Historic Norman Hotel up for sale at $40M
Brisbane’s historic Norman Hotel has hit the market with a $40 million price tag.
The Woolloongabba hotel has had its doors open for nearly 130 years and is being sold by the Power family - of Power’s Brewery fame - who purchased it in 2015.
Known by locals as “Brisbane’s worst vegetarian restaurant” for its praiseworthy steaks, owner James Power says when the opportunity arose to purchase the hotel, he thought it would be a great investment.
Australians paid $41B more tax in most recent financial year
Looking across the nation, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that in the 2017-18 financial year Australians paid more than $41 billion more in taxes than in the 2016-17 financial year.
The research reveals that Australia’s total tax revenue increased by $41.8 billion which means it totalled $529 billion for the 2017-18 financial year, which is up from $487 billion in the previous financial year.
Freak weather in Rio kills ten with flooding and mudslides
In international news, floods in Rio de Janeiro have killed at least ten people as the city becomes more concerned for its capability of withstanding extreme weather events.
152 millimetres of rain fell in four hours on Tuesday which amounts to the average rainfall for April in the city.
The city’s fire department reported 10 deaths including 3 buried in a car by mudslides.
Choc giant switches to sustainable cocoa
Mondelez International, which manufactures Cadbury and Milka, is attempting to protect its business from global warming by making the switch to sustainable cocoa.
Mondelez is currently sourcing around 43% of the cocoa for its chocolate brands through its Cocoa Life program, which provides educational and financial support to cocoa farmers in order to improve crop yield.
This week, Mondelez pledged to raise this figure to 100% by 2025, saying without a good source of quality cocoa, they can’t have a healthy chocolate business.
8AM ZEDLINES
Good morning, this is Laura and Georgie with your 8am Zedlines
Dreamtime: Tidal Mind
- Two and a half years have rolled by since the last -fondly remembered- Dreamtime record and y’know? In that time I can barely think of an occasion when I’ve heard a mention of them. They should be pretty hard to miss, being nearly the loudest purveyors of mind-bending psych that Brisbane can boast and, look at that, they have record deals sewn up in Australia, Europe and the US. For once there might actually be truth in the cliche, ‘the best band you’ve never heard of.’
Helms Alee: Noctiluca
<p><span><span>- Much like the salty ocean they so clearly adore, Pacific Northwest band Helms Alee (a name which is a sailor’s turn-of-phrase meaning ‘come about’), well they can be a fickle mistress. They’ve settled on the label sludge metal for what they do, though they don’t sound like <strong>Eyehategod</strong>, <strong>Neurosis</strong> or recent touring partners <strong>Melvins</strong>.
11am Zedlines
Good morning! This is your 11am Zedlines with Victoria and Gabe.
QUT Accused of Sexism after Male Fun Run Winners Receive $300 Cheques
Organisers of a university fun run have been accused of sexism for their different treatment of male and female winners.
25-year-old Alex Blake was the fastest female runner. She has called out organisers of the Queensland University of Technology Classic fun run for awarding male winners a ribbon crossing and $300 cheques while the female winners only received a prize pack.
QUT Classic eventually agreed to restructure winnings after the race director initially told Blake to finish top 3 if she wanted greater reward.
Crew Left Stranded After Boat Capsized off Thursday Island
A capsized boat off Thursday Island has left its crew clinging to a channel marker overnight until they were rescued by helicopter on Monday.
The four men - aged 51, 38, 21 and 16 - set off from Seisia Wharf at 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon, but authorities were called when they hadn’t arrived home later that evening.
Police believe the foursome had been stranded for 13 hours before their rescue.