Full transcript - Final - Queensland Parliament - Queensland ...

9 Mar 1999 Questions Without Notice 323
an undertaking to the House to name the
people who are breeding dingoes for bounty?
Mr WELFORD: The honourable member
does himself no credit in joining the National
Party to attribute such an absurd suggestion to
me. That suggestion was never made by me.
Nothing I said last week, as will be shown by
Hansard, referred to graziers, rural land-holders
or other hardworking people on the land. What
I said last week in Parliament was directed at
an improved pest management plan to
operate right across the State to protect
graziers ,whose hard-earned income is levied
to pay for the current dingo bounty, which is
not working.
Members opposite are asserting falsely
that this Government has abolished the
bounty, as the member for Callide did recently
in the Bundaberg News-Mail. The Government
has done nothing of the sort. However, the
Government is reviewing the legislation to see
whether there are better and more effective
ways to comprehensively address what the
Government acknowledges is a widespread
problem. The proposition that I ever cast a slur
upon any hardworking rural land-holders or
graziers is an absolutely dishonest
misrepresentation of the facts and honourable
members opposite know it.
Free Ambulance Subscriptions
Dr CLARK: I direct a question to the
Minister for Emergency Services. The
Government promised to implement free
ambulance subscriptions for pensioners,
Seniors Card holders and their dependants as
of 1 January this year. That policy has been
implemented and our promise fulfilled. I ask:
could the Minister please outline the
community response to this significant
initiative?
Mrs ROSE: I thank the honourable
member for the question and also
acknowledge the interest that she has shown
in the delivery of ambulance services in the
Cairns area since she returned to the House.
As the member said, at the last election this
Government gave a commitment to provide a
free ambulance service to pensioners, Seniors
Card holders and their dependants. I am
delighted to inform the House that this policy
came into effect on 1 January.
The policy had a very smooth transition
and has been well received across the State.
After its implementation, refund cheques were
posted to 215,000 Queenslanders who had
prepaid their subscriptions until after the
implementation date. Both the staff at the
Queensland Ambulance Service and I were
overwhelmed when many of the cheques were
returned in the form of donations to the QAS. I
am sure that every member of the House will
be amazed when I tell them that almost half a
million dollars was returned to the QAS by
more than 34,000 Queenslanders. Many
people even included extra donations with
their refund cheques. For example, one
Brisbane woman included a cheque for $500.
She has been a QAS subscriber for 55 years
but has never used the service in all that time.
On behalf of the Government, I thank the men
and women of Queensland for their
generosity; it will help to save lives. I assure
people that their money will be well spent on
essential ambulance equipment and on
helping others.
Many pensioners and Seniors Card
holders who returned their cheques said that
this was their way of saying thankyou to the
Queensland Ambulance Service for the
wonderful service that it has provided to
Queenslanders for over 100 years. I thank
subscribers for supporting the Ambulance
Service. I reiterate that Seniors Card holders
and pensioners can continue to have a close
relationship with the Ambulance Service
through their local ambulance committees.
The local ambulance committees are
community based and do a wonderful job of
raising funds on behalf of their local
ambulance station for vital lifesaving
equipment.
Water Backflow
Mr LAMING: I refer the Minister for Public
Works and Minister for Housing to a report in
this morning's Courier-Mail about the serious
health risks posed by water backflow and the
fact that his department has identified 1,192
sites as having the potential to cause loss of
human life. I refer the Minister also to the fact
that only 200 of those deadly sites have been
rectified and that apparently no money has
been set aside for the remaining 992 sites. I
ask the Minister: does he stand by the
commitment that he gave to the Estimates
committee in which he stated, "I am pleased
to say that we are on top of those issues"?
What urgent action is he taking to rectify this
situation, given that his department has
identified so many potentially deadly sites, and
when was he made personally aware of the
situation?
Mr SCHWARTEN: Finally, we have a
question. I thought the Opposition might have
asked about the 1,400 jobs that we stand to
lose thanks to the GST, and I note the
Opposition's continued silence on that issue.