http://www.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=73283
Queensland Government
Ministerial Media Statements
Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
Thursday, January 13, 2011
TRANSCRIPT - PRESS CONFERENCE - 11:30AM THURSDAY
[...] JOURNALIST: There are a number of hoaxes surfacing on social networking sites and things like Wivenhoe Dam’s about to breach …What’s your advice to people who read those things and are becoming distressed by them?
PREMIER: Unfortunately when events like this happen rumours can escalate very, very quickly and they can do a lot of damage. These events can be quite scary and I know that the best thing that we can do is give you regular, updated, accurate information. That’s why we are holding these briefings every two hours. If you hear or read on social networking sites rumours or statements, if they’re not confirmed in these meetings, if you don’t hear them out of my mouth or out of the police commissioner or deputy commissioner then it’s very unlikely to be true. So yes I’ve heard some of the wildest rumours in the last couple of days. Can I assure you the Wivenhoe Dam is absolutely secure, in fact any danger to it has completely passed with the passing of this water through it. So there will be inevitably people who…there’ll be a bit of Chinese whispers and it’ll grow into a bit of gossip and then it’ll become a full-scale rumour. And I think some of the social networking technology we have has been of enormous assistance during this flood event. It’s helped us to alert people and people are using it to find friends and loved ones, people are using it to tell each other what’s going on and that’s all terrific. The downside of it is if a piece of wrong information gets out or a rumour it can spread like wildfire much quicker than it ever would have. So please there is a bit of a wild speculation out there. the reason we’re going to continue for as long as necessary doing these regular updates is so that everything people need to know, even if it is bad news or frightening news, we will tell you here. [...]
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/discovery-of-bodies-hasnt-been-reported-to-us-police-20110118-19uj5.html
Brisbane Times
18 January 2011
Discovery of bodies hasn't been reported to us: police
Police say they haven't been contacted about the reported discovery of two bodies in a house near Brisbane.
Ipswich councillor Paul Tully told AAP this morning the bodies of two women were located by a young volunteer in a residence that had been flooded, in the Ipswich suburb of Goodna, late yesterday. [...]
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=161307130583974
Facebook
Police appeal to the community not to spread rumours
by Queensland Police Service on Monday, January 17, 2011 at 6:42pm
The Queensland Police Service can confirm that reports of two bodies being found in a house in Goodna are not accurate. [...]
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2011/01/18/police-quash-dead-body-rumours-toowoomba-floods/
The Chronicle [Toowoomba]
18 January 2011
Police quash dead body rumours
POLICE today quashed rumours that dead bodies were being secretly stored in the region’s morgues after last week’s devastating floods. [...]
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/rumour-has-it-wrong-in-flood-crisis-20110118-19v9h.html
Brisbane Times
19 January 2011
Rumour has it wrong in flood crisis
Cameron Atfield
Misinformation spread during Queensland's flood crisis could have had dire consequences, according to a disaster management expert.
Rumours that spread at the height of the crisis included that public transport would grind to a halt at 2pm last Tuesday; that Brisbane Airport was set to close; that the CBD was being evacuated; and that a makeshift morgue had been set up in Toowoomba.
And yesterday, Ipswich councillor Paul Tully fuelled rumours that two bodies had been found in a Goodna house, which Premier Anna Bligh declared "probably the most irresponsible act by any politician of any political persuasion" she had seen. [...]
http://www.gattonstar.com.au/story/2011/01/18/animals-left-behind-as-owners-evacuate/
Gatton Star [Australia]
18 January 2011
Animals left after owners evacuate
THE sick, injured and lost animals that survived the devastating Lockyer Valley flood found refuge at The University of Queensland's (UQ) Veterinary Medical Centre at the Gatton campus. [...]
Lockyer Valley Regional Council Animal Control Team Leader, Darryl Simpson, said rumours that all animals not claimed by the end of January would be euthanised, was false. [...]