Police are appealing for public assistance to locate a wanted man A warrant has been issued for the arrest of 37-year-old Ross Cedric Police are urging Ross to come forward or anyone who knows his whereabouts to contact Policelink or Crime Stoppers immediately contact Policelink by providing information using the online suspicious activity form 24hrs per day at www.police.qld.gov.au/reporting or call 131 444 Report crime information anonymously via Crime Stoppers Call 1800 333 000 or report online at www.crimestoppersqld.com.au Adrian Schrinner is working hard to keep Brisbane moving By delivering new infrastructure for a growing city and investing in Brisbane’s lifestyle Adrian is focused on delivering projects that help build a better Brisbane City-shaping projects like the turn-up-and-go Brisbane Metro as well as the Moggill Road Corridor and Beams Road upgrades are helping keep Brisbane moving while destinations like Howard Smith Wharves Hanlon Park and Bradbury Park have made Brisbane's lifestyle even better Adrian is firmly focused on improving the areas where most residents live and his “suburbs first” guarantee is ensuring at least 80 per cent of all Council expenditure is invested in the suburbs Adrian and his wife Nina’s proudest achievements are their four young children who they are raising together in Carindale. As a father and Lord Mayor he is determined to ensure Brisbane keeps getting better Adrian and his wife Nina’s proudest achievements are their four young children who they are raising together in Carindale. As a father and Lord Mayor Complete the contact form to write to the Lord Mayor online Write to:\r\nOffice of the Lord Mayor \r\nGPO Box 2287 \r\nBrisbane Qld 4001 Find information about the Establishment and Coordination Committee Find information about the Establishment and Coordination Committee Brisbane City Council is Australia’s largest local government by population It’s made up of 26 wards and 27 councillors.  eligible residents elect a councillor for their ward and the Lord Mayor.  You can find out about your ward and local councillor including biography and contact information You can also download a summary of the current councillors and ward areas PDF  •   3 MB   •   Last modified 30 April 2024 Visit the Electoral Commission of Queensland website to view Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA) and ward boundary maps Visit the Electoral Commission of Queensland website to view Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA) and ward boundary maps The Bracken Ridge Ward comprises the suburbs of Bracken Ridge 77 Bracken Street, Bracken Ridge Qld 4017 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-4.30pm Phone: 07 3667 6000\r\nEmail: Bracken Ridge Ward Office 77 Bracken Street, Bracken Ridge Qld 4017 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-4.30pm Councillor Sandy Landers was appointed Councillor for Bracken Ridge Ward in October 2019 and elected as part of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s Administration in 2020 Sandy is a Brisbane girl who has lived the majority of her life on the Northside She was raised in Brighton and went to Bracken Ridge State High School where she was School Vice-captain Courtney and Jordan in the district with both of them now working after obtaining their tertiary qualifications After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree and Post Graduate Degree in Teaching Sandy taught in our state schools for over 20 years including Craigslea and Albany Creek State High Schools Sandy had extensive experience working in State and Federal Governments and understands what is required to get things done One of Sandy’s core values is development of community which she has done through investing her time and energy into every community she has lived in.  From playgroups music and community groups; to being a JP and to rolling up her sleeves with the hundreds and hundreds of other Brisbanites as part of the mud army when the devastating floods affected our great city Sandy sees being a local Councillor as an extension of what she’s been doing as a volunteer for years She also supports other passionate members of the community who have great ideas Sandy wants the Bracken Ridge Ward to be the best place in Brisbane to live and serves on the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee One of Sandy’s core values is development of community which she has done through investing her time and energy into every community she has lived in.  From playgroups and serves on the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee The Calamvale Ward comprises the suburbs of Algester Shop 10, 168 Algester Road, Calamvale Qld 4116 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-4.45pm Phone: 07 3131 7022\r\nEmail: Calamvale Ward Office Shop 10, 168 Algester Road, Calamvale Qld 4116 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-4.45pm Emily Kim is the Councillor for Calamvale Ward and advocates for Brisbane’s largest council ward by area born and raised in Calamvale and she now lives just five minutes down the road from her family home and spread a simple but important message:  It’s time for our local suburbs to get more value out of their council rates the work of delivering change begins in earnest This means working with all levels of government pulling every lever at her disposal to deliver local fixes and upgrades and bringing new energy to our suburbs by organising new local activities Emily grew up volunteering for her local church and continues her proud association with community including volunteering as a member of the Calamvale Lions Emily’s love for her community also inspired her to work with local State Members of Parliament the late Duncan Pegg and then James Martin MP Emily represented Queensland at the National Powerlifting Championships Emily knows the legacy that good services in our local suburbs can provide for future generations which is a focus of hers leading up to the 2032 Olympics.  Councillor Kim currently serves on both the Transport Committee and the City Standards Committee and spread a simple but important message:  which is a focus of hers leading up to the 2032 Olympics.  Councillor Kim currently serves on both the Transport Committee and the City Standards Committee Central Ward comprises the Central Business District Suite 1, 5 Lamington Street, New Farm Qld 4005 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm Phone: 07 3403 0254\r\nEmail: Central Ward Office Suite 1, 5 Lamington Street, New Farm Qld 4005 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm When elected as Central Ward’s first female Councillor in 2012 Vicki made a commitment to work tirelessly every day to make Brisbane’s vibrant inner northern villages the best place to work rest and play in Australia’s New World City the heart and soul of Brisbane, receives the strong passionate and effective representation it deserves A passionate advocate for Brisbane’s unique local environment Vicki’s policy of greening our streets has seen hundreds of trees and thousands of native shrubs planted throughout the ward enhancing the natural lungs of our city and improving our green canopy Along with her passion for improving Brisbane’s natural environment Vicki has also secured and delivered record funds to ensure Central Ward’s roads are smooth and footpaths are well maintained Vicki is also proud to have delivered increased CityCat and CityGlider services to ensure local residents can get around our area quickly As the Councillor for the capital of Australia’s third-largest city Vicki is focussed on ensuring Brisbane continues to be a city of inspiration Vicki was proud to be instrumental in delivering the award-winning Howard Smith Wharves precinct which has quickly become Brisbane’s favourite backyard Working alongside our amazing arts community Vicki is proud to be part of a Council that supports and provides funding for so many landmark events including the: She is also working on a plan to revitalise the riverside precinct delivering more jobs more opportunity and more reasons to love our city Re-elected by her community for a third term Vicki is a senior member of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s team serving on Civic Cabinet as Civic Cabinet Chair of Community and the Arts Committee Vicki loves connecting with local residents businesses and community groups wherever and whenever she can As a member and supporter of many local community groups Vicki loves nothing more than working and spending time with those who share her enthusiasm and pride for Brisbane’s inner north Some of the groups Vicki is proud to be associated with include: Vicki is also honoured to be Patron of the Merthyr Croquet Club Nash Theatre and the Spring Hill Men’s Shed As well as her office in New Farm, Vicki holds monthly weekend and after hour mobile offices throughout Central Ward to make it even easier for people to speak to her one on one. Find out more about Vicki’s mobile office schedule Vicki is passionate about Brisbane’s future and looks forward to continuing working with her community to ensure the Brisbane of tomorrow is even better than the Brisbane of today the heart and soul of Brisbane, receives the strong Vicki’s policy of greening our streets has seen hundreds of trees and thousands of native shrubs planted throughout the ward Vicki is a senior member of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s team serving on Civic Cabinet as Civic Cabinet Chair of Community and the Arts Committee As well as her office in New Farm, Vicki holds monthly weekend and after hour mobile offices throughout Central Ward to make it even easier for people to speak to her one on one. Find out more about Vicki’s mobile office schedule The Chandler Ward comprises the suburbs of Carindale The Chandler Ward comprises the suburbs of Carindale Shop 8, Millenium Centre, 14 Millenium Boulevard, Carindale Qld 4152 Phone: 07 3407 1400\r\nEmail: Chandler Ward Office Shop 8, Millenium Centre, 14 Millenium Boulevard, Carindale Qld 4152 Ryan Murphy is a lifelong resident of Brisbane’s eastern suburbs and as Councillor for Chandler Ward is committed to delivering for his constituents Ryan attended Carina State School and then Iona College at Lindum before going on to further study at the University of Queensland he was employed in the private sector as a public relations consultant to some of Queensland’s largest infrastructure and resource projects Ryan has lived in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs his whole life His priorities for the area include improving local roads and parks strengthening local community organisations and ensuring the views of residents are heard on planning and development issues He is actively involved in supporting a wide variety of local community groups in the Chandler Ward and serves as Patron of the following community organisations: Ryan is an associate with the Public Relations Institute of Australia and is the founder of the Wakerley Christmas Carols Ryan currently serves as Civic Cabinet Chair of Council's Transport Committee Ryan currently serves as Civic Cabinet Chair of Council's Transport Committee The Coorparoo Ward comprises the suburbs of Coorparoo Stones Corner and parts of Camp Hill and Woolloongabba Suite 6, 737 Logan Road, Greenslopes Qld 4120 Office hours: Monday to Thursday: 9am-5pm; Friday 9am-4pm Phone: 07 3403 2101\r\nEmail: Coorparoo Ward Office Suite 6, 737 Logan Road, Greenslopes Qld 4120 Office hours: Monday to Thursday: 9am-5pm; Friday 9am-4pm Deputy Mayor Fiona Cunningham is proud to work with residents environment and community groups in her role representing more than 45,000 people in the Ward of Coorparoo She has a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism and Marketing) and early in her career worked as a radio and television journalist in regional centres and in Sydney Fiona lives at Coorparoo with her young family after having previously lived at Greenslopes She is Civic Cabinet Chair of Finance and City Governance and was also the first member of the Lord Mayor’s Cabinet to have a baby while in this leadership position Fiona is a Director on the Small Steps for Hannah Foundation She has become an advocate alongside local residents Sue and Lloyd Clarke who have fought for the criminalisation of coercive control and promoting healthy and respectful family relationships Fiona has been a finalist in the Australia-wide McKinnon Prize which recognises outstanding political leadership and inspires leaders to deliver positive impact to their communities With two young boys keeping her focused on a better Brisbane for tomorrow Fiona is passionate about striking a balance between affordability and liveability Fiona has been appointed to the role of Deputy Mayor of Brisbane and is as dedicated as ever to keep Brisbane moving Fiona lives at Coorparoo with her young family She is Civic Cabinet Chair of Finance and City Governance and was also the first member of the Lord Mayor’s Cabinet to have a baby while in this leadership position The Deagon Ward comprises the suburbs of Boondall most of Geebung and Zillmere and the industrial side of Virginia It also includes Moreton Island (including the townships of Bulwer Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm Phone: 07 3667 6011\r\nEmail: Deagon Ward Office Level 1, Suite 2A/47 Brighton Road, Sandgate Qld 4017 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm Jared Cassidy has represented the Deagon Ward since August 2015 He grew up in the local area and attended Shorncliffe State School and Nudgee College His family has called the Deagon Ward community home for five generations and have run businesses and been involved in community and sports groups for decades Before becoming the Councillor he worked in both the public and private sectors Jared previously worked for the Federal Member for Lilley He has also been an academic tutor at Griffith University and Nudgee College and has run his own small business Jared completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics and Government in 2008 and a Master of International Relations in 2013 Jared spends most of his time with local residents and community groups He is a strong supporter of the many community and sporting organisations in the Deagon Ward and is a member and patron of many local organisations He supports a wide range of community events like the Einbunpin Festival as Chairperson South Pacific Islander Christmas in the Park and established the Sandgate Youth Festival supporting young and emerging artists.  Jared is the patron of the following organisations: Jared is the Leader of the Opposition in Council and Opposition Spokesperson on Council’s City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and the Finance and City Governance Committee Visit Councillor Jared Cassidy's Facebook page South Pacific Islander Christmas in the Park and established the Sandgate Youth Festival supporting young and emerging artists.  Jared is the Leader of the Opposition in Council and Opposition Spokesperson on Council’s City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and the Finance and City Governance Committee Visit Councillor Jared Cassidy's Facebook page The Doboy Ward comprises the suburbs of Belmont Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Phone: 07 3407 8800\r\nEmail: Doboy Ward Office Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Lisa believes in bringing the community together by building better infrastructure supporting community groups and improving green spaces Growing up in Stanthorpe as one of eight children Lisa knows the value of hard work and isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves to get things done Seeing the positive outcomes of strong community ties in her youth Lisa knows that the community is at its best when it works together and has strong leadership After completing her high school education in Stanthorpe Lisa moved to Carina in 2009 to commence study at the University of Queensland where she gained a Bachelor of Communication where she now resides with her husband Todd and their two young daughters Lisa values the beautiful greenspaces within Doboy Ward and understands the importance of improving Lisa and Todd started their own small business The experience of being a business owner has enabled Lisa to understand the importance of listening to as well as ensuring every dollar is invested wisely Lisa has enjoyed working in a number of areas Her background in politics has given her a real hands on sense of what people need and want in their communities When the role of Councillor for Doboy Ward became available Lisa was ready to step in and serve the community Lisa is Deputy Chair of the Community and the Arts Committee and is a member of the City Standards Committee Lisa believes in putting people first and in the inclusion and representation of all getting involved in local community groups preserving green spaces and improving sporting facilities Lisa is Deputy Chair of the Community and the Arts Committee and is a member of the City Standards Committee The Enoggera Ward comprises the suburbs of Enoggera 9 South Pine Road, Alderley Qld 4051 Phone: 07 3407 2510\r\nEmail: Enoggera Ward Office 9 South Pine Road, Alderley Qld 4051 Councillor Andrew Wines has served as the Councillor for Enoggera since 2008 and is the Civic Cabinet Chair for the Infrastructure Committee Councillor Andrew Wines is a long time committed northsider residing in Gaythorne He attended high school at what is today Mt Maria College with Campuses at Enoggera and Mitchelton Councillor Wines holds a Business Degree from QUT with a dual major in Economics and Marketing Councillor Wines worked in project management Councillor Wines believes that Council should be committed to a better Brisbane through improved transport Visit Counillor Andrew Wines' website Councillor Andrew Wines has served as the Councillor for Enoggera since 2008 and is the Civic Cabinet Chair for the Infrastructure Committee Visit Counillor Andrew Wines' website The Forest Lake Ward comprises of the suburbs of Inala Ellen Grove east of Centenary Highway and Durack west of Blunder Road Inala Library, Cnr Wirraway Parade & Corsair Avenue, Inala Qld 4077 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8am-4pm Phone: 07 3407 1211\r\nEmail: Forest Lake Ward Office Inala Library, Cnr Wirraway Parade & Corsair Avenue, Inala Qld 4077 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8am-4pm Charles Strunk was elected on 19 March 2016 as Councillor for the new Ward of Forest Lake Charles served as an Electorate Officer for Hon Henry Palaszczuk MP in her role as State Member for Inala and Premier Charles has worked extensively in the private sector for 27 years in sales and management for a number of retail chain stores in Brisbane He is a Community Advocate and Volunteer with many local groups including Forest Lake Lions Club South West Progress Association and Forest Lake Graffiti Busters Charles is currently a member and Shadow Chair of both the Community and the Arts Committee and the Infrastructure Committee Charles is currently a member and Shadow Chair of both the Community and the Arts Committee and the Infrastructure Committee The Hamilton Ward comprises the Brisbane northside suburbs of Albion It also includes the non-residential areas of Brisbane Airport Eagle Farm and the northern shore of the Brisbane Port 42 Racecourse Road, Hamilton Qld 4007 Phone: 07 3403 1095\r\nEmail: Hamilton Ward Office 42 Racecourse Road, Hamilton Qld 4007 Julia is a proud Hamilton Ward resident who is passionate about representing her community As a professional and working mum she understands the challenges facing residents whether they are a small business owner Julia had a diverse career and most recently worked for a peak industry body as a Senior Policy Advisor experience and enthusiasm to be an effective voice at City Hall Julia serves on the Transport Committee and the Finance and City Governance Committee Julia serves on the Transport Committee and the Finance and City Governance Committee The Holland Park Ward comprises the suburbs of Camp Hill Shop 13, 1290 Logan Road, Mt Gravatt Qld 4122 Phone: 07 3403 7791\r\nEmail: Holland Park Ward Office Shop 13, 1290 Logan Road, Mt Gravatt Qld 4122 Krista Adams was elected as Councillor for the ward of Wishart in 2008 Krista has been appointed to a variety of senior management roles Initially taking on the role of Chair of Council she has been a Civic Cabinet Chair for Lifestyle Finance and Economic Development then Public and Active Transport Economic and Tourism Development Electoral boundary changes in 2016 mean Krista now represents the Holland Park Ward and following the 2020 Council election Krista was reappointed as Deputy Mayor and given the Chair of City Planning and Economic Development Committee. In 2021 Krista was appointed the Civic Cabinet Chair of the newly established Economic Development and the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Committee in 2021 Krista decided to step down as Deputy Mayor and now serves the residents of Brisbane as a member of the Environment Visit Councilor Krista Adam's Facebook page Krista was reappointed as Deputy Mayor and given the Chair of City Planning and Economic Development Committee. In 2021 Visit Councilor Krista Adam's Facebook page The Jamboree Ward comprises the suburbs of Jamboree Heights Westlake and parts of Oxley and Ellen Grove Shop 146A, Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre, 171 Dandenong Road, Mt Ommaney Qld 4074 Phone: 07 3407 7000\r\nEmail: Jamboree Ward Office Shop 146A, Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre, 171 Dandenong Road, Mt Ommaney Qld 4074 Sarah Hutton was elected Councillor for Jamboree Ward in March 2020 Sarah is a highly experienced communications and marketing professional who has worked across the corporate and not-for-profit sectors Sarah has led campaigns that have raised millions of dollars for medical research engaged thousands of patients in clinical trials and managed over 2500 volunteers across Queensland She is passionate about making a difference and delivering for our community.  Sarah is a lifelong resident of the Centenary suburbs growing up in Westlake and now raising her own family in Darra She has experienced the two distinct communities of the ward and she understands the diverse needs across these suburbs Sarah is focused on ensuring her community is provided the best facilities parks and infrastructure to ensure young and old alike can live their best lives in the Jamboree Ward Having three boys that play in these parks compete on local sporting fields and ride on the new world-class BMX track she understands the importance of improving preserving and maintaining the greenspace and parklands across the ward.  she is driven to ensure a comprehensive and cohesive plan is in place for the future of Brisbane and the Jamboree Ward.  She is passionate about ensuring Brisbane is a sustainable and visionary city one that residents are proud to call home.  Sarah holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from the University of Queensland. Sarah is the Chair of the City Standards Committee She is passionate about making a difference and delivering for our community.  preserving and maintaining the greenspace and parklands across the ward.  she is driven to ensure a comprehensive and cohesive plan is in place for the future of Brisbane and the Jamboree Ward.  one that residents are proud to call home.  Sarah holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from the University of Queensland. Sarah is the Chair of the City Standards Committee The MacGregor Ward comprises the suburbs of MacGregor Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am-5pm Phone: 07 3407 8500\r\nEmail: MacGregor Ward Office Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am-5pm Steven arrived in Brisbane from Taiwan in 1988 as a 12 year old boy who spoke very little English He has lived here for more than 30 years and is a proud local with strong ties to the community His parents decided to move to Brisbane because they believed Brisbane was the best place to raise their family Steven's family never dreamed that he would one day be involved in politics and become a Councillor for Brisbane City Council Steven attended Runcorn Heights State School and Runcorn State High School. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland with a double major in Government Administration and a Master of Public Administration degree His passion for politics developed during his senior school education when he saw how positive political representation can impact and change society Steven remains fluent in Mandarin and understands Cantonese He hopes these skills will help him engage with and draw together MacGregor Ward's many multicultural communities As the Deputy Chair of the Finance and City Governance Committee and a member of the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and the Infrastructure Committee Steven will work hard to ensure that everyone in the MacGregor Ward continues to enjoy the quality lifestyle and services they are entitled to.  In recognition of Council’s commitment to representing residents and visitors of culturally diverse backgrounds Councillor Huang is also a Lord Mayor’s representative for multicultural communities Steven believes in the collective wisdom of the community and is working with local residents in shaping our local suburbs to make sure we deliver a more liveable and prosperous future for our future generations Visit Councillor Steven Huang's Facebook page He has lived here for more than 30 years and is a proud local with strong ties to the community His parents decided to move to Brisbane because they believed Brisbane was the best place to raise their family Steven attended Runcorn Heights State School and Runcorn State High School. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland with a double major in Government Administration and a Master of Public Administration degree As the Deputy Chair of the Finance and City Governance Committee and a member of the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and the Infrastructure Committee Steven will work hard to ensure that everyone in the MacGregor Ward continues to enjoy the quality lifestyle and services they are entitled to.  Visit Councillor Steven Huang's Facebook page The Marchant Ward comprises the suburbs of parts of Albion North Regional Business Centre, Level 1, 375 Hamilton Road, Chermside Qld 4032 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am-4.45pm Phone: 07 3407 0707\r\nEmail: Marchant Ward Office North Regional Business Centre, Level 1, 375 Hamilton Road, Chermside Qld 4032 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am-4.45pm Danita has been a northsider for the better part of a decade She lives in Stafford Heights with her husband where they are actively involved with local sporting teams and community groups and always strive to support local businesses where she forged a career in media relations and communications Danita is determined to get things done for her community She intends to use her professional skills and local knowledge to: Danita is Deputy Chair of the Transport Committee and a member of the Finance and City Governance Committee Danita is Deputy Chair of the Transport Committee and a member of the Finance and City Governance Committee The McDowall Ward comprises the suburbs of McDowall Shops 5 and 6, Rode Shopping Centre, 271 Appleby Road, Stafford Heights Qld 4053 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am-4.30pm Phone: 07 3403 7690\r\nEmail: McDowall Ward Office Shops 5 and 6, Rode Shopping Centre, 271 Appleby Road, Stafford Heights Qld 4053 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am-4.30pm Councillor Tracy Davis is the Civic Cabinet Chair of the Environment Parks and Sustainability Committee and also previously served on the City Standards Committee Councillor Davis is also a Lord Mayor’s representative for multicultural communities Visit Councillor Tracy Davis's Facebook page and website Councillor Tracy Davis is the Civic Cabinet Chair of the Environment Parks and Sustainability Committee and also previously served on the City Standards Committee Visit Councillor Tracy Davis's Facebook page and website The Moorooka Ward includes the southern suburbs of Acacia Ridge Shop 2, 122 Beaudesert Road, Moorooka Qld 4105 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.45am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-4.30pm Phone: 07 3403 1730\r\nEmail: Moorooka Ward Office Shop 2, 122 Beaudesert Road, Moorooka Qld 4105 Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8.45am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-4.30pm Steve Griffiths was re-elected Councillor for Moorooka Ward in March 2020 having been a Councillor since 2003. He is presently Shadow Chair of the Environment Steve grew up and was educated in Brisbane attending Griffith University with qualifications in Teaching (Special Education) and then studied at the University of Queensland obtaining a qualification in Social Work His particular interests are in the fields of community development/planning and amenity Steve has also completed a Masters in Social Work (UQ) Steve worked at local schools for the Queensland Department of Education undertook mental health advocacy for the Queensland Department of Health and worked with local peak community organisations such as QCOSS and Project Micah and also with Brisbane City Council undertaking Community Development facilitation Steve has a proven record of working tirelessly for his local community including with residents entrepreneurs and artists to enhance community amenity He has advocated strongly for public and active transport improvements engaged in community consultation on a wide range of issues encouraged community participation and connection and environmental restoration He played an integral role in harnessing resources and addressing the needs of flood-affected residents of Rocklea and Archerfield during and following the devastating 2011 and 2022 Brisbane floods Steve actively promotes local events, news and activities via his regular e-newsletter. To sign up, visit his website having been a Councillor since 2003. He is presently Shadow Chair of the Environment Steve actively promotes local events, news and activities via his regular e-newsletter. To sign up, visit his website The Morningside Ward includes the suburbs of Balmoral Ground Floor, 63 Oxford Street, Bulimba Qld 4171 Phone: 07 3407 8200\r\nEmail: Morningside Ward Office Ground Floor, 63 Oxford Street, Bulimba Qld 4171 Lucy is a 4171 local who grew up in Hawthorne and now lives in Bulimba with her husband Matt and daughter Maisy She is passionate about the local community having been the past President of the Bulimba Community Centre helped run the I Love Bulimba and 4171 community Facebook group Secretary of the Morningside 1 Camp Seven Neighbourhood Watch and been the volunteer co-ordinator for local ANZAC Day services for many years Lucy will always work hard to ensure that the local community gets the possible outcomes She is someone who understands what it means to be local and will fight to protect the beautiful Morningside Ward community Lucy’s top priorities as the Councillor for Morningside Ward include addressing local traffic congestion issues ensuring local voices are heard when it comes to managing traffic and fighting for improved community facilities to cater for increasing demand Lucy will ensure that much-loved local community events like Hocus Pocus and Movies in the Park will continue for all to enjoy Lucy is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Council and Opposition Spokesperson on the Transport Committee To receive news and events happening in the Morningside Ward email your full name and street address to Morningside Ward Office and request to be included in The Morningside Ward monthly email Lucy is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Council and Opposition Spokesperson on the Transport Committee email your full name and street address to Morningside Ward Office and request to be included in The Morningside Ward monthly email The Northgate Ward comprises the suburbs of Nudgee Beach and the parts of Kedron and Chermside to the east of Gympie Road Banyo Library, 284 St Vincents Road, Banyo Qld 4014 Phone: 07 3403 2210\r\nEmail: Northgate Ward Office Banyo Library, 284 St Vincents Road, Banyo Qld 4014 Adam Allan has served Northgate Ward residents since the 2016 Brisbane City Council elections He has a strong belief that the Northgate Ward is a great place to live work and relax with its diverse lifestyle and leisure options He is committed to working with residents to deliver constant improvements within the community along with keeping our city clean Adam has a strong interest in local community and sporting groups and bringing communities together He is in regular contact with local community groups community service providers and special interest groups.  Adam holds Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business degrees He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a number of other professional qualifications Adam is married with three children and lives in Wavell Heights.  Prior to entering Council he had a successful career in banking and consulting having worked in Australia and a number of overseas locations This has given him the opportunity to work with a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds His experience overseas has also given him valuable insights into how other cities have grown and developed.  Adam is a member of Civic Cabinet as the Civic Cabinet Chair of the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and is the Chair of the Councillor Ethics Committee and was formerly the Chair of the Finance and City Governance Committee and is a trustee on the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust.  he has a very strong focus on the future of the area how to plan for inevitable change and how to ensure that the Brisbane of tomorrow is even better than the Brisbane of today He looks forward to continuing to work with the residents of Northgate Ward to deliver a wide range of projects that will benefit the wider community Visit Councillor Adam Allan's Facebook page or website community service providers and special interest groups.  Adam is married with three children and lives in Wavell Heights.  His experience overseas has also given him valuable insights into how other cities have grown and developed.  Adam is a member of Civic Cabinet as the Civic Cabinet Chair of the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and is the Chair of the Councillor Ethics Committee and was formerly the Chair of the Finance and City Governance Committee and is a trustee on the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust.  Visit Councillor Adam Allan's Facebook page or website The Paddington Ward comprises the suburbs of Auchenflower 44 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington Qld 4064 Phone: 07 3403 2520\r\nEmail: Paddington Ward Office 44 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington Qld 4064 Seal was elected as the Councillor for the Paddington Ward in March 2024 has lived in the area for decades and loves raising her kids in this diverse community Seal is excited to represent the vibrant mix of suburbs within the Paddington Ward which offers unique historical character a diverse community plus the rich culture of First Nations Peoples The community is fortunate to be on the doorstep of Victoria/Barrambin Park which means ‘windy place’ The park holds significant sacred First Nations history and is the ‘green lungs’ of our city Seal was previously an Executive Committee Member of Kelvin Grove State College’s P&C and the secretary of the P&C at Kelvin Grove State College. She maintains strong ties to various volunteer and advocacy groups driven by her passion for collaborating on initiatives that seek positive outcomes and strengthen community bonds of Chinese and European/Australian heritage who is committed to advocating for ecological sustainability grassroots participatory democracy in decision making and has studied a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts majoring in Illustration at Queensland College of Art She is solution focused and has the desire to create a healthy and happy Paddington Ward community Seal currently serves on both the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and the Community and the Arts Committee has lived in the area for decades and loves raising her kids in this diverse community Seal was previously an Executive Committee Member of Kelvin Grove State College’s P&C and the secretary of the P&C at Kelvin Grove State College. She maintains strong ties to various volunteer and advocacy groups Seal currently serves on both the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and the Community and the Arts Committee The Pullenvale Ward comprises the suburbs of Anstead Upper Brookfield and parts of Chuwar and Chapel Hill.     Upper Brookfield and parts of Chuwar and Chapel Hill.     Phone: 07 3407 0220\r\nEmail: Pullenvale Ward Office Greg Adermann was elected Councillor for Pullenvale Ward in March 2020 after working as a corporate communications executive for a number of blue chip companies for the past 28 years Cr Adermann is a long term resident of Chapel Hill and together with his wife Cia Both have been involved in a range of community activities over many years. They owned and operated a small business in Kenmore for five years. Cr Adermann is an active member of Kenmore Rotary and a Life Member of the Kenmore Bears Junior AFL Club Cr Adermann commenced his professional career as a journalist in regional newspapers and television newsrooms before moving to Brisbane to join the Queensland Government Media Relations Unit. He served two State Ministers as Press Secretary/Senior Media Advisor over an eight year period before joining Telstra (then Telecom) as the State Media Manager and later Foxtel as State Marketing Manager to help launch the subscription television company in Queensland His interest in sports and event management led to his appointment as Marketing Manager for IMG Motorsport which oversaw the former Gold Coast Indy and Bathurst 1000 races he was employed by the leading venue management company in the Asian Pacific region ASM Global (formerly AEG Ogden) as both its Group Communications Manager and Director of Communications and Marketing at Suncorp Stadium.  Cr Adermann is Deputy Chair of the City Standards Committee and is a member of the Transport Committee Visit Councillor Greg Adermann's Facebook page or website Both have been involved in a range of community activities over many years. They owned and operated a small business in Kenmore for five years. Cr Adermann is an active member of Kenmore Rotary and a Life Member of the Kenmore Bears Junior AFL Club Cr Adermann commenced his professional career as a journalist in regional newspapers and television newsrooms before moving to Brisbane to join the Queensland Government Media Relations Unit. He served two State Ministers as Press Secretary/Senior Media Advisor over an eight year period before joining Telstra (then Telecom) as the State Media Manager and later Foxtel as State Marketing Manager to help launch the subscription television company in Queensland ASM Global (formerly AEG Ogden) as both its Group Communications Manager and Director of Communications and Marketing at Suncorp Stadium.  Cr Adermann is Deputy Chair of the City Standards Committee and is a member of the Transport Committee Visit Councillor Greg Adermann's Facebook page or website The Runcorn Ward comprises the suburbs of Sunnybank Hills Phone: 07 3407 0566\r\nEmail: Runcorn Ward Office Kim Marx was elected as Councillor for the ward of Karawatha in 2012. At the 2016 election Kim was returned as the Councillor for the new Runcorn Ward. In 2020 (after a second boundary change) Kim was re-elected as part of the Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s team Councillor Marx is also a Lord Mayor’s representative for Multicultural Communities Councillor Marx is actively involved in supporting and assisting a wide variety of local community groups within the Runcorn Ward including: Kim is currently the Deputy Chair of the Environment Parks and Sustainability Committee and is also a member of the Infrastructure Committee Councillor Marx has an active Facebook page to keep residents up-to-date with activities functions and any Council events within the Runcorn Ward Contact the Runcorn Ward Office to arrange a suitable time to discuss any issues you may have Councillor Marx looks forward to an opportunity to meet you and to work together to find the best solution to your issues within the ward Kim Marx was elected as Councillor for the ward of Karawatha in 2012. At the 2016 election Kim was returned as the Councillor for the new Runcorn Ward. In 2020 (after a second boundary change) Kim was re-elected as part of the Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s team Kim is currently the Deputy Chair of the Environment Parks and Sustainability Committee and is also a member of the Infrastructure Committee Councillor Marx has an active Facebook page to keep residents up-to-date with activities Councillor Marx looks forward to an opportunity to meet you and to work together to find the best solution to your issues within the ward The Tennyson Ward comprises the suburbs of Chelmer and Yeerongpilly and parts of Annerley and Oxley Fairfield Gardens, 180 Fairfield Road, Fairfield Qld 4103 Phone: 07 3403 8605\r\nEmail: Tennyson Ward Office Fairfield Gardens, 180 Fairfield Road, Fairfield Qld 4103 Nicole Johnston is the only Independent Councillor to be elected to Brisbane City Council in 70 years first elected as the Councillor for Tennyson in March 2008 and then re-elected in 2012 Nicole grew up and was educated in Brisbane studying Law at QUT and Arts at the University of Queensland and she has also completed a Masters in Public Policy Nicole worked in corporate affairs holding senior management positions for two publicly listed Australian companies Nicole lives in Sherwood and is an active member of and volunteer for a number of local community sporting and environmental groups as well as an advocate for local schools and kindergartens Nicole is currently a patron of Graceville Croquet Club Stephens Croquet Club and Centenary Theatre Group Nicole is currently a member of the City Standards Committee and the Infrastructure Committee. She has previously served as Councillor assisting the Lord Mayor Deputy Chair of City Business and Local Assets Committee and as a member of the Public and Active Transport Committee Parks and Sustainability Committee and the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee Nicole actively promotes local events, news and activities in the ward via her monthly e-newsletter, Facebook page and website Nicole is currently a member of the City Standards Committee and the Infrastructure Committee. She has previously served as Councillor assisting the Lord Mayor Deputy Chair of City Business and Local Assets Committee and as a member of the Public and Active Transport Committee Nicole actively promotes local events, news and activities in the ward via her monthly e-newsletter, Facebook page and website The Gabba Ward comprises the suburbs of Kangaroo Point South Brisbane and the western side of Woolloongabba Phone: 07 3403 2165\r\nEmail: The Gabba Ward Office Trina was appointed to the role of The Gabba Ward Councillor in May 2023 and was elected in 2024 She is a renter who currently lives in Woolloongabba but has previously lived and worked in West End Trina is a proud queer woman and immigrant of Filipino and African American ethnicity with a Bachelor of Arts degree Trina worked in senior management roles in state and national arts organisations and in a regional council in the Economic and Community Development area A passionate supporter of grassroots community engagement Trina spends most of her time with residents local community organisations and the diverse people who call The Gabba their professional or personal home Trina serves on the Finance and City Governance Committee and the Environment Trina serves on the Finance and City Governance Committee and the Environment The Gap Ward comprises the suburbs of Ashgrove 477 Waterworks Road, Ashgrove Qld 4060 Phone: 07 3407 1900\r\nEmail: The Gap Ward Office 477 Waterworks Road, Ashgrove Qld 4060 Steve Toomey was first elected to Council in 2016 He was re-elected in 2020 as Councillor for The Gap Ward Before joining Council he worked for a global electrical company as an estimator in their building technologies team Steve has a trade qualification and also qualifications in project management and business.  he has delivered improvements to local parks footpaths and major infrastructure in the ward He is President of Men of The Trees and a member of the local environmental group SOWN. This has enabled him to engage with these groups on matters affecting our creeks and greenspace that are a prominent feature in The Gap Ward He lives in the ward with his wife and children who have both attended local schools His strong sense of community reflects his commitment to work to improve the facilities in the ward for business and families whilst protecting the local environment Steve is currently Deputy Chair of the Infrastructure Committee and a member of the City Standards Committee Steve has a trade qualification and also qualifications in project management and business.  He is President of Men of The Trees and a member of the local environmental group SOWN. This has enabled him to engage with these groups on matters affecting our creeks and greenspace that are a prominent feature in The Gap Ward Steve is currently Deputy Chair of the Infrastructure Committee and a member of the City Standards Committee The Walter Taylor Ward includes the suburbs of Fig Tree Pocket Phone: 07 3407 0005\r\nEmail: Walter Taylor Ward Office Penny has called Brisbane home for over 35 years Known to many as the “Brisbane Coffee Lady” Penny has crafted a niche in the realm of Specialty Coffee in Brisbane and beyond co-founding a wholesale coffee roasting business and numerous retail cafes with her husband Peter. Alongside her entrepreneurial drive board member and she has enjoyed providing value and energy across multiple sectors including the arts small and family business and hospitality.   one thing that has remained consistently strong is her desire to serve people and her community Cr Penny Wolff pours her heart into everything she touches She gives heavily to others through her engagement fundraising and philanthropic developments As a community focused individual and enabler Penny has a genuine drive for helping others through listening Walter Taylor Ward locals love to share their feedback with Penny over a cup of coffee knowledge and experience in the Walter Taylor Ward to: Penny is also active and supportive of many grassroots charities including Women's Legal Services Queensland Penny is Deputy Chair of the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and is also a member of the Community and the Arts Committee.  numerous retail cafes with her husband Peter. Alongside her entrepreneurial drive small and family business and hospitality.   Penny is Deputy Chair of the City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee and is also a member of the Community and the Arts Committee.  The Wynnum Manly Ward comprises the suburbs of Green Island Phone: 07 3403 2180\r\nEmail: Wynnum Manly Ward Office 3a/212 Bay Terrace (Cnr Pine Street), Wynnum Qld 4178 Alex was elected as the Councillor for the Wynnum Manly Ward in March 2024 as part of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s team. As a longstanding resident in the Wynnum Manly area Alex strives to ensure she sets an example for her children that hard work and forming genuine relationships are the keys to living a happy and fulfilling life Educated at Moreton Bay College during her senior school years Alex developed a passion for teaching and went on to earn a degree from Queensland University of Technology she remained committed to teaching within the Bayside Alex and her Wynnum-born husband ventured into homeownership at the age of 21 in Manly West while juggling three part-time jobs Over a decade of dedicated service in primary education revealed her innate talent for fostering connections This proficiency led her to transition into a role centred on stakeholder engagement within her school community fostering collaboration with local businesses Alex has taken an active role in managing her son's football team at the Wynnum Vikings and contributed her time to the committee of Wynnum General Gordon Kindergarten Engaged in service organisations such as the Lions Club of Moreton Bay and the Rotary Club of Wynnum Manly, her dedication to community involvement has remained steadfast over the years Deeply passionate about the Bayside lifestyle Alex is committed to working with the community to develop and deliver a comprehensive and balanced plan for its future Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) and a Diploma in Community Services (Children’s Services) she serves on both the Community and the Arts Committee and the Environment Alex was elected as the Councillor for the Wynnum Manly Ward in March 2024 as part of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s team. As a longstanding resident in the Wynnum Manly area Alex developed a passion for teaching and went on to earn a degree from Queensland University of Technology she remained committed to teaching within the Bayside Over a decade of dedicated service in primary education revealed her innate talent for fostering connections Engaged in service organisations such as the Lions Club of Moreton Bay and the Rotary Club of Wynnum Manly, her dedication to community involvement has remained steadfast over the years she serves on both the Community and the Arts Committee and the Environment The Code of Conduct for Councillors sets out agreed standards of behaviour They determine how a councillor should act when carrying out official duties Anyone can complain that a councillor has breached the Code of Conduct.  Complaints about a councillor’s conduct or behaviour can be made to the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA).  The OIA will make an initial assessment of each complaint If it determines that a councillor has behaved inappropriately Council will investigate in accordance with the AP247 Councillor Conduct Assessment and Investigation Policy.  Anyone can complain that a councillor has breached the Code of Conduct.  Complaints about a councillor’s conduct or behaviour can be made to the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA).  Council will investigate in accordance with the AP247 Councillor Conduct Assessment and Investigation Policy.  PDF  •   286 KB   •   Last modified December 2024 Any complaints received by Council about the conduct or behaviour of a Councillor will be referred to the OIA for review The Councillor Conduct Complaints Register is publicly available as required by section 150DX of the Local Government Act 2009 PDF  •   427 KB   •   Last modified 12 December 2024 PDF  •   213 KB   •   Last modified 12 December 2024 PDF  •   200 KB   •   Last modified 12 December 2024 PDF  •   121 KB   •   Last modified 12 December 2024 Section 268 of the City of Brisbane Regulation 2012 requires the Chief Executive Officer to maintain a register of interests for each Brisbane City Council Councillor Section 269 of the regulation requires the register of interests for Councillors to disclose their financial and non-financial interests As part of Council's commitment to access and inclusion we try to provide all documents in a format accessible to website assistive technologies Phone Council on 07 3403 8888 if you require additional assistance accessing or interpreting any of these documents Download the current register of interests for each Brisbane City Council Councillor.\r\n  Phone Council on 07 3403 8888 if you require additional assistance accessing or interpreting any of these documents Brisbane City Council first established an independent Councillor Remuneration Tribunal (the Tribunal) to determine Councillor remuneration in 2013 In accordance with the Tribunal’s Terms of Reference the Tribunal is reappointed every four years unless a special sitting is requested by Council in the interim The Tribunal conducted a review in 2013 and 2017 In 2019 the Tribunal conducted a review of Councillor superannuation benefits The Tribunal met again in 2022 to undertake a review of Councillor remuneration The findings and recommendations were presented to Council’s Chief Executive Officer on 31 March 2022 to take effect from 1 June 2022 The Councillor Remuneration Policy applies to all classes of offices in Council including: The findings and recommendations of the independent Councillor Remuneration Tribunal are available to download PDF  •   733 KB   •   Last modified March 2023 PDF  •   242 KB   •   Last modified 26 November 2019 PDF  •   201 KB   •   Last modified 6 December 2017 PDF  •   511 KB   •   Last modified 8 November 2013 In the ensuing years between review periods, Council adopts annual percentage movements as set out by the State Government’s Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal In the ensuing years between review periods, Council adopts annual percentage movements as set out by the State Government’s Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal Council makes the travel expense details of Council representatives available for public viewing for the current year and the previous year Visit the Electoral Commission of Queensland website to view Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA) and ward boundary maps Visit the Electoral Commission of Queensland website to view Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA) and ward boundary maps councillors and the Lord Mayor must represent the current and future interests of Brisbane residents The Lord Mayor has extra responsibilities including: Visit the Electoral Commission of Queensland website to find out if you’re enrolled to vote Visit the Electoral Commission of Queensland website to find out if you’re enrolled to vote https://www.metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/about-us/news/mental-health/administrator-embodies-accountability-in-addiction-services Chloe Mohr has made her mark at the Inala Addictions Mental Health Service in just six months winning the AMHS QSuper Values Award for accountability “At first I didn’t even think it was real; I thought it was something that everybody gets,” she said Chloe arrived as the new Inala Alcohol and Drugs Administration Officer in 2024 and was quick to demonstrate her collaboration She has played a key role in formalising processes to support the completion of Care Reviews across Addiction Services she developed work instructions and templates to benefit Addiction Services as a whole Her willingness to step up when needed and provide thoughtful support Relying on six years of administration experience in Queensland Health – including work in a correctional facility’s opioid treatment program – Chloe really hit the ground running plan reviews and support clinicians in completing their plans “I love being the expert that people can come to That’s my motivation; people can come to me for support and resources and I have a folder ready,” she said Chloe attributes her success to a supportive and collaborative work environment “Everyone in the team praises me and makes me feel that the work I’m doing is worthwhile “I’ve never been this happy in a job ever Connecting with consumers is also a core aspect of Chloe’s role She stresses the importance of building rapport with consumers and providing support “I have had consumers call to let me know personally that they are sober now and to pass their thanks to the team When asked what she wanted others to know about her role “sometimes all people need is to be heard and given a chance Well done on this incredible achievement Chloe By Matt Hart first published at 15 April 2025 - 10:03 pm Video grabs about the Oz Lotto winning syndicate available here Audio grabs about the Oz Lotto winning syndicate available here Fifteen Queenslanders have become overnight multimillionaires after their syndicate scooped up the entire $70 million jackpot in tonight’s Oz Lotto draw The central syndicate held the only division one winning entry nationally in Oz Lotto It’s the second Oz Lotto division one win to land in the Sunshine State so far this year In addition to scoring the $70 million division one prize, the syndicate’s System entry also scored division two 14 times division six 1,960 times and division seven 1,925 times boosting the group’s total prize to $70,707,666.40 Each syndicate member pocketed $4,713,844.42 Apart from the Queensland division one winning syndicate there were also 1,248,555 winners in divisions two to seven who collectively won $27,266,400.30 This includes 41 division two winners who each scored $24,374.50 The 15 members of the division one winning syndicate are unknown to each other and purchased their syndicate shares at 15 Golden Casket outlets across Queensland stretching from the Gold Coast to Townsville: While some syndicate members who registered their entries to The Lott Members Club have been alerted to their good fortune others in the winning group were uncontactable or held unregistered entries and might still be unaware of their good fortune An official from The Lott woke one Bribie Island man this evening with the news he was now a multimillionaire “I’d happily wake up to hear your voice any day of the week!” A Richlands man was initially sceptical about his good fortune before he realised he was part of the winning syndicate “I thought you were sh**-stirring me!” he laughed I went to the outlet today to buy another share into the syndicate but it had sold out erupted into excitement upon hearing the news his life had changed forever with a division one syndicate win but now it’s actually hit me that you said $4.7 million My dad and sister are standing right in front of me and now we’ve got my brother-in-law on the speed dial.” With $4.7 million opening the doors to endless possibilities the Brisbane resident shared his win would allow him to travel overseas and reunite with family “I have some family overseas who are enjoying a holiday without me but now I’ll be able to join them,” he exclaimed The Lott spokesperson Anna Hobdell said she hoped the remaining syndicate winners checked their tickets immediately to discover their early Easter treat “It’s remarkable that 15 Queenslanders became multimillionaires tonight While we’ve tried contacting those who registered their tickets to The Lott Members Club some may have yet to discover the good news!” she said “We’re encouraging anyone who purchased a syndicate entry in Queensland for tonight’s Oz Lotto draw to check their tickets as soon as possible “Just imagine how thrilling it would be to discover you’re part of this winning group and are now $4.7 million richer Your plans for Easter and beyond could be transformed “If you discover you’re holding one of these golden tickets contact The Lott on 131 868 to begin the prize claim process.” The winning numbers in Oz Lotto draw 1626 on Tuesday 15 April 2025 were 14 Across Australia, there was one division one winning entry in Oz Lotto draw 1626 – the syndicate entry from Queensland. up and down arrows for volume.WatchDuration: 16 minutes 11 seconds16m Hannah heads to a nature reserve helping some of Tasmania’s most endangered and enigmatic birds and meets a group of enthusiastic students growing native plants for their favourite bird the forty-spotted pardalote.Bruny BirdlifeFri 28 Jun 2024 at 9:30amFriday 28 Jun 2024 at 9:30amFri 28 Jun 2024 at 9:30amhttps://www.abc.net.au/gardening/how-to/bruny-birdlife/104032928Copy linkLink copiedshareSERIES 35 | Episode 22Hannah is on South Bruny island an important refuge for some of Australia’s most vulnerable bird species All 12 of Australia’s endemic birds can be found on Bruny Island Hannah visits Inala Conservation Reserve to find out how they’re being protected The reserve is run by biologist and founder Dr Tonia Cochran, who says nearly 100 species can be found there. Tino Carnevale also visited Inala in 2018 Bruny Island is especially known as a refuge for 40-spotted pardalotes; nearly half the existing population can be found there A lookout tower has been built at Inala to help see the tiny birds which forage high in the canopy of very large trees There were 12 birds when Tonia bought Inala and she thinks the colony has now grown to more than 50 They are totally reliant on Eucalyptus viminalis for their survival They forage in the leaves to find and eat lerps – a sugary substance produced by sap-sucking psylid insects – and manna There are also swift parrots on the reserve They prefer to nest in Blue gums and many have been cleared Tonia farmed when she first moved to Bruny Island in the early 1990s but has since bought 600ha of land and set about planting habitat for local birds and animals Most of the current tree cover was planted by her Her goal is revegetation to recreate a natural setting “I just don’t want anything to go extinct on my watch!” Inala grows about 500 assorted Eucalypts each year mostly from seed collected on the property Tonia plants them out very young so they can establish a good root structure in the ground White gums become useful to 40-spotted pardalotes when they are about five years old but it takes more than 100 years for nesting hollows to form they still need land for the young birds to disperse into so Tonia is encouraging neighbours to plant white gums on their land too but they take a long time to grow and flower And time is vital as swift parrots are in danger of becoming extinct within the next 15 years Eucalyptus leucoxylon also produces flowers within 6-7 years Small or dwarf varieties of both of these trees are available Because it takes trees so long to produce hollows nesting boxes are installed as a stop-gap measure He said the box design has had to be modified to have a small entrance hole to stop tree martins and striated pardalotes from getting in Tonia is inspired by the resilience of nature and is hoping to leave the property in a better shape than she found it Hannah also visits Australia’s southern-most school where students are helping to protect the pardalotes They have a Pardalote Patch where white gums have been planted out and the Grade 1 students help show her around Teacher Claire Boost says the kids are already spend a lot of time in nature and they use the patch they’ve planted out with white gums as a base for a lot of lessons The reserve is run by biologist and founder Dr Tonia Cochran, who says nearly 100 species can be found there. Tino Carnevale also visited Inala in 2018.  Bruny Island is especially known as a refuge for 40-spotted pardalotes; nearly half the existing population can be found there.  and credible horticultural and gardening advice inspiring and entertaining all Australian gardeners around the nation follow the instructions for your browser below This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Search Results for {phrase} ({results_count} of {results_count_total})Displaying {results_count} results of {results_count_total}More results... A transformative vision for Indigenous health research – The Inala Manifesto – has been presented by leading Indigenous scholar Associate Professor Chelsea Bond, at the Lowitja Institute’s recent International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference Marie McInerney reports below for the Croakey Conference News Service. Leading Indigenous scholar Associate Professor Chelsea Bond has issued a call to arms to Indigenous health researchers to declare war on settler ideologies that continue to dehumanise Indigenous people and to carve out a new intellectual space on Indigenous health In an address titled ‘Putting the Indigenist back into Indigenous health research’, Bond laid out the principles of what she called The Inala Manifesto on the closing day of the Lowitja Institute’s recent International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference on the Larrakia Nation in Darwin She said the manifesto looked to build a cross-disciplinary “army of thinkers” to eliminate the ideology that poorer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing is a result of “Black lack” rather than from ongoing oppression and dispossession The question for us as Indigenous health researchers is whose validation are we seeking on whose terms are we operating in being of service to the survival of our people as Indigenous health researchers?” The premature deaths of Blackfullas today are on our watch and consider whether we really are doing enough or how we define success Better surveillance of Black bodies is not a measure of success We need to set the bar higher for ourselves.” Bond is an Aboriginal (Munanjahli) and South Sea Islander Australian and a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. She is described by IndigenousX as “one of Australia’s leading voices on matters of race and racism in the colony” Bond is also a resident of the outer western Brisbane suburb of Inala, where she has been involved in innovative work by the Inala Wangarra community development organisation. She has written of her concerns about the way the suburb was featured in SBS’s Struggle Street series and the risk of feeding “the national appetite for Indigenous despair” In the leadup to the Lowitja Institute conference, Bond and colleagues Dr Lisa Whop and Ali Drummond published The Blackfulla Test: 11 reasons that Indigenous health research grant/publication should be rejected They inspired the hashtag #BlackfullaBINGO at the event which followed up on the article and aimed to identify Indigenous health research presentations “that ARE here for Indigenous peoples” (see tweet below) In her keynote for the final plenary panel session Bond told hundreds of Indigenous delegates from across Australia and the globe that she had been instructed by Lowitja Institute chair Pat Anderson to be “provocative and challenging Bond declared she was not there to “bear false witness to the virtue signalling of Close the Gap and Closing the Gap agendas” but on behalf of those people “whose premature deaths were are meant to be preventing” and to provoke thinking “about what it is to be Indigenous in Indigenous health and what it is our community needs us to be” This meant transforming the researcher’s toolkit beyond technical research skills that are informed by Western methodologies and power bases to reconfigure the researcher’s role as public intellectual and change maker – “as a truth-teller rather than objective observer” Bond called on her Indigenous colleagues to end self-defeating contests between disciplines and instead imagine and demand a new health research collective that values “the sociologist and the philosopher” as much as the clinically trained health researcher and epidemiologist Our task is twofold: one is the preservation of black bodies – it is the work of healers who are finding the means for surviving and flourishing in our lands; the other is the war against the ideologies that refuse to see our humanness and our health as possibilities.” Bond said she was presenting the Inala Manifesto, inspired by the work of Lester-Irabinna Rigney The manifesto calls for a new Indigenous health research paradigm that: Bond warned that moving into this space can come with professional and personal costs “Our people do not have the time to wait or waste on watching incremental statistical reductions in gaps between us and them the parameters of which we never got to determine in the first place.” Bond said there is a place too for non-Indigenous peoples in this intellectual army but they should take note that the “role of the all-knowing white knower has been made redundant” and should beware of denying Indigenous people their rightful role “You will be welcome to serve as a foot soldier being as courageous as the Blackfullas beside you but we are no longer recruiting for white overseers,” she said if you remain perfectly comfortable with the status quo leading Indigenous health research centres while denying Indigenous peoples opportunities on those panels that you sit on…the army is growing and they will come for you and call you out because Black intellectual excellence is both real and powerful.” • Watch Associate Professor Chelsea Bond’s full presentation on The Inala Manifesto, and the following panel discussion here. Social media platforms are suppressing the sharing of news; we are asking readers to support public interest journalism by sharing it through other means and website in this browser for the next time I comment This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed One of my favourite things about Croakey is the active engagement of so many people with a passion for equity and public health It was great to be able to collaborate with the Croakey team for the COVID-19 CaLD Community Think Tank The event was aimed at hearing from those working in multicultural and community organisations about the challenges they have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic but to also capture lessons learnt and strategies that have enhanced engagement and to share those lessons By working with Cate and the Croakey team we were able to capture those insights and to disseminate them in a timely way which is critical during a pandemic The resulting article captured all of the key messages in a format that was relevant and tailored to the relevant audiences The team were easy to connect and work with and I would certainly look to repeat the partnership again So happy to be creating and coding for such a dedicated Croakey has pioneered an unprecedented role in providing an open forum for the revelation and exchange of thinking on health in Australia we have a place where players from all corners of health can share ideas It’s always a delight to see the diversity of issues on Croakey particularly in health policy and social justice  It’s also great to see the diversity of voices on Croakey particularly Indigenous Australians and those coming in via social media Croakey – Australia’s healthiest news-site With a health system that is facing unprecedented challenges we need all the courage and all the insight we can get our hands on Croakey is a space that invites us to to challenge and interrogate our practice and our policy Croakey’s journalism and activism inspires me to remain optimistic If news doesn’t make you squirm it’s simply propaganda humour and plain good reporting makes it an essential – if not always comfortable – read © 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme Sunnybank Magpies nearly pulled off the upset of the round in the Intech Open 1 Men’s competition last Saturday bravely going down 22-20 to joint leaders Souths Inala Warriors at Brandon Park With the bitterly cold westerly winds in Brisbane howling through Brisbane a healthy crowd converged into the ground to brave the elements in what was a pulsating game of rugby league Inala’s Andy Launiuvao had the Warriors first on the scoreboard in the 19th minute finding a gaping hole to evade the Sunnybank defence to race in and score under the posts A one-on-one strip six minutes later by winger Dennis Leaupepe finally had the visitors on the board in a return serve startling the Warriors side The game was being played at a frantic pace with Sunnybank’s halves pairing of Michael Steel and Shannon Bennett running the show for the Magpies throughout the first half in a stellar performance Bennett set up the Magpies' next try kicking out to his winger Leaupepe who spectacularly caught the ball inches from the sideline to go in for his second try of the afternoon the Warriors are not joint leaders on the current points table for nothing The home side - on the back end of a good set-in attack - strolled in for another try right on the half-time hooter to see both teams locked up at 10-10 at the break The second half saw both sides battle it out in a see-sawing match that was played from end-to-end With the howling wind playing havoc with kicking the action was more in attack and some flashy moves were put on by both sides The Warriors big men in Alex Selesele and Jason Ioane were punching holes up the middle making some solid ground against the Magpies It took some individual brilliance by Sunnybank fullback Luke Morris who stepped and weaved his way through the Inala defence to somehow plant the ball right miraculously on the try-line to regain the lead saw the Warriors scamper up the sideline to go in yet again the Magpies found a chink in the Warriors armour with prop Chevez Barbarich crashing his way over to increase the scoreline for the Magpies Fullback Damion Jackson took matters into his own hands in the 59th minute collecting a superb ball from hooker Kyle Edgar and his flashy stepping was enough to see him slide under the sticks to score a brilliant solo try the Warriors were on the cusp of being upstaged by the last placed Magpies trailing 22-20 Inala somehow found open space through centre Makoni Niu The powerful centre then ran the near length of the field to go in for a show-stopping finish that saw the Warriors get out of jail right on full-time snatching victory from a courageous Magpies outfit Semi-Finals: Weekend Preview - Mal Meninga Cup Mackay and Cairns women eager to dethrone favourites Townsville in Foley Shield Everything you need to know: XXXX Foley Shield 2025 Building works: Fr Joseph Vu holds plans for the new building works to take place at Flint Street in Inala CONSTRUCTION on Our Lady of Vietnamese Martyrs church and the Vietnamese Catholic Community Centre is set to start on Flint Street Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge blessed the plot in August but construction was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Vietnamese Catholic Community chaplain and Divine Word Missionary Father Joseph Vu said the community needed a larger space where they could catechize and form more than 450 young people who attended their Sunday School each week our activity and personnel and even financially into the youth because we believe they are the core of the future for our community,” he said.  With so many children in their youth program bigger than some regional schools in comparison the current demountable set-up and youth areas were unfit for the growth they were seeing.  Part of the new building works would include spacious classrooms for the Sunday School where they could teach about the faith and their culture we want to maintain the language,” Fr Vu said He said most of the children in the community are born in Australia and many do not have a chance to live in Vietnam and experience the culture.  He said the children learned excellent English in their Australian schooling from kindergarten through to university but the Vietnamese language was at risk of being forgotten unless it was intentionally preserved The language was a gateway to certain cultural elements of their ritual and their way of life but most importantly the community wanted to worship and pray to God in their mother tongue as one community “It has been handed down to us from our parents and grandparents and we want to continue to hand it on to the next generation,” he said Our Lady of Vietnamese Martyrs church and community centre concept art had been posted outside the community hall for community members to see The architecture of the new church was in a modern style and was conscious of maximizing the view of the altar from all angles even outside the church where glass panels could be removed for larger gatherings like at Christmas and Easter The Vietnamese Catholic Community had more than 3000 members and more space was always welcome Fr Vu said building a church of their own had been a community goal for a long time He said Archbishop Coleridge and Brisbane archdiocese had provided great support during the application and construction process.  He said the community wanted to “flourish and continue to contribute to the main activity of the archdiocese”.  The first group of 20 Vietnamese Catholic immigrants had laid the foundations of the community 40 years ago and Fr Vu hoped this next step would ensure the future of the community The community will relocate from its current site on Lilac Street opposite St Mark’s church to its new site in the next two years.  The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929 accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians who have walked upon and cared for this land for thousands of years We acknowledge the continued deep spiritual attachment and relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to this country and commit ourselves to the ongoing journey of Reconciliation Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time What was once a desolate park has turned into a lively space for children to enjoy with their families south-west of Brisbane Inala Youth Service volunteers have breathed new life into DJ Sherrington Park after they saw a need in the community for youth to have a place they could call their own Inala Youth Service has created a space for young people after finding there was nowhere they felt they could congregate.Credit: Jocelyn Garcia has been running for six years without any government funding housing youth support worker Tracey Woodward said they set out to gauge the hopes "We surveyed about 270 young people after school at parks and the shopping centre to see what they needed," she said "There were three things they wanted: a safe space Ms Woodward said Inala Youth Services began holding events at the park until they could secure the former Girl Guides Hut "It was like we activated the park because it was dead and barely being used before we got here," she said "We had our eyes set on the hut and signed the lease in 2013 and with the help of a local artist and Brisbane City Council Ms Woodward said they relied on volunteers and donations to keep The Hut running "We see so many kids and families coming to use the space and our services," she said we'd be able to open it up every afternoon Inala Youth Service also helps struggling families with food hampers and hold community events at the park.Credit: Jocelyn Garcia "The space has also evolved with the needs of the community so we try to respond to what youth and families are experiencing with what we can." Hut coordinator Lisa Tittle said one of the needs was food hampers that was offered with the help of OzHarvest and SecondBite "We see so much food handed to families and clients who are struggling to make ends meet," she said "There's fruit and vegetables that they've never tried before because they're too expensive to buy and some of them have barely anything in their cupboards "One child was so excited when he tried a mango for the first time." More than 12,700 kilograms of food had been delivered to Inala Youth Service since its first delivery in July 2017 Local mother Jeannie Iuni Maimau said The Hut had created a community at the park different views and different financial positions come together and it's a beautiful thing to see," she said "I used to come here with the kids and there was never anyone around "Now you see them with their skateboards and bikes outside playing video games or talking on the couches with volunteers "It's a place where we all feel like we belong and it's all because of The Hut." \\\"We surveyed about 270 young people after school at parks and the shopping centre to see what they needed,\\\" she said \\\"There were three things they wanted: a safe space \\\"It was like we activated the park because it was dead and barely being used before we got here,\\\" she said \\\"We had our eyes set on the hut and signed the lease in 2013 and with the help of a local artist and Brisbane City Council \\\"We see so many kids and families coming to use the space and our services,\\\" she said we'd be able to open it up every afternoon \\\"The space has also evolved with the needs of the community so we try to respond to what youth and families are experiencing with what we can.\\\" \\\"We see so much food handed to families and clients who are struggling to make ends meet,\\\" she said \\\"There's fruit and vegetables that they've never tried before because they're too expensive to buy \\\"One child was so excited when he tried a mango for the first time.\\\" and it's a beautiful thing to see,\\\" she said \\\"I used to come here with the kids and there was never anyone around \\\"Now you see them with their skateboards and bikes outside \\\"It's a place where we all feel like we belong and it's all because of The Hut.\\\" STAFF and students at St Mark’s Primary School Inala have stopped classes to pray for the repose of the soul of Divine Word Missionaries Father Gerard Mulholland The Maryborough-born priest died in Sydney’s Macquarie University Hospital around 9.45 am  on Wednesday November 26 He had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in May this year St Mark’s principal Garry Montgomery said classes at the school had stopped soon after parish priest Fr Stephen Pilly passed on the sad news “All were praying for this much-loved priest who had such a special connection to our school and parish,” he said Fr Mulholland joined the Divine Word Missionaries at 42 he was an occupational health and safety officer at Maryborough City Council he worked in occupational health and safety at a mine in Cobar and before that he was an ambulance driver After completing his studies and missionary training in Sydney and Melbourne Fr Gerard took final vows and was ordained to the priesthood at St Mark’s parish Inala in 2006 before taking up his first missionary assignment in PNG He returned to the Inala parish about four years ago Fr Mulholland had been in the care of his religious order at their Marsfield He was last at St Mark’s just after Easter for the installation of Fr Pilly as parish priest In recent times the priest’s condition had deteriorated rapidly and he had been in palliative care in the Macquarie University Hospital The Divine Word Missionaries Australian provincial Fr Henry Adler in a conversation with The Catholic Leader on Tuesday November 25 said Fr Mulholland was at peace “I told Gerard I hoped he would still be with us at Christmas but he said he didn’t think he would be,” he said Greater Brisbane’s traditional migrant pockets where a sense of community is cultivated more than the front yard banksia bush have been revealed as the suburbs homeowners are most loath to leave New data from CoreLogic calculating the turnover rate of homes sold over the past year and decade shows the once shunned spots where Vietnamese settlers flocked in places like Inala and the small but coveted pockets such as Shorncliffe had the lowest percentage of properties sold annually A man walks his dogs on the Shorncliffe Pier one of Greater Brisbane’s most tightly held suburbs.Credit: Adobe Stock Shorncliffe topped the list over the past year with a low turnover rate of just 2.1 per cent with Inala and Sheldon (near Cleveland) ranking a joint second at 2.3 per cent Robertson in Nathan was third at 2.4 per cent Inala took the lead with a mere 3.2 per cent of homes there transacting on average each year Homeowners in Inala hold on to their properties for an average of 11.7 years Brisbane clocked an overall turnover rate of 5.4 per cent in the 12 months leading up to December 2023 Industry experts say a sense of pride and suburb loyalty are the main reasons locals are loath to leave their neck of the woods with high capital growth and low stock levels another said market conditions also fuel those figures with homeowners more likely to sell when an area has a price surge such as blue-chip pockets where stock is tight and a handful of migrant hot spots where community is king In those blue-chip patches such as Shorncliffe Owen said a combination of high capital growth and low stock levels had led downsizers to avoid selling for fear they wouldn’t be able to buy back into the suburb And in places like Inala she said the community that expats built was often coveted to the point that many never left “We’re seeing empty nesters (in places like Shorncliffe) still staying in the family home,” she said “And community plays into that … these are the places that could have been popular with young families about 10 to 15 years ago because they were cheap but have now become more expensive ″What we often see in the long term is that some suburbs (with a low turnover) aren’t even the most expensive but they have a big population of people born overseas “And when it comes to the migrant communities in Australia that’s where they like to settle because that’s where their people are.” with community and exclusivity a big reason for the suburb and neighbouring Shorncliffe seeing low turnover rates the turnover rate was 3.3 per cent over the past year “Sandgate is a unique suburb because it’s by the bay and there are not many houses in the area and Shorncliffe’s the same,” she said McKeering collected a new record unit price of $930,000 in Sandgate for a three-bedroom abode at 2/30 Second Avenue in March and said the airtight stock levels meant even simple six-pack units now fetched upwards of $650,000 “But Sandgate has such a strong sense of community and homeliness that people just don’t want to leave “What’s unique here is there’s a sense of modesty across the whole suburb Everyone and anyone can go to the yacht club McKeering said the flipside to that was rising prices and a tight rental market with some of the longtime older locals who were still in the rental market being pushed out just 15 sales transacted over the past 12 months One Agency’s Cooper Swift said the Vietnamese community had played no small part in building a tight-knit neighbourhood that many homeowners never left But that sense of exclusivity had fuelled a surge in price growth which recently kickstarted a flurry of listings “A lot of owners have seen big prices being achieved … so stock levels are actually pretty good now,” he said “We just sold a home at 50 Sittella Street near the Inala Plaza for $702,500 Inala’s median house price has soared 68.5 per cent in five years to reach $615,000 over the 12 months to March but Swift said buyers would be lucky now to find options under $650,000 ”It’s a big Vietnamese community here and while they are still the main demographic of buyers we are starting to see more buyers from outside that community People are realising Inala isn’t that bad,” Swift said “And people come here from out of suburb just for the food.” Greater Brisbane\\u2019s traditional migrant pockets where a sense of community is cultivated more than the front yard banksia bush have been revealed as the suburbs homeowners are most loath to leave Owen said a combination of high capital growth and low stock levels had led downsizers to avoid selling for fear they wouldn\\u2019t be able to buy back into the suburb \\u201CWe\\u2019re seeing empty nesters (in places like Shorncliffe) still staying in the family home,\\u201D she said \\u201CAnd community plays into that \\u2026 these are the places that could have been popular with young families about 10 to 15 years ago because they were cheap but have now become more expensive \\u2033What we often see in the long term is that some suburbs (with a low turnover) aren\\u2019t even the most expensive \\u201CAnd when it comes to the migrant communities in Australia that\\u2019s where they like to settle because that\\u2019s where their people are.\\u201D \\u201CSandgate is a unique suburb because it\\u2019s by the bay and there are not many houses in the area and Shorncliffe\\u2019s the same,\\u201D she said \\u201CWe\\u2019re bound by sea and the highway so there\\u2019s nowhere for people to move \\u201CThere are only 134 units in Sandgate and only a handful have lifts,\\u201D she said \\u201CBut Sandgate has such a strong sense of community and homeliness that people just don\\u2019t want to leave \\u201CWhat\\u2019s unique here is there\\u2019s a sense of modesty across the whole suburb One Agency\\u2019s Cooper Swift said the Vietnamese community had played no small part in building a tight-knit neighbourhood that many homeowners never left \\u201CA lot of owners have seen big prices being achieved \\u2026 so stock levels are actually pretty good now,\\u201D he said \\u201CWe just sold a home at 50 Sittella Street near the Inala Plaza for $702,500 and that home was full of asbestos.\\u201D Inala\\u2019s median house price has soared 68.5 per cent in five years to reach $615,000 over the 12 months to March \\u201DIt\\u2019s a big Vietnamese community here and while they are still the main demographic of buyers we are starting to see more buyers from outside that community People are realising Inala isn\\u2019t that bad,\\u201D Swift said \\u201CAnd people come here from out of suburb just for the food.\\u201D A Brisbane coroner’s investigation into the unsolved 2016 Inala hit-and-run of 50-year-old man Van Phuc Nguyen has published its findings in the hope the case might finally be solved Mr Nguyen was hit by an unknown car on the evening of May 24 while walking home from Inala Shopping Centre was captured buying groceries at the Inala Woolworths prior to his death in a 2016 hit-and-run.Credit: Queensland Police Service He was hit by a car driving along Shelduck Street throwing him about 15 metres head-first into a gutter Coroner John Lock completed a non-inquest investigation into the hit-and-run in November releasing the findings with the approval of Mr Nguyen’s family in the hope a breakthrough would be made When police arrived at the scene of the hit-and-run witnesses described hearing “an extremely loud bang” and a car “hooning” but could not identify any car other than its being a pale colour Mr Nguyen had only recently moved to his home in Inala and had offered no information about his family or life to his landlord Police investigating the fatality found two SIM cards in Mr Nguyen’s mobile phone finding he had called one phone number 48 times from midnight the day before His phone was active on that line at the moment of the crash police have repeatedly attempted to call the number but found it was always busy Mr Nguyen’s next of kin was given the number to ask if she knew it: she did not Police inquiries with Optus about the phone number led to information that the phone had not been used for months and the number was listed for deactivation Police also inspected phone calls made by Mr Nguyen between May 19 The mysterious phone number was listed as being in the Laidley area during those weeks but no one ever called Mr Nguyen back despite being on the line at the moment of the crash “Police are satisfied that the person who was on the phone in the Plainland area speaking to Mr Nguyen on the night was obviously not directly involved with the incident although they have expressed concern that there were no further attempts by the person to contact Mr Nguyen or anybody else given that it is considered highly likely that the person to whom Mr Nguyen was speaking would have heard the impact of the motor vehicle,” the coroner’s report found Further attempts by police to call Vietnamese phone numbers listed in Mr Nguyen’s phone were frustrated Police conducted extensive searches for the car that hit Mr Nguyen tracing broken pieces littered across the road to a 1989-2005 Toyota Hilux model Cars matching this description across Inala Forest Lake and Doolandella have all been inspected by police for a match with the damage caused by the hit-and-run police asked for information about similar car models finally narrowing down the likely car model to one from between 1989 and 1996 Flyers were also distributed to police around Brisbane and Ipswich to highlight the wanted car model while police continued tracking down the tyre prints left on Mr Nguyen’s clothing A tyre engineer even took images of the tyre print to a Melbourne engineering conference to seek help in identifying it but with no luck CCTV footage nearby recorded Mr Nguyen’s movements from the shopping centre but did not record any such vehicle Several media calls to publicise the case also provided no concrete leads “All efforts to locate the driver and the vehicle involved have failed and there are no known investigations that can be carried out,” the coroner found “These findings are being published in the public interest and with approval from family in the hope they may prompt persons who may very well know of this case and who the driver is and provide this information or any other information they have knowledge of directly to the police.” A Brisbane coroner\\u2019s investigation into the unsolved 2016 Inala hit-and-run of 50-year-old man Van Phuc Nguyen has published its findings in the hope the case might finally be solved releasing the findings with the approval of Mr Nguyen\\u2019s family in the hope a breakthrough would be made witnesses described hearing \\u201Can extremely loud bang\\u201D and a car \\u201Chooning\\u201D Police investigating the fatality found two SIM cards in Mr Nguyen\\u2019s mobile phone Mr Nguyen\\u2019s next of kin was given the number to ask if she knew it: she did not \\u201CPolice are satisfied that the person who was on the phone in the Plainland area speaking to Mr Nguyen on the night was obviously not directly involved with the incident although they have expressed concern that there were no further attempts by the person to contact Mr Nguyen or anybody else given that it is considered highly likely that the person to whom Mr Nguyen was speaking would have heard the impact of the motor vehicle,\\u201D the coroner\\u2019s report found Further attempts by police to call Vietnamese phone numbers listed in Mr Nguyen\\u2019s phone were frustrated while police continued tracking down the tyre prints left on Mr Nguyen\\u2019s clothing CCTV footage nearby recorded Mr Nguyen\\u2019s movements from the shopping centre but did not record any such vehicle Several media calls to also provided no concrete leads \\u201CAll efforts to locate the driver and the vehicle involved have failed and there are no known investigations that can be carried out,\\u201D the coroner found \\u201CThese findings are being published in the public interest and with approval from family in the hope they may prompt persons who may very well know of this case and who the driver is and provide this information or any other information they have knowledge of directly to the police.\\u201D Premier Steven Miles says massive swing against ALP in two key byelections was ‘very bad’ for his government Queensland premier Steven Miles concedes massive swings against his government at the Ipswich West and Inala byelections are “very bad” for the Labor party and could result in a wipeout at the October general election if it doesn’t acknowledge the message sent by voters Labor lost the safe seat of Ipswich West to the Liberal National party after a two-party swing of about 18%. The government narrowly retained Inala – previously held by the former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – despite losing more than half its first-preference vote, a 30-point drop compared with the 2020 election. Read moreQueensland’s governing party also bled votes to the left in Saturday’s local government elections with the Greens recording a best-ever result Speaking to reporters before his son’s soccer game on Sunday afternoon Miles acknowledged the gravity of the result and that voters had sought to “send a message” to the government “I was expecting a bad result and they’re even worse than that,” Miles told reporters This is the voters from Inala and Ipswich sending us a message that they want to see us deliver more for them Clearly they wanted to send us a message that we work harder particularly on cost of living and community safety.” Miles became premier in December after Palaszczuk who led Labor to three state election wins He said he “always knew it going to take more time” than three months to turn public sentiment around Asked if he had enough time before the state election Miles said: “Well we’ll find out in October we’d obviously preferred to have won both of these byelections But they’re all ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and keep working hard for their electorates.” frontline health services and youth crime had contributed to the swings against Labor “The overwhelming message is people don’t trust this government to fix those challenges,” Crisafulli told reporters on Sunday The Ipswich West and Inala swings are larger than the Liberal National party government of Campbell Newman experienced in two disastrous byelections before its defeat at a general election in 2015 Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The LNP candidate in Ipswich West, Darren Zanow, a retired former concrete business owner, campaigned on a platform of cracking down on youth crime. Read moreCouncil electionsLabor’s woes may be compounded by the continued advance of the Greens in Brisbane has held on at the head of Australia’s biggest council and has retained a majority of council wards The Greens retained the Gabba Ward and looked likely to pick up another in Brisbane’s west though counting there remained close on Sunday Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Free daily newsletterOur Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day telling you what’s happening and why it matters who campaigned with the slogan “the system needs a shake-up” replaced Labor as the second party in a number of inner-city wards “Yesterday we saw a quarter of Brisbane voting for the Greens,” said re-elected Gabba ward councillor Trina Massey “We’re on the brink of breaking the two-party system here in Brisbane.” The Greens had anticipated winning more wards from the LNP but party sources said the lower-than-expected Labor vote had helped to protect incumbent councillors The state held 76 council elections on Saturday with one local government ballot delayed a week due to bad weather Due to low staffing at the state’s electoral commission people queued for more than an hour in many Brisbane booths despite turnout being lower than at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 Some voters were turned away from booths due to local government boundary issues; some reportedly after waiting in line for lengthy periods 150,594 voters weren’t issued a ballot at all Counting had yet to begin for many positions on Saturday night The alleged murderer Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden remained in contention for reelection to the Gold Coast council Miles said Bayldon-Lumsden could be suspended immediately if he wins The controversial former LNP MP Andrew Laming also fell short in his bid to become the mayor of Redland City appeared likely to be elected to the regional council This is probably not the page you’re looking for Warm welcome: Archbishop Mark Coleridge (second from left) joined Inala parishioners in welcoming new parish priest Divine Word Missionaries Father Boni Buahendri at St Mark’s THE multicultural community of St Mark’s Parish turned out in force recently for the installation of new parish priest Divine Word Missionaries Father Boni Buahendri Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge celebrated the installation Mass in front of a packed congregation of more than 600 “The Bible was processed in with Tongan dancing the Offertory featured Samoan dancing and the Prayers of the Faithful were read out in many languages “It really showcased the rich multicultural gifts in our parish community.” Fr Buahendri said he had not only been welcomed by the people of St Mark’s Parish but also by the local Divine Word Missionaries community – assistant priest at St Mark’s Fr Van Bang Nguyen and chaplain to the Vietnamese community in Brisbane archdiocese Fr Joseph Vu “This parish is a bit different to other parishes I’ve been in because it is so multicultural,” Fr Buahendri said Sri Lanka and of course some people of Anglo-Saxon heritage but that means there will be no favouritism from me!” Fr Buahendri returns to parish life after 10 years working in formation with young missionaries at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne compared to what I have been doing lately – not better or worse just different – and I’m already enjoying that feeling of change,” he said you are working directly with the people and being a part of their life “With this being such a multicultural parish it is my dream to make St Mark’s a real home for migrants “All of us at the end of the day are migrants and I’d like to make this parish a community where people feel at home.” Police special emergency response team officers try to revive the man after he was shot Link copiedShareShare articleThe man who was shot dead by police outside an Inala unit block had told officers he would not shoot them during a tense four-hour stand-off Officers arrived at the property in Brisbane's south-west about midday on Monday hoping to speak to the 42-year-old man about an unrelated matter They found him holed up in his car in the carpark and he held heavily-armed police at bay for hours The man emerged about 4:00pm holding what appeared to be a handgun and police opened fire saying they felt for the man who had been having difficulties with his girlfriend They said the man had been leaning back in the seat of his car looking "floppy" His eyes were darting in front and behind him He made himself two cigarettes and told police he had dropped his lighter and warned them he was going to pick it up He told them that he had some kind of altercation with his partner and he was missing his partner and the daughter "He was not quiet with it," Ms Redding said he would at times grab the handle of his handgun Nine pistols and three rifles were aimed at him during the stand-off at which point the man said he would not hurt them I'm not going to shoot anyone'," Ms Redding said Neighbour Nigel Butkowski confirmed what happened during the incident "At that particular moment I knew that the man was of a reasonably level head," he said I shook my head and said 'don't do anything stupid' "He was well aware I was watching him I made contact a few times when I was upstairs "There was one particular time there when I felt he wasn't dangerous and just seeing it and knowing now that the man I was looking at I'm never going to see [again]." Officers tried to coax the man out of the car for several hours and were trying to reach his girlfriend on the phone he was answering back clearly and fluently just policemen with their guns drawn," Ms Redding said who had seen the man in the neighbourhood before "He told them that he had some kind of altercation with his partner and he was missing his partner and the daughter," Mr Butkowski said "They tried to ring them on the phone The officers who fired at the man were acting in self-defence, the Police Union has said. Union president Ian Leavers said officers did not know whether the man's gun was real and they had to make a split-second decision. "As we now know a firearm was pointed at police who, in self-defence, have used their firearms to protect their lives," he said. "The police have had no option but to defend their lives and they have done that and obviously that's an allegation that's before the coroner now. "But that is the difficult and dangerous nature of police work and things as we know happen so quickly you have to make instantaneous decisions, there are no other options." Police and paramedics performed CPR on the man, but he died of his injuries. CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) who has been able to receive the care and support she needs while her family is away Anne has been staying at Melbourne aged care residence Regis Inala Lodge after it was recommended She found many aspects of her stay comforting and welcoming "I really enjoyed the food and the different options during meal times," she said "I met some wonderful people during my stay and the lifestyle activities were excellent." can help people connect with their local community "I've made many friends here and found it very interesting hearing their life stories," Anne said The lifestyle activities have also encouraged Anne to remain social and kept her busy Some of her favourite activities included being part of an adventurous walking group a creative colouring workshop and a concert at the home Anne said that aside from the lifestyle activities and the beautiful surroundings next to the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary I would definitely come back again if needed," she said Regis offers short and long-term respite stays at each of its homes - on a planned or emergency basis - and welcomes new people to the community Call 1300-998-100 or visit regis.com.au Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy Home Topics Science & Environment Explore the ‘Jurassic Garden’ at the bottom of Australia Wouldn’t it be cool to have a couple of plants from different parts of the world to show the Gondwanan connection biologist Dr Tonia Cochran wondered as she began planting a garden of ancient plants on her Bruny Island property Tonia’s Jurassic Garden has flourished into an extraordinary repository of primeval plant genes – a botanic garden of global significance It recently became the only Australian recipient of a prized US grant that supports the preservation of important plant genomes in living collections around the world Tonia bought her 600ha island property on Bruny Island while she was working for the Australian Antarctic Division during the 1980s and ’90s The land supported a mix of farmland and wet sclerophyll forest and she named it Inala an Indigenous word meaning “peaceful place”.  she combined weekend farming there with improving habitat for wildlife notably the endangered forty-spotted pardalote and swift parrot and she encouraged neighbouring farmers to do the same Inala is now a private wildlife haven that Tonia has protected with a conservation covenant.  Hoping to earn a living from her picturesque island home while also rehabilitating injured wildlife Tonia began during the late 1990s to attract paying visitors with a tourism package that included accommodation With all 12 of Tasmania’s endemic bird species in evidence at Inala the package proved very popular with birders.  That led to Tonia establishing Inala Tours an ecotourism operation that specialises in small-group birding and nature tours that have and promote an ethos of wildlife protection “Conservation underpins everything we do,” Tonia explains.  Tonia and her specialist team of wildlife and environment experts lead tours across Australia and the world including for Australian Geographic.  Tonia regularly referred to the “Gondwanan connection” during her tours and longed to demonstrate the concept through a public education facility “actual examples of species with common ancestors from landmasses now separated by huge distances”.  met a plant collector specialising in Gondwanan species the Australian government was offering dollar-for-dollar funding for innovative tourism projects in regional areas The concept for her Inala Jurassic Garden and Nature Museum blossomed.  Tonia has professional expertise in zoology But at that time her gardening experience was limited to collecting cactuses as a child growing a few Australian natives and nurturing carnivorous plants on her desk her insatiable thirst for knowledge kicked in.  “It was a real adventure researching Gondwanan species online,” she recalls “I became hooked as the story unfolded.” She investigated thousands of species their preferred climatic conditions and soil requirements which only raised more questions: What constitutes a Gondwanan taxon and how should the garden be laid out?  Funding was granted in 2013 and her inner collector took over they’re now also on display at her Nature Museum “I cannot for the life of me stay within the bounds of just a few,” she says As landscaping commenced on a 2ha paddock using locally sourced Jurassic-aged dolerite boulders Tonia narrowed down the plant selection.  She decided to design and display the garden by species In that way similarities between specimens from different areas would be more apparent and their soil requirements similar Inala Jurassic Garden and Nature Museum opened in 2014 “it looked more like a cemetery than a garden” with plant label posts overshadowing seedlings with strategic planting creating micro-habitats and species-tailored watering and fertilising plants have since thrived beyond expectations with very few losses – although each of those was taken to heart “They’re pretty much all my babies,” Tonia confesses.  Burgeoning trees now stretch skywards like lanky teenagers above cherubic shrubs dangling decorative baubles of male and female cones prehistoric-looking limbs of a monkey puzzle tree from the South American continent twist in gangly awkwardness while a kauri pine exudes the majesty of its future maturity and blushing pink leucadendrons harmonise with brooch-like blooms of neighbouring proteas A damp curry aroma drifts from microbial fungi and frogs croak hypnotically.  As 700 species from more than 50 plant families thrived in the garden “I thought it would be cool to turn the garden into a bit of an arc,” she says “to have insurance specimens of plants that aren’t doing well in the wild.” Inspired she registered in 2019 with Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand the peak body representing botanic gardens in this part of the world.  After realising that Inala had more than 100 species not represented in the Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (GGI-Gardens) Tonia applied for a grant through its joint awards program with the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) GGI-Gardens is a program that preserves Earth’s genomic biodiversity of plants through the sampling of living collections from the world’s botanic gardens explains that the awards program is to “ensure critical plant genomic information is preserved for future research as plants across the globe face continued threats like climate change and loss of habitat” Inala Jurassic Garden is among just 14 gardens worldwide to receive a grant to fund a collection of genetic samples and the preparation of voucher herbarium specimens to be entered on the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) Genetic Sequence database.  but requires collection and preparation techniques that use old-school methods “A voucher specimen is a sprig of foliage 20–30cm long that hopefully has a flower and/or seed pod attached,” Tonia explains “This is pressed between layers of newspaper in a plant press and frozen to ensure there are no viable pests and diseases on it It’s then mounted as a herbarium specimen on archival paper which is placed in an envelope and dried in silica gel to retain the genetic material This can be stored long term by periodically replacing the gel as required.”  Specimens must be housed in a GGBN facility and in Australia that would usually mean the Canberra-based Australian National Herbarium but it wasn’t able to accept them due to its workload Wanting to keep the specimens in Australia Tonia organised for Inala Jurassic Garden to join GGBN in its own right and negotiated permission for the specimens to be stored at the Tasmanian Herbarium which was issued in February and expires in December is geared to the Northern Hemisphere summer meaning Tonia and her Inala team member Dr Catherine Young had to collect as many specimens as possible before winter It’s meant limited time to collect and catalogue the balance.  mount and document each specimen than one would imagine,” Tonia says “It’s a massive job because we have 110 species in 44 genera and 13 families to prepare.” She fears they will run over time But with Tonia’s irrepressible enthusiasm for conservation and research “It has to be partly a labour of love,” she says Our much loved calendars and diaries are now available for 2024 Adorn your walls with beautiful artworks year round From cuddly companions to realistic native Australian wildlife the range also includes puppets that move and feel like real animals By subscribing you become an AG Society member helping us to raise funds for conservation and adventure projects Chelsea Bond is affiliated with Inala Wangarra Inc an Indigenous community development association based in Inala University of Queensland provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU View all partners As a resident of Inala, in south-western Brisbane, I struggle with the idea of SBS’s Struggle Street coming to my suburb. I’m pleased that the Queensland Premier and a former Inala resident, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has intervened to dissuade producers of the TV program from filming here This is not because I don’t believe that poor people should be given a voice or that the experiences of the marginalised should feature on Australian TV screens Nor do I wish to pretend that “Struggle Street” is not a real location in our suburb and many others around Australia Many of us know “Struggle Street” even if we don’t live there It is the place on the outskirts of every capital city or country town The place with high-density public housing and welfare dependency – complete with messy hair and missing teeth If we’ve seen one low socioeconomic suburb “Struggle Street” conjures up a mental imagery of a broken place Produced by KEO Films Australia for SBS, the first Struggle Street focused on families in western Sydney’s Mt Druitt and their various mental health, drug and housing issues. SBS now plans to run a second six-part series My struggle with Struggle Street as a TV program is that it represents a one-dimensional story of poverty which emphasises individual agency over the structural factors that create and entrench income inequality While it tries to offer a caring and sympathetic portrayal of its “characters” The first series did very little to challenge the status quo in terms of how we think about poverty. In fact, over on the ABC’s Q&A, Duncan Storrar did far more to create a national dialogue on poverty and economic policy than the Struggle Streets series And while he has paid a tremendously high price for asking “that question” about tax cuts for lower income people Storrar’s story reminds us of the need to ensure that the marginalised have a voice in public discourse and policy – rather than merely being the subject of it For instance, when I walk around my community I am constantly reminded of expectations of my capabilities as a resident in a “poor neighbourhood”. Take the 10,000 step walk through Inala’s Kev Hooper Park, featuring street signs informing me that Centrelink is 1000 steps away and the Police Station just 600 We recently had a nice little bike path installed around Kev Hooper Park where I jog thinking about the destination that is imagined for my children growing up in this place I also reflect on the children who have taken their own lives in that park Woolworths and various bottleshops and Vietnamese restaurants I don’t need to watch a TV show that tells its audience the same tired narrative about poor people I’m well aware that I’m constructed as a problem in need of fixing And I don’t need to be reminded of that for your viewing pleasure And for those who live outside poor neighbourhoods just know that I am proud to live in the postcode 4077 I feel privileged that my children are being raised in a suburb that Inala for my family, and for many others, provides a strong sense of belonging, connectedness, identity and pride which other places cannot offer Indeed in research exploring the social strengths of “disadvantaged” Indigenous communities across Brisbane They’re busting their guts to get out of Inala and then in a year or two years time because I think they moved to the other suburbs and they can’t just walk down the street to their cousin’s place or to their family or friend’s place have to travel miles to go and see someone because everyone’s here… And you can always go down the road and get a feed This debate is not about whether Inala is a good or bad place to live And indeed the debate about whether Struggle Street should be filmed in Inala or any other suburb is a futile one but rather the story that Struggle Street tells that is the problem – both the story of poverty and the story about poor people do have important stories worthy of being featured on Australian TV are much richer and more complex than the stories you’ve been told these new stories offer new narrative possibilities that provide far more than compelling television They provide the necessary imaginative space to develop transformative social and economic policy agendas that might actually take the struggle out of “Struggle Street” From the Vietnemese in Inala to the Chinese in Sunnybank and the Africans in Moorooka the multicultural heart of the city beats south of the Brisbane river By Lydia Lynch Playing Xiangqi at Inala Plaza.Credit: Lydia Lynch Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Welcome to the cluster of suburbs in Brisbane’s south where it is fashionable to wear socks and sandals, tea is topped with thick cheese foam and a kilo of bananas will set you back 50¢. The pocket of suburbs south of the CBD is home to international students, migrants and refugees who have left their countries behind for a new life. From the Vietnamese in Inala to the Chinese in Sunnybank and migrants from various African countries in Moorooka, the multicultural heart of the city beats south of the Brisbane river. In the court of Inala Plaza in Brisbane’s south-west, fruit and vegetables are fanned out on trestle tables as shoppers hunch over trays selecting the best snow peas from elbow-deep boxes. The shoulder-width aisles inside the shops circling the court are packed from floor to ceiling with jars of fermented shrimp, vacuum-packed snacks and about every variety of instant noodles you could imagine. Outside, swarms of older men crowd around benches lined with chequerboards, clutching plastic cups of purple taro-flavoured tea, sucking grass jelly through a thick straw. Intrigued to learn the rules, I gingerly approach one of the tables. “No English, no English”, at least half a dozen men grumble as they wave me off, without shifting their gaze from the board. One man wearing a bucket hat adorned with an Australian flag, giggles and waves me over. Peter Bai, 68, armed with a seemingly perpetual smile and a pair of nifty transition glasses makes an effort to explain the game where the chequers represent armies. Peter Bai (left) playing chinese chess at Inala Plaza in Brisbane August, 2019. Credit: Lydia Lynch In broken English, Peter tells me they are playing a game called Xiangqi, known as “Chinese chess”. Like western chess, the object of this game is to capture your opponent's king. Peter says the game is also popular in Vietnam; his first home. “I escape Vietnam and come to Australia. I am a refugee. I am Australian now,” he says proudly. Inala became Brisbane’s “Little Vietnam”, when a large contingent of refugees flocked to the suburb at the end of the Vietnam War. In Inala, 60 per cent of people have both parents born overseas, 30 per cent speak Vietnamese at home and 20 per cent were born in Vietnam, according to 2016 Census data. Brisbane demographer Elin Charles-Edwards said a large contingent of refugees were attracted to Inala for affordable living, before others moved to be closer to their cultural hub. “We often find concentrations of migrants in cities follow cheaper housing and the location of jobs, but over time as the community builds, it becomes this gravitational force in and of themselves. People want to move down to be closer to the community,” she said. Demonstrators during Vietnam Moratorium, Brisbane, 1970.Credit: Grahame Garne/University of Queensland. “Inala was originally part of the soldier settlement scheme. Some of the blocks were actually given to returned servicemen following World War II. “Then it became a centre for social housing in Brisbane and following the refugee outflows after the Vietnam War it then became a centre of Vietnamese migration.” Peter fled his home about the same time the South Vietnamese economy was nationalised by the communist government after the fall of Saigon. He was forced to escape, having served in the navy for the Republic of Vietnam during the war, fighting the Viet Cong communist guerilla army in the north. “Thirty years in war, it is a long time. It destroyed everything," he says. “There is no freedom. What you think, you can’t say because the communists authority controls everything.” Peter spent three years in a refugee camp in Indonesia before being accepted into Australia in the mid-'80s. “When I came here, there were a few Vietnamese people here but now there are many." Peter’s theory on why Brisbane’s Vietnamese population has swelled is because other refugees could not handle the dry chill down south, particularly after coming from south-east Asia where the air is so humid you can chew it. “All Vietnamese people come here because of the weather, better than Melbourne….too cold...brrrr” he says, wrapping his arms around his body and miming a shiver. At 68, Peter still works most days growing cucumbers with two of his sons at a Greenbank farm. He comes to the Inala Plaza shopping centre each week to sell his produce to the markets and play a few rounds of Chinese chess with friends. “Around here, everyone is Vietnamese, the doctor, the dentist, the optometrist... all Vietnamese. We are very happy community, very strong community. “People hear about Inala and the Vietnamese in Inala and they get scared. Ten years ago, 15 years ago maybe, but now it is good. “People come here to contribute to society, they work, they work, they work. It has made Inala very good.” The 68-year-old tries not to think about the war anymore. “I left it behind and look to the future. I have five children, they are the future,” he says. Metres from where Peter and his buddies are playing xiangqi, Vi Nguyen has donned a pair of latex blue gloves and is organising the array of fruit and vegetables set outside one of a clutch of small Asian markets in the square. Vi Nguyen manages her parent's store Van Phat at Inala Plaza. Credit: Lydia Lynch Vi manages the store, which her parents own. They are busy working in the butcher next door and don’t have a spare few minutes to chat. The 23-year-old says her parents don’t speak much English. Like Peter, they fled Vietnam after the war. “Their English isn’t the best so if you asked them questions they wouldn’t know how to answer, they would be stunned,” she jokes. “It [the war] was really intense, I know they moved around to different islands trying to escape, but I haven’t asked too much about it to be honest. “They don’t really talk about it, they prefer not to.” Vi, who was born in Australia, says she loves living and working in the heart of Brisbane’s Vietnamese community. “A lot of Australian-Asians tend to move away from their culture,” she says. “Working here, I am around my culture a lot, which I really like because it keeps me in touch.” A 10-kilometre drive from Inala Plaza is Sunnybank, colloquially known as Brisbane’s new Chinatown. Shoppers flock to the southern suburb for the smorgasbords on wheels that put the yum in yum cha. They are greeted by the sight of golden ducks strung up in shopfronts and seemingly frail older Chinese women wielding large knives and delivering crushing blows to meat. Here, most overseas-born residents come from China, Korea and India and there is a high percentage of international university students. Wen Xu, 34, moved to Australia a decade ago to undertake a gruelling eight years of study in traditional Chinese medicine. Four of those years are focussed solely on acupuncture. Golden ducks strung up in shopfronts are a common sight in Sunnybank.Credit: Robert Shakespeare She nods a lot as she chats to me inside the Chinese herbal clinic she works at, tucked inside Sunnybank Plaza. At the practice, dozens of wooden boxes scale the back wall, filled with licorice root, lotus seeds and other traditional medicines. “All of the medicines have to grow in a specific area of China,” Wen says. “It is quite an interesting natural therapy to learn and totally different from Western medicine.” Wen’s family has a long history of practising Chinese medicine, which she explains is based on balance and energy, with origins dating back thousands of years. “I miss them a lot, my family. I go back many times to China,” she says. Wen Xu works at HRT Acupuncture and Massage Centre in Sunnybank.Credit: Lydia Lynch “But whenever I am home sick, I feel at home here in Sunnybank.” Dr Charles-Edwards says unlike Inala, which was originally composed of migrants with a lower economic status, Sunnybank is made up of wealthier overseas-born people. At the last census, the average weekly household income in Inala was $1287 compared with Sunnybank, which was $1322. “Sunnybank is fascinating, not just because of the concentration of Chinese, which of course it is but there is actually a concentration of a large number of migrant groups,” she says. “We actually think Sunnybank may be one of the first examples of what has been termed in the US as ethno-burbs.” An “ethno-burb”, Dr Charles-Edwards says, is a concentration of wealthy migrants that leads to a “critical mass of economic development”. “I think it is exciting that we have this very, very dynamic community. Anyone who has been down to Sunnybank can see it is a success story,” she says. Wen planned to move back to China after finishing her studies, but fell in love. “I met my husband here at uni. He is Chinese as well,” she says. “He helped me a lot in the beginning with my English and studied architecture. I love architecture and now we design a lot of things together. Wen and her husband, who are raising a son, don’t have plans to leave Brisbane anytime soon. “My husband speaks Mandarin at home. I speak English and then if Grandma, Grandpa are here we speak Cantonese so the baby can learn," she says. “I love to work here and talk to patients all the time and it is interesting hearing about their experiences.” Just like Wen, love was a driving force behind Fatima Makki’s migration story. Fatima is a perfumer, who sells her scents at a small store on Moorooka’s high street, eight kilometres north of Sunnybank. Born and raised in Sudan, she met and fell in love with her husband when they were both working for the United Nations. Civil war raged in the Horn of Africa from 1961 and hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea fled to neighbouring Sudan. Eritrean soldiers in 1998, as the unresolved border conflict with Ethiopia turned again to open warfare between the two countries.Credit: AP Photo/Sami Sallinen It was Fatima's job to help them settle into Sudanese life. “It was a nice job, you got to meet all of the people from different backgrounds who came to Sudan and help them find accommodation and introduce them to the shops and take them around,” she says. In 1996, Fatima and her husband came to Rockhampton so she could meet his family and experience life in Australia. “We were only meant to come to Australia for three months. We were supposed to go back to Sudan for him to finish his work there,” Fatima says. The couple’s three-month holiday became much more permanent as Fatima’s husband had to stay in Australia for treatment. “When I first came to Australia I stayed in Rockhampton... it is in the middle of nowhere… not many Sudanese people there," she says. “I was by myself and missed my food and every shop we went, there was no food like the ones I liked. I missed my people. “I missed my language, I wanted to speak my language.” Eventually Fatima moved down to Brisbane with her husband, so he could be closer to treatment. “Ten years ago Moorooka was like a dead area, maybe just a fruit shop and a chemist, not really that much here,” she says. Fatima Makki owns a perfume store in Moorooka.Credit: Lydia Lynch “Now it is a big African community. I say 'where were you people years ago?'” she laughs. “There are lots of Sudanese people here now so I do not get as homesick. I still go back and visit.” Her smile fades when I ask more about her husband. “He was sick for a long time and then he died,” she says, raising her chin and fixing her gaze over my head. She lifts her index finger to the corner of her eye, plugging a tear welling up, before rallying a smile and spraying some of her sandalwood perfume on my wrist. Dr Charles-Edwards says Moorooka has transformed into a hub for Brisbane's burgeoning African population. “The Moorooka high street has some wonderful African restaurants and shops which creates this dynamism and an attraction to other migrants who might move (there) subsequent to where they originally settled in Brisbane,” she says. The electric suburb is representative of a wave of multiculturalism that has washed over Brisbane during the past decade. “For a long time the population of Brisbane and south-east Queensland grew from internal migration but we have seen this shift where international migration has actually been a major driver of population growth,” Dr Charles-Edwards says. She says the number of overseas-born residents in greater Brisbane has gone from 23 per cent at the 2006 census up to 28 per cent in 2016. Similarly the number of people speaking a language other than English at home surged from 11 to 18 per cent in the same period, with the most common languages being Mandarin, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Spanish. “We are seeing greater Brisbane becoming much, much more diverse and becoming more in line with Melbourne and Sydney,” Dr Charles-Edwards says. “A lot of the growth is due to international students, so Chinese-, Indian- and South Korean-born students contributing and it is changing the dynamics of how the city works, making Brisbane more globalised and connected.” A deep dive into census data reveals the spread of ethnicities and cultures are mostly concentrated on the south side of the Brisbane river. “I think what we have seen is housing affordability has tended to be better on the south side and we have also seen the influence of the location of the university campuses. "Obviously Griffith on the southside, but UQ has become a lot more accessible due to the Eleanor Schonnell bridge. “We certainly don’t have the diversity in the north that we do in the south but there are pockets.” Dr Charles-Edwards says some parts of north Brisbane are developing as new cultural heartlands, such as Fitzgibbon, which is nestled between Boondall and Carseldine in Brisbane’s north. “Fitzgibbon has come up on the radar as having changed a lot between the 2006 and 2016 census,” she says. “It has gone from having an Indian-born population of less than 100 to an Indian-born population of more than 1000 in 10 years. “The thing that has anchored that community was the Sikh temple up there. You have new infrastructure serving as a community hub and serving as a force of attraction for new migrants.” She predicts the next area to transform will be the inner-west suburbs of St Lucia, Toowong and Indooroopilly. “They are definitely places in transition and we are also noticing changes in the housing stock there,” Dr Charles-Edwards says “Where it once was detached houses, maybe student share houses, we are now seeing a lot of apartments going up. “I think there is a new corridor opening up there through to the west which is driven a lot by the location of the university.” For people like Peter Bai, Brisbane's diversification over the past few decades has made it a truly wonderful place to live. August is Queensland's multicultural month. Welcome to the cluster of suburbs in Brisbane\\u2019s south where it is fashionable to wear socks and sandals, tea is topped with thick cheese foam and a kilo of bananas will set you back 50\\u00A2. In the court of Inala Plaza in Brisbane\\u2019s south-west, fruit and vegetables are fanned out on trestle tables as shoppers hunch over trays selecting the best snow peas from elbow-deep boxes. \\u201CNo English, no English\\u201D, at least half a dozen men grumble as they wave me off, without shifting their gaze from the board. In broken English, Peter tells me they are playing a game called Xiangqi, known as \\u201CChinese chess\\u201D. Like western chess, the object of this game is to capture your opponent's king. \\u201CI escape Vietnam and come to Australia. I am a refugee. I am Australian now,\\u201D he says proudly. Inala became Brisbane\\u2019s \\u201CLittle Vietnam\\u201D, when a large contingent of refugees flocked to the suburb at the end of the Vietnam War. \\u201CWe often find concentrations of migrants in cities follow cheaper housing and the location of jobs, but over time as the community builds, it becomes this gravitational force in and of themselves. People want to move down to be closer to the community,\\u201D she said. \\u201CInala was originally part of the soldier settlement scheme. Some of the blocks were actually given to returned servicemen following World War II. \\u201CThen it became a centre for social housing in Brisbane and following the refugee outflows after the Vietnam War it then became a centre of Vietnamese migration.\\u201D \\u201CThirty years in war, it is a long time. It destroyed everything,\\\" he says. \\u201CThere is no freedom. What you think, you can\\u2019t say because the communists authority controls everything.\\u201D Peter spent three years in a refugee camp in Indonesia before being accepted into Australia in the mid-'80s. \\u201CWhen I came here, there were a few Vietnamese people here but now there are many.\\\" Peter\\u2019s theory on why Brisbane\\u2019s Vietnamese population has swelled is because other refugees could not handle the dry chill down south, particularly after coming from south-east Asia where the air is so humid you can chew it. \\u201CAll Vietnamese people come here because of the weather, better than Melbourne\\u2026.too cold...brrrr\\u201D he says, wrapping his arms around his body and miming a shiver. \\u201CAround here, everyone is Vietnamese, the doctor, the dentist, the optometrist... all Vietnamese. We are very happy community, very strong community. \\u201CPeople hear about Inala and the Vietnamese in Inala and they get scared. Ten years ago, 15 years ago maybe, but now it is good. \\u201CPeople come here to contribute to society, they work, they work, they work. It has made Inala very good.\\u201D \\u201CI left it behind and look to the future. I have five children, they are the future,\\u201D he says. Vi manages the store, which her parents own. They are busy working in the butcher next door and don\\u2019t have a spare few minutes to chat. The 23-year-old says her parents don\\u2019t speak much English. Like Peter, they fled Vietnam after the war. \\u201CTheir English isn\\u2019t the best so if you asked them questions they wouldn\\u2019t know how to answer, they would be stunned,\\u201D she jokes. \\u201CIt [the war] was really intense, I know they moved around to different islands trying to escape, but I haven\\u2019t asked too much about it to be honest. \\u201CThey don\\u2019t really talk about it, they prefer not to.\\u201D Vi, who was born in Australia, says she loves living and working in the heart of Brisbane\\u2019s Vietnamese community. \\u201CA lot of Australian-Asians tend to move away from their culture,\\u201D she says. \\u201CWorking here, I am around my culture a lot, which I really like because it keeps me in touch.\\u201D A 10-kilometre drive from Inala Plaza is Sunnybank, colloquially known as Brisbane\\u2019s new Chinatown. \\u201CAll of the medicines have to grow in a specific area of China,\\u201D Wen says. \\u201CIt is quite an interesting natural therapy to learn and totally different from Western medicine.\\u201D Wen\\u2019s family has a long history of practising Chinese medicine, which she explains is based on balance and energy, with origins dating back thousands of years. \\u201CI miss them a lot, my family. I go back many times to China,\\u201D she says. \\u201CBut whenever I am home sick, I feel at home here in Sunnybank.\\u201D \\u201CSunnybank is fascinating, not just because of the concentration of Chinese, which of course it is but there is actually a concentration of a large number of migrant groups,\\u201D she says. \\u201CWe actually think Sunnybank may be one of the first examples of what has been termed in the US as ethno-burbs.\\u201D An \\u201Cethno-burb\\u201D, Dr Charles-Edwards says, is a concentration of wealthy migrants that leads to a \\u201Ccritical mass of economic development\\u201D. \\u201CI think it is exciting that we have this very, very dynamic community. Anyone who has been down to Sunnybank can see it is a success story,\\u201D she says. \\u201CI met my husband here at uni. He is Chinese as well,\\u201D she says. \\u201CHe helped me a lot in the beginning with my English and studied architecture. I love architecture and now we design a lot of things together. Wen and her husband, who are raising a son, don\\u2019t have plans to leave Brisbane anytime soon. \\u201CMy husband speaks Mandarin at home. I speak English and then if Grandma, Grandpa are here we speak Cantonese so the baby can learn,\\\" she says. \\u201CI love to work here and talk to patients all the time and it is interesting hearing about their experiences.\\u201D Just like Wen, love was a driving force behind Fatima Makki\\u2019s migration story. Fatima is a perfumer, who sells her scents at a small store on Moorooka\\u2019s high street, eight kilometres north of Sunnybank. It was Fatima's job to help them settle into Sudanese life. \\u201CIt was a nice job, you got to meet all of the people from different backgrounds who came to Sudan and help them find accommodation and introduce them to the shops and take them around,\\u201D she says. \\u201CWe were only meant to come to Australia for three months. We were supposed to go back to Sudan for him to finish his work there,\\u201D Fatima says. \\u201CThen he got sick. He got cancer.\\u201D The couple\\u2019s three-month holiday became much more permanent as Fatima\\u2019s husband had to stay in Australia for treatment. \\u201CWhen I first came to Australia I stayed in Rockhampton... it is in the middle of nowhere\\u2026 not many Sudanese people there,\\\" she says. \\u201CI was by myself and missed my food and every shop we went, there was no food like the ones I liked. I missed my people. \\u201CI missed my language, I wanted to speak my language.\\u201D \\u201CTen years ago Moorooka was like a dead area, maybe just a fruit shop and a chemist, not really that much here,\\u201D she says. \\u201CNow it is a big African community. I say 'where were you people years ago?'\\u201D she laughs. \\u201CThere are lots of Sudanese people here now so I do not get as homesick. I still go back and visit.\\u201D \\u201CHe was sick for a long time and then he died,\\u201D she says, raising her chin and fixing her gaze over my head. Dr Charles-Edwards says Moorooka has transformed into a hub for Brisbane's burgeoning African population. \\u201CThe Moorooka high street has some wonderful African restaurants and shops which creates this dynamism and an attraction to other migrants who might move (there) subsequent to where they originally settled in Brisbane,\\u201D she says. \\u201CFor a long time the population of Brisbane and south-east Queensland grew from internal migration but we have seen this shift where international migration has actually been a major driver of population growth,\\u201D Dr Charles-Edwards says. \\u201CWe are seeing greater Brisbane becoming much, much more diverse and becoming more in line with Melbourne and Sydney,\\u201D Dr Charles-Edwards says. \\u201CA lot of the growth is due to international students, so Chinese-, Indian- and South Korean-born students contributing and it is changing the dynamics of how the city works, making Brisbane more globalised and connected.\\u201D \\u201CI think what we have seen is housing affordability has tended to be better on the south side and we have also seen the influence of the location of the university campuses. \\\"Obviously Griffith on the southside, but UQ has become a lot more accessible due to the Eleanor Schonnell bridge. \\u201CWe certainly don\\u2019t have the diversity in the north that we do in the south but there are pockets.\\u201D Dr Charles-Edwards says some parts of north Brisbane are developing as new cultural heartlands, such as Fitzgibbon, which is nestled between Boondall and Carseldine in Brisbane\\u2019s north. \\u201CFitzgibbon has come up on the radar as having changed a lot between the 2006 and 2016 census,\\u201D she says. \\u201CIt has gone from having an Indian-born population of less than 100 to an Indian-born population of more than 1000 in 10 years. \\u201CThe thing that has anchored that community was the Sikh temple up there. You have new infrastructure serving as a community hub and serving as a force of attraction for new migrants.\\u201D \\u201CThey are definitely places in transition and we are also noticing changes in the housing stock there,\\u201D Dr Charles-Edwards says \\u201CWhere it once was detached houses, maybe student share houses, we are now seeing a lot of apartments going up. \\u201CI think there is a new corridor opening up there through to the west which is driven a lot by the location of the university.\\u201D For people like Peter Bai, Brisbane's diversification over the past few decades has made it a truly wonderful place to live. August is Queensland's multicultural month. All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueThe $19,210 grant comes as a result of the state government's Community Building Partnership program, which provides funding to local groups for infrastructure projects. PEACE OF MIND: Inala House's Shaen Fraser is pleased staff and patients will now have a private place to go for some personal conversations. Photo: Peter Hardin Staff at Inala House said it was a welcome announcement, and it will give patients peace of mind to know their discussions about sensitive topics will take place in a discreet area, which wasn't the case before. "This is a really nice opportunity to offer some space for patients so they don't always have to meet where they sleep or shower," Cancer Council accommodation and transport service coordinator Kate Bowen said. "Now we will have a private room where patients can meet, overlooking the gardens, to discuss treatment or talk to their family." Patients from places like Wee Waa, Moree, Armidale and Muswellbrook use Inala Hose, and people are transported from areas like of Gunnedah, Armidale, Manilla and Attunga. Ms Bowen said without the facility, many people from those communities would just go without treatment, and suffer at home. "Inala House was built in conjunction with the Northwest Cancer Centre around 10 years ago and they recognised that the treatment centre was revolutionary in a regional area," she said. "If people don't have anywhere to stay, they won't access treatment," Ms Bowen said. Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson was thrilled to announce the facility had received funding. He said the work they do there was crucial for people from all across the region, and the workers deserve to be applauded for their efforts on a daily basis. "The work the staff and volunteers do behind the scenes at Inala House is amazing," he said. "They provide fee-free accommodation and transport for patients going through radiation, which can often mean a stay of up to six weeks. "Without the service they provide, many would not be able to access treatment, as the cost of accommodation alone would be out of reach for most." Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: I'm a news reporter who enjoys covering politics and energy, but I will write about anything for my community. I moved to the New England in 2021 after spending several years in the Upper Hunter. Today's top stories curated by our news team Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert Your digital replica of Today's Paper Test your skills with interactive crosswords Australia’s governing Labor Party suffered extraordinary vote collapses in two Queensland state by-elections in working-class electorates last Saturday The results are a further indication of a developing political crisis not just in Queensland but throughout the country which has among the lowest income levels and highest unemployment rates in Queensland It fell by around 30 percentage points to less than 35 percent which covers outer-suburban working-class neighbourhoods and some semi-rural areas Labor’s primary vote crashed by about 15 percentage points because the openly right-wing opposition Liberal National Party (LNP) obtained only 29 percent of the vote The combined vote for the two parties that have ruled in Australia since World War II fell to 64 percent with the rest going to various independents Of added significance is that Inala had long been held by Queensland Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk She quit in December at the behest of the trade union bureaucrats who control the Labor Party Palaszczuk’s removal had clear national implications She became the third Labor state premier to suddenly quit this year following the departures of Mark McGowan in Western Australia and Daniel Andrews in Victoria The resignations were all a response to the rising animosity and opposition to the policies of Labor governments that hold power federally and in all states and territories except Tasmania Palaszczuk had literally inherited the seat of Inala who was a cabinet minister in the earlier long-running state Labor government of Peter Beattie the Palaszczuks had occupied the seat for more than three decades The only previous time that Labor’s hold over the seat was threatened was in 2012 when Annastacia Palaszczuk’s vote plunged by 17 points to 42 percent amid the defeat of Premier Anna Bligh’s state Labor government That government was thrown out of office in an electoral landside after axeing thousands of public sector jobs and privatising rail and other basic services Saturday’s vote crash in Inala exceeded that of 2012 Labor will lose the seat for only the fourth time since 1960 thanks to second preference votes from Legalise Cannabis and the far-right One Nation Labor’s vote also plummeted in municipal council elections across Queensland on the same day with losses of up to 23 points in predominantly working-class suburbs In the Brisbane City Council mayoral election Most of its 5.5-point loss went to the Greens The corporate media coverage has noticeably played down the national dimension of Labor’s electoral disasters claiming that Saturday’s results relate only to state issues the result represents a dire warning for the state Labor government of recently-installed Premier Steven Miles which faces a statewide election on October 26 The acute problems confronting working-class households After nearly two years of the federal Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese working people face a devastating cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring rents home mortgage payments and prices for food and a public health disaster produced by soaring doctors’ bills under the Medicare scheme and life-threatening hospital emergency and elective surgery waiting times As Socialist Equality Party members can attest from our campaigns in Inala and other working-class areas there is also deepening disgust with the Albanese government over its support for the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza and its wider commitment to US militarism particularly the AUKUS military pact to prepare for a calamitous war with China That hostility was clearly a factor in the overwhelming defeat of last October’s Voice referendum which the Albanese government had heavily promoted to try to put a progressive gloss on its program of war and austerity Under conditions of the greatest decline in working-class living standards for at least 50 years voters in these areas did not believe the Labor government’s claims that entrenching an elite indigenous advisory body in the country’s 1901 Constitution would alleviate the appalling social conditions of most indigenous people who are among the most oppressed layers of the working class The efforts of Premier Miles and his union bureaucrat sponsors led by United Workers Union powerbroker Gary Bullock to put a fresh face on the nine-year-old state Labor government have come to nought this government has presided over worsening staff shortages and resources in the state’s public hospitals and schools and a growing social housing and homelessness crisis During the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic it imposed a two-year wage freeze on public sector workers Palaszczuk’s government won re-election in 2020 by claiming to protect people by shutting the state’s borders in response to the pandemic It then promptly joined all the country’s other governments letting COVID rip at the cost of an estimated 1,000 lives in Queensland In his inaugural speech as premier last December pro-business and repressive character of the government’s agenda to be implemented in close partnership with the UWU and other union bureaucrats community and unions in the one room to work together.” Miles declared the government would increase police resources because “youth crime in Queensland is unacceptably high.” The Queensland government already jails more children, many of them indigenous, than any other Australian state or territory. Last year, responding to a media witch hunt over “youth crime” amid the deepening social crisis, the Palaszczuk government twice rushed through parliament laws to lock up more children in adult cells suspending the state’s Human Rights Act to do so Miles said the by-election results were “bad” and worse than expected He said they showed voters wanted his government to work harder on cost-of-living pressures and “crime in the community.” This foreshadows a further lurch into a “law and order” offensive against youth in the working-class areas where economic employment and social conditions are deteriorating As for “cost-of-living pressures,” the by-election results point to the failure of the Albanese government’s recent rejigging of the “Stage 3” income tax cuts to reverse Labor’s fortunes The tax cuts amount to a pittance for most workers—about $2 a day for those on $40,000 a year Most of the tax benefits still go to the wealthier layers taking home more than $200,000 a year On top of the March 2 federal by-election in the outer-Melbourne electorate of Dunkley Saturday’s results underscore the ongoing disintegration of support not just for Labor and its union factional bosses but for both the two main parties of rule and the political establishment as a whole Albanese’s government took office in 2022 after Labor won a national primary vote of less than 33 percent That was Labor’s lowest vote in nearly a century despite the implosion of support for the widely-hated Liberal-National government that had ruled since 2013 Labor has only intensified the attacks of the previous Morrison Coalition government on every front including by letting loose the COVID pandemic ratcheting up the US military alliance and imposing falling living standards on working people A man shot dead by police during a siege in Brisbane was "at the end of his tether" after believing he'd lost a custody battle was shot by special emergency response team (SERT) officers at an Inala carport on September 29 last year after he emerged from a car brandishing a replica pistol His death followed a four-hour stand-off with police A detective who investigated the shooting has told an inquest that Mr Kumeroa believed he had recently lost a custody battle and was facing an arrest warrant for allegedly assaulting his ex-partner and her mother Shaun Kumeroa was shot dead in his Brisbane driveway.Credit: Facebook "It's my understanding that the family custody dispute resolution he attended on September 11 had a very large impact on Mr Kumeroa," Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Sandra Pfeffer told the Brisbane inquest "I believe that he thought he was at the end of his tether for want of a better word Mr Kumeroa was shot simultaneously by three SERT officers when he stepped from the car Members of his family left the court room when media footage of the incident was replayed Video shot by police and neighbours showed officers repeatedly telling Mr Kumeroa he would be shot if he left the car with his gun "I don't think there could be any doubt that Mr Kumeroa would have understood what would happen," Det Sen Sgt Pfeffer said Those who knew the victim said he was a "good person" who had problems with drugs throughout his life The detective defended the use of SERT police and an armoured car in the siege saying the officers' highest priority had been to contain Mr Kumeroa "At the end of the day it was an armed person," she said "With consideration of safety of police officers and other members of the public then I believe that containing the situation in the way that it was done was the best option." A man shot dead by police during a siege in Brisbane was \\\"at the end of his tether\\\" after believing he'd lost a custody battle \\\"It's my understanding that the family custody dispute resolution he attended on September 11 had a very large impact on Mr Kumeroa,\\\" Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Sandra Pfeffer told the Brisbane inquest \\\"I believe that he thought he was at the end of his tether for want of a better word \\\"I don't think there could be any doubt that Mr Kumeroa would have understood what would happen,\\\" Det Sen Sgt Pfeffer said Those who knew the victim said he was a \\\"good person\\\" who had problems with drugs throughout his life saying the officers' highest priority had been to contain Mr Kumeroa \\\"At the end of the day it was an armed person,\\\" she said \\\"With consideration of safety of police officers and other members of the public then I believe that containing the situation in the way that it was done was the best option.\\\"