I used to work in the Valley, at nights and into the early mornings in the pre-Fitzgerald Inquiry 1980s, so I’ve seen some fairly shocking things there.
But nothing prepared me on my most recent visit to witness what is apparently a growing trend — the painting of advertising murals on the side of old buildings.
If this one encourages people to watch Masterchef, I will be very much surprised.
(In fact, I’ll be surprised if there is another season of Masterchef under any circumstances.)
Yabba dabba don’t
I was shocked to hear about a recent incident at the Woolworths at Keperra, in the shopping complex one of my nieces always refers to as “Bedrock” (because it’s in an old quarry).
There was some dramatic footage on television of damage that required a major cleanup in at least one aisle, and of people not reacting to evacuation alarms going off telling them to leave the premises.
TV news viewers also got a non-identifying glimpse of a person apparently being detained.
We’ve been told that a 15-year-old from Kedron and a 14-year-old from Goodna appeared before court, but as Goodna councillor Paul Tully pointed out on social media:
Queenslanders have been promised open justice, even in the Children’s Court, but today a Brisbane Magistrate kicked the media out of her court after a lawyer argued it would have a “negative impact” on their client if the Courier Mail and 7NEWS Brisbane remained.
Secret court hearings in any court are anathema to Queensland’s and Australia’s system of open justice as we will never know if these alleged offenders are given an appropriate sentence or a tap on the wrist with a feather and sent on their way to commit further offences.
Media coverage of Children’s Court proceedings has long been restricted, and child defendants are almost never identified, which is entirely appropriate.
But — as we are constantly informed via over-the-top advertising — we now have “adult crime, adult time” laws, and there is a strong argument that journalists should at least be able to report on the proceedings, even if details of the defendants can’t be published.
After all, justice not only has to be done, it has to be seen to be done.
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Ambitious Adrian?
I have to applaud Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner for his admirable restraint, limiting himself to one photo in the latest edition of the unnecessary ratepayer-funded glossy magazine, Living in Brisbane.
However, I must question the wisdom of some of his recent social-media posts that seem to go outside his roads-and-rubbish remit into state and federal politics.
If I were him, I wouldn’t be doing that, if only because it’s not in his own interests. Being seen to be too closely aligned to party politics is an electoral disadvantage in local government, in my opinion.
Unless, of course, he has ambitions to follow one of his predecessors, Campbell Newman, into politics at another level. (Note: that did not end well.)
P.S.
Australia’s biggest city — that’d be Sydney — is about to launch a new* commuter railway, which it correctly calls a Metro. Brisbane’s Metro is and always will be bendy bus service. As I’ve said before, we really should get up with the global terminology lest we confuse tourists. Ours is a bus rapid transit system, not a metro.
Disclaimer: I’m not sure I really need one today.
*Update: A correspondent points out that what’s being launched is an extension to the existing Metro. My point still stands.
There's a win in there for Mister Brisbane 👏