Rather than ignore the silent protest of a lone ratepayer dressed as Ned Kelly, Mayor Tim Hayes shut down the meeting.

In doing so, he managed to achieve statewide publicity that we are sure neither he, nor his fellow councillors, really wanted.

It could be argued - and it was certainly the line the council was running yesterday - that a person entering a building with their face covered could be considered a threat to those therein.

Certainly motorcyclists are required to remove helmets when they enter shops and we'd naturally be suspicious of someone wearing a balaclava in public.

But it seems pretty clear that Hepburn's Ned Kelly impersonator's intentions were not to cause a ruction, but to make a quiet point.

Councillors would have been better to ignore the situation and get on with the business at hand.

No one would have been any the wiser.

While it may have been the intention of the Ned Kelly look-alike to do something silly, it appears in fact it is the council which has come out of this looking like a goose.

Twins' deaths will provide lessons for all

THE deaths of 18-month-old twins in Brisbane can only be described as tragic.

Both police and the wider community can rightly ask how such a thing could transpire in an otherwise average suburban neighbourhood.

The parents of the dead children are in custody and police investigations are ongoing.

It is also likely that child welfare groups and government agencies will look at how these children, who had been dead a week before authorities were alerted, were allowed to live as they did - apparently starving - without

intervention.

The role of the parents in their deaths is yet to be determined. There will undoubtedly be others, though, asking themselves if they did everything they could to protect these children.

There will be lessons for us all in whatever comes out of these investigations.