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2306 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 31 Oct 2012 So the government have used hyperbole and rhetoric to create and elevate a problem that does not actually exist—something they are very competent at doing. Then they have set up a closed committee out of cabinet to kill off the regulatory framework around ensuring that there is balance between industry development and environmental protection. They have given themselves 100 days to come back with the list to slash. We are halfway through the 100 days and we are yet to hear of any substantial regulations that they are cutting, but maybe again they just want to refuse consultation with the community as they have been shown to do. All we have to do is look at the Mines Legislation (Streamlining) Amendment Bill and remember how many days the community had to consult on that bill. I will remind the parliament again how many days communities actually had to be aware that this government was taking out of law the protection of urban areas from mining exploration and extraction. So what regulations do we think the Newman government’s resource subcommittee will find unnecessary and onerous? What is on the cutting board? Will it be that mining will be allowed in national parks or the Great Barrier Reef region or World Heritage management areas? Will the committee remove the local workforce component from mining applications? Will the committee allow for the release of untreated mine water? These protections are all part of the regulation. So which ones will go? This government is now so convinced by its own rhetoric on regulatory ruin. This was on greatest show when the police minister announced a panel to review and water down gun controls in this state. And surprise, surprise! The panel originally announced by the minister was stacked with people from the gun lobby and excluded other key stakeholders including the Police Union. What did Mr Leavers, the President of the Police Union, say about regulation, which is what we are discussing? ‘If anything, we shouldn’t reduce red tape for gun owners but increase it. A reduction in red tape around gun ownership will simply mean more people will die.’ Well if regulations save lives they are good enough to save the environment. This government is intent on ensuring that the people of Queensland do not know what environmental regulations they are slashing from the resources industry in this state. This government is committed to making decisions that will affect generations to come and after the uranium decision— Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Ruthenberg): Order! The member’s time has expired. Ms TRAD:—we know that any environmental commitment— Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member’s time has expired. Ms TRAD:—made by the LNP is not worth a second of consideration. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired. Member for South Brisbane, I expect you to follow direction. Mr RICKUSS (Lockyer—LNP) (8.15 pm): I rise to make a brief comment on the Agriculture, Resources and Environment Committee’s consideration of estimates. It was very interesting to see this process in place. It was great to see the ministers doing a great job of explaining expenditure which comes to some $863 million—almost $1 billion of expenditure. That is very important. I congratulate the Treasurer on a fine budget, which is what we are examining here. I note the comments of the deputy chair of the committee, the member for South Brisbane, who has just had a rant about the gun laws. The committee did not actually examine anything to do with the gun laws. So I do not know why that was brought into her contribution. I realise that Jackie is new at the whole process and she has a lot to learn. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Lockyer, please refer to members by their correct titles. Mr RICKUSS: The member for South Brisbane has a lot to learn and she is still trying to get the process right. She has to work out that we were actually looking at the portfolios of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Environment and Heritage Protection; and National Resources and Mines. That is what we looked at in our examination of this bill. I congratulate the ministers for the fact that they answered the questions clearly and succinctly, particularly the questions related to their portfolios. They did struggle a bit with the questions that were not related to their portfolios simply for the fact that they probably did not have the issues before them. I note one of the dissenting reports from the member for South Brisbane complaining about the number of questions that she asked. The member of Katter’s Australian Party and the member of the ALP make up 25 per cent of the committee. They asked 60 per cent of the questions; they asked 60 per cent of the questions. Mr Cox: What percentage of the committee did they make up? Mr RICKUSS: Twenty-five per cent of the committee and they asked 60 per cent of the questions. They are still stuck in this old paradigm of ‘It’s our turn to ask questions.’ I realise that we have new members on the committees but the CLA is not in that paradigm of ‘It’s your turn; it’s my turn’ or whatever. It is about how we actually manage the process. The process I think was managed very
31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 2307 efficiently. If a question was asked by a member of the opposition or a member of the Katter party then a supplementary question could come from one of our members who had an interest in that same area. That, to me, was common sense and made the examination of the estimates flow much more realistically. Ms Trad: So what about questions on notice, Ian? Mr RICKUSS: I take the interjection of the member for South Brisbane about questions on notice. I rang her up on the day that questions on notice were due to be in and we had discussions. I had a discussion with Shane too about their questions on notice. We could have just knocked out a heap of their questions on notice because they had made one question into three questions, so instead of having 10 questions they actually had about 15 questions. So instead of doing that I rang the member for South Brisbane and the member for Dalrymple so they could put in the appropriate questions on notice. I realise this is a new process and it does take a while to get around these sorts of issues. I actually gave the same leeway to some of our members who were a bit late getting their questions in, so that worked all right. This is a learning process. This government has only been in place for 200 days, I think it is now. I must admit that I am sure the process will be more streamlined next year, but I really do take issue with some of the poor comments made by the member in her conclusion—such as that the three ministers were anxious to avoid sustained questioning. I find that hard to believe. The opposition were actually starting to run out of questions. I would refer to the members opposite and say, ‘Have you finished?’ and their answer would be, ‘Yes.’ They would be finished before I had asked our members to ask their questions, so I cannot see how they can sustain that. Like I said, 25 per cent of the committee asked 60 per cent of the questions. With that, I congratulate the ministers and the Treasurer. Mr COSTIGAN (Whitsunday—LNP) (8.20 pm): I rise in the House as a member of the parliament’s Agriculture, Resources and Environment Committee and I wish to begin by thanking the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines and the Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and their respective directors-general and staff, both ministerial and departmental, for their cooperation and professionalism during the estimates process. I reiterate what the member for Lockyer just said: it was quite clear that all three ministers had an excellent grasp of their respective portfolios. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the professionalism and fine work of the secretariat, headed by Mr Robert Hansen. It would be remiss of me not to thank all members of the Agriculture, Resources and Environment Committee under the chairmanship of the member for Lockyer. Personally, I thought the highlight of the estimates process was the fact that we had questions being asked of a minister of a stand-alone agriculture department. This was in stark contrast to what happened previously at estimates when the Australian Labor Party were running the show. Let us not forget that it was Labor who dumbed down primary industries in Queensland. The former DPI, which was a world-class department from years gone by, was effectively dismantled—in fact, ripped apart— and put in ruin by the previous Labor administration. As the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry would be well aware—and I have seen the member for Hinchinbrook interjecting in here, backing me up—along with other regional MPs, such as the members for Burdekin, Mirani, Bundaberg and Burnett, the mighty sugar industry is one of Queensland’s great primary industries. In fact, it is worth about $1.2 billion annually. As I have mentioned before in this place, the sugar industry has underpinned the economy of the Mackay- Whitsunday region since our early days of European settlement, and ditto other regional communities around Queensland, like the Herbert, the Burdekin and Bundaberg. Even after the rationalisation of the sugar industry in my home town of Mackay in the late eighties, sugar is still a big economic driver in my region, so much so that within 90 minutes of Mackay we still have five mills, a refinery, an ethanol plant, a co-generation plant and a large bulk sugar terminal at the port of Mackay which at one stage was reputed to be the biggest in the world. With that in mind, I was delighted to join the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, alongside the Premier and the member for Mirani, on Mackay’s outskirts on 27 September 2012 for the signing of a memorandum of understanding in relation to the government’s additional $4.6 million for sugar research. This historic occasion took place on the grounds of the BSES experiment station at Te Kowai, with the BSES represented by chairman, Paul Wright. He joined the minister in the signing of this very important document, which I might add honours a pre-election commitment made by the now Premier while standing alongside people such as me in cane fields not far from nearby Walkerston. Also in attendance for this signing were the following: Peter Allsopp of BSES and many of the wonderfully talented people from that organisation; Alf Cristaudo, the chairman of Canegrowers Queensland; Paul Schembri, the chairman of Canegrowers Mackay and the man we call Mr Sugar in our part of the world; and representatives of the Australian Cane Farmers Association, namely Don Murday and Stephen Fordyce. It was also terrific to see millers in attendance, with Mackay Sugar chairman, Andrew Cappello, and chief executive officer, Quinton Hildebrand, both on hand. I candidly remarked to the
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