Latest news with #CampbellNewman
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Brisbane Olympics is becoming a ‘spendathon'
Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman says spending for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics will be "out of control". 'I am going to say something that isn't very popular, but this is all a bit out of control – we're heading for at least a 15 billion bill for the Olympics, 'Mr Newman told Sky News host Steve Price. 'Now we are off on the spendathon of all spendathons.'
ABC News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
As Queensland launches yet another child safety inquiry, what's going to be different about this one?
What's going to be different about this inquiry? It's the question those in the child protection system are understandably asking. This week, the Crisafulli government in Queensland ordered a commission of inquiry into the child safety system. Another one. The fact the child safety department even exists is the result of a previous inquiry. In 2003, Labor premier Peter Beattie tasked the Crime and Misconduct Commission with investigating horrific allegations of child abuse in foster care. It made 110 recommendations for change. By 2007, then child safety minister Desley Boyle declared the job done. "I truly believe we are close now to a system of child protection that will be as good as any in the world," she said. And yet, five years later another inquiry was ordered. Within 100 days of winning office, LNP premier Campbell Newman appointed Tim Carmody SC to do a "root and branch" review. It resulted in an extra $406 million "to help make Queensland the safest place in Australia to raise a child", according to Mr Newman. Millions of dollars spent, countless hours of testimony, hundreds of recommendations, plenty of good intentions and promises. And that's not even counting the 1999 Forde inquiry into the abuse and neglect of children in Queensland institutions. It's like watching a horror movie on a loop, year after year, decade after decade. Except these stories and the people in them are very real — 12,500 vulnerable children currently living in out-of-home care in Queensland, too many of whom are reporting sexual and physical abuse. So, why in 2025, are we watching the same events unfold again? According to David Crisafulli, the latest inquiry — with a budget of $20 million — is needed "to expose failures in the system and the damage it has caused". Child protection advocates, like PeakCare's Tom Allsop, say the solutions are known. "It is suffering from a lack of government action and commitment to doing the things we know work." It is a frustration shared by the National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollands. "We have looked at these issues again and again and it's time to act on the evidence", she told ABC Radio. Like those before him, "action" is what Mr Crisafulli is promising. "The system won't be perfect, we know that, but it can be a lot better than what it is now and we are taking action." Let's hope this time it works, because as a previous inquiry head Brendan Butler SC noted: "A society can rightly be judged on how it treats its children."
Sky News AU
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Campbell Newman slams GoFundMe for John Pesutto after $2.3m legal bill
Former Queensland Liberal premier Campbell Newman reacts to a GoFundMe fundraiser being set up for John Pesutto after he was ordered to pay $2.3 million in legal costs stemming from the Moira Deeming defamation case. 'Pesutto went off on this crazy mad project, should we call it, and he was dead wrong,' Mr Newman told Sky News host Steve Price. 'At multiple stages during the process, he could've just apologised and certainly … he would be no worse off for where he is today. 'The Liberal Party shouldn't be bailing him out … he's made the bed, he's got to lie in it.'
Sky News AU
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Liberals urged to ‘reflect' on problems within party
Former Queensland Liberal premier Campbell Newman urges the Liberals to 'reflect' on the problems within their party. 'It's about time that they really reflected properly on why they've got a problem,' Mr Newman told Sky News host Steve Price. 'The numbers for me speak volumes, it's all about a fragmentation of their primary vote going to parties of the right.'
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
LNP to cut all funding for Queensland's Environmental Defenders Office, breaking election promise
In a move raising comparisons to the government of Campbell Newman, Queensland's Liberal National party government is set to slash all state funding for the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO). The decision breaches a promise by the LNP to continue funding the body made prior to winning government at the October state election. The EDO provides free legal advice to residents and community groups considering challenging a development or environmental approval, and receives about $500,000 a year from the state government. Its funding will be cut to zero at June's state budget. In an open letter to the premier, 36 of the state's leading conservationists and environmental groups described themselves as 'shocked' by the decision. They compared it to a similar decision made under premier Campbell Newman to cut $97,000 of EDO funding in 2012, its entire state allocation. The current environment minister, Andrew Powell, was also environment minister under Newman. The EDO cuts represent one of several broken election promises by David Crisafulli's government in its first six months in office, including to not build a new stadium for the Olympics and to set clear key performance indicators for his ministers. The promise to continue EDO funding was made publicly in March last year, at a forum attended by the LNP's then shadow environment minister Sam O'Connor. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In an email follow-up after the event seen by Guardian Australia, O'Connor also referred to 'the commitment I made to continue funding the EDO if the LNP is successful at the election this October'. 'Queenslanders care about their local environment so landholders and communities deserve some form of access to legal advice when potential threats arise to the special places they love,' the email reads. 'We believe the state government should continue to provide funding towards their operations just like they do with other community legal services.' The Queensland Conservation Council director, Dave Copeman, said: 'We were told before the election that the LNP had learned the lessons from the Newman government's destructive approach, but this funding cut is straight out of the Campbell Newman playbook.' Copeman said the then opposition leader Crisafulli also made the same commitment to him personally in August 2023. The EDO's chief executive officer, David Morris, said the organisation would be able to keep its doors open with charitable donations, but would have to turn many people away. 'Over the past five years, Queensland Government funding has enabled us to provide about 1,500 legal services to people who otherwise could not possibly afford legal advice,' Morris said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Without EDO legal advice, many Queenslanders would be denied the opportunity to exercise their legal rights to challenge 'mining companies, big irrigators and property developers', he said. 'Without it, many communities won't even know their rights, let alone have the chance to exercise them.' The state resources minister, Dale Last, has previously told parliament: 'I have been saying to the gas companies in this state: 'I'll sign. You drill.'' A spokesperson for the state government said it had 'honoured Labor's funding agreement in its entirety which expired at the end of June 2025'. 'There is no additional money budgeted beyond that period of time. 'As part of future assessments for programs, the EDO would have to convince the government that proper processes had been put in place to qualify for further funding, after being ordered to pay $9m in costs after a judge criticised EDO lawyers for coaching a witness.' The federal court ordered the EDO to pay the fee to Santos in November 2024 after ruling against its challenge to a Northern Territory gas pipeline project. Morris said at the time that the EDO had 'diligently adhered to client instructions' but accepted the judgment of the court.
