As it happened: Brisbane on November 7

Brisbane City Council says the Brisbane Metro depot at Rochedale is on track to be finished early next year, ahead of Metro services starting later in 2024.

This morning council released photos of the site – set to be Australia’s largest electric bus depot – where the 60 electric vehicles will be based.

Council says the depot is on target to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating for sustainability upon completion.Credit: Brisbane City Council

The depot has more than 2000 solar panels installed on its roof, and includes fast chargers capable of recharging a Metro in just over six minutes.

Councillor Ryan Murphy, the civic cabinet chair for transport, said the Brisbane Metro would be “one of the greenest forms of transport in Queensland”.

“The depot will include the use of harvested rainwater, recycled water for the vehicle wash facility and the capacity to generate up to 1 megawatt of solar power,” he said.

Political firebrand Drew Pavlou has voluntarily deregistered his political party after its membership fell below the required 1500 people.

The Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission yesterday.

The 24-year-old from Brisbane, who has campaigned extensively against Chinese President Xi Jinping and his country’s policies against Uighurs, said his party only gained about 5000 votes at last May’s federal election.

Anti-CCP activist Drew Pavlou.Credit: AAP

“We knew it would be extremely difficult to win seats, but we formed a protest party dedicated to opposing close Australian business ties with the CCP,” Pavlou said on X, formerly Twitter, this afternoon. “No one gave us a chance, but we managed to raise a lot of awareness for our chosen issues.

“I think I need to spend time putting my own life in order and gaining a profession so I will be able to support myself sustainably in the future.”

Matthew Knott wrote an interesting profile on the young activist earlier this year. Read it here.

Last week, our weekly reader poll asked whether you’d prefer a digital driver’s licence on your phone instead of carrying a physical card.

This followed a statewide launch of such a licence that ran into a few difficulties.

Only 40 per cent of readers liked the idea. Many were concerned about what would happen if your phone was lost or stolen, with one respondent adding, “I never forget my wallet”.

We also asked how much you thought you would spend on Christmas this year. About a quarter (27 per cent) said you’d be cutting back, while almost two-thirds (65 per cent) said it would be business as usual.

On the question of whether university education was worth pursuing, 32 per cent of readers said “always”, while 65 per cent said “sometimes”.

One dissenting reader who had once worked in universities said tertiary education was very different from what it was in the past. “Very happy when my grandsons chose a trade,” they remarked.

Want to have your say? Sign up at the Idea Xchange.

City of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery has criticised the federal government for leaving a cloud over funding for the Youngs Crossing Road project at Joyner.

Young said council had put forward $32.25 million for the flood and congestion-busting project, attracted another $15 million from the state government, but needed $32.75 million in federal funding to push ahead.

“Our population is expected to grow to over 800,000 by 2046 - that’s an increase of 300,000 people,” Flannery said.

“City of Moreton Bay will single-handedly solve south-east Queensland’s housing crisis with our greenfield sites, but unless people can get to and from their homes why would they bother?”

Flannery said half of the population in the council area would live west of the Bruce Highway by 2041, so it was crucial to improve transport links to Brisbane and beyond.

Brisbane City Council says the Brisbane Metro depot at Rochedale is on track to be finished early next year, ahead of Metro services starting later in 2024.

This morning council released photos of the site – set to be Australia’s largest electric bus depot – where the 60 electric vehicles will be based.

Council says the depot is on target to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating for sustainability upon completion.Credit: Brisbane City Council

The depot has more than 2000 solar panels installed on its roof, and includes fast chargers capable of recharging a Metro in just over six minutes.

Councillor Ryan Murphy, the civic cabinet chair for transport, said the Brisbane Metro would be “one of the greenest forms of transport in Queensland”.

“The depot will include the use of harvested rainwater, recycled water for the vehicle wash facility and the capacity to generate up to 1 megawatt of solar power,” he said.

Without A Fight has become the first horse since Ethereal in 2001 to claim the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double.

Without A Fight has won the Melbourne Cup.Credit: Channel 10

Jockey Mark Zahra was vindicated in his decision to cut ties with last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip and stick with the horse who won last month’s Caulfield Cup.

Without A Fight ran 13th in the Cup last year in his Australian debut for British trainers Simon and Ed Crisford, but joined the Flemington stable of father-son pair Anthony and Sam Freedman after that carnival and has flourished since.

Read more.

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates for the first time in five months, ratcheting up the official cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.35 per cent.

Ahead of the Melbourne Cup Day board meeting, RBA governor Michele Bullock said the bank would not hesitate to raise rates again if the inflation outlook worsened.

If passed on in full by banks, Tuesday’s increase will add $101 to monthly repayments on an average $600,000 home loan, according to Canstar.

Since the RBA started lifting rates last May, those repayments have already risen by $1461 a month.

The big four banks all expected the RBA to raise rates on Tuesday after a higher than expected 1.2 per cent lift in inflation in the September quarter and strong retail spending figures.

The RBA wants to return inflation to its target band of 2-3 per cent by the end of 2025.

Queensland Police have seized 350 weapons and charged almost 1000 people in the six months since new search laws came into effect.

More than 31,000 people across the state have been searched under Jack’s Law, which allows police to scan people in specific locations using metal detector wands.

Police said this has resulted in 904 people being charged and 1600 offences.

Almost 3000 handheld scanner operations have been conducted by police statewide.

Acting Premier Steven Miles has announced Gerard Coggan will be Queensland’s new coordinator-general, taking over from his influential director-general, Mike Kaiser.

When former coordinator-general Toni Power retired earlier this year, Kaiser had to take on the extra role because Queensland laws do not allow for someone to make those decisions in an acting capacity.

Miles on Tuesday announced Coggan, a former bureaucrat now working in energy infrastructure, would take over in February on a permanent basis.

“For more than 80 years, the coordinator-general has played a critical role in driving major infrastructure projects for the state of Queensland,” Miles said.

“This role leverages significant, wide-ranging regulatory powers to plan, deliver and coordinate large-scale projects, while ensuring their environmental and social impacts are properly managed.”