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South-east Queensland

November

Insurance Australia Group and RACQ pitched this deal as a win/win. When we look back in five years’, it is much more likely there will be a winner and a loser.

Hello sunshine! IAG can’t resist pull up north

Strategically, the RACQ Insurance acquisition is a sound deal. Its success (or otherwise) comes down to price.

  • Anthony Macdonald
IAG CEO Nick Hawkins, left, with RACQ CEO David Carter on Thursday.

IAG in big Queensland push with $855m RACQ insurance deal

The major insurer already owns NRMA and CGU, and has a joint venture with RACV. This deal gives it access to RACQ’s 1.7 million members.

  • Updated
  • James Eyers

October

Not here, but where? And how much? Premier David Crisafulli has rejected an upgrade for QE2 in Nathan, but hasn’t yet said where Brisbane’s Olympic Stadium for 2032 will be.

Brisbane’s nation-leading construction inflation an Olympic hurdle

Cost escalation has come off its extreme highs of two years ago. But Queensland leads the national league table and that’s a problem for the new government.

  • Michael Bleby
Protesters outside the South Australian parliament last week before a narrowly defeated bill to outlaw terminations after 27 weeks and six days.

Back to the ’70s: Why we’re fighting about abortion rights again

Veteran activists are shocked by the noisy resurfacing of the political minority that views abortion as a crime.

  • Emma Connors

September

Star Entertainment has held talks with regulators, lenders and investors for nearly two weeks. It is seeking short-term financial relief.

Queensland government set to hand Star Entertainment a tax lifeline

Street Talk understands the state government has agreed to morph Star’s looming tax bill into a Treasury loan.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
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July

The Blue Grass solar project has been funded by equity from KKR and Brookfield which allowed construction to start in October 2020.

Azure, Natixis shop Brookfield-owned X-Elio’s Blue Grass solar project

Street Talk understands the Spanish renewable developer, a 100 per cent Brookfield-owned company, is seeking to part with its interest in the 200 megawatt-peak solar farm and battery project.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May

Why pouring your own water might save your favourite restaurant

Amid a stream of high-profile restaurant closures, leading industry figures have been forced to adopt minor service changes to control price increases.

  • James Hall
The Queensland government is urging developers to build higher density homes.

Miles gives in to councils with $350m bid to fast-track housing

The Queensland premier will unveil a new fund to fast-track housing development in urban areas across the state, incentivising developers to transform industrial zones and low-density suburbs.

  • James Hall
Member-owned RACQ is the sunshine state’s second-largest insurer.

RACQ back on block, again, as Bank of America fires up sale

BoA’s crack financial institutions team Mike Evans and Pete Nicholls are understood to be leading the effort.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

January

A rescue in Bray Park in Moreton Bay.

Locals ‘traumatised’ as more heavy rain hits Queensland

Queensland’s south-east has again been saturated by heavy rainfall, causing flash flooding in areas still reeling from severe weather last month.

  • Keira Jenkins
In the Townsville suburb of Kelso, Tropical Cyclone Kirrily brought down power lines and trees, crushing two cars.

Clean-up from Kirrily begins following ‘tense’ evening

No lives have been lost in the cyclone and 65,000 homes and businesses across the region remain without power.

  • Fraser Barton and Keira Jenkins
A satellite image of Tropical Cyclone Kirrily as the category 3 system approached the Queensland coast on January 25.

Cyclone Kirrily brings rain, winds after crossing coast

Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is expected to “rapidly decay” after crossing the Queensland coast as one of the most powerful systems seen in the north.

  • Updated
  • Keira Jenkins

October 2023

Bendigo Bank said it will pursue organic growth in Queensland.

New Bendigo chairman not giving up on Queensland dream

David Foster, a former boss of Suncorp Bank, has taken the chairman’s seat at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and remains keen to grow in regional Queensland.

  • James Eyers
Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment Cameron Dick.

Venture capitalists Queensland-bound after govt investment fund rammed

Funds could also apply for up to $500,000 in operating expenses to establish themselves in God’s Country (aka Queensland).

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

August 2023

Brisbane players team up for $2b Toowong project

More than $1 billion could be invested into developing an amalgamated site in Brisbane’s inner west, resulting a mixed use project with an end value close to twice that. 

  • Nick Lenaghan
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March 2023

The C4 unit at Callide power station blew up in May 2021.

Callide C co-owner Genuity goes into voluntary administration

Genuity Group, which owns 50 per cent of the coal-fired power station, went into administration on Thursday after shareholders couldn’t agree on future funding.

  • Updated
  • Mark Ludlow

October 2022

The Hells Gates dam near the Burdekin River in North Queensland has been scrapped.

Queensland loses $6b in dam projects

The Albanese government has put money into urban roads and rail in the state’s south-east, but scrapped two dam projects in north Queensland.

  • Mark Ludlow

May 2022

Laidley’s main street was underwater on Friday.

Queensland lashed by rain, but flooding not ‘as extreme’ as February

Residents in southeast Queensland’s Lockyer Valley were told to self-evacuate for flooding for the second time this year in the early hours of Friday morning.

  • Hannah Wootton

April 2022

Co-director Rebecca Stacey supervises activities at Brisbane City Child Care centre on Monday.

Childcare centre cuts fees to entice parents back to CBD

A Brisbane childcare centre has reduced its fees by $50 a day to help ease the costs associated with returning to work in the city’s central business district.

  • Tess Bennett

January 2022

Regional house prices in south-east Queensland are rising sharply, pushed by high interstate migration.

Southerners and shortages send land prices soaring in south-east Qld

In a classic case of low supply meeting high demand, agents and developers say there are now twice the number of buyers bidding for fewer major land parcels.

  • Martin Kelly

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/south-east-queensland-624