RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

470 Ministerial Statements 7 Mar 2013
The report also addresses infrastructure constraints, consolidates CBD departure points and
simplifies the network. I am confident that this will create a much more attractive bus network for
users.
Regrettably, Labor is still not on board with the need to fix our bus network. Labor wanted to
keep the same inefficient and complex network and maintain just one policy—and that was Labor’s
only policy on public transport—of 15 per cent increases every year, year after year. I would like to
take this opportunity to thank the Assistant Minister for Public Transport, Steve Minnikin, the member
for Chatsworth, for the work that he has done in the creation of this report. I know that he is looking
forward to working with TransLink, bus operators and the community as we implement the new
network.
Labor may not be very good at running public transport, but it is very good at running fear
campaigns. We have already had the opposition transport spokesperson out there in the City South
News with a concerned bus user criticising our plans to build a better bus network. I sound a word of
warning. Be aware of the sort of tactics employed by the Labor Party, because sometimes your
concerned bus user is not who they claim to be. In fact, they can actually be a Labor stooge. I refer to
the article from 28 February talking about resident Cam Crowther. When we spoke to the newspaper,
apparently there was the transport spokesperson there and suddenly who appeared? This innocent
bystander waiting to give an objective viewpoint about the buses. He just appeared out of nowhere.
Can I say that the opposition transport spokesperson did not say that they knew this person at
all, were aware or them, or who they might be. But guess who they might have been? I have here a
document indicating the membership of the Annerley branch of the Labor Party. There is the
president of the ALP Labor branch, Cam Crowther. I am happy to table that. He is an innocent
bystander—the president of the Annerley ALP branch.
Tabled paper: Document, dated 11 September 2012, indicating Annerley Labor branch officebearers [2201].
Ms Palaszczuk: When was the last time you caught a bus?
Mr EMERSON: Wrong person to ask. When was the last time the Leader of the Opposition
caught a bus I wonder?
Can I say that it is not just that Cam Crowther—that innocent bystander who casually
appeared—is the president of the Annerley branch of the ALP, I have obtained the Labor Party’s
Annerley Branch Gazette. Who do we have on the back here? A photo of the opposition transport
spokesman and that innocent bystander, Cam Crowther, who also appears to be the Labor
spokesperson for Yeerongpilly. What happened to Simon Finn? They have flicked him already.
We are working to improve our bus services. We are working to improve our network. I was
wrong before, Labor had two policies: one was increasing fares every year by 15 per cent year after
year, after year, after year; and a second policy was dishonesty and misleading the public.
Madam SPEAKER: I call the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines and advise the minister
that ministerial statements will finish at 10.23.
Western Queensland River Systems
Hon. AP CRIPPS (Hinchinbrook—LNP) (Minister for Natural Resources and Mines)
(10.20 am): The Newman government does plan to implement a balanced approach to the
management of Western Queensland river systems that will preserve the environmental values of this
unique part of Queensland while providing jobs and economic growth in local communities. The LNP
went to the last state election with a clearly communicated view that Labor’s wild rivers legislation was
flawed. The legislation and associated declarations were another example of the dodgy preference
deals done between the Greens and the previous Labor government. It locked Western Queensland
communities into an economic straightjacket shutting out any real consideration of alternative or
diversified industries that could provide jobs for locals and prosperity for local communities.
The Newman government simply wants to offer Western Queenslanders the same
opportunities for economic development that are on offer to Queenslanders in other parts of the state.
In November 2012 I announced the formation of the Western Rivers Advisory Panel to make
recommendations to the Queensland government on a new approach to the future management of