Queensland’s racehorse owners, trainers and jockeys have called off a planned strike on Melbourne Cup day after reaching a deal on the state’s new betting tax.

At an emergency round table today the Palaszczuk government agreed to funnel $26 million a year from the Point Of Consumption tax into prize money.

The deal comes too late to save Cox Plate day but Cameron Partington from the Racing Industry Participants Alliance tells Mark it is a great result for thoroughbred racing across Queensland.

New research by Infrastructure Australia has labelled the public transport system in greater Brisbane the worst of any capital city in the country.

For people living 20km or more from the CBD only one-in-five has access to frequent and easily accessible buses and trains.

The president of the Planning Institute of Australia Brendan Nelson tells Mark what is needed is much better long term planning removed from the political cycle.

It seems sometimes that in the age of social media good manners, good etiquette and the art of conversation are disappearing fast.

All is not lost though with an Australian School of Etiquette expanding and doing brisk business.

Mark is a stickler for good etiquette and school founder Zarife Hardy tells him good role models are the key.

A royal commission will soon begin probing the abuse and neglect of the elderly in the aged care industry.

One form of abuse that sometimes flies under the radar is financial abuse with a close relative more often than not the abuser.

Queensland’s Public Guardian Natalie Siegel-Brown this week held a round table with several major banks and she tells Mark its the banks that often first see evidence of financial abuse.

Toowoomba native Will Power is one of the biggest names in sport in the United States as a star of IndyCar.

This year crowned a stellar career that has included 35 wins and one championship by becoming the first Australian driver to take the checkered flag at the world famous Indy 500.

Will has returned home for a well earned break with his family but found time to have a chat with Mark.

The Australian Financial Review has released its annual Young Rich List finding that the top two rich listers have more money than all the other inclusions combined.

Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar topped the list for a seventh straight year after more than doubling their worth to over $14 billion.

Queensland’s top Young Rich Lister is Bundaberg farmer Peter Greensill with a fortune worth $412 million.

Young Rich List editor Julie-Anne Sprague tells Mark technology, finance and sport seem to be the keys to fabulous wealth.

Whether you are a republican or a royalist there is no doubting the world’s fascination with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

They may have only spent one night in Queensland but the spotlight that Harry and Meghan shone on Fraser Island is pure tourism gold.

Queensland Tourism bosses launched a digital and social media campaign in the UK to capitalise on the visit and State Tourism Minister Kate Jones tells Mark it it’s already going gangbusters.

It’s official, race meetings planned for Saturday at Doomben, the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Townsville to coincide with the Cox Plate have been called off.

Thoroughbred owners, trainers and jockeys are making good on their threat to strike having reached an impasse with the state government over demands for a share of the new Point Of Consumption betting tax.

Shadow Racing Minister John-Paul Langbroek tells Mark it’s time for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to step in and take charge for the good of the racing industry.

The huge paypackets offered to CEOs are often justified on the the basis that the more money paid, the better the quality of leadership.

However the findings of new research by a team at Queensland University seems to fly in the face of that conventional wisdom.

Dr Nik Steffens from the UQ School of Psychology tells Mark paying the big boss big bucks actually creates an ‘us and them’ mentality in the minds of workers.

Concerns are being raised that Logan has become a red fire ant hotspot and that infestations in the area could spiral out of control.

Along the Logan Motorway is a major focus as well as four other sites between Logan and Ipswich.

John Jordan from Biosecurity Queensland disputes tells Mark battles are being won against the foreign invader but it is going to be a long and drawn out war.