Coca-Cola cares for people's health. What a crock!

Their full page advertisements across Australia today are an insult to every fair-minded Aussie.

Vehicle rort rips off battling taxpayers

It is illogical that someone with 80% private usage can claim 80% business usage.

That rort should have been outlawed years ago.

Kevin Rudd has quite rightly moved quickly to stop this statutory ripoff.

Why should the battlers of Goodna be subsidising the Chardonnay set of Ascot and Hamilton Heights?

Consumers complain about Coffee Club pie ripoff

Coffee Club pies - concealing just a small casserole below

The Coffee Club has rolled out new homestyle pies for winter 2013.

On their specials menu, The Coffee Club is introducing Gourmet Homestyle Pies this winter season.

The two new pies are Beef & Barossa Shiraz and Chicken & Pancetta. They sound great.

But Fran - from the Ipswich suburb of Goodna - has complained that The Coffee Club pie is not a real pie.

It has a flaky top with no sides or bottom - just a watery casserole in the porcelain bowl below the crust!

Oh dear - what can the matter be?
A Coffee Club pie -
With no symmetry!

Which is a fair point for this gastronomic gal to make.

Ask any self-respecting Australian pie connoisseur if you can have a pie with just a flaky top and no crusty sides or base.

The Coffee Club beef and chicken pies sound and look tempting on the top - but steer clear of them if you want a fair dinkum, hearty Aussie pie to satisfy your hunger pains.

If you're from the dainty Chardonnay upper crust set of Ascot or Hamilton Heights, this half-baked pie might just be for you.

But if you're Fran from the working class suburb of Goodna, you will give these so-called pies a big miss because once eaten, twice shy!

Hazel Hawke dies

Farewell Hazel.

You were a great Australian.

Finance clause costs couple $13,000 over cancelled contract

A Queensland couple has been ordered to pay more than $10,000 to a unit owner after wrongly relying on the "subject to finance" clause in a sale contract as a "get out of jail free card".

Trevor and Irene Hauff agreed to buy a Port Douglas unit for $575,000 in September 2010 on the condition they secured a loan for $400,000 from ING Bank within seven days.

Under standard sale contracts buyers must take "all reasonable steps to obtain finance".

However, the couple's mortgage broker never submitted a formal application to ING Bank.

Instead, the broker made an application to The Rock Building Society.

The building society could not approve the loan application by the nominated date and the Hauffs terminated the contract.

Not satisfied, unit owner Anne Marie Miller demanded to see evidence that the Hauffs made a sufficient effort to obtain a loan from ING Bank, as stipulated in the contract.

Ms Miller took her case to the Supreme Court, which ruled in her favour.

The Hauffs appealed the decision in March this year but lost.

Associate Professor Kristy Richardson of Central Queensland University's property programs said the Hauff's experience served as a cautionary tale.

"The realisation that you might not be able to afford the great Australian dream may turn into a contractual nightmare," she said.

Ms Richardson said the subject to finance clause could not be taken lightly or used as a "get out of jail free card".

"Under a contract of sale, you as a buyer will be required to take all reasonable steps to obtain the finance that you are saying that you will under the contract," she said.

"Also bear in mind that documents supporting your attempts to obtain finance can be called upon."

The Hauffs were ordered to pay Ms Miller their $13,000 deposit for breaching the sale contract.

www.BrisbaneTimes.com.au

Is this really Scott Driscoll's car?

Why doesn't Campbell Newman sack this buffoon?

Queensland Liberal National Party MP for Redcliffe Scott Driscoll link to fund scandal and claims of secret control of taxpayer-funded community association

UNDER FIRE: MP Scott Driscoll faces several serious accusations.

A STATE Liberal National Party MP has been secretly controlling a taxpayer-funded community association that helps the homeless and other people in need, funneling tens of thousands of dollars in consultancy fees to his wife's company.

The Courier-Mail has established that Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll has been directing the operations of the Regional Community Association of Moreton Bay, a provider of frontline social services to his electorate, from behind the scenes since becoming an MP.

Mr Driscoll cemented control - with the help of friendly RCAMB members - installing political mates on the board in 2012, getting his wife a job on the payroll and having dissenting staff removed and forcing a troublesome board member to resign.

Former RCAMB staffers have told The Courier-Mail that money was so tight last year they could not access funds to buy food for homeless clients of the RCAMB, which received about $1.6 million in public funding and donations in 2012.

It has been established that Mr Driscoll has had secret day-to-day control of the management of the RCAMB for at least the past 12 months, while Norsefire, a company owned by his wife Emma and where he was sole director until she took over on February 25, received almost $120,000 for consultancy work, only some of which was actually performed.

Emails, invoices and other documents show Norsefire charged $1000 a week until the middle of last year for "media communications strategy and management" and subsequently $2600 a week for "secretariat management fees".

From August 2012 there is no evidence of Norsefire having any employees to conduct any work on behalf of RCAMB.

Even prior to this, RCAMB staff say there was little evidence of any benefit from the "press liaison" work they understood Norsefire had been contracted to do.

Scott Driscoll's business world.

Mrs Driscoll, a florist, was from late last year on the payroll as "HR admin officer".

Mr Driscoll wrote her job description, which includes "formal qualification requirement: nil".

On February 28, a day after the Department of Communities asked RCAMB, formerly known as the RCA, for information about payments to consulting companies, Emma Driscoll sent an email to a colleague at the association asking for help to "delete what is in the drop box that was on my laptop which I have of course left at RCA".

"Is there a way we/you can do a complete sweep of that computer both files/trash/word docs etc ... so there is nothing left on there?" she asks.

Scroll down to read the emails.

All the members of the RCAMB board during 2012 except one worked on Mr Driscoll's election campaign, including his campaign director Ben Scott, his campaign treasurer Geoff Jamieson and former local Federal LNP chairman Brian Roselt. Its president until last month was Bruce Mills, another supporter.

The Courier-Mail understands Mr Mills held about half of the votes of the RCAMB's 20 members as proxies, which with the votes of Mr Jamieson, Mr Scott and Mr Roselt gave Mr Driscoll's political mates control of the board.

The other member of the board is understood to be a "client" of the RCAMB's mental health program.

When former RCAMB Treasurer Terry Rogers, himself a former state MP, questioned Norsefire's involvement in the association in March 2012, Mr Driscoll wrote to Mr Mills and Mr Scott saying: "The buck stops with an elected MP or Minister to make any required disclosures not Terry Rogers ...

"I personally suggest it's time his position on this board was considered for him and action taken pretty quickly right now".

Mr Rogers was forced to resign from the board shortly afterwards.

Mr Driscoll has disclosed his directorship of Norsefire but has publicly distanced himself, saying it is "100 per cent owned by my wife".

He has only ever described himself as "patron" of the RCAMB.

But emails show he micromanaged the body, giving instructions on everything from financial audits and how to respond to demands for information from bureaucrats to which airconditioning company should be used.

In January he even banned staff from participating in free health checks provided by Medicare Local.

"The fact paid RCA staff at large are being encouraged or allowed to avail themselves of funded services while the staff are meant to be working in essentially a government funded role could understandably create a catastrophic PR disaster," Mr Driscoll wrote to services manager Tracey Slater on January 17.

Emails also show Mr Driscoll presented Norsefire invoices to RCAMB and chased up payments.

Federal and State Governments are investigating the RCAMB over allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities following complaints by staff.

Mr Driscoll did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Mills did not respond to questions. Mrs Driscoll could not be reached.

Mr Driscoll won the seat of Redcliffe at the LNP's landslide election victory last year.

Redcliffe had long been considered a Labor stronghold but the force of the LNP victory meant such seats were swept to the conservatives. Mr Driscoll has received strong support from Premier Campbell Newman in Parliament in recent weeks under scrutiny from the Labor Opposition.

www.CourierMail.com.au

18.3.13

RACQ goes from dumb to dumber

With Queenslanders hurting, the RACQ has come up with absolute cracker of an idea - force car owners to pay for compulsory annual vehicle checks.

The brains trust of the RACQ has forced its way out of its cage again.

Latest Queensland News

Weather Bureau's Rod Webb owes the people of southeast Queensland an apology

Any window showed more than the forecast

FORECASTERS have for the first time admitted they were caught unaware by the freak morning super-cell storm that smashed Brisbane's inner suburbs last November.

The bureau has repeatedly claimed it had acted within its guidelines when it failed to issue an early specific warning about the storm, which lashed the inner suburbs between 10am and 11am on Saturday, November 17.

Despite more than 1000 lightning strikes being recorded in the half hour before storm cell smashed into the inner suburbs at 10.30am, a specific warning was not issued until 10.50am, by which time the storm had passed over and was almost at the coast.

By that time there was flooding in some suburbs and dozens of calls for help had been made to authorities.

At the time, bureau bosses backed the decision to not issue a specific warning.

They said the storm had not met the bureau's threshold for a specific "severe thunderstorm" warning until just before the warning had been issued and that a series of general warnings about storm activity over that weekend was sufficient.

It can now be revealed that the day after, the bureau's Queensland regional director Rod Webb wrote in an internal email that the forecasters on duty had been caught unaware by the storm as it had blown up unusually early in the day and directly over the inner suburbs.

The email, only now released after a Freedom of Information application by The Courier-Mail, said: "The storms developed a little earlier than anticipated and forecasters felt the first wave would not produce severe weather.

"This was true on the most part but once the storms approached the city, forecasters issued warnings based on radar evidence."

In an interview yesterday following the release of the documents, Mr Webb acknowledged the warning should have come earlier.

But he denied any shortage of front-line resources at the bureau was to blame.

"That was a meteorological issue rather than necessarily having more people look at it," Mr Webb said.

"In hindsight, you would have like to have something out, but we felt ... much of the community would have been pretty well prepared for severe weather."

www.CourierMail.com.au

9.2.13

COMMENT: Rod Webb would make the people of southeast Queensland a lot less nervous if he took a sabbatical during next summer's storm season and went back to forecasting the weather for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. He should be pushing his bosses and the government relentlessly for more staff for the Brisbane office of the Bureau of Meteorology. What has he done to get more staff? He owes it to the people of Queensland to publicly explain in detail exactly what new staff and facilities, if any, he has been actively seeking.

Rail Back on Track: SEQ fares skyrocket

Media release 7th January 2013

SEQ: TransLink versus TransPerth

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers has highlighted the 7.5% fare rises.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The recent fare increases will hit residents in the suburbs of Bulimba, Centenary and the Northwest hard as these areas are public transport 'no go' zones and now they are paying 7.5% more for it. High frequency bus services should be extended to these areas as a priority, and in particular to Bulimba."

"Rail users will also be disproportionately affected as much of the network runs sub-par 30 minute frequency outside of peak hour. The exception here is the Ferny Grove Line, however even this is a partial upgrade, interpeak only and where frequent service is not available on weekends."

"Perth's system provides a stark comparison to the situation here in Brisbane. Not only does Perth have fewer people and a smaller network than Brisbane, they have now eclipsed Brisbane in carrying patronage, provide double the train service frequency to all stations on all lines all day, and not only that, charge less than TransLink does for comparable journeys.* Perth also runs identical trains to Queensland Rail."

"If anything is clear, we need a review of TransLink fares. These fare increases are significantly
above CPI and also above weekly wage growth. On trains, passengers are not getting value for money due to low frequency for most of the day. Where is the money going and what is driving such huge increases?"

"We just can't afford to not have a proper detailed fare review, with public consultation."

References:

* TransPerth Perth CBD to Mandurah, 70 km, adult pm peak hour - $9.40

* TransLink Brisbane CBD to Helensvale, 68.2 km adult pm peak hour $10.53

7.1.13

Wild Oats XI wins Sydney - Hobart

Channel 7 Sunrise and ABC News 24 are reporting the win live.

Meanwhile, over at Channel 9's Today program they are reporting the race is likely to be over within an hour.

The horrors of no daylight saving in Queensland!

Has the RACQ's Steve Spalding gone mad?

Steve Spalding

PARENTS should drive old bombs themselves and give teen drivers the keys to their newer and safer cars, the state's peak motoring body says.

RACQ executive manager of technical and safety policy Steve Spalding told The Courier-Mail younger drivers were typically given older cars to drive but were more likely to survive accidents in cars with better safety features.

In the 12 months to October this year 32.5 per cent of deaths on the road involved motorists aged 16-24.

"I think with young drivers and cars it's always better to put them in the safest car, which often isn't your first thought," Mr Spalding said.

"You put them in the older car because of a few knocks and scratches. People still tend to think bigger is better but it's not the case.

The RACQ's online buyer's guide lists some of the safer second-hand small and light cars, including the Mazda2 (07-10), Honda Civic (06-10), Peugeot 307 (01-09), Volkswagen Golf/Bora (99-04), Volkswagen Golf/Jetta (04-10) and Volvo S40/V40 (97-04).

The Courier-Mail has joined forces with the Queensland Police Service in the Below 300 campaign to try to keep the 2012 road toll under that figure.

The road toll yesterday stood at 274, which was 14 more deaths than at the same time last year.

The official national Christmas-New Year road toll period begins tomorrow and police yesterday pleaded with motorists to pay attention on the roads and drive to the conditions.

Inattention was this month added alongside speeding, drink-driving, not wearing seat belts and fatigue as one of the "Fatal Five" major causes of road deaths.

"What police would really like to see over this break is that they do not have to issue one single ticket," State Traffic Operations Inspector Ray Rohweder said.

"Contrary to popular belief police don't enjoy catching people breaking the law.

"If that occurred that would mean that everyone has obeyed the road rules and that would guarantee that people in Queensland would arrive at their destination safely."

www.couriermail.com.au

22.12.12

Masters lets down the people of Queensland

While every responsible retail outlet in Queensland has graffiti spray paint in locked cabinets, Masters at Springfield Central has cheap and nasty 98 cent cans of spray paint openly for sale or for easy shoplifting.

No wonder there is so much graffiti around Ipswich and Brisbane's western suburbs.

Come on Masters - you are not being responsible corporate citizens by taking this approach to this major community problem.

Rhys Holleran gives terrible performance

The Courier-Mail wants YOU!

The Courier-Mail Funeral Notices
Monday 26 November 2012

The Courier-Mail uses "fillers" in its classified advertising columns to avoid leaving small gaps when the individual ads don't quite fit.

They usually consist of 3 or 4 lines of text and ensure there are no excessive blank spaces.

Imagine the unappealing filler in The Courier-Mail of 26 November 2012 in the Funeral Notices which declared "OUR TRAINED STAFF are waiting to help you with your advertising needs".

Just what you want to know at 7 o'clock in the morning as you browse the details of all of the recently departed souls from around Brisbane!

RACQ push for mobile phone blocking in cars

CHAT-happy Queensland motorists could have communication cut off behind the wheel, with calls for new phone-blocking technology to be fitted to cars.

More than one-third of the 270 fatal car accidents in Queensland last financial year were linked to mobile phone calls, texting and other distractions.

Experts say tackling the explosion in smartphones on the roads will require smarter technology, not more police crackdowns.

Queensland and overseas researchers are developing technologies to either block mobile phone signals in cars or encourage sensible driver behaviour.

One product dubbed the "black box" is available overseas and marketed to parents and employers who own car fleets.

Founder and CEO of the Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) Russell White said that new cars should be built with phone-blocking capabilities, while older cars could be fitted.

"Without a doubt, if it comes through the production line it's easier to do," Mr White said.

"It should be part of the standard equipment, another part of the design of cars."

He said some car manufacturers were investigating two-key systems so children driving their parents' cars could not operate phones.

Professor Simon Washington, from the Queensland University of Technology's Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, said about 40 per cent of Queensland drivers admitted to flouting the law - it is illegal to have a phone in your hand while driving - on a daily basis.

Prof Washington said Queensland researchers were exploring the possibilities of an app that could monitor driver behaviour and be available within two years .

The product could potentially check driver speed, fatigue and phone use and could be linked to rewards such as discounts on vehicle registration.

"Imagine a future where you get feedback on how you drive and you get points if you're a good driver, sort of like frequent flyer points," Prof Washington said.

He said only a small percentage of drivers were caught by police, which was why it was necessary for technology to step in.

RACQ spokesman Steve Spalding said drivers should put their phones entirely out of reach because even a ring tone was a distraction.

The RACQ will launch a YouTube video on driver distraction before Christmas, as it pursues a campaign to have the Fatal Four expanded to include driver distraction as No.5.

"We are very much of the view that it is a driver's responsibility to stay safe and not be distracted by phones of activity," Mr Spalding said.

"You need to discipline yourself not to look at the phone or take a text.

"Phones are always with us and for many people, it's just too much."

www.CourierMail.com.au

25.11.12

RACQ's
Steve Spalding

COMMENT: RACQ spokesman Steve Spalding is quite unrealistic in his comments. Why should passengers be prevented from taking or making calls while in a car? You can be sure that current technology cannot differentiate as to whose phone it is.

The RACQ has weighed-in on a very serious issue but it deserves more than just the usual glib comments the RACQ regularly serves up.

And if a ring tone is a distraction Steve, what about car radios or raucous stereo systems? What is the RACQ doing or saying about those? Or backseat drivers - which can be the biggest distraction of all!

Weather bosses lose important forecast tool for sake of $100 - BOM Brisbane boss Rob Webb refuses to ask for more

VITAL DATA: A file picture of the release of a
Bureau of Meteorology hydrogen-filled weather balloon.

WEATHER bureau bosses have robbed their forecasters of vital data-gathering flights by weather balloons to save less than $100.

The balloons, which record and transmit information on temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure as they soar for kilometres, are a key tool when preparing forecasts.

They are considered especially important in stormy climates such as Queensland's, but in a cost-cutting move, the bureau has halved the number of weather balloons at 40 locations across Australia from two to one per day.

Seven of the sites are in Queensland, including Brisbane Airport.

The bureau's Queensland director Rob Webb admits data from a balloon could have helped forecasters to predict the intense storm cell that struck inner-Brisbane last Saturday morning.

The bureau has been criticised for not issuing a specific warning until 20 minutes after the storm hit, even though other forecasters had tipped the severity.

The bureau had launched an extra balloon on Friday night but a computer card failure meant vital temperature readings were lost.

Another launch was abandoned on Saturday morning.

Mr Webb said: ``I'm not going to say we would not have liked that extra information.''

He said it was ``not for me'' to request additional funding to restore the second daily flight.

A bureau spokeswoman yesterday would not say how much the cuts are saving the organisation's $323 million annual budget.

But The Courier-Mail has learned that each flight would cost less than $100 including the technical equipment and staff time.

In the absence of balloons, forecasters rely on data from the upper-atmosphere from sources such as planes.

The Federal Government allocated $4.8 million to recruit and train up to 40 meteorologists and flood forecasters around the country but cut $13 million from the bureau's overall budget this year.

Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability Don Farrell, who has responsibility for the bureau, has ruled out extra money to reintroduce second daily flights.

Senator Farrell said: ``Weather balloons are only one method of obtaining observations. The Bureau has winds and temperature measuring equipment on a large number of domestic aircraft, which provides a significant contribution to weather observations in the Brisbane region and nationally.''

He said other technology included the bureau's network of radars.

But industry experts say weather bureau flights were a small price to pay for the information they delivered.

Weather Channel forecaster Dick Whitaker said: ``Weather balloons are tremendously important. The information from weather balloon flights is very valuable especially in predicting storms.''

Weatherwatch meteorologist Don White said: ``Satellite imagery has improved but it's not the same as a weather balloon for finding out what's happening in the atmosphere at a a particular time in a particular location.''

Alistair Waters, deputy national president of the Community and Public Sector Union which represents Bureau staff, said: ``Certainly forecasters would prefer as many different mechanisms to gather information on climate conditions as possible. They would prefer more sources than less.''

Liberal Senator Sue Boyce told The Courier-Mail: ``It's not just about extra people but resourcing them so they can do the job in a way that keeps Queenslanders safe.

``It just seems crazy as we come into summer and given the sort of summers we've had recently that there would be cuts like this.''

And Greens Senator Larissa Waters said with climate change expected to bring more frequent and more intense severe weather ``we need a better resourced bureau''.

Farmers' group AgForce is also concerned.

``We wait to hear more detail of any cutbacks to the use of weather balloons, however (we) must point out that accurate and regular weather information is vital to running farm businesses,'' said a spokeswoman.

``Key decisions relating to day-to-day on farm activities including stock movement, irrigation, harvesting and crop treatments are based on regular and concise weather observations communicated to primary producers via the Bureau.

``Any reduction to weather services puts at risk best practice within our industry.''

www.CourierMail.com.au

23.11.12

COMMENT: The Courier-Mail reports BOM's Queensland director Rob Webb admits data from another balloon could have helped forecasters to predict the intense storm cell that struck inner-Brisbane last Saturday morning. Mr Webb said: ``I'm not going to say we would not have liked that extra information'' and then he drops one of the biggest clangers of all time: He said it was "not for me'' to request additional funding to restore the second daily flight.

If it's not for you Rob, who the hell is it for? You are the one complaining about the issue, you are one suggesting the extra resources would have been of benefit to your office but it's not for you to ask for additional funding! You are supposed to be running an elite weather forecasting service. If you don't have the full resources to undertake that role, you should be hammering the head office of the Bureau of Meteorology demanding those extra resources - day and night. If there can be improvements in the way in which you and your staff do your job, you should be relentless in demanding additional funding.

By saying it's "not for me" to do anything about it is clearly not the right way to go about solving this problem. Rob: Get some testicular fortitude and demand what you need because it is your responsibility to do something about your funding shortfall. Remember, God helps those who help themselves!

Long sought-after Kelly Gang gun hid in Rocky for 112 years

This memorial stands at the site in the Ipswich cemetery
where Dan Kelly, Ned's brother, is thought to be buried.

A LONG sought-after gun belonging to a member of one of Australia's most infamous bushrangers, has been hiding in a Rockhampton home for 112 years.

But a private collector has just paid $122,000 for the muzzle-load single-shot pistol, believed to belong to the Kelly Gang's Dan Kelly.

Bidding at Charles Leski Auctions in Hawthorn started at $75,000 with six phone bids made, up to the successful bid of $100,000. Auctioneer's commission brought the price to $122,000.

For Charles Leski Auctions' Max Williamson, the historical journey to discover the origin of the pistol, has been a career highlight.

And it began at The Morning Bulletin.

The gun was brought to the auctioneers by a descendant of Rockhampton's Hansen family, claiming the East India Company Cavalry Pistol belonged to Ned Kelly's younger brother.

Mr Williamson says the story behind the gun was revealed in an article in The Morning Bulletin on Wednesday October 17, 1900, and re-published in The Northern Miner and the Warwick Examiner and Times.

"A memento of the once notorious Kelly Gang was found in Rockhampton recently, in a rather curious way," the article reads.

According the article, Rockhampton gunsmith H. P. Hansen bought a lot of "old and rusty firearms" from a townsman.

Amongst the firearms was an old horse pistol, about 46 centimetres long. Mr Hansen told The Morning Bulletin at the time, the person he bought the pistol from found it years beforehand on the bank of the Murrumbidgee River.

"The stock is of walnut, and the weapon is brass mounted, with a ramrod," reads the newspaper description.

"On the stock, where held by the hand, was found cut, apparently with a knife, '1876', and underneath 'Dan Kelly'.

"There seems to be no doubt it was at one time owned by one of the Kelly Brothers."

Mr Williamson says further research and interviews with noted Kelly Gang historian Ian Jones suggests the Kelly Gang took 17 weapsons to the siege at Glenrowan.

"And there's only one that wasn't retrieved," Mr Williamson says.

"The pistol was with Dan at the siege of Glenrowan in 1880 where he was killed by police.

"I love my job because every so often something like this comes along.

"We've sold Phar Lap's saddle, the very first Brownlow Medal, Shirley Strickland's collection, and now this."

Mr Williamson says the gun's discovery is not just remarkable because of its rarity and link to one of Australia's most intriguing historical events, but also because it has stayed with the Rockhampton family for so long.

"Being a gunsmith, Mr Hansen obviously sold hundreds of guns in his lifetime," Mr Williamson says.

"But he obviously treasured this one, kept it and it has been handed through the Hansen family through three or four generations."

www.TheMorningBulletin.com.au

22.11.12

BOM Alert - Rob Webb seems to have learnt a big lesson from last Saturday

Take a look at the first radar image showing a relatively puny storm near Warwick at 2.00pm yesterday.

This triggered the following urgent BOM alert:

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING for DAMAGING WIND and LARGE HAILSTONES
For people in parts of the
Darling Downs and Granite Belt and Southeast Coast Forecast Districts.

Issued at 1:47 pm Thursday, 22 November 2012.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds and large hailstones in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected
include Warwick, Toowoomba, Stanthorpe, Boonah, Allora and Clifton.

Now take a look at the second radar image which appeared on the BOM website at 10.12 am Saturday depicting a massive 40km storm front which hit Ipswich and Brisbane but did not trigger an official BOM alert until 20 minutes AFTER it had hit the heart of Brisbane.

It seems BOM's regional director Rob Webb - despite his public posturing - must have put a bomb under his troops to issue alerts when considered prudent and to err on the side of caution - irrespective of all the claptrap regarding size of hailstones and other usual indicative criteria.

It's taken a week but the tirades of criticism against BOM seem to have jolted them into a renewed sense of reality.

Now, all we are still waiting on is for Rob Webb to say sorry for last weekend's fiasco.

But on reflection, yesterday's initial warning which was followed by numerous updates, fresh alerts and new warnings was probably Rob Webb's own way of saying "sorry".

Unfortunately, his tenure in the Brisbane office will always be remembered for last weekend's mighty clanger.

BOM Alert for SEQ

BOM Brisbane at last giving timely warnings. They must have learnt from last Saturday's debacle. Well done Rob Webb.

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for DAMAGING WIND and LARGE HAILSTONES
For people in parts of the
Darling Downs and Granite Belt and
Southeast Coast Forecast Districts.

Issued at 1:47 pm Thursday, 22 November 2012.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds and large hailstones
in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected
include Warwick, Toowoomba, Stanthorpe, Boonah, Allora and Clifton.

Police warning on ATM skim scam

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay -
"the most-proactive anti-fraud cop in Australia".

HIGHLY sophisticated bankcard skimming devices have been found attached to ATMs in Brisbane's Queen St Mall, for the first time in Australia.

The devices are installed over the top of ATM card slots in just seconds and have put thousands of shoppers at risk ahead of Christmas, police warn.

"It's a perfect time to strike because of the high volume of turnover in the ATMs," Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the fraud squad said.

"We know cards have been compromised over the days prior to the discovery and we know money has been withdrawn from accounts.

"We also know the fraudsters have had possession of these devices, we suspect, for the last five months."

The devices target specific ATM models and were found in two adjacent machines in Queens Plaza last week.

A customer noticed something amiss with an ATM belonging to one of the big four banks and contacted the fraud squad.

A second device was discovered in a machine connected to another major bank.

Almost-undetectable pinhole cameras record customers entering PINs while the devices simultaneously record card data in the all-in-one devices.

"We've heard of them in Europe but it's the first time we've seen them in Australia," Supt Hay said. "The concern is how many other machines have these been on over the last three or four months.

"Once upon a time it would have taken them longer because they had to fit a camera up the top. This is all in one. That would take them five seconds to fit," he said.

Police are searching for a man (pictured below) they believe is linked to the discovery of two ATM skimming devices over the weekend. They have released images of a man in a suit who police say "may be able to assist them with their investigations".

Anyone with any information is being asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Even if ATM customers conceal their hand as they enter PINs, criminals can still use skimmed card data to purchase goods online.

The devices are equipped with memory cards that can store extended video footage and the details of thousands of cards at a time.

This man is wanted for questionning
over the ATM card fraud in Brisbane.

Two separate micro-USBs also allow criminals to retrieve video recordings and data and then reuse the devices.

"When they go back to retrieve it they pull it off, plug it into their laptop then and there and it downloads all the data for them. They recharge, reset, clear the memory and go again," Supt Hay said.

Organised crime gangs based in eastern Europe have made a fortune using skimming devices.

"They will go and buy an ATM. Then they will engineer precisely the mould for how they're going to put it on top so it looks good.

"There's even been circumstances where they will go and secure the exact same paint that's on the ATM from the same paint factory so they match everything perfectly."

However despite their detailed design, the devices rely on double-sided adhesive and can come loose.

"Beware of anyone acting suspiciously around ATMS and report it. Always give the card entry point a bit of a wiggle to make sure it's firmly and completely attached," Supt Hay said. "It's going to look flush but you've got a seam line on the outside which is not normally there."

www.CourierMail.com.au

22.11.12

COMMENT: Det Supt Brian Hay is undoubtedly at the forefront of fraud investigation and detection in Australia. He regularly exposes the cons and scams which have proliferated since the advent of the internet. Whether its Nigerian bank scams, lonely hearts ripoffs or ATM fraud, Brian is relentlessly hot on the trail of the fraudsters and scammers who are a blight on our society. He is without doubt the most-proactive anti-fraud cop in Australia. The Queensland Police are at the forefront of this work, leaving the various other state and territory police services and the Australian Federal Police way behind. Brian Hay and his team deserve full congratulations for their commitment, persistence and vigilance in both their educative and investigative roles. - PaulGTully@gmail.com

Could Mr Magoo do better at the Brisbane Bureau of Meteorology?

With all the hype regarding the failure of Brisbane's BOM to see the wild storm last Saturday lashing Ipswich and about to hit Brisbane, it has been suggested the near-sighted Mr Magoo might have done a better job.

This is the storm they missed on their own radar:

Could Mr Magoo have done better?

Almost certainly!

BOM backs off promised review after claim late storm call 'not first' for Bureau of Meteorology, according to Brisbane City Council's Early Warning Network

FEELING HEAT: Weather Bureau Queensland
Regional Director Rob Webb.

EXPERTS say the weather bureau's failure to warn of the severity of a storm that pounded Brisbane last Saturday morning is "not an isolated event".

Early Warning Network, a weather watch service that sends messages to more than 65,000 residents for the Brisbane City Council, yesterday said its staff were becoming increasingly concerned about late warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology.

"This is far from an isolated occurrence," EWN alert operator Scott Anderson said. "The BOM did a good job for the rest of the weekend ... but that is not good enough.

"All the warning signs were there to issue a severe thunderstorm warning for this cell.

The bureau promised to review the events of last Saturday but last night reneged. The bureau's Queensland regional director Rob Webb said he and other staff would "have a chat about how they made their decisions and the warnings (that) were issued".

EWN sends SMS messages to more than 65,000 residents for Brisbane City Council and other local authorities. The service was launched after the super-cell storm which devastated The Gap and surrounding suburbs in November 2008.

EDITORIAL: Bureau's failures need explanation

Mr Anderson said warnings needed to be issued before storms reached severe tolerances. From now on, EWN would issue "potential storm alerts" as a heads-up, rather than a formal warning.

Mr Webb has defended his forecasters, saying the storm did not reach the parameters needed to trigger a severe storm warning - such as wind speed, hail and rain - until it was over the city.

STORM TRACKER: Tracking storm movements
across southeast Queensland on Saturday and Sunday.

He had no plans to change the parameters.

The bureau yesterday confirmed the deluge was a one in two to five-year rainfall event. Wind speeds peaked at 90km/h in Moreton Bay.

BOM's first specific warning of the storm that smashed inner Brisbane suburbs on Saturday morning was not issued until 20 minutes after it hit, despite other forecasters and amateurs spotting the severity well in advance.

The bureau said its more general warnings of severe storm activity for the region over several days leading up to the weekend's wild weather was "about the best you will ever get". "I'm still comfortable that (with) what we did over the course of the last week, very few people would have woken up in Brisbane on Saturday morning not knowing there was severe weather coming," Mr Webb said.

Premier Campbell Newman yesterday leapt to the bureau's defence, saying residents had ample warnings of the storm cells and should have been prepared.

"I think people need to give them a fair go," he said.

www.CourierMail.com.au

22.11.12

COMMENT: Things are going from bad to worse in the Brisbane Bureau of Meteorology. The Regional BOM Director Rob Webb had promised a review of the decision on Saturday not to issue a storm warning despite the fact a major damaging storm event had already hit Ipswich on a 40km front and was moving quickly towards Brisbane.

According to The Courier-Mail, Rob Webb has "reneged" on his promised review, opting instead to "have a chat about how they made their decisions and the warnings (that) were issued". Is he for real? BOM's own radar image at 10.12 am on Saturday clearly showed a massive storm to the west of Brisbane yet it took BOM another 38 minutes to issue an alert - after the storm had already wreaked havoc on the heart of Brisbane.

Now, instead of having an all-encompassing review to see if BOM can do better in the future, Rob Webb will presumably be bringing in cream buns and doughnuts for a morning tea chit chat with the troops presumably to tell them that all's well in paradise and The Courier-Mail exposures of their performance will soon dry up. The problem for Rob Webb is that he has put himself at the forefront of defending the indefensible and The Courier-Mail, the Early Warning Network, Facebook, Twitter and dozens of storm chasers and amateur meteorologists will continue to closely monitor his performance in a way no other BOM regional director in Australia has ever experienced. One more slip and he can expect a deluge of criticism. Such is the power of the internet.

The main concern about Rob Webb is his about-face on this issue and his declaration there will be no change to the criteria used by his office to decide if a storm alert is to be issued. This means that if exactly the same situation occurs this weekend as occurred last weekend, the Brisbane Bureau would NOT issue an alert to the people of Ipswich and Brisbane. And therein lies the core of the problem. If Rob Webb truly believes his office was 100% right in what they did by not issuing an alert last Saturday, then we can expect more of exactly the same in the future.

Why can't Rob Webb learn from this situation? Why can't he genuinely review all of the issues to see if BOM can do better in the future? By continuing to declare "we got it right", Rob Webb seems to leave no scope for change or betterment. And that is a real pity. Maybe he should bring along some humble pie to eat at the morning tea, as well as those cream buns and doughnuts!

Weather bureau under pump over staffing as funds dry up

Brisbane BOM chief Rob Webb has staunchly defended
the decision not to issue a storm alert on Saturday
morning despite the fact that a 40km storm front -
depicted in red and black on the Bureau's
own radar - had already hit Ipswich.

QUEENSLANDERS should brace for further rough weather as forecasters predict more storms later this week and a turbulent storm season ahead.

Authorities have stressed the importance of being storm-ready this season as the weather bureau yesterday defended itself against criticism over tardy warnings ahead of Saturday morning's storm which lashed the southeast.

Forecasters are expecting showers and storms on Thursday and weather bureau chief Rob Webb said more bad weather was predicted "coming into the 'peak' of the storm season".

People should be prepared for the worst, he said.

About 4500 insurance claims have been lodged for hail damage, flash flooding and falling branches while 48 SES groups answered 650 requests from Toowoomba to Brisbane.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said it appeared the bureau had not been able to keep up with storms on Saturday but did a good job on Sunday.

The Federal Government defended the bureau, insisting the agency has enough staff.

But it came under attack from Opposition MP Teresa Gambaro, who said her Brisbane electorate was not given sufficient warning.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would take the issue of resourcing to her federal colleagues.

"People need up-to-date information. More and more people are clicking on to the bureau site," she said. "If there are things that can be done to improve the situation, then they should be undertaken."

Parliamentary Secretary Don Farrell, who has responsibility for the bureau, said forecasters had to follow rules before issuing warnings or the public would not take predictions seriously.

Mr Webb said the bureau was adequately staffed and a new forecasting system being fitted would have no bearing on how storms were read.

One additional staff member had been rostered on, meaning six forecasters were working on Saturday and Sunday. Two of those were on the severe weather desk.

An independent review of the bureau last year warned it was at its limit in providing extreme weather forecasting.

Senator Farrell said the Government spent $5 million on 20 meteorologists from overseas and a further 20 locals to be trained up around the country.

He said he had been advised that additional staff would not have helped on Saturday.

Emergency Management Minister Nicola Roxon said the bureau was often asked to do the impossible in predicting unpredictable weather.

"You can't assume that we are going to be able to always beat Mother Nature," Ms Roxon said.

Mr Webb stuck by staff who issued the late warning on Saturday, saying it was at the bottom end of severe and not to be confused with massive supercells that developed later in the day and Sunday.

"There was no evidence on radar to anyone that it was severe until it got to the CBD when we put out a warning ... in a perfect world we would have preferred to have it out earlier," he said.

Yesterday, bright sunshine could not melt the hail that lingered on Lyn and Dennis Ryan's fig and lychee trees at Wamuran, more than 18 hours after storms swept through.

www.CourierMail.com.au

20.11.12

COMMENT: BOM Brisbane chief Rob Webb still says there "was no evidence on radar to anyone that it was severe until it got to the CBD when we put out a warning". You must be kidding. Have another look at your own weather radar at 10.12am on Saturday:

A cursory look at your own radar image shows a massive 40km storm front from Wivenhoe Dam in the north to Harrisville in the south depicted in yellow and bright red, with a black centre southeast of Marburg. The storm was about to hit Ipswich as it moved on its highly destructive path towards Brisbane.

This one radar image is damning evidence in its own right that the Brisbane Bureau of Meteorology let the people of southeast Queensland down very badly.

No one one is blaming you or your staff at a personal level. Things can always go awry when trying to accurately predict storm events.

Instead of defending the indefensible, why haven't you adopted the smart Peter Beattie approach which would have seen a simple apology followed by a promise to do better in the future.

The people of southeast Queensland expect no more - and no less.

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