Leighton / Abigroup have been chosen as the preferred tenderers to build Brisbane’s $1.88 billion motorway upgrade and the new Gateway Bridge.

Construction work should begin by the end of the year. The builders are going to build a new Gateway Bridge 50 metres east of the existing bridge and upgrade 20 kilometres of the Gateway Motorway between Mount Gravatt and Nudgee.

More than 5,000 jobs will be created during the four-and-a-half year construction period. The government is estimating a flow-on into the local economy of $450 million in wages and salaries.

To help meet the cost of the project, tolling on both the new and existing bridges will continue for 30 years after the works are completed.

In 2011, the toll to use the bridge – collected electronically – is expected to be $3.10. rather than the $2.20 if the Federal government had supported the project.

Recently Queensland has been very active in recruiting healthcare workers – and is still recruiting! According to the government, in the last year, recruitment figures for additional staff (extra staff over and above existing staffing levels) in Queensland have been:

• 397 extra doctors
• 1,812 extra nurses
• 601 extra allied health professionals

In real terms, that translates into 4,949 doctors working in public hospitals today compared to 4,552 in June 2005. 23,723 nurses today compared to 21,911 in June 2005. 6,407 allied health professionals compared to 5,806.

The Government says it will continue to recruit aggressively to ensure hospitals have the clinical staff they need.

To add to this particular financial grief felt by pool owners, they will also be required to do further penance by installing at least two of the following: dual flush toilets, a water-efficient washing machine or water-efficient taps and shower heads.

Come the end of October, using a bucket or a watering can to water gardens in Brisbane will be allowed only on alternate days. (A hosepipe ban came in months ago.)

Businesses and government offices are also going to face mandatory restrictions for the first time.

The top 10 per cent of business water users will have to come up with ways to reduce their usage by 25 per cent or implement best practice management for their industry with fines of up to $15,000 waiting for those who don’t pull their socks up.

Brisbane was born at Largs in Ayrshire, Scotland and he was educated at the University of Edinburgh.

Between 1821 and 1825, on the recommendation of The Duke of Wellington, he held the position of Governor of New South Wales, a post he held until 1825. While Governor, Brisbane improved the land grants system and reformed the currency. He trialled crops of coffee, tobacco, cotton and flax.

In 1823 John Oxley was sent by Major-General Brisbane to find a site for a new gaol for convicts who were repeat offenders. Oxley discovered a large river flowing into Moreton Bay and convicts began arriving there in 1824. Oxley proposed that both the river and the settlement be named after Brisbane. The convict settlement became a town in 1834.

So there you have it. The city of Brisbane, like Sydney, began its history as a convict settlement and was named after a British soldier and Governer of New South Wales.

Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane died in 1860 in Largs.

I do like to get out for a drive in the bush every now and then. I’m sorry if it’s going to offend anyone but it’s in my Toyota Landcruiser – a magnificent beast of a car – but not exactly eco-friendly. On the other hand, if we were to be involved in a crash with another car, I’d rather be in a Landcruiser than any other car. Anyway, back to driving.

People here are grumbling that the price of petrol’s about to go up again. It’s $1.31 per litre here just now – that’s £0.53 per litre. Speaking with my dad on the phone last week he was telling me the British price was about £0.94 per litre. The fact that you can get petrol cheaper here probably explains why you get a lot more 4×4′s on the road in Queensland than in the UK. I’m not just meaning in out in the bush, I’m meaning in the cities.

I can thoroughly recommend our accommodation – we spent a night in the Legend Hotel. It was modern, clean and the rooms were non-smoking.

I still cringe at a night we spend on a stop-over in Hong Kong at the Panda hotel. The skirting boards around the rooms looked like they hadn’t been dusted for years and there was a persistent smell of stale cigarette smoke in the room – eugh.

At the Legend the wife and I stayed in an en-suite studio room for $135 (£54).

The Hotel’s just about on the beach and we had a great view of the ocean from the balcony. It had a king bed, and a kitchenette with microwave/convection oven and a private balcony.

There was an interactive TV and the usual kettle and tea and coffee facilities. The trouble with a weekend away is it comes to an end all too soon and it’s back to work again tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the next break already.

It’s something I warn visitors about – once you leave Brisbane and the Gold coast, you’re entering the ‘wild west’ for driving. The death rates on Queensland’s rural roads is pretty high. Part of the reason for this, I’m sure, is that for many people in rural Queensland – and too many in the urban areas too – driving after a few drinks isn’t considered such a bad thing to do as we’d consider it in Britain.

Funnily enough, Australia has tougher alcohol limits than the UK has. The legal limit here is 0.05 percent while in Britain it’s 0.08 percent. The practical effect is that most men in Britain can get away with drinking a couple of pints of standard-strength beer and drive legally. In Australia, two pints would put you over the limit.

In the case of the of policeman caught at the weekend, he’d have been over the limit in the UK or in Australia – he was measured at 0.1 percent.

Oh, in addition to the hapless police officer, the blitz netted 614 drink drivers, 287 speeding offenders, 83 disqualified or unlicensed drivers and six dangerous driving offences. The Queensland police force is apparently going to stage another weekend blitz ‘soon’.

Delivery of the first twelve is scheduled from December 2007 through to December 2009.

It’s expected that somewhere around skilled 400 jobs will be created at the Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace. (Australian Aerospace is currently assembling the army’s Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters.)

Australian Aerospace chief executive Joseph Saporito said:

“This decision creates the prospect of Australia becoming more involved in the global helicopter supply chain, more exports from Australia, more jobs, the development of new skills in the latest composite fibre manufacturing and construction techniques and more investment by Australian Aerospace.”

All you have to do here is sit a reasonably easy driving theory test – which costs around $16.

You need to answer 30 questions about driving and traffic laws. I don’t know the pass rate but I would think it’s pretty high. Before you sit the test, it’s best to read through a little book called “Your Keys to Driving in Queensland”.

Currently smoking is banned ($150 on the spot fines for breaches) at entrances to non-residential buildings, within 10 metres of children’s public play equipment, at patrolled beaches, at artificial beaches, at major stadiums, and at least one-third of the indoor area of pubs and bars.

The laws are actually enforced. According to Queensland Health, 748 on-the-spot fines were levied for breaches of tobacco laws between March 31 and December 1 2005.

225 of the fines were for smoking at a building entrance, 149 were for smoking at a major sports facility and 328 were for other breaches.

From July this year, it gets even better. Then the whole area of pubs and bars must be smoke free. Smoking will also be banned in non-enclosed areas where food or drink is served.

If you’re going to a hospital, smoking will be banned at all health facilities including buildings, grounds and vehicles. The smoking policy will apply to everyone – staff, volunteers, inpatients, residents, patients, visitors, etc.

Patients who request it will be given the option of free nicotine patches or gum while they are in hospital.

Not everyone will agree, but I think it’s all fantastic!