Former LNP premier Campbell Newman has scoffed at the state government’s $7.1 billion Olympic Games budget, telling a meeting of the Save Victoria Park group that the main stadium alone would cost that much.Opponents of an Olympic stadium in Victoria Park at the Kelvin Grove meeting on Monday night.Credit: Richard HoldcroftNewman was speaking at a community meeting in Kelvin Grove last night to update opponents of the Victoria Park stadium on the group’s campaign. He was joined by former Labor council opposition leader Peter Cumming, Gabba redevelopment project manager Rob Camping, and environmental lawyer Sean Ryan.LoadingNewman told the meeting of about 300 people that the Save Victoria Park group was not against the Olympics, but the stadium needed to be built somewhere else, such as Hamilton Northshore.“We’re going to keep fighting this – we’re going to win,” he said. “The state government is starting to realise they don’t have this stitched up.”The Victoria Park proposal would require direct access to the Inner City Bypass during the construction phase and would cause chaos in Herston and the surrounding suburbs from now until the 2032 Games, he said.The state has budgeted $3.8 billion in total for Olympic venues.Latest postsLatest postsThe cost of stamp duty has risen faster than incomes over the past two and a half decades, new analysis shows, adding an extra cost for home buyers compared to a generation ago.LoadingSince 2000, stamp duty costs have grown 3.4 times faster than incomes in Brisbane, 2.7 times faster in Sydney and three times faster in Melbourne.Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said the higher stamp duty costs relative to incomes were a financial burden on buyers that could lead to a misallocation of housing.She said it discourages some home owners from moving for job opportunities because the cost associated with buying and selling a property are so large.Read the full story here.Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson has signalled support for the deployment of Australian peacekeepers to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, after US President Donald Trump said he would offer security guarantees to Ukraine to keep the peace once it strikes an agreement with Russia.Paterson said security guarantees from the international community, led by the US and Europe, would be essential to a “durable peace” between Russia and Ukraine, a view shared by European leaders concerned about the actions of an emboldened Vladimir Putin following the conclusion of the Ukraine war.The meeting between Trump and Zelensky was less tense than their February encounter.Credit: AP“We should certainly consider that if we’re asked,” Paterson told Nine’s Today when asked if Australia should deploy peacekeepers to Ukraine.“We’re clearly not a main player in this conflict, but we are part of an international community that has a strong interest in making sure this war ends and doesn’t start again.” Former LNP premier Campbell Newman has scoffed at the state government’s $7.1 billion Olympic Games budget, telling a meeting of the Save Victoria Park group that the main stadium alone would cost that much.Opponents of an Olympic stadium in Victoria Park at the Kelvin Grove meeting on Monday night.Credit: Richard HoldcroftNewman was speaking at a community meeting in Kelvin Grove last night to update opponents of the Victoria Park stadium on the group’s campaign. He was joined by former Labor council opposition leader Peter Cumming, Gabba redevelopment project manager Rob Camping, and environmental lawyer Sean Ryan.LoadingNewman told the meeting of about 300 people that the Save Victoria Park group was not against the Olympics, but the stadium needed to be built somewhere else, such as Hamilton Northshore.“We’re going to keep fighting this – we’re going to win,” he said. “The state government is starting to realise they don’t have this stitched up.”The Victoria Park proposal would require direct access to the Inner City Bypass during the construction phase and would cause chaos in Herston and the surrounding suburbs from now until the 2032 Games, he said.The state has budgeted $3.8 billion in total for Olympic venues. Advertisement Will it be a little wet in Brisbane today? The weather bureau is forecasting a 60 per cent chance of a drop, most likely from late this morning.Tomorrow and Thursday are almost certain to bring rain, with the chance rising to 95 per cent.Otherwise, we’re expecting a cool, cloudy day in the River City.Here’s the outlook:Here’s what’s making news further afield this morning:US President Donald Trump will call Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later today after Trump held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a high-powered European delegation in the White House to end the war in Ukraine earlier today.The meeting between Trump and Zelensky was markedly more cordial than their February encounter.Two weeks before his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, writes political and international editor Peter Hartcher, Donald Trump said Russia’s war on Ukraine was disgusting: “Russia? I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing. I think it’s disgusting.” Even as he flew to Alaska to meet Putin, Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.” Yet there is no ceasefire.Closer to home, Australians want Anthony Albanese to deliver important new reforms out of the government’s economic roundtable before the next election, but they draw the line at any move to lift the GST or broaden its scope. The three-day economic reform roundtable will begin later todayIsrael has revoked the visas for Australian diplomats at a key office in the Palestinian territories out of anger at the Albanese government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, drawing a rebuke from Foreign Minister Penny Wong.In the US, a woman known as the “Ketamine Queen,” charged with selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him, has agreed to plead guilty.The Wallabies’ famous victory over South Africa at Ellis Park on Sunday did not just end a 62-year drought, it could also help deliver the perfect home World Cup for Australia in two years.Good morning, welcome to Brisbane Times’ news blog for Tuesday, August 19. Today we can expect a shower or two and a top temperature of 19 degrees.In this morning’s local headlines:A consortium led by international design firm Arcadis has been shortlisted to produce a master plan for Victoria Park, and it already has a vision for connecting the Olympic precinct to the CBD.Pro-Palestine protesters have dared police to take them to court over a planned march across Brisbane’s Story Bridge after the two parties failed to reach an agreement.A 12-year-old girl has been charged with attempted murder after a woman in her 50s was found with a stab wound to her chest in a home south-west of Brisbane.And tributes have been laid at the site of a tragic road accident that took the lives of a father and his four-year-old son south of Brisbane at the weekend during their regular walk to buy ice-cream.Tributes at the scene in Regents Park where a father and his four-year-old son were hit and killed by a ute.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt