weekly hansard - Queensland Parliament - Queensland Government

More documents

Recommendations

Info

23 Aug 2005 Questions Without Notice 2557 Newman: keep up the fight because, frankly, you will continue to be supported by the people of this city while you are. The lord mayor is seeking $400 million over 15 years to fund his tunnel network. To his credit, he also says that federal funding is needed for the Gold Coast, the Pacific Motorway, Logan and the Bruce Highway north of Caboolture. What can we say other than, ‘Hear, hear! We agree with the lord mayor’? Queenslanders have voted for 14 federal Liberal MPs in the south-east of Queensland. People would expect them to back the lord mayor. Not once have they done so. What about these four Liberal senators who sit around in Brisbane, taking money under false pretences? All they do is back Canberra. Never once have they backed they lord mayor. When they met last week at Liberal headquarters, did the senators pat the lord mayor on the back? They did not pat the lord mayor on the back; they stabbed him in the back. They stabbed the lord mayor in the back because he is out there trying to get some money for a road project. In 2005-06 alone, the Queensland government is spending $2.83 billion on transport and main roads including $760 million for rail infrastructure and $538 million for ports. We are committed to the $55 billion 20-year South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan. The Commonwealth government has cut real spending on infrastructure in half over the past 10 years. We are the ones, at a state level, who are trying to build roads and who are trying to do things about buses, public transport and the railway. Who do we have supporting us? The only person who is giving us any sort of support is the Liberal lord mayor. Who is trying to knife him in the back? It is the Liberal Party. What a sordid group of people! When it came time for the preselection for the ward vacated by Mr Caltabiano, what did they do? The lord mayor nominated his candidate. What happened? Senator Santoro and Mr Caltabiano then stabbed the lord mayor in the back and he did not even get the candidate he was promised. I am starting to feel sorry for the Liberal lord mayor, I have to tell members. All I can say to Campbell is: keep on fighting, Campbell, because in the end you will find that the Liberal Party has no backbone. Health System Mr COPELAND: My question is to the Minister for Health. Visiting medical officers at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and at the Nambour and Gold Coast hospitals have rejected the government’s proposed enterprise deal and intend to resign, and there is every likelihood that the VMOs at Princess Alexandra, the Prince Charles and the Mater public hospitals will resign also. Given that the visiting medical officers perform more than 70 per cent of the surgical procedures and are responsible for more than 70 per cent of the training conducted in the public health system, when will the minister stand up for these doctors and force the Treasurer to recognise that more patients will die when the public health system collapses? When will the minister force Treasury to recognise that public hospitals will lose their accreditation as tertiary training facilities if they lose the services of VMOs? Mr ROBERTSON: The opposition spokesperson makes a relevant point, that is, that with respect to the current campaign by VMOs and their representative, who sits on the AMA, at the end of the day, with respect to waiting lists—and the AMA have been quite outspoken about the issue of waiting lists, I have noted, in the state—not one extra patient will go through our hospital systems if the resignations that have been collected so far by the VMOs’ representative are tendered to Queensland Health. How will that be of benefit to the waiting lists? How will that benefit Queenslanders who are wanting operations done through our public health system? To put it simply, it will not. I have made it clear now on a number of occasions that last Friday week I met with the VMOs’ representative, Dr Cartmill. He laid down a number of demands. He was quite stringent about them. He said, ‘This is make or break time.’ He laid out A, B, C, D and on each of those points I reached agreement with him; on each and every point I reached agreement with him. He went away from that meeting having received everything that he asked for. It is a strange set of negotiations, I think, when one actually sits down with a representative of a group of employees and agreement is reached on everything that they put forward—and No. 1 was, ‘Minister, I demand that you get rid of that directive.’ I said, ‘Yep,’ got in touch with Minister Barton, got in touch with the Premier and said, ‘We have to get rid of the directive. Let us put in place an interim industrial agreement,’ which was agreed to by Dr Cartmill. Yet these are the very points that Dr Cartmill says are unacceptable to VMOs. I am confused. I am confused when a representative comes to me and makes a series of demands and I agree with them and he then goes away and holds meetings and says that what we have agreed on is unacceptable. How can you possibly do business like that? It is about time that there was some responsibility taken here. It is about time that there was a bit of trust and honesty here. Because what I have also noted is that on each and every occasion that the VMOs have met, the story seems to change. Last night on the Gold Coast money was not the issue; last week at the other hospitals it was because they are not being paid enough. There has to be a consistent message here. The Premier and I will be meeting with the VMOs this week because it is time that we put this campaign to rest.
2558 Questions Without Notice 23 Aug 2005 I want the record to show that last Friday week when the VMOs’ representative came to see me I agreed with him on each and every point that was put on the table and reached agreement with him and I expected that agreement to be reflected in the meetings that occurred with VMOs. It is about time Dr Cartmill accepted some responsibility for his negotiations and meetings with me and with Queensland Health. That is how you establish trust, that is how you establish good, sound relations into the future and that is what I am committed to. Triple Organ Transplant Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: My question is also directed to the Minister for Health. The opposition continues to refer to Queensland’s health system as being of a Third World standard. In contrast, my constituents—indeed all Queenslanders—are proud of the achievements of the Prince Charles Hospital, which treats patients from all over Queensland suffering from serious heart and lung diseases. Can the minister inform the House of any recent milestone in the achievements of this world-standard cardiothoracic hospital? Mr ROBERTSON: Can I thank the honourable member for the question and the quite insightful reflection on what the opposition has been saying over the last number of months. Yesterday at the Prince Charles Hospital I was delighted to meet Lucinda Winnem, Australia’s first ever female recipient of a triple organ transplant—that is, heart, lung and liver. The 12-hour operation was done by a combined surgical team from the Prince Charles Hospital and the Princess Alexandra Hospital. It was a tremendous outcome for Lucinda and her family and I wish her good health and best wishes for the future, particularly with her forthcoming marriage to her fiance, Damon. Her surgery showcases the exceptional skills and dedication of our nurses and doctors in our public hospital system. It is another example of Queensland’s public hospital system working at its absolute very best. It is also another medical first for Queensland. The surgical technique used to perform the triple organ transplant was developed by Dr John Dunning, the Prince Charles Hospital’s leading heart and lung surgeon, who had overall responsibility for the operation. Queensland Health’s surgeons also performed Australia’s first ever triple organ transplant in 2003. Mr Terry Sullivan: Young Jason Grey. Mr ROBERTSON: I take that interjection. These operations also identify the importance of organ donation and donors throughout Australia. Without this special gift from donors, transplants such as Lucinda’s would not have been possible. Currently there are some 1,600 Australians, including 50 children, waiting for life-saving organ transplants. I encourage more people to think about becoming an organ donor and making a difference to someone else’s life. Once a decision has been made to become an organ donor a person should let their family know. Certainly people interested in becoming an organ donor should contact the Australian Organ Donor Register on 1800 777 203 or pick up a brochure at a Medicare office. What this operation demonstrates is the world-class skills that are inherent in our public hospital system here in Queensland. If we are to have a debate about our health system it is about time we had a balanced debate. Sure we have problems, and they must and will be addressed, but at the same time we should celebrate excellence, we should celebrate commitment and we should celebrate the dedication of the 65,000 people who make up Queensland Health. Unlike the opposition, we are going to be around to rebuild the system. We have to rebuild it with each and every one of those 65,000 people. That is why we should be celebrating achievement, that is why we should be celebrating skills, that is why we should be celebrating dedication and that is why we should be celebrating outcomes like we see at the Prince Charles Hospital with Lucinda Winnem. Health Portfolio Dr FLEGG: My question without notice is directed to the Premier. The Premier has told Queenslanders that fixing the health system is his priority and that he has learnt the lessons from the tragedies that Queenslanders have seen. The Liberal Party called on the Premier to show that health was his priority by taking the Health portfolio. Given that the Premier did not take the Health portfolio but was quite happy to take on the Treasury portfolio, how can Queenslanders believe his assertion that health is his priority? Mr BEATTIE: I thank the honourable member for his question. As we all know, there are many aspects to improving the health system in Queensland. One of them does relate directly to the allocation of funds. I advised my cabinet colleagues yesterday that the Cabinet Budget Review Committee—which includes the Minister for Health, of course, the Deputy Premier and the Minister for Transport—will allocate next year’s surplus towards funding health. As Treasurer I think that I can make a very significant contribution to ensuring that health is funded and that the recommendations that will come from Peter Forster—and Peter Forster’s report is on time—and the recommendations from part 1 of the Morris report, which again will be in by 30 September, can be appropriately funded and implemented. I think that strategically the Premier of the
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 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: 2556 Questions Without Notice 23 Au
Page 33 and 34: 2564 Members’ Ethics and Parliame
Page 35 and 36: 2566 Matters of Public Interest 23
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 69 and 70: 2600 Racing Venues Development Amen
Page 77 and 78:
2608 Racing Venues Development Amen
Page 79 and 80:
2610 Racing Venues Development Amen
Page 81 and 82:
2612 Plumbing and Drainage and Othe
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
2630 Child Safety Legislation Amend
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
2642 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 One pa
Page 113 and 114:
2644 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 years.
Page 115:
2646 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 Finall
show all

weekly hansard - Queensland Parliament - Queensland Government

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?