Obscure Box
How much oil was spilled in the Brisbane River?
If you were listening to the ABC's PM program last night then its report would have made you think it was an even more catastrophic event than it was in the first place.
See this line from reporter Imogen Brennan in "Environmental concerns after oil spill in Brisbane River" (Tuesday 24 January 2012).
How much?
A severe outbreak of speculection hits Queensland
Speculection is my word for the endless speculation on the date of the next election in any parliamentary system that doesn’t operate under a fixed term system, such as Queensland.
Journalists and commentators are busy predicting the date they believe the Premier Anna Bligh will haul the good folk of Queensland back to the polling booths.
State elections in Queensland are always held on a Saturday and so the game being played now is to find reason or not for Bligh to pick a particular Saturday for the next poll.
Things for 2012 to do
It's fair to say that 2011 was one of those years I'm glad is finally over and hello 2012.
Hello 2012
If it wasn't one thing it was another that challenged all in 2011, from its damp, soggy and destructive start that seemed to have an impact on almost everything that followed.
But isn't it a case of out with the year of natural disasters and other tragedies and in with the year when the world is supposed to end?
Well, maybe the world will end on 21 December 2012 - the northern winter solstice - but if it does, it will have nothing to do with any doomsday predictions.
A reply from the ABC over my Skype concerns
I have finally received an e-mail from the ABC over the Skype concerns I raised in "The ABC’s love affair with Skype" (Wednesday 20 April 2011),.
The e-mail tells me the Audience and Consumer Affairs unit has investigated the matter I raised and has found nothing wrong with Skype mentions by the broadcaster.
LNP loo yarn flushed by the truth
It would have been a great story if it had been true.
The LNP issued a media release yesterday (Wednesday 25 May 2011) titled "No women's toilets at Mackay Courthouse" blasting the Bligh Government for apparent oversight in the plumbing in the legal precinct.
Speaking after raising the issue at the Mackay sitting of Parliament, LNP Shadow Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the court toilet fiasco was another example of poor planning from a tired Labor Government.
"I asked Labor's Minister for Women to explain why women of Mackay where forgotten in the planning and development of the new Mackay Courthouse.
"What a total stuff up," Mr Bleijie said.