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378 Land and Resources Tribunal Bill 9 Mar 1999 The final form of this legislation has been the result of extensive consultation with all interested parties. The role of agreement through negotiation is central to the alternative State provisions, from which the majority of the tribunal's jurisdiction will be derived. The tribunal is designed to be informal, flexible and responsive to the needs of parties who come before it. Finally, the Land and Resources Tribunal Bill acknowledges and respects indigenous culture through making provision within the tribunal structure for the appointment of an indigenous issues referee and the capacity to deal appropriately with culturally sensitive issues. Also, all presiding members must have particular knowledge or experience of indigenous issues. I commend the Bill to the House. Mr FENLON (Greenslopes—ALP) (5.53 p.m.): I welcome this opportunity today to contribute to the consideration of the Land and Resources Tribunal Bill. I do not think any member of this House can underestimate the complexity of the native title issue. Indeed, for the previous Government this complexity was an excuse to do nothing. Unlike the Borbidge Government, the Beattie Government has not avoided the difficult issues. Close to the top of these difficult issues has indeed been the issue of native title. Almost immediately on coming to Government, the Premier announced the formation of his Native Title Task Force. The Native Title Task Force, which the Premier personally chaired, involved in the consultation process for the first time the various and diverse interest groups that were and continue to be affected by the issue of native title. Importantly, from the outset the Government adopted the approach that fighting out native title issues in the courts did not provide the way forward. Whilst litigation has its place, the Government has built its approach to formulating a new process for dealing with native title issues on a commitment to encourage all players in the process to work together to reach agreement. Litigation has been hugely expensive for Queensland taxpayers. It has dragged on for years and ultimately failed in practical terms to clarify the day-to-day impact of native title. The decisions in Mabo, Waanyi and Wik left indigenous people still without any clear guidance as to their rights and interests in land management in this State. It is ironic that the Bjelke-Petersen Government had such a strenuous role in creating these precedents. Where dramatic breakthroughs and concrete outcomes have been achieved, it has not been through litigation but, instead, through solution-based agreements negotiated in good faith and with the goodwill of all interested parties. The Beattie Labor Government approach has shifted the focus to encouraging and facilitating these agreements, particularly in the light of the new stature afforded to the agreements under the Commonwealth Native Title Act. Indeed, I understand that in a number of cases the officers of the Directorate of Native Title Services are assisting parties to native title disputes to resolve these issues through indigenous land use agreements. I would encourage both land-holders and indigenous parties to seriously consider the benefits that these agreements can provide to all parties. It is in this atmosphere of negotiation and not litigation that the tribunal we are debating today must be considered. Whilst the presiding members and non-presiding members of the tribunal will be eminently and suitably qualified to undertake these responsibilities—and in the case of the presiding members qualified to be appointed to a Supreme Court—it is important to note that the tribunal is not a court but a tribunal. As a tribunal the organisation will be far better able to ensure that its processes and hearings are culturally sensitive. The tribunal must observe the rules of natural justice, but it is not bound by the rules of evidence. That characteristic will allow the tribunal proceedings to be conducted in an informal manner and will permit decisions which will be more acceptable to all parties. As the Premier has stated, it is envisaged that the tribunal will not be a Brisbane-bound body but will conduct hearings throughout the State of Queensland. As noted by the report of the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee, in its remarks on whether the Bill has sufficient regard to Aboriginal tradition and island custom, the tribunal will take into account such issues as: its degree of formality in procedures; the degree to which it relaxes the strict evidentiary rules; the taking of group evidence from indigenous witnesses; the exercise of taking evidence in a culturally sensitive manner; the way in which the tribunal deals with indigenous witnesses who may not have the same fluency in English as do the members of this House; and, finally, a recognition that the framing of a question to an indigenous witness, given their mode of response to such questions, will be influenced by cultural factors. How it does this will ultimately be the test of the success of the
9 Mar 1999 Health Portfolio 379 tribunal. In all these things the Bill achieves the necessary balance. The Premier's native title strategy also recognises the important role that mediation will play in his "negotiate, not litigate" solution to the native title issue. The Bill recognises the importance of mediation through the office of the mediation referee. The mediation referee must be legally qualified and have, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, a high level of knowledge or experience in two or more of the following: dispute resolution, mediation, land title and land use issues, or something else considered by the Governor in Council to have substantial relevance to the duties of the mediation referee. Debate, on motion of Mr Fenlon, adjourned. HEALTH PORTFOLIO Miss SIMPSON (Maroochydore—NPA) (6 p.m.): I move— "That this House notes with concern the massive $50m budget blow-out hitting Queensland’s public hospitals which is resulting in severe cuts to patient services, the closure of hospital beds and a blowout in waiting lists, and condemns the Health Minister’s gross mismanagement of the health system and her disgraceful attack on the dedicated senior staff who work in our hospitals." The cracks in the edifice of the do-nothing Beattie Labor Government are widening. Apparently, it is the Premier's decision to do nothing about an unrepentant Health Minister, whom he continues to defend. Something is desperately wrong with a Government that allows a senior Minister—Health Minister Wendy Edmond—to go unchastised for abusing patients and staff for problems within the State's hospitals. Never has a State Government had so much Federal funding for hospitals—a record amount of funding—but already we have seen semi-urgent wait times nearly double under this Government. I am absolutely appalled that this Minister is so desperate to cover up the problems in the hospitals that she would slander a man who presented for treatment at the Gold Coast Hospital with a slashed arm and had to wait 28 hours for surgery. This is a real person who has suffered because of the breakdown in the health system. The Minister has lost the plot by failing to see the impact on a young man who may not regain the full use of his arm. The Minister fails to acknowledge the unacceptability of such an extremely long delay for surgery in emergency circumstances. Yesterday at Toowoomba, the Minister sacked the hospital's top executive and announced an "administrative restructure", which is a pseudonym for a massacre. Once again, when a hospital is in trouble, her answer is to look for scapegoats. She sacks the executive team and then does not announce any additional funding for that hospital, which is servicing a major region. I say to the Minister: your Government spent an extra $8m to run the Premier's Department in one quarter than Premier Borbidge, but you cannot seem to find the money for Toowoomba and other hospitals around the State. I think you and your Government have got your priorities wrong. The Beattie do-nothing Government is all about doing fancy PR rather than the hard yakka in delivering in such key service areas as health. You are simply not up to the task. After the Toowoomba massacre, there will be a lot of other hospital administrations and their staff who will be shaking in their shoes. Aside from the executive staff, how many other staff at Toowoomba will be sacked, and how many full-time positions will covertly not be advertised, with a growing legion of casuals left wondering about their job security? And what about the other hospitals? The Royal Brisbane Hospital has a $14m budget overrun. I understand that that hospital also has about 30 closed beds, despite running near capacity, and it is also not filling permanent positions under this Minister. Will Dr John Menzies, the district director, be the next to fall under the poisoned sword of this Government? What about the Prince Charles Hospital, which is $1.8m over budget? And what about those other highly efficient teams at the Caboolture and Redcliffe Hospitals and the Nambour Hospital which, respectively, are struggling with a $2m and a $2.5m budget blow-out? What will they be thinking after the Toowoomba episode? Then there is the Bundaberg Hospital and its $1m budget blow-out. I acknowledge that the Minister tripped along to Bundaberg the other day and gave the hospital a million-dollar bail-out package, but she has not promised the same again next year. The highly respected medical superintendent at that hospital has recently resigned, and that hospital has also seen nearly a doubling of the percentage of semi-urgent long waits for surgery since Health Minister Edmond took the helm. It is another hospital that has had a downgrade in hospital services with the closure of the general outpatients clinic. And in case the Minister had forgotten—the Minister
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