Meet Capalaba Labor MP Don Brown
This is a selection of screenshots from Mr Brown's Facebook page and Twitter feed, followed by articles about Mr Brown that have appeared in the press.
Labor MP Don Brown in his own words
Don Brown MP claims a Redlands Councillor has a conviction.
Criminal Intelligence Commission report shows no such conviction exists. (document reproduced with the Councillor's permission.)
Mr Brown comments to a local councillor going through a divorce....
Mr Brown comments to the brother of a local councillor ..
A comment published by Mr Brown, 8 days prior to the Redlands Council Elections in 2020.
Don Brown MP comments on a local Councillors fundraising initiative.
Councillor Gleeson had arranged that he not personally handle any of the funds received from the Bushfire Relief concert which he organised. The concert raised over $6000 for the victims of Australian bushfires.
A comment published by Don Brown MP about a video published by a local councillor.
Don Brown attacks Wellington Point grandmother Julie West in Parliament
In Parliament, Don Brown MP accused Wellington Point grandmother Julie West of running a fake Facebook page on behalf of Redlands Mayor Karen Williams and LNP Candidate Rebecca Young.
Julie West had previously organised the public petition "Emma's Law" (named after Emma Lovell who was killed on Boxing Day) which gained over 150 000 signatures.
Mr Brown's claims were made in Parliament in spite of Mrs West having posted a glowing review of Mayoral Candidate Gayle Nemeth (a challenger to Mayor Williams) on the Facebook page in question a day earlier.
After Mr Brown's allegations, Mrs West advised she had never met either Karen Williams or Rebecca Young, that the allegations made by Mr Brown were false. and that Mr Brown refused to meet with her or take her calls regarding his allegations.
Don Brown MP comments on opposing candidates
ABN stands for Australian Business Number.
The Australian Business Number was obtained in 2002, some 18 years prior to the State Election.
When obtaining an Australian Business Number or ABN, you are not required to declare where you are getting an income from. You are not even required to subsequently trade.
The business name "Don't Walk Past" was registered on 26 February 2020, which was the same day as the domain dontwalkpast.com.au was registered. The business name was registered to block any other party from trading using the name Don't Walk Past in case such trading damaged the integrity of the domain name..
No bank accounts were opened in the name of Don't Walk Past, and no financial transactions took place.
A private message sent by Don Brown MP on the Sunday prior to Election Day. The "Election Bombshell" publication was made by Mr Brown the day prior to the election.
Don Brown MP comments on the independent candidate for Capalaba.
At time of his post, Mr Brown still owned his former home in Bulimba, where he resided before gaining preselection for the seat of Capalaba. The Labor Premier also lives outside her electorate
More Don Brown MP comments on Local Redlands Councillors
Don Brown MP comments on local charity Cage Youth Foundation, thinking it's a church.
Co-founder of the Cage Youth Foundation, Linda Grieve responds
Don Brown MP comments on Unions
Don Brown MP speech before Parliament, 1 May 2019
The Labor State Government has passed legislation to allow each of the 26 registered unions in QLD to be separately considered a third party for the purposes of electoral spending caps.
Donations to political parties have been capped by the Labor State Government to $4000 over a 4 year period.
Donations to each of the 26 registered unions however are UNLIMITED.
Don Brown MP comments on The Coaldrake Report
Don Brown MP comments on The Voice and Jacinta Price
Don Brown MP comments on Extinction Rebellion
Don Brown MP comments on a fellow Redland MP
Don Brown MP comments on the Redlands Mayor
The Queensland Labor Party abolished the Upper House in Queensland in 1922, removing an important check-and-balance tradition of Westminster government.
Don Brown MP comments on WA politics
Don Brown MP comments on Black Lives Matter
Mr Brown comments on Facebook to explain why the State Government permitted 30000 people (including at risk First Nations people) to protest in King George Square in the middle of a pandemic, when the Queensland Government's Covid website said indigenous people were more vulnerable to Covid than the general population.
Don Brown MP comments on Clive Palmer
Don Brown MP comments on Federal MP Andrew Laming.
Don Brown MP responds to Defamation Concerns Notices issued by lawyers.
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Don Brown MP
in the Press
23 June 2022
A state MP who signed a petition calling for tougher penalties for youths breaching bail after the deaths in his electorate of Kate Leadbetter and Matt Field, backed down from his hardline stance in state parliament over night.
23 June 2022
A state MP who backed tougher youth justice penalties after the deaths in his electorate of Kate Leadbetter and Matt Field has voted against reinstating breach of bail as a juvenile offence.
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Capalaba MP Don Brown said he could not vote for the Opposition proposal to reintroduce breach of bail penalties for youths because the policy had failed in the past.
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The amendment was put forward after a massive outpouring of community outrage when a 17-year-old repeat offender was handed down a six-year sentence for the deaths in Alexandra Hills, in 2021.
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Mr Brown said after last year’s tragedy in his electorate, the state amended the Youth Justice Act and introduced the toughest bail laws in the country.
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He said current Queensland laws were working and there were three times as many youth offenders in jail here than in NSW.
“We have implemented tougher laws than breach of bail,” he said. “I, and the Labor Party, did not support breach of bail because it is weaker. “The laws we have brought in, as I have shown with stats, are tougher.
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“Refusing bail means you cannot breach bail. It is a simple concept that those opposite do not understand.”
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Mr Brown was speaking in parliament on Wednesday after being singled out by the state Opposition for not supporting the reintroduction of breach of bail penalties.
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More than 53,000 Queenslanders signed a petition to tighten the laws.
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Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson said Mr Brown's stance was hypocritical and he called for the premier to remove Mr Brown from his position as party Whip.
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“He signed the petition in front of the family of Matt and Kate after the Alexandra Hills tragedy, but then voted against the very thing the petition called for — to toughen the watered down youth justice laws by amending them to restore breach of bail as an offence,” Mr Robinson said.
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“This is absolute hypocrisy to say he is standing in solidarity with the family and community when he’s in Alex Hills and then do the opposite in parliament.”
24 June 2022
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Labor Party whip Capalaba MP Don Brown has taken to the floor of parliament this morning to justify his absence from a Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee meeting yesterday.
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The meeting was to discuss whether to make public details of the costs the Crime and Corruption Commission incurred fighting to release a secret report into former deputy premier Jackie Trad.
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Mr Brown told parliament on Friday he couldn’t attend the 8.30am committee meeting yesterday morning as he was fulfilling his duties as chief party whip and said there was no directive from above.
12 November 2019
THE president of Queensland’s peak local government body has called for a state politician to stop using parliamentary privilege to pursue a political agenda against a councillor.
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However the state Labor state MP has insisted he has not misused parliamentary privilege, and he would make the same comments about the bayside councillor, who was recently fined $2100 for misconduct, without its protection.
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Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) president Mark Jamieson said Labor State MP for Capalaba Don Brown had repeatedly made adverse comments in state parliament directed at Redland City Councillor Paul Gleeson.
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He said this was while complaints about the councillor to the Office of Independent Assessor (OIA) were being assessed.
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“This is wrong and smacks of politics, when a State Member can prosecute his case with the benefit of Parliamentary Privilege, whilst an independent investigatory process is under way,” Cr Jamieson said.
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“Mr Brown should cease his parliamentary commentary and allow the OIA to get on and do its job.”
7 June 2021
CAPALABA MP and chief whip Don Brown will see a salary hike from $243,414 per year to about $260,200 come September next year.
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Redlands MPs will be earning significantly more by September 2022, under a series of increases recommended by the Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal.
5 July 2021
REDLAND City mayor Karen Williams wants an apology from Capalaba MP Don Brown after he accused her of misconduct and reported her to the Office of the Independent Assessor.
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A year ago, Mr Brown complained in Parliament that state grants given to Redland City Council had been proposed to be spent mostly on a project that he claimed benefitted a business owned by Cr Williams.
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The OIA dismissed these complaints last July, finding Cr Williams had not engaged in any misconduct.
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Last June, Mr Brown told Parliament that of $2.88 million of state grants given to the council, $2.1 million was to be spent on the eastern escarpment project, an area used for mountain biking, bushwalking and horse riding that abuts a glamping and wedding venue owned by Cr Williams.
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In a letter written to Mr Brown, Cr Williams asked the Labor MP to make a public withdrawal of all allegations of misconduct he had made against her in relation to the Redlands Coast Eastern Hinterland Experience Project (eastern escarpment), in Parliament and on social media.
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"The impacts of your public comments on not only me, but my family have been significant and I, and especially my family, would welcome an apology from you regarding the false allegations you have made about us," she said.
Mayor Karen Williams is suing state Capalaba MP Don Brown for defamation.
Mr Brown told Parliament that Cr Williams was suing him for $10,000 after he raised concerns in Parliament last month that much of $2.88 million in state government money was spent on a project he claimed would benefit the mayor's Mount Cotton business.
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Cr Williams has rejected the claims, saying projects were put forward by council officers and that Mr Brown and fellow MP Kim Richards wanted the funds spent on proposals from which they would benefit politically.
She also excused herself from the meeting at which a vote was taken on the matter.
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Last week in Parliament Mr Brown attacked Cr Williams over the legal action, saying she wanted to silence him by trying to sue him, demanding $10,000 and then leaking the letter to The Courier-Mail columnist Des Houghton.
The legal action pertained to Facebook posts.
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Cr Williams said in a statement that Mr Brown's comments were unfounded and ill-informed imputations made under the protection of Parliament and later repeated on social media.
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he said she did not take the legal action lightly but felt the community expected a higher standard of politicians and it was necessary to take a stand for the city.
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Cr Williams said she was taking this action herself and it does not involve Redland City Council.
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"I am taking this action for the people of Redland City ...," she said.
"The inferences made by Mr Brown in Parliament and on social media suggesting I influenced council's application for recent state government funding are completely untrue and demonstrates that again he hasn't bothered to inform himself about state and council processes.
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"... Parliamentary privilege was not designed for MPs to use as a tool for their own personal vendettas by attacking anyone they disagree with or simply don't like."
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Mr Brown said he had also lodged a complaint with the Office of the Independent Assessor about Cr Williams' actions.
Cr Williams said a complaint to the OIA was dismissed last week.
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In Parliament, Mr Brown also criticised Cr Williams and some council staff over a poll the council ran regarding the Ekka public holiday.
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In June, Redlands decided it would not move the Ekka public holiday from a Monday to a Friday in line with other councils.
Council said it had conducted a poll which slightly leaned towards leaving the holiday as it was.
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Mr Brown told Parliament that Right To Information documents revealed that as polling continued, the poll started to show a preference by ratepayers to change the public holiday to the Friday.
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But a report on the polling given to councillors gave only early voting numbers.
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Mr Brown said he would forward the information to the Crime and Corruption Commission for an investigation.
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Don Brown MP claims delivery for a Redlands Council Initiative that was 100% funded by Redlands Council.
Mayor Karen Williams responds
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CAPALABA MP Don Brown says he was shocked that the Redland City Council did not have an emergency warning system, but a furious mayor Karen Williams has slammed Mr Brown for causing concern just weeks before the city's service would be made available.
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In the middle of the state's bushfire crisis, Mr Brown said that more than 90 per cent of people in a poll that he ran had called for Redland City Council to adopt an SMS or app early warning system, which most south-east Queensland councils had.
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"I hope the mayor and councillors could investigate this option," Mr Brown said. "I am happy to work alongside them to assist in this process."
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Cr Williams said the council's early alert SMS system would be available within weeks.
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She said people had told her they were shocked that Mr Brown would use the fire situation for political gain.
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"In this instance, Mr Brown's ill-informed comments resulted in concern within the community, meaning council had to respond to his social media stunt when we had more pressing matters at hand like preparing the community during the current bushfire risk," Cr Williams said.
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"Had Mr Brown bothered to check the facts before posting to social media, he would have learnt that the plan has always been to offer such a service ahead of the traditional fire season.
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"He also would've learnt that we have successfully used the QFES early alert SMS system on a number of occasions and our own social media presence to provide advice to the community."
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Mr Brown said that it was clear from recent fires in the Gold Coast hinterland and the Noosa area how quickly dangers could emerge and how important it was to communicate with residents.
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Cr Williams said that residents often told her they were tired of "Mr Brown's post-first ask later" approach.
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"Don's mud-slinging on social media isn't new. The community has come to expect it and generally we all ignore it, but when it causes concern and potential risk it can't go unchecked," she said.
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"His actions are hurting the government in the Redlands and are wearing thin with council and the community, he really needs to do better.
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"I sometimes wonder what he would do if he didn't have social media, would he make ill-informed comments and offend people on an individual basis or perhaps hire a billboard for greater reach?"
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11 July 2020
9 March 2018
IF YOU believe Member for Capalaba Don Brown, Queensland’s historic XXXX brand is headed south of the border. Closer inspection of his tough talk in Parliament shows it’s nothing but union scaremongering, writes Des Houghton.
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IF YOU believe Don Brown, the Member for Capalaba, our historic XXXX brand is doomed.
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He told Parliament this week our iconic beer will soon be brewed in NSW.
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“There is a threat that the mighty ‘Milton mango’ will be made in New South Wales, which would be an absolute disgrace,” he said. “It would be like seeing a VB logo on the State of Origin jersey.
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Member for Capalaba Don Brown’s claims XXXX brewing will be shifted to NSW is nothing more than repeating the lines of unions, Des Houghton says.
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He added: “Workers at Milton are under threat.’’
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Brown said the company was attempting to undercut the wages and conditions of employees at the site. Really?
Brown was pedalling the same line as the United Voice union.
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However a spokesman for XXXX said the claims were baseless scare talk.
“We recently recruited five new permanent team members, with these workers now in their jobs at the brewery, so any doubt to our commitment to permanent, full time jobs in Queensland is clearly baseless,” said a spokesman.
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4 August 2022
Don Brown MP
doctoring images
Mark Robinson is the LNP MP for Oodgeroo. Mr Brown created and tweeted a doctored flyer to present Dr Robinson as an MP for One Nation.
Image on Mr Brown's Facebook page which had been doctored to use a local councillor's face
Image on Mr Brown's Facebook page doctored to use a Federal MP's face and a fake sign
Don Brown MP
paid by the taxpayer, working for the Unions
Don Brown MP picketing a business in his own electorate
Don Brown MP for Capalaba protesting against Redland City Council. 2023.
Labor MP Don Brown
the claims
The promises - 2017 State election.
2020 Election sign.
In truth
The Eastern Transitway had not been delivered.
The Gateway on-ramp had not been started.
Cross-River rail was way over budget and due in 2025.
