Council counselling over Queensland elections

They have been busy little bees at Queensland’s new arbiter of fake news, the Independent Council Election Observer.

Bushfires relief donor Kylie Jenner. Picture: Getty Images

They have been busy little bees at Queensland’s new arbiter of fake news, the Independent Council Election Observer. Set up as an independent eye to check questionable claims being made ahead of the March 28 local government elections, the office is headed by retired District Court judge John Robertson. Campaigns for local council in Queensland have always been played hard but social media has taken the nastiness and falsehoods exchanged between opponents to a new level. A particular focus of Robertson’s work has been the far north Queensland council of Cassowary Coast, where a Facebook page titled Cassowary Coast Online News has been playing merry hell with the council. Despite getting a reprimand from Robertson in December over misleading claims against the council, it seems the publishers can’t take a hint. Another Facebook site, The Truth about Cassowary Regional Coast, popped up shortly after the scolding. Same misleading claims, same criticism of the council, only this time the site carried the imprimatur of being “fact-checked by the ICEO”. Robertson’s response? “The site has not been ‘fact-checked by the ICEO’. That statement is deliberately false. The controllers of the site are also publishing beside each post on the page a form of green logo containing the words ‘Fact-checked by the ICEO’. This is also a deliberate falsehood.” Only 78 sleeps until election day.

Less duking with media

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s announcement they are stepping away from royal roles has been planned well in advance — right down to establishing a new policy in dealing with the media. Gone are the days of being blinded by the flashes of the press pool. “The Duke and Duchess have chosen to revise their media policy to reflect both their forthcoming change as members of the royal family with financial independence, and their wish to reshape and broaden access to their work,” says a statement on their new official website. This “updated approach” will include engaging with “grassroots media organisations and young, up-and-coming journalists”. The couple will invite “specialist media to specific events/engagements to give greater access to their cause-driven activities, widening the spectrum of news coverage”. There may be hope for the Cassowary Coast Online News yet.

Senior’s moment

From the “anything you can do I can do better” department comes news that sports physiotherapist Peter Dornan has been chosen as Queensland’s Senior Australian of the Year for 2020. And to think it was only two years ago that his wife, speech pathologist and founder of the Hear and Say Centre Dimity Dornan, was bestowed with the same honour.

Peter Dornan

Peter, 76, was given the nod for his work in improving men’s health, specifically those dealing with the effects of prostate cancer. And he has ample proof that he practises what he preaches. After recovering from a bout of prostate cancer himself, he took up mountain climbing, scaling Mount Kilimanjaro at age 60.

Ambushed firey

As the line of donors to bushfire relief grows more and more and more gilded with Hollywood A-listers, billionaire business people, sports stars and the like, you could be forgiven for thinking the recipients of all this generosity would be a tad star-struck.

Not Justin Choveaux, general manager of the Rural Fire Brigades Association of Queensland, who took a call from publicists for none other than make-up queen Kylie Jenner this week. Told that Jenner wanted to donate $200,000 to the local fireys, Choveaux’s first reaction was to inquire as to whether his mob was the intended recipient. He confessed he did not know of Jenner or any other member of her Kardashian family before the call. Indeed, his first thoughts were of 18th-century physician Edward Jenner, credited with developing the smallpox vaccine.

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