Almost half the drivers who died on Mackay roads in five years were under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs. That is the stark reality revealed in the University of the Sunshine Coast s Road Safety Research Collaboration study into fatal crashes in Queensland from 2011 to 2015. Professor Jeremy Davey said data suggested drink-driving and drug-driving fatalities were higher for rural and regional areas like Mackay. Last week on Mackay region roads, police stopped 17 alleged drug-drivers and 14 alleged drink-drivers, Acting Senior Sergeant Daniel Goldburg of Mackay Road Policing Unit said. The figure is almost double the average of 9-10 drug-drivers charged per week in the Mackay district last year.
Climate of change puts business and Coalition at odds
Climate of change puts business and Coalition at odds
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The energy analyst Tim Buckley keeps a working folder on his computer in which he tracks announcements made by major financial institutions that are no longer insuring, lending to, or investing in, companies that are heavily engaged in coal.
In 2018 Buckley, who works for the pro-renewables Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, noted 31 major outfits abandoned coal. In 2019 the list was a third larger again, with 46 major outfits dumping coal. This year Buckley noted 68 exclusions and calculated that the number of announcements per week had more than doubled from 0.6 to 1.4.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has all but abandoned a national hotspot definition while insisting Sydney s northern beaches coronavirus outbreak and the response from premiers meets it.
The states have scrambled to put travel restrictions on people coming from the Greater Sydney region this week, throwing Christmas holiday plans into disarray for many Australians.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there is not yet a need for national cabinet to meet to discuss Sydney s northern beaches cluster.
Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The Commonwealth had wanted states and territories to agree in September to a national hotspot definition both to trigger and ease restrictions such as border closures, but Mr Morrison failed to convince other leaders to sign up.
21st Dec 2020 12:00 AM | Updated: 7:05 AM
Thirty-year-long Pacific Highway upgrade finally complete: Prime Minister Scott Morrison spruiked the long-awaited completion of the Pacific Highway Upgrade as the most “significant infrastructure project” of the last thirty years and expressed his gratitude to those involved in its completion. Twenty-one lives were lost on October 20, 1989 when a semi-trailer collided with a bus on the Pacific Highway at Cowper 25km north of Grafton. More than 31 years, $15 billion and hundreds more lost lives later, this month Australia s largest ever road infrastructure project was officially completed. As part of the Pacific Highway Upgrade, there is now 657km of continuous dual carriageway from Hexham near Newcastle to the Queensland border.
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