The multi-million accessibility upgrade at the Cannon Hill Station has been completed, delivering a safer and faster service for the eastern Brisbane community.
The improvements include better platforms accessible by paths, ramps and lifts, which will provide more convenience for train customers using mobility aids, seniors and customers with prams or luggage.
“The upgrade works have delivered a new pedestrian footbridge with lift access, as well as raised platform sections for improved access at the assisted boarding points, extended platform shelters, upgraded hearing augmentation loops and new tactile ground surface indicators to assist people with hearing and vision impairments,” Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said.
“There’s also a new secure bicycle enclosure to support active transport, upgraded station entrances and ticket window modifications, as well as improved security cameras and lighting, new wayfinding and platform signage around the assisted boarding points.”
More than $500 million was set aside for the Station Accessibility Upgrade Program of the State Government, which also saw the opening of 250 jobs during the construction phase.
Member for Bulimba Di Farmer said that the Morningside Station will soon get its upgrade as well. But Cannon Hill Station’s original timber station ticket office, which has been converted into a public toilet, will also be refurbished. Work on this project will start in late 2022.
“Accessibility for all is important, especially on our public transport network as we look towards the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Ms Farmer said.
The whole family is guaranteed to enjoy the event filled with kite flying and a whole lot of activities on Sunday, 15 May 2022, from 8:00 a.m. onwards.
Participants may bring their own kites or buy one that can be easily put together at the festival. There will be seasoned kite-flyers to assist the locals. Kites that may break will be repaired in the workshop area.
Children will delight in the jumping castles, face painting, heaps of rides, and of course, kite flying! Vendors will be available all day to serve hot food like burgers or sausage sizzles and refreshing drinks.
Among the food stalls to anticipate are:
London Spud – a local favorite. Their baked spuds are filled with only the best quality meats and freshest ingredients. These amazing meals are completely gluten-free and are the perfect comfort food.
Salt Flake – a gluten-free food truck serving the best fish & chips.
Photo Credit: Brisbane Kite Festival/Facebook
Lankan Street – brings the authentic flavours of Sri Lanka with their famous grilled Kottu Roti.
New York Waffles – for the sweet and savoury dessert lovers. Try a light and crispy Brussels waffle topped with southern fried chicken, apple slaw, sriracha mayo and maple syrup. The ultimate combo of sweet and savoury.
The Brisbane Kite Festival is an annual event organised by the Rotary Club of Balmoral and Rotary Club of Carindale. Carina’s Men’s Shed helps out with the kite assembly and repair. The event is also made possible with the help of Kites Queensland and Brisbane City Council.
After giving the public a first look at the proposed upgrades to the Morningside train station, Queensland Rail is getting ready to release the final design of the project in mid-2022.
Delivered as part of the Station Accessibility Upgrade Program, the project focuses on upgrading station infrastructure to provide easier access to the public transport system.
Station accessibility upgrades include accessible station entrances and pathways to the assisted boarding points, platform raising works, upgraded accessible parking and essential station and customer facilities such as accessible toilets.
Station view from platform 1 (Photo credit: Queensland Rail)
These upgrades will significantly improve access for all customers, particularly people with disabilities, older people, people travelling with prams or luggage, and people recovering from injury.
Accessibility upgrades typically feature a range of improvements, including:
a new pedestrian footbridge with lift access
full-length raised platforms and extended platform shelters
upgraded hearing loops and tactile platform surfaces
upgraded security cameras and lighting throughout the station
new wayfinding and platform signage.
View from Waminda Street (Photo credit: Queensland Rail)
For the Station Accessibility Upgrade Program, The Queensland Government is investing more than $500 million to upgrade stations across the South East Queensland network.
Upgrades for the Morningside train station are expected to be completed by 2024.
About the Morningside Train Station
The Morningside station is part of the Cleveland line. It is located between Waminda Street on the eastern side, Jack Flynn Drive on the south-western side and Wynnum Road on the north-western side of the station.
The station has two platforms which are connected by a bridge access via stairs and a series of steep ramps. There is a commuter car park off Waminda Street with accessible parking and bike storage available. There are bus stops slightly north of the station entrance on Wynnum Road.
Mark your calendars! The Rivermakers Heritage Quarter in Morningside is hosting its official Open Day packed with BBQs, beers, live entertainment, and fun for the whole family and pets!
On Saturday, 9th of April 2022, come down to the heritage-listed gem sitting on 30 hectares of riverfront land to dine, drink, or dance. See and experience what this unparalleled destination has to offer Brisbane’s east side.
The exciting Open Day at HQ will kick off at 11:00 a.m. with a slew of live music on the lawn, DJs and pop-up bars overlooking sweeping views of the Brisbane River. The whole family can discover a lineup of workshops, art showcases and guided brewery tours with food trucks and cocktail vans lining the heritage-listed walls.
Photo Credit: Supplied
This is Morningside’s answer to James St Food & Wine Festival!
Children are free to roam the green spaces, play in the jumping castles at the Heritage Playground, or join in the lawn games.
Photo Credit: Supplied
Revel Brewing Co, which opens its second digs at HQ after the success of its Bulimba outlet, will impart some tricks of the trade through their guided brewery tours and tasting sessions running throughout the day. The site is well equipped with a production site, beer garden and eatery serving up modern pub bites.
Incidentally, the Revel team is pouring for the cause, donating a share of the proceeds from their Sunset Haze IPA to support flood relief.
Photo Credit: Supplied
Next door to Revel is the soon-to-open Bavay Distillery, which will be offering the first sip of their artisan spirit range with tasting paddle specials inside their moody, century-old stillhouse. They’ll be rolling out their pop-up gin bar to get their outdoor space cranking.
Photo Credit: Supplied
Gourmet BBQ and butcher Low n Slow Meat Co are pulling out all the stops with free sausages from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Throughout the day, Low n Slow Meat Co will conduct yummy steak workshops, hamper giveaways. and all their low n slow-style meats being sold to the hungry punters.
Finally, tap into your creative side at the stalls for the mother/daughter duo behind Mas & Miek Ceramic House and the brother/son team of Jesse-Jack De Deyne, the Indigenous art curator behind A Secondary Eye.
Photo Credit: Supplied
History buffs and Morningside natives can sift through memories of a bygone era in the HQ archives exhibit, plus information sessions will be available throughout the morning, where the community can have their say and give input into future plans for Rivermakers.
Photo Credit: Supplied
Donations during the Open Day, which will go towards the flood relief efforts in Queensland and NSW, will be welcomed. The proceeds will go towards flood relief (QLD & Northern NSW).
This is just the beginning of a series of events at Rivermakers Heritage Quarter! For more information head to the official site.
The FareShare facility in Morningside is making strides and seizing the opportunity to divert food wastes away from the landfill, which is an important objective of the newly-launched Queensland Organics Strategy and Action Plan.
Following extensive consultations in the past year, the Queensland Government has unveiled the 10-year plan to encourage Queenslanders to improve their food consumption habits and turn discarded organic material into a “valuable and useful commodity.”
The launch took place at the FareShare site along 46 Steel Place in Morningside in February 2022.
“The Strategy and Action Plan is the result of an extensive consultation process over the past year which included a survey, written submissions, workshops and information sessions,” Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said.
“We waste too much food, leaving it to be dumped in landfill, while others go hungry.
“This is not only having an increasing cost on our household budgets – estimated at $2,200 a year – but on our environment as unwanted food and garden waste dumped in landfill produces damaging methane gas.
“By 2030, we want to halve the amount of food waste generated, divert 80 per cent of the organic material going to landfill, and achieve a 70 per cent recycling rate for organics.”
Ms Scanlon has also cited FareShare’s success in reducing waste as it turns food supply excesses into free, nutritious meals for those in need.
With the help of a $160,000 food rescue grant, FareShare has secured a storage and rescue capacity by constructing a second cool room, completing the purchase of a forklift, and hiring extra workers.
Meanwhile, measures under the Queensland Organics Strategy and Action Plan will include the following:
2.1 billion waste package over the next ten years which includes the $1.1 billion Recycling and Jobs Fund to support increased household recycling, help build new resource recovery infrastructure and create more jobs in more industries.
Nearly $1 million in Food Rescue grants for Fareshare, Foodbank, SecondBite, IFYS Urban Angels Community Kitchen, Ozharvest and The Rock Family and Community Support to divert surplus food away from landfill and help Queenslanders experiencing food insecurity.
$770,000 to support Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) Kerbside Collection Trials in Townsville, Rockhampton, and Lockyer Valley.
Nearly $500,000 Organics Waste Smart Schools Program to help state schools improve the management of food waste in the schoolyard.
$11 million in grants committed through the Food Waste for Healthy Soils Program to support new and improved organic waste recycling infrastructure.
Motorists looking for the cheapest petrol across the inner city can fill up at the Puma along Bennetts Rd in Norman Park where the price of unleaded petrol and diesel are among the lowest in the area.
Puma Norman Park’s unleaded petrol price is about to hit the average price of ULP in Brisbane for February 2022, which is around 180 cpl, based on RACQ’s monthly fuel price report.
As of 9 March 2022, Puma Norman Park has the best deal:
Average Price in Brisbane
Puma Norman Park
As at / Reported by
Unleaded
175.9 cpl
179.7
9 Mar 2022, 4:46AM Reported by OPIS Proprietary
Premium Unleaded 98
197.6 cpl
200.7
3 Mar 2022, 10:09AM Reported by Qld Gvt Fuel Price Scheme
Diesel
183.9 cpl
199.7
8 Mar 2022, 4:53PM Reported by OPIS Proprietary
As with unleaded petrol, diesel prices continue to soar at 183.9 cpl from an average of 178.3 cpl in February 2022. Last month’s price was already a new record-high for Brisbane. The previous record high monthly diesel price was 176.7 cpl observed in July 2008.
What to Expect in the Coming Weeks
Photo credit: Engin Akyurt/Pexels
Motorists are being urged to fill up as fuel prices are expected to rise in the coming days due to several factors, including the already strained supply chain because of the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Australian refiners Viva Energy (operating under the Shell brand) and Ampol (Caltex and StarCard brands) have already stopped buying Russian crude oil, joining a growing number of companies who ceased trade ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Both companies revealed that they source crude from many different countries, and that they would be able to keep up with supplies as the Australian transport energy market was not overly reliant on Russian crude.
Still, they acknowledge the fact that the current international sanctions have been putting pressure on global oil prices and this is already affecting Australian retail fuel prices.
Meanwhile, Brisbane’s fuel prices are still the cheapest in the Southeast Queensland region.
“At the moment, the expensive sites are mainly around Brisbane’s inner north, Mango Hill, Caboolture, and Acacia Ridge, as well as around the northern parts of the Gold Coast. RACQ spokesperson Kate Leonard-Jones said earlier in February.
Ms Jones said if price hike is sustained, it’s likely petrol could surpass 200 cpl in March or April 2022.
If you need help in shopping around for cheaper fuel prices, visit RACQ’s website or download the Fair Fuel Finder App for the updated prices of unleaded petrol and diesel in Queensland.
Murarrie-based Tritium is expanding its US operations with plans to build its first manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Tennessee and start production in the third quarter of 2022.
The announcement comes two weeks after Tritium is listed on the NASDAQ and with no less than President Biden welcoming the announcement on 8 February 2022 (ET), describing the new Tritium manufacturing facility as “more than just great news for Tennessee.”
The White House / YouTube
“Yes, it’s going to create more than 500 good-paying jobs in Tennessee, but it’s going to deliver greater dignity and a little more breathing room to workers and their families. And it’s going to have a ripple effect beyond — and far beyond one state,” President Biden said.
The new facility is expected to house up to six production lines and to produce more than 10,000 Buy America-compliant Tritium DC fast charger units annually, including the award-winning RTM and all-new PKM150 models, with potential peak production of 30,000 units per year.
In November 2021, a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the US Congress which earmarks $7.5 billion to be invested in a nationwide network of EV charging stations and speed up the adoption of zero-emission vehicles “to address the climate crisis and support domestic manufacturing jobs.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal was first announced on 28 July 2021 which undoubtedly impacted Tritium’s overall revenue mix that year. The company has seen an upswing in its revenue coming from the U.S. based on the preliminary revenue figures for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021.
Photo Credit: Tritium / Facebook
Tritium said that the United States and Europe accounted for approximately 43% and 43% of the Company’s revenue, respectively. That is a significant change in revenue mix when compared to the twelve months ended June 30, 2021, where it shows the U.S. and Europe revenue share of 23% and 68%, respectively; the rest of the revenue comes from the Asia Pacific.
“Tritium’s investment in a U.S.-based, cutting-edge facility for manufacturing is part of our strong push toward global growth in support of the e-mobility industry,” said Tritium CEO Jane Hunter.
“We are thrilled to work with the U.S. Federal government and the State of Tennessee on this initiative. With the help of the hard-working residents of Tennessee, we expect to double or even triple our charger production capacity to further our product distribution throughout the United States.”
Other major EV charging manufacturers are also expanding their U.S. operations including Siemens, ABB, FreeWire Technologies and Dunamis Clean Energy Partners.
For the last 130 years, St John Ambulance has been on a mission to educate, equip and prepare people to help other people who are in distress, injured, sick, or in danger.
The self-funding charity group, with its nearly 150 staff members across Queensland, also takes care of the lonely, marginalised and disadvantaged members of the community in various clinical, practical, and prehospital care.
Photo Credit: StJohnAmbulanceQLD/Facebook
In 2018, St John Ambulance reached a milestone of training a million Australians in first aid. More than 500,000 of these trainees have volunteered their hours in health agencies. Many have gone on to help their communities as emergency responders.
Photo Credit: StJohnAmbulanceQLD/Facebook
Apart from first aid training, St John Ambulance also provides social support services, community visits, mental health training, community transport, and sales of medical products.
St John Ambulance Morningside
In Morningside, St John Ambulance has a store, located on Beverly Street, that carries first aid, incontinence, and mobility supplies for home use and for workplaces, first aid rooms, and motor vehicles that need to be ready for emergencies.
First Aid Kits
Stocking and replenishing your first aid kit is also so much easier with St John Ambulance Morningside. First aid kit products carried by St John Ambulance have been tried, tested, and regularly used by its over 13,000 volunteers around the world.
Did you know that some items in a typical first aid kit have a shelf life of only 12 months and may need to be replenished every year? Actually, it’s highly advisable to replace any items as soon as they are used, so that your kit stays ready in case of an emergency.
Products that appear deteriorated or unsealed, as in the case of sterile items, must also be replaced to ensure that everything is still safe to use in case of an incident.
Phone 1300 ST JOHN (785 646) for support in restocking.
Mobility Aid and Continence Products
St John Ambulance Morningside provides a variety of mobility and continence products to aid individuals who may have difficulty getting around or controlling their bladder movements.
Photo Credit: StJohnAmbulanceQLD/Facebook
These devices fit every need, purpose, and preference, as well as allow independence for the users as they enjoy their daily activities.
Other Services
Photo Credit: StJohnAmbulanceQLD/Facebook
The Morningside unit also works with community members in various stages of their lives through these programs:
School-age kids (5-12 years old)
First Aid in Schools (FAIS) initiative, a program offering first aid education among kids
Teenager and young adults (11 to 35 years old)
Health and Medical Services (HMS) program, especially during sports or high profile events, including vaccination drives
First Aid and CPR Training program
Middle-aged adults(36 to 59 years old)
First Aid and CPR Training program, especially for the workforce
Volunteering Opportunities, including home visits or telephone calls to seniors so the individual maintains a social connection with the community.
Seniors (60 and above)
Community Visitors Scheme, where the volunteers spend time with the seniors for coffee talks and table games
Transport services to help seniors get to their clinic appointments or favourite cafe
Social Trips to enhance the lives of the older generation
The services provided by St John staff and volunteers won’t be possible without the community’s help.
During a restricted pandemic year, the organisation as a whole managed to train 17,125 youngsters and 25,785 adults in first aid. Over 25,000 volunteer hours were conducted by 360 selfless individuals. All across Queensland, 35 events were held, including COVID-19 clinics, to facilitate community services.
Heads up, Morningside, Murrarrie and Cannon Hill residents! Kerbside collection will be back on Monday, 14 Feb 2022. Make sure that you have your items sorted out and ready for collection before 6:00 a.m.
Council has resumed the kerbside collection service since mid-2021 and Morningside, Murrarrie and Cannon Hill will finally get their turn after more than a year of pause due to the pandemic.
As with the previous collections, Council has a list of acceptable and unacceptable items for kerbside collection. Residents are encouraged NOT to include the following on their pile:
bricks and concrete
commercial builders waste
car parts and tyres, including car batteries
dirt and stones
garden waste (e.g. trees, grass, potted plants)
gas bottles
general household waste (e.g. food scraps)
glass and mirrors
hazardous wastes (e.g. chemicals, oil, asbestos)
household waste that normally goes into your waste or recycling bin
liquids
Items that are deemed unacceptable will not be picked up by the collectors. Kerbside piles with sharp objects and dangerous items, or are too heavy to be lifted by two people might not be collected as well.
In preparing the items for collection, remember to keep the piles organised by the kerb, freeing the footpaths and roadways. Items should also be secured, especially if severe weather is expected.
Photo Credit: BCC/Facebook
Doors from cabinets or refrigerators should be removed to ensure that no animals or curious small children will be trapped inside. There are serious threats of children suffocating in refrigerators that still have doors attached.
Illegal dumping fines may apply if unacceptable material is not removed within seven days of the notified collection period. As of July 2021, a penalty unit is equal to $137.80.
For items that were not collected, residents have the option to bring these to resource recovery centres or donate to reuse and recycle facilities or organisations like GIVIT and Charitable Recycling Australia.
Australian Country Choice (ACC), the country’s premier supplier of high-quality meat products, with its factory in Cannon Hill, has been inducted into the illustrious Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
The privately-owned business has been recognised for its visionary leadership in establishing a vertically integrated beef and cattle industry that also supplies the rest of the world.
Australian Country Choice was one of six inductees into the Hall of Fame in 2021, along with Katie Page-Harvey (CEO of Harvey Norman), Sir John Beal Chandler (founder of Chandlers Electrical and radio station 4BC), T.C. Beirne (Queensland retail tycoon), The Coffee Club and Finlayson’s Timber and Hardware.
Company founder and Principal Director Trever Lee was at the induction ceremony in late 2021 to proudly accept the honor from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“To be included on the list alongside some of the founders of modern Queensland as well as some giants of the industry is truly humbling for Trevor and our business,” CEO Anthony Lee said.
“What started as my father’s dream has turned into a state-of-the-art operation that supports thousands of local jobs and puts food on the table for millions of Australians every year.
Photo Credit: ACC/Google Maps
“While we are honoured to receive this award for our contribution to Queensland, we are certainly still striving to make our business better each and every single day.
“Whether that be our ongoing commitment to ethical trading, achieving industry best practice in environmental sustainability and animal welfare, or being a caring and respected employer of more than 1,500 workers.”
The ACC leaders thanked all staff for their contribution to ACC’s inclusion in the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
ACC made it to the Hall of Fame for demonstrating sustained leadership to enhance the economy of Queensland and for becoming a pioneer in establishing an economy or industry with a product or service with wide acclaim. ACC has las made an outstanding contribution to the economic, social, and financial growth of Queensland, inspiring other firms to invest and do business.
