Fire, floods and drought marked 2019 in Queensland, while the world provided many surprises
In Queensland, we started the year with flood and ended it with fire while across the world came poll-defying elections, massacres and a royal scandal — this is the events that mattered.
CM Insight
Don't miss out on the headlines from CM Insight. Followed categories will be added to My News.
In Queensland, we started the year with flood and ended it with fire while across the world came poll-defying elections, massacres and a royal scandal — this is the events that mattered.
JANUARY
The year opened with Cyclone Penny loitering off the far north Queensland coast early on New Year’s Day then landing just south of Weipa providing a portent for the dramatic weather event which was to hit Townsville only four weeks later.
No such warnings were visible on the political front as pundits gazed at Labor romping home in the November Victorian state election, and decided much the same would happen in the coming federal poll. Clive Palmer had other ideas.
Borrowing from American rockers Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It hit, Palmer kicked off his own lavishly funded campaign with an Australia Ain’t Gonna Cop It song on his website.
Twisted Sister didn’t cop it, demanding Palmer cease and desist. Palmer doubled down, taking Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon and rebadging it as “Palmer Chameleon’’ prompting Labor leader Bill Shorten to label Palmer Australia’s “number one digital serial pest.’’
By Australia Day Prime Minister Scott Morrison was attending a smoking ceremony with the Ngunnawal people of Canberra to “ward off evil spirits.’’
It clearly worked a treat for Morrison but his indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion wasn’t convinced. Scullion jumped ship, joining human services minister Michael Keenan and jobs minister Kelly O’Dwyer and (soon after) long-time frontbenchers Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop.
At least some of the deserters were clearly convinced Morrison’s government was still infested with bad juju after the previous year’s slaying of Malcolm Turnbull.
Brisbane was receiving little rain and, in a sign of the heat to come, Birdsville recorded record ten consecutive days above 45C.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson suggested dole recipients earn a living by killing cane toads, giant bluebottles inexplicably appeared on our shores and, over in England, the month ended with British prime minister Theresa May facing her first major revolt over
no Brexit deal.
FEBRUARY
On February 1 Townsville declared 58 schools and childcare centres would shut as a predicted 200mm of rain was set to fall. By February 2 the prediction had changed to 2000mm.
While a knife-wielding man at Brisbane Airport (no one hurt) commanded the headlines for 24 hours, the northern city was hit with a deluge.
As the Banking royal commission released its 76 recommendations, news of Townsville’s floods dominated domestically and also went worldwide.
The flood claimed the lives of two little boys who drowned in Ross River. US President Donald Trump declared in his second State of the Union address, with some prescience, that his nation stood divided: “The choice is incredible progress or pointless destruction.’’
Federal Assistant Roads Minister Scott Buchholz had a brush with the “Me Too’’ movement when it was alleged he hugged an RAAF Diversity officer just a little too long after finding out it was her birthday, but nothing came of it. In a novel twist on the same theme, United Australia Party Senator Brian Burston alleged he was hit on by party boss Pauline Hanson, who declared the allegation “a load of bloody rubbish’’.
Meanwhile the monsoonal trough that had swamped Townsville had headed westward and destroying hundreds of thousands of cattle as it washed through the interior.
The Australian Army was called in to help in the clean up as the nation’s attention turned to Queensland’s flood ravaged north-west. Massive swells on south-east Queensland beached lured surfers while, on the political front, Courier- Mail columnist Peter Gleeson made a courageous yet largely accurate call in a piece headed: “Adani will cost Shorten election.’’
On February 27 a story that would go around the world broke – Cardinal George Pell had been convicted of sexual abuse charges.
The following day the nation’s leading Catholic prelate was fronted by an angry mob outside court. People screamed at Pell: “Go to hell”.
MARCH
It was the month of the hideous New Zealand massacre, which left 51 people dead, but it started mildly enough in Queensland as north-western grazing families recovering from the deluge were offered a $2 billion relief package by the Morrison Government.
Much admired Queensland doctor and MP, Senator John Herron, who headed the indigenous affairs portfolio in the Howard government, was farewelled at a state funeral.
Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale’s corruption scandal grew as property developer Chris Pinzone detailed the moment Pisasale was handed a $50,000 bag of cash at a Melbourne Hotel – a key allegation in the now-imprisoned Pisasale’s downfall.
The federal National Party began to stir the pre-election pot about the role of coal. Mackay-based MP George Christensen declared it was high time a new coal-fired power station was built in north Queensland.
Yeppoon-based Senator Matt Canavan and former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce backed him up. Meanwhile, Clive Palmer continued his campaign spendathon but was caught out when, despite basing part of his campaign on curbing Chinese influence in Australia, he was found to have outfitted his candidates in shirts made in China.
On the national front, media legend Ita Buttrose was anointed new chairwoman of the ABC after the national broadcaster had endured a rough few months with the sacking of former managing director Michelle Guthrie and former chair Justin Milne. Brisbane schoolkids marched out of the classroom on a climate change strike in a sign of things to come. By March 15 the story dominating Australian and international media was the New Zealand massacre, and the madness of Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people. As the month began to close Brisbane mayor Graham Quirk surprised everyone by quitting the job he had held for eight years. The drought continued in the state’s south-east, with Gatton touching a record 40C in March.
APRIL
April 2019 may one day be fondly looked back upon by former Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten as the best month of his life.
Shorten began April with bold plans to have electric vehicles account for 50 per cent of all new car sales by 2030. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also got off to a good start with an early budget which delivered tax cuts estimated to save the average worker around $10,000 over six years.
Yet Shorten immediately jumped ahead of the Coalition with a well-received $2.3 billion policy to cut costs for cancer patients.
The champion Winx departed racing after her 37th win, the 850 year old Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris burned, more than 200 people were killed in an Easter bombing of churches and hotels across Sri Lanka and, in Queensland, we welcomed the first woman to lead the State Police Service – Katarina Carroll.
After Morrison announced on April 10 there would be a May 18 election, the news dominating the nation was the (allegedly) tight race between Labor and the Coalition.
Soon after the election announcement the first activists opposing the Adani Mine left Tasmania for a protest visit to North Queensland.
By the weekend of April 27 it was clear the locals in Mackay and Clermont had issues with the protesters, and a key reason in Labor’s eventual loss began to manifest itself.
Meanwhile, animal activists stormed farms across the nation alleging cruelty to livestock. Shorten and Morrison went head to head in a debate on April 29 in Western Australia and Shorten was impressive, outlining his electric car plans cleanly and winning over 25 of the 48 undecided voters compared to 12 for Morrison, while 11 remained undecided.
MAY
The now famous black-throated finch made an appearance as May got underway, with the Queensland Government ordering the Adani Coal Mine project overhaul its environmental management plan to better protect the endangered bird.
The move was not criticised by Bill Shorten but Queensland LNP Senator Matt Canavan leapt upon it gleefully, turning it into a Coalition’s advantage.
On the Friday night of May 3 Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten clashed in the Sky News/The Courier-Mail People’s Forum at the Gabba, with Morrison providing a dramatic moment by moving into Shorten’s personal space and pointing his finger.
By May 5 old foes and former prime ministers, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, were playing nice at Labor’s official campaign launch.
Shorten, with ten days to go before the poll, was handed a gift when it was pointed out he had left out a key factor in his mother’s life – namely that she had established a lucrative career as a barrister despite her earlier ambitions to become a lawyer being thwarted by her working-class roots.
Shorten’s emotional defence of his mum was widely, and wrongly, declared “an election-winning moment.’’
Away from the election campaign Israel Folau’s social media comments about a biblical damnation awaiting homosexuals and fornicators, made in April, were shaping up into a complex contractual issue as the footballer rejected a $1 million offer to walk away from Rugby Australia.
On the weather front, Tropical Cyclone Ann formed 1400km east of Cairns in the first May cyclone to form in a decade. On a more positive note Prince Harry and wife Meghan welcomed baby “Archie’’ into the world, where he will take his place behind Prince Andrew, now dealing with more pressing difficulties than a possible accession as seventh-in-line to the British throne.
On May 16 Labor legend Bob Hawke farewelled the world and on May 18, Scott Morrison performed a political miracle, defying polls to give the Coalition Government a third term. Clive Palmer’s vote sank, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation vote rose, former prime minister Tony Abbott ended a quarter of a century of political life after losing his seat of Warringah, and the 2019 federal election was over.
JUNE
As June dawned the Queensland Labor Government had performed a swift U-turn on the Adani coal mine, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk putting the project on the fast track for approval.
By June 3 Deputy Premier Jackie Trad was posting on Facebook misgivings about Labor’s approach to coal mining and by June 14 the mine had cleared its final environmental hurdle and was given the green light.
Newly anointed federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese overhauled his team and gave the defeated Bill Shorten responsibility for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The world marked the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. Four men died and one woman was injured after a gunman went from room to room at the Palms Motel in Darwin and shot people.
Queensland drew first blood against NSW in the State of Origin series at Suncorp Stadium and in the tennis world Gabriela Sabatini joined the growing chorus praising Ash Barty, who was soon to win the French Open.
Rugby league legend Jonathan Thurston, along with actors Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana and Sigrid Thornton, was recognised in the Queens Birthday honours list.
A police raid on a journalist’s home seeking evidence about whistleblowers sparked a still raging debate about media freedom in Australia while on June 14 at the Sydney Opera House, 2000 people including former prime minister Paul Keating attended a memorial service to honour the life of former PM Bob Hawke.
In the US, President Donald Trump launched his 2020 re-election campaign in Orlando Florida with an 80-minute speech, while the Maroons fell to the Blues in the second match of the Origin series.
Veteran journalist Robert Craddock was unequivocal about the extent of our defeat, declaring Queensland had been “sliced, diced and fed to the lions’’
by NSW.
JULY
The Hong Kong protests, which were already a month old in July began to capture global attention as tens of thousands of people marched through the city on July 8 protesting extradition laws which would allow people caught up in the criminal justice system to be sent to mainland China to face trial.
Actor and Wolf Creek star John Jarratt was cleared in a rape trial regarding allegations stemming back to 1976 while in Queensland, flu deaths reached a total of 51 by mid June in a tragedy that prompted pleas for parents to get younger children vaccinated.
Extraordinary scenes unfolded on the Gold Coast on July 11 as the Earle Haven Retirement Village went into administration, closed its doors and left up to 70 residents, some with dementia, looking for a new home.
Fleets of ambulances were dispatched in the crisis, which later in the year featured in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The White House declared its intention to hold a state dinner honouring Prime Minister Scott Morrison in what would later prove a moment of triumph on the global stage for the newly elected PM.
The newly elected Prime Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, also flattered Morrison with a priority call after taking office on July 24, signalling the possibility Australia will be one of the first cabs off the rank in a trade deal with a post-Brexit Britain. Courier-Mail journalist Steven Wardill broke the story of a house purchase by Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad along the route of the proposed Cross River Rail project.
The Premier initially refusing to admonish her deputy who eventually sold off the $695,000 Woolloongabba home.
The day of reckoning arrived for former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale, who was found guilty on two counts of extortion and later sentenced to 12 months behind bars. The Maroons fell short in the third Origin match, losing 20/26 to NSW in a spirited contest that The Courier-Mail labelled on the front page as: “All Guts
No Glory.’’
AUGUST
The Ekka month arrived and brought with it more than the normal bouts of flu.
By August 4 the death toll from the super flu had reached 83, which nearly doubled the 43 deaths recorded the previous year.
In the US 29 people died in less than 24 hours as two mass shootings unfolded across Ohio and El Paso.
Dozens more were wounded in the attacks, which were the deadliest since the 2017 Las Vegas massacre in which 59 people died. In Sydney another horror unfolded as a knife-wielding man slashed a woman to death and terrorised others before being brought down by bystanders, some of whom employed a milk crate and a chair to subdue the attacker.
In Brisbane the organisers of the Extinction Rebellion climate protests that had been closing down traffic in Brisbane’s CBD flagged the idea of using methods employed by the Hong Kong protest movement. Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner wrote to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk asking that mandated mediation sessions between the council and protest groups be scrapped because the negotiations held up emergency crews dealing with protesters.
The Government toughened up laws regarding the blocking of city streets but protests have continued.
In Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnston stunned the world by limiting parliamentary sittings, effectively shutting down the British parliament from mid-September and reducing the time law makers could use to try and block a no deal Brexit.
The plan was labelled an “assault on democracy’’ and sparked a legal challenge while the then Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the Queen asking for a meeting to discuss his concerns.’
SEPTEMBER
September dawned with accurate predictions that the state was heading into a dry Spring with little chance of meaningful rainfall until February while Regional Fire Force chief Alan Gillespie warned Queensland was facing “one of the most serious bushfire threats in generations.’’
By September 6 the first of a series of massive fires broke out as residents of Stanthorpe and the Gold Coast hinterland faced evacuation throughout the night and by September 9 hundreds were fleeing homes in Coolum, Noosa and Peregian Beach as bushfires came to the coast.
The state’s crime watchdog found deputy Premier Jackie Trad had not committed a crime by purchasing a house on the Cross River Rail route but the Crime and Corruption Commission did find that conflict of interest issues had arisen as a result of the purchase.
Former Queensland Chief Justice Tim Carmody, whose brief tenure five years ago was marked by controversy quietly ended his legal career after resigning from his position as a Supreme Court judge.
In the US Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny strode the world stage as US President Donald Trump pulled out all stops and bestowed the highest honour possible on a visiting foreign leader – a White House State Dinner. Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg also became the focus of international attention as she berated world leaders at the United Nations climate summit for betraying her generation and failing to address carbon emissions.
Her “how dare you’’ speech was enhanced by a brief encounter with US President Donald Trump, whom she fixed with a steely gaze.
By September 25 Trump had more pressing issues to deal with as the Democrats began formal impeachment hearings _ a process Trump slammed as a “witch hunt.’’ Back in Brisbane, former broadcaster Patrick Condren emerged as Labor’s new high-profile candidate mayoral candidate.
OCTOBER
The Sydney Roosters won the NRL grand final 14-8 against the Canberra Raiders though a decision by referee Ben Cummins seven minutes before full time caused some controversy. Pressure on the nation’s racing industry to reform intensified after footage was released showing horses at a Queensland abattoir being mistreated.
Jockey Laura Cheshire making a poignant call to authorities to protect animals after she tried to track down a retired racehorse only to be told it has been killed in an abattoir. The aged care royal commission found aged care residents were routinely being drugged up with antipsychotic drugs not approved for their condition.
In Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk became the first Premier found guilty of contempt by the Ethic Committee after she was found to have “improperly interfered with the free performance’’ of the Katter Party MPs.
The Premier did not face criminal sanctions but did apologise to the House. Hundreds of rock climbers gathered at Uluru on October 25 one day before the ban on climbing kicked in, putting the ancient rock in the middle of Australia off limits to hikers.
Overseas, Prince Harry warned the British press that history might repeat itself because of the negative coverage of his wife Meghan Markle. Prince Harry was referring to the way his mother Princess Diana was treated by media.
Two tourists were mauled in the fifth Whitsunday shark attack in just over 12 months sparking renewed debate on shark control on the state’s beaches and, as October came to a close, one of the nation’s most notorious serial killers, Ivan Milat, died in Long Bay Jail’s hospital wing, possibly taking the secrets of a host of unsolved murders with him to the grave.
NOVEMBER
LNP Leader Deb Frecklington threw down the gauntlet one year out of a state election with an out-of-left field, multi-billion dollar policy designed to drought proof Queensland. Frecklington drew on the old Bradfield scheme proposal to frame the policy which would involve redirecting water inland to irrigate agricultural land, and create a new food bowl.
Also on the political front veteran MP Bob Katter and Senator Pauline Hanson teamed up to take it on the road on a “Bob and Pauline drought tour’’.
The racing industry was looking at Vow and Declare as a possible Melbourne Cup winner, with the Gympie-owned champion appearing on the Sunday Mail’s front page two days before the big race day sporting a wide, horsey grin.
By Wednesday the four-year-old gelding’s name was in the history books as the first Aussie-bred winner of the Cup since Shocking in 2009.
By mid-month the city of Brisbane was experiencing an extraordinary smoke haze which prompted official warnings to stay indoors as northern New South Wales and Queensland communities battled enormous bush fires.
In Britain a scandal involving Prince Andrew and his alleged friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein reached a crescendo after the Prince agreed to a BBC interview in which he fared poorly.
The 59-year-old stepped down from official duties but continued to deny claims he slept with Cairns woman Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17.
The Australian High Court agreed to hear, in front of the full bench, arguments both for and against the conviction of Cardinal George Pell. As the month came to a close, a final chapter in the 2011 summer of disaster closed with it.
Almost 7000 victims of the south east Queensland floods were told they could soon share in a massive compensation payout after a New South Wales Supreme Court Judge ruled Queensland dams were mismanaged during the height of the January 2011 flood event.
DECEMBER
A group of men displayed extraordinary heroism on London Bridge as they confronted a terrorist who had slashed two people to death.
The convicted terrorist who had been released early from jail on parole had plans to blow up the London Stock Exchange but was brought down by civilians, one of whom used a fire extinguisher as a weapon to deal with the terrorist who was eventually shot dead by police. Millions of Australian parents were left shocked as the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment revealed we are falling behind the rest of the world in literacy and numeracy. One of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s daughters stunned the nation with allegations her father had asked her not to report allegations of rape in 1980. The allegations were contained in a legal claim being made on her father’s estate.
By December 10 the lead story across the world was New Zealand’s White Island Volcanic eruption which has claimed at least 18 victims and injured many more.
Queensland and pockets of the south-east experienced some welcome relief from the heat and the drought with a Summer downpour and, in England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson defied polls (which had predicted a narrow contest) to not merely win the British general election, but secure what he referred to as a “stonking’’ mandate to cut his country adrift from the vast trading bloc that is the European Union.
As Christmas approached the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Alcohol Working Committee advised us to reduce our weekly alcohol intake by four standard drinks to ten.
RBA rate cut is ‘same old economic circle jerk’
While many were quick to welcome last week’s rate cut, some say it’s a “bad joke” that’s unlikely to mean much for households because of one thing. HAVE YOUR SAY
‘Spiritual duty’: Minister silent on heavenly housing solution
A priest whose flock sold its church to the government has backed a planned housing solution, but there’s no response from church or state.