In Thursday’s column, we reported that Nine News Queensland newsreader Melissa Downes declared with nary a blush the night before that close to 23,000 signatories to a private member’s bill giving residents more legal rights to deal with home invaders/burglars were … wait for it …. all TERRIFIED Queenslanders.

As we pointed out, that’s exactly what Nine News Queensland wants those Queenslanders to be, given the relentless campaign that’s been now under way at Nine, other commercial TV stations, The Courier-Mail and The Sunday-Mail and local News shockjocks on 4BC that youth crime is rampant and out-of-control across the state, with the only real solution being the election come October of David Crisafulli as Premier.

But that MGH column also got us to reflect about our decision some years ago to abandon our annual media beatup-of-the-year award. Our reasoning was sound at the time; far too many regular entries from our mainstream mediocre made running such an award too complicated and messy. We’d need almost a daily award.

Why the rethink? We suspect Ebony Cavallaro’s report on Wednesday night – in which we first heard of these almost 23,000 terrified Queensland signatories to a north Queensland pollie’s petition for the introduction of the so-called Castle Law – would have been a worthy contender for that highly uncoveted gong.

Even Cavallaro couldn’t resist giving the overall campaign a further jolly pushalong, declaring at the outset that one home invasion in which a resident tragically lost her life had “struck fear into the hearts of Queenslanders”! Pretty generalised statement there, Ebs!

So, why would the segment be up for a beatup-of-the-year nomination if such a gong was re-introduced? Because the “Castle Law” yarn was, to be quite blunt, basically bullshit.

As Cavallaro’s report way at the end of the hourly bulletin revealed, existing Queensland law already allows residents to use lethal force if their safety is at stake. A criminal law expert at the end of the report said he was unaware of anyone who had been inappropriately charged after doing exactly that. He basically declared that there was no need whatsoever for Castle Law which Cavallaro had gleefully told us “was common in many parts of the US”.

We want to be more like gun-toting America. Ms Cavallaro? Yeah, right. Bang! Bang!

The key bit to the existing Queensland law is that resident’s lives have to be at risk. It’s not rocket surgery.

As a couple of old court reporting hacks among those who compile this column pointed out, even the north Queensland pollie seeking signatories to his petition to further build the hysteria about a citizenry terrified to leave their homes as a vote-attracting measure is probably not advocating that residents would be quite in their rights under basically any circumstances to kill invaders under some “my home is my castle” misunderstanding of their rights and obligations.

As one of our old hacks pointed out: “The chances of a law coming into effect that allows residents to chase out onto the street a couple of idiotic teen burglars and take them out with both barrels of a 12-gauge shotgun is going to remain pretty much a no-no. Ditto with running them down with your Ford Ranger.”

And anyone hoping that the introduction of Castle Law in Queensland would green-light any resident’s rights to use a semi-automatic rifle to take out through a closed front-door a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses who had the temerity to ring their door bell might also be similarly disappointed. Even if one of the poor buggers was carrying a walking stick that might through the frosted glass have looked a bit like a rifle. Bang! Bang! Gotcha, yer bastards!

Proof that the whole segment was just yet another beatup in Nine News Queensland’s ongoing campaign to scare shitless Queensland soon-to-be votes was clear in other things our criminal law expert said. There will be a review – some tweaking perhaps – of the “in your defence” argument later this year and some submissions may be taken to whoever’s in government at the end of next year. At the end of next year, folks! Where the hell are the totally inappropriate laws that need fixing right now? That almost 23,000 – and growing daily, right, Ms Downes? – terrified Queenslanders are demanding.

For a yarn that was relentlessly promoted in the hours before Wednesday night’s 6pm bulletin and teased repeatedly during that hour-long service, we think it’s pretty good beatup-of-the-year material should such an award be brought back. What do you BUGgers out there reckon?

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