Everybody facing Borroloola Local Court Thursday July 6 - NT News

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Everybody facing Borroloola Local Court, Thursday, July 6  NT News
Everybody facing Borroloola Local Court, Thursday, July 6 - NT News
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Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio announces retirement from local government - ABC News

One of Queensland's most popular and longest-serving politicians, Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio, has brushed off many competitors over his career, but now he is calling time.  

Key points:

• Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio has announced he will step down
• He's been mayor of the Toowoomba region since 2012
• His deputy Geoff McDonald will be acting mayor until the council elects a successor

He has been in the role since 2012, previously serving as the mayor and a councillor on the former Millmerran Shire Council from 1982 to 2012 and Toowoomba deputy mayor from 2008 to 2012.

Cr Antonio was re-elected in 2020 with 72.74 per cent of the primary vote, the sixth-largest vote of any mayor in the state at that election, but in the past had received primary votes above 80 per cent.

"The time has come," Cr Antonio said while wiping away tears on Thursday morning.

"After 41 years and three months [in local government] naturally it's a sad time for me, but it's also a time when I'm extremely proud of what I've achieved.

"There comes a time in life when you realise that it's time to move on. This is my time."

Cr Antonio is the deputy chair of the South-East Queensland Council of Mayors, the body that started the push to bring the 2032 Olympics to the state. 

"I feel very honoured that as a farm boy from Millmerran to be deputy chair of an organisation that covers three million people," he said. 

Paul Antonio wiped away tears as he announced his retirement on Thursday. (ABC Southern Qld: Tobi Loftus)

He was instrumental in setting Toowoomba up as a refugee welcome zone with the city now home to Australia's largest population of Yazidi refugees. 

"Look at the infrastructure we've got, the [$1.6 billion Toowoomba] bypass. Look at what that's done for Toowoomba," he said.

It has not been a career without controversy.

In 2018 he apologised to the council after being found to have engaged in misconduct in his dealings with the Melbourne-to-Brisbane Inland Railway project.

Who will be the new mayor? 

Soon after the March 2020 local government election, Cr Antonio announced he would retire during this term but a firm date was never set.

Now, he has announced he will retire at noon on July 21. 

Geoff McDonald will become acting mayor once Paul Antonio steps down on July 21. (ABC Southern Qld: Tobi Loftus)

Deputy Mayor Geoff McDonald will become the acting mayor at that time.

Under the state's Local Government Act, the Toowoomba Regional councillors will decide on the vacant position at a meeting later that day. 

It is expected Cr McDonald will run but he could potentially face a challenge from other councillors. 

Cr Antonio would not comment on who he wanted to see replace him as mayor.

"This last council term has been fairly difficult for me personally. I believe in teamwork," he said.

"I hope that continues in the future."

There will be a full council and mayoral election on March 16 next year. 

Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan and former Groom MP John McVeigh appeared alongside Paul Antonio at his resignation announcement. (ABC Southern Qld: Tobi Loftus)

'An amazing mentor'

Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan appeared alongside Cr Antonio at his press conference, calling him an "amazing mentor and an exceptional friend".

"In the Lockyer Valley we've certainly had our fair share of natural disasters," she said.

"I can tell you, hand on heart, Paul Antonio rung me every day during those events to check in to see how I am.

"In fact, even one day I said to him I could do with a hug … so he drove down the hill and gave me a hug."

Former federal Groom MP John McVeigh said Cr Antonio had the appreciation, respect, and love of the community.

"His supporters and opponents over the years, I would suggest they would all recognise that history of going to the people [at the ballot box] time and time and time again," Mr McVeigh said.

"There is no better measure of success."

Paul Antonio said he was looking forward to spending more time with his family. (ABC Southern Qld: Tobi Loftus )

What's next?

Cr Antonio said he wanted to do some travelling once he retired, but most of all he wanted to spend time at his property in Millmerran.

"I love the land," he said.

"I live in the most beautiful spot you'll ever find. It's a peaceful spot.

"I love my Angus cows. They come and talk to me regularly in the backyard so I'll be very happy."

He jokingly said his son had offered him a job as a first year jackaroo at their family property, but "there was no recognition of prior [experience]". 

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Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio announces retirement from local government - ABC News
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Several local NSW councils faced 'fierce opposition' for supporting the Voice - Sky News Australia

Sky News host Sharri Markson says several local councils in New South Wales faced “fierce opposition” for supporting the Voice to Parliament referendum.

“They joined corporate and sporting giants who are loudly campaigning for the yes vote,” she said.

“There’s kind of a sense that Australians don’t want to be told by corporations and by sporting clubs how they should be voting.

“That this is something that is private, and they can make up their own minds about.”

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Several local NSW councils faced 'fierce opposition' for supporting the Voice - Sky News Australia
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Everybody facing Maningrida Local Court Wednesday July 5 - NT News

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Everybody facing Maningrida Local Court, Wednesday, July 5  NT News
Everybody facing Maningrida Local Court, Wednesday, July 5 - NT News
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Grants To Improve Road Safety On Victoria's Local Roads - Mirage News

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Grants To Improve Road Safety On Victoria's Local Roads  Mirage News
Grants To Improve Road Safety On Victoria's Local Roads - Mirage News
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Ikea's Space10 reimagines the humble plate encouraging use of local materials - It's Nice That

Last month, Space10 used generative AI to rethink how we design sofas, specifically trying to tackle their ineffective, bulky size by developing furniture that can fit into an envelope. Now, it’s moved into the kitchen with an interactive map that encourages designers to produce tableware from materials that are more readily available in their local region.

The creative studio Oio has partnered with Space10 to produce Products of Place, a project that presents 140 dinner plate concepts using local materials as a jumping off point. Space10 has used ChatGPT to collect data points from agricultural residues, construction waste and manufacturing offcuts to help identify materials that might be locally available. The overall aim is to create objects with fewer product miles and lower emissions. The final concepts and data points have been collected in an online interactive map for designers to explore.

Space10 continues to show interest in what it calls an “AI-powered design process”, where AI is used in the developmental phase to present unexplored solutions. Both Oio and Space10 acknowledge it is an imperfect process and that the biases fed into AI models are often carried over into the final product.

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Arms dealer swapped for Griner to contest Russian local election - Al Jazeera English

Viktor Bout will campaign for a seat in the Ulyanovsk region’s legislative assembly with the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR).

A Russian arms dealer freed in a prisoner swap for United States basketball star Brittney Griner has been chosen as the candidate of a far-right party for a seat in a Russian regional legislature, according to state news agency RIA.

Viktor Bout, once dubbed “The merchant of death”, served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in US prisons on arms dealing charges until his release last December under the exchange with Griner, an Olympic gold medallist.

RIA cited an official in the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia’s (LDPR) local organisation as saying that Bout had been nominated as a candidate for the legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region in central Russia.

Bout was arrested by US agents during a sting in Thailand in 2008.

The US Department of Justice described him as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers, charges Bout has always denied.

Griner was sentenced in 2022 in Russia to nine years in a penal colony for possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil – which is banned in Russia – after a judicial process Washington labelled as a sham. Griner has since resumed her sports career.

Bout publicly joined the LDPR following his return to Russia. Despite its name, the LDPR holds far-right, ultra-nationalist views and strongly supports President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The LDPR has previously provided a home to Andrei Lugovoi, who is wanted in the United Kingdom for the 2006 murder of ex-KGB officer and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko.

Lugovoi has served as an LDPR member of Russia’s national parliament since 2007.

Litvinenko died after drinking tea poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive isotope.

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