Shouts from the desert

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has launched a 20-year infrastructure plan for the state.

Torres Strait Islanders warn the PM they could become Australia's first climate change refugees if she continues to ignore the effects of rising sea levels.

Speaker John Mickel has agreed to survey MPs on future accommodation options, including a new building at the Queensland Parliament precinct in Brisbane.

SA's Families and Communities Minister has apologised for describing a brawl at a youth correctional centre as 'boisterous carry on.'

Junee senator Bill Heffernan says a fertiliser shipment from China that turned out to be dirt highlights the inadequacies of Australian Quarantine.

An exploration company with tenements near Broken Hill says the Federal Government's carbon price will be 'disastrous' for mining companies.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been urged to visit the Riverina to explain the carbon tax on her national tour.

Nurses at western Sydney's Nepean Hospital will stop work today to protest against the New South Wales Government's cap on public sector pay rises.

The proponent of a large steel plant project in Gladstone in central Queensland says the Federal Government's carbon tax will not have a major economic impact on its plans.

When the Prime Minister took to the airwaves on Sunday night, one of the first things she tried to sort out was the rather confused issue of who pays the carbon tax. One of the downsides of calling the thing a "tax", for the PM (and there are quite a few downsides) is that the term "carbon tax" carries the redolent sense of something that will attach itself leech-like to every conceivable extremity of the ordinary householder's life.

Australia's largest livestock trucking company says cattle trucks are sitting idle in western Queensland, despite the lifting of the ban on live cattle trade to Indonesia.

Queensland Parliament's annual scrutiny of the Budget begins today, with new rules designed for more accountability.

The CFMEU says a $4.7 billion takeover bid for Macarthur Coal makes a mockery of the industry's "scare campaign" over the carbon tax.

The latest Newspoll shows support for the Federal Government has slumped to an all-time low as the battle lines are drawn on the carbon tax.

Sydneysiders can now call US chart topper Lady Gaga one of their own, with the city's mayor declaring her an honorary citizen.

Labor MPs representing coal and steel electorates reject Opposition claims they are angry about the carbon policy.

A new poll, taken before the release of the climate plan, has Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister for the first time.

Coal rich Collie advised to embrace new industries as the Federal Government's carbon tax moves the country to a lower carbon economy.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart says the Federal Government's carbon tax will make it difficult for Australian companies to compete with their counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned the Federal Government may be breaching international law by refusing to process asylum seekers currently detained on Christmas Island.