,000 fine and is banned from managing corporations for the coming three years. Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the consumer watchdog was pleased with the outcome as it 'sends a message to all businesses, including those seeking to obtain government funding, that they must comply with the laws which protect consumers'. 'The judgment also shows the ACCC's determination to pursue individuals in appropriate cases,' she said. The ACCC first began proceedings against Captain Cook College in 2018 and it was first found guilty in 2021. Captain Cook College, Site Group and Mr Wills appealed this decision, but it was upheld in August 2024. The college was established in 1998 and acquired by Site in 2014.
Time Business News
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Time Business News
Why Smart Businesses Are Ditching Complex Software Stacks
For years, the standard advice for small businesses was to 'build a tech stack.' Get a CRM, marketing automation tool, invoicing software, social media scheduler, analytics dashboard, maybe even a chatbot — and then spend days trying to make them all talk to each other. On paper, it looked efficient. In practice, it was often a nightmare. Now, a growing number of business owners are going the other way. They're stripping things back, simplifying systems, and choosing tools that do more with less. Because the truth is, when you're running a small business — especially without a dedicated IT team — complexity is a liability. Most businesses don't need five platforms. They need one that works. The problem with stacking too many tools is that every connection becomes a point of failure. One missed payment, one expired API key, or one platform going down, and the whole process can grind to a halt. Leads don't come in. Payments fail. Emails don't send. And suddenly you're not just fixing tech, you're losing revenue. We spoke with Mitchell from Sell Any Car Fast, a Brisbane-based business that buys cars directly from the public. 'At one point, I had forms in one system, CRM in another, emails going out through a third platform, and tracking through a fourth. It was fine when everything worked, but if one link broke, the whole chain collapsed. Now, it's just a simple embedded form and a fast manual follow-up. That's it. Less to manage. Less to break.' And that's not uncommon. More small businesses are realising that reliability beats bells and whistles — especially when you're juggling sales, admin, and customer service all on your own. Here's a typical scenario: you capture leads through a landing page builder like Unbounce. That sends data into a CRM like HubSpot. An automation sends a welcome email through Mailchimp. Then, a different app creates a task in Asana to follow up. Sounds smart, right? Now imagine this: your Mailchimp account lapses because the card expired. Emails don't send. Leads sit cold. You don't notice because HubSpot didn't trigger an alert, and now your conversions are down, and you're left wondering why. This isn't just inconvenient — it can mean lost trust, missed revenue, and hours spent firefighting something that never needed to be that complicated in the first place. What's the alternative? Instead of trying to duct tape tools together, more businesses are choosing all-in-one platforms that do the job well enough, even if they're not best-in-class at everything. • Go High Level: Combines CRM, email, funnels, and scheduling into one dashboard. Great for agencies and service businesses. • Zoho One: Offers over 45 integrated apps for everything from sales to accounting. • Kajabi: Built for content creators and coaches — handles email, courses, payments, and websites all in one. • Square: For retail and service businesses, it merges POS, payments, appointments, and staff management. • Notion (paired with tools like Tally or Super): Many small teams are building DIY systems using Notion's flexible interface. Are they perfect? No. But they're easier to maintain, faster to learn, and often 'good enough' to get the job done without breaking the business every time you miss a subscription renewal. Simplicity doesn't just reduce tech issues — it improves how you run your business. When your systems are streamlined: • New staff can get up to speed quicker • You make fewer mistakes • You spend less time troubleshooting • Your customer experience is more consistent You also free up mental bandwidth. Instead of worrying whether your email sequence fired or if your automation failed, you focus on what matters: delivering value, making sales, and building trust. You don't need to be a tech company There's this subtle pressure on small businesses to act like startups. To be 'automated,' 'data-driven,' and 'scalable.' But the truth is, you're not a software company. You're a plumber. A car buyer. A wedding photographer. Your edge isn't in your stack — it's in your service. Trying to copy how software companies operate (with full-time dev teams and huge budgets) is a fast way to overcomplicate what should be a lean, profitable business. You're better off with one or two reliable tools you understand than a Frankenstein setup that breaks every time you update Chrome. The future of small business software might not be 'more.' It might be less, but better. Fewer logins. Fewer dependencies. More confidence that what you've built won't collapse if Stripe changes a setting or Zapier misses a zap. So before you sign up for another monthly subscription, ask yourself: • Do I need this tool? • What happens if it breaks? • Can I explain how it works to someone else? And if the answer is 'I'm not sure,' maybe the simpler solution is the smarter one. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
West Australian
24-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Joint is jumping as Aussie tennis teen wins first title
Australian tennis has been given a major boost on the eve of the French Open as teenager Maya Joint powered to her maiden WTA tour title in Morocco. The 19-year-old Brisbane-based comet Joint collapsed to the clay in joy in Rabat on Saturday after outplaying Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-3 6-2 in the Morocco Open final in Rabat. A rip-roaring display from the US-born daughter of a Sydney dad who has rocketed through the rankings in just 18 months since basing herself in Queensland left her emotional before she jets off to Paris for her Roland Garros debut. Confirming herself as one of the sport's finest young talents, Joint added the singles crown to a maiden doubles victory she had annexed the day before. "Must be something about Morocco," she beamed afterwards on court. "It's been a an amazing week. The conditions really tested both of us - this crowd was unbelievable." In Paris, Joint will face a first-round encounter against Australian luminary Ajla Tomljanovic, who retired with illness after losing the first set of their semi-final on Friday.
