RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2294 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 31 Oct 2012 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Miss Barton): Order! Before calling the next speaker, I acknowledge the presence in the public gallery of Rotarians from the electorate of Burleigh who are on a vocational study trip to parliament. Welcome. Mr GIBSON (Gympie—LNP) (6.10 pm): I rise to make a contribution to debate of the report of the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee. Whilst I was not a member of that committee, I thank both the chair and committee members for the opportunity they extended to me, when I sought leave, to appear to ask some questions of the Minister for Community Safety with regard to two issues that are very close to my heart, both of which are connected to the deaf community. One relates to the smoke alarm subsidy scheme that is currently in place in Queensland. The second relates to an SMS 000 emergency service. I want to touch on both of those issues. At the outset I thank the minister for his honest and very comprehensive answer to my question about the smoke alarm subsidy scheme. I know that he has been working closely with the deaf community on this issue. There has been some concern within the deaf community as to the program itself and how it would continue to roll out. It was great to hear from the minister that that subsidy will continue and will continue to be supported by the Newman government. As with all things, there will be a review to ensure we are getting the best value for money and enhance the process. Most of us who are hearing can duck down to any hardware store and pick up the most basic smoke alarm for in the vicinity of $20. However, that smoke alarm will do nothing the save the life of a person who is deaf or hearing impaired. That includes people with cochlear implants, because obviously they take the devices off at night, those who rely on hearing aids—that covers a larger section of our community as baby boomers grow older and experience health issues—and those who are born deaf and who for their whole lives have not had that support. In order to rely on a smoke alarm, they require one that has a flashing light and a vibrating pad that sits under the pillow, not just one that provides a loud, piercing noise. Those smoke alarms, whilst they are available, cost in the vicinity of $500, so the subsidy that is provided is one that is highly regarded by the community. It is great to hear that it will be continuing, and I thank the minister for that. The other element that would be of surprise to many in the hearing community is that the deaf community do not have a dedicated 000 emergency service for use with SMS. If those of us with a mobile phone find ourselves in a situation, anywhere in Australia, in which we need to call 000, we can do so. But that is not the case for a deaf person. Deaf people have been very early adapters of technology. My mother, who is 70, was texting long before my teenage boys ever thought about texting. She has been very comfortable with mobile phone technology but she cannot make a 000 call. Responsibility for this does not sit at the state level, but it is an issue that crosses into state responsibility because the funding for the National Relay Service, which is a service that is provided for the deaf community to engage with the hearing community via telecommunications, is provided across all of Australia by the Commonwealth. In 2010, the deaf community and many who are interested took great confidence in Senator Conroy’s remarks that it would be a priority for him to ensure that there would be an SMS 000 alert service. We were grateful that that was to occur. However, in the most recent request-for-tender documents—they came out only a couple of months ago—from the federal government for the next round of the National Relay Service, there is no reference to an SMS 000 service or an obligation to provide one. This is totally unacceptable. It says to the deaf community across Australia that they are second-class citizens, that the federal government does not see a requirement to provide a basic level of service for those in the deaf community to call an ambulance, the fire brigade or the police in a time of emergency. To highlight how ludicrous this is, if a deaf person breaks down at the side of the road they can SMS for roadside assistance, but if they are in a motor vehicle accident they cannot SMS for police, ambulance or fire brigade. That is totally unacceptable. In Queensland we have seen recently—again, I commend the minister for it—SMS on Policelink, but that is for non-emergency services. Again, we have this ridiculous situation where people can text to say, ‘I can see a burglar outside my neighbour’s property,’ but they cannot text for an ambulance when their spouse is having a heart attack. This is an issue that needs to be addressed. The federal government needs to step up and address this. The technology has been rolled out across New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some states in America—a whole range of places. It is time for Australia to have this technology as well. Mr WOODFORTH (Nudgee—LNP) (6.15 pm): I am pleased to rise to speak on the estimates process of the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee. First, I thank my fellow MPs who were part of this committee, especially the chair, the member for Condamine, Mr Ray Hopper. I also thank the committee staff—Sharon, Kelli, Ali and Gail and led by Mr Brook Hastie—for their dedicated work.
31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 2295 In general, the people of Nudgee have welcomed the whole budget, from electricity tariff and car registration freezes to the halving of the public transport price rise and, for the many businesses in the Nudgee electorate, items such as the increase in the payroll tax threshold. The people of Nudgee also welcome the likes of extra policing as part of the budget. Just this week two new police officers began their careers at Boondall Police Station. I know that Superintendent Kelly will welcome the new officers to keep the streets of Nudgee safe. I will continue to fight for more police in and around the Nudgee and Banyo areas. I wish the recently retired commissioner, Mr Bob Atkinson, all the best and welcome our new commissioner, Mr Stewart, and look forward to working with him and my three police stations at Boondall, Hendra and Banyo as community safety is of the utmost importance to the people of Nudgee. I also thank the police minister for his very in-depth answers throughout the hearing. I thank the Attorney-General and congratulate him on the policy changes already put through, such as the abolition of administrative funding for political parties. Electorates such as Nudgee and its people welcome these types of changes that benefit the Queensland taxpayer. I applaud the youth boot camps we are initiating and look forward to these putting our youth back on the straight and narrow and keeping them out of jail. I applaud the government in general for getting this great state back on track. The people of Nudgee are grateful for this. This was of course my first estimates process. I enjoyed the process—all 13 long hours of it—and look forward to working in more detail on future estimates. I commend the report to the House. Dr DAVIS (Stafford—LNP) (6.18 pm): I was concerned at the estimates hearing on 17 October to be the subject of assertions by the member for Bundamba. The chair of the Health and Community Services Committee, the member for Redlands, deemed that these assertions impugned me. I thank him for obtaining a withdrawal accordingly. However, I did not have an opportunity to reply to the assertions, so it is opportune that under the legal affairs discussions tonight I assert my right to the first principle of natural justice, specifically the right to be heard. The statement from the member for Bundamba as it appears in Hansard of 17 October, page 54, mentions ‘the assistant minister’s antagonism towards the new Queensland Children’s Hospital and with his obvious conflict of interest’. Well, I do have an antagonism to bad health services planning, because it risks patients’ lives, denies the opportunity for optimal health and wastes scarce health resources. Is the new Queensland Children’s Hospital a bad plan? The latest instalment on that question was as recent as the Courier-Mail of 27 October, when an eminent paediatrician and recently retired medical superintendent of Brisbane’s Royal Children’s Hospital described it as a bad plan—so bad that what started life as a $690 million project is now quoted at $1.5 billion and, according to Dr Slaughter, will make the $2 billion mark. So when we look at estimates, this is yet another example of the frightful legacy of grossly irresponsible waste by the former Labor government. One can hopefully understand my antagonism to such incompetence and waste. As members of this government will understand, if the previous government could not even get the basic bricks and mortar right, there was no proper consideration of the complex service planning that should underpin a critical decision to close the Royal Children’s Hospital, with its vital links to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and all of the worldclass teaching and research investments on the Herston campus and indeed all of the needs of the north side of Brisbane, including my seat of Stafford. The member for Bundamba asserted that I have a conflict of interest in relation to the Queensland Children’s Hospital. My wife is a paediatric neurologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital. She is one of the very many consultants and other healthcare professionals who are totally opposed to the process by which the purely political decision to relocate all paediatric services from the Royal Children’s Hospital site to the electorate of the former member for South Brisbane and later Premier was made. This is not a conflict of interest for me. She and her colleagues are more than able to advocate for the best interests of their patients without my involvement, as again so well demonstrated by Dr Slaughter’s media statements a few days ago. My conflict of interest in relation to the Queensland Children’s Hospital goes back to my commitment to uphold the recommendations of the 2005 Queensland Health Systems Review, the Forster review. That specifically requires that all future decisions regarding the location of health facilities be based on a transparent patient focused process that ensures wide community and stakeholder involvement together with relevant advice from technical experts. All decisions should be supported by full documentation to enable independent review and ensure accountability and probity of decisions. We know very well that no sooner had the Labor government welcomed and accepted the Forster report than it started to systematically ignore recommendations that did not serve ALP members’ interests. Specifically, if you wanted to put a massive hospital in Anna Bligh’s electorate, to
Page 1 and 2: PROOF ISSN 1322-0330 RECORD OF PROC
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents — Wednesday, 31
Page 5 and 6: 31 Oct 2012 Legislative Assembly 22
Page 7 and 8: 31 Oct 2012 Privilege 2251 Madam SP
Page 9 and 10: 31 Oct 2012 Tabled Papers 2253 Surv
Page 11 and 12: 31 Oct 2012 Questions Without Notic
Page 23 and 24: 31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliame
Page 49: 31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliame
Page 53 and 54: 31 Oct 2012 Classification of Compu
Page 55 and 56: 31 Oct 2012 South East Qld Water (R
Page 57 and 58: 31 Oct 2012 Weapons and Other Legis
Page 101 and 102:
31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliame
Page 103 and 104:
31 Oct 2012 Adjournment 2347 Early
Page 105 and 106:
31 Oct 2012 Adjournment 2349 School
Page 107 and 108:
31 Oct 2012 Adjournment 2351 During
show all

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?