Trade and investment a key focus of Future Townsville event
Townsville's potential as an industrial powerhouse has been explored at a key event in the city.
News Corp's Future Townsville focused on trade and investment in sectors that underpin the region's economy.
City, industry and government leaders convened at the event, which included an address from Queensland Premier David Crisafulli.
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The Australian
2 days ago
- The Australian
David Crisafulli orders Verian, The Lab Insight and Strategy, Fifty-Five Five polling
You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. David Crisafulli's department has quietly commissioned more than $650,000 in taxpayer-funded polling and market research in just five months, after he criticised former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for doing the same thing. Government spending disclosures show Mr Crisafulli's Department of Premier and Cabinet ordered four tranches of 'market research' and 'concept testing' from polling and research companies The Lab Insight and Strategy, Verian Group, and Fifty-Five Five between December and April, at a total cost of $651,107. The Australian revealed ahead of the 2020 state election that Labor premier Ms Palaszczuk's department had spent $528,000 for Ipsos to do Covid-19 polling and market research. She refused to release the data. But in February last year, her successor, Labor premier Steven Miles, eventually published thousands of pages of research dating back to 2020. The Labor government ended up spending more than $1m surveying Queenslanders on issues such as youth crime, the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, the Indigenous voice to parliament and pandemic border closures. As opposition leader, Mr Crisafulli was highly critical of Ms Palaszczuk's decision to order the research and not release it. In parliament in November 2023, he accused the premier and her government of having the 'wrong priorities' and focusing on spending 'hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to secure its political future'. 'The premier always says that the only poll that matters is the one on election day. Why, then, would she spend hundreds of thousands of Queensland taxpayers' dollars to save her job today?' Mr Crisafulli said. 'Why do we have a government so focused on its own survival rather than on what Queenslanders are experiencing in their lives? 'Queenslanders are living with a health crisis, a youth crime crisis, a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis. This government's focus is on how it can get secret polling to try to save itself from facing its date with destiny.' During the Covid pandemic, then Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk commissioned taxpayer-funded polling and market research but refused to release it. Picture: Dan Peled When Steven Miles succeeded Ms Palaszczuk as premier, he published the taxpayer-funded polling. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen At the same time, Mr Crisafulli's LNP opposition moved a motion in parliament in an unsuccessful attempt to force Ms Palaszczuk to release the Ipsos polling. Then opposition integrity in government spokeswoman Fiona Simpson – now Mr Crisafulli's Minister for Women – said there was 'simply no justification for this secret polling to continue to be locked away from public view'. On Thursday, The Australian asked Mr Crisafulli's office to release the research, to commit to releasing any in-progress research once complete, and to detail the terms of reference for each contract, but was rebuffed. A government spokesman said 'concept development of policy campaigns and the development of their corresponding communication campaigns is a longstanding practice employed across the Queensland government, and is a vital step to ensure critical communications resonate with Queenslanders and is effective'. 'An example of this work undertaken by the Queensland government is the anti-bullying campaign, which engaged directly with parents, teachers and students to ensure anti-bullying messaging was as effective as possible in driving down bullying in schools,' he said. The spokesman did not answer questions about what methodology – such as focus groups – the market research companies were using, and declined to give a full list of what topics or policies were being canvassed with voters. In parliament in September 2021, opposition MP Laura Gerber – now Mr Crisafulli's Youth Justice Minister – called for the Palaszczuk government to release the pandemic-related polling and be 'open and accountable'. 'This is public money,' Ms Gerber said. 'At the very least, Queenslanders deserve to see what they got for their half a million dollars. Taxpayers deserve to see the results of the secret polling they paid for.' Sarah Elks Senior Reporter Sarah Elks is a senior reporter for The Australian in its Brisbane bureau, focusing on investigations into politics, business and industry. Sarah has worked for the paper for 15 years, primarily in Brisbane, but also in Sydney, and in Cairns as north Queensland correspondent. She has covered election campaigns, high-profile murder trials, and natural disasters, and was named Queensland Journalist of the Year in 2016 for a series of exclusive stories exposing the failure of Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel business. Sarah has been nominated for four Walkley awards. @sarahelks Sarah Elks
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Sky News AU
ASX 200 sinks on Thursday as the index's largest tech company WiseTech dives amid board exodus
The ASX 200 dropped on Thursday and its largest tech company has sunk after more board members quit the company. WiseTech fell 1.2 per cent in the first 30 minutes of trading after two long serving non-executive directors, Charles Gibbon and Michael Gregg, exited the business. It comes amid an array of scandals and allegations involving its executive chairman Richard White and the abrupt resignation of four board members in February over 'intractable differences' about Mr White's ongoing role at the $36b company. The pair will be replaced by Sandra Hook, a former News Corp and Fairfax executive, and Rob Castaneda, a tech company founder. The ASX 200 is down 0.1 per with Evolution Mining sinking 2.9 per cent, aluminium producer Alcoa Corporation shedding 2.3 per cent and aged housing company Lifestyle Communities plunging 2.6 per cent. The fall follows the US Federal Reserve keeping the cash rate on hold as expected while the central bank assesses the impact of Trump's economic policies. "For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on Wednesday. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones slumped 0.1 per cent, the S&P 500 finished flat and the Nasdaq rose 0.1 per cent. London's FTSE 250 Index added 0.3 per cent on Wednesday, Germany's DAX shed 0.5 per cent and the STOXX Europe 600 dropped 0.4 per cent. New Zealand's NZX 50 Index is down 0.1 per cent on Thursday, while Japan's Nikkei 225 has plummeted 0.7 per cent.
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Sky News AU
Trade and investment a key focus of Future Townsville event
Townsville's potential as an industrial powerhouse has been explored at a key event in the city. News Corp's Future Townsville focused on trade and investment in sectors that underpin the region's economy. City, industry and government leaders convened at the event, which included an address from Queensland Premier David Crisafulli.
