FRIDAY 03/12/21 8AM ZEDLINES
Your 8am Zedlines With Grace
Image credit: "Horse and Cart Taxi" by Ell Brown
Police Rejects Enquiry Recommendation
The Queensland Police Commissioner has rejected the recommendation of an enquiry into the way our Police force deals with coercive control.
The enquiry came from a taskforce set to investigate the way our criminal justice system in Queensland deals with and investigates instances of coercive control.
One of the eighty-nine recommendations made by the taskforce is to establish an enquiry into the Queensland Police Service, asking the Government to investigate:
Chinchilla Issued Weather Warning
Chinchilla has been issued an emergency alert where the area North-West of Brisbane may experience flooding.
The warning was issued by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service, due to Charley’s Creek peaking at moderate flood levels this morning.
Western Downs Mayor Paul McVeigh says locals have been preparing overnight, placing sandbags around their properties.
Horse Drawn Carts to be Banned in Melbourne CBD
Horse drawn carts could be banned in certain areas of Melbourne’s Central Business District after the Victorian Government made a proposal to ensure safer streets and protect animal welfare.
Should the proposal pass, horse drawn carriages will not be permitted on Central business district streets including Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street and Spencer Street.
The decision comes after eight years of campaigning by the animal rights group Melbourne Against Horse Drawn Carriages.
Bangarra Appoints First Female Artistic Director
First Nations dance company Bangarra announced its appointment of its first female artistic director.
Frances Rings will take on the role after the 2022 season which will feature a ten year anniversary remount of Ring’s work Terrain.
Bangarra's current artistic director of thirty years said the move to step down was a matter of instinct.
THURSDAY 2/12/2021 11AM ZEDLINES
Your 11am Zedlines with Wes
Image Credit: Al Jazeera
Waste Recycling Industry Association of Queensland Report finds Queensland lagging behind on waste and recycling targets
The Waste Recycling Industry Association of Queensland has released a report on investment in regional initiatives funded through levy collection, which found that Queensland was the last state government to sign up to the Recycling Modernisation Fund and was lagging behind on waste and recycling targets.
With a 54% resource recovery rate, the state is a considerable way behind national leader South Australia, which has an 83% recovery rate.
QLD universities forge ahead with vaccine mandates, in lieu of state-wide directive
QUT, Griffith University and USQ are working to impose vaccine mandates even if the Queensland Government refuses.
Premier Annastascia Palaszczuk announced mandates requiring workers at private schools, state schools, prisons, youth detention centres, and airports, but has stopped short of extending the mandate to universities.
Revenue NSW illegally withdrawing funds for unpaid fines
An investigation and report tabled in the NSW Parliament has found that NSW government debt collection agency, Revenue NSW, has been illegally using an automated system to withdraw funds for unpaid fines directly from peoples bank accounts.
The report found that artificial intelligence was being used by Revenue NSW to withdraw money from the bank accounts of people who had failed to pay fines, but the practice was never overseen by a real person.
World Bank working to free up frozen funds for Afghanistan Aid
The World Bank is working to free up $500 million dollars from a frozen Afghanistan aid fund to humanitarian agencies, but the plan to redirect the funds remains riddled with complications including stifling US sanctions.
Afghanistan’s 39 million people face a cratering economy, a winter of food shortages and growing poverty three months after the Taliban seized power as the last US troops withdrew from 20 years of war.