Ah, Queensland. Bigoted one day, biggeroted the next

"But then, things are tough all over. Even as Abbott pumped his mighty legs up hill and down dale, debate was raging out of control in Queensland, as the prospect of splitting the state in two to accommodate daylight savings for the south-east was raised. Howls of protest ensued from Queenslanders, who objected strongly to the confusion this would cause, the disorienting effect it would have on cows, the necessity of waking up an hour earlier to accommodate their inability to reset a clock, and the reckless tampering of the state government with the space-time continuum. Premier Anna Bligh was reported to welcome the debate, inasmuch as it distracted regional and rural Queenslanders from the government's ongoing attempts to kill them with lethal doses of fluoride."

Ben Popjie: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) has promptly expelled a member who called Barack Obama a "monkey" on Twitter during the US president's interview on ABC television.

The tweets, from an account belonging to Griffith University medical student Nick Sowden, began just after 7.30pm (AEST) on Thursday, during ABC TV's 7.30 Report with Kerry O'Brien.

"I'm not sure why they paid kerry to fly to america (sic), if they wanted an interview with a monkey surely a ferry to Taronga would have sufficed," one tweet said, referring to Taronga Zoo on Sydney Harbour.

"If I wanted to see a monkey on TV I'd watch Wildlife Rescue," said another.

Mr Sowden appears on a list of Liberals on Twitter. In 2009 he was UQ's student council representative on the National Union of Students.

Alex Dickinson: News.com.au