It is heartening to see private businesses and commercial organisations starting to stand up to the challenge of CPR for the CBD, being proactive when faced with a dilatory council bankrupt of ideas or smarts. But conversely enough, will the new group be their own worst enemy? The Magpie ponders the question.
That local government pay rise – how our acting mayor missed out on the chance for the public love she so desperately wants … Foodtrucks just wasn’t quick enough or clever enough in the art of political jousting. The Magpie proposes a real alternative for the councillors to consider, an idea for which he cannot think of a reason why not
And some truth telling by Clr Robinson … in plain language, he tells the council its heading for the financial rocks unless action is take,.
Yet again, the paper that is ‘all for us’ gets things back-to-front … this time, literally.
Also, The ‘Pie calls out an overstated bit of oft parroted man bashing by the over-woke.
And in a world exclusive, The Magpie reveals the secret behind Melania Trump’s flying saucer inauguration hat.
Lots changing in our world, but bills for The Nest’s operation remain annoyingly constant. A helping hand is needed right now to handle an early year influx. If you’re of a mind to help out your favourite Sunday morning read, the donate button is at the end of the blog.
Is Townsville About To Go Broke?
Until last Wednesday’s TCC meeting, that question remained in the realms of social media speculation and some informed comment by Nest readers.
But when someone like the unexcitable and circumspect Clr Andrew Robinson uses the loaded word ‘alarming’ in connection with council finances, sensible burghers sit up and listen. The ‘Pie sure did.
And Clr Robinson also did the rare thing in our chamber of hieroglyphics, he spoke plainly when he asked if the council was facing insolvency, and suggested this would be a ‘growing concern’ in the coming months. . “The numbers that are initially presented initially may seem quite alarming.’ And again, as a beige accountant-type person not given to colourful or unjustified phrases, he emphasised his concern by saying the council ‘is sailing close to the wind’ on cash flow and insolvency issues. ‘ We need to keep a sharp eye on it’, he said, ‘and we may need to make some unpalatable decisions come the mid-year budget review.’
Acting mayor Clr Greaney agreed with Clr Robinson’s concerns and added to our jitters when she said big decisions would need to be made in the lead up to the council’s next budget in June, ending the stupid non sequitur “Unpalatable is a nice way to describe it.’ FFS, Foodtrucks, really -nice?
Couldn’t get worse, you think?
Well, yes, it could and is worse than imagined, because the person leading this council which is tasked with making ‘unpalatable decisions’ is one of the very architects of the parlous state of the council finances that no need to urgently be fixed. … a woman who for the past decade has had her lips firmly glued to Jenny Hill’s lower cheeks, a posture she maintained even when raising her hand to vote for the ex-mayor’s ruinous and financially ignorant decisions. (Chief among these was the personal appointment of CEOs Adele The Impaler Young and the legalised thief Prins Ralston.) Could anyone have any confidence let alone trust in Clr Greaney and the other former Hill puppets in taking effective and fair action to right their own wrongs. They are as financially stupid as the con man Thompson. They will dodge and duck because they could be exposed to some unpleasant interrogation by authorities.
While The Magpie feels sorry for some of the councillors, especially the newbies, he cannot see any acceptable way out but that the council be put into administration. And that is sure to bring some unpalatable decisions into which we the great unwashed will have no say … and that could include paid parking on the Strand. Administrators don’t have to care what we think, or really, care about Townsville generally. Cut-price, bargain basement Machiavellis like Matt Richardson will come in to their own, and go on the rampage.
This is rapidly becoming the opposite of the old saying ‘Better the devil you know ….’. – more like ‘the devil and the deep blue sea.’
How Ma Greaney Missed Her Chance
If she’s not too au fait with finance, Clr Greaney is equally lacking in political smarts. She is greatly aware of the continuous dribble of bile from TwoNames Thompson’s fb page, but she didn’t have the wit to see an obvious way to steal a march on this slimebag.
The issue was the latest regularly mandated pay rise for mayors and councillors. These increases are determined by an independent remuneration body. Greaney was quick off the mark to tell the Astonisher she would vote against accepting the pay rise, citing tough cost of living times as making it inappropriate. The Bulletin incorrectly said she had ‘nipped it the bid’ – the decision to reject the raise lies with the entire council, not just the acting mayor, and individuals cannot opt out … one in, all in. The process didn’t stop her political toy boy from a bit of virtue signalling nonsense. Both these populist knee-jerk reactions. But neither of them thought of an alternative path that would have had a positive community impact, while polishing their haloes at no cost to the ratepayer.
Consider the facts. If the raise is rejected, it makes no discernible difference to these well remunerated folk, so it is just low hanging goody two shoes fruit to loftily refuse. And the money goes back into the government’s taxpayer fund pool to do nothing but sit there until the next automatic rise. So what if there was a bit of lateral thinking about this.
How about vote to accept the rise but on the condition that the councillors collectively agree … either as councillors or just as a group of private citizens, to channel i.e donate the increase of each person into a fund that benefits one or more suitable local charities, like a food bank arrangement, preferably something to do with the cost of living and the disadvantaged. This is surely a smart win-win all round … actual material help to those who need assistance, no burden on the tax or rates payer, utilising money that would otherwise lie dormant benefitting no one and showing the councillors for once demonstrating actual coal face assistance within the community.
Personally, The Magpie cannot think of an argument against this – except the fact that he has suggested it, which might not go down well with some of our bruised leadership.
Perhaps some other councillor might like to suggest this at the next meeting. Call it your own idea, The Magpie will let you have it.
CBD – From Can’t Be Done To Can Be Done?
Paul Keating once famously quoted his mentor Jack Lang: ‘In the race of life, always back self-interest – at least you know it’s trying. ‘So hope sprang eternal when a new group finally said ‘enough’ with the hopeless council and useless drones like TEL, we’ll do it ourselves.
And so UpTownTownsville was born during the week.
And if anything can be done, you couldn’t ask for a better brains trust. Every one of them has skin in the game, and not one of them on the public tit. And while it might sound niggardly to say so, it’s is just as important who isn’t on this new body, including any waste of space for someone from TEL. Council too, although there will obviously have to be extensive dealings there … possibly with an administrator.
But this is no slam dunk, and these folks aren’t headless chooks denying reality. For nigh on 20 years, the rock has been rolled up the CBD hill, just to tumble back down for a variety of reasons. And while this time we have the right people on board, they will be well aware of what confronts them.
From the outset, it necessary to point out that two matters regarding the plight of, and their possible solutions to, the CBD: this NOT about a few passengers off cruise ships, they are a relatively minor matter to our economy, although TEL would like to magnify that contribution for their own false glory. The other thing that this working party should emphasise through the media, is that the CBD is vital to the city as a whole, and it’s successful operation (or not) effects the entire city in a number of ways. To this end, any proposed projects should have strict KPIs published regularly, to deflect the widespread and sadly entrenched mantra of ‘chucking good money after bad’ that regularly does the rounds. (This was possibly true in the past, but let’s be positive about this new initiative.)
The Bulletin is on board … sort of.
The ‘Pie’s immediate reaction to this headline was ‘Holmes, how do you do it? Your power of deductions are unequalled.’ Admittedly the paper was simply quoting the ‘well, duh, no shit, Sherlock?’ words of Cairns deputy mayor Brett Olds, but just risible in a headline.
But we already know ‘well, duh’ stuff like this, and polling neighbouring cities who have lively central areas, presupposes there is some civic similarity that we have carelessly lost, a magic formulae which can be applied here in Townsville. Unfortunately, that is just another flight of fancy and is a poor substitute for useful analysis. Economic and geographic difference blur any possible similarities … not to mention the long history of missteps (the modern word for short-sighted policies) that have worked against the CBD.
This new work in progress is just about to kick off, so a brief look at what is confronted … parking will be a key factor, questions of council incentives will be canvassed, some bold visionary ideas will need to be chucked around, but as the Chamber’s Miranda Mears pointed out, this is not going to be a Shazam presto overnight fix. A possible couple of anchor tenants might be needed to build something around. And there is still sentiment for the Magpie’s preference of returning to two crucial blocks back into pedestrian mall, giving greater flexibility for attractions.
Many will come up with other suggestions, and the conversation will ebb and flow, but the greatest obstacles is going to be landlords and business owners.
Investors, property developers and people who go into their own business usually want strong ideas about what they want and where they want to go. So Jack Lang’s betting advice could have a negative effect: trying to get strong willed people who have money and livelihood at stake will naturally have self-interest as a primary consideration. It’s a fact that this committee is going to feel at some stage that they’re trying to herd cats.
But let us sincerely hope we don’t get a version of that meeting of Arab factions featured at the end of Lawrence of Arabia, where self interest made victory descend in chaos and futility.
Get your white robes out, Craig Stack.
But if they stick with it, for that very reason … self-interest … this might really be the start of change, Because this group also bring to the table their proven interest and faith in … and their love for … Townsville.
Seriously what the fuck is up with the Townsville Bulletin?
Look, given that The Magpie is in the unique position of being able to say what he wants without retribution (it’s not worth anybody’s trouble) makes him aware that he shares the famous prerogative of the harlot, all power and no responsibility,. Yes, it’s easy to jeer and snipe from the sidelines, and yes, he does sound like an old tart sometimes, but how often is that rhetorical question about our paper justified? Regularly, is the answer.
This time, somehow Cas Garvey, who claims some bond with the city she comes from (she has told us), this week managed to literally get things back-to-front. That is, the front page should be the back page, and vicky verca. And the immediate success of local tennis champ J P Smith was rated of less interest than a if-and-maybe rugby league story about a season that hasn’t even started ffs.
FRONT PAGE
With all it’s bought-in space fillers about Adelaide cats with three heads or whatever, there is a basic lack of understanding of who reads their news sites and why. A clue why some some still read this floundering paper is contained in the masthead … the word ‘Townsville’.
So why were they so slow to pump up a legitimate feel-good story of a local hero performing on the world world stage, and with a fellow Queenslander at that… would that not be fully deserving a front page splash and a maybe page 5 feature? Surely as a paper that falsely boasts it is ‘all for us’, following the fortunes of ‘JP’ Smith would be of interest to readers . On the same day, even the Australian thought it worth a big page 4 picture.
The fact that JP and Kimberley lost the final is irrelevant to the point here … and in the subsequent bought-in story about the final result, not once did the Bulletin think to edit in the word Townsville as JP’s home town … the word doesn’t appear at all in their story about the game loss in the final.
But it’s just as well no one takes you seriously, why would they, when you forecast we’re about to cop 3 metres of rain in the next seven days.
You really don’t give a fuck, do you, Bulletin?
Donald And Elon Must Be Furious – Upstaged By A Hat.
If Melania Trump was trying to be a bitch and spoil Donald’s big day, she succeeded brilliantly. Her fashion masterstroke was that hat, a cross between a Clint Eastwood western and a Mormon minister, shading her in mystery and detachment for every single moment. The hat took on a life of its own, going from a distracting Where’s Wally enigma to The Exorcist spooky. It was everywhere, it was inescapable, you felt like you were being followed.
But there was only one real reason for this masterpiece of malignant millinery … Melania’s masterstroke was that it made unwelcome intimacy very difficult, if not impossible.
The Magpie is still laughing at this spousal ‘up yours, Donny Boy by his missus.. If she’s a bitch, she’s The Magpie kind of bitch.
But that was about the only light-hearted laughter this week, with the American penmen starting out with the grim humour they no doubt will continue.
Even If Domestic Violence Becomes A Thing Of The Past …
The ‘Pie got into a bit of barney in comments during the week, when our regular reader (privately known in comments as Tasty Bits) send in this:
January 21, 2025 at 3:51 pm (Edit)
Unfortunately Magpie, while it’s not all men, until all men declare it to be reprehensible, call out their mates, and colleagues, and stand up and teach boys a better way, it’s going to continue. Because when 1 in 4 women and 1 in 14 men have experienced domestic violence, everyone knows an abuser and everyone knows someone being abused.
There was a fair amount of – ‘ahem’ – lively to and fro, but in the end, The Magpie gave himself the last word.
January 22, 2025 at 12:07 am (Edit)
Look, you’re attempts at rational debate are unsupportable and tiresome, but here’s the thing.
You’re argument is that men should police other men’s behaviour, by rejection of first their ideas and statements (about women generally and spouses specifically), then any friendship with them, unless they welcome and embrace their mates’ enlightenment. And only then will domestic violence stop. So until it does, according to your unexamined parroting, it will forever be the fault of men generally that domestic violence exists. In other words, your claim is the majority of men may not commit DV, but they tacitly approve of it by not actively getting involved.
Did it occur to you that shunning an already unsettled, emotionally unstable person might just increase his propensity for violence against his easiest target? Staying touch is the real answer, maintaining a persistent view of the overall issue.
You completely deny that each case of DV, and each man, had a unique background that by-passes social repugnance, and therefore, for a wide variety of reasons, one of which no longer is tacit approval by their peers, will continue … as it has from the year dot (helped along by a religious patriarchy across all faiths).
Despite this obvious truism, you believe every grub involved in DV can be subject to some magic formulae of rejection by their mates if they don’t stop bashing the missus. And if they persist in that behaviour, it is the fault of others, and therefore is the responsibility of men generally.
FFS!! Really?
And by the way, some blokes do not have to have, or want to have a dog in this fight, and are happy to mind their own business, a right in a democratic society but not in yours. The ‘Pie grew up in the 50’s and 60’s, and it was universally accepted that men did not hit women, it was just a given (and back then, you never kicked an opponent when he was down, but that’s gone by the board too nowadays). But granted, the laws back then were non-existent to protect women, so most never reported it, they just left home while they could.
But this is not sustainable to lay DV at the door of men collectively, we’re not all made with some moral cookie cutter. Keep your antisocial guilt trip to yourself, or for your trendy dinner parties.
DV is a serious business, and not to be condoned, but gender wars of a gentler kind, conducted with humour, will always be with us, to answer some question that may need the help of. a private eye to solve.
But the gender divide is even more dismaying if you’re a female reporter at the Townsville Bulletin …
Charlotte Whitton once made the famous observation that ‘whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.’ But even gals need a helping hand sometimes.
…….
Another week gone and we’ve survived … it’s a case of just one miracle at a time, eh? Comment are always lively and fun, jump in and have your (anonymous if you want) say … lots of wisdom, lots of good info every week in there – and a million larfs.
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How many warnings in the Magpies nest on Mayor Hills poor investment decisions / Part time Prins Ceo . Whilst Team Hill were chasing Rainbows Council is drawing down another $100 mil debt facility . Is that on top of the $100 mil drawn down June 2024 ? . Council managed projects Haughton Stage 2 blew out $250 mil . Councillors who are supposed to be the leaders in the community are living from one pay ( rates ) to the other . $48 mil below budget capital spending . Thats a lot of projects and work in Townsville not being done because Councillors didnt take ” unpalatable decisions ” . Isnt it ironic that Council entity $600,000 rate payers $ is dishing out business advice when Council cant manage a budget / cbd ? . $220 mil in rates notices going out and Council hopes to receive $54 mil end of feb , $184 mil end of march . Lansdown Team Hills number 1 priority relegated 2025/26 as Council coffers drained .
Donating the pay increase to charity just gives the councillors a nice tax deduction.
That gets an award for the Most Stupid Comment of the Week … but chin up, there’s a long way to go.
He’s got a point though – the councillors could claim a tax deduction. Better if they paid the extra cash directly back into the council coffers.
For start think you’ll find that’s not allowed … or as they would say, we have no mechanism to accept funds in that way.
And of course, struggling locals wouldn’t get any benefit … The ‘Pie is buggered if knows why every fucker wants to make a simple gesture difficult.
Absolutely typical of certain sad sacks who can’t simply say crikey that might work.
The councillors could just pay for X amount of council services … library fines, copies of planning records, venue hire, etc.
Money goes straight to the council, no benefit to the councillors.
It just doesn’t work like that.
It beggars belief that someone as publicly incompetent as the previous CEO is allegedly in the running for CEO of Redland Council – the recruitment company Leading Teams should never have accepted his application, let alone have him in the final running – Council’s play far too important a role in the day-to-day lives of community members to entrust its leadership to people with absolutely no idea – it is clear at TCC his performance blew up the budget, smashed the culture, destroyed the reputation, failed to deliver capital and added to the cost of living pressures for community – the Redlands Councillors, Leading Teams and LGAQ must ensure he is not allowed to wreck Redlands the way he did Townsville
If the councillors decide to donate their pay rise to charity we’re going to need a new police department to make sure they actually do. As for the socalled CBD you can’t breathe life into a corpse, so here’s a simple solution that won’t cost ratepayers a cent. Simply drop the CBD tag (it’s not the centre of business now) and call it Flinders Street. Should have happened long ago.
Not that a name change will do anything to alter your dystopian view, but The ‘Pie has long thought there should be three designations … Flinders Street East, Flinders Street Central and Flinders Street West. The term Central Business District puts the wrong focus in peoples’ minds on the issues, so yes, agree with you on that.
It’s still the central business district even if street level retail is dead, there’s nowhere else in the city to compare.
On the councillors’ pay rise, I’m certain I read that Food Trucks had warbled something about donating it to charity if the vote went through to accept it.
If they vote it down, it will be just so much virtue signalling, because they are aware it will be just tacked on to the next increase.
Correct but The ‘Pie’s suggestion was a group vote to donate their increase … if nothing else, a show of solidarity, empty gesture though it would probably be.
Given the spotlight on this, it seems even this council wouldn’t have the chutzpah to accept the raise.
Grace Tame is a vulgar, attention-seeking cow.
She’ll soon grab the latest bogon tag “influencer” to match her sickly, snotty nosed smirk.
Hope all you blokes enlarging on this theme are saying more about yourselves – volumes – than you are about Ms Tame.
And you’ve only just noticed this Grumps? Mind you, she does get the attention she seeks. You just have to wonder at the mentality of the organisers letting her get away with it,
She is a victim of a sex crime and has shown tremendous bravery. Her sentiments on her T Shirt echoes the contempt for Murdoch that is echoed around the world.
She is an inspiration to many. Oh, as well as Fuck Murdoch, is there a Fuck Grumpy shirt for sale at the Nest. I would buy that.
I’m with you, Lab Rat. Tame is a gutsy Australian, and one of our national treasures. Her side-eye to the former PM was applauded by many, and her TShirt message today will be equally supported. I suspect poor old Grumpy is an ageing Murdoch-loving misogynist.
Boys. Haven’t seen a “Fuck Grumpy” tee- shirt. Closest I’ve seen is a “ I fucked Grumpy – and I liked it” tee. I think it was Ducky’s mum who was wearing it.
Imagine being groomed and raped as a child by a teacher, somehow surviving (many don’t), banned by law from talking about the impact of rape and sexual abuse, overturning said law to enable others to speak and continuing to advocate for other victims to then, be despised by old men in regional Qld for not wearing a pretty dress and staying quiet and ladylike. I imagine Grace Tame has developed some thick armor over the course of her years and deals with this hate and bullshit all the time. So yeah, she may not be Miss Congeniality but shes done a helluva lot more for this country than most us. Laws can be changed to supress rights very easily as we are seeing in the U.S so the attention she demands needs to be uncompromising and relentless. Heres an idea, why not save your spite and vitriol for the perpetrators of sex crimes, the groomers, creeps and pedos who prey on children and young people and those who try to supress the victims?
Yes, she is wonderful.
Sweetie – want to buy a tee-shirt?
Poor Grumpy, last time it was because she didn’t smile. This time he’s jealous of her tshirt.
You can get your own here.
https://lonelykidsclub.com/collections/the-chaser/products/fuck-murdoch-tee
As the proud owner of a Fuck Murdoch coffee mug – a birthday present from my journalist daughter – The ‘Pie appreciates the sentiment, but Grumpy is right. Inappropriate, silly catch-all message from an attention seeker (a message which has nothing to with be a rape victim and associated issues) and very stupid of Albanese not to get his minders to get her to cover up. Albo would never say ‘fuck Murdoch’ in public, popular sentiment is not always appropriate in many settings, but for politicians it can be lethal, even by tacit approval and second hand association.
Even people who are critical and don’t like Murdoch might be offended by the soft focus of the slogan’s hard words. Tame sees to have let celebrity go to head at the expense of judgement.
FFS CAITLIN CHARLES. THERE IS NO SUCH CHARGE AS ALLEGED MURDER.
And if the police charge her with murder, then it is ergo them alleging it, not the paper, so the your arse-covering, silk-pantied mincing fucking Sydney lawyers can still get their beauty sleep. Even someone falsely accused cannot take any action against the paper in such an instance.
This sort of knee jerk blanket use of alleged just makes the user look ignorant, ill-educated and stupid.
And God help us, you’re the deputy editor of the Astonisher … but it figures.
Isn’t it valid to call it alleged if it’s not proven that the death wasn’t natural causes or manslaughter?
No it is not, if you are quoting what the police tell you i.e that they have charged a woman with murder … this is not about the crime per se, it is about what action the police have taken, that is charged a woman with murder. That’s a statement of fact pure and simple, nothing to with guilt, innocence or doubt, which a court will decide.
However, in the body of the story when no authority is quoted, the use of alleged is valid to cover the paper in the rare and unlikely event that someone is falsely charged and decides to sue. But even in that event, there is no liability for the paper quoting police saying ‘we have charged a woman with murder’.
And this is all amateur bullshit by the paper since no names – victim or arrested and charged person – have been involved.
I’m not a journalist but seems this is how it’s done.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-26/child-dead-townsville-woman-charged-murder/104860750
ERxactly, and YV News even better, a direct three line story without an ‘alleged’ in sight.
Magpie, having been away from Townsville for eight years and returned to find the CBD in a far worse state, I am interested in your thoughts and your regular readers on what are the possible solutions to make the CBD a vibrant commercial and community hub (besides sacking the current council).
They’ve been endless canvassed for all those eight years. And therein lies the core of the problem … in a democracy, a free market economy that ultimately decides certain population movements, and it will take some outside-the-envelope thinking to enliven the area. There will without any doubt some social engineering required for any success.
When the Ogden St Parking Station operated in the middle of the CBD, the first two hours were free, allowing time to get most things done. The subsequent fee after that wasn’t too expensive for an hour or so.
The Dean St CP is too far out for those of us getting on a bit. In addition, one has navigate the citizens who gather in the parks, robustly discussing subjects of mutual interest while quaffing cool libations decanted from boxes into soft drink cans.
There’s no longer a movie theatre in the CBD. When the Ogden St CP was there, we occasionally went into the CBD, saw a movie and had a meal after. The last time I went to BCC, I had to duck out to feed the parking meter, maximum $2.00 for two hours.
To encourage people in the city, it as to be made convenient, and that includes fixing the notoriously dysfunctional traffic light system. Traffic control doesn’t simply consist of stopping traffic every block, regardless the direction it is moving.
Happy Australia Day fellow Nesters! I enjoyed a nice sleep in and a morning BBQ breakfast. A few cold beers are next on the agenda after reading this week’s Magpies Nest.
Love the new stakeholder group of UpTownsville. There are some well respected players in that group. I wish them all the best and hopefully they can kick some of the goals that the pathetic TEL and previous councillors couldn’t kick.
Can anyone help me but what the hell was Greaney wearing at the Australia Day Ceremony at Jezzine Barracks this morning.
Pic?
An army disposal blanket, with a floral design.
Seems we’re back to the Maggie Tabberer fashion era.
A thousand years ago when I was at school, Food Trucks Mum Margaret (I think it was) used to run a deportment school for young ladies. The lessons didn’t stick for me and obviously her little daughter also flunked out.
It would not have been a SAS Uniform.
It is interesting that there were jobs for both royalty such as Prins and Prinsess at Powerlink in the afterlife of TCC. Spelling appropriate. Buy candles as a backup.
At Kidston, it is generated by pushing water uphill, just to let it go down again to generate electricity. TCC may now be pushing solid matter up hill, but it is certainly not generating power!
After reviewing their LI profiles, Spell check needs turning on both their professional qualifications, and more details of the Educations themselves to be supplied. There are vets, and then there are VETS. both mentioned in the same profile.
And so many schools and Universities? What did you do there again?
One crucifixion over education or experience just doesn’t seem to satisfy the hordes any longer. The public lusts for more after the main experience.
Colourful but completely obscure.
The STRAND DEVELOPMENT by tony mooney is Townsville finest tourist asset.It is equal to any attraction you will see worldwide.
That will come as a surprise to Mr Eiffel, to those who’ve been to Mannu Pichu, Mt Fuji, the Taj Mahal, the Great Ocean Road, Uluru and Sydney Harbour, just to name a few.
Boofheaded overstatement is never helpful. The Strand is a great local attraction, but c’mon …
I’ve been complaining about the council debt and council finances for over a decade, until recently it was deemed not a problem and I was apparently completely wrong in this matter. Its nice to finally see people shift towards my point of view even if it’s kicking and screaming waving a fist into my face.
You shut down all superfluous funding such as grants to all but the most necessary things. If the voter blocks of the labor party or liberal party need money – simple, ask the state or federal government for money. No further money should come from council coffers to buy votes – only state and federal budgets should be used to buy votes.
You remove ALL parking meters and time quotas in the CBD ( you just leave the CBD tag in place, i don’t see any need to change anything)
You ASK the businesses currently in the CBD their opinion. There are some business owners that still favour parking meters – no point in listening to that opinion , the results are clear, they talk about the need for them in an EMPTY shop that remains empty. Its Stockholm syndrome. The streets of the CBD have been empty for at least for a decade, time to try a new strategy of a no parking meter, no time limits.
You shut down all further major projects, an exception could be where there’s shit flowing into people’s backyards. We will need to accept that the next ten years will be a period of austerity ( not spending money on crazy shit that does nothing but fill the bank accounts of townsvilles problems).
The council goes into administration and ALL the finances are exposed. An election is called a year later, non performers and gremlins / shills are exposed and are removed at the next electoral cycle within a year or so.
A new law is passed : a new council election can be called at ANY TIME if a percentage of the electorate signs a bonfide petition. This acts as a sword of Damocles over the council’s head.
Management wages and positions must be reduced starting with the CEO. The CEO wages shouldn’t be any more than the mayors wages. Councillors wages must be reduced to reflect community averages ( i think my electoral flyer of a few years ago said 60,000 , all of them ended up in the dustbin. My message of reducing debt and increasing accountability fell on deaf ears in kelso/ condon/ Rasmussen – if the voter can’t make good decisions they get the managers they deserve). On my first/ second outing on the streets I led with the council rates and the man I spoke with threw my flyer straight in the bin , he told me he was on benefits, it didn’t matter who got in).
Ultimately the answer simple , we need better voters, if you don’t give a damn about where you live, can’t be arsed to find out anything you should probably just mark yourself present on election day and leave the voting process to those that DO care.
So it’s all about you, Guy, a victim of bad voters.
Just laying down some truth bombs magpie
Try doing without talking about yourself so much, you come across as a sulky schoolgirl.
Guy, you are delusional…and very fucking strange.
Its just truth, if people can’t make good choices they get bad outcomes, its just easier for me to take the sugar coating off the situation and lay out the truth. Call me whatever you want but I’m not wrong.
“Democracies” only work if you have an informed and conscientious voter , its always a ticking time bomb. The damage that’s done is always exponential and time based, the longer the damage continues, the much worse it gets. No doubt in another few years the rates will be 100 % more per year , the debt will be over 1 billion and CEO will be on 1.5 million a year.
I wouldn’t get worked up over it, I’m a nobody that posts on a small blog that few read. I can more or less write whatever I think.
That last sentence is under review.
There wouldn’t actually be much is Australia that compares to Machu Picchu – the Incas built more in 300 years than our indigenous peoples managed in 60,000 years or whatever they claim these days.
Funny, no one in the world outside the Townsville region seems to have heard of it.
But … but … but the Bulletin repeatedly tells us our Strand is iconic.
And if something is iconic, its very mention makes your think of the place, like the Eiffel Tower or the Parthenon. Surely you cannot deny that the they talk of nothing else but Townsville’s Strand in the fashionable watering holes of New York, London, Sydney and Gumlu.
Readers of the Magpie’s Nest don’t seem to get out much. And neither of them would be drawn to the CBD of any city in the world if there was something else to see. I mean, come on fellas, would you send your mates shopping and drinking coffee at every stopover on your world tour? Have you been to the Palmetum, ever? It’s a world class botanical garden with plenty of parking and a cafe if you must. What about the Town Common? Or a bus trip to Mount Stuart then along past Lavarack (Australia’s biggest military base)? Foreigners, any outsiders really, love this stuff. And what about the port itself. Heaps of people would love to know what’s going on inside those sheds. A mountain of raw sugar or lead/zinc concentrate, a huge machine loading out a pile of fertiliser and the amazing story of how it is made. And what’s wrong with a WALK, of all things, along the Strand? Hardly anyone wants a Disneyland in every tourist trap in the world. Townsville has so much more than that.
It’s a fair bet you could be in the running for head of marketing at TEL.
Hyperbole!! Best thing ever!!
Simple typing error. It is supposed to be <> because the Strand is just far enough away from Flinders Street to suck the life out of it.
The strand is the only thing Townsville has going regarding some form of tourist attraction, but to try and compare it, to other tourism hotspots around the world, we are found wanting, very badly. Maybe, showcase the awesome skid marks all over the city, from stolen cars. A small walk through our ghost town city centre, where our illustrious vagrants, urinate and defecate in front of delapadated shop fronts, before they harass you for smokes and money, then get abused. If you’re really lucky as a tourist, you could be held at knife point by a 12 year old, while 10 of his friends pile into your car, and destroy your pride and joy, on our busted roads, and live stream it around the world. Yep, Townsville is a tourism hotspot.
Overstated, poorly argued and silly.
Bit like the shannanigans within the tcc
I call bullshit!!
Bullshit on what, do tell!
The Strand being a ‘tourist attraction. Nice place but hardly a tourist attraction
Far be it from me to get in the way of a good rant but doesn’t the bulletin article on rain prospects suggest 300mm of rain not 3000mm as the Black and White dive bomber quipped?
What does ‘300m’ in the headline represent in your mathematical, decimal world?
Should’ve gone to Specsavers?
300m is 300,000mm.
Yes, realised that but the point about the headline in valid.
Guy, you really need to take a humility pill. Although I agree with some aspects of your post, a lot of it is waffle. And mate, you aren’t the only person who sees our CBD as being a shithole as many other locals, businesses, the Magpie et have all been calling for or highlighting the need to redevelop and redress our CBD. And they’ve been doing this for a number of years.
The CBD isn’t a shit hole , its just been managed in the wrong way. Maybe it’s importance is being over estimated ? Oh yes, a veritable fortune has been spent on the CBD with no discernible effect. The debt issue and the awareness of the debt problem started in 2010 when the water tax group discovered that a massive hole had been blown in the side of the council finances. As each year passed a few more people became aware of it and despite my calls back in 2010 / 2011 raising the alarm of this issue it was roundly ignored, to one extent it still is.
Water tax in 2010 was the canary in the coal mine because it exposed why the council needed to raise taxes ( prices). In 2024 it was the rates rising by 10% and the parking meter money grab that started once again the issue of the debt. From 2011 the debt never really shrunk , I’m sure that councils cooked books might show otherwise. The clincher about government debt levels happened in 2013 when the QTC client list of institutions were made secret , they never appeared on the QTC bi annual credit report again. The awful truth is that from 2013 things have become so dire the debt levels became secret.
The truth is no one cares about the debt levels until their balls get squeezed again in June and the howls of pain start up all over again.
I’ll probably be telling you the same thing about the debt levels in council next year and the year after that, people will still be telling me i’m delusional / crazy/ obscure/ etc. With the managers we have presently the circle can never squared; obvious answers will not be entertained as I’ve outlined above because they’re not meant to be.
I’ve heard the word “revitalise” in regards to the CBD a lot. What exactly do people mean when they say that? Is it retail shops like it used to be 30 or 40 years ago? Is it more commercial businesses based there? Is it more residential spaces?
revitalise means what it means, breath life back into an area, which for whatever reason, has died commercially.
Fixer, They have tried residential units, even a supermarket underneath and failed. It would take a very brave major retailer to return. As the Mayor of Mackay stated ‘land banking’ is an issue, and it’s up to the council to act on this problem.
Hi there nesters, has anybody heard any news about Harpic, Cupcake and Les the bar room brawler? It has been a pleasant few months since Crisafulli came to power and I was wondering how the three former incompetents were doing. It’s more out of curiosity than caring. Personally I am pleased they got the arse.
I don’t know what the first two are up to, but it looks like Les has defected to Vietnam. Can’t say I mind that outcome.
https://www.facebook.com/stories/104384245028483/UzpfSVNDOjExNTg5NDU1OTU3NTA2MDA=/?view_single=1&source=shared_permalink
Is Trump’s youngest son sterile?
Forget Mayor Greaney ” one voice ” . Clients of our accounting firm are pushing back on Councillors on the $350,000 for Wedgwood display Perc Tucker Gallery vs Council cleaning up the cbd , working with landlords painting hoardings , cleaning , security . It’s compelled by Councils $48 mil underspend on capital works with residents in suburbs using Councils ” snap send solve ” to report issues but nothings being down . Councillors are under siege wondering why they voted the division Councillor cbd / magnetic island as acting Mayor bringing more heat on themselves .
Snap Send Solve is all over the country, it doesn’t belong to TCC and it’s not exclusive to Local Govt. I’ll add that it is a pain in the arse to navigate at times.
The CBD is doomed by the chicken or the egg conundrum.
Locals will not visit unless there are shops and entertainment that meet there needs, with car parking convenience at least equal to the surrounding shopping centres, which there is not.
Retail and entertainment will not set up where there are no customers.
Q. Which comes first? A. Neither. The CBD is doomed.
All you’ve done is paint an accurate portrait of the problem facing this new task force, which you accept as an unchangeable done deal. Because you are unable to reimagine any scenario which will lift CBD activity. But narrow thinking and defeated acceptance of your SadSack outlook is unhelpful. Everything is on the table now, and bold, workable ideas are perhaps about to be discovered. Social engineering is not always a good fit with a free market, but there is no doubt bold involvement of government money will have to be a component of whatever concept plan eventuates.
The driving ethos that should be adopted by the UpTownTownsville committee – and by all those positive people pondering the issues – are the words of George Bernard Shaw: “Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?
When the Morrison government demolished the CBD’s biggest tourist attraction, the Reef HQ and Omnimax Theatre, and left the once-famous Aquarium mothballed and abandoned, some people saw things as they were and asked why? The federal member, part of a flailing, failing government, dreamed of putting to work the $195m pipeline money he was gifted and thought why not (make a complete jackass of myself)? He did nothing for the CBD. He procrastinated, obfuscated and meddled in local council politics to distract attention until the new government took the remnants of his slush fund away. The city is broke, the Crisafulli government now says it’s broke too and we keep telling ourselves federal Labor governments are always poor economic managers – until we see what ten years of Coalition governments actually did. Perhaps Townsville is what it is because we are who we are. Ashamed of our town? Then be ashamed of ourselves. We made it, it’s ours.
What’s this fucking ‘we’ business? The ‘Pie is one of the majority who expected to have the aquarium replaced, only see the whole thing stopped mid-project? Our fault? Get stuffed.
A nice apologia for Labor, mate, but not a mention of the idiot and incompetent treasurer Cameron ‘by name by nature’ Dick, who went a long way in bolstering Labor’s reputation as bad money managers.
No, not our fault, our problem. At least Dick the state treasurer found and spent the money to build (and nearly finish) the Haughton pipeline. Thompson was gifted the money, the town had the expectation, particularly in around the Hive and the Honeycombs hotel / ferry terminal on the Strand redevelopment, and the pathetic lying Coalition government made sure the whole thing stopped mid-project, as you put it. That’s one tourism-in-the-CBD fail down to Phillip Thompson. There’s no way a Dutton government would touch it especially with Jacinta Price overseeing ‘government efficiency’.
Ratepayer, a lot of what you say is true, however the valid points you make are soured by assigning everything to just one set of ideological incompetence.
What do you propose to actually DO to recover/renovate this derelict district?
Anyone can point out whats wrong and even where and how it came to this.
What we need is a dose of reality, the past is what it is, what we need is a robust brave new design, it does NOT need mega-bucks it need imagination, leadership and commitment without any political hubris to muddy the waters.
As a starter the UpTownTownsville committee now needs support and promotion, I hope the Bulletin can grasp the nettle, but on past performance I am a tad skeptical, but hope springs eternal.
Afraid whatever happens it will need a lot of money, Heel. Logic tells us that. being daunted by money hobbles creative thinking … the circumstances that led to to the birth of the Strand is an example.
And might be best if we all – including The Magpie – dropped terms like derelict, ghost town and tumbleweed territory which are way too extreme, referring only to the lack of people. The lack of a few hoardings does not mean widespread dilapidation like the disgraceful Dimmy’s building. Probably more than 80% of businesses still operate in the area under discussion, it is primarily the disheartening optics of Flinders Street between Stanley and Denham streets that people think of. And as Craig Stack says, it’s a ‘ground floor’ thing, most of the areas properties have their upper floors occupied … his estimate is 11,000 office workers. There’s about a thousand alone at the council. One aspect that poses major conceptual problems coukd be called the V factors …. ‘variety’ and ‘viability’.
And there are bright bustling spots like City Arcade and the adjacent City Lane … perhaps lessons can be learnt from their operations.
Ratepayer , try Albanese Govt demolished REEF HQ . It closed in 2021 .18 mths later GBRMPA announced demolishing it . Albanese elected May 2022 . Funding for projects come under City deal which require local Government / State / Feds . Local Government Minister Steven Miles cancelled a number of meetings on the funding for local projects with the protection of then Labor Mayor . It’s all on the public record .
I wonder which public record Mike Douglas relies on for his information. If you look up “demolition of Omnimax theatre” you can watch short videos dated November and December 2021 captioned:
Abyss Demolition demolished the old IMAX dome theatre, marine park offices and cultural centre as part of an $80m project.
Phillip Thompson made sure “Australian Government” signs were posted all over the demolition site. They left the abandoned aquarium structure behind as a monument to their incompetence only now campaigning, with the even less believable TEL, to have the Albanese government find the completion money which Thompson had in hand but failed to manage. Try again, Mike.
Nobody ever thinks outside the box. State and Federal government could also play a part in revitalising CBD’s in multiple towns including Townsville. The State and Feds could offer tax credits, financial assistance, or other incentives for local businesses to expand or start up operational businesses in zoned CBD areas. They could offer relocation money to businesses who move to the region and set up in the CBD. If we can spend $368b on fucking submarines over 10 years, we can spend some money on ‘revitalising’ regional areas. A little bit of a ‘if you build it they will come’ approach. Incentives go a long way. State and Federal government could work with Council also, perhaps doing an 80/20 incentive (deal Council being the 20%) so that the works can be completed. Improved facades, footpaths, gardens, demolition of crumbling infrastructure with construction of new projects. Council could offer rates discounts or furlough or heavily discount business rates.
What is presently being done is simply not working. It’s time to look at alternative ways to rebuild our CBD.
And what of the elephant in the room, parking?
As I’ve mentioned before, from an aesthetic and psychological perspective the CBD should extend down to where Flinders and Morris meet – and no further. This could be higher development encompassing larger apartments ( no rat boxes allowed). The juxtaposition between higher development should be set as a line in the ground “this far and no further”. You’d have a series of taller buildings along this road feeding customers into the CBD and presumably Castle town. Adequate parking is needed because without it no one wants to live there or visit.
The architecture should not be the grey goo monoculture so typical of Australian cities but varied and noteworthy. One crazy thought I’ve had is to adopt a hanging gardens of Babylon approach to Townsville development from charters towers road into the CBD, you’d encourage animal life , movement, breeze, shadow, light and flowing water rather like an arterial path into the CBD. Colour, albedo and shading is critical to all successful habitats conducive to human life – meanwhile the kellyville housing estate in Sydney was the hottest place in the world thanks to dark roofs, zero shading and low albedo ( dark roads).
How about we just let the free market decide whether to build large or small apartments and bland or fancy buildings? We’re in a housing crisis and adding to regulatory burdens to suit your aesthetic preferences won’t help.
As a broad theory, The Magpie agrees with that, but like everything else in this day and age of altered market forces, theories have to be updated to ensure an equitable business environment. Especially because it is free market forces that have dictated the decline of the CBD. Perhaps our governing bodies have a responsibility assist those like UpTownTownsville reimagine and remake an area their ignorance and lack of vision/flexibility helped deteriorate.
Then we create the grey goo that no one really wants to live in, zero shade , maximum heat devoid of life, sterile and naturally repellent to human life.
Its two approaches.
On beck drive one developer has created an estate where greenery , trees proliferate and views to Mount Stuart and the mountains really bring out the landscape despite of the development.
On the other side a massive wall and Sydneyfication project has emerged. The natural landscape has been walled off and is typical and hard-wired into the Australian FU mentality. As a result things get worse.
A well balanced human mind needs to look at nice things, the space we live in affects our minds.
Hate to think where you live, then, Guy.
What’s needed in the CBD is more residents. Even in the old days when it was fully tenanted it was pretty dead after 5pm. Incentives – negative and positive – should be put towards doubling the number of dwellings. That population will support the shops, restaurants etc that might attract suburbanites.
If the Hive and Reef HQ/aquarium ever gets done … plus an entertainment/convention centre wherever that will be located … will all be of great benefit to the languishing areas of the central area. It is reasonable to expect UpTownTownsville will put a lot of effort lobbying for these projects to get going.
My feeling with the aquarium is that it’s in the wrong place. You need more parking. If they are insistent on building it on the same plot it needs to have residential stacked on top of it, rental from the apartments can help pump revenue into the aquarium during the quiet periods. It needs a second source of revenue.
I say just level enterprise house and build the aquarium with shaded parking around it.
There’s not enough room at the Enterprise House site. It would cost a lot more money to relocate there. It’s better for the aquarium to be on the waterfront where it is (that boardwalk will eventually lead to it).
In the “old days” there was plenty of entertainment after hours. Particularly in a certain pub with a certain journo and a certain barrister. Some of the accompanying ladies have gone on to dizzying heights, eclipsing all of us.
Didn’t the council offer free rent/no rates a few years back?
I’d offer that to bring the CBD back to full strength would be to connect the strand, Flinders Street and Palmer Street. A footbridge is planned which is why the “walkway to nowhere” was built.
The yacht club have grand plans for when this happens too. Pity the council doesn’t have the funds to build it.
Surely the potential is there. Manly beach and the corso work well in a similar configuration. (And a few million more residents)
Not sure how that would help. In fact, the emphasise on promoting Palmer Street a couple decades ago was the start of the end for the Mall area. Building those bridges would do nothing to bring people into the CBD strip.
Council is broke but spends 2.2 million on waste fees and $50000 on survival day celebrations where about 500 pl turned up. This is only the tip of the iceberg imagine what lies under the surface.
Can somebody tell me what was this survival day and why was it on Australia day?
Different names for the same thing.
The young man featured recently in the paper making felt hats is the type of specialist retailer who should be snapped up, and offered an incentive to start a retail business in the CBD – and that should happen to as many of the specialist retailers that can be found. There are many cottage and craft folk selling from home and at local markets; surely they could be approached to be a regular part of the CBD.
People love that sort of shopping and the young milliner, for example could expand to other accessories once his business matured: belts, buckles, wallets, etc., etc.
And I realise there’s so much more to be considered, but in this case, I was just thinking about the retailing businesses . I’m not very smart………..
That’s not a bad idea, make the area one for specialists like that bloke (the word is milliner, btw, which seemed to be beyond the folks at the Astonisher). But it';s to be remembered that property owners reasonable rent expectations will be a factor, and many of the – 80% – of properties are not locally owned. Not that the location of the owners are all that relevant, investors are investors wherever they are.
The milliner is gone now, not sure where to. The German barber has moved in where he was.
Interesting bit of reporting by the Townsville Bulletin in relation to the 9-year-old boy who was killed in Kirwan over the weekend.
First we read this:
The boy allegedly murdered at a Townsville home has been identified at Thai-li Ned.
Thai-li, 9, was struck over the head with a blunt object allegedly by a woman he was living with, Schynada Karkadoo, 24.
This masthead understands he was allegedly struck with a plank of wood.
Let’s ignore the pomposity of ‘This masthead’ … are they ashamed to say ‘the Townsville Bulletin’? And they are seemingly so unsure of this hot scoop that they had to throw in another idiotic ‘allegedly’.
No, the more interesting thing here is that in the very same story, we have veteran detective Dave Miles, a seasoned practitioner of walloper-speak, saying the following:
Detective Senior Sergeant David Miles from the Child Protection Unit said the alleged crime was “quite abhorrent”.
(Detective Miles) said there was a “significant head injury” that was “quite obvious”.
“Upon arrival we located a nine-year-old male who was deceased, with apparent head injuries,” he said.
Police are investigating whether a weapon was used and if so what type.
“Certainly, that’s part of our inquiries at the moment. The injury is consistent with what I would say at this stage appears to be blunt force trauma,” Detective Miles said.
“We’ll await the outcome of the autopsy before we make an absolute determination of what weapon may have been used.”
Hey Dave, save yourself a few bob and just ask the reporters from the local ‘masthead’ … they have inside info it was a piece of wood. Allegedly.
Dave Miles is a copper’s copper. Whip-smart, straight as an arrow and totally dedicated to his job. On top of that he is urbane and meticulously polite – a very likeable gentleman. I had the pleasure of working with him on a professional and personal basis for many years and have the utmost respect for him.
To a much lesser extent The Magpie had the occasional contact with Dave way back when. You could always rely on anything he said, which was usually by the book … as it should be. He has served this city well for a very long time.
As a regular business traveler I can assure you that Cairns and Gladstones CBD’s are also shitholes. Old shop fronts that are dilapidated with peeling paint, empty windows, old stickers and peeling paint. So Townsville isn’t on its own, that’s for sure.
The point of difference is, they have people, visitors and locals spending in their CBD, Townsville doesn’t.
TEL needs to rethink its formula for estimating how much money cruise passengers inject into the Townsville economy. At the moment they appear to take the total number of passengers on the ship and multiply it by as many dollars needed to get the desired result.
But most passengers don’t bother getting off the ship when it visits mundane places like Townsville. Day trips to Magnetic Island and Billabong Sanctuary are popular but can cater for only limited numbers and the tv vision of the hop on hop off bus organised by TEL last week showed it was less than a third full.
A relative who was on one of last week’s visiting ships estimated only about 20% went ashore in Townsville. The onboard entertainment doesn’t stop and the ships bars and restaurants don’t close when in port.
Time for a dose of reality Ms BS?
Today’s Australian newspaper has the Magnis gigafactory filing for bankruptcy in the US court system. Wasn’t Magnis originally part of Landsdown?
Indeed..


Jenny Hill may be gone, but the stench of her legacy lingers on. Magnis, whose oil slick MD Frank Poullas shouted her a trip to the US to wheedle some public funds for their proposed Lansdown scam – was Hill’s basic argument for Lansdown.
The ‘Pie has received the following from a trusted source whose previous information has always been on the money. After cross checking as best he could, The Magpie is satisfied to publish the comment.
Please note the award recipient in this photograph is not involved in the matter.
Clr Foodtrucks Greaney has her nose way out of joint, after she got a blunt message about what sort of sway she commands over others. She had a little foot stamping episode when her adamant choice for Townsville Citizen of the Year award was overwhelmingly rejected by her fellow selectors. She tried time and again to overturn their choice, Edmund ‘Ted’ Mildren, the RAAF Association state president and welfare officer for the Townsville branch.
When it was clear she was not going to get her way, she then insisted that the young female she nominated get some sort of consolation award. I won’t name the young person, Greaney’s actions are a matter for her alone. The fellow selectors were unimpressed and extremely annoyed with Greaney’s ‘entitled’ attitude.
Greaney is an imbecile and conceited hack. Of course she had a tanty as she is a complete sook. And in that photo she looks like a hot air balloon.
Shades of Jenny Hill?
Fortunately, Foodtrucks doesn’t have the rat cunning, just the hub ris, that Mayor Mullet had. Which is good news, because one way or the other – election or administration – she won’t last long.
The whole acting Mayor scenario is quite amusing. Food trucks spent her time as a previous councillor being subservient to Major Hill. You can only have one alpha male, so to speak. Food trucks kept a lazy low profile as Major Hill domineered all of the weak and pathetic councillors. But now that Hill is gone, Food trucks has raised her head above the radar and has attempted to copy and emulate Major Hill. News to Food trucks – it’s not working. Fellow councillors and the ratepayers have called you out for the lazy, tent wearing phoney that you are. As the Magpie points out, you will either be gone if an administrator is appointed, or you will be gone next election. Soon enough isn’t quick enough.
While Then ‘Pie sticks by that forecast, there is one factor that must always be remembered – Greaney’s poll chances may change depending on who cares enough to nominate and help restore the reputation of this council. Remember what happened when Fran pulled out through illness, and what we got instead. And where we have ended up.
Who are the other people in the photo?
The bloke on the left looks vaguely familiar, think he’s from Ingham, the award winner is the Arts and Culture TCOTY Alex Salvador, and the one with the straggly hair used to be a doctor but bad, almost crazy, medical decisions forced her to find alternative employment where she couldn’t do any harm. Her hubby made a killing out of COVID. The one of the far right appears to have arrived at the Jezzine ceremonystraight from Highb Range camo exercises.
Didn’t that bloke from Ingham win a spaghetti eating contest some time back?
Secret to revitalising the CBD – more Santa Fe Golds
Well, might revitalise something.
Given the upcoming weather event, does anyone know if they are going to try and release water AHEAD of time at RRD ???????
G,
Ask your divisional councillor and let us know if they reply, and if so, what the answer is.
Guy, pick up the phone and ask acting Mayor food trucks Greaney. She will surely be all over this event, wearing her hi-vis vest and amphibious tent size wet weather jacket.
Commenters (especially you BS, which The ‘Pie has changed) please note: Don’t use names of real people as pseudonyms … playful variations are fine but just actual names are both confusing and dishonest.
I don’t take any council figure as gospel, dam water levels , budgets, promises, debt levels.
You shouldn’t take ANY council figure as the truth.
In the face of such reckless behaviour, incompetence and sheer corruption , be aware of it but try and keep your own home and situation as ship shape as possible. If you dwell on it you’ll send yourself mad.
I realised the jig was up years ago, now the Australians are locked onto a path of civilisational demise. The east coast gave up rights to its natural gas years ago, its all sold for a song to Asia then we buy it back at world prices – its why power prices are so high and the last vestiges of practical industry is driven out of the country ( that and “regulations”).
What country would import more people than accommodation, force people to live in shoe box apartments and lock their own children and grandchildren out of the property market forever ? It’s a real estate ponzi scheme – seen all the advertising popping up with the faces of real estate agents grinning at you ? The property developers are the real power brokers ( the new qld government has allowed developers to give political donations again – this is wrong.)
I think the future for Australia is more of a neo techno feudalism model , lots of poor and an elite that manages the mineral resources and controls voting blocks. The main thing to know is few will listen, few will care and no one will remember and are doomed to repeat the same problem over and over. It’s a bleak outlook. My aim for trying into council was to hold the line and try to slow the rate of destruction of civilisation if not halt it but no one’s listening.
Enjoy things whilst they last
They won’t release, too scared to after the last time.
FYI this morning, Thursday Jan 30, the RRD was at 92.03%. Almost exactly six years ago, on March 3, 2019, the dam reached the historic high 232.79%. We’re nowhere near red alert territory at the moment.
Interesting stats percentages there Pie. Am I wrong to think that 100% is the top of the dam wall ?
The dam is at 100% when the water level is at the top of the closed steel gates – Full Supply Level = 38.55m AHD. The concrete spillway crest level is obviously lower = 34.65m AHD. When the gates, which are nearly four metres high, are lifted to create a small opening and outflow underneath, the top of the gates allow a similar rise in the height of the entire dam surface, radically increasing its capacity.
In the 2019 flood the water level peaked at 43.03m AHD = 251% of Full Supply Volume. At this point the gates were opened completely to allow maximum outflow to protect the integrity of the dam wall.
The Dam Crest level is at 48.00m AHD.
I can’t remember where 100 capacity actually is , the top of the gates are above 100 % i think.
Heavy rain for 3 days straight will shoot the level from 50/60% to 103% i think.
The earth wall by rights must be rated to take significant water levels. But it makes you wonder. Plan A is to release AHEAD of time ( 3 days). If they know there’s about to be significant rainfall they should probably be releasing NOW ! plan B Is relying on the strength of the clay wall.
You have to be careful not to freak people out.
It won’t take much serious rain to bring the levels above 100 % again.
I’m out of the loop now
In 2019, the level when the shit hit the open button was 232.4%. No idea how that equates.
And no one listens to what i say anyway.
Guy – what?
I watching to see what the bridge construction company working on the new bridge on Bowen Road does when the dam reaches 100%. Fair bit of heavy construction equipment in that river bed at the moment.
Critical…And they’ve got the river blocked at exactley the same spot as they did in 2019. Not good for Rosslea residents.
With these tropical lows about now is the time to get your cyclone supplies. Get to Dan Murphy’s now and avoid the rush.
https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville/weather/townsville-residents-can-expect-it-to-stay-wet-under-foot-for-days-to-come/news-story/02d43caae07c7cfff34c484e9f28a3b5
I think we should be concerned, Mr. Pie!
“Your Weather Channel – JWC has suggested that some weather modelling for Townsville is showing 2000mm over the next week, while others are showing 12000mm.”
Blah blah blah 2000 or 12000, who cares. We need the rain. A little flooding won’t hurt anyone. Put on your floaties Butterfly as no doubt you will be scared of drowning.
You’re not a well person, are you,?
round things!
That’s a 7 day accumulation and based on one model only. Some of the more accurate models like the ECWF AI model, which is one of the more accurate ones, predicts between 700 and 800 mm over 7 days, significant yes, 300 m, no
EB,
Between 2 and 12 metres of rain? Really?
Are you sure your name is not Naamah, your husband is building a bloody big wooden boat, and you haven’t yet solved the forthcoming animal manure problem?
At least this time they won’t make the mistake of not checking the unicorns closely … last two were Bruce and Roger.
Where you been Flutter-by? Cocooned somewhere? Good to see you back – the peasants have been resless of late.
So if we get flooding rain how will Mooney Jr handle the pressure? Little boy couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag, let alone help his constituents. He would take flight with his tail between his legs. I don’t rate any of our inept councillors as being capable of protecting their communities. Did I mention that they are all idiots?
Fuck me sideways. I bought a pair of R.M Williams tambo boots for $300 or $350 back in 2009. Bought another pair last year for $649. Bought another pair this morning for $699. I hate these price hikes. Might have to switch to Ariat boots. Any other nesters notice a steep increase in select items?
Cry me a river.
Yeah, eggs.
New price 2009 Toyota Corolla $18,480
New price 2025 Toyota Corolla $32,110
1997 Corolla current price : once I’m out, the value has gone.
Bloody good old bomb though.
Yep, cost of everything is fucked. And we have t even started on the cost of a house or the price of rent.
Christ we’ve really copped a wailing Greek chorus today.
1972 SE Corolla with radio cassette $2,332.73.
Without radio cassette $200.
I see where “Yes, Minister” is airing again on TV – 7.30pm on Gem, tonight actually. Maybe it should be compulsory viewing for TCC Councillors, et al? Teach them a bit of political credibility.
You can bet Matt Richardson has it on loop and still, writes fan letters to Sir Humphrey.
I’m trying not to sound elitist or snobbish here (cue smarty-pants comments by the virtue packers that abound here), but: Has there ever been a mayor of Townsville, indeed any Queensland local council, that does not own real property within the council area?
Troy Thompson (his mum’s house doesn’t count).
Townsville Chamber of Commerce has lost the plot. Apparently Trump is on the money in how he’s supporting small business. Are these people living in an alternate dimension? Or do they only read/listen to Murdoch news?
Care to share with us what the fuck you are talking about?
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18F1saQXhB/
“It was great to see this article by Amanda Rose today about the importance of small business getting the attention it deserves across News Corp Australia today.
The cost-of-living crisis is well-publicised, but it’s crucial we don’t overlook the growing pressures faced by small businesses. Many owners are barely scraping by, sometimes not even earning a minimum wage themselves. With rising insolvencies and quiet business closures becoming the norm, it’s no surprise that more people are opting for the security of a steady paycheck. But this isn’t just about survival—it’s about the sustainability and growth of SMEs that are the backbone of our economy.
The policy shifts around industrial relations have added a layer of complexity and cost that many small business owners just can’t afford. Not to mention the lack of consistency in how “small” businesses are defined by various government bodies—some say 25 employees, others say 20. This lack of clarity only fuels confusion and red tape.
It’s also disheartening to see policies meant for large businesses or government initiatives having unintended consequences for SMEs, especially those tendering for work. On top of that, the rising costs of insurance, energy, and fuel are adding even more strain on already tight margins. Small businesses are simply being priced out of staying competitive, and with rising premiums and limited coverage, many are struggling to keep their doors open.
The administrative burden on small business owners is overwhelming, and too many are forced to hire external help to stay compliant with ever-changing rules. This, of course, adds another layer of financial strain. We need simpler, more accessible support systems, so they don’t have to spend unnecessary time and money just trying to keep up with the rules.
And don’t get me started on the uncertainty around things like the instant asset write-off! If we truly want to build a sustainable solution to the cost-of-living crisis, stabilising the business environment for SMEs is step one.
I fully agree with Amanda: reducing compliance burdens and giving businesses the certainty they need will not only protect jobs but create room for innovation. When SMEs thrive, so does our economy. Let’s make sure they don’t get forgotten in the next budget.
~ Heidi
#ThriveIn2025″
The article being referenced discusses how a Trump is right about supporting small business. Which is insane. Trump supports noone but himself and the Oligarchy. Small businesses in the USA are currently desperately trying to understand the environment in which they operate which is rapidly changing and unpredictable.
That is an uncharacteristically impossible stretch, conflating what Heidi says on behalf of the Chamber and some 3rd hand line about Trump’s apparent action in this area in America. And The ‘Pie completely agrees with what Heidi has said, so does that suddenly make The ‘Pie a Trumpster?
Dead wrong, very mean, very unfair and very unlike you to play the idiot, Ducky. Remember, you insult your fellow readers with hidden agenda crap like this.
No Magpie.
This would have been better with no reference to Trump. By referencing an article agreeing with Trump, Townsville Chamber of Commerce have by extension endorsed his ideas. Endorsing his ideas means we tolerate them and therefore we allow more Trump ideas to be tolerated. Eventually we become intolerant and corrupted just like him. It’s called the tolerance paradox.
That is absolute crap. Stop being a nancy boy and just say you’re sorry for being a fucking idiot.
The Magpie will retract this with all necessary apologies if the C of C states publicly that it endorses Trump’s actions in ANY area.
They don’t have to explicitly publicly endorse Trump. They have insinuated an endorsement of Trump by sharing that article. An organisation like the CofC should have more integrity.
Only in your mind only, The ‘Pie’s previous comment stands, and now endorsed by your further idiocy.
insinuate
/ɪnˈsɪnjʊeɪt/
verb
1.
suggest or hint (something bad) in an indirect and unpleasant way.
“he was insinuating that I had no self-control”
There is absolutely no way that the Chamber post insinuated any such thing. Your hidden agenda is obscure but apparenrt.
Now get your befuddled brain around that.
Perhaps you could let me know.what my hidden agenda is.
Let’s keep it as our little secret, just you and The ‘Pie, eh?
I see that 2025 hasn’t been good for your brain cells Ducks Nutless. Your Facebook piece of dribble is complete stupidity. Why the fuck do you post such shite? Seriously mate, has all this rain drowned your brain cells?
Ducks nuts . The article details that Small business in Australia contributed $589B 2022/23 . The reference to Trump is he has appointed Elon Musk to head ” Department of Government efficiency ” to get rid of red tape and bureaucracy . Example 700 pages of i.r. Inplemented by Albanese Government and the cost of red tape has increased 150 % in 3 years . Opening a food outlet Qld requires 13 licences . Heidi is following Townsville Chamber of Commerce Charter which is to advocate on behalf of their members . Most Small businesses would agree with Heidi’s comments / articles details .
UYes, but that does NOT mean tyhey agree with Trump in the way Ducky erroneously implied.
Strictly speaking what you have is the perfect storm brewed up over decades.
1 make housing unaffordable by ramping up immigration.
2 drive up rental prices
3 drive up power prices by bringing in the utopian green deal here whilst corporations sell millions of tonnes of coal, gas and oil overseas. Then implement the most expensive form of power ( nuclear) with all the inherent risk and aggravation of storing nuclear waste safely for the next 2000 years
4 expand NDIS and other government programmes so every man and his dog works for the government, borrow vast amounts of money to achieve this.
small business rely on cheap power, cheap and available labour, cheap rental / affordable land and most importantly discretionary spending power. With most discretionary spending evaporating into mortgages/ rent where are your customers? Any spare labour has been drawn into government work ( the great Australian dream )
FYI
Here is TEL full submission made to Energy, Food and Water security in North Queensland
https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/os-data-2/townsvilleenterprise-com-au/documents/submission__jan_2025_energy_food_and_water_security_for_northern_australia.pdf
Couldn’t be fucked reading their bullshit. No doubt it was written for them by a consultant, copied from another region, or written using AI. TEL are a complete farce.
The submission is exactly what you’d expect from Townsville Excuse. All they have done is throw up the same dogs breakfast of projects which benefit their members and added nothing to the broader debate about energy water and food security.
It looks like it was written by a 10year old asking Santa for Christmas stuff. There is no business case or supporting refs or any attached documents.
It wasn’t even signed, probably would have been signed as “love and kisses”.
Maybe should’ve been signed by AI.
Looks like TEL have their priorities all wrong if you go down the list by numbers.
RRD was at 92.62% capacity at 11:30am today
Now at 2.30pm it is at 96.41% capacity. Filling at 1.25% per hour
If this rain keeps up, we will be at 100% capacity in 2.9 hours from 2:30pm
And the gates will open a tad on auto and on the one hand let a bit go, while on the other, allow for a rise in the entire water level of the dam to start storing the ‘flood’. They can’t stop Gordon and Stuart creeks flooding though and there’s a 3.66 high tide at 11am on Saturday.
15 minutes ago, at 3.30pm

And you’ll know that just because the rain stops, the inflow doesn’t, not for up to a couple of days.
As another mate said to The ‘Pie this arvo, it won’t take long to see if the Townsville council has learnt any lessons from 2019.
They better have,
Seems they have … have been reliably told that the gates will open when another 20cm is recorded. Don’t know what that equates to in %, but sounds like the council is on top of things this time.
How much of Ross River was blocked off by the bridge works on Bowen Rd/Stuart Drive. I hope at this stage they are really really busy unblocking the river.
Soon after the dam level passes, by about 100mm, the 100% or Full Supply Level, which is 38.55m AHD, one or all the gates open AUTOMATICALLY to a formula, just as they did in 2019. It does not require a decision from TCC.
And there Bozo is the failure! The dam level gets to whatever it is now and the dam gates open, a bit, AUTOMATICALLY.
Whoopie duck!
The dam does not AUTOMATICALLY know there is a shed load of water about to flow into the dam.
The AUTOMATIC gates are reactive not proactive with knowledge that there is much more water on the way and the time to dump water is well before 100%.
A history lesson if you are still here. This I know from my late Uncle who was a respected orthodontic surgeon and TCC councillor in the 1960s.
The primary purpose of the RRD was flood mitigation. Secondary purpose, opportunity water supply.
Primary water supply, Burdekin Dam. Decisions made at the same time. RRD smaller project delivered 1971. BFD delivered later.
Then came TCC greed. Neglect commitment to the BFD and rely on the saucer shallow RRD for water for Townsville.
Had the original purpose of the RRD been maintained it would have been emptied in anticipation of the wet season. No 2019 Jenny Hill flood, and no angst at the moment.
And to finish, 6 months before the RRD was commissioned there was an election that saw the first Labour Townsville Council. When you visit the RRD know that the names on the commemorative plaque are of grandstanders who had fuckall to do with the delivery of the RRD.
Thank you Jenny
JWB, you are entitled to your personal opinion that the primary purpose of the RRD was/is flood mitigation. Secondary purpose, opportunity water supply.
Government legislation does not agree with you though. The position outlined in the Review of the operation of the dam in the 2019 flood, is that the dam’s primary function is a water supply facility for Townsville, with secondary function as flood mitigation. Ross River Dam is not prescribed as a flood mitigation dam under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008. The dam managers are required to follow the text book, step by step.
For years Townsville was mocked, although in the tropics we were tagged Brownsville.
If this immanent floodgate is mismanaged like the last one, we’ll be “Drownsville”, hope I’m wrong!
If it does flood, then SOS will come to mean Shower Of Shit, literally in some locations, and will still be called Brownsville but for a very different reason!
Hope I’m wrong.
One of your better efforts at wit, Heel … but then, it’s a pretty low bar usually.
Now at 103.28%
As I understand it they only open at 100% – long after the opportunity to mitigate flooding has gone. If you are opening on 100% in heavy rain you’ve lost the battle. You release AHEAD of time not after the horse has bolted. Oh well
That is about the only thing you have said that The ‘Pie unequivocally agrees with.
It might take a bit longer as the water level goes up as the dam widens so it takes more water per percentage point. The dam levels used to be almost real time. I remember talking to someone on the phone in 2019 and saw the water level had gone up 1% in half hour. Its all secret stuff now.
Wulguru residents, it’s time to engage your poonami plans as there is a potential for another 2000mm of rain. That will test the sewerage system to its limits. Also, let’s see if drain maintenance has been robust over the past year or two as the drainage and gutter systems will also be tested. I have a bad feeling about this weather event.
The only weather event you need to worry about, Harpic, is the wind you’re sailing close to by using saying ‘weather event’. The word you’re after is simply ‘weather’ … or do you work for the Astonisher. FFS.
“TLDMG moves to lean forward as rain intensifies”
Moves to lean forward? What manner of buzz word bullshit is this?
How about, “TLDMG has established it’s operations centre as rain intensifies.”
FFS, lean forward? There are times when I lean forward. Usually after midnight, standing at the urinal, leaning forward till my head touches the wall above the urinal. That three point stability prevents falling into the urinal.
IOt wsas always four points for the Magpie … in his day.
BTW the TLDMG won’t be contacting anybody … they’ll be ‘reaching out’.
4AM dam at 109%. 111% now. The water release is not keeping up. 2019 here we come!
And now, to keep people calm the TCC dams level page is not loading, dialogue box, “Content not available. “
Problem must be at your end. This from an hour ago.
I wonder why they use the system of month first and day second !
That was Guys job when he worked there. “You had one job”
In 2019 we could see the TCC website gave us dam levels for both dams throughout the whole event.
It appears that this mob don’t want us to have that information, website page has been down all morning.
Is this poor management or should we get suspicious that they’re purposely hiding the information
Then where did The ‘Pie get this from? Try harder, mate. Note the time.
Magpie, I have triedthe TCC website for the last 3 or 4 hrs and the dam level does not show. Agree with Critical.
Pleased look at the timing of the Pie’s comment. He was just refuting a claim by a reader, because at the time, it was accessible.
Anyway, what’s the big deal if someone nis too busy to inform the public about levels … the public is being informed of the situation by the emergency group.
Does anyone know where I can get hold of a nice bouffant hairpiece, and some orange fake tan?
…. and download YMCA.
Hi, Pie.
Googled Townsville Bulletin and got this
Townsville News the Courier Mail.
Your opinion that the Townsville Bulletin is doomed might be closer than thought.
“The Townsville Local Disaster Management Group has ordered the evacuation of some suburbs in Townsville.
Chairman of the TLDMG Andrew Robinson said rainfall had been higher than expected and the suburbs needed to evacuate before it was too late.
Cluden, Hermit Park, Idalia, Oonoonba, railway estate and Rosslea.are the areas currently being doorknocked.
“People living in those suburbs must be prepared to leave. Door knocking if it hasn’t already begun will begin shortly to inform the people in those areas,” Cr Robinson said.”
Madness!
Where do literally thousands of residents go?
Do they drive their cars on flooded roads?
Can’t drive south, north or west.
Hotels, motels, boarding houses?
Absolute madness Mr. Pie!!
What do you suggest?
Butterflog, they go to friends, relatives, and evacuation centre’s. It’s an emergency you flog. It’s never going to be perfect and there is no 10,000 + special accomodation for such an ‘event’ as is what is unfolding. Stop being critical and maybe get out there and lend hand to people, fill some sandbags, as I have done to assist other this morning.
Unbelievable!
Tell the members of this “Group” to go and take a cold shower, especially its chairman, Andrew Robinson.
His knowledge of disaster management is on a par with Troy Thompson’s knowledge of honesty!
Then, go and talk to old Townsvillians, especially old tradies, and glean some knowledge about flooding in Townsville.
A stupid, knee-jerk reaction is the last thing the city needs!
Remember 2019?
If not Robinson – advised by real experts and making decisions based on that on our behalf – who do you suggests? Stop chucking pointless rocks.
Take note Elusive, those suburbs are not being flooded by the Ross River. It’s all local runoff or streams like Gordon Creek. The actual river, at Bowen Rd bridge and at Black Weir near the school, is flowing, sure, but hardly working up a head of steam. Most of the rain is being stored in the dam so that the flooding in low lying areas is minimised. All going to plan I’d say.
“Chairman of the TLDMG Andrew Robinson said rainfall had been higher than expected”
Higher than expected??
It seems to me, as was the case in 2019, the BOM forecast was spot on. Again the RRD mis-managed with no pre-emptive water release. Does Council mistrust the BOM?
If the TLDMG claim to be doing things by the book, as was the claim in 2019, THE FUCKING BOOK IS WRONG!
JWB; Your final expletive, is confusing what has the Karma Sutra got to do with flood mitigation?
EB, you sound like Charles Warner’s observation. (often incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain)
“Everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it”.
Don’t they have cyclone shelters they can use to house people ?
Elusive Butterfly, so you can do a better job? Then why don’t you volunteer to take a leading role in caring for the ratepayers affected by flood waters? Of course you won’t, because you are a sidelines sniper who prefers to take potshots at those trying to do their best. You really are a jerk.
Despite the sometimes heavy rain there was a precession of cars going to the Ross Dam. Some to fill sandbags, others to sightsee. For me, too bloody wet to get out of the car.
Also, some first class potholes starting to form around town. We will need a modern day Olive Scott Young.
I wonder if this isn’t an opportunity to point up the difference between the respective definitions of ‘dam’ and ‘reservoir’, given everyone’s laser-focus at the moment? As in, the DAM wasn’t at 100-and-whatever percent this morning, the RESERVOIR was. Or is this not a good time…? Regardless of pedantry, I really do feel for folks who are having to go through 1-in-100 year flooding for the second time in five years. As legendary American journalist Ed Murrow used to sign off, Good Night and Good Luck.