RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 2305
I was also interested in the fact that the member for South Brisbane issued a statement of
reservation, partly because she did not even attend the estimates hearing. Her comments are hardly
original. On fire ants, for example, they are wrong. The LNP government is fully meeting its commitment
under the national cost-sharing agreement. This was confirmed at the Standing Committee on Primary
Industries meeting just last week with other Australian ministers.
Turning to Coopers Plains and the costs to bring animal testing to the main central lab, on this the
member for South Brisbane, like her deputy leader, is entirely wrong. Labor had sold off the old lab at
Oonoonba for residential development. It was gone. Labor had not fully funded a proposed new lab,
which under their own estimates, had blown out from 13 to 17 to 21 million dollars. I have repeatedly
updated the costs to accommodate additional staff at Coopers Plains on many occasions—and they will
be roundly $2 million and not $10 million. Under the restructure of operations, an additional area is now
available to accommodate any additional staff needed in the expanded lab testing roles.
The member for South Brisbane’s comments about the recreational use fee, the RUF, funds being
diverted away from recreational fishing services are wrong as well. RUF revenue has never been
quarantined or structured to enhance specifically recreational fishing. The law states that the RUF fee
must be paid when registering a boat. Failure to do so will result in a boat not being registered. How the
government chooses to spend those funds it receives is up to the government of the day. Since
introduction in 1994, RUF revenue has been provided to Fisheries Queensland. While there is no legal
requirement to do so, the funds, under our government, have been and will be used to help pay for costs
attributable to recreational fishing.
The RUF revenue has typically represented less than 40 per cent of the total amount spent on
providing services to the recreational fishing sector. Over $5 million in funding is coming directly from
government in recognition of that sector. That effort will continue given the acknowledgement of
recreational fishers and the enjoyment they have and the advantages to our local economy.
I totally reject the member for South Brisbane’s claims that front-line services will be
compromised under the Newman government. Under our restructure, critical front-line services—wild
dog officers, stock inspectors and plant protection officers—have been boosted rather than the Brisbane
CBD based admin, corporate services, policy and PR positions that Labor was so very fond of.
The member for South Brisbane clearly takes her notes from the ramblings of the former minister,
who had a few serious questions to ask. Indeed the member for Mackay asked a series of inane,
repetitive questions and then finished off with him mouthing off, ‘You are a bunch of agrarian socialists.’
That is the best he could do on the day—resort to pathetic, personal, baseless abuse—very sad. We are
trying to protect farmers such as pineapple growers threatened by disease from overseas under Joe
Ludwig and his federal Labor mates.
Putting aside the churlish comments of the member for Mackay and the member for South
Brisbane, I wish to put on record my overall thanks to the committee, particularly the committee
chairman, the member for Lockyer, Mr Ian Rickuss. I applaud the Treasurer on this budget that he has
handed down on behalf of Queensland, and I and my department have been pleased to play our small
role.
Ms TRAD (South Brisbane—ALP) (8.10 pm): I rise to contribute to the Agriculture, Resources
and Environment Committee estimates report. The AREC hearing highlighted the LNP’s failure to live
up to its promise of being an open and accountable government. Ministers continually dodged questions
and the hearing was plagued by unnecessary and time-wasting interruptions from government
members during opposition questioning. Government members were also allowed to submit questions
on notice to the environment and mines ministers a day late. It is totally unacceptable that deadlines for
parliamentary committee proceedings differ according to members’ political persuasions and it
diminishes the committees process and the parliament as a whole. I have written to the Speaker on this
issue and I look forward to her response.
What we have here is a government that has relegated the environment to the bottom of the pile.
The Agriculture, Resources and Environment Committee hearing revealed that we do not have an
environment minister who is in charge of protecting the Great Barrier Reef. We do not have a mines
minister in Queensland who is in charge of water in mines. We do not have a natural resources minister
who can actually see the connection between the clearing of native vegetation and the loss of koala
habitat. This is a government intent on ‘aggressively’ and ‘ruthlessly’ slashing regulations that have
been put in place to balance industry development with environmental protection with no regard for
community or our environment. Why? Because they claim the Labor government’s onerous regulations
were strangling the resources industry. Well let’s interrogate this rhetoric just a little bit, shall we?
The number of people employed by the resources industry increased from 27,380 in 2005 to
48,714 by 2011. By my calculation this is just under an 80 per cent increase in just five years. Between
1 July 2005 and 30 June 2011 investment in the industry increased by $38.5 billion. The source of those
figures is the ABS. A record $1.127 billion was spent on exploration activity in 2011—an increase of
almost 320 per cent on the $353.9 million spent in 2005. Again, the source is the ABS. These are hardly
indices of an industry that is crippled by regulation.