weekly hansard - Queensland Parliament - Queensland Government

More documents

Recommendations

Info

23 Aug 2005 Adjournment 2645 Police Community Forum, Currumbin Electorate Mrs STUCKEY (Currumbin—Lib) (9.52 pm): Over 100 people attended a police community forum held on Thursday, 14 July at the Currumbin RSL. In addition, residents circulated a petition calling for an increased police presence in the Currumbin, Elanora and Palm Beach area. This forum came about as a result of general public disquiet over an increase in antisocial behaviour, particularly by local youth. In recent months there had been a marked increase in complaints from the general public about vandalism, hooning, graffiti and youth street parties. Tragically, two young high school students from the Currumbin electorate lost their lives when a car in which they were passengers crashed. Mindful of the needless loss of these lives, prior to the forum my office generated a 14-part questionnaire entitled ‘How to Improve the Safety of Young Drivers’ which was circulated to year 12 students at Palm Beach, Currumbin and Elanora state high schools. As it is our youth’s behaviour that is the cause of much angst in the community, I felt it was critical to involve them in the decision-making process, particularly with regard to driving practices. This survey was seeking youth input as to how to improve current licence requirements to ensure safer practices amongst young drivers. Some 122 year 12 students from these high schools took the time to fill in the questionnaires. Around half of the questions resulted in students giving fairly equal yes and no responses. However, there were topics where students were almost unanimous in their replies. A large contingent of police officers headed by Acting Superintendent Brett Pointing made themselves available for questions and the sharing of information relating to police activities in the Currumbin electorate. Jason McCoomb, the officer at the new Elanora Police Beat, outlined his role. I seek leave to table a non-conforming petition with 100 signatures. Leave granted. Mrs STUCKEY: I also seek leave to table my report on this combined police and community exercise. Leave granted. Mrs STUCKEY: Some of the suggestions from the forum included the possibility of school based police officers at our two high schools; better advertising of the Party Safe program and police register; continuation of the police beat officer lectures to youth about drugs, drink-driving and alcohol; increase our Neighbourhood Watch groups; reform the community consultative committee; more frequent and targeted police patrols; provide venues for youth to participate in events; review the legislation regarding parent accountability; an increase in police resources; and the need to improve police response. This forum and youth survey were a much-needed first step towards gathering information and ideas and setting in place the foundations for a positive working relationship with our police. I am keen to continue this process and am committed to working with the police and engaging as many interested individuals as possible to make Currumbin a happier and safer place to live. My sincere thanks are extended to anyone who contributed with input and assistance. Seniors Week, Aspley Electorate Ms BARRY (Aspley—ALP) (9.55 pm): I rise to acknowledge that we are in the middle of Seniors Week celebrations and to highlight in particular the contribution that seniors in the Aspley electorate make to my local community. Seniors are very active throughout the Aspley electorate in work, community and family endeavours. As I have often told the House before, the Aspley electorate has one of the largest retirement village populations in the state, and that is not surprising because Aspley is a lovely place to live and seniors are attracted to the convenience, safety and accessibility of the area. It would not surprise honourable members to know that Aspley seniors have been very busy this week. With the assistance of the Department of Communities, a number of groups in my electorate have been celebrating this year’s seniors theme—‘Ageing: Everybody’s Doing It’. As a strong supporter of seniors, I have been pleased to attend a number of events during Seniors Week. I was the Acting Speaker in the parliament for the Older People Speak Out group mock parliamentary debate that was held here where a team of under 25s and under 65s joined forces to argue the rights of both groups to be heard in our society. As one of the few people present at the debate who were described as the ‘mediocre middle aged’ in the group, I confess to being a little bit intimidated by the wonderful partnership of youth and seniors who debated on that day, and indeed under 25s and over 65s will be heard such is their talent and commitment to do so. I also attended the Aspley Memorial Bowls opening day of its Seniors Week celebratory carnival. Again, I was outpaced by both the youth and the seniors and was absolutely intimidated by the bowling skills of my eight-year-old niece, who made my bowling look quite shabby indeed. The event was sponsored by the Department of Communities, North Lakes Retirement Resort and the Commonwealth Bank and was a great success, and I commend the club for its efforts during this week. I have also recently been advised that Aspley Classes for Seniors has won a Department of Employment and Training Adult Learners Award for Seniors Week. It is a worthy organisation that provides a raft of education classes for the enthusiastic senior students of my electorate.
2646 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 Finally, I was a guest speaker at the Older Women’s Network celebrations of 100 years of the women’s vote and look forward to working closely with this group. It indeed engaged me in a very lively discussion across a raft of issues. So this week to date I have enjoyed a vast array of Seniors Week events and declare that to date the week has been great. I want to congratulate the minister and the Department of Communities on their support for groups locally and all across Queensland. I know that Seniors Week will go from strength to strength. Asbestos Mr MESSENGER (Burnett—NPA) (9.58 pm): Asbestos is the silent killer and the number of people diagnosed with asbestos related diseases will not peak until the year 2020. By then, there will be 13,000 cases of mesothelioma and up to 40,000 cases of asbestos related lung cancer—that is, 53,000 cases of incurable cancer caused by asbestos over the next 20 years. Once again on the media tonight we saw an asbestos expert remind this Labor government that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. I repeat that again: there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. All it takes is one fibre. This was rammed home to me graphically about six months ago when I was invited around to a whistleblower’s house. I call that person an asbestos whistleblower. This person sat me down at his kitchen table and showed me examples of asbestos that he discovered in different buildings around Queensland, buildings including schools. The examples ranged in size from simple crayons to mineral sample kits in which there was raw asbestos. There were tiles where the insulation was 100 per cent asbestos right through to insulation and matting that we often find in school science laboratories. The one picture that he showed me that had a dramatic impact on me was an electron microscope picture of a piece of asbestos. It was compared against the human hair. The human hair looked about as thick as my middle finger. Juxtaposed beside it was an asbestos fibre. This fibre was, in fact, the size of a human hair. So he showed me graphically the difference between the human hair and the asbestos fibre. He said that once an asbestos fibre is released at ceiling height in a room, under normal conditions it will take 24 hours to float down to the ground—plenty of time for that asbestos fibre to be inhaled by schoolchildren. I visited Wavell Heights State School. I know that there is an asbestos replacement program going on at that school, but I have been told that the asbestos around the soffit, or the overhang of the school, is not being replaced. The roof is being replaced, but basically they are doing half a job. They are missing the asbestos on the soffit—the overhang—and also in some insulation in the roof. So we have to see a real commitment on behalf of the education minister— Time expired. King, Ms S; Watts, Ms A Hon. NI CUNNINGHAM (Bundaberg—ALP) (10.01 pm): I would like to place on record in this parliament the outstanding achievements of two very special Bundaberg students. Sara King is now in year 12 at Shalom College in Bundaberg. Sara, who is disabled, wrote her story, titled Lesson of a Lifetime. It covers her years at school and was recently featured at the launch in Brisbane of Catholic Education Week in Queensland. Sara spoke of being made to feel like a starlet on her first day at school because she was the first student with special needs to attend that school. She was surrounded by photographers, reporters, lots of excitement, the school community and her very proud family: mum, dad and brothers Luke and Jordan. Sara said she felt as normal as any other student, except she had her own walk, a cool wheelchair and a few extra adaptations. Sara described her school life as a journey full of memories, experiences and life’s lessons—an emotional roller-coaster filled with laughter, tears, heartache, love, pain, hope, disappointments, anger, frustration, joy, ambition and faith. Sara is an inspiration to other students and to disabled people of all ages and she is a credit to her parents. The second student, Alison Watts, was last night recognised in the Smart Women—Smart State awards here at Parliament House. Alison, a student of Kepnock State High School in Bundaberg, was awarded the Secondary School Student’s Award, placing her among the state’s smartest women achievers in science, engineering and information and communication technology—all pursuing interests in non-traditional roles. Alison was recognised for her work in leading the team that has developed an electronic borrowing system for a toy library in Bundaberg. As one of only two girls in an information technology studies class of 20, Alison may be outnumbered but she is not outsmarted. She is a high achiever, using her technical ability to make a real difference in our community at such a very young age. Congratulations are due to Sara and Alison, both outstanding students. Proudly, they are both from Bundaberg. Motion agreed to. The House adjourned at 10.03 pm.
Page 1 and 2:
PROOF ISSN 1322-0330 WEEKLY HANSARD
Page 3 and 4:
Table of Contents — Tuesday, 23 A
Page 5 and 6:
2536 Papers 23 Aug 2005 PAPERS PAPE
Page 7 and 8:
2538 Ministerial Statement 23 Aug 2
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
2550 Scrutiny of Legislation Commit
Page 21 and 22:
2552 Private Members’ Statements
Page 23 and 24:
2554 Questions Without Notice 23 Au
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
2564 Members’ Ethics and Parliame
Page 35 and 36:
2566 Matters of Public Interest 23
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
2576 Constitutional and Other Legis
Page 47 and 48:
2578 Transport Legislation Amendmen
Page 49 and 50:
2580 Transport Legislation Amendmen
Page 51 and 52:
2582 Housing Legislation Amendment
Page 53 and 54:
2584 Education (Queensland College
Page 55 and 56:
2586 Succession Amendment Bill 23 A
Page 57 and 58:
2588 Succession Amendment Bill 23 A
Page 59 and 60:
2590 Queensland Competition Authori
Page 61 and 62:
2592 Queensland Competition Authori
Page 63 and 64: 2594 Queensland Competition Authori
Page 69 and 70: 2600 Racing Venues Development Amen
Page 81 and 82: 2612 Plumbing and Drainage and Othe
Page 99 and 100: 2630 Child Safety Legislation Amend
Page 111 and 112: 2642 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 One pa
Page 113: 2644 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 years.
show all

weekly hansard - Queensland Parliament - Queensland Government

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

Delete template?

Save as template?