My scrapbook - living in Brisbane

yearshappy

New Queensland Tenancy LAWS
The new rules for tenting in Qld started July 1, 2009
If you rent a house, room or apartment the changes to the RTA's legislaion are important to you.
The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 is now LAW and it affects tennants, lessors(landlords) property managers, real estate agents and many other groups in the rental sector.
To find out about how the changes affect you: www.rta.qld.gov.au

Safer road ahead for motorists
. New driver program targets young
. Five hours free learner driving
. 17 - 24 year olds account for 22 per cent of state road toll
Reducing the disproportionately high fatality rates among young Qld drivers is the aim of a program which has just been launched.
After a successful pilot in 2008, the 2009 version of the Leigton Contractors' Youth Drive Safe Initiative will give 625 school-based learner licence holders - or those eligible for a learner licence - from Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Caboolture, and Townsville five hours of free learner driver training.
Last year, QLD road users aged 17-24 accounted for 22 per cent of the state's road toll, despite representing just 12 per cent of the population. Leigton Contractors strategic development manager Renaye Peters said this statistic made the second instalment of the Drive Safe initiative a necssity.
'The program aims to improve the understanding and responsbility young drivers take on when they get their learner's licence'
We hope kids learn some great skills and share them with their peers.
as one parent involved in the pilot said, 'Even if this program saves one life, it's worth it.'
That one life may be that of Morayfield State High School's Sara Hines, who was a member of the pilot group.
It's made me a safer driver. she said.
it helped me to understand driving more, and I'm more confident.

Speedsters defy police campaign
7000 caught in road crackdown
More than 7000 qld drivers were caught speeding in the first 48 hours of the Easter break, despite an obvious police presence on the roads.
Police said they were frustrated and angry that so many people were continuing to disregard speed limits and were driving dangerously.
One driver was clocked doing 157km/h in a 60km/h zone at Oxley in Brisbane west. Another was picked up twice for drink-driving, and driving while disqualified, within two hours as Slacks Creek in Logan city.
An extra 360 nonoperational police have been rostered over the Easter weekend, with 5000 hours allocated to the road safety campaign.
The first fatality of the Easter break occured when a 28-year-old Sunshine Coast man died when his motorcyle crashed near Nambour about 5.30pm on Friday.
Last night at 6.40pm another motorcyclist died at Coopers Plains, in Brisbane's south. THE male rider, 36, was travelling along Orange Grove Rd when he collided with a railway fence. He was unconscious when paramedics arrived, but died at the scene.
A woman was in a serious condition late last night after the car in which she was a passenger crashed into a power pole at First Ave, Marsden, just after 9pm.
The unconscious woman was trapped in the car for more than 30 minutes as emergency services officers worked to free her.
Last year, six people were killed on qld roads over the Easter period.
State Traffic Support Branch Superintendent Col Campbell said traffic offences in the period were down by around 1000 compared with last year.
Hopefully the community are taking some notice of the road safety message, but not enough are taking notice. Out of 52 128 random breath tests, 225 people were caught drink-driving. A motorist at Marybrough registered the highest reading of 0.35.
In the 48 hours to midnight on Friday, three motorist were caught drug-driving, 230 for failing to wear seatbelts and 7202 for speeding.
other offences included:
. a mortorist clocked at 169km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Pacific Motorway at Greenslopes, in Brisbane's south.
. a motorist blew 0.285 at a RBT in Mount Isa.
. Six cars seized from repeat traffic offenders, including unlicensed driving and hooning, on Brisbane's southside.
. a motocyclist at Moranbah in central qld was picked up for speeding at 8.30am on Friday, and minutes later at an RBT blew 0.15. He told police he was returning from a funeral for a friend who was killed while riding a motocycle.
. a man driving a stolen yellow Holden Monaro drove at a police officer trying to stop him for an RBT at.. The offender was forced to jump out of the way.
Wet weather was blamed for several accidents yesterday.

yearshappy

Teen girls thrive on good looks
Teenage girls are obsessed by their looks and weight, and 11 per cent say the most influential woman in their life is a celebrity.
A survey found the majority of girls aged between 12 - 18 thought if they looked better they would be happier.
Of the 650 teen girls surveyed by Girlfriend magazine, 71 per cent said they had felt depressed.
Body issues were the biggest self-esteem killer for 62 per cent of girls, who said losing weight or being prettier would cheer them up.

Seriously, obesity doesn't worry Dawn
As one of the world's funnest women, it's possible she wasn't being entirely serious.
But size 20 comedian Dawn French - who comes to Brisbane next weekend in her stage show with Jennifer Saunders - says she believes she has a medical disorder called 'body blindness' that stops her wanting to lose weight.
The 51-year-old told a women's magazine that she ignores health warnings about obesity. 'I can honestly say that it doesn't bother me, though i do worry that i'll get so comfortably fat that i won't be able to walk any more,' the French and Saunders star said last week.
Sometimes I'll get out of bed and think, 'Oooh, I need to do some exercise' - but that's probably about once a year, if that.
I think the medical term for my condition is called body blindness. I may ultimately regret not looking after myself more, and plenty of people would line up to tell me that, but it doesn't concern me.
French, who also starred in TV comedy The Vicar of Dibley, is just 152cm tall yet was already a size 16 at the age of 13.

Water challenge
The rise in dam levels to near 60 per cent capacity is something of a second coming for long-suffering southeast qlders.
After years of worry, crippling restrictions and horribly expensive counter-measures, we seem to be well and truly out of the immediate danger zone.
However, with that collective sigh of relief comes a challege that could shape the lifestyles of millions.
Given the comparative abundance of water, how much should we ease the restrictions that have become a fact of life? Can people be trusted to enjoy our new bounty without being extravagant?
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Do opposites attract, and can opposites last?
Well, yes and no would be the answer. Human beings are not simple creatures. Opposites do indeed attract, sometimes with the unstoppable pull of powerful magnets, whether the relationship makes sense or not.
Some psychologists and relationship experts explain this phenomenon by saying we seek the counterbalance of ourselves in our life partner and therefore all the traits we need to work on in ourselves are reflected to us through our partner. A mirror if you will, to match ourselves with, and to help further develop ourselves into evolved...