Capital spending takes off. The promised investment boom is here. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures out this morning show the trend volume estimate for total new capital expenditure rose 3.3% in the March quarter 2011 while the seasonally adjusted estimate rose 3.4%.

But he’s only got one head! Queensland Liberal National parliamentary leader in exile Campbell Newman has gone on the attack as he defends the presence of all migrants  in his adopted state. Mr Newman reacted strongly to Premier Anna Bligh describing him as not being a true son of Queensland.

Ms Bligh, while proudly claiming she led a team of proud Queenslanders who believed the state was the best place to live, argued the opposition did nothing but “knock it”.

“Queensland leads the way in everything we attempt,” she said, before rubbishing the ascension of the non-elected Mr Newman to the party’s leadership.

“I note that, when they looked around and could not find a leader in their own ranks … they could not find a Queenslander,” Ms Bligh said.

“They had to find a Tasmanian.”

Mr Newman began a press conference firstly telling reporters it was disturbing that Queensland’s economy was running last nationally under the Labor government. The news.com.au report of the conference continued:

“The second thing I wanted to cover today was something that frankly disturbs me even more significantly,” Mr Newman said.

“And that is the breathtaking display of xenophobia from Anna Bligh (and her ministers).”

Mr Newman said Ms Bligh and her team had “cast out a huge slur against everybody who hasn’t been born in Queensland but has made a contribution to this state” and should apologise.

Asked whether he was turning the issue into one of race, he would not answer.

“What I do say is the premier made it very clear today that if you weren’t born here, that you don’t count, that you’re a second-class Queenslander, and I think that’s offensive.”

*Disclosure of interest: Richard Farmer, while born in Adelaide, was raised from an early age in Tasmania.

Northern Territory News loses title. In what will be a humiliating loss of face, the Northern Territory News has lost its title as the publisher of the year’s most dramatic crocodile attack picture. The Darwin tabloid’s Cairns counterpart snatched victory with this offering yesterday of a monster croc devouring a green turtle:

Giving the tick to pink pork. Cuts of pork have joined their beef and lamb peers. The US Department of Agriculture has given the tick for cooking all whole cuts of meat to 63 °C (145 °F )as measured with a food thermometer placed in the thickest part of the meat, then allowing the meat to rest for three minutes before carving or consuming. It previously recommended a temperature for pork cuts of  71°C (160 °F).

The USDA recommendations for ground meats, including ground beef, veal, lamb, and pork, are unchanted. They should be cooked to 160 °F and do not require a rest time. The safe cooking temperature for all poultry products, including ground chicken and turkey, remains at 74 °C (165 °F.)

Not holier than Karl. Having been Kerry Packer’s man in Canberra back in the days when the political correspondent for The Bulletin had to handle some company matters, like combating allegations about the boss being The Goanna, I am in no position to be critical of Karl Bitar for taking a lobbying post for his son James. But I probably am in a good position to say that his boss’s judgment leaves something to be desired.

Given the delicacy of Labor’s House of Representatives majority and the need to curb poker machine use to maintain it, doing anything that looks like it favours the former party federal secretary will be very difficult.