PROOF ISSN 1322-0330

WEEKLY HANSARD Hansard Home Page: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/hansard/ E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (07) 3406 7314 Fax: (07) 3210 0182

51ST PARLIAMENT

Subject CONTENTS Page Thursday, 24 February 2005

IDENTIFICATION OF CHILDREN ...... 219 PETITIONS ...... 219 PAPER ...... 219 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 219 World Exposition 2005 ...... 219 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 220 Tourism; World Exposition 2005 ...... 220 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 220 Regional Sittings of Parliament, Rockhampton ...... 220 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 221 Reef Water Quality Protection Plan ...... 221 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 221 Community Cabinet, Charleville ...... 221 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 222 Australia Week ...... 222 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 223 Beijing Olympic Games ...... 223 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 223 Sakhalin Island, Russia ...... 223 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 224 Water Supply ...... 224 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 224 Florida, Prof. R ...... 224 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 224 Indigenous Business Development Program ...... 224 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 225 Brisbane CBD, Public Safety ...... 225 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 225 Education ...... 225 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 226 Industrial Relations ...... 226

BY AUTHORITY L.J. OSMOND, CHIEF HANSARD REPORTER—2004 Table of Contents — Thursday, 24 February 2005

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 227 Brisbane Airport ...... 227 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 227 Smoking ...... 227 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 228 SmartNet ...... 228 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 228 Task Force Argos ...... 228 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 229 Brisbane Urban Corridor Toll Removal Trial ...... 229 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 229 Forestry Industry ...... 229 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 230 Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect System ...... 230 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 230 Somerville Report; Electricity Industry Code ...... 230 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 231 Ambulance Service, Response Times ...... 231 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 232 Indigenous Portal ...... 232 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 232 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 232 REMOVAL OF RECORDS OF THE HOUSE ...... 233 PARLIAMENTARY CRIME AND MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE ...... 234 Register of Reports ...... 234 PRIVATE MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS ...... 234 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 234 Howard Government, Industrial Relations ...... 234 Moggill State School, Asbestos ...... 235 Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week ...... 235 PRIVILEGE ...... 236 Moggill State School, Asbestos ...... 236 PRIVATE MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS ...... 236 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...... 236 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 236 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 237 Daylight Saving ...... 238 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 238 Ethanol ...... 239 Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy; CMC Investigation ...... 240 Prep Year ...... 241 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 241 DISTINGUISHED VISITOR ...... 242 PRIVILEGE ...... 242 Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier ...... 242 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...... 242 Newborn Babies, Hearing Tests ...... 242 Magistrate’s Secretary, Comments ...... 243 Toowoomba, Second Range Crossing ...... 243 Citrus Canker ...... 244 Australian Water Fund ...... 245 Child Protection ...... 245 Tourism Industry ...... 246 Alcohol Restrictions, North Queensland ...... 246 Get Set for Work Program ...... 247 SUMMARY OFFENCES BILL ...... 247 Second Reading ...... 247 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 260 Australian Water Fund ...... 260 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 261 Palm Island PCYC ...... 261 SUMMARY OFFENCES BILL ...... 261 Second Reading ...... 261 Consideration in Detail ...... 267 Third Reading ...... 268 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ...... 268 Travelling Dental Teams ...... 268 ORDER OF BUSINESS ...... 268 CENTENARY OF WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE ...... 269 Table of Contents — Thursday, 24 February 2005

ADJOURNMENT ...... 289 Gatton-Glenore Grove Rifle Club ...... 290 Drive for Life Sri Lankan Tsunami Youth Appeal ...... 290 Benowa State High School ...... 291 Police Beats, Kallangur Electorate ...... 291 Citrus Canker ...... 292 Indooroopilly Golf Club Redevelopment; Westpac ATM, Sherwood ...... 292 Maryborough District Hospital ...... 293 Noosa Electorate ...... 293 Noncomplying Petition; School Speed Zones ...... 294 Whitsunday Electorate, Marine Industry ...... 294 SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT ...... 295 ADJOURNMENT ...... 295 24 Feb 2005 Legislative Assembly 219 THURSDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2005

Legislative Assembly Mr SPEAKER (Hon. RK Hollis, Redcliffe) read prayers and took the chair at 9.30 am.

IDENTIFICATION OF CHILDREN Mr SPEAKER: Honourable members, standing orders prohibit tabling documents or asking questions that may identify children, subject to the Child Protection Act 1999 or the Juvenile Justice Act 1992. I encourage members to consider carefully the terms of standing orders 35 and 117. While it is not specifically detailed in standing orders, I hold that the principle in these two standing orders also applies to members' speeches in the House. I note that it is easy to inadvertently identify a child, as identification can happen not only by naming them but also by providing enough information of their circumstances to lead to their easily being identified. Yesterday during the debate on the Summary Offences Bill a member in a speech inadvertently provided enough information to identify a child. I advise the House that, under my authority and with the member's consent, Hansard was altered slightly to remove the offending reference. With debate on the bill set to continue today, I believe it is timely to remind members of their obligations to ensure they do not identify children, subject to the Child Protection Act 1999 or the Juvenile Justice Act 1992, in proceedings in the House.

PETITIONS

The following honourable members have lodged paper petitions for presentation—

Conservation Park Corridors Mr Wellington from 1,591 petitioners requesting the House to make provision in the proposed new tenure for Forest Reserves to have the existing fire trails and degraded tracks set aside as Conservation Park Corridors.

Asbestos Removal, Moggill State School Dr Flegg from 198 petitioners requesting the House to immediately remove all asbestos material from Moggill State School and provide sufficient insulation to ensure comfortable learning conditions for children and that Education Queensland not simply encapsulate the asbestos material.

Robert’s Turf Supplies Mr Wellington from 149 petitioners requesting the House to commit to zoning Lot 3, RP57951, Parish Mooloolah, operated as Robert's Turf Supplies as a regional landscape and rural production area under the SEQ Regional Plan and to instruct the Maroochy Shire Council to return the land to the abovementioned purpose.

Remick Street Bushland, McDowall Dr Flegg from 535 petitioners requesting the House to save the Remick Street bushland, in McDowall, by transferring it to the Brisbane City Council for management in the conservation estate.

PAPER

EXEMPT STATUTORY INSTRUMENT The following exempt statutory instrument was tabled by The Clerk— University of the Sunshine Coast Act 1998— University of the Sunshine Coast (Statute No. 1) Amendment Statute (No. 1) 2004

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

World Exposition 2005 Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.34 am): Queensland is gearing up for one of the biggest events of the world: World Exposition 2005 in Aichi, Japan. The government has invested $1.5 million in the Australian pavilion. I am delighted that a number of Queenslanders will be adding value to that investment by working in the pavilion. Twenty- four per cent of the Australian staff—that is 12 out of 50—are Queenslanders. With just over a month remaining before the expo begins on 25 March, they were last week in Canberra for training and a reception hosted by the federal government. I thank the Minister for State Development and Innovation, Tony McGrady, for attending the reception on my behalf. Three thousand Australians applied to work in 220 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005 the pavilion as attendants and interpreters or in VIP and guest relations, clerical, food and beverage, and retailing positions. Most of those selected are fluent in Japanese. The disproportionately large team of Queenslanders is something for all of us to be very proud of. It reflects our education system's emphasis on languages, our strong ties with Asia, our recognition of the importance of tourism and trade, and Queenslanders' general enthusiasm for engaging with the world. Queensland is a lead sponsor of the Australian pavilion, which more than 3.5 million people are expected to visit during the six months of the expo. I want to congratulate a number of Queenslanders. I seek leave to have their names incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. Mr David Brotchie of Brisbane, Ms Ashleigh Burns of Toowoomba, Ms Nerida Cowie of Brisbane, Ms Amanda Lawrence of Brisbane, Mr Peter Loxton of Brisbane, Ms Leisa MacLellan of Brisbane, Ms Fiona MacLeod-Green of Brisbane, Ms Laura Oyaizu of Brisbane, Ms Sharron Short of Brisbane, Ms Ailie Suzuki, of Brisbane, Ms Leah Sourris of Brisbane and Mr Dean Dowey of Cairns.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Tourism; World Exposition 2005 Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.35 am): Visitors to World Exposition 2005 in Japan will learn that Queensland is the best place for a fair dinkum Aussie experience. One of our strategic aims during the expo will be to strengthen our position as a tourism destination focusing on our natural and cultural assets. Japan remains Queensland's main source of international visitors, with 461,605 Japanese coming here in the year to September 2004. The Japanese are coming back, after a three-year slump in visitation, and they are staying here longer. We will encourage this rekindling of the Japanese love affair with Queensland by promoting our state as a natural place renowned for wellness and healing, unique animals, World Heritage listed areas, resorts, healthy food, wine and stargazing. We had that wonderful experience at the Cosmos Centre in Charleville. We saw Saturn with rings we had never seen before. We have joined Qantas, Tourism Australia and other states and territories in a consortium to give the Australian tourism industry an effective and affordable presence at the expo. Queensland's profile will peak in the Australian pavilion during Queensland Week, which runs from 11 to 17 April. While the whole of Queensland will be on show, Cairns and the far north will be the focus of a Queensland Week competition. Pavilion visitors will have a chance to win a return trip from Nagoya to Cairns for two adults and two children with five nights accommodation in Cairns and sightseeing trips including a visit to the Great Barrier Reef. I will spend two days in Aichi on 11 and 12 April. It will be my seventh visit to Japan as Premier. I inspected the pavilion site on my last trade and investment mission to Japan last September. My engagements in April will include hosting a dinner in conjunction with Tourism Queensland for Japanese tourism companies. Tourism Queensland has taken out a one-page advertisement in the lead-in position in the official tourism publication at the expo—Experience Australia—with additional pages of editorial. I table a copy of all of this material. Queensland has the strongest presence in this publication. No-one will miss the invitation to visit us.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Regional Sittings of Parliament, Rockhampton Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.37 am): My government will engage the community. I said when I became Premier that my government would listen to all Queenslanders and take Queensland’s democratic processes to them. I am pleased to update members about another milestone in that process. Parliament will be sitting in central Queensland from 4 to 6 October 2005 at the Pilbeam Theatre in Rockhampton. Planning is under way. All members should be prepared for another regional success. I seek leave to have the details incorporated in Hansard. Mr Schwarten: Looking forward to it. Mr BEATTIE: Indeed. Leave granted. In the 1890s the Central Queensland Territorial Separation League was formed because the citizens of the region felt divorced from the Parliament in Brisbane. So confident were they of success they even had a Governor’s residence built in Rockhampton. That magnificent building is now the key building for the Sisters of Mercy’s Mater Hospital. 24 Feb 2005 Ministerial Statement 221

In 2005 we are taking the Parliament to Central Queensland and the City of Rockhampton; it is fitting that a city that has been pivotal to the development of the region and indeed of the State—will host the historic sitting. This sitting will allow residents from areas such as Winton, Longreach, Biloela, Emerald, Gladstone, Yeppoon and Mackay to attend the sitting. This is the second regional sitting of Parliament, following on from the highly successful sitting in North Queensland at Townsville in September 2002. With Queensland the most decentralised state in Australia, and also the second biggest geographically it is crucial that we continue to find new ways to involve all Queenslanders in our decision making. We have already opened up access to the Parliament and its processes through providing Queenslanders with access via the Queensland Parliament’s web site. This initiative is helping to involve all Queenslanders in the Parliamentary process. Holding a Parliamentary sitting in a regional location on a regular basis will strengthen that involvement Mr Speaker, you have welcomed the second regional sitting of Parliament and I trust all Members recognise the benefits of bringing Parliament to Rockhampton and Central Queensland. I thank the Members for their continued support of this initiative, and look forward to joining with you in Rockhampton in October.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.38 am): The first annual report of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan shows promising advances in the protection of one of Australia's most precious natural assets. The reef plan, released in December 2003, is a joint initiative of the Queensland and Commonwealth governments. I seek leave to have details incorporated in Hansard. I also table a copy of the annual report. Leave granted. Its aim is ambitious but absolutely crucial: to halt and reverse the decline in the quality of water entering the Reef within ten years. To achieve this we must reduce land-sourced pollution of the Reef, and rehabilitate and conserve wetlands, riparian zones and floodplain areas. The first annual report highlights a number of Smart State initiatives directly contributing to the plan’s objectives. One initiative is our legislation to end broadscale remnant tree clearing by the end of 2006. The $150 million assistance package for landholders includes $12 million for incentives to conserve high-value vegetation and $8 million to promote best management practices. $5 million has been provided from the Smart State building fund to expand water monitoring capacity across Queensland. This meets the Reef Plan commitment to enhance water quality monitoring capacity in reef catchments. The Queensland Government has also been working closely with agricultural industries to develop a Farm Management Systems approach, promoting sustainable land management and best management practices in reef catchments. Between July 2003 and June 2004, Queensland’s Nature Refuge Program added 23 nature refuges protecting almost 84,000 hectares of land in the Reef catchment. The Queensland Government is providing in-kind support for the Queensland Wetlands Programme to match the Australian Government’s funding commitment of $7.5 million over five years. This programme is designed to ensure the conservation and appropriate management of Queensland’s wetlands with particular priority for wetlands in reef catchments. Responsibility for implementing the Reef Plan is shared by all levels of government, industry groups, regional bodies, landholders and communities. I commend the efforts of all who have contributed to the Reef Plan. While significant progress has been made, we need to continue the good work, to ensure the Great Barrier Reef is protected for future generations. A copy of the Annual Report will be available at http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Community Cabinet, Charleville Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.38 am): The government's 80th community cabinet meeting, held in Charleville 10 days ago, was amongst our best. I seek leave to have a report on that incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. I want to thank Mayor Cr Mark O’Brien and Windorah Mayor Bruce Scot and their respective communities for the warm and friendly welcome we received while there. The gathering was also a time for us to again meet with and listen to the people from the bush. Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson and I also attended the AgForce Forum. 222 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

At that Forum I—on behalf of the government—offered a partnership with AgForce to develop a blueprint for the bush. I am grateful for the way that Ag Force president Peter Kenny has responded so positively and we look forward to working with him and his group in developing a program to make life better for those outside the south-east corner. In short—I congratulate Peter Kenny and Agforce for what they are doing. I was approached last year by Larry Acton and I told him I would give serious consideration to his ‘Task Force’ proposal. I’ve done that and I’m prepared to offer to Peter Kenny and Agforce a partnership. I will offer the Minister for Communities Warren Pitt to lead the Government’s effort. The Minister would be supported by members of a backbench Committee—the Regional Queensland Council. Already the Council consists of backbenchers championing regions—but now I’m also asking them, especially those with a closer link to the bush, to get even more involved through this new partnership. As well I will establish a Committee of Chief Executive Officers from the key government departments to specifically work with the Minister and Agforce to turn the ideas and views received from the bush into practical programs and actions. It will include CEOs from the Departments of the Premier and Cabinet, DPI, NRM, Health, Education, Transport, State Development and it will be chaired by the Department of Communities CEO. A rejuvenated Office of Rural and Regional Communities within Minister Pitt’s portfolio will play a key role in liaising with individual communities to ascertain their views on the blue print and to support the Minister and his backbench committee in their work. Already our Regional Community Forums have been expanded to Western Qld and we will conduct at least 3 forums in western Qld over the next 12 months. These meetings will be dedicated to the identification of problems and issues which need to be confronted by the blue print, and will work in partnership with communities to suggest solutions to be fed into the work of CEOs. Regional Offices of the Department of Communities will have an officer whose responsibilities will include facilitating on-going contact with individuals and community organisations in rural centres to channel ideas and proposals into the work of the CEOs. The Government will fund a full time officer in Agforce for a 12 month period to work in partnership with the Government in developing the blueprint. It is a bit like a bullock team. It is about harnessing the resources and having everyone work as one to achieve great things. If we work individually we can make some progress—but if we work in partnership and as a team we will forge mighty gains where all will benefit.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Australia Week Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.38 am): Last month Her Excellency the Governor represented Queensland at Australia Week 2005 in Los Angeles. I thank Her Excellency, who attended a raft of events all aimed at promoting Queensland. A government member interjected. Mr BEATTIE: She did do an outstanding job. The Smart State never eschews an opportunity to promote trade. In the opening days of the free trade agreement with the United States, this was a significant event. I have received tremendous feedback about the Governor’s involvement in Australia Week and I am confident that her endeavours have further enhanced our already excellent relations with the USA. I thank Her Excellency for her support. I seek leave to have more details incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. Australia Week (which occurred for the first time in Los Angeles in 2004) is an initiative of John Olsen, Australian Consul-General to Los Angeles. Queensland industries promoted last month included tourism, film, fashion, biotechnology, food and beverages, Indigenous art and education. Queensland had the strongest contingent of any Australian State at the Travel Expo. Our state was represented by hotels, resorts and tourist attractions including Hayman Island, Hamilton Island, Kingfisher Bay Resort, Voyages Hotels and Resorts, Outrigger Resorts and Australia Zoo. Queensland also received extensive media coverage. Our profile was elevated by Her Excellency and by personalities including crocodile man Steve Irwin, golfer Greg Norman, country musician Keith Urban, and fashion designer, Bora (who, for the uninitiated, was official designer for Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Universe 2004). Bora's gowns were snapped up by celebrity stylists, and drew interest from a number of fashion industry representatives. Bob Gibbs, Queensland Trade and Investment Commissioner for the Americas, hosted the Queensland North America Biotechnology Advisory Council meeting, which included strategic review sessions for Queensland biotech companies in the USA. John Holaday, a member of the Queensland Biotechnology Advisory Council, moderated the biotechnology session at the Australian Trade and Investment Seminar. Several USA venture capital investors who attended the seminar were impressed by our biotechnology innovation and expressed a desire to explore fund opportunities with Queensland venture capital firms. Products such as Bundaberg ginger beer, Queensland grain-fed beef and Queensland tuna were on the menu throughout the week. 24 Feb 2005 Ministerial Statement 223

A Queensland artist, Judy Watson, was represented at an exhibition of Indigenous art held during the build-up to Australia Week, and the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Calendar 2005 was packed into VIP gift bags for a celebrity golf day. Queensland Government participation in Australia Week was coordinated by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Government agencies active at Australia Week 2005 included Tourism Queensland, the Pacific Film and Television Commission and the Queensland Government Trade and Investment Office (the Americas).

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Beijing Olympic Games

Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.39 am): The government continues to recognise the potential opportunities the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games provide for Queensland companies. The Hon. Tom Burns, Chairman of the Queensland China Council, led a trade mission involving eight Queensland companies to Stadia China in Beijing last month. This exhibition attracted 87 exhibitors from 11 countries and about 5,000 visitors looking for innovative products and services related to the design, construction and management of sports facilities. It was a showcase for Queensland expertise and high-profile sports events. The headline success story was an agreement by Brisbane based international venue management company Ogden IFC to provide design and operational advice for the 80,000-seat national stadium that will be the Olympic centrepiece. Ogden IFC joined my trade and investment mission in China in July 2004 when meetings were scheduled with Olympic officials. All companies on this mission identified potential business opportunities and are now involved in negotiations with prospective partners. Queensland company HOK Sport+Venue+Event had earlier success and has had strategic input into a number of Beijing Olympic related products. HOK Sport also designed the Nanjing Sports Park, which will host the 2005 China National Games. This government has coordinated targeted trade missions to Beijing and has hosted a number of inbound delegations related to the Olympics. We have also appointed an officer in Beijing to help ensure that the Chinese know of the Smart State's expertise and that our companies know of the opportunities in China.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Sakhalin Island, Russia

Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.41 am): Yesterday I had a meeting with the Australian Ambassador to Russia, who is here along with Austrade representatives. We had an opportunity to talk about expanding Queensland's trade into Russia, and indeed it has asked us to be part of an Australian promotion in Moscow this year which I will discuss with my director-general. The Sakhalin Island oil and gas project is part of our opportunities in Russia. It is an exciting new market for Queensland companies supplying the international mining sector. Sakhalin Island lies off the east coast of mainland Russia, immediately north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The world's biggest oil companies are expected to invest $A133 billion into projects on the island over the next 15 to 20 years. This presents vast opportunities for Queensland business. One entrepreneurial Smart State company that has cracked the market is Brisbane based Technofast Industries. The company is an innovative developer and producer of high-pressure hydraulically operated bolt-tensioning devices. I can announce that Technofast recently secured sales worth approximately $166,000 for equipment and training in Sakhalin. I congratulate that company and note that we will seek further opportunities. I seek leave to have more details incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. I congratulate Technofast, which is globally recognised for its products, particularly from the power industry, and further sales to Sakhalin are predicted. There are opportunities for more Queensland businesses to get involved in this challenging market, particularly as many of the expatriate staff on the island consider Queensland to be an ideal place to holiday. Smart State firms are world leaders in servicing remote mining exploration and infrastructure projects, and their expertise is recognised by the world's leading project contractors. The Department of the Premier and Cabinet is working with a number of organisations to ensure that more Queensland businesses are able to capture the export opportunities on Sakhalin. 224 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Water Supply Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.42 am): There is much debate about water use and the availability of water for our towns and cities. After this summer's rains, our dams vary from 24 per cent full at Lake Paluma in north Queensland to 100 per cent at Wappa Dam, Lake MacDonald, Fitzroy barrage storage and Burrum Weir No. 2. The biggest storage at Wivenhoe, with a capacity of 1,165,240 megalitres, is 67 per cent full. I table for the benefit of members a list of dams from all over Queensland showing how full they are, because I think that is important. Leave granted.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Florida, Prof. R Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.43 am): I wish to advise honourable members that Professor Richard Florida is in Queensland today. The creative industries sector is an important part of our Smart State economy. My government recognises this. I will be meeting with him and hosting a function or reception in his honour today. I seek leave to have more detail incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. Industries like film and television, entertainment software and graphic design contribute about $1 billion to the Queensland economy each year and generate direct and indirect employment for about 65,000 Queenslanders. My Government recognises that knowledge, creativity and innovation will power the development of new industries in the Smart State. I'm therefore delighted today to be hosting a function for one of the world's leading authors and thinkers on the role creative industries play in driving economic growth. Professor Richard Florida, Hirst Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, is the author of The Rise of the Creative Class. This is an internationally acclaimed book which has caught the attention of arts communities and governments around the world. Professor Florida's work on the creative economy has assisted government planning and policy development in cities and regions across the United States. Much of Professor Florida's work reflects my Government's Smart State thinking and policies. He will be sharing some of his ideas with business and arts leaders at a function in Parliament House this afternoon before addressing a public lecture at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre at 5.30pm. My Government knows that we must attract, retain and nurture talented and creative people to develop the high-tech industries of tomorrow and our Smart State policies are helping us achieve this goal. However, we are always open to new ideas and I look forward to discussing with Professor Florida how Queensland can benefit further from creative policies.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Indigenous Business Development Program Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.43 am): The government's Indigenous Business Development Program is supporting sustainable industries and job opportunities in the Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait. I seek leave to have the details incorporated in Hansard for the information of members. Leave granted. The program and its predecessor, the Cape York Indigenous Economic Development Strategy, have provided grants worth well over $5.7 million for 45 businesses since 2001. In 2001/2002, we approved grants worth $415,000; the following year that increased to more than $1.8 million. In 2003/2004, the Government approved $1.5 million in grants and in 2004/05 this will rise to more than $2 million. The range of projects includes a tourist venture, a timber business, a nursery garden venture and a prawn farm. The immediate aims of this funding are to establish or support sustainable businesses and create jobs and training opportunities. The bigger picture is: helping Indigenous Queenslanders to break free of welfare, find meaningful jobs, give up the grog, stop the violence, and build better lives for their children. The benefits are incremental, rather than radical—no reasonable person could expect overnight improvements. A few examples of funded projects include: Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation has received more than $1.8 million since 2001. 24 Feb 2005 Ministerial Statement 225

This supports Business Enterprise Hubs at Weipa and Cooktown and a business planning position. Last year these hubs: helped 16 clients set up businesses; formulated 15 business or feasibility plans; and delivered business training to 66 clients. Westpac, Boston Consulting and the Body Shop have also supported Balkanu. The Badu Island Council has received $27,400 to establish a prawn farm which is expected to generate at least 20 new jobs over three years. The funds are to develop a business and marketing plan for the farm, which the council hopes will eventually supply top restaurants all over Australia. Cairns-based Saltwater Inc received $27,500 to market unique Indigenous jewellery in Australia and overseas. The support is expected to create two new jobs for Indigenous artists and to increase the company's turnover by more than $90,000 during its first year of operation. The company is preparing to export to America, Italy, Japan and South East Asia, where the demand for Indigenous jewellery is very strong. I wish all funded businesses well in their endeavours. The government is proud to support them, and will continue to stand by Indigenous communities and corporations that have a thirst for business success.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Brisbane CBD, Public Safety Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.43 am): I commend police for their swift response to an incident in Alice Street late yesterday. A man was confronted by a group of men who were affected by alcohol on the footpath outside parliament's gates. He was on his way to an Indian community reception that I hosted last night and he was wearing a Sikh turban. The man was a guest, and I am very sorry that what is alleged occurred while he was making his way to the function. Multiculturalism is a cornerstone of the modern Queensland, and the government is committed to continuing to promote its strength. One of the group of men made a comment to the guest and words were exchanged before he was allegedly assaulted. Parliament House security called for police assistance at 5.45 pm and the response was rapid. At least 12 officers had arrived by 6 pm. This included two officers on bicycles, three police cars and other officers on foot. Four men were questioned by police. One was released without charge while three were charged with common assault and affray. One of the men was also charged with an indecent act and another was charged with possession of a dangerous drug. I had an opportunity to talk to him last night. I indicated that I regretted what had happened to him. He is a decent Queenslander and he does not deserve to be treated like this, but I thank him for the generous spirit in which he continued his activities last night and I wish him well.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Education Hon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Minister for Education and the Arts) (9.44 am): School is definitely in for 2005. The number of students enrolled in Queensland schools continues to grow as families across Australia flock to the Smart State, demonstrating the confidence that parents place in the quality of Queensland's education system. This year promises to be one of the most significant in our education's history, with the implementation of a range of Smart State reforms which will change the landscape of Queensland's education system. Our new school, Narangba Valley State High School, opened its doors for the first time with prep to year 3 being offered this year. The Narangba Valley State High School is the first school in Queensland to include purpose-built classrooms for the full-time preparatory year which will be introduced statewide in 2007. I know that school has the support of its local member. The students at this new school join around 490,000 students attending state schools across Queensland this year. The phased implementation of the historic prep year continues, with approximately 1,900 students this year taking part in the prep program at 96 sites across Queensland. Students who took part in the first prep trials in 2003 will this year be moving into year 2, where it is anticipated that their earlier start to full-time education will see them achieve higher levels of literacy and numeracy outcomes. Teachers are already reporting positive results and a recent independent report on Queensland's preparatory year trial showed that it is highly successful in promoting children's social and emotional development and their communication, numeracy, literacy and motor skills. 226 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

This year will also see the beginning of a massive construction program to build, extend and refurbish 1,600 state school classrooms by 2007 for the new prep year. Earlier this month the government called for tenders for what will be the biggest education capital works project in the state's history. In the middle years of schooling 2005 is also a landmark year as it heralds the start of the government's commitment to begin reducing the target class size for years 4 to 10 from 30 to 28 by 2007. Some 150 additional teachers have been allocated in 2005 to begin reducing these targets to what will be the lowest middle years class size targets in the country. In state high schools this year around 36,000 students began year 8. Those students who were entering year 9 this year will be the first group to benefit from the government's landmark learning and earning reforms. New laws to take effect in 2006 will require these year 9 students next year to complete year 10 or turn 16 prior to leaving school and, unless they are in full-time work, to commit to further training or education until they have turned 17. This year around 55,000 year 10 students from Coolangatta to the cape will prepare senior education and training plans with their schools and their parents to map out their senior subject choices and their intended postschool destination. These students will also be registered for the first time with the Queensland Studies Authority so they can open a learning account in which they will bank credits once they complete subjects or training programs. This will enable them to flexibly move between school, TAFE and training without losing credit for their achievements. My colleague the minister for communities has also employed an additional 50 youth support coordinators to work with schools to assist students at risk of dropping out of school. Earlier this month my colleague the minister for employment and training and I announced 59 new grants totalling $4.3 million to areas that are new to the trial in 2005. These grants will fund programs throughout Queensland that reach out to young people in danger of falling through the cracks and retain them in education or training. These landmark education and training reforms being undertaken by our government are laying the foundation for long-term improved education and employment outcomes for young Queenslanders, and these reforms are taking place in the context of other major changes including the implementation of the Board of Teacher Registration review recommendations, other major legislative reviews and continued roll-out of our significant investment in computer technology. We have a very big year ahead.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Industrial Relations Hon. TA BARTON (Waterford—ALP) (Minister for Employment, Training and Industrial Relations) (9.49 am): For weeks now the federal government has been flagging its desire for a single national industrial relations system—a system that sidelines both trade unions and the Industrial Relations Commission. While flagging the federal government proposals in the media, the federal minister, Kevin Andrews, has not consulted with the states. These proposals potentially represent the greatest threat ever to the hard-won conditions of ordinary working people. We have great concerns about what the federal government proposals could mean to all Australians, and particularly to Queenslanders. The new system would no doubt set our national minimum wage, but with no independent umpire to provide balance we could head down the American road to creating a new working poor who might eventually earn less than $7 an hour—just like our American friends. That is the current US federal basic minimum wage, where service workers in hotels, restaurants and tourist resorts depend on customers’ tips to feed their families. What is being proposed would see most award protections removed and replaced by minimum safety net provisions. This could mean workers losing entitlements relating to overtime, shift allowances, rest breaks, bereavement, annual leave loading and penalty rates to name just a few. Canberra’s proposed deregulation of industrial relations has the potential to be a disaster for Queensland working people, who currently have excellent protections under our state industrial relations system. As the Premier and I have been saying repeatedly, what is at stake is Queensland’s exemplary industrial relations environment, which has been integral to our economic growth, prosperity, jobs growth and low unemployment level. We have the lowest industrial disputation in decades. In the last September quarter our days lost figure of 5.1 days per thousand employees was less than half the national average of 11.3 days lost. It is why this government has constantly advised the Howard government, ‘If it isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it.’ This state, with some 60 per cent of its employees covered by the state industrial system, wants to be left to prosper and to create jobs, jobs, jobs without interference. Seven years of industrial harmony under the Beattie government, with its strong growth and record employment, could be put at risk by unilateral action by the federal government. This government will not sit back quietly and allow that to happen. 24 Feb 2005 Ministerial Statement 227

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Brisbane Airport Hon. T McGRADY (Mount Isa—ALP) (Minister for State Development and Innovation) (9.52 am): Forecasts for Brisbane Airport indicate incredible growth ahead. Research commissioned by the Brisbane Airport Corporation indicates that annual passenger numbers will grow from 15 million in 2004 to 22.2 million in 2012 and to over 35 million by 2023. Aircraft movements are forecast to grow from 140,000 in 2003 to 198,000 in 2012. The Brisbane Airport Corporation says that these predictions could be conservative, particularly for international travel, as discussions with airlines show they are expecting double-digit growth through Brisbane for the next three to four years. As the fastest-growing airport in Australia, Brisbane Airport is another Queensland success story. It is located in the heart of one of Australia’s premier trade destinations, the Australia TradeCoast. Brisbane Airport will match Melbourne airport’s 2005 passenger numbers by next year and Sydney’s 2005 numbers by 2010. Brisbane Airport is three times larger than Australia’s busiest airport, Sydney airport. Approximately 8,500 people currently work at the airport. As Queensland’s premier gateway, Brisbane Airport is critical to tourism and to business. The Brisbane Airport Corporation commissioned consultants to determine the cost benefits to the Queensland economy. If air travel through Brisbane is allowed to grow with no constraints from lack of available runway capacity, then the net benefit to the region and to the Queensland economy in 2023 is $2.14 billion as well as contributing 42,500 jobs at the airport—42,500 jobs at the airport! Two of Brisbane Airport’s key advantages are room for expansion and the chance for companies to maximise their business capabilities through efficient transport networks. The Queensland government supports the Brisbane Airport Corporation in attracting a growing number of aviation and non-aviation industries to the airport. Maintaining capacity and competitiveness will lock in this strategic advantage and the benefits that flow to business and tourism. The Brisbane Airport Corporation is planning over $1.5 billion in capacity related infrastructure investments to meet the surge in demand of domestic and international visitors. The Queensland government is playing its part with the $1.6 billion Gateway Bridge duplication announced recently by my ministerial colleague the Hon. Paul Lucas. Included in the Brisbane Airport Corporation’s planning is duplication of the existing runway. It says analysis of airline growth has shown existing runway capacity will be exceeded by 2010 to 2012. The Queensland government supports the airport in its efforts to plan for the future, but obviously any new runway would have to pass the federal government’s rigorous environmental impact process. This would be a large project which would require a number of resources to accommodate its construction, and planning is in place to facilitate these resources including access to sand and gravel.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Smoking Hon. GR NUTTALL (Sandgate—ALP) (Minister for Health) (9.55 am): My department has done an outstanding job in implementing the legislation to deliver this government’s commitment to change smoking habits in this state. We all know that the effects of smoking and passive smoking are a continuing health risk to Queenslanders, more than 3,000 of whom die each year as a result of their addiction. This is legislation designed to protect the health of all Queenslanders. Everyone in Queensland has a role to play in protecting their health. To date the tobacco hotline has taken 1,972 calls from the public making inquiries and up to 188 possible breaches of the new laws have been reported. These possible breaches already have been, or will be, followed up by our environmental health officers, who can provide further advice on how to comply with the new laws. After an extensive education and information campaign and a three-month period of grace, there will be no excuses. All noncompliance with the laws after 31 March 2005 will result in on-the-spot fines and prosecutions. There are already 60 environmental health officers employed by Queensland Health. We are recruiting another 18 environmental officers in two rounds, with 10 positions already having been advertised. The second round of recruitment has been pushed forward and these eight positions will be advertised within weeks. A further 200 Queensland Health employees also will be trained this year. The key role of these staff will be to monitor the legislation from July 2006 when all of the bans proposed by the legislation will be in place. The key to the success of these new laws lies in the fact that they are community driven. The laws have been overwhelmingly supported by not only the 80 per cent of Queenslanders who do not smoke but also many of the 20 per cent who are addicted. The new laws will aid in the quest for a healthier Queensland. 228 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

SmartNet Hon. RE SCHWARTEN (Rockhampton—ALP) (Minister for Public Works, Housing and Racing) (9.58 am): This government is delivering real benefits for Queenslanders no matter where they live in the Smart State. In recent years we have made some significant achievements in improving telecommunication services and infrastructure in the bush by being smarter about the way we do business with our ICT services. In July last year I announced that the state government had signed a new five-year SmartNet deal with Optus. Annually, the government spends around $40 million on telecommunications services through Optus. Under the SmartNet, deal more than 30 regional and rural cities and towns across Queensland will gain cheaper and faster broadband services at no extra cost to the taxpayer. I am pleased to advise the House today that within only nine months of the deal being signed all 31 areas have already gained access to higher-grade broadband, thanks to SmartNet. This includes communities such as Mount Isa and Roma in the west; Toowoomba and Warwick in the south; Townsville, Cairns and Mareeba in the north; and Mackay, Emerald and, of course, the de facto capital of Queensland, Rockhampton. By having access to more competitive and quicker broadband we are making life easier for regional schools, businesses and families. I am also pleased to launch today the third round of the Beattie government's Technology Survival Skills program. This $1 million commitment over four years provides grants of up to $10,000 to not-for- profit organisations right across the state. The funds are targeted to help Queenslanders learn new skills who are disadvantaged in their access to information technology because of barriers such as age, disability, income or location. Projects that have previously been funded with the grants include computer training for long-term job seekers and internet survival skills for seniors. I encourage not-for-profit organisations to apply for the grants before applications close on Friday, 22 April. This government is not just talking about the Smart State; we are building the Smart State. By using smarter technology and training, we are improving the quality of life of all Queenslanders.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Task Force Argos Hon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services) (10.00 am): There has been a lot of debate recently about public order, but let us not forget that other crimes such as family violence and paedophilia must also occupy the attention of our Police Service. Today I would like to outline the recent achievements by Task Force Argos—which is one of the country’s most effective units for investigating and prosecuting child pornography and child sex offences. This month alone, as part of ongoing investigations by the task force, police conducted a series of raids and charged 15 people in relation to the illegal possession of child abuse pornography. With the assistance of regional detectives, Task Force Argos officers executed 49 search warrants at various residences across Queensland in an operation that targeted people who had contact with children through their work or voluntary activities. Those charged will now appear before the courts. These results highlight the success of this task force and its continuing efforts to detect and prosecute offenders who prey on the vulnerability of children. Since 1 June 2003, Task Force Argos has arrested a total of 83 people on 2,786 offences. Task Force Argos is continuing to focus on offences detected in internet chat rooms. Its work has been further boosted with the Premier’s announcement in November of an extra $1 million over the next three years to Task Force Argos. This is on top of the amount it received in the budget as part of the allocation of $47 million to the State Crime Operations Command. This additional $1 million is already helping to boost the task force’s fight against internet child pornography. The task force is spending this money to employ three forensic computer analysts. The advertising, short listing and interview process for these positions has already begun. Another position is being created to deliver statewide training in covert internet investigations. Funding has also been used to buy computer hardware to support the forensic computer unit. The task force has also started a research project into current and emerging trends in encryption of data technologies and is planning the third stage roll-out of the public education booklet Who’s Talking To Your Kids? This is in addition to operational funding which supports Task Force Argos in its investigations and prosecutions. Task Force Argos plays an important role in our community. The task force is part of this government’s commitment to community safety and putting the safety of our children first. 24 Feb 2005 Ministerial Statement 229

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Brisbane Urban Corridor Toll Removal Trial Hon. PT LUCAS (Lytton—ALP) (Minister for Transport and Main Roads) (10.02 am): The Queensland government is determined to do everything we can to get trucks out of our suburbs and onto dedicated freight routes where they belong. One of the biggest problem areas in this regard is in the Brisbane urban corridor—Granard, Riawena, Kessels and Mt Gravatt-Capalaba roads. Residents in the Brisbane urban corridor have large trucks travelling on roads just outside their front door 24 hours a day. It has a big impact on their quality of life, and I am pleased to say that we are doing something about it. From this Monday night, 28 February, heavy trucks travelling through the Kuraby or Stapylton toll plazas on the Gateway and Logan motorways between 10 pm and 5 am will not be charged a toll. This trial toll removal is an example of the federal government working with the state on transport issues. I thank it for its support for this project, which is likely to cost more than $1 million. The project was recommended following a study undertaken by the Queensland government. Under this initiative truck operators will save $7.80 on a one-way trip—if they travel through both toll gates—and $46.80 if they do three return trips a week. I encourage truckies to take advantage of the trial toll removal. This is about improving the quality of life for residents by reducing noise. It is a significant financial carrot to get more trucks onto the Logan Motorway. It is a win for local residents and for truckies. Hopefully the trial will be a success, but it should be kept in perspective. This will not be a magic wand to stop trucks using the roads altogether. Around 75 per cent of trucks using the Brisbane urban corridor in the daytime seem to have legitimate business there. There is an enormous industrial area at Acacia Ridge and trucks do have to get there. What it does mean is that 25 per cent of trucks using those roads in the daytime are not doing any business there. This increases at night to over 40 per cent. These are the trucks I want to get off our suburban streets. With our numberplate recognition trial we are about to roll out to find out where people are going, if they do not do the right thing we will look at legislating to force them. The Leader of the Opposition clearly does not understand, from comments he has made in the press in the past, that 75 per cent of the trucks have business in the Brisbane urban corridor there, and that is fair enough, but if you are going through you should be going through on the Logan Motorway. As part of this trial, Main Roads has installed automatic numberplate recognition technology on the Brisbane urban corridor and Logan Motorway. Cameras were installed just before Christmas on the Ipswich Motorway near the Goodna Railway Station, at the Stapylton toll plaza and on Mt Gravatt- Capalaba Road east of Bulimba Creek. For the first time we will have highly accurate figures about the number of trucks using the BUC. We will be using these cameras to monitor if the decision to remove tolls at night for trucks is working. Cameras will be able to identify trucks moving straight through the Brisbane urban corridor without stopping. I am looking at using the technology to identify trucks that use the Brisbane urban corridor as simply a short cut to the tolled Logan Motorway and Gateway Motorway. If a significant proportion of trucks are doing the wrong thing, as I said before, I will look at legislation that will stop them.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Forestry Industry Hon. H PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries) (10.05 am): The Queensland government is committed to expanding the commercial forestry industry, which already makes a $2.7 billion contribution to Queensland’s economy each year. This contribution is highlighted in a new publication, The Queensland forest industry: an overview of the commercial growing, management and processing of commercial forest products in Queensland, which I am delighted to release this morning. The forest sector of the Queensland economy is made up of about 2,200 businesses that directly employ more than 19,000 Queenslanders. The turnover is around $2.7 billion and value added is about $1 billion, and direct exports contribute around about $215 million. The publication aims to increase community awareness of the diversity and complexity of forest industry activities, its products and markets. It also outlines the outstanding research and development that is carried out by the forestry sector in Queensland and provides information about the industry’s history and development. The information in this book will be useful for anyone interested in forestry in Queensland, including prospective investors. 230 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

I can assure all honourable members that this is a real publication. Please note that this publication is whole and intact, which is quite contrary to the claims that were made by the member for Callide a few days ago in this parliament that this document had been pulped—that thousands of copies of this document had been pulped. What a nonsense! Why would we want to, because this book tells a great story about a great Queensland industry? I encourage all members to read this book and find out more about another very smart Queensland industry. I seek leave to table a copy of the publication and assure all honourable members that they will receive their copy on their desks later on today. Leave granted.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect System Hon. MF REYNOLDS (Townsville—ALP) (Minister for Child Safety) (10.08 am): The reform of Queensland’s child protection system reached a crucial milestone this month with the launch of our new Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect—SCAN—model which will deliver greater protection for the state’s most vulnerable children and young people. I am pleased to be able to inform the parliament today that the $22.1 million revamp of the SCAN system heralds a positive new phase for Queensland’s child protection system and delivers one of the key recommendations stemming from the Crime and Misconduct Commission report into the abuse of children in foster care. The Beattie government allocated those additional funds to the Department of Child Safety, Queensland Police Service, Queensland Health, and Department of Education and the Arts to improve the SCAN system, and that is exactly what has happened. This means that every child in contact with my department will have their case individually assessed and monitored by a group of experts, including paediatricians, police officers, senior guidance officers and child safety officers. I also announced 20 interagency sites where the improved SCAN assessment and management teams will be rolled out across Queensland in two phases—next month and in May this year following successful trials in Townsville and in Logan city late last year. They were very successful trials, both in Townsville and, can I say to the member for Logan, in Logan as well. This new system provides an improved process for information sharing, decision making, supervision and, most importantly, accountability which will deliver a better service for Queensland’s most vulnerable children and young people.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Somerville Report; Electricity Industry Code Hon. RJ MICKEL (Logan—ALP) (Minister for Energy) (10.10 am): I wish to provide this House with an update on the progress we are making in implementing the recommendations of the Somerville review into electricity distribution and service delivery. It is too early to mark the report card on how the network coped this summer, but significant progress is being made in implementing the recommendations. To date, Energex and Ergon Energy have implemented summer readiness plans, strengthened their work forces, upgraded their communications networks and implemented new service standards and published network management plans as required under the new Electricity Industry Code. Due to the detailed nature of this statement, I seek leave to incorporate the rest of it in Hansard. Leave granted. ENERGEX and Ergon Energy have embarked on recruitment and training programs, highlighting the fact that most important investment they can make is in their people. Last month, the Premier and I welcomed 40 new apprentices to ENERGEX, part of this year's record intake of 82 apprentices. ENERGEX has also recruited 119 tradespeople. Ergon Energy has taken on a record 80 apprentices. I have taken part in inductions in Rockhampton and Townsville and will meet the remaining Ergon Energy apprentices at Redbank Plains later this week. Since July, Ergon Energy has recruited 170 field workers and contractors and will offer 40 traineeships this financial year, including graduate and indigenous placements. ENERGEX built over 600 megawatts of capacity into its network to cope with summer demand. That is the equivalent of building a new power station. As part of that project, ENERGEX installed and commissioned 23 major transformers prior to Christmas to meet the electricity demands of its customers. In addition to the 23 transformers, ENERGEX has purchased four 1000 kilowatt mobile generators to use in emergency situations such as destructive storms. 24 Feb 2005 Ministerial Statement 231

Two of these are in service and two will be commissioned by the end of this month. ENERGEX also took delivery of 12 mobile diesel-generator units ranging in size from 300 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts. I have instructed ENERGEX and Ergon to continue treating vegetation management as a priority. Since 1 July 2004, ENERGEX contractors have trimmed over 4,200 kilometres of vegetation in south east Queensland including the entire high voltage urban network. Up to 31 January, Ergon Energy has spent over $30 million of the record $56 million earmarked for its vegetation management program. Ergon Energy has commenced a $2 million pole top monitoring program on its network to provide warnings about outages and improve reliability of electricity supplies to customers in remote areas. ENERGEX and Ergon Energy have upgraded their customer contact centres, with Ergon Energy opening a branch of its customer call centre in Townsville. The centre services northern region callers and is designed to take overflow calls from Rockhampton. Normally call centres take about 12 months to build, staff and prepare for operation but this centre was up and running within 11 weeks of Ergon Energy's decision to proceed with it. I had the pleasure of opening it just before Christmas and I'm advised by Ergon Energy that it is performing above expectations. On 1 January, the new Electricity Industry Code which mandates Minimum Service Standards and Guaranteed Service Levels for the two distributors came into effect. Minimum Service Standards apply to the average performance of the networks over all customers and provide a measure of the required minimum reliability of the networks in aggregate. The Guaranteed Service Levels apply to individual customers. The first tranche came into effect on 1 January and applies to non-reliability issues including wrongful disconnection, missed appointments and failure to notify customers of planned interruptions to supply. The second tranche which take effect from 1 July 2005, additional reliability Guaranteed Service Levels will apply where the frequency and/or duration of loss of supply exceeds specified limits. The new Code puts the people who matter, the customers, first. The new Code also requires both distributors to publish annual Network Management Plans. ENERGEX and Ergon Energy have published their interim Network Management Plans. The distributors have commenced planning for the release of the next Network Management Plans due by 1 July 2005. These annual network plans detail the distributors' growth forecasts, planning and asset management policies and their compliance with them, demand management strategies, and historical reliability performance, reliability targets and major reliability improvement programs. They also provide 5-year capital and operating cost forecasts. The Plans will detail an assessment of performance against the previous plan. This includes an assessment of the worst performing feeders identified in the previous plan and how these feeders are now performing. A lot of work has been done but this doesn't mean that we can put our feet up on the desk. As soon as summer is officially over, ENERGEX and Ergon Energy will review their performance and report back to me. We'll be straight back to work preparing for next summer.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Ambulance Service, Response Times Hon. CP CUMMINS (Kawana—ALP) (Minister for Emergency Services) (10.10 am): The Queensland Ambulance Service has improved its response times for the seventh month in a row. For seven consecutive months response times have improved and this is a direct result of the community ambulance cover. The seven months continual improvement in response times reflects the exceptional work of all QAS staff. The latest response times represent an improvement in QAS code 1 incidents, where paramedics were on the scene within 10 minutes, for seven consecutive months from July 2004 to January 2005. This is an improvement compared to 2003-04. This result puts the QAS well ahead in comparison to the final result in 2003-04, with an improvement in code 1 incidents responded to in less than 10 minutes. This trend is even more remarkable when we consider that paramedics have attended an additional 4,842 code 1 incidents in less than 10 minutes in the current financial year compared with the same period in 2003-04. That is close to 5,000 extra code 1 incidents, and still response times have improved. Realising that over 70,000 people move to Queensland each year, and acknowledging that we have a growing and ageing population, our paramedics continue to provide an exceptional life-saving service. These figures also provide pleasing evidence that this government’s policies are bearing fruit for Queenslanders. The community ambulance cover, roster reform and a record boost to paramedic numbers statewide are helping the QAS to provide ambulance services to meet current and future demand. 232 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

The introduction of community ambulance cover in 2003 heralded the start of a new era for the QAS. It was an important initiative of this government and for the first time established an adequate and predictable funding base for the QAS. In addition to community ambulance cover, this government has consistently provided record budgets for the Department of Emergency Services and the QAS. In terms of the state government’s commitment of 350 new ambulance officers over a four-year cycle, 170 new ambulance officers have been recruited over the past 18 months. Another 47 new paramedics will hit the road around the state from Monday, 28 February. Queenslanders are justifiably proud of their Ambulance Service as it continues to improve response times and delivers world-class service, which helps make our local communities safer.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Indigenous Portal Hon. EA CLARK (Clayfield—ALP) (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy) (10.13 am): I am delighted to announce that today the well respected Inala elders will be assisting me to launch the Queensland government’s new Indigenous portal. In my time as minister it has been apparent to me that there is confusion about who to go to and how to access information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, resources and issues. People who needed information did not know where to go. They were trying to work their way through different web sites, different departments and dealing with a range of people. Even the best services in the world are no good to those who cannot access them. There was an immediate need to simplify the process. Today at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learning and Engagement Centre Library in Inala we are launching what promises to be a terrific source of information all about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This Indigenous portal—which has been put together after departments across government joined forces to make this process easier—will link people directly into the information they want from the Queensland government web site at www.qld.gov.au/indigenous. It will include information on cultural heritage and reconciliation, as well as economic and social information. It will be a tool for people looking for training opportunities, for jobs, for resource libraries, for scholarships and for those who want to know about their consumer rights. This new web site is designed to deliver information immediately and to sort through the various web sites. The web has become one of the world’s most powerful, if not the most powerful, communication and information sharing vehicles. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web and director of the W3C Consortium, has said, ‘The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone is an essential aspect.’ Many Indigenous communities have enjoyed high-speed broadband access for a number of years. The Queensland government has responded to its responsibility to make sure that people know what is available and how to access it. This important Smart State project will help deliver more information and more services to more Indigenous people.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (10.16 am): The allegation that I had something to gain by offering an inducement to the Palm Island council is demonstrably ludicrous. I believe that most people would consider that an inducement is offered by someone in exchange for something that benefits that person. There was no benefit for me in any of this. When I talked to the Palm Island council about a range of problems and solutions on the island, including arrangements to ensure strong representation for the community in running the PCYC, the alcohol management plan and the council’s debt, there was no benefit that could accrue to me. I made it clear to the council that I was going to open the PCYC whatever it had decided. I was doing it for the children of Palm Island. I made it clear to it that there is no way in the world that I would allow the PCYC to remain closed to the children of the island. The only benefits available as a result of what I was offering that morning were to the children of that island through the immediate opening of the PCYC and the people of the island through solving their problems. I have written again to the head of the Crime and Misconduct Commission today. I seek to incorporate that letter in Hansard. Leave granted. 24 Feb 2005 Removal of Records of the House 233

Please quote: KE03/LJP 24 February 2005 Mr Robert Needham Chairperson Crime and Misconduct Commission Level 3 Terrica Place 140 Creek St BRISBANE QLD 4000 Dear Mr Needham I refer to my letter of 23 February 2005 and now enclose copies of all documents that I tabled in Parliament yesterday as part of my ministerial statement regarding the Palm Island Aboriginal Council. A copy of my Ministerial Statement is also attached along with copies of the documents that were incorporated into the statement. I also attach my Office records of the meetings which have been prepared by my Principal Media Advisor, Steve Bishop, who attended those meetings with me. As previously advised, I totally reject the proposition that I improperly made inducements to the Palm Island Council during my meetings with them on 17 February 2005. In any event, a payment of the sort the subject of the allegations is not mine to approve under the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, it is that of the Director-General of my department, who is the accountable officer under that Act. Furthermore, such a payment would be referred to the Cabinet Budget Review Committee for prior approval. I also draw your attention to a letter from the Council to the Government dated 18 February 2005 which contains the following: "The Palm Island Aboriginal Council again thanks acknowledges (sic) the constructive dialogue between council and Government that commenced yesterday. We acknowledge your invitation to council to provide you with a blueprint for addressing issues within our community. We have taken you up on your offer and attach our proposed Action Plan. We note the condition you expressed yesterday, that you will support an action plan if outcomes are achieved.……….. We believe that Ms L Pink is a person who more than fulfils these requirements and she has accepted our request to take up this role for a minimum period of three (3) months.……….. As part of this process we anticipate the need for councillors to travel to Brisbane to meet officials, directors-general and where necessary Ministers, to work through and resolve the more difficult issues, the council representative will also need to travel between Palm Island and Brisbane. Given the dire financial state of council, we confirm your commitment that Government will meet the costs associated with facilitating this process." You will notice in the attachment to the letter the Council says in Point 4.5 "Relieve council of its $800,000 debt, incurred during a period of administration of Palm Island Council, on substantial delivery of this action plan and in Point 4.6 " Fund the appointment of a council representative, at a level commensurate with the skill base required, for a period of 3 months, and all costs necessary and incidental to the role (including travel and accommodation costs and reasonable administrative support costs)". I believe it is normal and reasonable for a Government to request the delivery of an action plan from the Palm Island Council before the Government would relieve the debt of $800,000. It is important for the integrity of Government that this matter be examined by the Crime and Misconduct Commission without delay. Please contact my office if there is further assistance that can be provided. Yours sincerely PETER BEATTIE MP PREMIER AND MINISTER FOR TRADE Mr BEATTIE: I table for the information of the House the contemporary notes taken by my principal media advisor, Steve Bishop. I make it very clear that I make no apology, and nor will I as the head of the executive arm of government, for demanding performance from councils. Yes, the council did write and ask me to do something about the debt. I was not prepared to make any change in terms of debt arrangements or anything else unless there was performance. There is a parallel here. The parallel is this: the Commonwealth government has written to my government and said that it is not prepared to fund certain roads unless certain IR laws are implemented. I say to the people of Queensland: you tell me the difference. I want to make it clear to the House that I want this matter resolved quickly, but I will not be stood over and intimidated by this council or anyone else.

REMOVAL OF RECORDS OF THE HOUSE Hon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Leader of the House) (10.19 am), by leave, without notice: I move— That in accordance with standing 19(2), the Clerk be authorised to remove from the precinct for their copying only records of the House relating to granting women the right to vote, including the original parchment of the Elections Act 1905. Motion agreed to. 234 Private Members’ Statements 24 Feb 2005

PARLIAMENTARY CRIME AND MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE

Register of Reports Mr WILSON (Ferny Grove—ALP) (10.19 am): I lay upon the table of the House, pursuant to section 4.7(4) of the Police Service Administration Act 1990, the following: a certified copy of the register of reports and recommendations to the police minister, ministerial directions and tabled ministerial reasons, 2004; a letter from the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service, Mr Robert Atkinson, to the Chairperson of the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Mr Robert Needham, dated 12 January 2005; and a letter from Mr Needham to the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee dated 17 January 2005. Section 4.7(4) of the Police Services Administration Act 1990 provides that the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee is to table in the Legislative Assembly a certified copy of the register and all comments relating thereto within 14 sitting days after the chairperson’s receipt of it. The register records that during 2004 no reports and recommendations, ministerial directions or tabled reasons qualified for inclusion in the register. In his letter to the committee, Mr Needham advises that he is furnishing the register without further comment. I advise that the register was received by the committee on 17 January 2005. It is therefore tabled within the period of 14 sitting days after receipt as prescribed by section 4.7(4) of the act.

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS

Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Mr SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—NPA) (Leader of the Opposition) (10.20 am): Yesterday this parliament was subjected to an extraordinary pre-emptive attack by the Premier of Queensland on the Palm Island council. As we sat in this place and listened, it was quite clear that something was amiss. We sat here yesterday and thought, ‘This is interesting information. If this is right, then the Premier has a fair bit of right on his side.' However, as with everything that this Premier does, we get only half the truth. It was quite obvious that yesterday he was about to be caught out, and he was certainly caught out today by the other information which has filtered through. Maybe those people who took the tape recorder into that meeting knew the Premier's reputation for distortion. Maybe they knew that he would say something— Mr BEATTIE: I rise to a point of order. Those comments are untrue. They are offensive, and I ask for them to be withdrawn. Mr SPRINGBORG: I withdraw. But what we saw from the Premier this morning was him stand in this place and virtually admit that those words that have been reported today were words that were said. That is what we saw from the Premier this morning. Then he tried to justify it and hide it behind a veil of concern for the children of Palm Island. That is what he tried to do this morning. Yesterday when he stood in this place—and the Hansard record of this place will record it—there was no admission of those particular words that have been reported in the news media today. We saw the Premier try to construct a particular position. I have no doubt that when the CMC reports on this—whenever it does—it will conclude that it does not enliven its jurisdiction. It will conclude, as it does, that nothing has been done wrong. But the people of Queensland simply have to ask this question: was an inducement in some way offered to the people of Palm Island— Time expired. Howard Government, Industrial Relations Mr WILSON (Ferny Grove—ALP) (10.22 am): The Prime Minister, John Howard, masquerades as the workers’ friend. The facts since 1996 strip him of this pretension. Since then, there has been a substantial increase in low-paid jobs, a rising casualisation of the work force, persistent underemployment and rising levels of overtime. Over two million people earn less than $400 a week and between 1996 and 2000 have received an annual effective pay increase of only $3.73 a week—less than one-twentieth of the gains of the top 10 per cent. More than one in every two new full-time jobs created since 1996 has been casual and overall there are now more than 2.2 million casual workers— an increase of 22 per cent since 1996. Almost one million Australians now work unpaid overtime—an increase of 24 per cent since 1996. John Howard also masquerades as a moderate with whom workers can feel safe when he obtains absolute power of the Australian parliament in July. Yet there are over 31 industrial relations bills poised ready for passage by the Senate and more are in the pipeline. Howard's radical changes to laws affecting workers, including the proposed unilateral takeover of Queensland’s and other states’ industrial relations systems, will catapult thousands of more workers into unpaid and low-paid work and 24 Feb 2005 Private Members’ Statements 235 greater job insecurity. More and more, the terrible human cost can be seen of industrial laws that dramatically shift disproportionate industrial power into the hands of employers. Queenslanders can take heart from the Beattie Labor government's willingness to do whatever it takes for the protection of Queensland workers and to ensure fair and reasonable industrial laws that are even handed to employers and to workers. Moggill State School, Asbestos Dr FLEGG (Moggill—Lib) (10.24 am): Parents at Moggill State School found that their children were sitting in class in 40 degree temperatures. When they complained, they were told that the room could not be insulated because it might disturb the asbestos in the ceiling. They had to carry out their own— Ms BLIGH: I rise to a point of order. The member is misleading the House. As he knows, there is no impediment to installing insulation if there is asbestos in the roof, and the parents have not been informed to that effect. That is untrue. Dr FLEGG: It is true. The headmaster of the school sent a letter home, which I can table, that carried that information. Ms BLIGH: I rise to a point of order. I ask that the member table the letter. It will show that the principal advised that the roof would be insulated after it was removed, not because it could not be done. This is untrue and the member is misleading the parliament. Dr FLEGG: I will supply the letter. Anyway— Government members interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The House will come to order! Dr FLEGG: I do not have it with me. It is in the office. Government members interjected. Dr FLEGG: They investigated and found that in 1995 the roof was inspected by Q-Build and was found to be in poor condition and a high priority to be removed—that is, in 1995. ‘In poor condition’ means that it is fragmenting and likely to pose a health hazard if it is left in situ. Now that the education department has been caught out, what sort of response do we get from it? Firstly, on Tuesday in the West Side News the department said that the fears are unfounded and that the roof is safe. On Wednesday morning Q-Build wrote to the school and gave a quote for sealing the roof, yet it was told yesterday that it was already sealed. On Wednesday night the minister said that the roof will be replaced. They do not know what they are doing. There has been 10 years of neglect. When they are caught out, there is total confusion and three different stories. Time expired. Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week Mrs MILLER (Bundamba—ALP) (10.27 am): I am pleased to advise this House that this week is Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week. This week Queenslanders Donate, which is a division of Queensland Health, will endeavour, along with other state and territory donation agencies around Australia, to create awareness within the community of the significance that organ donation provides to many Australian families. Organ donation saves lives, improves quality of life and has cost benefits for society. Organs that can be transplanted include heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and the pancreas. Tissue transplants include eye tissue, heart valves and bone tissue. Every donor has the potential to improve the lives of up to 10 people. Australians have been receiving life-giving organ transplants since 1965. To date, more than 30,000 men, women and children have received life-saving or life-enhancing transplants. Australia boasts one of the highest transplantation success rates in the world. Kidney transplant survival rates are about 90 per cent in the first year and over 75 per cent in five years. Patient survival rates for heart and liver transplants are also 90 per cent in the first year and 85 per cent after five years. Pancreas transplants have the highest survival rate of 94 per cent after one year and 87 per cent after five years. As part of the community awareness campaign, a national schools project developed by Queensland Health aims to inform high school students about all aspects of organ and tissue donation so that students can make an informed decision about becoming a donor. From 1 July 2005, the Australian Organ Donor Register will record the legally valid consent of Australian adults. If organ and/or tissue donation is being considered, clinicians will consult the register to determine whether a decision about organ and tissue donation has been recorded. Organ and tissue donation are the gift of life for those on waiting lists, and I encourage every member and every member of the community to consider this. For more information, contact the Australian Organ Donor Register on 1800777203 or online at www.hic.gov.au. Interruption. 236 Questions Without Notice 24 Feb 2005

PRIVILEGE

Moggill State School, Asbestos Hon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Minister for Education and the Arts) (10.29 am): I rise on a matter of privilege suddenly arising. During his private member's statement, the member for Moggill tried to mislead the House by his statement that a principal of Moggill State School advised parents in a letter that insulation could not be provided to the school because asbestos was in the roof. I table for the information of the House the letter from the principal. It puts beyond doubt that the principal never made such a claim—never made such a claim. For the record and to demonstrate the integrity of the principal, I table that and would suggest to the doctor of doom opposite that this sort of ill-informed misinformation does nothing for the schools in his electorate.

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS Resumed. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The time private for members' statements has expired.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Mr SPRINGBORG (10.30 am): My question is addressed to the Premier. Did the Premier say at Palm Island last week— And there are some other matters that I want to talk to the council about such as the $800,000 debt... I know that my director- general, who is outside, might have a heart attack, but if the council opens the centre with me today I will clear that debt from my own Premier's budget, but the centre must be opened today. Was this not just a straight-out bribe to get the people of Palm Island to cheer for the Premier in front of the television cameras? Mr BEATTIE: I will say a number of things. The first point I want to make is that the Palm Island council has on a number of occasions approached the government to waive this debt. Yesterday in the House I tabled some letters. In one of those letters, dated 17 December last year, the chairman of the council wrote to us asking for the debt to be waived. Her request states— Secondly, that government review the debt of over $800,000 that this council is now burdened with, but which resulted from government decisions ... It goes on. This letter was dated 17 December last year. That was a request for us to review it. I, in fact, wrote back to the council. My letter was faxed on— Mr SPRINGBORG: Mr Speaker, I rise to a point of order. My question simply was, ‘Did you say those things which you are reported to have said?’ Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. Mr BEATTIE: I wrote back on 11 February saying— Mr Messenger interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question has been asked. We are going to hear the answer. Mr BEATTIE: I am happy to answer all of these questions in detail. I wrote back on 11 February— Mr Springborg: Yes or no? Mr SPEAKER: Order! Mr BEATTIE: I am very happy to answer these questions if I get a bit of courtesy. I wrote back on 11 February saying— The Government is considering your request to review the debt owed by the Palm Island Aboriginal Council (PIAC), and I will be in a position to discuss this issue with you further when we meet later this month. When did I go to Palm Island? I went ‘later this month'. I made it very clear to the council when I went there last year that I would discuss a five-point plan. When I went to the council I made it clear that I wanted to discuss a number of matters, including that debt. I made it absolutely clear to this council that I wanted some results on that island and I wanted some outcomes. I make no apology for saying to this council— Mr SPRINGBORG: Mr Speaker, I rise to a point of order. The Premier said that he would be happy to answer the question. The question simply was: ‘Did you say those things which you were reported to have said on that tape?’ Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. 24 Feb 2005 Questions Without Notice 237

Mr Springborg: You can clear this up once and for all by giving a yes-or-no answer. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Resume your seat. Mr BEATTIE: I quite happily acknowledge to this House today that, as the leader of the executive arm of government, I demanded performance from the Palm Island council before we would consider the payment of debt. Let me give members the proof of that. The letter the council wrote to me on 18 February states at point 4.5— Relieve the council of its $800,000.00 debt, incurred during a— Opposition members interjected. Mr BEATTIE: Mr Speaker, I cannot answer these questions. Can I take a point of order, Mr Speaker? I cannot in any sense answer questions if the Leader of the Opposition continues to be rude and disrupts this place. Mr Speaker, I ask for your indulgence. I am happy to go through every one of these points and answer them in detail. If the Leader of the Opposition is going to wreck this place, I cannot do it. Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Mr SPRINGBORG: I note that the Premier could not answer yes or no. Mr SPEAKER: Order! You will ask the question. Mr Mackenroth: You ask the question; he will give the answer. Mr SPRINGBORG: Or not give the answer. My second question is addressed to the Premier. In yesterday's Hansard at page 161 the Premier referred to the Palm Island blackmail allegation. The Premier said— While I was gone, Andrew Boe had said to them, ‘Oh, what the Premier said was blackmail.' None of this was raised in the first meeting with me. When I came back they then raised the issue that what I had said was blackmail. Why do the notes of the second meeting, which the Premier tabled yesterday, not refer to the allegations of blackmail from Andrew Boe and the council? I note that the notes of the Premier's senior media adviser, which he tabled this morning, now show that, so there is a conflict there. If the Premier was aware of the allegations, why did he wait until yesterday to refer the matter to the CMC? Is it not the case that it was not until he feared it was going to be made public that he made the referral? Mr BEATTIE: The council claims to have a tape. I would welcome the immediate release of that tape today. Let the full transcript come out, because I am ashamed of nothing I have ever said or done privately. Not only that, I stand by everything I said. The letter they wrote to me as a result of this meeting states— 4.5 Relieve council of its $800,000.00 debt, incurred during a period of administration of Palm Island council, on substantial delivery of this action plan They said that is what I want. You bet that is what I want. Mr Springborg: Did you say those things you have been reported as saying? Mr BEATTIE: How long do we have to put up with the disruption of the standing orders in this place? I cannot even answer a question. Mr Horan interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Toowoomba South will cease interjecting. Mr BEATTIE: Let me go through the sequence of events. The council asked for the relief of the $800,000 debt. We put up a five-point plan. I said that I was going to the island and I would discuss it, which is exactly what I did. I asked the council to accompany me to the opening. There was no personal benefit to me from that—only a benefit to the people of that— Mr Springborg: Did you say those words? Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. That is my final warning. Mr BEATTIE: Let me make it clear: me standing next to the council was of political detriment in most of Queensland, not an asset. Me asking the council to stand next to me at the opening of this facility was of political detriment to me, not a political asset. I did it for the people of Queensland. The question is: did I raise with the Palm Island council an invitation to go to the opening of that facility? Yes, I did. Did I discuss with them the two extra health officers that I asked to deal with alcohol and that the health minister approved? Yes, I did. Did I talk to them about a prep year? Yes, I did. Did I talk to them about forgoing the debt of $800,000 out of my department? Yes, I did. I make no apology for it. This is the executive arm of government saying to this council, which is basically dysfunctional, ‘If you get off your backsides and actually do something for your people then we will resolve some of the 238 Questions Without Notice 24 Feb 2005 problems in partnership with you.' I make no apology for saying it. I will do it again tomorrow if it means helping the people of Palm Island. I make no apology for it at all. If I have a legal problem here, which I do not, do members know who will be the next person with a legal problem? It will be the Prime Minister of Australia, because he is the one saying that he will not fund our roads unless we have a certain IR program. The opposition can come in here and try to disrupt this place, but I stand by everything I did on that island. Andrew Boe, who has represented some great people in his life—he represented Ivan Milat and Keith Wright and opposed Di Fingleton; he has a great track record—may want to try to use this as a means of lifting his profile and helping his firm, but he does not help the people of that island. Daylight Saving Mr PEARCE: My question is addressed to the Premier. I refer to the attitude of the Howard government in seeking to intervene in state government issues, such as education and industrial relations. Is the Premier aware of the comments of the Prime Minister regarding daylight saving? Mr BEATTIE: I have to say that I was intrigued to see that the Prime Minister yesterday came out and attacked the Queensland government and other people for not introducing daylight saving. He said things like— I think the disconnect between Queensland and New South Wales on daylight saving is ... ridiculous. I wonder what our colleagues on the other side and from this side who represent regional Queensland think about it. The Prime Minister seems to be drunk on his own success. We seem to have a position where the Senate— Opposition members interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Mr BEATTIE: What we are seeing is an arrogance of unprecedented proportions from this federal government. Now that it has control of the Senate as of July the Prime Minister thinks he is going to be able to dictate. The federal government may have constitutional power over time. If the Howard government wants daylight saving, he may have the legislative power to do it. We do not agree with him. If he is really serious about this, he will legislate. I say to the Prime Minister: if he has the guts, go and legislate. We will fight him. Now we suddenly have absolute silence from the opposition. He is their hero. Let the Prime Minister go and legislate. The Prime Minister should get out of Canberra and visit Queensland to see the issues first- hand instead of giving the nonsense we have had so far. The Prime Minister has ended up spending too much time in the rarefied atmosphere of Canberra. If he really thinks he should have daylight saving, I invite him to go to Mount Isa, Charleville, Emerald, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Yeppoon. I invite him to go to Palm Island to see what it is really like before giving unsolicited advice. I ask the opposition: where are they? Are they with the Prime Minister or not? Mr Johnson: We don't want it. Mr BEATTIE: Those who want daylight saving put up their hands. They cannot make up their minds whether they are with the Prime Minister or with me. In the interests of my reputation, please do not be with me. Vaughan is with me. I would like Vaughan on my side. At least I know where he is. Mr SPEAKER: Order! I welcome to the public gallery students and teachers of Burpengary State School in the electorate of Kallangur. Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Mr SEENEY: My question without notice is directed to the Premier, and it should not take him three minutes to answer it. Mr SPEAKER: Order! We do not need the comments. Mr SEENEY: I refer to the quote attributed to him in today’s paper where he allegedly said, ‘Look, if we go up there together and open the centre together, the debt will be cleared.' Can the Premier tell the House yes or no: did he make the payment of an $800,000 debt to the Palm Island Aboriginal Council conditional on the council members attending his opening ceremony and cheering and clapping for him? Mr BEATTIE: The answer to that is no. Mr Springborg: So you didn't say that? Mr BEATTIE: No, no. The member asked me a question. I made it absolutely clear right from the beginning that I was going to open that centre. The day before, bearing in mind some of the things the council had suggested, I thought it might be appropriate to open the centre and leave and not meet with the council. I did meet with the council out of the interests of advancing causes on that island. Let me 24 Feb 2005 Questions Without Notice 239 make this clear: I offered that council a package. That package included the forgoing of an $800,000 debt provided they had some performance. Mr Seeney interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Callide will cease interjecting. That is my final warning. Mr BEATTIE: The member should not try to twist the question. The question was: did I make it a condition of their going to the opening? I said, ‘No, I did not.' But did I offer them a package to resolve their problems including the repayment of the debt? Yes, I did. Mr Seeney interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for Callide under standing order 253. Mr BEATTIE: I have no problem with that. Yes, I did. Mr Seeney: Did you say that? Mr BEATTIE: Yes, I did. Mr SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for Callide. Mr BEATTIE: I offered them a package which included the relieving of that $800,000 debt. The answer to the question is yes. My response to that is— Mr SEENEY: I rise to a point of order, Mr Speaker. My question was not ‘Did the Premier offer them a package?' My question was ‘Did you say those words and did you make'— Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. Resume your seat. Mr Seeney: He is not answering my question, Mr Speaker. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Callide will resume his seat. Mr Horan interjected. Mr BEATTIE: Will those opposite just be quiet and I will tell them the answer they want. I have tried to tell them the answer they want. Mr Springborg interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition is on my final warning. Mr BEATTIE: As the executive arm of government, we can ask for performance, which we did. They were offered a package which included the $800,000. The comments attributed to me in the Courier-Mail—the comments which I have confirmed—are part of a package. Did I make that offer? Yes, I did. That is fine; I made that offer. Let me tell members opposite this: I make no apology for it, either. I make no apology for it because— Mr Schwarten: It was the right thing to do. Mr BEATTIE: It was not only the right thing to do; I did it for the children of Palm Island. I make no apology for it at all. I am not prepared to be intimidated nor am I prepared to let the council, by pursuing this matter, intimidate me into paying the $800,000 without performance. Let me be really clear about this: there is a brawl between the council and my government about the alcohol management plan, there is a brawl between my government and the council over the police involvement in the PCYC, and there is a brawl about the payment of that money. They will get that money only if they perform. So the answer to the member’s question is yes, and I have no problem with it—absolutely none. Ethanol Mr MULHERIN: My question without notice is directed to the Premier. The government has worked for many years to develop a national ethanol industry whilst the federal government has been sitting on its hands. I know that in the Mackay-Whitsunday sugar-growing region of the state the Premier's personal efforts are well known and appreciated by growers. I ask: does the Premier fear that procrastination by the federal government may have cost the state and the nation a chance to develop a job-creating industry that is desperately needed in regional and rural areas of Australia, particularly Queensland? Mr BEATTIE: For years my government has been calling for a bipartisan approach for a national 10 per cent ethanol blend in fuel. I and my ministers Tony McGrady, Tom Barton before him and former minister Dean Wells have all been aggressive in pursuing this issue. In recent times we were heartened that the so-called Queensland National Party Senator elect Barnaby Joyce has joined our call, as has Queensland National Party Senator Ron Boswell. We will see how good they are. This is most welcome. It might have something to do with them playing politics to appease a rural constituency that is angry that Telstra is to be flogged off, but let us see. 240 Questions Without Notice 24 Feb 2005

That aside, there is concerning news that the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation in Brazil has earlier this month signed a bilateral agreement to enhance Brazil's long-term capability to supply ethanol and biodiesel for the Japanese market. This 3 February signing is seen as the first phase of a strategy by Japan to modernise Brazil's biofuel infrastructure. For years we have been arguing for an expansion of our own industry and that would bring the critical mass needed for us to be internationally competitive. I fear that through inept politicking in Canberra the boat may well have sailed and we are not on board. We need that mandate to shore up our industry and to then ensure we are better placed to expand, especially in Asia. When I came back from Brazil last year I warned that unless the federal government actually got involved in negotiations with the Japanese at a national level we were going to be left behind. We now have an agreement between Brazil and Japan. Where is the federal trade minister on this? Where is the federal government on this? We are close to Asia geographically. We are well placed for this, but sadly that is not matched by our national political positioning. A key event now looms with my government's international ethanol conference being held in Brisbane in May. The conference will focus on demand and supply issues to promote consumer confidence in the use of ethanol blended fuels and increased consumption; environmental issues—to provide details of the environmental benefits of ethanol as a fuel; world's best practice for the manufacture of ethanol; and uses of ethanol that go far beyond fuels for cars. This follows our appointment in November last year of Sir Jack Brabham as our ethanol ambassador. It is also pleasing to note that within months there will be 44 outlets offering E10 fuel in Queensland, which we have been out promoting as strongly as we can. To reiterate for those opposite, there are two reasons why a national mandate makes sense and a Queensland one does not: firstly it would not be unconstitutional—that is a federal one; and, secondly it would provide Queensland sugar farmers with access to 100 per cent of the Australian fuel market rather than a maximum of about a fifth of the market. The members opposite ought to realise that this agreement between Japan and Brazil leaves us out. Do they ever talk to Mark Vaile? Mr Rowell interjected. Mr BEATTIE: Do you ever do anything other than whinge? We actually have to get the federal government off its backside. If we do not do that, we are going to be left behind. Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy; CMC Investigation Mr JOHNSON: My question is directed to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. Now that the CMC has once again indicated that it is the minister’s staff who will be investigated and not the minister, will she advise this House whether the principle of ministerial responsibility applies in her office and, if so, how? Ms LIDDY CLARK: It is still under investigation. The report has not come out. Opposition members interjected. Mr BEATTIE: I rise to a point of order. Mr Speaker, the opposition's disruption of the House today makes it impossible— Opposition members interjected. Mr BEATTIE: I have not even finished my point of order! The opposition's disruption of the House makes it impossible for ministers to answer any questions without some form of interruption. I think they are entitled to be able to answer the question. Mr SPEAKER: As I informed the House yesterday, I think it is time that members had some respect for each side of the House. The ministers do listen to the opposition when they ask the questions, and I think they deserve the courtesy of the opposition listening to their answers. I am going to enforce that, because this is getting to be a ridiculous state of affairs. I now call the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. Ms LIDDY CLARK: Thank you, Mr Speaker. No matter how the member for Gregory wants to put the question to me, I will not be making any public comment until the report has come down from the CMC. I would like to point out to the chamber that the member for Gregory, who is the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs in this state, actually asked me two questions last year in the 40 sitting days of this parliament, and none of them pertained to the portfolio. Mr Johnson interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Gregory, order! Mr Johnson interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Member for Gregory, order! You will cease interjecting. That is my final warning. Mr Johnson interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! I now warn you under standing order 253. 24 Feb 2005 Questions Without Notice 241

Prep Year Mr WELLS: My question is to the honourable minister for education. I refer the minister to comments by the Liberal spokesperson on education claiming that the government will not have its facilities ready for the introduction of the statewide historic prep year in 2007. Would the minister advise the House with regard to this matter? Ms BLIGH: I thank the honourable member for the question and for the opportunity it provides me to clarify for the House the circumstances surrounding the building program in the lead-up to the 2007 roll-out of prep. The member for Surfers Paradise and the Liberal spokesperson on education has been persistently following a Courier-Mail story that is, frankly, not right. On 12 February the Courier-Mail printed a story about the implementation of prep which was slightly wrong. To the Courier-Mail's credit, it subsequently printed a letter from me to clarify the mistake that the Courier-Mail had made. Unfortunately, the member for Surfers Paradise does not seem to have read the second part, that is, the correction, and has continually misinformed the public—and two days ago this House—about the government's program. It seems that the Liberals are the only ones who do not understand how prep will be rolled out. There has been no similar confusion in the minds of members of the National Party or of the Independents. It is a significant initiative and it is a little complex, and I thought today would be a good opportunity for me to put on the record some of those complexities. The government has committed to a new full-time year of early education prior to year 1. At the same time it has committed to raising the compulsory age of schooling. That is, we will change the eligibility cut-off from its current position, that is, children born on or before 31 December in the year before they start school, back six months to those children born on or before 30 June in the year before they start school. In the first year, and only in the first year of the roll-out, this means that only half of the eligible age cohort will be old enough to attend prep, so we will build half of the facilities necessary because that will adequately meet the demand in 2007. Can I say—to put it beyond any doubt—that in 2007 every child who enrols in prep will be in a classroom suitable for their age group. Those buildings will be ready. The tenders were issued a couple of weeks ago. The same would have happened if we had put the age back nine months. That would have meant that only a quarter of the children could be eligible to start in the first year and only a quarter of the buildings would be built. It makes no sense for us to go out and spend money from the Capital Works Program in a way that would see classrooms sitting vacant in some cases for up to two years. I understand that there has been some confusion. Can I put beyond any doubt—and put it beyond doubt in the minds of members—that this government is absolutely committed to the roll-out of prep. We are ready. We have the funds in the budget. We have a building program that will be rolled out in the second half of this year and throughout 2006. I encourage the member for Surfers Paradise and his Liberal colleagues to get across the detail, because it will not help their constituents if they do not understand when their children will be eligible for school and for prep. I thank the National Party and the Independents for paying attention to the detail.

Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Mr QUINN: My question is directed to the Premier. If there is indeed a tape recording of the Premier saying— I know that my director-general who is outside might have a heart attack, but if the council opens the centre with me today, I will clear that debt from my own Premier's budget but the centre must be opened today. how can the Premier claim to have been misrepresented and intimidated? Mr BEATTIE: I thank the honourable member for his question. As I have said already today, I have no qualms whatsoever, as the Premier of this state, as the head of the executive arm, about trying to get a council to play a constructive role to open a facility. What we had here was a big facility. It was a facility that the taxpayers of Queensland spent $5½ million on. I make no apology for trying to get them—encourage them—to come to the opening. What I said to them I was prepared to do was to in fact have the chairman of the council chair the opening and to in fact hand over the building to the elders, from the elders to the council, then to the police. They did not want the police to be involved. Of course I had a discussion with them about the money. If they have recorded the whole conversation I had with them—and I hope they have; I hope they have—firstly, I want them to provide it to the CMC and, secondly, I want them to provide it to every media outlet in the state. I have no concern about this at all. What is wrong with me saying to a council, ‘Come with me and open a facility for the children of your island'? We had a $5½ million facility that was sitting there like a white elephant— Mr Rickuss interjected. 242 Questions Without Notice 24 Feb 2005

Mr BEATTIE: Hang on. When you sit down with councils, and particularly when you have a difficult one like this, as part of the negotiation between a government and council of course you say, ‘You do this, I'll do that.' Since when has that been a problem? That is what the executive arm of government does. With the quote in the Courier-Mail and everything else, I have no problem standing by everything I have said on this—no problem at all. Every day ministers in the executive arm of government talk to various people about sorting through problems. How do you sort problems through with a very difficult, dysfunctional council when they would not go to the opening, when they argued with us about rebuilding the police station, when I am trying to get an alcohol management plan in place? Why wouldn’t I say to them, 'If you do this, I will do that'? What is wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with it. The important thing is this: the only thing that would be wrong with it is if there is some personal benefit to me. Where is the personal benefit to me in getting the council to come and stand next to me at the opening of the Palm Island centre? Here is a council that is on an island that was part of burning down a police station and a riot; do you think that it does me any good politically to stand next to a council like that? Of course it doesn’t! The only political benefit was for them; the benefit was for the people of the island. I make no apology. Opposition members interjected. Mr BEATTIE: It is not even the National Party's question, for heaven’s sake! I just say to the Leader of the Liberal Party: here is an island where there was a riot, where police were worried about their own lives, where they burnt down a police station. I put a five-point plan together to try to resolve this. Of course I am going to use whatever legitimate and honest means I can to open a facility, to get them to perform appropriately. I make no apology for this. Let us be really clear about it. I do not want to be misunderstood. I make no apology for offering a package that would resolve some of the problems on Palm Island, including the repayment of that debt, if they got off their bums and performed. I make no apology for it, and I stand by what I have said right now. Not only that, Mr Speaker, I know that what I did is perfectly legal—absolutely legal. I know that from my own instinct— Mr Schwarten: And moral, too. Mr BEATTIE: Not only was it legal; it was moral. I know, based on the legal advice that I have been given this morning, that what I did was legal and I stand by it. Given another chance to fix these problems, I would do it again.

DISTINGUISHED VISITOR Mr SPEAKER: Order! I welcome to the public gallery Congressman Steve King, who is a member of the United States House of Representatives for the Fifth Congressional District of Iowa and his delegation. Welcome.

PRIVILEGE

Palm Island Aboriginal Council, Meeting with Premier Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (11.01 am): I rise on a matter of privilege. Can I say one other thing to the Leader of the Liberal Party? I ask him to just remember this: this council was actually urging children not to use this facility. That is what they were doing. I wanted this facility for the children of that island. I am not going to have a council sit by and try to prevent their children from using this facility. That is the end of it.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Resumed. Newborn Babies, Hearing Tests Mr FRASER: My question is directed to the Minister for Health. Can the minister advise the House of the government's program to provide free hearing tests for newborn babies in Queensland? Mr NUTTALL: That is an important question from a new father. Permanent childhood hearing impairment is not a rare problem. It is estimated that up to six out of every thousand babies born will have moderate, severe or profound hearing loss. That equates to up to 300 babies born each year in Queensland with significant hearing loss. If hearing loss is detected early and treatment begins before babies are six months old, these babies have a better chance of improved communication. Most children who are diagnosed early as having hearing problems can be educated in mainstream schools, while those who are diagnosed later and therefore start rehabilitation later often need to be educated in a special unit due to their development and speech and language delays. 24 Feb 2005 Questions Without Notice 243

This government committed $22 million to ensure that screening for this hearing loss would occur in Queensland's newborn population. Three of Queensland's major tertiary hospitals, the royal women’s hospital, the Brisbane mater hospital and the Townsville Hospital, began testing in October of last year. I am pleased to advise the House that the success of this program has been outstanding. Preliminary results show that targets have been reached of more than 95 per cent of all babies born in these facilities being screened. Since October 2004, we have screened over 5,584 babies in the four initial sites across the state. Approximately 111, or two per cent, of these babies have been referred for further diagnostic assessment. This monitoring and treatment will be carried out by Queensland Health clinicians, including audiologists; ear, nose and throat specialists; paediatricians; and speech pathologists. The detection of hearing loss in a child's first year can be missed by parents and health professionals. In Queensland, prior to the commencement of this innovative program, the average age of identification of hearing loss was approximately 30 months. The advent of new technology now enables early detection and management of hearing impairment. Almost $4 million was allocated in this year's Queensland state budget for the program as part of the $22 million investment into the future of our children. Since the tertiary hospitals have come on line we have had Logan Hospital commence screening on 14 February and staff training occurring for Nambour and Cairns hospitals to start screening next month. Ipswich, the Gold Coast, Caboolture and Mackay hospitals will be screening by the end of May of this year. By the end of 2006, all public hospitals with more than 200 births a year will offer the screening service. An outreach community based program for small centres and access to screening for all private births will also be available in 2006. In a little more than two years, more than 50,000 babies born annually in Queensland's public and private hospitals will have access to free testing. Mr SPEAKER: I welcome to the public gallery students and teachers from Park Ridge State High School in the electorate of Logan. Magistrate’s Secretary, Comments Miss ELISA ROBERTS: My question is directed to the Attorney-General. In October last year a constituent of mine was in court in Brisbane for a hearing and was disgusted at being described by the magistrate's secretary, when she found out that the man was from Gympie, as being ‘one of those people with two heads'. Whilst some people may find this amusing, surely this type of discrimination in a court of law is not appropriate. I ask the Attorney-General: if I provide him with further details, will he investigate this matter and see that the man concerned receives an apology and that appropriate action is taken against the court public servant? Mr WELFORD: I am sure that everyone would agree that, no matter who approaches a court for assistance, they are entitled to be treated with respect. Certainly, as far as I am concerned if such an incident occurred it would be unacceptable behaviour on the part of any officer of the Public Service, let alone someone working in a courthouse. I cannot investigate it personally, but I will refer the matter to my director-general and have the matter looked at. If it is able to be established that such an incident occurred, then appropriate action will be taken. Toowoomba, Second Range Crossing Mr SHINE: My question is to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads. The second range crossing for Toowoomba will provide a major boost for the local economy. I ask: can the minister inform the House on the progress of this important project and how it might complement other Commonwealth and state strategic infrastructure priorities for the region? Mr LUCAS: I thank the honourable member for his question. It is a very important issue and I would have to say that it is a bipartisan issue. It is an issue that is not only important for the member for Toowoomba North but also for the member for Toowoomba South. The federal member for Groom and I have discussed it. The Queensland government has a very strong position on this issue. I do not know if everyone in this House fully realises the economic boom potential of the area west of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. It is superbly positioned as a major freight and logistics centre for the rest of Queensland and, indeed, for down south. Mr Reynolds: The Charlton-Wellcamp area. Mr LUCAS: The Charlton-Wellcamp area, as the minister says. At present we are just about to issue the final set of land resumption notices for the route for the second range crossing. We have our disagreements with the Commonwealth government on many issues, but one issue that we agree on is the route for the second range crossing to Toowoomba. It is a very important issue. As I have said, we now have reached the stage where we have that route defined. The next stage is for the money to be granted from the Commonwealth—about $10 million—to study the detailed toll case, the PPP case, the business case for the construction of the road. I 244 Questions Without Notice 24 Feb 2005 understand that the Commonwealth has many funding priorities and our job is to be realistic about them and work with them in a cooperative manner. That is why the member for Toowoomba North and the member for Toowoomba South and I have had very good discussions with each other in relation to the issue. That second range crossing will have an enormous economic benefit and we believe that, by working with the federal government, we can fit it into the second round of AusLink negotiations, yet not unduly delay it. The other point to raise is that the Commonwealth government—and I have had discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister and the chairman of the Australian Rail Track Corporation about it—is very, very keen, as it should be, on a Brisbane to Melbourne rail route. One of the ways in which they are looking at doing that is bringing the line up through the old Armidale line in New South Wales and up to the Darling Downs. If the first stage of that line was brought to the Charlton-Wellcamp area, that would fit in very nicely with the road before the rail line is needed to be upgraded to Brisbane. Mr Rickuss: What about the water? Mr LUCAS: We are trying to work cooperatively to do this. The presence of the rail line would then allow bulk freight to go from the logistics centre, then for trucks with containers to come down to Brisbane, or go up the coast to service the rest of Queensland. It also allows us to set up a business case to make it easier for the Dawson Valley railway to be built, because others would finance the cost of bringing the rail line up to Toowoomba. The government has now identified the Gowrie to Grandchester rail corridor, which we would ultimately like to do. That would fit in very nicely as a second or third stage of that project. I will fight with the Commonwealth when it is in Queensland's interests to do so, but I will also work cooperatively with it, with the members opposite and with people in local government—such as the Mayor of Toowoomba—to achieve this very important task. We have the work ahead of us. I thank the honourable member for his question about this issue. This is a major opportunity for the economic development of south-east Queensland.

Citrus Canker Mr HORAN: My question is to the Hon. Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries. The minister gave a commitment to the Queensland citrus growers on 16 December that he would consider the destruction plan option for Emerald citrus growers when DPI surveillance gave the all clear of the Gayndah-Mundubbera area. That all clear has now been given. Why has the minister not given consideration to the destruction option? If the minister's current plan does not bring domestic access for Emerald growers, will he guarantee to implement the destruction plan as a matter of urgency? Mr PALASZCZUK: The question is based on a false premise. As minister, I do not make the final decision on the course of action to be taken for the containment and the eradication of the citrus canker disease in Queensland. That decision is made by the national management group which is chaired by the Commonwealth and has representatives from every state and territory. Mr Horan: You make recommendations; you're driving it. Mr PALASZCZUK: Let me finish. Yes, I did give that commitment on 16 December. We did take that proposal to the national management group and the national management group rejected it. However, we have kept that in the back of our minds just in case we had the situation in the Emerald district where citrus canker disease moved from one property to another. The good news is that citrus canker has been contained to one property. We have only about two weeks of surveillance left on that property. We were delayed by six days because the owner of that property did not give the department permission to continue its surveillance. I am quietly confident that the continued surveillance of the 2PH property will show that there is no further citrus canker present after the 40,000 trees have been inspected. The good news is that we have taken the first step—and I announced this in a ministerial statement yesterday—of giving certificates to the three citrus growers in the Emerald region to allow them to recommence exports overseas. That is the first step. We are working with the growers in the Emerald region to try to get them an ALOP. Once we can achieve that ALOP, based on science, and it is accepted by the national management group, the government would gain access to the local market. Mr Horan: Domestic. Mr PALASZCZUK: Not the domestic market. It is the local market; the intrastate market. That is next stage. After that we will then press to have full access to the Australian market. We certainly hope to have that in place by the end of April. We are working overtime with the citrus growers in the Emerald region to regain them access. We are working with the member for Gregory to regain them access. We are working together, unlike the citrus growers organisation in Queensland and the Australian citrus growers organisation which is doing almost everything in its power to thwart our efforts. They have vested interests. 24 Feb 2005 Questions Without Notice 245

Australian Water Fund Mrs SMITH: My question is to the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines. I refer to the Prime Minister’s public endorsement of a $4 billion Liberal Party election plan to build a vast water channel in Western Australia. Is the minister concerned that Mr Howard's backing for this project will jeopardise Queensland's share of funding from the Commonwealth's $2 billion Australian water fund for vital projects in this state? Mr ROBERTSON: I thank the honourable member for the question. As someone who is from the Gold Coast, she should quite correctly be concerned, as should other members in this place, about the Prime Minister's public backing of a 3,700 kilometre canal project being promoted by the Liberal Leader of the Opposition in the lead-up to Western Australian elections. I am concerned, given the reports in today's Australian, that the cost of this 3,700 kilometre canal has blown out from the initial estimate of $2 billion to now $4 billion. What that can only mean, with the Prime Minister's stated support in the paper, is that the projects that the other states have submitted under the national water initiative must now be jeopardised. What that means—not just for Gold Coast members; it includes the leader of the Liberal Party in this place—is that it jeopardises the three priority projects that we have put to Canberra for funding out of the national water initiative. The first project is the water loss management strategy for the Gold Coast. It is not just about what the Liberal Party leader will or will not do in terms of contacting the Prime Minister but also what the National Party will or will not do. The second project that we put to Canberra for funding under the national water initiative is the Bundaberg ground water rescue package. What will the member for Burnett do under the threat of the Prime Minister diverting funds under the national water initiative to the 3,700 kilometre canal? Is that member going to hop on the phone to his colleagues in Canberra and urge the Prime Minister not to continue with this folly and go down the track of this so-called national building scheme? The third project is the Mackay ground water rescue package. Each of those projects meets the national water initiative guidelines and are sensible and sustainable. But with the Prime Minister's backing of this 3,700 kilometre canal, the funding of those projects must be jeopardised, particularly since we now know that the cost has blown out in a matter of weeks from $2 billion to $4 billion. We are talking about a national water initiative of only $2 billion. Each and every member in this place, including those opposite, should be concerned about the folly of supporting this canal project. I inform members that we are currently doing some canal work in Emerald. Seven kilometres of irrigation channels are currently being lined for how much? Seven million dollars. That is without any earthworks. That is $1 million a kilometre. Multiply that by 3,700 kilometres and we have a massive blowout, way beyond $4 billion, before we even dig a hole. The Prime Minister needs to commit to the national water initiative and a fair share for each and every state in Australia. Child Protection Mrs STUCKEY: My question without notice is to the Minister for Child Safety. I refer to the Supreme Court decision in the case of the Children's Commission v Maher that was handed down on 23 December 2004 in which it was revealed that the person involved had been permitted by the department of families to foster a child. If the government's claims that the protection of vulnerable children is its No. 1 priority, can the minister explain why a convicted child sex offender who had his blue card rejected in 2002 by the former children's commissioner was allowed to continue as a carer in the foster care system? Mr REYNOLDS: I would like to thank the member for Currumbin for the question she has asked me today. I say first of all that the Department of Child Safety takes its responsibility of looking after the most vulnerable children and young people very seriously. I am aware of the case that the member has actually referred to. As the member would be aware from the media statements that have been made by the Courier-Mail in particular and me, under section 189 of the Child Protection Act 1999 it prohibits me as Minister for Child Safety from commenting on specific matters that relate to clients of the Department of Child Safety. This confidentiality provision of the legislation was introduced for very good reasons. In this case in particular and other cases of the same type, it is to protect the families and the children who are in crisis. Today you have mentioned the name of the person and the name of the family, and I would be in breach of the act to get up in parliament today and speak about this case. If you knew the act, which apparently you do not, you would understand that. The staff of the Department of Child Safety work with some of the most vulnerable, damaged and traumatised people in our society today. We work to help them rebuild their lives and, where possible, rebuild the family's life as well. Should anyone have a child protection— Mrs STUCKEY: I rise to a point of order. I did not name the child and I did not name the family. I named the case. 246 Questions Without Notice 24 Feb 2005

Mr REYNOLDS: Isn't that remarkable! That is exactly why I have said what I have said to you today. You have named the case. It is amazing that you do not understand the difference between naming the case and naming the family. Let me make it very clear to you today that I will not sully the reputation of children and young people who are vulnerable inside this parliament or outside of it. I take my responsibility as Minister for Child Safety very seriously indeed. That confidentiality provision was actually backed up by the Liberal Party in this parliament something like six years ago. You backed that provision of the Child Protection Act. As minister, I will not sully the reputation of young and vulnerable children in the way that you are asking me to do today. I will not do it with the media, and I will not do it in this parliament. Mr LINGARD: I rise to a point of order. Mr Speaker, you have continually allowed ministers to talk directly to the opposition, yet you are not allowing the opposition to answer back. That minister then continues to give a comment referring to you— Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. Resume your seat. Tourism Industry Ms MOLLOY: My question is to the Minister for Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development. I have heard the minister say on several occasions that accessability is absolutely essential if our tourism industry is to continue to grow. Can the minister advise the House of increased capacity into the state and its impact on tourism? Ms KEECH: I thank the honourable member for her question and her strong commitment to the tourism industry in Noosa and on the Sunshine Coast. I am happy to inform the House that it is very good news indeed. In fact, a 37 per cent boost in international airline seat capacity to Queensland over the past two years has resulted in thousands more tourists coming to our beautiful state. And why wouldn't they? In fact, international visitors to Queensland spent $5 billion in the state last year. Tourists taking advantage of the new capacity to visit spent an estimated $573 million and created an estimated 6,500 tourism jobs for Queenslanders over the past two years, and many of those are in the electorate of Noosa. Overall, visitors to Queensland spent an estimated $18.3 billion across Queensland— throughout the length and breadth of Queensland and also in our wonderful outback. The increase in air capacity is due in part to the continuing success of the Beattie government's aviation strategy, which is aimed at attracting new and expanded services on both international and domestic services. Tourists are flocking here—not surprisingly when one considers that we have the very best tourism product in the world, creating jobs for Queenslanders in a vibrant industry. In fact, at the National Tourism Awards in Alice Springs recently Queensland scooped the pool by winning 11 awards with the second best performance from New South Wales with a very slight four—11 versus four. Brisbane international air capacity increased in the past two years by 51 per cent. Much of this increase can be attributed to airlines like Emirates which introduced daily services into Brisbane in late 2003. Several other international carriers either expanded or introduced new flights into Brisbane during 2004 thanks to the increased market demand spurred by our successful campaigns in overseas markets. Today the Premier commended Her Excellency the Governor on her excellent work in Los Angeles with respect to Queensland Week. Other new flights include the Qantas new direct services between Los Angeles and Brisbane, new Pacific Blue flights from New Zealand and expanded services with Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines. Let us not forget that Australian Airlines has played a major role in growing international air capacity out of Asia, with direct flights into the Gold Coast and its operational base—Cairns—from Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. We are also attracting new interest from emerging markets such as China, Taiwan and Korea. The Beattie government is very proud of the success being achieved under its aviation strategy. Alcohol Restrictions, North Queensland Ms LEE LONG: My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. I refer to alcohol restrictions in place for communities in Cape York and restrictions on bottle shop alcohol sales at venues near those communities. I understand that negotiations have occurred between the Queensland government and hoteliers about restrictions for towns such as Mareeba, Mossman, Cooktown, Gordonvale and other towns in the far north, and I ask: will towns such as Mareeba be affected by these restrictions and, if so, in what way and when? Ms LIDDY CLARK: I thank the member for the question. It is a question more for Liquor Licensing. Yes, together with DATSIP and Liquor Licensing all of the hoteliers had a major meeting last week and have been discussing all of those issues. The outcome of those discussions will probably be released next week or the week after, and I am sure we will get them to the member. It is interesting to note that a number of the truck stops and the places which have liquor outlets are working in association with the restrictions as we speak, and they are doing that by choice. They are having a takeaway limit of, 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 247 say, one carton of light beer for everybody, but that has been the choice of the outlet. The results of the discussions will be made public in the next couple of weeks. We will work with Liquor Licensing and get that information to the member. Get Set for Work Program Ms BARRY: My question is to the Minister for Employment, Training and Industrial Relations. The number of young Queenslanders starting apprenticeships or traineeships in 2005 is again at record levels. Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to assist another group of young people— those who have left school early and are at risk of falling through the gaps in our jobs market? Mr BARTON: I thank the member for the question. The member constantly talks to me about the issues relating to young people who need that training and need that jobs effort. Last month large numbers of 15- to 17-year-old Queenslanders returned to school to undertake years 11 and 12. However, significant numbers of young people also decided to put school on hold and set out to get a job. Although our thriving economy offers excellent job or training prospects, the transition from school to work is not always an easy one—and that is where the government's Get Set for Work program comes in, giving youngsters the skills, insights and motivation to help them into employment or training. We successfully launched the program last year, and I am pleased to say that it will be widely expanded in 2005. It is part of the government's Breaking the Unemployment Cycle initiative and a key component of our Education and Training Reforms for the Future agenda. Get Set for Work recognises that young people who leave school early often lack the education and skills they need for the work force, resulting in them failing to find a job or to hold one down. The program helps them to get a job or gain sufficient motivation and understanding of the world of work to progress to vocational training. Some may actually return to school. The program is run by community organisations which have expertise in both employment and training. It offers activities to build confidence and self-reliance and provides young people with life and employability skills to help them into employment. In 2004 Get Set for Work pilot programs were run in 15 centres and assisted 143 young people to find jobs. Another 49 returned to school and 41 entered training courses. This year most of the community organisations will again run projects, expanding them to take in bigger numbers of participants. We are also running Get Set for Work in 14 new locations. Over the year it is planned that this excellent program will provide a hand up to more than 600 young Queenslanders. It is being introduced at Mackay, Cairns, Ipswich, Mitchelton, Cleveland, Miami, Mount Gravatt, Coopers Plains, West Moreton, Toowoomba, Caloundra, Nambour, Bundaberg and Kingaroy. All programs will be available by the end of this month. I urge honourable members to promote Get Set for Work to parents and others in their electorates. They can find out about the program and where it is run by contacting an office of the Department of Employment and Training. Alternatively, they can go to the department's web site at www.trainandemploy.qld.gov.au. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wallace): Order! The time for questions has expired.

SUMMARY OFFENCES BILL

Second Reading Resumed from 23 February (see p. 179). Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before calling the Leader of the Opposition, I would like members to welcome members of the Mermaid and Broadbeach senior citizens associations in the electorate of Robina. Mr SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—NPA) (Leader of the Opposition) (11.31 am): As has been outlined by the shadow police minister, the Nationals are supporting the changes contained in the Summary Offences Bill. I will be making some comments about whether we believe it goes far enough. Further changes may be needed in the future. This bill seeks to update and make contemporary provisions which are contained in another act and address some other issues which have arisen in more recent times. The Nationals have been very strong and very strident over a considerable period of time about the breakdown in law and order across various areas in Queensland—not only in the Brisbane CBD but also in the outer suburbs, the major regional centres and some of our rural centres, which have been facing some similar issues. Over the past week or so there has been an extraordinary amount of publicity about the problems in the Brisbane CBD. People need to remember that those sorts of issues and concerns have been raised in a range of communities throughout Queensland over time. There are issues of public drunkenness, disorderly behaviour, assault and associated crime and misdemeanours. When I go to Townsville or Cairns people raise the same sorts of issues with me. Yesterday the member 248 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005 for Hinchinbrook raised issues about which he has a deep personal concern. Because these issues affect the regional areas of Queensland, the rest of Queensland does not necessarily get a real understanding of their magnitude in some places. We have to acknowledge that there are some categories of crime in which there has been a decline. I think that is heartening and I commend the Queensland Police Service for that. However, I think we have to set that against the backdrop of a range of demographic changes and crime imperative changes. These impact on the way people commit crime and report crime. I was very concerned to read a couple of years ago some figures from the Australian Institute of Criminology about property crime. It stated that almost 50 per cent of property crime in rural areas went unreported. The reason it went unreported was that a lot of people did not believe the crime was going to be cleared up. If people do not report crime—this is research from the AIC; it is not mine—there is no chance it will be cleared up and that may have an impact further down the track. Some people feel that reporting crime is hardly worth their while. They know that the clear-up rate for property crime is between 10 per cent and 12 per cent. So 90 per cent of reported incidents are not cleared up. Property crime figures can be extraordinarily variable. Even in my own police district there is sometimes an extraordinary spike in the property crime rate. The following year the number can have really flattened out, even though the level of property crime in my electorate is much lower than it is in some other places. As police tell us, that spike can be because there has been a one- or two-person crime wave and once police catch one or two offenders they are able to get to the nub of the problem. I am heartened that the property crime rate throughout Queensland seems to be decreasing. As I said, I think we have to see that in light of how much crime is reported and the clean-up rate and the way that may be discouraging people. The decrease may also be reflective of the fact that people are becoming more security conscious. Many more people lock their houses. I consider myself fortunate to live in an area where a lot of people still do not have to lock their houses. Years ago we would go away and not lock our house. Now we do. We are more conscious of those particular issues. The installation of home and business security systems has assisted in that particular area. We need to acknowledge that the rates of other types of crime are increasing. There are some alarming increases in relation to assaults against the person. That is something that needs to be dealt with. Drug offences are also of significant concern to the Nationals. I will touch on those issues in some detail. It is true that sometimes the fear of crime does not reflect what is actually happening out there. There is a counter-argument in that regard. If we seek to deny that crime is such a big issue we can lull people into a false sense of security. Crime rates in some brackets have increased. The rate of crimes against the person per 100,000 is much greater now than it has been in the past. It is interesting to note that people in the community hold the view that the homicide rate is going through the roof. In actual fact, as I understand it the homicide rate per 100,000—the minister may have the figures at her fingertips—is probably lower now than it was in 1930s. Ms Spence: It is very low. Mr SPRINGBORG: Statistically, the rate of homicide has not crept up over decades. For those people who are concerned about homicide, it is not strangers they need to worry about; it is people that they know and, often, family members. We do have some specific concerns. The shadow minister has acknowledged the areas we support. There are some very encouraging aspects to this bill. They have been talked about already so I will not go through those. This week in the parliament we have raised issues about the juvenile justice system. We understand and support the fact that a different approach needs to be taken to processing juveniles through the justice system. Nobody argues against that, because young people do need to be given a first chance and maybe even a second chance. It is true that after their initial contact with the police—they may be cautioned, for example—a lot of young people never come back. Our concern relates to the recidivists who end up going before the juvenile justice courts in Queensland, to the rate of repeat offences and to the graduation of those people to the adult court system in Queensland. During the course of this week we have mentioned those figures. CMC figures indicate that some 80 per cent of those who have been through the court system are coming back and being put on probation or in detention. Some 49 per cent of those ultimately go on to be incarcerated in the adult criminal justice system. They are alarming figures. Certainly they need to be considered as a part of any overall proper response to reducing crime in Queensland. For a lot of young people, their first contact with the police is pretty scary. Most of them never do anything else. But there are hardened, brazen juvenile criminals who, frankly, take the chance that is given to them, disregard it and then take other chances that are given to them and disregard them as well. I am in possession—I am sure other members are as well—of the case files of some of these characters. Their previous criminal history runs to three and four pages. There are not 10 or 15 but more like 50 or 60 charges, findings of guilt or pleas of guilty for break and enters, various assaults and so on. They are presenting themselves to court on multiple occasions for similar repeat offences. Those 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 249 people know full well that they are going to be treated in a more sympathetic fashion in those courts. What happens to them is no deterrent, with the range of options available to, and the precedents that exist in, those particular courts. That cannot be denied. The minister who is responsible for this introduced the juvenile naming laws—which we commended at the time—when she was minister for families. These laws allowed the courts to name juveniles in the most heinous categories. It concerns us that some 18 or so months down the track we still have not seen the courts deem one of those crimes serious enough for one of those juveniles to be named. Frankly, some of those juveniles hide behind the veil of anonymity, and they do it very openly. They hide behind the veil of anonymity which is given to them as a special consideration because of their relative youth. There is a deterrent that can be made available in naming these offenders. Not only that, it gives the community a right to know where significant, repeat problems may be in their community. There is an element of shame that goes with that but there is also an element of community protection. My call to the government is to look at those juvenile naming laws and to consider some changes because I think we need some changes. The CBD has been in the news in the last week or two. The Nationals have been raising this issue now for a couple of years and it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. It is unfortunate that we had to have a virtual riot in November of last year and some very unfortunate bashings and killings in the city in recent times before we got to the stage that we are at today. I would like to look at the figures, as best we have them, for the central business district. I am talking about the area between the Indooroopilly district and Fortitude Valley. Indooroopilly stops not all that far up Milton Road and we know where Fortitude Valley is. So we are talking about the central Brisbane area, and the figures are concerning. We are also concerned that figures that we used to get broken down into individual stations we cannot get any longer from the government. The only way we can get a handle on the success of our policing strategies and our justice strategies is to get accurate figures. In the central business area in 2001-02 total offences against people were 1,160. In 2003-04 it was 1,740 or a 50 per cent change. Assaults rose from 742 to 1,159 in the same period. Total sexual assaults rose from 81 to 127 in the same period. Rapes increased from 14 to 44 in the same period—a significant increase. Armed robbery rose from 34 to 40 in the same period—not as dramatic an increase. Good order offences—and a lot of focus has been on this over the last week or two—rose from 1,658 to 3,004; a significant increase. Indecent behaviour rose from 152 to 274. Supply of dangerous drugs rose from 18 to 172—a significant and dramatic increase. An argument is often floated about the increased reporting of these offences. There may be an element of truth to that. It is very difficult to prove. A lot of it is anecdotal. How many of the offences are not reported and how many are reported? But we need to be concerned about this because crime and lawlessness can breed crime and lawlessness. Some of these aspects, in my opinion, will be picked up by the bill which the minister has before the House. Some of the good order offences and the indecent behaviour offences I think can be effectively dealt with. However, with regard to the supply of dangerous drugs and armed robbery, frankly, I think our court system is not robust enough and needs to have some very clear direction from this parliament about what it expects. Is it justifiable that armed robbers do not go to jail? Is it justifiable that such an extraordinary number of sexual offenders do not go to jail? I do not believe so. With regard to the supply of dangerous drugs, the Premier made mention the other day about the binge drinking culture in this state. Nobody would argue that we have a binge drinking culture. When it is late and alcohol is involved, situations can turn dangerous. There is an element of self-responsibility to that, but there is also an element of responsibility on behalf of the government to ensure that we have regulations which encourage peace and good behaviour to try to ensure that law-abiding citizens are not impacted on. In the early 1990s legislation was brought into this parliament by the Goss government to open up trading hours for licensed establishments. Most people thought that is what we do in a contemporary environment. The world has changed. Is it sensible to have closing hours at 10 o'clock at night or 7 o'clock on a Sunday night? We opened up trading hours and we have to look at the fact that it has not all been good news. I am not proposing that we turn the clock back to where it was, but it is quite apparent to anyone with half a brain that it has got right out of hand. The longer people are out drinking, the longer they are out there losing control in many cases, and the more disharmony we see in our community. How long do we have to have these establishments open? Surely there is no good benefit to the majority of people in drinking and carrying on until 4, 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning. We really have to ask that question. Look at what people report when walking home from the pub—even in my areas at 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning. What happens with regard to the peace and good behaviour issues there? Also, there are property offences with people entering people's backyards. It is a problem and it needs to be addressed, but there needs to be a recognition that the actions of this parliament years ago have contributed to that particular problem. 250 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005

People do need to be regulated. It would be great to be able to say that we could have a complete laissez faire deregulatory approach to life, but people do need to be regulated. That is why we have parliaments. That is why we have laws. That is why we have to make those sorts of judgments about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. If something leads to unacceptable behaviour, then frankly we need to look at all those sorts of issues and that responsibility basically rests with us. The Premier made much recently of the problems with regard to the CBD. He is going to consider a 3 o'clock curfew on nightclubs. If we have all these problems and we have under-age drinking, it does not make a lot of sense for the government to have been responsible for reducing the number of Liquor Licensing officers in the same area of Brisbane. It makes absolutely no sense at all. It is quite brainless, actually. The drop has been from 57.2 as at June 2003 to 53.7 as at June 2004. We are not getting more Liquor Licensing officers to address these problems; we have fewer Liquor Licensing officers. That is not smart in a so-called Smart State. If we are trying to regulate these things as a response to peace and good behaviour issues, then we must ensure that we have the people there to regulate them. We cannot regulate them if we are going to reduce the number of those particular responsible officers. Look at the issue of drugs and the enormous increase we have seen in drug usage and drug offences across Queensland over a number of years. I do not think we take the issue of illicit drug use production, supply, distribution and trafficking seriously enough. These people destroy people's lives. They are no better than a mass murderer in many cases, yet we have situations where drug traffickers in some instances do not go to jail. Some people have extraordinary amounts of drugs in their possession and yet get community service orders. That does not make any sense. One of the biggest deterrents to the supply of dangerous drugs, production and distribution frankly would be for this government to implement telephone interception powers for our law enforcement bodies in Queensland. Most other Australian state jurisdictions have had them for years. This state does not have them. There are no genuine civil liberties or constitutional concerns about this because other states have found a way of overcoming them. This government argues that if there are issues for which the state requires these powers, then it should go off to the Australian Crime Commission, which used to be the National Crime Authority, or the Federal Police. The reality is that that is a fairly turgid process. That in itself is a deterrent to the police wanting to do that. The police should have the authority, under a strict regulatory regime, to be able to do that sort of thing in Queensland, as should the CMC. It really must have the particular capacity to do it. How can the following situation be justified? Someone is into drug production, distribution, trafficking—whatever the case maybe. Over the border in Tweed Heads, the New South Wales law enforcement authorities can be tracking their telephone calls. Yet they come into Queensland and the authorities cannot do that. Do not do such a thing on a computer because this government introduced some laws to be able to track information electronically, which is good. But if that person steps outside and uses a mobile phone, the authorities cannot do anything. As I have said, the Nationals broadly support what the government has brought into parliament. It is not true zero tolerance. We need to look at those issues in the future. It is a step in the right direction, but there are a range of other deficiencies in our policing and criminal justice system that this government must recognise and must move to address in the future. Mr HORAN (Toowoomba South—NPA) (11.50 am): The Summary Offences Bill is an important bill because it addresses many issues that police come across on a day-to-day basis. It endeavours to get rid of some of the antiquities in the old legislation and bring in some laws and rules that will assist police in making our streets in particular safer. I want to comment on a few issues. The fact that part of the tenor of this legislation is to look at pre-emptive issues is good. That is, if police suspect someone is doing something that is highly likely to lead to crime—and the police are in the best position to judge this—it makes certain pre-emptive actions offences. That can only be good in not only helping prevent crime but also helping prevent people getting involved in more serious crime. Anything we can do to make the daily work of the police a little bit more simplified, sensible and practical the better. These days it is very difficult for police who are dealing with matters such as evidence and investigation. They bring people in for questioning and the suspects can simply say, ‘We don't want to answer that.' Many people know they can do that. It hamstrings the police, to a great extent, when that occurs. I also want to speak about self-defence and home break-ins. That matter is very important and very dear to the heart of, many, many people. In this legislation the possession of an implement can be an offence. In the minister's second reading speech specific mention is made of car door lock scanners, jemmies and so forth. It is excellent to have this included because it is quite obvious what someone is intending if they are roaming around a car park with that sort of gear and equipment. Lawful people do not carry those pieces of equipment. They are not out there looking to break into people's cars. I think that is very sensible. 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 251

In the minister's second reading speech it says that this will not prevent a person having possession of an implement within their home for the purposes of self-defence during a break-in. I presume that within a house people are allowed to have a cricket bat, baseball bat, a bar or other things behind the door that people may wish to have to feel safe. That is interesting to me. When the issue of guns was debated there were many people, particularly older people—in my electorate I had a lot of older women who had firearms in their house for self-defence—who owned guns and self-defence was never allowed to be a reason to own a firearm. People could own a firearm because they were in a shooting club, pistol club or rifle club. They could own a firearm if they were on a rural property because they are needed to put down animals with broken legs, kill a snake or whatever. They could also own a firearm if they had a letter to say that they could shoot on someone's property; going out and pig shooting or whatever. Self-defence was never allowed as a reason to own a firearm. In this legislation self-defence is given as a reason to own a bar, a pick, a pick handle or a bar with a leather thong on it or whatever people might want to have behind the door to feel safer if someone were to break into their house. I would be interested to hear the minister's comments on that because I remember the number of older women in my electorate, and particularly women who had come in from the country, who had a firearm and kept it in their cupboard purely for reasons of self-defence. They felt safe and competent because they had a gun. That was one of the big issues at the time. Whilst I agree that everyone has the right to have something to protect themselves, it seems incongruous with previous events that have happened regarding firearms. The issue of trespassing is mentioned and I think that is very good. There are two different sections on trespassing. There is one section regarding people going through the backyard of people's homes or through their businesses and there is also the issue of trespassing on rural properties. I notice that the member for Toowoomba North brought that matter up and asked why it was there for rural areas and not for others. It is obviously there for business and domestic premises as well. I know there are many issues. I think this is good, but I just wonder how it will work in effect. I would like the minister to make some comments about this in her reply. I have heard reports in Toowoomba of groups of three or four young fellows, generally with a cap on sideways and so forth, who will come into business premises and they will go into different rooms. They might be professional rooms such as medical rooms or it might be an accountancy firm or so on. They say, ‘We are just looking for Maisie' or ‘We are just looking for Auntie Smith' or ‘We are just looking for the toilets.' The staff know that they are casing the place and looking to see who has money and so forth. It is what they do. There was a nursing home in the CBD where they actually pinched some purses out of rooms. They just came in and said, ‘We're here to visit Mrs Smith' or something like that. These are the sort of cases where obviously the staff would know they are up to no good. If we are going to have this legislation the staff need to know they can get on the phone immediately and the police can come around and do something, that is, the offenders can be charged under these new offences. If we have enough police numbers to be able to enforce the law, then I think that these laws are very, very good because that is exactly what is happening in my city of Toowoomba. I am sure that the same modus operandi is being used in other cities around Queensland. Also, some people, particularly older people living near the CBD, get a bit frightened when these young fellows cut across from yard to yard instead of going around the block. They cut across yards and jump fences and so forth. It will give older people a little more security. I had someone from an accountancy firm ring me recently in Toowoomba saying that they kept their front door shut to stop this very thing. People were coming in annoying the staff, obviously casing the place, having a look to see if there was any place they might be able to get in or if there was any cash kept on the premises. If these laws can be properly implemented, they will be very, very good. There are provisions in the bill regarding drinking in a public place and the issue of wilful exposure. Wilful exposure is separate from the matter of, as my colleague from Gregory said yesterday, ‘when you have to go you have to go.’ It all gets back to the issue of nightclubs. One thing I have noticed with these late hours is that very often there are great groups of people coming out on to the streets in the early hours of the morning. Probably the two things they need is a hot chip van and public toilets. One of the problems that we have in our society is this move towards binge drinking. People in their twenties and thirties, who generations ago would have been at home looking after three kids, are now single and out being entertained until all hours of the night. It is a different culture. Although it is a very difficult issue, it is something that we have to deal with. These people are drinking heavy alcoholic drinks for long hours. Of course, it is going to get them into all sorts of problems where oftentimes brawls can start. Then people are queuing up for hours and hours waiting for cabs. There are probably many members of parliament who have had to catch an early plane and when going through town in a cab they have seen the stragglers hanging around from the late closing hours of the nightclubs. We think to ourselves that that cannot be very good for them and it cannot be much fun for them just hanging around in that sort of condition at that hour of the morning. Whilst some of these laws will be of assistance, something that all sides and levels of politics have to look at is this issue of long hours of 252 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005 heavy drinking way into the early hours of the morning and some of the associated social problems that go with that. Recently, there was some controversy in Toowoomba about brawling that was occurring outside a couple of the nightclubs. I have had discussions with the superintendent of police in Toowoomba. I have confidence that the police are doing everything that they can to manage that matter, other than standing outside the doors of the pubs for the whole time. It is occurring only spasmodically at one or two places. It is an issue that is brought about by long hours of people drinking heavy alcoholic drinks—cocktail type drinks and spirits—and the result is antisocial behaviour that occurs in the very, very early hours of the morning. A system setting out how procedures can be initiated by police is in place to provide the community with confidence that the police, when they act, are acting in accordance with a set of formal procedures so that there is a system of fairness in what they are undertaking. Overall, I support the police very much in what they have to do. In many of these cases, a police officer is going to have to make an on-the-spot decision. If a police officer sees someone with a jemmy or a scanner in a car park, or if someone is drunk, or if someone is trespassing over a property or through a business, that officer has to deal with it immediately. It cannot be allowed to go on. So I think that it is a good move to have this system of procedures in place so that police can initiate action. I want to comment on juvenile justice. I have long held the view that very often young people who get into trouble come from unfortunate and difficult circumstances. As a society, we owe them every opportunity to help them reach their potential and have a chance in life. I know that something like 85 per cent of first offenders who have had a warning and a fright from the police never offend again. But I believe that those who continue to offend—and I have always believed this strongly—need a halfway house or a halfway facility where they are given the opportunity to learn some life skills, to learn that there are things in life such as discipline and self-discipline, and to learn how to look after themselves and care for themselves—somewhere where they are trained in those skills. I always believed that BoysTown was a great place for giving these young people a chance to learn leadership skills; to work within a team; to learn skills, be they rural, mechanical or IT skills; or simply learn how to attend lessons and know that there is a particular time constraint—that they have to be there at a certain time, that they have to leave at a certain time, that they have to have their meals at the right time—and that people care and that everything in the world is not bad; in fact, 98 per cent that all the world is about is good. When I was the shadow minister for police and corrective services my policy, which I strongly believed in, was that there should be a level of assistance for young people who are repeat offenders. There cannot be a revolving door of justice where offenders get a warning and go out again and get a warning and go out again on probation without something positive being done. At a certain stage there should be a system that takes care of repeat offenders—a system that gives them a chance, gives them an opportunity, gives them some training and is helpful to them. If those repeat offenders continue to offend, then they deserve to go into detention. If the crime is serious, then detention is the obvious choice. It is time that we put some of our funds into giving these young people a chance, because in many cases they come from very difficult and sometimes unfortunate circumstances. The National Party supports the Summary Offences Bill. I certainly hope that some of the practicality that I see in it gives our police officers a chance to be able to make our streets and public areas safer and more enjoyable. I have always thought that, generally speaking, our cities in Queensland are safe and happy places for young people. I have seen my own children and all their colleagues and friends enjoy it. Generally speaking, they are safe, happy places. We do not want to see drunkenness, riots and brawls destroy the nice ambience of Queensland cities and towns for those young people who want to go out, meet some friends and have an enjoyable time. The National Party supports this bill. I hope that it provides the police with the tools they need to make our streets, our public areas and our homes safer places. Mrs LIZ CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (12.06 pm): I rise to speak in support of this legislation and commend the minister for the elements that are in the legislation relating to public offences and public behaviour. I am sure that there were some people who would have lobbied the minister in the preparation of this legislation to see all constraints on behaviour, in public in particular, removed. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but unless our laws provide clear parameters of acceptable behaviour, particularly to our young people who are developing their values, as they mature they will not learn boundaries and our society will be the poorer for it. I particularly commend the minister for the examples that are given in the explanatory notes to set out what is a public nuisance. I believe that those examples set out clearly the intent of the legislation. Most people who are in a public place, such as walking through a shopping mall, certainly do not want to be assailed by obscene language. I have spent time walking through high schools and at times it is very confronting to hear the way in which young people communicate with each other. I believe that in great measure this legislation sets out what is acceptable behaviour not only to those who might be demonstrating the behaviour but also to the rest of us who may be subject to that behaviour. 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 253

The previous speaker and the member for Gregory talked about the fact that if you have got to go, you have got to go, but the reality is that in most situations there is an appropriate place to attend to that matter, particularly in urban areas. In rural areas there are plenty of opportunities to be discreet. I believe that this legislation sets out clearly what is acceptable behaviour in terms of that behaviour. It certainly sets out what is going to be acceptable in terms of intentionally demonstrating behaviours in public that are offensive. In relation to the begging issue, I have been contacted by somebody outside my electorate who believes that the whole issue of begging should be removed from the legislation. They believe that in a civilised society criminal sanctions against people forced by economic and social desperation into begging should not be established. I think all members in this chamber are concerned that people in our electorates have sufficient to be able to maintain an acceptable lifestyle—not necessarily an opulent lifestyle but to be able to provide for themselves and their children. I found it very confronting but not surprising to read in the paper this week that organisations that provide relief—that is, food parcels and accommodation—to people genuinely in need have had to tighten their procedures because people who have quite acceptable standards of living have been approaching these organisations seeking assistance. I do not know what would possess people to do that. There are a great number of people in our communities whom we have to press to get assistance because they are too proud—and I mean that in the right sense of the word—to ask for assistance even though they need it. Many times in our electorate offices we have to say to people, ‘There are services that can help you with this. Contact St Vincent De Paul, contact the Red Cross, contact the Salvation Army and they will be able to give you assistance.' Mrs Reilly: That's right, there is much more of that than people fraudulently seeking help. Mrs LIZ CUNNINGHAM: There is much more of that. It defies belief that people who are not in need would actually ask for help from organisations that are already struggling to meet genuine demand. Mrs Reilly: Wouldn't the fraud provisions cover that? Mrs LIZ CUNNINGHAM: Not necessarily. It is a misrepresentation. Fraud is always presented as a more serious incident. It is difficult—and this perhaps happens more in larger centres—to know what to do if a person asks you for money. One can say to most genuine people who want the money for food, ‘I cannot give you any money but if you come along with me I will buy you some food,' and they will agree to do that. It is the ones who say that they only want money that we start to become concerned about. It is difficult for people. In the second reading speech the minister states that beggars often choose soft targets such as women or elderly persons. I am not sure that ‘soft’ is the right description of those targets. I believe that women have a compassionate streak. I am not saying that blokes do not. We do have a mothering and nurturing instinct that is very strong, as do older people because they have been nurturing and supporting either their children or other people's children to whom they are close. The people who are borderline in terms of need pick those whom they believe will have a strong sense of compassion. I commend the minister for including that element in the legislation. In terms of being drunk in a public place, the query was put to me whether police will genuinely go out and charge people who are just walking home after they have had one or two many drinks. I do not believe police will. I think they will use these powers in circumstances where the person is making a nuisance of themselves or is just plain obnoxious. I would not expect—and the minister may correct me if I am wrong—that if a person's gait is slightly unsteady but they are not a danger to themselves or a danger to others or being a nuisance to others they will be allowed to go on their way. As has happened in the past, I would expect a degree of commonsense will be applied when these actions are being considered by police. The unlawful entry provisions are important. However, I have had a query in relation to a person—and the person would be known to the Minister for Police and Corrective Services—who demonstrates in front of certain premises. This particular person usually sits on the steps in front of the premises or the steps into a premises. I seek clarification from the minister whether the unlawful entry provisions in this bill will mean that that person can be moved on and/or arrested. Will the provisions also apply to the footpath or is that subject to the move-on powers? I commend the minister for the unlawful entry to farming land provisions. Anyone who has a rural property—particularly those with large expanses of rural land—finds it very difficult to check on a daily basis that gates and fences are untouched. There have been a lot of instances involving trail bike riding—and I am not against trail bike riding actually; I think we have stopped a lot of the opportunities for kids to let off a bit of stream for varying reasons, some of which are valid and some of which are due to overreaction. There have to be places for young fellas who are petrol heads and love nothing better than to ride a small motor bike around to let off steam. It has to be done in a way that does not create difficulties for landowners and others who use the same space. 254 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005

The problems come when people enter farming land without asking. I know that it has happened on a number of occasions. They will leave gates open or, worse, they will cut fences and get through if the gates are padlocked. There does need to be an opportunity for landowners to take action against persons who act that irresponsibly. Perhaps the numbers are diminishing, but there have always been farmers who have been prepared, if the approach is made in the right way, if the attitude is right, if the person acts responsibly, to allow a young person or a group of people to come on to their properties. This provision gives landowners some protection. The provision that I do have some concerns about because of its possible misuse is the possession of an implement in relation to particular offences. In the explanatory notes there are good examples of the types of items that a person might have in their possession that are of concern. I agree with it applying to the possession of lock picks, electronic car door lock scanners and jemmies other than in easily explainable circumstances. Some people carry great lumps of wood in their cars. Whether that is for personal protection or not or for use when they are in country areas is a moot point. I would be interested to see what flexibility or what commonsense constraints will be placed on police in relation to interpreting those provisions. I also support the provisions relating to the possession of a graffiti instrument. I would seek clarification from the minister on one point. The legislation states that an item can be removed from a person if it reasonably suspected that it is about to be used for graffiti purposes. The court may, whether or not it imposes any other penalty for the offence, order the offender to perform community service under the Penalties and Sentences Act. Then it goes on to clarify that the offender may be required to remove graffiti from damaged property irrespective of whether the offender was responsible for the particular unlawful graffiti at the location to which the order relates. I commend the minister for that. A lot of people have said that they are sick and tired of particularly young people getting away with vandalising buildings, trains, cars, whatever. It is usually young people but not restricted to young people. People would like to see a sanction that these young people are required to remove the graffiti if not from the place that they graffitied then from somewhere else. I assume that the sanction would be applied only once it has been proven that the person was guilty of graffiti at some site. There is a point about which I would like clarification. In this place we passed legislation relating to the prohibition of body piercing on a minor. So I ask the minister to clarify whether this provision is adding an additional circumstance. It was my understanding in the past that if the minor had an adult with them and the adult gave consent, the body piercing could proceed—and I refer to tongue piercing. The daughter—she was a minor—of a parent in my electorate went to a piercer with another adult, not a parent. That adult gave permission and the girl had her tongue pierced. This provision appears to say that, irrespective of whether they have a parent or a guardian consenting to the body piercing, it cannot proceed. I seek the minister's clarification on that. I support it if that is the case, because what has occurred is that minors who want to get body piercing done, but cannot get parental consent, take another adult with them who does not mind if that body piercing proceeds. I also seek clarification with regard to clause 23, titled ‘Sale of potentially harmful things'. There is a list in the bill as to what a potentially harmful thing is and gives as examples glue, paint or a solvent. Does that also include petrol? It might be that it is contained in one of those categories, but I just wanted to double-check because I had that matter queried with me. There are a number of other elements in the bill, all of which my community would be supportive. The probability of people being injured at sporting events when items are thrown is real. It has been demonstrated at a number of high-profile sporting events. It is a necessary protection for not only the players but also for other spectators. Again, I intend to support the legislation and commend the minister for retaining clear boundaries of acceptable behaviour for our community into the future. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN (Stafford—ALP) (12.21 pm): For most of human history people lived in small communities—in villages—usually associated with hunting and gathering and farming lifestyles. Larger cities are relatively recent in human history. In the village, all of the residents knew each other. The village elders and leaders gave their wisdom and influence to the rest of the society and the tribal chief basically kept law and order. I think it is an African saying that says, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,' and this recognised the small community or the extended family—that is, the environment of most mankind. On the other hand, modern society is very different. We have large urban areas with hundreds of thousands or millions or, in some case, tens of millions of people living close to each other. This leads to a different way of organising the society, of governing and of policing those large numbers of citizens. The issues before the House reflect that tension between the local community and the broader community. Often the local community is simply the family where they see one point of view applying to their small numbers and not necessarily in the context of the broad metropolis. How we deal with matters in small communities is also different from how we handle them in large communities. I would be interested to see how some of the members of the opposition regard this legislation, because Queensland, as the most decentralised state, has a large number of small communities. The legislation that has been introduced to address a problem that may have been an inner-city Brisbane or Gold Coast issue may have a very different impact on regional and remote communities. 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 255

This legislation is designed to meet the needs of a changing society, particularly those in the larger urban areas. As I said, once the extended family dealt with many of these issues, but they are now being addressed formally through the legislative process. A number of these changes are long overdue as they address antiquated, 19th century laws. I believe generally, though, that in our litigious society we are moving to a degree of overregulation where the law is picking up issues which were never intended to be targeted. The expanding litigious nature of society, which we seem to be inheriting from the Americans, is also leading to a situation where even the minutest details of people's lives are being regulated. My hope with this legislation is to ensure that the practical operation of the bill actually targets those it is meant to target and that other government services—from federal, state and local authorities—will assist those people who are on the streets, particularly in public spaces, to whom much of this legislation applies. I applaud the intent of this bill to enhance the safety of our community and to give our police officers the ability to take immediate action to prevent serious crime, particularly against persons. The intent to give protection from public nuisance and to protect children and vulnerable members of our society is to be most strongly supported. I am pleased to see that the minister has included in the bill the monitoring of the operation of this law by the CMC so we will review what will actually occur. I note, though, that with the CMC review it does not actually say that there will be community and public interest group feedback, and I would be interested to know if the CMC has indicated how that review would take place. I hope that that review would have broader community input. I support the changes to the definition of ‘vagrant'. The archaic definition of someone simply being unemployed with no money or with some of the strange definitions that were in the previous legislation are well and truly out of date. The minister has done an excellent job in bringing these laws into modern parlance. The bill also addresses both simple offences and crimes. The ability for the police to take pre- emptive steps in the more serious offences is to be commended. With respect to trespass and the definition of ‘unlawful trespass', it is my understanding that the bill does not actually spell out what the ‘unlawful' is except by saying ‘without excuse by law'. One of the questions that came to mind was this: will that be defined only by a test case coming before the courts, or is there a common law definition of what is meant by ‘without excuse by law'? It strikes me that someone could be cutting through a yard late at night to get from one place to another or someone could be sleeping in an area out of the road to recover so that they will not be drunk in a public place and that could be interpreted as trespass. If there is some clarification of that issue, I would appreciate it. The fact that police officers are able to take pre-emptive action to prevent crimes is to be commended, but one of the difficulties they will face is where the legislation refers to people with a criminal intent taking certain action. Trying to define ‘intent' would be very difficult and I presume that that would be one of the elements that the CMC would be reviewing once this legislation is implemented. The changes in clause 25 to bringing less serious offences out of the Criminal Code in relation to the use of vehicles is to be commended, and that would seem to be a practical step to help free up the courts. I also support the bans on body piercing of minors in the way that this has been implemented and generally concede that the reason for the tattooing of minors is prohibitive. I have a specific question about that. Is there any exemption to clause 19 where someone on religious, cultural or professional grounds can receive a tattoo? In some Pacific Island nations or other cultures the tattooing of certain symbols could be part of their transition to adulthood, which is regarded as being around the age of 12 to 14 rather than our legal age of 18. Will this also apply to someone who is a professional model, but younger than 18 years of age, who, for example, wants to get their eyebrows tattooed? Does that apply? Ms Spence interjected. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: It does not apply. I thank the minister. Mr Johnson interjected. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: The member for Gregory would not be so unkind as to imply that I would need tattooing of hair on my cranium. I am sure that is not what he was saying. I also support the change to the legislation which is designed to protect vulnerable people from those who are trying to obtain money by fraudulent means, by pretending to be something they are not. I am certain that the police minister's colleague, the minister for fair trading, will be working with her on fair trading issues in relation to people claiming to be tradespeople, or actually being tradespeople, and charging exorbitant fees for very small jobs. A few years ago there were groups targeting elderly residents in my electorate. The then minister for fair trading got officers of that department onto that issue. I am certain that this minister will do the same. I also support the changes which will prevent the sale of harmful goods. One well-known corner store in the South Brisbane area kept refrigerated methylated spirits for one reason only—that is, to sell to the Indigenous persons who were residing in Musgrave Park. 256 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005

Mr Purcell: It was kept in a brown paper bag. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: As the member for Bulimba said, the methylated spirits was wrapped in a brown paper bag, ready for sale and takeaway. This provision will clarify the situation and make it clear that that practice is unlawful. There is a whole series of amendments in relation to public order offences. This is where I particularly see tension between the private lives of individuals and the larger community. We all want to be able to pass through public places without interference from unlawful acts of nuisance, but the application of this legislation will be important. As the member for Redlands said, we can never stop all criminal activity, nor can we stop all nuisance. There are many stories of Australian heroes about whom people have said, ‘He was a larrikin or a bit of a lad.' They are referring to activities which were part of the youthful exuberance of the person and which was part of that person's character. These were not criminal or serious offences. The one concern I have in this area relates to a police record having a potentially long-term detrimental effect on a person's life. A former journalist in this area, Laurie Kavanagh, was very harsh on the activities of young people today but would also tell stories of him and his mates when they were in their twenties. Their activities would be regarded today as highly antisocial, if not criminal. He told stories about what happened on Guy Fawkes night, with twopenny bungers blowing up old ladies' letterboxes. Mr Johnson interjected. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: That is not an activity I participated in. In the ‘good old days' a person like that was regarded as being a bit of a larrikin. Society has changed, but I hope that in the move to control nuisance behaviour we do not pick up normal exuberant activity, particularly of young persons. The clauses relating to begging are problematic in certain ways. The Good Book tells us that the poor will always be with us and that we should be generous in giving alms to the poor. In some ways, passive begging has not been a problem. My understanding is that this legislation is designed to address aggressive, unwarranted and excessive begging. I have not been to Europe, but friends who have been there, particularly to Rome, have spoken about the young beggars who harass and steal from people and about the gypsies using their children as income earners through begging. That has been seen as a major issue. I would not like to see that type of begging on our streets, but I would hope that our police will treat with respect those who are absolutely without means and who need a hand. In our Christian society, most people would regard helping those people as a charitable act. I would hope that, if there are discretionary powers for the police, the police can determine the difference between the passive, needy person and the aggressive, assertive person. I am in full support of this provision being applied in relation to backpackers from other countries who are aggressive in their demands on local residents. Some of my children have gone overseas. One of my boys is overseas at this very moment. I wish he would return my text message so I knew exactly where he is— Ms Spence: Parents are always the last to know. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: Parents are the last to know. I had better contact his girlfriend, because she probably knows what he is up to. The issue is that they saved up to travel and they will do some work. They should not be begging, and we do not want those who are visiting our country to beg, either. It is important from a whole-of-government point of view that federal, state and local authorities put in place means to address those who are actually in serious need and those who have mental illness and other personality disorders such that they do not fit into society and are on the streets and in open places. We must help pick up those people. Particularly in Brisbane, there is a desperate need for emergency housing for women. I know that for years the St Vincent de Paul hostel at South Brisbane has been catering for the needs of homeless men, but the need in relation to women is very great. I would hate to see the intent of this bill being overridden by a zealousness that does not take into account the needs of those who are living on the streets or that we do not provide the relevant services that those people need. I am pleased to see from the explanatory notes and the second reading speech that there will be some differentiation between wilful exposure and urination. As the member for Gregory said in his speech, when you've got to go you've got to go. I did not see a specific reference to that in clause 9. It states ‘without a reasonable cause', but nowhere does it define that reasonable cause. My understanding, though, is that the intent spelled out in the explanatory notes and in the second reading speech would be the interpretation of that clause. I would ask the minister to clarify that. Changes are being made to offences of being drunk in a public place. Because of my family's business I worked in public bars for more than 20 years, starting off as a 12-year-old being a glasshand and working my way up to looking after the bars. We did not serve drunks, although it was difficult when a group of, say, four or five people were drinking. One person would buy the shout for the whole lot. The person who was purchasing was sober, but those who were away from the bar, in an area we could not 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 257 see, were not handling their alcohol. Checking on these drinkers was part of the role of bar manager. I am referring to the seventies and we were monitoring it then. We have made changes to liquor licensing to make things more responsible. I support any means that we take, through this legislation or through liquor licensing, to firm up the responsible serving of customers. We do know that there are happy drunks, sad drunks and violent drunks. Ms Spence: There are singing ones, too, I hear. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN: There are, and there are people who sing even when they have not been drinking. Some of us sing very well and some of us sing fairly poorly. I hope that protocols and practices are put in place by the police so that we do not see a targeting of specific groups. We know that the inner-city area does have a high proportion of younger adults and Indigenous people. If they constitute a high percentage of those who are on the streets late at night, there will therefore be a higher percentage of those who will be obnoxious in their drinking behaviour, but I would hope that discretion will be used by the police in relation to that. I remember when I was on the Travelsafe committee there was an issue in country towns. Because there were no taxi services, people who came in from the outlying areas to drink on a Friday night or Saturday night would just sleep in the town because they did not want to drink-drive. I hope that in regional centres where public transport is not available the police will use their discretion and understand that those people are doing the right thing and trying to stay out of trouble. We should ensure that we do not force them to consider drink-driving. I am pleased to see that the safeguards and protocols have been put in place and that police will ask questions before charging a person. I had, and still have, some reservations about move-on powers. Safeguards and procedures were put in place but I am not certain whether they have been followed. I would hope that the police in their operational procedures would target those whom they were specifically trying to target. Part of the issue is that people who may get caught up in this are least financially able to defend themselves. Therefore, we might not have a test case to know what is required in that regard. I thank the minister for her public consultation. As she said, she consulted widely in bringing in this legislation. I would be interested to know from the interest groups, particularly the youth advisory groups, whether they still have concerns about this bill or whether they have been largely addressed. I will be supporting the passage of this bill through the House. Mr MESSENGER (Burnett—NPA) (12.40 pm): I rise like my fellow National Party colleagues to support the Summary Offences Bill 2004 proposed by this government, because in theory all Queenslanders will have greater protection under the law from those irritating public nuisances who choose to assault, intimidate, menace, drunkenly threaten, abuse, flash, throw things at, steal from, trick, tattoo, impose upon or parachute onto the 99 per cent of us and our families who wish to go peacefully about our business. I acknowledge that this is an attempt to streamline the legal system by having these offences heard summarily in the Magistrates Court as opposed to the District Court, where defendants have the right to a trial by jury. However, I note that within the legal community there is a tendency for lawyers and solicitors defending their clients to try to get their cases moved upstairs—that is, to try to get their not guilty pleas moved from the Magistrates Court and heard at a District Court level. If that is the case, perhaps some study could be carried out as to why this tendency exists because it potentially undermines some of the benefits that this legislation affords our community. The legislation strengthens our police powers and also places extra responsibility on them. I draw the House's attention to division 1, clause 6, paragraph 4, which states— It is not necessary for a person to make a complaint about the behaviour of another person before a police officer may start a proceeding against the person for a public nuisance offence. However, if we are to get fair dinkum about helping police do their job we need to not only strengthen their powers, as mentioned by many other members in this House, but also strengthen police numbers. The argument for the increase in police numbers in our capital city and urban areas is obvious. We have only to watch the statewide evening news casualty count. I would also like the minister and all members of this House to think about increasing police numbers in our regional and rural areas and maybe reassess the formula used to calculate those policing numbers. Some regional and rural areas face special and unusual challenges—for example, rapid increase in population. Growth, for example, in certain areas of my electorate in the Burnett is as high as 30 per cent in the Agnes Water and 1770 district. Sometimes the growth in police numbers does not keep up with the growth in population. I know that part of the formula for the calculation of those police numbers is the incidents reported to the police. In some communities, unfortunately they are not reporting those incidents to the police as they should. Consequently, in the long term they miss out on achieving the policing numbers that they deserve. For example, I have mentioned Agnes Water and 1770. They have a population there of around 2½ thousand to 3,000 which swells to around 12,000 258 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005 during peak holiday periods such as Christmas and Easter. Managing those policing numbers in those particular areas is critical. Agnes Water and 1770 had quite a lot of youths celebrating new year on one of the more popular beaches, Workmans Beach. There were something like 23 arrests over the new year period and for that particular new year night. I know that the Agnes Water community, the local government and the Miriam Vale Shire Council through Mayor Tom Jeffrey are keen to see policing numbers increased in that community. We have a similar situation in Woodgate and Bargara—those coastal communities where the population swells a great deal. Another special and unusual challenge facing the Bundaberg police district is that Bundaberg is one of 16 centres in Queensland which participate in the opioid pharmacotherapy programs, that is according to the 2003 figures. This drug therapy is commonly known as the methadone replacement therapy. After being made aware that Bundaberg is the centre for methadone replacement therapy, I have to ask: does this mean that compared to other areas we have more crime, both minor and serious? I am not aware of any studies that have been carried out into this phenomenon, but I have spoken to police officers off the record who have told me that if for some reason or another methadone is not distributed then they can experience and expect a surge in property theft crime. Mrs Reilly: Why don't they speak on the record? Why won't they give you official statistics? Mr MESSENGER: If we talk about speaking on the record for any employee of this Labor state government, we find there is an incredible amount of fear within our Public Service. If any particular public servant decides to stick their head up and tell the truth, what we find is vilification and bullying. Suddenly, they are slapped with a bullying charge themselves. They will then be asked to pay a thousand dollars in compensation for wages which they have been overpaid. I do not want this House to think that I am in any way knocking methadone replacement therapy. It is a valuable community program. I remember having a conversation with a pharmacist at Agnes Water—and this was in a different lifetime when I was with the ABC. This lady who went on the record, Fiona Beddleston, said to me that if the pharmacy participated in that program they would at the drop of a hat have another 50 people residing in that community who would participate in that program. She participated in the methadone replacement program as a pharmacist in London and she did not want to have knocks on the door late at night and she did not want the extra security risk that would flow from participating in that program. She told me horror stories about how people on that program will regurgitate methadone. There is a thriving black market for regurgitated methadone. A lot of people on that program use the methadone and then supplement it with harder drugs such as heroin. I remember at the very end of the conversation saying to her, ‘What would happen if your daughter became hooked on methadone or similar drug?' She said, ‘I would put her straight on the methadone program.' So I guess we do need to explore other options and avenues for our community. I believe the man convicted of murdering British backpacker Carolyn Stuttle was also a participant in the methadone program in Bundaberg. I stand to be corrected—and I hope I am—but I heard a news report which stated that this man was participating in that program. The House might like to note that the primary cause for this tragic death was robbery. I have done some research using 2003 figures, which shows that, per head of population in those districts that have the methadone program, Gladstone has about one police officer per 524 head of population; Cairns has one police officer per 421 head of population; Townsville has one police officer per 508 head of population; Mackay has one police officer per 542 head of population; Rockhampton has one police officer per 490 per head of population; Bundaberg has one police officer per 669 head of population; Gympie has one police officer per 532 head of population; Maryborough has one police officer per 582 head of population; Redcliffe has one police officer per 701 head of population; the Sunshine Coast has one police officer per 662 head of population; Ipswich has one police officer per 524 head of population; Roma is very lucky because for an estimated population of around 23,000, there are 66 police officers, which is one police officer per 357 head of population; Toowoomba has one police officer per 700 head of population; Logan has one police officer per 618 head of population; Gold Coast has one police officer per 634 head of population; and the latest figures that I have, which is June 2003, show that, for the greater area of Brisbane, which serves just over a million people, there are around 1,600 police officers and that equates to one police officer per 645 head of population. I mentioned that because I would like the police minister to take a community's participation in methadone replacement therapy into account when allocating police to a particular area. The question that we all would like to ask and have answered is: does participation in the program increase the overall crime rate in a community? I was very pleased to hear the words ‘zero tolerance’ and the minister's interest in it. Yes, it worked in New York by cracking down on relatively minor crimes—jaywalking and property crimes—and as a result of that the murder and other major crime rates decreased. It was also known as the broken windows policy. The psychology behind it was described as if a vacant building had a full complement of windows and then one of those windows was broken. If that window was not replaced and repaired very 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 259 quickly the remaining windows were broken, but if that initial window was repaired very quickly, then it protected the other windows from breakage. If the minister is an advocate for the zero tolerance policy, then could she have a chat with the education minister because she will not implement a zero tolerance policy in relation to her drugs policy. The education minister is committed to a harm minimisation policy. If there is a zero tolerance policy on the street, then it is logical and sensible to ask for a zero tolerance policy in our schools. The lawlessness that we see on our streets is reflected in our schools. As a society, we are now reaping what we have sown. One of the major lessons that I am taking from this debate is that drug education needs to be improved. It does not have to be completely the stick; we need also to have education and the carrot. After all, the majority of these summary offences, as acknowledged even by the Premier, are influenced by mostly legal drugs, alcohol or the misuse of it. We need to find a way to drug-proof our kids. The National Party has a positive solution and that positive solution is being used in many communities in Queensland. It is called Life Education. Unfortunately, the Beattie government's decision in 1999 to cancel funding to Life Education is plainly and simply stupid. The problem of drugs in schools can be dramatically reduced if the state government restores funding to the Life Education Centre Foundation in Queensland. If we really want to solve the problem of drug use in our schools, then we need to be proactive and we need to act now by funding Life Education. The Life Education program does a tremendous job in educating our children to live healthy, drug-free lifestyles, but it is currently struggling because the program is not receiving any state government funding. In a three-year period, the government allocated approximately $1.4 million towards Life Education Queensland, but in 1999 that funding was cut. At least three centres throughout Queensland have closed down due to lack of funding. I have not received the latest up-to-date figures, but I know that a significant number of children and young people are missing out on drug education because of the lack of funding. I draw members' attention to the fact that the 2003 final report on the south-east Queensland drug court pilot recommended the following— Owing to the very young ages at which most people referred to the Drug Court began their drug use, drug education programs should be compulsory in all primary and secondary schools. In June 2004 I spoke to Stan Collard, a representative of Life Education. He told me that, as of last year, Life Education has been running for 25 years. It came about by the late Reverend Ted Moss, who said that he was sick of baptising babies and burying teenagers because of drug abuse. The New South Wales government supports Life Education. It allocates $1.4 million every year to its Life Education program. Our government should follow the New South Wales government's lead. Life Education— Ms Bligh: You are missing the point of the bill, I think. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Shine): The honourable member will make his remarks relevant to the bill, which is the Summary Offences Bill. Mr MESSENGER: The Summary Offences Bill, Mr Deputy Speaker, refers to how we can reduce crime. Drugs play a major part in that crime, both legal and illegal drugs. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have read the bills and it does not refer to drugs in schools. So I ask you to be relevant— Mr MESSENGER: By extension, Mr Deputy Speaker, it would show— Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Would you please make your remarks relevant. Mr MESSENGER: I did a dictionary search for the word ‘summary’. One definition says— Performed speedily and without ceremony: summary justice; a summary rejection. That is exactly what we want—speedy performance without ceremony not only in words but also in action. I commend this bill to the House. Mr MULHERIN (Mackay—ALP) (12.57 pm): I want to speak briefly to the Summary Offences Bill 2004, in particular to the section relating to the sale of potentially harmful things. Recently in Mackay we have had some trouble with young people chroming in the suburbs. As a result, there has been a certain amount of antisocial behaviour and residents in the area have expressed some concerns. As members would know, some time ago we established a successful Mackay community drug and alcohol partnership which engages the community, local government, youth organisations, the Queensland Police Service, ATODS of Queensland Health, the Department of Communities and the Department of Child Safety. Residents raised the issue of looking at ways of dealing with drug related matters in our community. There has been a whole series of working parties that look at particular issues ranging from prevention to education, to rehabilitation and to developing protocols across agencies. Part of that protocol is that, when events such as chroming occur, we bring together the community to look at what each agency is doing so that we can have a fairly targeted approach to the issue. 260 Ministerial Statement 24 Feb 2005

Residents in the area raised the issue of chroming with me, as did councillors Bidgood and Casey. I immediately got the partnership together. We looked at ways of how we could target this particular problem and looked at ways of how the community could assist. We have worked with the retailers and they now brand spray cans of paint. We have this way of tracing them back. One of the issues that was raised was the issue of supply. The retailers are doing the right things, but people are buying these goods for these chronic chromers and then onselling it. At the meeting the police told me that this was a deficiency in their tools to attack this problem. The residents of Mackay, and particularly the police and the partnership, are very grateful that the minister has included in this bill this provision relating to the sale of potentially harmful things. This will no doubt go a long way towards assisting us as a community to deal with drug related issues. I thank the minister for that, and I commend the bill to the House. Sitting suspended from 12.59 pm to 2.30 pm. Debate, on motion of Mr Reeves, adjourned.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Australian Water Fund

Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (2.30 pm), by leave: This morning in this House, Stephen Robertson, the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, in response to a question, raised serious concerns about the Prime Minister’s reported support for the $4 billion canal to supply water to Perth from the Kimberleys. I share the minister’s concerns and find the Prime Minister’s support for this extraordinary canal proposal at odds with responses I received from him when I sought Commonwealth funding for the more modest Brisbane to Darling Downs recycled waste water project. To reinforce the point, I table three letters exchanged between me and the Prime Minister in which he clearly states that federal funding of this proposal is either nonexistent or carries severe qualifications. The first is dated 17 March 2002, in which the Prime Minister states quite clearly in regard to the recycled water project— The pumping of treated effluent from Brisbane to the Lockyer Valley and the Darling Downs appears to have very high costs that are largely for private benefit. I must advise that it is outside the scope of Commonwealth programmes for this type of activity. The second is from me to the Prime Minister—which I table—dated 3 April 2002 in which I expressed serious disappointment at the funding position he had stated and sought clarification from him concerning the federal government’s commitment to the Queensland pipeline project. The Prime Minister replied on 21 April 2002 and again stated— The significant amount of funding you have sought for the proposal is well outside the scope of Commonwealth funding programmes for this type of activity. While the Commonwealth cannot provide funding of the order requested in your letter of October 2001 a more modest proposal might be considered once the outcomes of the current studies are available and economic and environmental benefits can be clearly demonstrated. And even on this far more modest proposal he stated— I would expect your government (Qld) to make a firm funding commitment to the proposal, provide an indication of contributions from local government and provide evidence that private beneficiaries are prepared to pay their share of the proposal. Mr Terry Sullivan: Everyone but them. Mr BEATTIE: Everybody but them, indeed. I take the whip's interjection. I am extremely puzzled, therefore, at the Prime Minister’s strong support for the WA canal and his obvious reticence towards Queensland’s waste water project. Perhaps the Prime Minister has had a change of heart when it comes to these significant projects. Perhaps I am about to receive further correspondence setting aside the earlier policy settings. Perhaps I should await the outcome of the Western Australian election when all will obviously be revealed. Perhaps there is a cheque in the mail. I think we need to have some consistency and I say to my good friend and colleague the Premier of Western Australia, Geoff Gallop, that quite frankly the Prime Minister's support is a very shallow one and is based on pure political considerations within the Liberal Party, and I expect the Prime Minister of this country—and so do all Australians—to be consistent. If it is good enough to support Western Australia then, Prime Minister, I look forward to receiving your money. 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 261

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Palm Island PCYC Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (2.35 pm), by leave: The Palm Island PCYC has been the subject of a number of ministerials and statements that I have made to the House both yesterday and today. I thought I should update the House on what the latest position is in relation to the PCYC because, as members will know, we have struggled to open it against opposition from the council. We have struggled to get this facility available for the children. Here is the latest. I am advised that Palm Island PCYC starts activities today. Hallelujah! The director-general of the public works department sent a letter to the PCYC yesterday saying that a certificate of completion had been signed; it was agreed that the Department of Communities would fund the delivery of programs and the maintenance of the facility; the Palm Island council had insured the building—and this was one of the major reasons for the delay; and the public works department authorised the PCYC to have access to the building and gave authority to commence programs at the facility immediately. I want to highlight to the House that this is a great PCYC which the people of Queensland have funded and which I want to see available to the children of Palm Island. This PCYC includes a gymnasium, boxing ring, computer room to teach youngsters computer skills, pool tables and basketball court and local radio station for the island, and a group is being formed to promote and use the radio station for the benefit of the island. I am advised that the facility opened for activities today from 2 pm to 9 pm. The PCYC will be open again tomorrow at the same time, on Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm and on Sunday from 2 pm to 6 pm. I promised that these children would be given access to this facility and now they are. I thank the minister for police and my other ministers for public works and communities, as well as Mike Reynolds, for their support.

SUMMARY OFFENCES BILL

Second Reading Resumed from p. 260. Mr REEVES (Mansfield—ALP) (2.35 pm): It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of the bill. I had the pleasure of going on a parliamentary trade delegation with the minister, as did the member for Gregory, and we viewed a number of policing matters. It gave us a very good insight into policing around the world, from the New York Police Department and the FBI training centre to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I must say that I totally enjoyed the New York Police Department's demonstration of how they drive their cars and their expert training in that regard. Back in Brisbane, obviously, we have had the issue going on in relation to the Lord Mayor of Brisbane. I must say, and I think the member for Gregory will agree with me, that I would prefer to be walking the streets of Brisbane late at night than the streets of New York late at night. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane can talk about Brisbane being more unsafe than New York, but that is not the reality. We learned from the police commissioner in New York that they actually have fewer police now than they had four years ago. I think that the member for Gregory and the minister will agree that that is the statement that he made. They actually have fewer police now in New York. We are increasing our police numbers and have been since 1998 and even before that. Brisbane cannot be compared to New York. Brisbane is like most cities; after dark people feel more frightened and some incidents do occur. But I think that what has been occurring has been escalated to a level that is not warranted. Obviously the deaths are something that we could do without and we have got to find ways of dealing with the issue. I am sure that the Premier and the minister will do that at the summit. We cannot deny the deaths, but to compare Brisbane to New York is absolutely ridiculous. It was great to be over there to hear first-hand about different policing strategies. One thing that we did find after having visited the USA and Canada is that our police force and what it is doing are just as good as the world's best. We are increasing our numbers of police whereas in many places throughout the world they are are decreasing. As a side issue, when we arrived in Canada we flicked on the television set and they were talking about health issues; I felt like I was back in Australia. It was a very similar debate, but we are actually increasing services in police and health and a range of things while in other parts of the world they are not. We can rest assured that we have a world-class Police Service, particularly under the guidance of the police commissioner. A police officer by the name of Brett Pointing that we met at the FBI training centre said that he has learned a bit but he knows that we are ahead of the rest. It is something that we can be justly proud of. I thank the minister for the opportunity of seeing that first-hand. 262 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005

I am surprised that the member for Gregory did not interject about how great the New York police driving training is. This bill before the House is great legislation. Being a sports fan and having attended many sporting events, I am interested in the behaviour that constitutes an offence at sporting events. In this legislation it is an offence to throw at a sporting event an object that may injure a person, damage property or disrupt the event. Mr Johnson: It would not happen at a Dogs game. Mr REEVES: I will take that interjection from the member for Gregory. If we ever want an example of why we should have this legislation, it is what occurs when the Canterbury Bulldogs visit Brisbane. If we want an example of any sporting club in the last four years that has shown to be the worst offenders in terms of crowd disruption, then we should look at the Canterbury Bulldogs. Those Canterbury Bulldogs fans are rowdy. Under this bill, a person who throws a can of drink into a crowd or onto a sporting field, thereby risking injury to another person or disrupting an event, will be guilty of an offence. I ask the minister to address one issue in her reply. We all love going to the cricket at some time—and for me most of the time. We have a great time at the cricket when the beach balls go through the crowd. Occasionally the beach ball may go onto the field and often the security guard will take a pin to it and get rid of it. I want to make sure that if the beach ball accidentally lands on the field the owner of it is not going to be subject to an offence. Ms Spence: Beach ball arrest. Mr REEVES: I do not think the beach ball will hurt anyone. I think all members would agree with that. In addition, a person who throws a drink can or rock at the glass window of the commentators’ box, thereby risking breaking the glass, will also be committing an offence. I want to make sure that this provision does not apply in one’s home. I would not like it to be an offence if someone gets sick of Ray Warren raving on and throws a stubby at the TV set. I am sure many of us have heard a TV commentator that we have really felt like throwing something at. I am pretty sure that that will not be covered. I am sure the minister will address that issue. There are two exemptions in this area. The legislation does not apply to a participant in a sporting event who throws or propels an object in the legitimate course of the event. For example, if Matt Hayden comes along and hits five or six sixes in a row into the crowd, that is not considered to be an offence. It also does not apply to a spectator who throws an object of a particular event back into the field of play in a manner not intended to injure a person or damage property. For example, if a ball gets kicked over the fence and someone attempts to kick it back and—like I would—hits someone in the head with it rather than gets it back into the field of play, they are not committing an offence. This is good legislation. Hopefully, the minister will be able to answer those queries. It is good that we have legislation, particularly aimed at those Canterbury Bulldogs fans. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wallace): Order! Before calling the member for Mirani, I welcome to the public gallery teachers and students from Wavell State High School in the electorate of Stafford. Mr MALONE (Mirani—NPA) (2.44 pm): I rise to make a brief contribution to the debate on the Summary Offences Bill. I support the bill. It is fairly pointless going over the comments that have been made in the House over the last day or so. From my perspective, it is important to recognise that the legislation is certainly a step in the right direction. There are a couple of points I would like to make particularly pertaining to the issue of agricultural property. As most members would be aware, biosecurity is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in our regional areas. People would not be alive if they did not know about the huge problems that we have had with the citrus canker outbreak in the Emerald area. Canker is a fungi that is attacking the citrus trees in that area. With trespassers or unauthorised people moving between properties, the spores of that disease can easily be carried between properties. If that happens, the implications are horrendous. There are similar diseases throughout the rest of world. We have all sorts of diseases in the different crops that are grown in Queensland that can be spread just by trespassers or by vehicles. I particularly mention giant rats tail. The seeds can be carried by vehicle from one property to another. Obviously, people who do not respect boundaries can carry that seed from one property to another without any problems at all. Most property owners have huge problems with people from organisations such as Ergon who have to travel from one property to another. Those people have to ensure that they clean their vehicles before they enter another property. Even though this legislation certainly goes some way towards actually making it an offence to enter properties, there is probably a need to look at the matter even further. We are certainly going to have issues down the track when GM crops are grown, because they could be compromised by vandals et cetera. Members on this side of the House have raised the issue of trespassers going into cattle land and inadvertently closing a gate or leaving a gate open, allowing cattle 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 263 to either stray or be locked out from watering holes. Over the last few years many thousands of cattle have died because they could not gain access to water. Recently, there was a case in Western Australia where something like 200 or 300 head of cattle died because they were not supplied with water. These are the issues that country people face and they certainly need to be taken into consideration. In the next couple of years we need to start looking more carefully at them. The other issue I want to raise involves a very good friend mine. Over a lot of years he has done a tremendous amount of voluntary work for community benefit, over and above the call of duty. He has been an SES controller and trainer and has done huge amounts of work in the community by getting young people involved in the SES as cadets and involved in emergency services. He has worked for 12 years as a supervisor under the community orders program. At one time he was supervising nine people on community orders. It has to be remembered that this person is a volunteer. It was costing him a certain amount of money to do this community work—the cost of phone calls, faxes and all of those sorts of things. In the last couple of months he has taken on another business. He indicated to his supervisor that he would have some trouble because where he lives the mobile telephone he uses for contact does not have coverage. It appears that the Mackay office got upset that they could not contact him. In some way they contacted his wife and started laying down the law to her that this man needs to contact them on a regular basis. We are talking about a person who has done this for 12 years, not a person who has just come in and needed training. I know, for instance, that one of the people he took through the community orders program now has his own business and is contributing very substantially to the community. This man got very upset about that and had some words with his supervisor and, as a result, is no longer in the program. That is a huge loss to the community orders program and corrective services generally. This man, Paul Steindl, is a councillor who has his own business and still works with young people who step out of line. He spends a lot of time trying to get them back on track and ensuring that they do not reoffend. I am disappointed that this situation has happened. I have spoken to the people involved, and hopefully Paul may come back to the program at some time in the future. It seems that one problem with younger people as they move through the education system is that some of them disengage from the educational program and then they might become exposed to this legislation. Unfortunately, this is happening to many young boys. I am very proud to be part of a small motors program in the Pioneer Valley—I have spoken about this in the House before—where literacy and numeracy are being taught. Young boys who are seen to be dropping out of the educational program or not coping with school from the eight or 10 cluster schools in the area are taken on board for this program at a local high school one day a week. They pull motors apart, measure them, download the manuals, add up the cost of the parts and work out a bill for the job. By doing that, they are learning numeracy and literacy. When those boys in the sixth and seventh grades go back to their home schools, the principals tell me that you would not recognise them because they have shed their introverted ways and have moved through the ranks in the class. In a couple of cases, some of those boys are now top of the class in the school. They then move on to high school and continue to blossom. That is a magic educational program happening in the valley. If not for that program, those boys would be the ones who we would be trying to control with this legislation. We need to take a good look at the way we handle certain students as they move through the education program. We need to intervene early and get them into programs where they value their self-worth, grow in confidence and are able to fulfil the dreams of their parents and their grandparents in contributing substantially to our society. With those few words, I support the bill. Hon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services) (2.52 pm), in reply: I thank the members of this House for their comments and their support for this bill. I am proud to be responsible for the passage of this bill through the House as it addresses community concerns with respect to issues of public safety not only in terms of public places but also with respect to people's homes and businesses. In recent times there has been intense media coverage of aspects of safety within inner Brisbane. As we all appreciate, media coverage of this nature can have the adverse effect of making people feel unnecessarily and unduly insecure. The Beattie government is committed to maintaining Queensland as the safe state and will not allow hyperbole to create a feeling of insecurity with the community. The Premier and I have both said that this government will earnestly pursue laws that will address justified community concern and allay that concern. Street offences—and by that I mean the conduct of a few who think they are free to intimidate law-abiding citizens using public spaces—are dealt with in the public nuisance provisions of this legislation. Previous provisions of the Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act were subject to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The High Court did not countenance public disorder, and neither will this government. Yet the bill goes far beyond just dealing with unacceptable conduct in public places. It creates well-structured sections that allow our police officers to intervene at an early stage in order to prevent serious crimes being committed. For example, the offence of trespass pre-empts the more 264 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005 serious offence of burglary by allowing police to intervene and arrest an offender in a yard before a person's house is broken into. The offence of possession of implements in relation to particular offences pre-empts a possible vicious assault by allowing police to intervene, arrest a possible assailant and seize the weapon to be used in the crime. An issue was raised by the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee with regard to the constitutional validity of clause 6 of the bill. I have sought the advice of the Solicitor-General regarding the committee's concern. With respect to the committee's comments concerning the decision of the High Court in Coleman v Power & Ors, I am advised by the Solicitor-General, Mr Walter Sofronoff QC, that taking into consideration Coleman v Power all clauses of the Summary Offences Bill 2004 are valid. Mr Sofronoff's opinion concurs with an earlier opinion by former Solicitor-General Pat Keane QC concerning the validity of section 7AA of the Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act. That section is materially the same as clause 6 of the Summary Offences Bill 2004. Mr Sofronoff has concluded that, although Mr Keane's opinion was given before the High Court's decision in Coleman v Power, the High Court's decision does not affect the conclusion of both opinions that that clause is valid. I now want to comment on individual speakers’ contributions and answer some of the queries and suggestions that they have put forward during the lengthy debate on this bill. Firstly, I thank the member for Gregory for his support of the bill and for his enthusiastic words on our recent trade delegation. I agree that all members of the delegation had their eyes opened on how law enforcement operates in the United States and Canada. We also learnt that in many ways Queensland is well ahead of those countries in many respects of law enforcement, and it was very pleasing to have that confirmed. Mr Johnson: More so in Brisbane. Ms SPENCE: More so in Brisbane; that is true. I also want to acknowledge the member for Gregory's support for the police commissioner. For any police commissioner to do his or her job properly, they have to have the confidence of both sides of the parliament. So I am very pleased and welcome the National Party support for the police commissioner, and I am very pleased that it has chosen to play the ball rather than the man on issues of public safety. The member for Gregory of course was not alone in his endorsement of our police commissioner, Bob Atkinson. Many other contributors to this debate also added their words of support, and I thank them for that. I also welcome the support of the member for Gregory for the bill, his support for police generally and his understanding of the difficult job that the police do. One of the issues that was raised by the member for Gregory was targeting hot spots and directing resources to those areas, as we have heard about in the New York area. Police currently do have the power and are equipped to respond where they are needed to hot spots not only in Brisbane but also around the state. That is what the tactical crime squads are about. They are able to swing into operation and conduct operations on a needs basis. In Brisbane we also have a Public Safety Response Team of about 50 police officers who are able to hit those hot spots around the Brisbane area generally. We do have the capacity. We do not hear about it very often, but the police certainly have the capacity to react to hot spot activities. As we have seen with the recent Operation Amazon in Cairns, police have been moved elsewhere in the state to target public disorder offences around some nightclubs and licensed premises. From what I have seen from the media in Cairns this week, the mayor and various citizens of Cairns are very happy with the outcome of Operation Amazon and they report that there has been improved behaviour on the streets of Cairns. With regard to the question asked by the members for Gregory and Toowoomba South about trespass on property adjacent to roads, this legislation carries over some of the offences of the former enclosed lands act. It does not matter if there is a fence around the property or not. Page 7 of the explanatory notes to this bill elaborates on this point and explains that the bill prohibits camping and related activities without the permission of the owner. I fully understand that these issues are very important to the constituents of members on the other side and to those of many members on this side of the House. The member for Toowoomba North noted the important change in relation to body piercing and the tattooing of minors. Another member asked whether there would be any exemptions to this. There are no exemptions. Basically, we are sending a strong message to young people in this state and to anyone who would do tattooing that we do not find it acceptable for young people to have tattoos or engage in certain kinds of body piercing. I fully support that strong message we are sending out. The member for Toowoomba North noted the important changes in relation to the throwing of objects at sporting events. The member for Mansfield was a bit worried about throwing the beach ball at the cricket. The key issue here— Mr Finn interjected. Ms SPENCE: His children perhaps. I think it might be him. The key issue here, though, is intent. While he may not get his beach ball back—that would be a matter for the management—under this provision of the bill he would not be charged if he unintentionally threw something onto a sporting pitch. It is up to the police, if they are going to charge someone, to prove intent. That is really the object of the legislation. 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 265

The members for Surfers Paradise and Maroochydore believe that there are not enough police. One of the things I have learnt since becoming police minister is that most people around Queensland would like more police. Indeed, they would like more police in their suburbs, streets, schools and shopping centres and at the front gate. They would like police to walk them around in the city. This is a very positive statement— Ms Jarratt: Not on the roads! Ms SPENCE: I know some young people who do not like to see them on the roads. They would rather see them in other places. It certainly is a clear statement that Queenslanders generally respect and value our police officers. I acknowledge that desire for more police. I point out to the member for Surfers Paradise that his electorate falls within the South Eastern region of the Police Service and since the Beattie government has been in power the numbers in that region have gone from 898 to 1,189. Similarly, I point out to the member for Maroochydore, whose electorate falls within the North Coast region, that the numbers in her area have gone from 805 to 1,119. Obviously we will continue to increase the police numbers in this state, but I point out to all members that, while it is the government's responsibility to fund and increase the resources to our Police Service, as minister I do not make decisions about where those police are going to be deployed. That is a decision that is made by the police commissioner and the Police Service generally. We have had the Fitzgerald inquiry experience in this state to teach us all about the dangers of politicians becoming involved in the operational decision making of our Police Service. It is clearly understood that the deployment of officers is a matter for the commissioner and the service and not for politicians. I am happy to receive any representation from members of parliament about the need for increased police numbers in their electorates—I definitely discuss these issues with the commissioner on a regular basis—but at the end of the day it is going to be the commissioner who makes the decision about where police officers are deployed. One of the essential disagreements that I have had with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane relates to his desire to sign a memorandum of understanding with this government about police numbers in Brisbane. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane wants to tell us the appropriate police numbers to have in this city. Frankly, I find that unacceptable. It is going back to the old days when politicians told the police what to do. We are not going to enter into any memorandum of understanding that allows mayors throughout this state to dictate to the state government, and indeed to the Police Service, how and where police officers are going to be deployed. The member for Burnett listed some police-population ratios. These figures do not take into account the specialist branches. There are hundreds of police officers around Queensland attached to these specialist branches. They are in areas such as crime operations, criminal intelligence, forensics and traffic. I caution him—yesterday in parliament I talked about the misuse of statistics—about using those kinds of statistics without really having a good understanding of the explanation behind them. The member for Surfers Paradise had some reservations about public drunkenness. I would like to make it clear to him that the penalty in this bill is a maximum penalty and that the police always use their discretion before preferring charges in matters of public drunkenness. Section 210 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act allows a person who is intoxicated to be taken to a place of safety. Those members who represent regional Queensland—Townsville, Cairns, Mount Isa, Rockhampton— know very well how frequently the police divert intoxicated people to these diversionary centres. Having been the minister responsible for these diversionary centres in the past, I know that police are not taking only Indigenous people to these centres. I have talked to centre management and I know that police take non-Indigenous intoxicated people there as well. Police have discretion with respect to public drunkenness, but they will also have the power, because of the bill we are passing here today, to take the matter to court if it is serious enough. There is one area in which I have some issues with the member for Surfers Paradise. He is very concerned about people being allowed to carry weapons in their cars. I talked to the police at great length about this, because the explanatory notes talk about the fact that in some circumstances it could be illegal for someone to have an iron bar in their car. I know that many people do like to carry implements in their cars for self-protection, if it was ever required. I would not encourage that, because I think iron bars and baseball bats can easily be taken off people and used against them. If someone had a satisfactory explanation for having the iron bar or the baseball bat, the police would not be able to use these provisions of the bill to lay charges. If they were going to lay charges they would have to prove intent. If someone says, ‘This is in my car for self-protection,' the police are going to have to have some extenuating information about that person, about that implement or about that person’s intent to prove the matter. It is about intent. We must always remember that, at the end of the day, the police are going to have to prove these charges. I thank the member for Redlands for his contribution to this debate. Of course, the member for Redlands, unlike most of the rest of us, has first-hand experience— Mr Cummins interjected. 266 Summary Offences Bill 24 Feb 2005

Ms SPENCE: The member for Gaven is not here, so I think I can say ‘the rest of us'. The rest of us have had no first-hand experience in policing. Mr Cummins: On which side? Ms SPENCE: The member should not go there. As usual, the member for Redlands makes very valid and illuminating points. The members for Bundamba, Gladstone and Maryborough all voiced their support for the provisions relating to begging. They all recalled their own experiences and the need for police to enforce these laws. I thank them for their contributions. The member for Maryborough asked whether a tattoo shop proprietor would have to call police to ascertain whether a potential client is intoxicated. I am told that tattoo shop operators are generally compliant with the law regarding the tattooing of minors. However, as members will appreciate, the law is necessary to ensure that this type of activity remains unlawful. The member for Maryborough obviously has some trouble getting hold of crime statistics and he wants them. I point him to the annual statistical review of the Queensland Police Service, which details an enormous number of statistics regarding crime in this state. The member for Moggill commented on the use of weapons and told us an illuminating story about his crime-fighting activities whilst wearing pyjamas. The member for Toowoomba South also talked about the use of weapons. The Criminal Code clarifies this matter as it currently contains provisions for the defence of dwellings and self-defence. Unlawful use of a motor vehicle remains an offence under the Criminal Code. Clause 25 allows for enforcement action to be taken in minor instances for or against first-time offenders. It also extends to more than motor vehicles. It applies to motorcycles and rowing boats. The Criminal Code provision is used for more serious offences of unlawful use of motor vehicles and against recidivist offenders. The members for Nanango and Gladstone commented on the use of offensive language. This legislation clarifies this matter in that the offence must be considered in the context and circumstances in which the language is used in order to determine whether it constitutes an offence. For example, two people sitting in a public bar of a hotel and using obscene language during the course of a conversation may not constitute an offence if that language is commonplace in that bar. Conversely, to stand in the middle of the bar and shout out obscene language in a manner that other people would find offensive would constitute an offence. I refer members to the recent High Court decision in respect to Coleman v Power & Ors to obtain more detail on how a court will determine offences of this nature, but I have to agree with the members for Nanango and Gladstone that it is necessary to teach our young people, in particular, to have respect for others when they use language that others might find offensive. The member for Caloundra commented on clause 25, which requires police to prove in paragraph (a) that the vehicle was used without lawful consent and in paragraph (b) that the vehicle was in a person's possession with lawful consent. If the police prove that a vehicle was used or possessed without lawful consent, then the charge is proved. I do not consider there is a problem with the clause. The member for Caloundra will also note that the offence relates to a vehicle and not merely a motor vehicle. Therefore, it also protects from the misuse of a bicycle. The Leader of the Opposition made reference to alleged increases in the incidence of crime in central Brisbane. These figures were in line with a media release the opposition put out last week that compared CBD crime rates between 2001-02 and 2003-04. The Leader of the Opposition compared crime figures for the Brisbane city police district as it was in 2002 with a newly created Brisbane central police district in 2004. Between 2002 and 2004, police statistical reviews show that the police merged the two commands of Brisbane city and Fortitude Valley into the new Brisbane central police district. It also added residential suburbs including Red Hill and Paddington from the former Indooroopilly police district. So the Leader of the Opposition is comparing crime figures that have changed from an area of seven square kilometres to one that is now 18 square kilometres and a population that was 18,379 to one that is now 53,130. The police commissioner himself also discussed these statistics on ABC Radio this morning. That again re-emphasises the importance of reading statistics carefully before putting them out in the public domain. I am always happy to have a debate on accurate statistics, but when statistics are presented without consideration of changes such as I have explained it is truly an unfair debate. The member for Gladstone also commented on the sale of potentially harmful things, and I would say to her that petrol will be covered. However, whether it is an offence to sell petrol depends on the circumstances and the likelihood that it will be used for inhaling. So, once again, it will be up to the state and the police to prove intent. In conclusion, I thank the members of the House for their support in passing the Summary Offences Bill. Members know this is an important piece of legislation that replaces an act dating back to 24 Feb 2005 Summary Offences Bill 267

1931, with some archaic provisions of that act dating back to the early 1800s. This important piece of legislation modernises an act from a bygone era and reinforces the Beattie government's focus on proactive policing aimed at community safety. The bipartisan support received was very indicative of the value of this legislation, and members are to be commended for their support. I table the following addendum to the explanatory notes to cover the amendments. I commend the bill to the House. Motion agreed to. Consideration in Detail Clauses 1 to 9, as read, agreed to. Clause 10— Mr JOHNSON (3.16 pm): Clause 10 deals with those who are drunk in a public place. The minister has made reference to it in passing and other members of the House have drawn attention to it. I trust this is an area where police will use discretionary powers. I feel this provision needs to be defined further to clarify the precise circumstances where a person could be infringing on the wrong side of the law. As the minister herself can appreciate, for people walking home who are inebriated sometimes taxis or public transport are not available. I know in the western areas and other parts of the state—probably not so much Brisbane—that that is the best way to get home. With this aspect of the legislation, police will be using their discretion so that people properly going about their business can go home and not be interfered with by the law in allowing them to progress that course. It does need clarification because there are people who are concerned about it, and the minister may like to comment on that. Ms SPENCE: I thank the member for Gregory for the question. As I said before, the police do have the power under section 210 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act to divert people to diversionary centres if they are drunk. The police, I know, use discretion before arresting someone for being drunk in a public place. This is not a new provision; this is a provision that has been moved from the Liquor Act to the Summary Offences Bill. Today we are really reconfirming that position here in Queensland. It is true that we are the only state in Australia that still has a provision like this on its statutes. It is true that there are a lot of people—and they have come to see me in recent months—who do not like this provision and who had hoped this new bill would be an opportunity for the government to remove it from its statutes. But this government is determined to keep this provision in place because we believe it serves a useful purpose for police and communities throughout this state. Police use their discretion before removing people for drunkenness in a public place. I have talked to police officers about this throughout the state. I have talked to the commissioner about this issue. We have had this incredible debate about zero tolerance. Zero tolerance, as it applied in New York, removed discretion from the police. They were given directions to pick up and prosecute people for every small and minor offence. We do not do that in Queensland. We ask our police to use discretion, and that is why laws such as this do work in this state. Police tell me that they are usually only interested in people who are drunk in public places if they are comatose. They are not picking up people just because they are having a good time walking down the street, as the member for Gregory I think was suggesting. They use this provision only when people are comatose in parks. Clause 10, as read, agreed to. Clause 11— Ms SPENCE (3.20 pm): I move the following amendment— 1Clause 11— At page 8, after line 6— insert— ‘(3) This section does not prevent an authorised industrial officer entering a workplace in accordance with the terms of the person’s appointment as an authorised industrial officer.1’. 1 Industrial Relations Act 1999, section 364 (Authorising industrial officers) Amendment agreed to. Clause 11, as amended, agreed to. Clause 12— Ms SPENCE (3.21 pm): I move the following amendment— 2 Clause 12— At page 8, after line 33— insert— ‘(4) This section does not prevent an authorised industrial officer entering a workplace in accordance with the terms of the person’s appointment as an authorised industrial officer.’. Amendment agreed to. 268 Order of Business 24 Feb 2005

Clause 12, as amended, agreed to. Clause 13— Ms SPENCE (3.21 pm): I move the following amendment— 3 Clause 13— At page 9, after line 14— insert— ‘(3) This section does not prevent an authorised industrial officer entering a workplace in accordance with the terms of the person’s appointment as an authorised industrial officer.’. Amendment agreed to. Clause 13, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 14 to 30, as read, agreed to. Schedule 1— Ms SPENCE (3.22 pm): I move the following amendment— 4 Schedule 1— At page 25, after line 14— insert— ‘1A Section 4, definition place, ‘means’— omit, insert— ‘, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to gaming and the gaming Acts, means’.’. Amendment agreed to. Schedule 1, as amended, agreed to. Schedule 2— Ms SPENCE (3.22 pm): I move the following amendment— 5 Schedule 2— At page 29, after line 2— insert— ‘authorised industrial officer means— (a) an authorised industrial officer appointed under the Industrial Relations Act 1999, section 364;2 or (b) an authorised officer appointed under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cwlth), section 83BG.3’. 2 Industrial Relations Act 1999, section 364 (Authorising industrial officers) 3 Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cwlth), section 83BG (Appointment of authorised officers) Amendment agreed to. Schedule 2, as amended, agreed to. Third Reading Bill, as amended, read a third time.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Travelling Dental Teams Hon. GR NUTTALL (Sandgate—ALP) (Minister for Health) (3.24 pm), by leave: In the House yesterday I inadvertently said that two travelling dental teams that are part of the government's $10 million commitment to deliver 18,000 additional treatments were based at Brisbane and Townsville. When the election commitment was made we looked at those areas. However, on further work being done by my department, those areas were actually changed. For the sake of accuracy, I would like to correct that. The travelling dental teams are located in Toowoomba and Cairns.

ORDER OF BUSINESS Hon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services) (3.24 pm): I move— That government business orders of the day Nos 2 to 12 be postponed and that the House now consider general business, notice of motion No. 1 standing in the name of Ms Nelson-Carr. Motion agreed to. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 269

CENTENARY OF WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE Ms NELSON-CARR (Mundingburra—ALP) (3.25 pm): I move— That this House— • Recognises the exceptional contribution and achievements of women in public life since Queensland women were afforded the right to vote in state elections in 1905; • Notes the government's intention to celebrate the centenary of this milestone in 2005 with a range of activities throughout Queensland under the theme Celebrate the Past—Claim the Future: 100 years of the vote for Queensland women. Further, that in celebrating the centenary, the House acknowledges that the right to vote was not afforded to all women, with Indigenous women in Queensland only gaining the right to vote in state elections in 1965. I rise today to join the celebrations to commemorate 100 years of women's right to vote in Queensland. Honourable members: Hear, hear! Ms NELSON-CARR: It is good to hear some men applauding this. The contributions and achievements of women in public life are nothing short of exceptional. Today many Australians, both men and women, actually take voting for granted. The member for Gregory is going to love this. Countless people go to the polling booth on election day— Mr Johnson interjected. Ms NELSON-CARR: Yes, you will—because they have to, not because they want to. What a long way we have come from the days when Australian women petitioned parliament with 30,000 signatures, or when American women picketed the White House for the right to vote. These women believed that if they could win the right to vote they could use their votes to open the doors of the world to women. Women's suffrage signalled the start of women's participation in the political process and led to changes which would alter women's position in society. While Australia was the first country in the world to allow women to stand for election to parliament, New Zealand was the first nation to grant women the right to vote, in 1893. Eventually Australia and the world followed and began to acknowledge the place of women in society. However, nothing would have progressed without the unfailing work and support of women suffragettes. In Queensland we must pay tribute to several remarkable women including Leontine Cooper, Eleanor Trundle, May Jordan McConnel and one truly extraordinary woman, Emma Miller. However, unlike today, where Queensland is the leading state in Australia in so many ways, we were the second last state, apart from Victoria, to grant women the right to vote in state elections, in 1905. In 1907 Queensland women went to the ballot box for the first time. I can only imagine the feeling the women experienced while voting for the very first time in the state election. Louisa Lawson started the first women's newspaper, the Dawn. Before I tell members a little bit about her, we all remember who she is because of her son Henry Lawson. She was actually a businesswoman who was born in rural poverty near Mudgee. She raised four children as a single parent because she left her husband. She was a publisher, editor, writer, suffragist and feminist. Most of us know nothing about her, but we certainly know about her son, who was a great writer but was also a drunk. An honourable member interjected. Ms NELSON-CARR: That is true; it is documented. In 1904 she published an article about the emotions associated with Australian women voting for the first time in a federal election held on 16 December 1903. She wrote— The sun rose on the morning of the sixteenth upon the greatest day that ever dawned for Australia for, apart from the pleasure of exercising the just privilege so long denied her, that of taking an active and direct part in the election of lawmakers, she had also the blessed satisfaction of being seen as she is—not through the glasses of those interested in her suppression. To describe election day as ‘the greatest day that ever dawned' highlights exactly what gaining some equality in the political arena meant to Australian women. While women won the right to vote they were not eligible for election to the state parliament until 1915. It was not until 1965 that all Indigenous Queenslanders gained the right to vote in state elections. While many women in Queensland may have believed that the vote was a long time coming, it was even further away for countries such as America, which did not grant women the right to vote until 1920, and South Africa's black women, who only received the right to vote in 1994. While we all take the opportunity today to celebrate the achievements of women's suffrage in Queensland, sadly it must be noted that in this day and age there are still countries where women are unable to cast their vote. In Saudi Arabia in October 2004 the head of the election committee ruled out women's right to vote or stand as candidates in the first nationwide municipal elections planned for this year. Although Australia was seen as a pioneer of women's political rights, it had the greatest time lag of all Western democratic countries between the eligibility of women to stand for the national legislature 270 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 and their actual election to it: 41 years. For Queensland, it was a delay of 14 years until 1929 when Irene Longman was elected to parliament. In 1994 in Queensland, there were 13 female members out of 89 members of parliament. In 2001 we attained the highest proportion of women representatives of any Australian parliament and one of the highest proportions in the world, with 33 of the 89 elected members being women. An honourable member interjected. Ms NELSON-CARR: Absolutely. Today there are 30 female members and I am very proud to be one of those members. The women's suffrage movement described election day as women's one day of power. Women have come a long way since those early days of suffrage and we are seeing women do incredible things: balancing work and family and achieving what once would have been unimaginable. We are seeing pregnant women reading the news, and we have women who are directors of large companies, running multinational banks, sitting on boards and so on. We can see that, yes, the world has changed completely in 100 years. We do not have the same barriers that prevented women from participating. Indeed, the written slogan 'women can do anything' is seen in schools, doctors' surgeries, government departments and even on bumper bars. But the truth is that in 2005 only some women are doing all these truly fabulous things. For many women, there is no sense of achievement and victory because their lives are not enriched or better than they were all those years ago. The word ‘equality' is bandied around. Yes, there are many very successful women who have exciting lives, but the sad fact remains that way too many women experience the exact opposite. The proportion of women in full-time employment has not changed in 30 years. The casualisation of the work force—its part-time culture—is full of women. That is not by choice, either. The consequences of that casualisation has a multiplying effect. Women earn less and therefore many are dependent on welfare; the number of single mothers has increased; and child care is limited, with many mothers opting to place their children in dodgy, backyard operations just so that they can work part-time to pay the bills. There are more women over the age of 60 who are divorced or widowed and women who do not have superannuation but do not qualify for the age pension. The result is more poverty than ever before. I was elected to parliament in 1998 and I was the first woman elected to a seat in Townsville. I was also the first woman appointed as the chair of the ALP parliamentary caucus, of which I am very proud. Two firsts! I belong to one of the largest groups of women in parliament in the world. But in large numbers the top jobs continue to go to men, whether they be senior executive jobs heading huge departments or corporations, board positions or in parliament. We have no female premiers. Claire Martin is the Chief Minister in the Northern Territory. That says a lot. More and more women suffer domestic violence, they live in fear while living in unsafe conditions and the number of sexual assaults is on the increase. In the past national Labor governments had the women's agenda firmly in their sights, aiming for full equal opportunity. In the eighties and the early nineties we were making progress and we were celebrating this progress. Today, we are actually going backwards. Today, we do not even talk about women's rights and equality. It seems almost irrelevant. Men are now the victims. The Howard government is focused on men and boys—their literacy, their virility and the terrible assertion that most women who single-handedly raise their boys or teach boys in school are failing them miserably as they are not providing boys with positive male role models. I believe that there is even an inquiry into this sorry state of affairs. They have forgotten the single mothers struggling to raise their children single handedly but without access to adequate housing, health care, child care, transport and other essential services. Is it any wonder that, faced with the choice of career or children, many women are choosing not to have children and, indeed, the better educated women earning a good income are less likely to have children at all. Ann Summers—a brilliant woman— states— Now the men are hurting. Boys are doing badly at school and the implication is that it is the fault of girls finally catching up and starting to shine. There are too many female teachers, the prime minister says. He does not praise the work of these women, or argue that it is good for boys to learn that women can occupy positions of authority and respect. No, it is all about boys not having male role models. The fathers who walk out on their families and fail to pay child support are increasingly portrayed as victims rather than irresponsible or even cruel, and their neglected families are seen as avaricious. Men who are beaten by women for job promotions or political pre-selection are seen as having legitimate grievances whereas the same does not apply if another man beats them. All these attitudes accumulate into a huge pile of prejudice designed to make women feel that their basic desire for career advancement, for success in the outside world as well as the world of home, is selfish. It's not good for the children, she's told. She should be home breastfeeding them while they are babies and being there for them as they grow, preventing them from becoming hyperactive, or juvenile delinquents. Her job and her responsibility, mind you. Where's the father? And if she doesn’t have children she is letting down Australia. As we celebrate 100 years of women's suffrage, it is timely to consider just where we are today. The notion that we have arrived and no more work needs to be done is alive and well. Girls increasingly think that the fight is over and there is no work to be done. I ask members to tell that to an Indigenous women, to a migrant woman, or to a woman raped by a football team. Women are not being considered as women; they are lumped into the family context—at least as far as policy is concerned. Not all women are mothers. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 271

Today when we celebrate winning the right to vote just over 100 years ago, I ask members to remember Whitlam, the family planning agencies, the removal of bans on ads on TV about contraceptives and equal pay. I ask members to remember Hawke and Keating. Let us abandon the Howard government's devotion to right-wing fundamentals to women in service and dependency. Simon Crean has supported paid maternity leave and increased spending on child care. Let us call on John Howard for a royal commission into the status of woman. Let a woman judge conduct the inquiry into all aspects of Australian women's lives, and I mean their economic, social and physical status. We need recommendations that will force political leaders to take notice. May all Queensland women continue to exercise their power and I look forward to welcoming many more women into politics and into the Queensland parliament in the future. Mrs STUCKEY (Currumbin—Lib) (3.35 pm): It is indeed a pleasure to rise to second the motion moved by the honourable member for Mundingburra that the House recognises the exceptional contribution and achievements of women in public life since Queensland women were afforded the right to vote in state elections in January 1905. In recognising the basic democratic rights that this legislation gave to women, it is very important to highlight the fact that this right was not afforded to all women, as legislation prevented Indigenous women in Queensland from being able to vote until 1965. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise three of the many, many great women in Queensland's history who have had a profound effect on Queensland politics: Margaret Ogg, Irene Longman and Joan Sheldon. From each I have gained something valuable. I shall begin with a woman often not mentioned, Margaret Ogg. In the early 1900s, as one of a handful of individuals, including men, Margaret took the fight for women's suffrage into outback Queensland. Margaret visited isolated homes to discuss health, families and the fear and loneliness that many women experienced living in such harsh, punishing conditions. This gesture was notable as much for its thoughtfulness as its practical benefits to women who went months for at a time without any outside social contact. When Margaret Ogg returned from touring the outback she and Leslie Corrie cofounded the Queensland Womens Electoral League. While the league claimed to have all women's interests at heart, it was very much a liberal conservative organisation. Although its stated aims included the desire to advance political knowledge among women, its aims also included the desire to encourage and preserve private enterprise and to combat unnecessary interference by the state. Labor women who attended the Queensland Womens Electoral League launch in 1903 left once the political agenda became obvious and went on to form the Women Workers' Political Organisation in opposition. The Women's Christian Temperance Organisation, in response to this political wrangling, called upon its own members to avoid the venom of party politics and concentrate on the task at hand. The second woman I wish to acknowledge is Irene Longman. Irene was the first women elected to Queensland parliament, in 1929. When the candidate for the normally safe Labor seat of Bulimba withdrew, the Queensland Women's Electoral League seized the opportunity to nominate its first candidate. Irene was endorsed by the Country and Progressive National Party and swept into parliament in the anti-Labor swing. Despite hearty congratulations on her remarkable achievement upon entering parliament, Irene was, amongst other restrictions, excluded from the parliamentary dining room, having to eat her meals alone on the veranda. Goodness knows what arrangements were made to accommodate her bathroom needs as facilities were designed for males. I ask members to imagine the ruckus that this treatment would cause today. Irene held some modern, if not radical, views for her time. For example, she cast motherhood as an economic and political status rather than a biological fact. As a keen advocate for freedom and independence for women, she made the statement that women could live apart from their husbands, which was a revolutionary idea, to put it mildly. I wish to remind honourable members that this was back in 1929. Unfortunately, Irene's career in parliament was short lived, as she was voted out of parliament in 1932—a blow to the women's movement. It was 37 years before another women was elected to the Queensland parliament. Joan Sheldon is the third woman I choose to applaud. She came into office on 28 July 1990 and retired of her own choice in 2004. Joan holds the distinction of being the only woman to be the head of a political party in Queensland and the only female Deputy Premier and Treasurer. Married with three sons, Joan entered parliament after a career as a respected physiotherapist on the Sunshine Coast. During the early 1990s Joan occasionally hosted events in parliament for a new apolitical women's group called Queensland Women into Politics—or QWIP, as it was known. This group was highly successful for a couple of years before party politics and individual agendas took their toll and the group ceased to exist. I am pleased to say, however, that I met some women at those meetings who went on to follow political careers. They were women from both sides of parliament and Independents. 272 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005

Joan's last speech before retirement is one that all women in this House, regardless of their political persuasion, will appreciate, I am sure. I quote this excerpt from her speech on 27 November 2003— I saw it as my duty to promote the issues important to women and to try to ensure that we legislators sought equality and security for all women, regardless of race, age, religion or socioeconomic status. It is gratifying to see more women elected, but we still have some distance to go. Margaret, Irene and Joan are but three of many women who impacted on my personal political journey to become the fifth ever female Liberal member of parliament. Every woman who has influenced politics and public life or helped throughout the suffrage movement is to be commended for her efforts. There are many exceptional stories that have been told and, I have no doubt, are still to be told about courageous women who displayed insurmountable strength and determination to fight for our rights. As I said, there are many more waiting to be told. The government has chosen the theme ‘Celebrate the past—claim the future: 100 years of the vote for Queensland women'. Women have come a long way these past 100 years, with many advances that have liberated us further and assisted us to have a sense of independence. Let each of us make sure that we encourage others to follow in our footsteps and to never forget the achievements and struggle of those who came before us. Ms STRUTHERS (Algester—ALP) (3.41 pm): I feel very proud in speaking on this historic event—the centenary of women’s suffrage in Queensland. I am proud to acknowledge the phenomenal gains in the status of women that have occurred since our pioneering suffragettes fought their great battle. I pay tribute to the pioneering suffragettes and pioneering women of our parliaments. They would be pleased to look around today and see the number and the quality of female representatives here in this parliament—the colour, the glamour, the brain power, the girl power. They would be very pleased I am sure. They would be very proud to know that we are also being paid equal to our male counterparts. We have had women ministers, women CEOs in the public sector and great female leadership in our trade union movement. We have come a long way. In medieval times men could legally chastise women with a stick no thicker than the width of their thumb. That is where the ‘rule of thumb’ saying comes from. In those days, men could physically and sexually assault their women and the community generally turned a blind eye to it. By the late 1800s women could be admitted to university but had no rights to property when they married. If you were a white woman you could vote in federal elections by 1901 and by 1905 you could vote in Queensland, but not if you were an Indigenous woman—or man for that matter—or an Indian, Chinese, or South Sea Islander person. In 1912, if you were a woman and had a paid job you would have been getting paid at the legislated rate of 54 per cent of the male rate. History shows us how hard it has been for women to gain equality, not just in terms of suffrage but across the board. The first woman Labor member in the Queensland parliament, Vi Jordon, who was also skilled at lawn bowls, was selected in the early 1970s Queensland parliament team to contest an interparliament bowling match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. No woman had ever played on their bowling greens before and they refused to allow her to play. Former Prime Minister Billy Hughes—sadly a Labor member, but I will quote him anyway—on 21 August 1943 addressed the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, Enid Lyons, and the parliament with the following words— Ah my girl, it was very pleasant to see you there today; ah, very pleasant. But, ah, remember! Let there be no talk of the equality of the sexes! And there you sat, like a bird of paradise among carrion crows! It is fair to say that no man in this parliament would share the view of Billy Hughes. Or is it fair to say? Thankfully there are a few nods. The historical Elections Acts Amendment Bill that provided the necessary machinery for the Electoral Franchise Bill—and these acts are what we are paying testament to today—was printed on pig’s skin. So although some may have thought that pigs would fly before women got the vote and all these other advancements, the very words and laws that enabled the vote were inscribed in pig’s skin. Antiquated as that pig’s skin is, so are the attitudes and behaviours that still restrain the advancement of many girls and women. Queensland remains the leading performer in Australia for parliamentary representation by women and that is a great thing and something we need to keep building on. We are empowered politically. We can drink in public bars and be appointed to the bar. We are not barred from too many places, excepting a few exclusive men’s clubs. But for all Queensland women to enjoy full social, economic and political participation in society, we have to face a few facts. Indigenous women and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds still face significant gender inequality and underrepresentation in the areas of education, employment, health, leadership, safety, housing and economic security. Add to this issues of racial inequality and discrimination and it is obvious we still have a lot of ground to make up. For example, Indigenous baby girls in Queensland have a life expectancy 28.5 years less than that of non-Indigenous baby girls. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 273

Women are working their way up to and beyond the glass ceiling, but we need the men to come down and help a bit more with rearing the children and domestic duties. A report from the Australian Prime Minister’s work and family taskforce two years ago revealed Australian mothers do 90 per cent of the child rearing and 70 per cent of the housework. I am sure the member for Mansfield does a lot more than 10 per cent of the housework. Mothers are the backbone of the nation and the heart of the family but they are still handed a raw deal when it comes to equity. We are not so much of a novelty in parliament anymore, but women are still missing out when it comes to adequacy and equity in superannuation. They continue to be disadvantaged in regard to the accumulation of retirement savings and will, on average, retire from the paid work force with about half as much money as men. Women cultivate, plough and harvest more than half the world’s food. Women do two-thirds of the world’s work yet receive 10 per cent the world’s income and own one per cent of the means of production. In celebrating this centenary of women’s suffrage, it is critical that we all take stock of the gains and celebrate the gains, but we must remain ever determined to keep the momentum going. We must remain ever determined to work with our male colleagues to continue to achieve these gains. How do those members in the House who have wives and daughters feel when they open the newspaper each day and another horrific sexual assault of a woman or girl is reported? Generally we find that the perpetrators show little or no remorse, as we heard with one of the cases today. Mr Johnson interjected. Ms STRUTHERS: I take that interjection. I am sure the member feels horrified and sick in the gut. Imagine how women feel. Mr Johnson: If I can just say, I have a wife and daughters, too, and I know exactly what you are saying. Ms STRUTHERS: Good. Women still continue to be subject to unacceptable levels of violence, assault and rape. This is intolerable in a civilised 21st century community. Women will never be truly equal and respected until the sexual violation of women ends. Two of my priorities for the future are to end the sexual and physical violation of women and to have greater diversity in the representation in this House. They are two priorities that I think we need to set as challenges over the next few years. The parliament needs to truly reflect the cultural diversity of our community. We need to preselect and elect women from Indigenous and ethnic backgrounds. That is a challenge to all parties. It is incumbent upon all ministers and all members as leaders within our communities to acknowledge the gains we have made for women but also continue the fight to extend those gains to all women, especially our ethnic and Indigenous sisters. Ms JARRATT (Whitsunday—ALP) (3.49 pm): It gives me enormous pleasure as a woman to have the opportunity to stand this day in the parliament of Queensland to support a motion that celebrates the century of suffrage for women in this state. I often say that being a member of parliament is a rare privilege that is experienced by a very small number of people in our state. But how much more humbling is it to be a woman in this place when I know that the number of my female predecessors is by comparison minuscule. While I owe my presence here to a range of factors, not the least of which includes my party's faith in me and the support of the good people of Whitsunday, it does not escape me that had it not been for the actions of a few courageous women a century ago I would in all likelihood not be here today. Previous speakers have already outlined the historical context that led to the achievement of female franchise in Queensland on Australia Day 1905, but I too want to put on record my thanks and admiration for these amazing women. It seems amazing to us that in the late 1800s women were considered quite outrageous for challenging the accepted notion that women were born to be wives and mothers, passively accepting a natural order that denied women a say in the affairs of the world outside of the home. There gradually emerged individual women like Leontine Cooper, a journalist, and groups such as the Women's Equal Franchise Association, the Women's Suffrage League, the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Queensland Women's Electoral League that raised the bar by challenging the status quo. It is not true to say that the path to suffrage was smooth or united, as deep divisions often emerged between groups as each pursued unique and varied ideological agendas. However, the movement to establish a legislative basis for women to vote was an unstoppable force that finally realised its goal on 5 January 1905 when the Electoral Franchise Bill and the Elections Acts Amendment Bill were introduced into the Legislative Assembly. While Queensland women were finally given the right to vote with assent of the bill on 26 January 1905, I note that this right did not extend at that time to Indigenous women. To our eternal embarrassment, the right of Indigenous women and men to vote was not assented to until 60 years later, in 1965. An obvious question that arises on the centenary of women's suffrage in this state is: what difference has it made? Well, while there is no doubt that the granting of voting rights to 50 per cent of the population was a giant leap forward, it is my opinion that the real advances for women in this state 274 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 did not really begin until at least 1915, when they were extended to the right to nominate for and be elected to the parliament. It is true that it was a long time before the number of women in this parliament reached a critical mass of proportions able to influence the implementation of policy. However, I beg the House's indulgence to give just one example of how the women of this state have reaped the benefit of the presence of women in this place. When I was about 16 I went with my mother to visit my great-grandmother, who was almost blind and seemed to me to be a very sad old woman. Later when I asked my mother about her life, I was told that my granny had been married to a violent alcoholic who had ensured that her life had been one of financial and emotional poverty. When I asked why she had not just taken the children and left him, my mother explained that my great-grandmother had no physical or financial means to support herself and her children and would have been, had she left her husband, ostracised by her own family and society more broadly as a tainted woman. To say I was shocked is an understatement. But I think it was there and then that my lifelong commitment to the delivery of social justice for women began. I note that women were not provided with legislative protection from domestic violence until 1989 when, following years of lobbying by women's groups, the then coalition government brought the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Bill 1989 before the House. I am proud to have been part of the government that later, in 2002, introduced amendments to this act that extended protection from domestic violence beyond the spousal relationship to include the elderly, people with a disability and people in dating relationships. There is no doubt in my mind that had women not gained the vote 100 years ago we would not today benefit from the existence of legislation that protects the rights and wellbeing of women in this state. I therefore today pay my respects to the good women who challenged the status quo all of those years ago. Their efforts have reverberated throughout the history of this state and indirectly given me the most wonderful opportunity to represent the interests of the men and women of Whitsunday. Mr RICKUSS (Lockyer—NPA) (3.53 pm): I rise today to speak to the motion recognising the exceptional contribution of women in public life since they got the right to vote in the state election in 1905. The only thing I want to say about this motion is that it sells women short. I am sure that the women prior to 1905 were making a contribution to public life. I can assure the House that, even today, whether women are involved in the public limelight or not, the knowledge and genuine interest and wisdom that comes from the women of Queensland is of vital importance to the state. The women of Queensland have always been important to the fabric of our society, whether in public life or not. The number of businesses, farms and families in which the women of Queensland have been, and are, the driving force would be astronomical. They have worked in partnership and leadership in businesses—from major quarrying operations, dry cleaners, snack bars and farms—that employ from one to 300 people. I am sure that these women have been vitally important to the success of families, businesses and local communities throughout Queensland and Australia. Women have also been important to the public life of all people in the state. Whether women have been directly involved in public life or assisted their partners in their role in public life, their contribution has been vital. I had a conversation with my colleague from Burdekin about the support we both receive from our partners. As Rosemary stated, her husband, Ray, has been very supportive and assisted her whenever he could with her long career in public life. I must also congratulate my wife, Ann, who has supported me over many years during my involvement in public life. The people of Lockyer are indeed in the lucky situation that, by having me as their local member, they also have Ann assisting me, and I value her support and her wisdom which are so important to me. I want to recognise all of the women of Queensland, whether they be women embarking on studies or careers, mothers, daughters or grandmothers. Their contribution to the state is invaluable. Mrs LAVARCH (Kurwongbah—ALP) (3.55 pm): For people who love politics and elections, 2004 was their year. Elections were held for federal, state and local governments and they could even follow the American presidential race if they wanted. With people casting their vote three times within nine months, it was easy to be complacent about the fundamental importance of the right to vote. This year, however, reminds us how precious democracy really is. The year 2005 marks the centenary of women achieving the right to vote in state elections. In 1905 the all-male members of the Queensland parliament were summoned back early from their Christmas recess to finally approve the law that gave women a say in how this state was run. I believe that on 4 January 1905 there was an unprecedented heatwave, so members can imagine this chamber with men in heavy woollen suits with no airconditioning debating the Electoral Franchise Bill which led to women gaining the vote in Queensland. The final approval by parliament followed 15 years of acrimonious public debate and eight previous attempts to get the law through this legislature. However, it should not be forgotten that it was another 60 years before Aboriginal women and men were allowed the most fundamental human right in a free society. Up to 1905 the parliament heard many views as to why women should not be able to vote. It was argued that women were not suited to understand public issues or that they would only do what their husbands said and it would not make a difference if they voted anyway. A woman's place was said to be 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 275 solely in the home and not in the house of parliament. Since 1905 the participation of women in government has changed slowly. While women could vote, they were not allowed to stand for parliament until 1915. It was 1929 when Irene Longman became the first woman elected to the Queensland parliament. But after she lost her seat in 1932, it took until 1966—another 34 years—for another woman to be elected. Vi Jordon represented Ipswich here in this parliament until 1974 and, as other members have noted, she was the only woman here at that time. It is only in the last 20 years that the election of women to parliament has become less of a novelty or less of a rarity. The seat of Kurwongbah is principally situated in the Pine Rivers shire. I want to put on record that Pine Rivers shire over the last 20 years has had a remarkable record in relation to the election of women to parliament. Yvonne Chapman won the seat of Pine Rivers in 1983 for the National Party. Since her election in 1983, a significant portion of the shire has been represented in parliament by a woman. Margaret Woodgate won the seat of Kurwongbah—the old seat of Pine Rivers—for the Labor Party in 1989 and I followed Margaret in 1997. Bonny Barry, the Labor member for Aspley, added to the shire's representation in 2001. Yvonne, of course, remains a fixture of local political life as the Pine Rivers shire mayor. With Labor senator Claire Moore having her office at Strathpine, Pine Rivers can claim female representation at all three levels of government—federal, state and local. I doubt whether many other areas in Australia could match this record. Each milestone achieved by women—be it the right to stand for public office, the first woman elected, the first woman to hold ministerial rank—has marked a step on the long journey towards true and full equality of opportunity and equal status of women, a journey that is today still a long way from completion. Even in my own modest way, I am proud to be the first woman lawyer to be elected to an institution which throughout its history has been heavily influenced by lawyers. Members may be interested to know that this year, 2005, also marks the centenary of women being allowed to practise law here in Queensland. A question I am often asked—I am sure other members are asked this, too—is whether having a woman in parliament has made a difference to the way our state and nation are governed. For me the answer is a definite yes. In my view, women have made a tremendous difference to public life, but in many ways it is not obviously seen. The dynamics of power often appear blind to gender, and the process of decision making goes on much as it always has done. A Queensland premier, judge or business leader of 1905 would still find much which is familiar in the way things work in 2005. The contribution of women, I believe, can be most easily seen in the range of policies, programs and laws which exist largely through the hearing of women's voices. Policies which go to the protection of children and the empowerment of the disadvantaged have often been led by women. The laws which recognise the importance of choice and tolerance in lifestyle have been shaped by women. The design of the modern work force, the education system and the health system shows the hand of economically and socially literate women. In short, I think our sisters of the 1890s and 1900s would be pleased and proud of the achievements of their successors. The anniversary of 100 years of women enjoying the right to vote is an occasion worth celebrating and an occasion worth remembering. The remarkable record of the men and women of Pine Rivers in electing women to public office is also a milestone worth noting. But most important of all is the recognition that democracy enjoyed by all men and all women equally should never be taken for granted. Ms BARRY (Aspley—ALP) (4.02 pm): I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Mundingburra. I thank her for the opportunity to speak. As a member of the class of 2001 and the 50th Parliament, I had the privilege of being in one of the largest groups of female MPs to enter the House. It has been a true honour to be part of that record and in the presence of such great women. So have women MPs made a difference and what challenges remain? I have to confess that I have written a personally indulgent speech, because I think it is important during debate on such a motion to give an insight into our hearts and minds at such a time. After all, Hansard is a record of history and the telling should be an insight into the parliamentarians of the day. I hope it is valuable. Mr Lawlor: I am sure it will be. Ms BARRY: Thank you. I entered politics because I was drawn to make a difference for women. As a 15-year-old student of Kedron State High School I remember the day Gough Whitlam was sacked. He was a true leader in advancing the rights of women, and I was outraged. The 11th of the 11th 1975 was the day that democracy became real for me. At 17, under the guidance of my big sister, Sue, my current campaign manager and a wonderful personal mentor, I handed out how-to-vote cards for Ben Humphreys, a great Labor federal member. As a 20-year-old I wrote in my diary of a desire to be the Prime Minister. Thank goodness commonsense prevailed and I no longer wish to be the Prime Minister, but I cannot wait for the day we have a great Labor female Prime Minister. My professional life as a nurse fuelled my desire to see women further their influence in decision making in government and the public sector. Nursing is Australia's largest white collar female work force 276 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 which until the 1970s did not have real autonomy from the medical profession, either professionally or in the matters of money or resources. Throwing off the shackles of ‘handmaidens’ tags and staking a claim for our own voice and control was a major feature of my professional and industrial life as a nurse. In fact, for the record, given the offensive remarks made by the current AMA president about the training and introduction of nurse practitioners and nurse sedationists as ‘dumbing down the health system', I place on the public record my condemnation of his remarks on behalf of nurses. I can do that, because I am here in parliament. That is why I came. People can be assured that, after the member for Noosa and me, there will be more nurses in this place to reject such divisive and elitist comments about nursing. By my thirties I had acquired a husband, four kids and a dog. Adding the descriptor of ‘mother’ to that of ‘woman’, ‘nurse’ and ‘worker’ fuelled my desires to make a difference to the lives of women. I understand how important we are to society and we had to have a bigger voice. So along with 30 other women I arrived in this place. What a moment that was. I have said this before, but the stampeding sound of stilettos on the wooden floor outside the chamber still brings a smile to my face. Have we made a difference? Yes. Just by our presence here, the contribution makes this place better representative of our community. Representation of gender, culture and age is critical for true democracy, and I look forward to the election of our first Indigenous female MP in this place. In my time I have sat in parliament to pass laws on a range of matters critical to women— domestic violence, child protection, tree clearing and antidiscrimination, just to name a few. I have sat in committees monitoring legislation and public accounts. These proceedings are more considered on issues affecting women because we are there. I sat in the ALP conference when we achieved the affirmative action rule. What a huge success that has been here in Queensland. Women made the difference at that conference. We are part of debates on sexual and reproductive health, aged care, the economy, workers' rights and gender equity, to name just a few of the policy contributions that women make in our political party, the ALP. I have been at caucus meetings where we have appointed sensational women to the frontbenches and to parliamentary secretary positions. We will continue to be there, but we will get a little bit louder. That will be guaranteed. So what are the challenges? Times have changed over 100 years. We discuss the unmentionables. We discuss such things as sex, violence and abortion in our parliaments. Discussions in the public arena on these subjects would not have happened back then. But there is still a long way to go in advancing the woman's voice. What a Clayton's debate the so-called abortion debate has been. It has not been led by women but rather by blokes who will never—and I mean never—get it. Trying to teach a fella what goes through the hearts and minds of women when they are faced with real reproductive health situations is like trying to teach him what it is like to be pregnant. Men can read Sheila Kitsinger books till they are blue in the face and they can get inside the delivery room and be part of the action, but they ain't ever going to be able to understand—what it is like to be pregnant, either planned or unplanned, to want to be pregnant, to not want to be pregnant, to lose a pregnancy or to wake up the next morning worried about being pregnant. The current political debate and commentary around abortion, engineered, I am afraid, by male politicians and public figures, is offensive and has no place in modern democracy. It largely lacks genuineness and good faith, and I fear it is an ideologically driven agenda by such individuals who seek to control women through threats to withdraw access to health care, impositions of restrictive health practices and, worst of all, suggestive and divisive comments about ‘good women’ and ‘bad girls’. It infuriates me to hear members like Peter Lindsay make his outrageous comments, such as that one mistake that is an unplanned pregnancy is okay but there is no excuse for two. Mr Lindsay, who are you to judge the circumstances of women who find themselves contemplating a termination of pregnancy? Sexual violence is a major problem in women's lives. Also, women have active sex lives. It does not make them good or bad. I have said this to the Treasurer and I will say it to Mr Lindsay: get off the backs of the women of this country. They are burdened enough. Mrs Lavarch: What about the new industry they have created—women's libido? Ms BARRY: That is a whole other story. I hope someone talks about it. Let us have a genuine debate. I for one am proud to admit that I am pro choice because I am pro women. I support women, whatever decisions they make about their reproductive health rights. I support men's rights, too—I want to talk about this—on the grounds that it takes two to make a pregnancy. To all the fellows out there, let me remind them of their rights. Rule No. 1, a man has the right to say no. A man should be supported in his right to say, ‘No means no,' to a woman who is pressuring him for sex. Rule No. 2, men have the right to a life free from violence, including sexual violence. Rule No. 3, men have the right to insist that they are allowed to use prophylactics during sex. Rule No. 4, if a man has no desire to get a woman pregnant, even if by mistake, I refer him to rule No. 1: a man has the right to say no. If, after exercising a man’s rights, or choosing not to exercise them, and a man is responsible for half a pregnancy, a man has no rights. Sorry, a man has only the responsibility— responsibility to support the woman in the achievement of her rights in relation to control over her body; responsibility to support her in achieving these rights; and responsibility as a father if a child is born. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 277

Politicians have the same responsibilities: to support women politically in exercising their rights. That is the debate we should have, pure and simple. It is time to have that one. I want to talk about the media 100 years on. We have come a long way. We are fearless at times on topics and we will discuss just about anything. We have successful women journalists and commentators and even some successful MPs who were journalists. But every now and then I realise we have a long way to go in portraying men and women without triviality. How we portray criminal acts by male sportsmen as just boys being boys is unacceptable. Let us get real: they are violent men and they should be condemned as such. We could do without the childish and ridiculous stories such as the shocking exposure of the decolletages of the female MPs in this place. My advice to men is to stop looking over the balcony and listen to what we have to say. Portraying women MPs as engaging in Dallas style catfights also has no place. The ‘too sexy for parliament' story about the member for Gympie was dismissive of her genuine contribution to this parliament and demeaning to every woman in the place. For the record—and I have spoken to Elisa about this—‘Girlfriend, I don't hate you because you are gorgeous; I just don't agree with your politics.’ Finally, the winner is last week's A Current Affair story that was dedicated to a new breast pump that women wear for 10 hours a day for 10 weeks in order to achieve larger breasts. Can I just say to A Current Affair: let us get real. The big issues for women in this country are violence and poverty, not breast size. Be a real current affairs show. You are capable of better and women deserve better. The price women MPs pay is at times onerous, especially after they flog all of those media outlets like I have just done. But the biggest challenge is finding time to fit in your family, your friends and yourself into your busy life. I cannot overstate the amount of support I get from my colleagues, but my view is: show me a modern woman who is not busy and I will show you a woman who is probably dead. So we have all done well, have made a difference and the best is yet to come. Our society owes a great debt of thanks to the courage of those women and men who fought for women's suffrage and rights throughout history, and I add my voice to their thanks. Mr LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—Lib) (4.12 pm): I would like to say how much I enjoyed the contribution of the honourable member for Aspley. I am most pleased to support this motion—and it is an exceptional story; that of women in Queensland politics. To look around the chamber and see the representation of women and to look around the departments and see the representation of women, one cannot help being amazed and thankful to the range of campaigners who have campaigned for women's rights over more than a century. I want to name a few in the early stages, if I may. There were women like Emma Miller—no doubt one of the role models for women in this House, particularly those on the other side of the chamber, for her work in encouraging women to join the Australian Workers Union. She had a strong sense of social justice and worked vigorously for what she saw was a fair system of voting that allowed women to vote on a par with men. Her vision was very similar to what has actually come about today in the form of voting that we currently have in Queensland. Of course, there were others who, like much of the push for female recognition, came from differing points of view and sought slightly different outcomes. In saying this, though, all women were bound together by the fact that they were fighting to raise the level or station of women in society. There was also Leontine Cooper, who fought for women's rights for decades, as the editor of the only women's suffrage newspaper in the state, the Star. While she unfortunately died two years before she would have been able to complete her long-awaited journey to the ballot box, her work is well respected. While she was not as radical as Miller, only asking for women's rights to be based on property and not an equal vote system, her work was rewarded. Then there were other women like the founders in 1903 of the Queensland Women's Electoral League, Margaret Ogg, and the Lady Mayoress in 1903, Leslie Corrie. Their work on empowering women to vote in Queensland will go down in the annals of history. Members should remember that all of these women were fighting for things that were not considered the status quo by any stretch of the imagination, and it was not only their perseverance but also their vision that raises them up as pioneers of this state. I am sure they would be very pleased to see the work that the women in this parliament are doing. There is no longer a feeling of male and female in this place; rather, people are seen for their ability and views, and if nothing else that is what the aforementioned women fought for. I also mention that the Liberal Party has been a long-time supporter of women in this place, with the first female leader of a political party in this state being Joan Sheldon. I clearly remember only a year ago when I was first elected one of my most vivid memories of induction week was being with the other 11 members at a lunch in the Speaker's Dining Room and sitting next to the Hon. Joan Sheldon, the former member for Caloundra. I felt like I was sitting with the headmistress because I did not know her at all. I was asking deep questions like, ‘What were your great achievements?' or something like that, and she said ‘Apart from being Deputy Premier and Treasurer, I am pleased that I achieved more female rest rooms in this precinct and also at the cultural centre.' She was obviously very proud of the things she achieved but also had a great sense of humour. 278 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005

That is something that we are all very thankful for. She was quite serious about that issue. When she came into this place, there were no provisions for female rest rooms just outside the chamber and things had to be changed to accommodate that. So often we take those little things for granted. That underlines the gender neutral attitude of this place that marks the fruition of the struggle of many women over the past 150 years. I look forward to International Women's Day on 8 March and will be taking part in those festivities in whatever way I can. I also remind members of the free resources on offer from the Office for Women, and I encourage them to display them at the appropriate forums. I wholeheartedly support this motion and urge other members to do likewise. Ms MOLLOY (Noosa—ALP) (4.16 pm): It gives me great pleasure to speak to the celebration of 100 years of women's suffrage. I wonder sometimes what the suffragettes would say to us if they could see us now. How far have we come since the inception of the suffrage movement in the 1800s? The suffragettes made enormous sacrifices to give women the vote, among other hard-fought-for rights. They left behind a remarkable legacy of reforms for women's equality with men. To give this tribute a real-life meaning, I intend to use examples of some women in my life who I recall have demonstrated strength and courage similar to those who have blazed the way. My mother, Nell Hunt, was born in Lennox Street, Richmond, in 1914 and she has stories of her mother, Mary Bridget Hunt, who was born around 1873. Her mother was one of the few women who could read and would read all the letters for the neighbours and other documents when needed. To be an educated woman was quite a feat in the mid-1800s. Women struggled for the next 80 years to ensure that their daughters enjoyed those rights that we take for granted. Today my sisters and brothers, along with my extended family, can be proud to say we have all benefited, thanks to the early activists and to our mothers, as our daughters attain tertiary qualifications and secure for themselves responsible roles in society both in the public and private arenas. Can we look to the suffragettes as role models? Do we need to? I ask these questions not only of us but also of myself. What else is there to achieve? Women vote, work, manage their own banking and even secure loans from banks without male family figures having to go guarantor for these loans. Twenty-five years ago a young married woman earning an income had to have a male in the family go guarantor in case she became pregnant. Perhaps a snapshot of life of young women today might help us appreciate the legacy of the suffragettes and the feminist movement. Our young women travel overseas. Honorlee, my 21-year-old, completed her degree at the University of the Sunshine Coast, left home, travelled to London and joined up with Caroline Longmore, our friend Sharon Longmore's daughter and loved sister to John, a terrific young man who will also be embarking on his own world travel after completing several years in the Australian Army. Honorlee's school friend Georgie Foster, a qualified chef, left on 17 January to travel and visit Honorlee and her boyfriend, Dane Franklin, a teacher from Sunshine Beach now teaching in London. Lauren Hill, daughter of Sue and Des Hill of Coolum, walked into the London Museum unannounced and gave Honorlee the surprise of her life. The two girls met at the Peregian Beach bakery where they worked together from the age of 14 until they moved on to study and other challenges. Unlike their female predecessors, these young women have all achieved the aspirations of the suffragettes. Our young women have educated themselves, bought cars, travelled overseas and are enjoying liberty of the like probably only dreamed of by their grandmothers when they were these youngsters' ages. What of the attitudes of the young men they mix with? Well, the young men take it all in their stride and would not have it any other way. They expect no less than these levels of success. My Melanie is working at Coles in Noosa Junction while she pursues studies at the Sunshine Coast uni. Melanie wants to complete her degree and follow it up with a degree in international law, so Mel is following in her nan’s and her grandmother’s footsteps. Our local businesses play a great role in growing and mentoring our youngsters. The staff at Coles Noosa Junction have been absolutely wonderful in its support of our youngsters. Mel’s world fell apart when her young friend Amy died last year. Amy and Mel met at Coles and discovered that they were both studying at the same uni. Doing the same subjects, they soon became friends, sitting in the classes together and sharing their young lives. The management at Coles have been extremely supportive of Melanie, and I would like to thank them and salute them for the role it plays in our community. This leads me to consider the aspirations of Bonnie Molloy, our 13 year old. Bonnie wants to be many things, like most 13-year-olds. She wants to be a volcanologist but she also wants to be Australia's first woman Prime Minister. At the tender age of 13, Bonnie has achieved her surf rescue certificate and is a patrol member at Sunshine Beach. Like her nanna Beryl, Bonnie is a grade A student across all her subjects. At the moment she is considering joining the peer support program where teenagers mentor and help other young people. Her school soccer coach thinks he has found himself another goalie for the season, and she is looking forward to the water polo finals. This morning at 5 am she was up to go to a surf squad with her dad. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 279

What would the suffragettes have made of all this? I often reflect how fortunate we are and how our lives are so different to the lives of women of yesteryear. They were uneducated, dependant on men for survival, prohibited from voting, prohibited from public meetings, prohibited from taking out a loan, prohibited from entry to clubs and universities, denied access to legal terminations, forbidden to practise contraception by some churches, ordered to obey their husbands by civic and religious ruling—and are still prohibited from becoming priests in the Catholic church—and today are covertly prevented from entering the highest offices in the country by the glass ceiling. Domestic violence continues to plague society. We still have a long way to go. As I look back over my lifetime, I have witnessed great social changes but nothing like the changes my mother and my mother-in-law have witnessed. My mother-in-law, Beryl Molloy, regales us with stories from her childhood of living in the depression, of being school dux and being taken out of school at the age of 14 and put with a milliner to do an apprenticeship in Melbourne. Beryl hated having her hopes and aspirations cut short, only to witness her brothers staying on at school, neither of them having shown the aptitude or love of learning that Beryl had displayed. My mother, Nell Hunt, is the daughter of one of Melbourne's leading furniture manufacturers. Her father, a man of foresight, ensured that his daughters had bank accounts, were educated and were equipped to survive the times. The first wave of feminism is said to have occurred from the early 1800s through to the 1930s. The second wave is identified as occurring during the ‘60s. The revolutionising introduction of the contraceptive pill and the affluence and improved living standards during this period all contributed to the emergence of the increased demand by women for greater government involvement in the welfare sector. Divorce laws became more relaxed, freeing couples from the blame game and shaming process that was part and parcel of divorce. Free tertiary education by the early ‘70s became the prize sought and secured for working families by the Whitlam government. I have long maintained that to really become a liberated sex we must take our men with us. While there are many strands to the ideology of feminism, I see no merit in marginalising our men folk. To become like they were—and many still are behind the times—and to blame it all on the men is only to repeat the crimes of the past. I have always worked, studied and pursued my own hobbies with the love and support of my liberated partner. For women to become emancipated we also need our men to be unfettered of traditional roles and the stereotyping that we women have railed against. What would the suffragettes say of News Ltd, which led a dishonest and irresponsible campaign against a federal labor candidate because he spoke the truth and had spent a lifetime of research seeking the truth as to why people pick up guns and kill one another. Matt Price and Steve Lewis, Murdoch's goons, led the charge against my academic partner on behalf of John Howard via News Ltd. The smear campaign orchestrated by the Murdoch press and Howard’s goons, Matt Price and Steve Lewis, has been identified as the worst smear campaign in Australia's political history by Frank Robson, two-time Walkley Award winning journalist. This week John Howard has committed hundreds more Australian troops to the war in Iraq to protect the Japanese engineers. Since when do our sons and daughters get sent to protect foreign military forces that are quite capable of defending themselves in a war that we have been dragged into on the other side of the world to satisfy the Bush administration’s so called national interest? John Howard’s foreign policy is responsible for making Australia a target for terrorist attacks. John Howard's foreign policy to go to war with Iraq was premised on lies of weapons of mass destruction, then to get rid of the Saddam Hussein, then we were there to finish the job and now we are supplying troops to protect the Japanese. Why can they not defend themselves? They did a good job of it in the Second World War. Why are Queenslanders and other Australians footing the bill to pay for this protection of the Japanese? The truth is the Japanese do not want to upset an already angry constituency, as it is, and we have had our election. The Dutch pulled out because of their constituency objecting to this war. Why is Australia sending troops for the Japanese when they have a bigger army? Howard's foreign policy will see him with Australian’s blood on his hands. To all those coalition MPs, I say: if they continue to support this lunacy, they similarly will share responsibility for the Australian deaths to come. It is a remarkable experience to stand in this place to represent my constituents on all manner of issues from education in our schools to whether or not a particular development should go ahead at the cost of the environment. I believe in hands-on politics where politicians need to get out of their ivory towers and be one of the people. For those of us who cherish and value the notions of equality, women in Queensland need to work harder to inform themselves, to question all the decisions our politicians make and to question everything they read. My parliamentary sisters here today, all of you amazing women, keep up the good work and continue your advocacy for all Queenslanders. On a final note, I wish to pay tribute to my popular heroes Kath and Kim. Thanks, ladies, for all your assistance in making our family's life a little brighter. Here is Kath and Kim. Dr LESLEY CLARK (Barron River—ALP) (4.27 pm.): It is with great pleasure that I rise and support the motion of the member for Mundingburra, drawing the attention of this House to the achievements of the women of Queensland in public life since they gained the right to vote in 1905. I welcome, too, the opportunity to mark this centenary of white women's suffrage with a range of activities 280 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 under the theme ‘Celebrate the past: claim the future’, including several in far-north Queensland. And celebrate we should! It was an incredible 15-year campaign by remarkable women whose commitment, determination and courage ultimately prevailed with the proclamation on 26 January 1905 of new electoral laws that enshrined the principle of one vote for each white adult citizen over 21 years of age, thereby abolishing plural voting for men and delivering women the vote. I hope that at the end of this year more Queenslanders will know the story of how women got the vote in our state because it has all the characteristics of a gripping drama that would make an excellent movie—even better than Eucalyptus, if it ever gets made. There is conflict, betrayal, deception, lies, comedy, political wrangling, tears but ultimately joy and celebration. Emma Miller, Leontine Cooper, Eleanor Trundle and Margaret Ogg should be household names as should the organisations they led—namely the Women's Equal Franchise Association, the Queensland Women's Suffrage League, the Women's Christian Temperance League and the Queensland Women's Electoral League. Let there be no mistake: these organisations had different priorities, political affiliations and ideological orientations resulting in different campaign strategies and goals that were cleverly exploited by men again and again in an attempt to delay women their right to vote. I commend the chapters on Queensland in Audrey Oldfield’s Women suffrage in Australia and Kirsten Lee’s Votes for women: The Australian story. These provide a detailed and fascinating account of the tumultuous years leading up to 26 January 1905, with some amazing quotes from men of the times. The web site of the Office of Women also has excellent resources that describe key events. Our own John McCulloch who, when he was a librarian here, documented the story of women parliamentarians up to 1994 will soon be publishing a book to bring that story up to date with the assistance of a grant from the Office of Women. We are deeply indebted to John for his commitment to recording ‘Herstory’ for all Queenslanders. Racism was deeply embedded in the society of the suffragettes and in the decades following. It was not surprising, therefore, that it took another 60 years before Indigenous women got the same right to vote as their white sisters. The story of the struggle of Indigenous Queenslanders for this fundamental right is equally compelling. In Cairns we have our own local heroine in the form of Evelyn Scott, who was at the forefront of that struggle in the 1950s and 1960s. But what would those women who fought so hard—not just for the vote but for a whole raft of reforms to improve the lives of women—think of the progress that Queensland women have made in the last 100 years? I believe they would actually be appalled to know that during the 80 years after their success there were only eight women members of parliament in Queensland. In fact, it was only after 1989, with the election of seven ALP women, that the situation really began to change. In the previous parliament there were 33 women. Currently, we have 30 women in the House. I still amaze many women by telling them that when I was elected to this House as one of those seven women in 1989, only two other Labor woman, Vi Jordan and Ann Warner, had ever sat in the Queensland Parliament. The Profile of Queensland Women, released last year, documents the many advances that women have made to take their place in positions of leadership and decision making in the public and private sector, but it also reveals some glaring deficiencies. Where the government has control over senior management and board appointments, the percentage of women in these positions has been steadily increasing in Queensland. Women now account for 19.7 per cent of the senior executive service positions and 34.8 per cent of state government board positions. But despite women’s work force participation climbing to its highest level ever of 45 per cent and 56 per cent of university graduates being women, they are still scarce in the top most corporate positions and the situation is not improving. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency ‘EOWWA’ carries out an annual census of the number of women executive managers and board directors in the top 200 companies listed on the Australian stock exchange. The 2004 census revealed that women hold 10 per cent of executive management positions, while 42 per cent of companies have no women executive managers. The census indicated that women hold only 8.6 per cent of board directorship, while 47 per cent of companies have no women directors. There has been virtually no change since their first census in 2002. The figures are not much better elsewhere in the world. However, one country, Norway, is acting with a radical plan to increase the number of women on boards of publicly listed companies. I will share this with members of the House today. Scandinavian countries are well known as world leaders for achieving gender equity in their public institutions, including their parliament. However, the Norwegian government lost patience with the private sector in 2000 because figures on female private board membership were similar to those in Queensland and equally unmoving. They subsequently began consultations on a proposal to amend the Equal Status Act to achieve 40 per cent female composition on boards of privately owned public limited companies. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 281

The outcome of the consultation was a decision to provide an opportunity for companies to voluntarily comply with this quota by 1 July this year. If, following board elections, the figure of 40 per cent has not been reached, the proposed legislation will come into effect. It will have a two-year transition period so that the boards of all publicly listed companies have until 2007 to meet the quota of 40 per cent female directors. Under the new legislation, the register of business enterprises will refuse to register companies that have failed to comply by that date and they could even be dissolved by court order. I acknowledge that this is a very radical solution to shake up the old boy networks but it demonstrates that at least one country is serious about achieving gender equity in this area. There have been protests from the private sector in Norway which has claimed that there are not enough qualified women. Doesn't this sound familiar? As the Minister for Children and Family Affairs, Laila Davoy, said when introducing the proposed legislation— The low percentage of women on company boards is unfortunate and we find it absolutely necessary to intervene in order to promote social development which recognises and makes use of the competence of both sexes. The present situation means that society is not making use of the resources that women’s competence represents. In view of women’s high standard of education and rate of employment, it is paradoxical that there are still so few women in top management positions in the business sector. I will be following the situation in Norway with great interest and I hope that it will stimulate debate here in Australia. I have supported the Sydney based organisation, Women on Boards, which ran a very successful function here in Brisbane last year and they are doing a great job. The aim of Women on Boards is to help experienced women fulfil their directorship aspirations by providing them with professional development opportunities, enhancing corporate governance skills and building networks of industry, corporate and government contacts. In the past three years the program has achieved considerable success in placing women onto not-for-profit, sports and community sector boards. It is now targeting the corporate sector and deserves our full support. However, based on my experience in the public sector and politics, I doubt that we will see any significant change without some kind of significant intervention, either by government or the private sector itself. I am sure that our sisters who led the suffrage campaign 100 years ago were considered outrageous radicals in their day. Maybe it really is time to unite and demand equality in the board rooms of the major private sector companies which today wield enormous global power over the lives of billions of people. We will not live to see it, but I hope that in 2105 women will be celebrating another centenary—one that marks the beginning of the end of this last bastion of male power, the corporate board room. Miss SIMPSON (Maroochydore—NPA) (4.34 pm): Celebrations and commemorations provide us with connections to our past and our future. Already, 2005 has some powerful milestones to make us stop and consider our place in history. One hundred years have passed since most women in Queensland received voting rights. It is the 40th anniversary of Indigenous Australians receiving the same rights. Darwin was bombed about 63 years ago. A few months ago, a tsunami killed 300,000 of our Asian neighbours and destroyed their livelihoods. Why I juxtapose some of these other events with the women's vote is that they are reminders of change—some manmade and some by natural forces beyond our control. They are also pointers to the fact that, with all the blessings of living in a free country with a history of long democratic stability, our part in history is not simply to be observers and to enjoy the comfort of our backyards and beaches. The significance of this centenary is about more than just the right to vote. It is the kind of active citizenship which demands our actions as well as our opinions. It speaks loudly of effecting change through a compassionate activism and it calls us to serve not only ourselves but also our neighbours, both locally and globally. I have always felt very passionate about local community and working with others who share the vision to build a better society. After 12 years in parliament, I also recognise that it requires more than the simple passage of laws. It demands the more costly and complex answers of human care and involvement. There is still much to do in our local community to alleviate hardship and to advance the cause of women to lead whole, healthy and happy lives. Issues include the pursuit of appropriate child care, freedom from domestic violence and the fight against the scourge of child abuse and its impacts, which can scar people mentally for life. However, there is another issue which cannot go unmentioned and unchallenged, as it was one of the greatest blots on this parliament's history with regard to the status of women, that is, the legalisation of brothels under the Beattie government. It is a disgrace that with all of the advancements for women, the state sanctioned the view that it is okay to buy and sell women's bodies as long as they get paid and are physically safe. This totally ignores these women's mental health and the ethics—or lack of ethics—of exploiting a workforce that has an above average history of abuse as children and a low socio-economic background. Too many people with a vested interest in the prostitution industry continue to influence government policy. It is time that women who have left prostitution and who know that its damage is much more than physical have their voices heard so that genuine efforts to help prevent other young women—and men—from entering this degrading industry can finally receive real government support. 282 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005

I read the CMC review of prostitution laws and I was stunned that the Beattie government is now claiming in its submissions that it had kept its promise to introduce programs to help women out of prostitution. This was despite years of Beattie government ministers being unable to outline what these programs were, following the passage of the legalised brothel laws, when I sought details in writing. Obviously such programs were not top-of-mind or of high priority to the government. I thank the women who have had the courage to talk with me about the effect of working in the prostitution industry. I urge the women of this parliament to help support their efforts to build services which rebuild shattered lives and treat these women with the dignity and respect that is as much their birthright as it is ours. I also take this opportunity in the lead-up to International Women’s Day to consider our international sisters and the milestones that they are yet to achieve. We must also ask what we can do to help them. Members may have heard that Australia is a signatory to the UN’s millennium development goals. Information on this can be found at www.un.org/millenniumgoals. These call on us to help achieve the following (1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieve universal primary education; (3) promote gender equality and empower women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve maternal health; (6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental sustainability; and, (8) develop a global partnership for development. All of these goals, with their individual targets, have the potential to profoundly impact upon the lives of women in the Third World. However, it is the first goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to which I wish to draw members’ attention, and to the fact that 2005 is also the UN International Year of Microcredit. Information can be found at www.yearofmicrocredit.org. What a bland name. But when we dig further we find that the story is exciting, achievable and provides answers to the question: how can I make a difference to world poverty? For as little as the cost of a meal at McDonalds for the average Australian family, a Third World woman could establish a small business that would break the cycle of poverty and feed her family for life. The problem is accessing the finance and support. That is where microfinancing comes in. These are small loans provided with business development support through not-for-profit community organisations such as Opportunity International. I have friends involved in Opportunity International— and members can read about the organisation at www.opportunity.org.au—who are currently working on rebuilding Indonesia after the tsunami. However, for 20 years the results of their work in many countries has helped thousands of poor Third World women in particular move from subsistence to sustainability and economic empowerment. Alice Jere, a 47-year-old chicken farmer from Zambia, who began her business with a $50 loan from Opportunity International, made history on Thursday, 18 November 2004 when she opened the markets at the London Stock Exchange to mark the launch of the UN Year of Microcredit 2005. Alice Jere is one example of how microcredit is empowering women all over the world. On the back of a $50 loan she has put her five children through school and college as well as supported a number of AIDS orphans. Nancy Barry, President of Women's World Banking, said— Microfinance needs to be viewed not as some cute and adorable thing that that not-for-profit organisations do, nor as a public relations activity of banks. It needs to be seen and treated as the base and backbone of domestic financial systems. For me, I want to do my part in breaking world poverty by supporting those involved in sustainable development. For others it may be through other organisations or by answering the call by being on the front line. It is my hope that 2005 will be a year where we build upon and share in the bounties of the opportunities that we have inherited and that we work for the advancement of women not only in our state but also throughout the world. Then we will be able to celebrate not only our right to vote but also our calling as global citizens. Hon. NI CUNNINGHAM (Bundaberg—ALP) (4.42 pm): I appreciate this opportunity to speak for a few minutes about the achievements of women in public life since we were given the vote in Queensland 100 years ago. I know we will hear a lot about those achievements during this debate. I would like to speak briefly about how things are changing rapidly for women at last and to highlight some of my lighter experiences in breaking through that glass ceiling. It is 17 years since I was elected to the Bundaberg City Council. Yet when I was elected in 1988— some 83 years after women got that vote—I was still only the second woman ever elected to any level of government in Bundaberg and I was the only woman on the 1988 council. That changed drastically three years later when I was elected mayor and all five women who stood for election as aldermen were elected, giving Bundaberg a council of seven women and three men. That was an amazing change and we were promptly tagged the petticoat council by those men who had lost. But that term and the next of the petticoat council was a time of enormous change and progress for Bundaberg. We redeveloped the CBD, built a new large and modern library, developed an arts centre and a sugar museum, beautified the city with flowers on 14 roundabouts—a project that has since been copied by numerous councils across Queensland—and put the finances of the city in an 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 283 enviable position. In all, we changed the whole image of Bundaberg to a modern and progressive city— to the amazement of the residents who were left asking, ‘What on earth did the other councils do with our money.' But it was not easily achieved. There is a saying that women have to be twice as good as men to gain the same recognition. I can say that in some cases that is not difficult. As an example of just how difficult it is sometimes to break into a male dominated world, I refer to a meeting I attended between the council and a group of American businessmen in my first time term on that council when I was the only woman. There was a lot of casual discussion around the table over a cup of tea. One male councillor, who was being left out of the conversation suddenly raised his voice over everyone else and asked, ‘Do you know that after the age of 40 women's brains start to die?' We could hear a pin drop. I was the only woman there and I was over 40. But he had everyone's attention then so he proceeded with, ‘Yes, after 40 they loss X per cent of their brain cells every year.' By then the silence was deafening and most embarrassing. But my sense of humour came to the fore and I responded with, ‘That may be so, but it would still put us way in front of those men who did not have any to start with.' It was not easy, but a sense of humour was and still is essential. My first term on that council was everything a woman should not have to put up with and, in fact, would not be tolerated today just 17 years later. But it did toughen me up. I have now been elected at seven consecutive elections in Bundaberg, first as an alderman when I topped the poll and automatically became deputy mayor. I have been elected mayor at three elections and the state member for Bundaberg at three elections. I can proudly say that I was the first woman in Bundaberg to be deputy mayor, the first to be elected mayor, the first woman to be elected to a parliament in Bundaberg and the first Bundaberg member, male or female, to be elevated to cabinet in 48 years. But while women have made positive inroads as elected representatives and the voting community clearly has confidence in the ability of women to do the job at all three levels of government, it is still difficult for women to break into the top executive roles where the positions are filled by a handful of other executives. Of our 125 councils in Queensland, until just recently only four of the CEO jobs were held by women. I have always said—and it has been well recorded—that I do not believe woman make better councillors, mayors or members of parliament than men, but women's opinions are often different. I do believe if we want good decisions we need a balance of opinions—that means the opinions of men and women and it also means the opinions of the young and the old. I congratulate all women who have achieved their goals. We have made a big difference on our own merits. I believe that difference has made our communities, our state and our nation a better place. As women celebrate this milestone of 100 years of women's right to vote in Queensland, we should indeed celebrate the past and we should certainly look to the future with confidence. Mrs REILLY (Mudgeeraba—ALP) (4.47 pm): In the 1880s the age of consent was 12 and women were fighting to abolish the Contagious Diseases Act under which women, but not men, could be forcibly examined for sexually transmitted disease and quarantined in locked hospitals if they were found to be infected. I wanted to start with that fact because I wanted to set the scene so that everyone thinks about the kind of environment in which women found themselves in the 1880s and the reality of their status in 19th century society. It seems amazing to me standing here today to think that just over 100 years ago the women of this state did not have the right to vote. They were not the only ones who were disfranchised. In the late 19th century the only people who had the right to vote were the state's landed gentry. Kirsten Lees, in her book titled Votes for Women: The Australian Story provides an excellent account of the history of women's struggle for suffrage. Today, I would like to mention a few highlights from that book. In the 1880s wealthy squatters who had taken possession of land to run cattle or sheep or grow sugar controlled the economy and had enormous political power. They were in the minority of residents of the colony. They vigorously defended and exploited the plural vote which allowed a man to vote in any electorate in which he held property. This meant that some men could vote dozens of times at a single general election and they bought votes by subdividing property and then registering the holdings in the name of friends and supporters. It also meant that most men, such as Queensland's rural itinerant workers, had no vote. It was the issue of universal suffrage which in some ways held up the campaign for the women's vote. Women's rights groups and suffrage lobbyists were torn between lobbying for the right for all women to vote, which would also mean all men or all adults, or achieving equality with men at the status quo of the time and effectively only getting the right to vote extended to women who owned property or, at best, were the wives of the landed gentry. It was a dilemma which caused much disagreement and argument which came to a head in 1894 when 400 men and women turned up to a public meeting in Brisbane on women's suffrage. Some years earlier the Queensland Women's Suffrage League had been wrecked by this issue of the terms on which women would ask for the vote, so at this meeting a 284 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 compromise was first put up. The aim would be that the franchise of the colony, whatever it may be, should be extended to women. I think that was a pretty big compromise. This meant being satisfied with the property restrictions that then applied to male voters, at least for the time being. Not surprisingly, it was the leading organiser of the Labor women's movement, Emma Miller, who was committed to one adult, one vote. After what I can only imagine was an extremely heated debate, the Labor women forced an amendment to include the words ‘the right to one vote and one vote only'. The movement split at this point and the women fractured and did not agree. The groups that were formed were the Women's Equal Franchise Association, which was fighting for universal suffrage, as well as the Women's Suffrage League, which was fighting for votes for women on the same terms as men. At the end of 1894 two bills relating to women's suffrage were presented to the Queensland parliament—one along each of these lines. It was pretty easy for a conservative government at the time to exploit that split in the women's movement and to shelve both of those bills. One of the compromises that then Liberal conservative Premier Robert Philip put in 1899 to the women's suffrage movement was a bill which gave all adults the vote—and that is great—but it gave men with two or more legitimate children born in the colony the right to two votes each. He was of course trying to arrest the falling white birth rate in the colony as well. Not surprisingly, that bill was subjected to a fair amount of criticism and ridicule and was rejected. Things started to hot up again in 1902 when women were given the vote in federal elections. Perhaps women would have got the vote earlier if they had compromised. I can hear men's minds ticking over thinking, ‘Typical! The women couldn't agree.' Mr Terry Sullivan interjected. Mrs REILLY: Yes, exactly. The women were factionalised in disagreement. Had they just agreed amongst themselves, they may have achieved the women's vote earlier. While I compromise when I need to in relation to particular issues that I fight for, I keep in mind the overall outcome that I am trying to achieve. Others may think I compromise; clearly my colleagues do not think I compromise. I am on the side of the girls who would not compromise and who fought for true equality and enfranchisement for all. Ultimately, it was the persistence and perseverance—the sheer stubbornness—of all of these women from both sides of the argument who did come back together and who fought side by side which saw us achieve the vote for women and the end of the plural vote at the same time, although it did not come until 1905. But we wait for all good things, as we do. Of course we must not forget that that suffrage was not really universal at all, because our Indigenous sisters had to wait another 60 years to vote, as did Indigenous men and people of other ethnic groups. It is worth considering just how far Queensland women have come in the past 100 years. I do not want to take a lot of time with this, but there are a few dates on a chronology of events that I want to highlight. In 1969—the year I was born—the ban on married women as permanent employees in the Queensland state public sector was abolished. In 1991 the Anti-Discrimination Act was proclaimed. In 1992 Leneen Ford was commissioned as the first female Governor of Queensland. Joan Sheldon became the first Deputy Premier and Treasurer of Queensland in 1996. In 2001—the achievement that is probably most pertinent to me—the Queensland parliament attained the highest proportion of women representatives of any Australian parliament and one of the highest proportions in the world with 33 of the 89 elected members being women. It is fair to say that I would not be here without the support and encouragement of many people, particularly my husband, family and friends, but it was undoubtedly the encouragement of women which put in my head the idea of running for a seat in state parliament in the first place. For that, I want to thank Di Farmer again—I am still thanking her—and Kellie Trigger for their unfailing support and great women like Molly Robson and Joan Kirner who launched my campaign in 2000 and ensured that I had some funds with which to start fighting through Emily's List. I can only hope that in years to come my time as the foundation member for Mudgeeraba— Mudgeeraba's first woman MP; Mudgeeraba's first MP—I will be remembered for my achievements as an MP and not necessarily as a woman. While I am constantly inspired by the many fine woman whose company I share as colleagues and women who have gone before me both in the field of politics and in my previous field of journalism, I am equally inspired by men who deserve admiration for their commitment and endeavour. I have been very fortunate, and still am, to have had both men and women mentors whom I have chosen because of their merit, qualities of leadership, strong social justice agenda and conscience, dedication, strength, warmth and generosity forwards all humankind. It is true that women have come a long way. It is also true that in some areas we still have a long way to go, particularly in areas such as domestic violence, balancing work and family, and recognition of merit for promotion. Then there are those women in our society who are still struggling for the opportunities which we all take for granted. Women who are carers, parents of children with disabilities—many of them single parents—women from migrant communities, refugee women, women from low socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous women in particular are still very disadvantaged 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 285 in our community. There is one more group that we very rarely consider, and that is women who are re- entering society after a term of imprisonment. Each year for the last three years I have visited the women's centre at Numinbah Valley Correctional Centre in my electorate on International Women's Day and I have been guest speaker at the International Women's Day celebrations. Time and time again what has struck me most about this group of women is the sheer waste of talent and ability and the enormous potential these women have to make a worthy contribution to society. This potential is just literally waiting to be unlocked. But, if as a society we do not welcome, support, encourage, nurture and embrace these women when they re-enter the community, that potential will be lost to us and we will be the poorer for it, because if it is hard for any prisoner to re-enter society and rebuild their life after a term of imprisonment I think it is doubly hard for women because they carry an enormous stigma that goes with being a woman who has committed a crime serious enough to warrant a lengthy term in prison. If we consider ourselves to be a truly Christian society or at least one that is based on the fundamental principles of forgiveness and tolerance, multifaith and multiculture and a truly developed democracy, we must work towards ensuring that freedom and opportunity, safety and security, personal achievement and success are afforded to all women, including those who are leaving prison with hopes for a new start. It is an honour for me to be able to join with my sisters from all sides of politics and with my male colleagues as well today to be able to support the motion moved by the member for Mundingburra. Mrs MENKENS (Burdekin—NPA) (4.57 pm): This subject today is no doubt very close to the hearts of all female politicians given the fact that without this event in history occurring we certainly would not be standing today in the Queensland parliament. Tuesday, 25 January 2005 is 100 years to the day since the passage of a bill in the Queensland parliament affording women the right to vote. Several failed attempts to extend this right to Queensland women between 1890 and 1904 were unsuccessful until the momentous passing of the Elections Act Amendment Act which entitled 50 per cent of the population the novel experience in those days of exercising their democratic right. Unfortunately, it was not until 1915 that women would be allowed to actually sit in the parliament and not until 11 May 1929 that the first woman was elected to this House. However, since that date, Queensland has been served in its parliament by many talented women. These individuals have laid the foundation stones for our current members to build on. But before I pay tribute to one of this state's greatest pioneers, who contributed more than her fair share to the rich tapestry of political life in Queensland over 100 years, I thought I would share with members the arguments put forth in this House as the Elections Act Amendment Bill passed through the House. When the bill was passed through the House in 1905, the arguments supporting the enfranchisement of women were simple and heartfelt, as those Queensland parliamentarians who possessed vision of an equalitarian world fought hard for the rights of a disenfranchised group. This group obviously contained people who had women as positive influences on their lives including their mothers, grandmothers, sisters and so forth. The point that it was merely justice that women should have equal voting rights with men was rightly hammered home, including the fact that whilst women paid taxes, were subject to all of the laws of the land and had the right to hold property they had no representation, no voice to promote change and no incentive to do so. This was countered by arguments which ranged from the ludicrous to the bizarre. Some of the arguments put forward exhibited the obvious ignorance of society at that time, but most were the remnants of a monarchical group who did not want to face the competition of another disenfranchised group. There were speakers who countered the suffragette movement by saying that women did not want the right to vote, that they were unfit to use the vote, that they were easily led, that it was not in the interests of males, that it could cause cataclysmic events and, more importantly, that women should be revered and uncontaminated. As we know, the rational arguments won out, but we could be forgiven for thinking that in those times the opposition to progress might have succeeded purely through fear tactics alone. I pay homage to one of the women who has played a part in the development of Queensland politics. This person is Queensland's first woman parliamentarian, Irene Longman. Born on 24 April 1877, Irene Longman was the first woman to both stand for and be elected to the Queensland parliament. Educated in Sydney, she obtained a kindergarten teaching diploma and taught at Normanhurst and Sydney Girls Grammar School before moving to Rockhampton and teaching at the Rockhampton Girls Grammar School. She was an activist in many women's organisations. She was President of the National Council of Women of Queensland, Honorary President of the Queensland Citizenship League, Honorary President of the Queensland Association for the Welfare of the Mentally Deficient, Vice-President of the Queensland branch of the Lyceum Club, Vice-President of the Queensland Women's Peace Movement and officer of the Creche and Kindergarten Association. Obviously, following this Irene Longman decided that she wanted more challenges and decided to become Queensland's first female politician. She was elected as a member of the Country and Progressive National Party for the electorate of Bulimba on 11 May 1929 and contributed to the 286 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 parliament until 11 June 1932. She made her maiden speech on 21 August 1929 in an address in reply to the Governor's opening of parliament. As members can understand, at that time Mrs Longman's performance in the parliament was closely scrutinised by all, with some suggestions that she was a token representative for women's issues. However, the fact that during her term she was responsible for Queensland's first woman police officer and for changing the meeting place of the Children's Court from inside the precinct of the police court, her critics may have been slightly harsh in their assessment. It is certain that, as the first female member of this House, she deserves our admiration. Another admirable female member of parliament that I would like to mention is Dame Enid Lyons. Although a Tasmanian, she has very strong family links in Queensland. Dame Enid Lyons was the first woman in Australia to be elected to the federal House of Representatives. She was also the devoted wife of an Australian Prime Minister and the mother of 12 children. Enid Muriel Burnell was born in an isolated timber camp in north-west Tasmania in 1897, the second of four children. It is said that Enid's mother was determined that her children would make something of their lives. She took in washing and sewing to earn extra money to pay for their education. At teachers college in Hobart Enid Burnell met schoolteacher Joseph Lyons and they married three years later, when Enid was 17 and Joseph was 34. Soon after, Joseph left teaching and entered state politics. Enid was 25 when Joseph Lyons became Premier of Tasmania. In 1929 he won a seat in federal politics and by 1932 he became Prime Minister of Australia. By that stage they had 12 children and, no doubt, no federally funded child care. Enid believed that, as wife of the Prime Minister, part of her job was to share her husband's ideals, ambitions and achievements. She became Joseph's greatest asset. In 1937 Enid was awarded the Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI. However, tragedy struck two years later, in 1939, when Joseph died whilst still in office. Four years later Dame Enid Lyons did what she knew best. At the age of 46 she became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1943. This was the first occasion on which a woman addressed the Commonwealth parliament and marked a turning point in history. Dame Enid was a politician who cared about people and their problems. She also proved that women had a part to play in the community as well as in the home. She retired after eight years, in 1951. One of Dame Enid’s daughters, Mrs Kath Gordon, has been very well known to me all my life. She has always lived in Queensland and, as well as rearing her family, she has contributed enormously to the welfare of families in Townsville by her formation of Wee Care, a very successful group. This commitment to community welfare has been well continued by many members of Dame Enid Lyons's family. I am genuinely proud to be the first woman to be elected for the seat of Burdekin to the Queensland parliament. I would also like to let the House know that the Burdekin Shire Council district, where the majority of my constituents reside, is currently represented by women at all three tiers of government. To my colleagues De-Anne Kelly MP, federal Minister for Veterans' Affairs and member for Dawson, and Councillor Lyn McLaughlin, mayor of the Burdekin shire, I say: congratulations for continuing the fine contribution of women in all three tiers of government. There is no doubt that women have played an important role in the shaping of the world in which we currently live and that they have been able to play a more active role following their success in gaining the right to vote and stand in Queensland politics some 100 years ago. I acknowledge all women in Queensland, no matter what their role in life, and I also applaud the men whom they support and the wonderful men who support them. Hon. PD BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (5.06 pm): Universal suffrage is a cornerstone, as we all know, of modern democracy. It is extraordinary to think that until 100 years ago women had no formal say in who governed their state. Even more outrageous is that Indigenous women, along with Indigenous men, had to fight for another 60 years for the right to vote in Queensland state elections. That is nothing any of us should be proud of. Then Premier Arthur Morgan championed one adult, one vote and was blamed for calling a special session of parliament to debate electoral reform in January 1905. Parliament of the day debated the Electoral Franchise Bill followed by the Elections Acts Amendment Bill between 4 January and 25 January 1905. Members were concerned about a range of issues they had not previously needed to confront. For example, the home secretary, Peter Airey, told the House that the Elections Acts Amendment Bill removed the need for voters to declare their age. He said— I understand that there is a great objection, on the part of ladies in particular, to give their age. It is a natural objection, and one that I cannot wonder at, and we therefore propose to leave out that column. He then said— Not only do ladies object to give their age, but very often men do, and I have known many cases of men putting down fanciful ages in order that they might appear more juvenile than they actually are. Honourable members interjected. 24 Feb 2005 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 287

Mr BEATTIE: I am not going to have an interpretation of what ‘juvenile' means in this regard. I will move on rapidly. Ms Nolan interjected. Mr BEATTIE: There will be no suggestions from the member for Ipswich, thank you very much. I do not think they would be constructive to this debate. New concessions had to be made, such as— No female elector shall be disqualified from voting under the name appearing on the roll merely because she has changed her surname upon marriage. At the conclusion of the session, then Premier Morgan congratulated ‘the more than 100,000 women of Queensland who, as a result of our labours during this short session, will in future enjoy the franchise, a right for which they have been for many years contending, and contending in vain'. It was another 10 years before women could stand for election to the Legislative Assembly. It was not until 1929 that a woman took a seat in the state parliament. However, for all its quaintness, the debate of 100 years ago was a historic leap forward in the struggle for equality between the sexes in this state. Then Premier Morgan's government enacted another important piece of legislation later in the year enabling women in Queensland to practise as lawyers. One thing is certain: if women were not voting we would not be the Smart State. Over the years women have used their franchise to push for changes that have benefited not only women but also the whole of Queensland society. In 2001 we achieved the highest level of female representation in any Australian parliament, with 33 out of the 89 elected members being women. The 30 women members in the present parliament— one-third of the total—make this House one of the most truly representative parliaments in the world. Five ministers are women, as is Her Excellency the Governor—one of my best appointments, I might say. There are 32 women in the Queensland judiciary—seven Supreme Court judges, five District Court judges and 20 magistrates. At 30 June 2004, women held 52.8 per cent of middle and upper management positions in the Queensland Public Service and 29 per cent of CEOs, senior executive service and senior officer positions. In my own department, Dr Leo Keliher is the director-general and there are three deputy directors-general, all of whom are women—and they are very good. Women now hold more than 31 per cent of directorships on the boards of state owned enterprises, up from 23 per cent in 1998. In local government, 15 per cent of mayors are women and women hold 30 per cent of local government councillor positions. More than 54 per cent of tertiary education positions were occupied by women in 2002 and women hold 20 per cent of senior executive Public Service positions in Queensland. Such representations would have been absolutely unthinkable in 1905. The record shows that the government is using its mandate to advance women and girls in Queensland and we are going to continue to do just that. I will give a thumbnail sketch of just a handful of the important achievements because time does not allow me to go through the rest. Firstly, industrial relations laws are delivering greater job security and access to unpaid parental adoption, carer and bereavement leave for casual employees with more than 12 months continuous service; legal protection to more Queenslanders who have experienced violence in relationships; formal recognition of the rights of women in de facto and same-sex relationships; outlawing discrimination against women who are breastfeeding at work and in work related areas; improving the response of the criminal justice system to child witnesses or victims of sexual and violent crime; ensuring that women have more flexible and accessible education, training and employment pathways, with a special focus on girls and boys at risk of disengaging from learning, including students who are pregnant and are mothers; and a new $6.9 million program which will improve the job prospects of 2,300 unemployed parents and carers. Most primary carers in Queensland are women. Other achievements include the establishment of a Work and Family Unit in the Department of Industrial Relations and greater numbers of family support and respite services across the state for families caring for family members with a disability. In 2003-04 the Queensland Health BreastScreen program provided breast cancer screening for 7,544 more women than in the previous year. An extra 24,918 pap smears were provided. In 2003-04 the First Start program provided 1,545 full-time traineeships for women, representing 67 per cent of total traineeship funding in Queensland public sector agencies and community organisations. A stronger focus on prevention and early intervention helps prevent families falling into crisis. They are some of the things we are doing. Mr Speaker, when I participate in some of these debates I think of what has happened during my lifetime and indeed yours. The advancement of women has accelerated in recent years and it is about time. I can remember when Dennis Murphy and I were involved in the reform movement at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. He and I went to that great institution called the Labor Party conference and we recommended that there be a program put in place to guarantee women representation in a certain number of positions. I can remember Dennis Murphy and I being vilified in the worst possible way by a percentage—I have to say for the record it was a small percentage but it was a very large small percentage—of delegates who did not believe that we should guarantee that one of the 288 Centenary of Women's Right to Vote 24 Feb 2005 vice-presidents be a woman. I am going from memory now because I am getting old and a bit forgetful, but I think there were 20 members of the administrative committee and we guaranteed that five would be women. Well, we nearly had a riot. I remember Joy Ardill, for whom I will always have deep affection, being one of those courageous people at this conference. She became, if I recall correctly, the first female vice-president of the party at that time. Before her there were women like Barbara Cross and a string of other women who had banged their heads against the wall within the Labor Party for advancement. These days the Labor Party has come of age. These days part of our culture is that we need to advance women. But the Labor Party—and this is not that long ago; we are talking about 25 years ago—needed to be led to a position where women were respected and could be accepted for having the ability to do as well if not better than men. If we look at our culture and look at some of the changes that are taking place, while this is not a perfect science when talking about cultures, male culture and practice obviously has its strengths. But one of the great strengths resulting from the way women have behaved over a long period of time is to be supportive of one another; to talk about problems and to try to work them through. That has been one of the benefits I think women have shared with men, and we have ended up with a better process. Instead of having domestic violence, alcohol abuse and physical violence, we now end up with a culture where that is not only unacceptable but we are developing and learning from women's ability to be able to talk issues through. I think we are a better culture for it. We still have a long way to go in terms of representation. I look forward to the day when we have a female Premier in this state, and I look forward to the day when we have 50 per cent representation in the parliament and in the cabinet. That will be a truly great day for Queensland. Mr FINN (Yeerongpilly—ALP) (5.16 pm): It gives me great pleasure to speak to this motion today and contribute to the celebration of the 100-year anniversary of suffrage in Queensland. At the outset I note that not all women have won the right to vote for 100 years, as Aboriginal women did not achieve this right for another 60. Queensland does have a proud place in the history of suffrage in Australia. While it may have taken us a bit longer to give women the right to vote than some states, the right for women to stand in parliament was legislated in Queensland earlier than Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria. We do not have to look far for the benefits. We have only to look to the mover of this motion—the member for Mundingburra—to see the benefits to the parliament and people of Queensland of women gaining the right to be here. Having lived in the special cultural milieu of Townsville for several years, I know that the city would be all the poorer if women community leaders like the member for Mundingburra were not able to be members of this parliament. Whilst I am mentioning my time living in Townsville, it would be wrong in the context of this debate not to mention former Senator Margaret Reynolds—a strong advocate for the rights of women and herself a great leader, having served as a federal minister responsible for women in the Hawke government. Margaret had a great ability to get under the skin of anyone with poor gender politics regardless of which side of politics they were on, and she was not afraid of a scrap. Her preparedness to speak about hard issues and resist populist politics was inspirational. She was a great role model for many of the young politically aware women and men in Townsville. It is reasonable to question why we celebrate something like suffrage—a change that occurred 100 years ago and which is largely taken for granted today. It is important for a few reasons. Several people said to me on the night of my election, ‘Don't forget to celebrate your victories,' and this is probably reason enough. Women suffrage came about as a result of much struggle and the passage of legislation through the House was a great victory—a victory for the extraordinarily strong advocates of the times, a victory for all women and I believe a victory for our system and all of Queensland. Every time a government policy or a political campaign addresses issues important to women, it is a victory for the suffrage movement. Every time a woman is selected as a candidate by her party or is elected to parliament, it is a victory. The 100-year-old victory we celebrate this year is a victory that keeps on giving, and that is reason enough to celebrate. Celebrating an event such as this is also important to an understanding of history. As I have talked about women's suffrage in the schools in my electorate this year, I have talked about how women have had the right to vote for 100 years but that Queensland is almost 150 years old. When Queensland became a colony, women did not have a say about that issue alone—about whether it was a good idea to become a colony—and for the next 46 years Queensland was governed without women having a say about any decisions affecting the governance of the state, not even which blokes should be elected to make the decision for them. When we analyse history and when we study how Queensland developed, we must understand the context that men decided for Queensland and the interests of Queensland reflected the interests of men. Another reason to celebrate is to raise awareness of where we are at today. One hundred years after winning the right to vote, the battle for equal pay continues. Gender disadvantage continues in the work force and the battles for maternity leave, child care and equal employment opportunities are important issues facing women and progressive society today. 24 Feb 2005 Adjournment 289

The recent contest for the federal leadership of the Australian Labor Party provides an excellent example of the continuing struggle of women for attitudinal change in institutions such as political parties and the media. I read and heard bits about the strengths and weaknesses of the potential candidates, but what I heard most, particularly in the week leading up to the caucus ballot, was criticism of prominent women. Julia Gillard, a competent and intelligent federal politician and community leader, was being cut down because she did not happen to be married to a man. Nothing demonstrates more than this how far we still have to travel in gender equity attitudes in Australia. During that leadership contest, I heard and read a lot about how some people wanted a change in the deputy leadership because Jenny Macklin had not maintained a high enough profile. Here was a person who was not contesting the leadership but apparently had to go because she did not engage enough in political self-promotion. People had to search hard to find anything written about her loyalty, her academic achievement, her support for other caucus members or her strong work in the Education portfolio. No-one reminded us of her slaying of Michael Wooldridge when he was the health minister. There was no mention of her merit for the job, just that she did not sell herself as well as the potential candidates for a job that she was not seeking. There are several people in the federal Labor Party who are capable of leading this country, and I believe that Julia and Jenny are two of them. One hundred years after winning the suffrage battle, women still fight the ‘judge us on merit’ battle. Celebrating the anniversary of suffrage is a powerful way of raising awareness of these issues, particularly in educating our young people who will be the agitators for change in the next generations. Opportunities like this are also times for the remembrance and recognition of the contribution of special people and their place in history. In the context of this speech and my comments at the outset regarding Aboriginal suffrage, I pay tribute today to Red Jessie—the feminist, lobbyist, peace activist and socialist Jessie Street. I cannot possibly do Jessie's life justice in the brief time that I have today. She was a very active and celebrated person. She campaigned for equality of status for women, equal pay, the appointment of women to public office and their election to parliament. She also almost won the seat of Wentworth for the Labor Party twice. Jessie was the only woman on the Australian delegation to the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945 and established the UN Commission of the Status of Women and charter of women's rights. Today, I pay tribute to Jessie's role in advancing the rights of Indigenous Australians. Jessie cofounded and was president of the United Associations of Women. This organisation campaigned actively for improving living conditions for Aboriginal people. Jessie was a national champion for citizenship rights for Indigenous Australians and it was Jessie who proposed to the then territories minister, Paul Hasluck, an amendment to the Australian Constitution to recognise Indigenous people in the national census and, therefore, to have the same set of rights as all Australians—a right that was recognised in the 1967 referendum. Whilst Aboriginal Australians already had the right to vote prior to this referendum, it was years of activism by Jessie Street that contributed in no small way to Aboriginal suffrage and lead directly to established citizenship rights for Indigenous people. No speech on the celebration of historical events is complete without a look at some of the words of the times. There are many great quotes of the time, and I encourage people to read them and reflect on the gravity of the issue in its day. I could not resist mentioning a couple of them. Staniforth Smith from Western Australia, a free trade member of parliament, said in the national parliament— ...this will be the first Parliament to have universal adult suffrage for both Houses of the Legislature. This Bill will not confer a favour upon the women of Australia, nor a boon for which they should be grateful. It will do a simple act of justice that has been withheld from women for many years. James Stewart from Queensland, an Australian Labor Party member, said— The very men who say that giving a woman a vote would degrade her, have not the slightest compunction about making her a drudge. They do not regard it as degrading for a woman to black a man's boots. Oh, no! It is not degrading for her to scrub a floor or to be turned into a stuffy kitchen to cook for a man, or to be put into a factory where she will have to work nine or ten hours a day for a wretched pittance. None of these things will degrade a woman, but to give her a voice in the government of the country will degrade her! That is what the opponents of female suffrage tell us. In finishing, I encourage all people—and particularly all women—to celebrate the anniversary of suffrage. As part of my celebration I place on record my thanks to all of the women leaders who have had an impact on my life—my mother, my grandmother, my friends and their mothers, my work mates, school teachers, lecturers, community workers, parliamentary colleagues and others. Finally, I particularly thank my partner, best friend and strong feminist, Terri, for not only her support but also her direction and leadership. Debate, on motion of Mr Rickuss, adjourned.

ADJOURNMENT Hon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Leader of the House) (5.24 pm): I move— That the House do now adjourn. 290 Adjournment 24 Feb 2005

Gatton-Glenore Grove Rifle Club Mr RICKUSS (Lockyer—NPA) (5.24 pm): On Saturday, 19 February I had the good fortune to be invited to the Gatton-Glenore Grove Rifle Club. The secretary of the club, Grant King, invited me to visit the club's shoot. I thank Grant for the invitation. I had a very interesting afternoon. I was very impressed by the safety aspects of the range and the safety awareness of the gun club members. The gun club is a very old club. The club's affiliation with the national body of rifle clubs, which has existed for around a hundred years, would make the national rifle club one of the oldest national sporting bodies in Australia. The range that was being shot was the 600-yard range. Yes, it was 600 yards. The national association is so old and long standing that the imperial measurement is still used. In the members’ handbook wind speed is recorded in miles per hour and distances in feet and inches. I discussed this issue with some of the members who advised me that they are about to make up conversion charts for the younger and newer members. Until people are actually out on a range they do not realise how far 600 yards is. If they look at the rest of the mounds they realise that to shoot a target from 300 yards to more than 900 yards with an open sight is no mean feat. I was speaking to Lloyd Turner at the club who was telling me how his grandson was also a keen participant in the sport. This is one of the few sports that does, to a certain degree, defy age. There are not very many sports where a grandfather and his grandson can compete together. I would also like to express my great admiration for Roy Olm, who, despite his disability, is a regular competing member of the rifle club. He also does his share of club participation. Roy and Jeff Horwood were shooting with scopes. All the rifles used are single shot bolt action .308 rifles. Part of the buffer zone is designated state forest under section 76(3) of the Forestry Act 1959. The club had some concerns about the continued use of this land, but was reassured by the minister, the Hon. Desley Boyle, that the land would remain available for their use. In closing, I would like to note that no-one has ever been killed by a stray bullet on or around these club ranges Australia-wide over a hundred years of operation. I would also like to thank John Gaughan, Col Greenwood and Ron Bowman for their kind hospitality. Drive for Life Sri Lankan Tsunami Youth Appeal Mrs ATTWOOD (Mount Ommaney—ALP) (5.27 pm): While we were enjoying our time with our families on Boxing Day, our neighbouring countries were facing their worst nightmare; the worst natural disaster in our lifetime was occurring. Families were being torn apart, watching as loved ones were being swept up by an enormous wave. We will never forget that day, but our neighbours will relive those moments every day for the rest of their lives. Whole families have been lost. Parents have been lost to children and children to parents. It is not something that people can recover from emotionally. It will take a long time for people to rebuild their lives and their livelihoods. I am very proud that the nations of the world have banded together to provide relief for those affected countries. Australian people have donated billions to help put back the pieces that are left. I am also very proud to say that a group of young Australians in my local area have got together to raise funds for the destitute in Sri Lanka and Aceh. Val Paramasivam and his young team got together in the days after the disaster and made a commitment to raise a large amount of funds in the ensuing five weeks. I met with these compassionate volunteers who asked me to be their patron. I was convinced of their great determination and ability to reach their financial target. It never ceases to amaze me how effectively a community can band together in times of crisis, utilising all their talents and skills to collectively achieve a common goal. What is significant about this group is that their ages range from 14 to 25. The initiative came from them. They have set a wonderful example for all of their peers in compassion, thoughtfulness and kindness. My job was to facilitate some of the processes involved and gain support from local businesspeople. I encouraged them to expand their boundaries and to seek opportunities to fulfil their ambitions. This group’s spirit and a determination over the last few weeks has been unfailing. They have all worked hard to organise a number of events to raise funds for this worthy cause—a dinner dance, a cricket day, a movie night and a business breakfast—using their networks to attract donations and, of course, the concert on Saturday night. Their cause is called Drive for Life Sri Lankan Tsunami Youth Appeal. This group of 25 young people want to save lives by providing the means to nourish those children who have been left homeless. These young children have the ability to put themselves in the place of those people who are affected and can truly empathise with them. They know how far the Aussie dollar will stretch in those countries to provide them with the ability to subsist. I would also like to thank those who have supported this campaign of fundraising, in particular Councillor David Hinchliffe from the Brisbane City Council, the Brisbane City Council, Maha Sinnathamby, Wayne Gane from the Jindalee Driving School, LRV Solutions, the Casablanca restaurant and Enklo Printing. It is heartening to see such compassion in the hearts of our young people. I am very 24 Feb 2005 Adjournment 291 honoured to be their patron and I fully support them in all that they do. They have done it on their own and with their own network of contacts and their families. They are a credit to their community, their parents and to the youth of Australia. Their reward will be in knowing that lives will be sustained. They do not want to see any further suffering and tragedy. Last Saturday night we enjoyed a wonderful multicultural concert. I thank those hundreds of people who attended in support of this worthy cause. It was a highlight of their fundraising campaign. I encourage people not only to support their worthy cause but also to recognise that with young people like these there is enormous hope for the future of this country. It was a marathon effort for those young people for those five weeks of intensive fundraising. They should be intensely proud of their achievements and the reasons they collectively gathered together to set their magnificent goal. Benowa State High School Mr LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—Lib) (5.30 pm): I rise in this place this evening to place on public record the achievements of a fine school in my electorate that has achieved great things since parliament last sat. That school is the Benowa State High School, which achieved some fantastic results in the end-of-year results and OP rankings and looks to be moving on in leaps and bounds this year. I was fortunate enough to attend the presentation of badges for the senior students on 14 February. The school is a credit to the principal, Mark Rickard, and all of his staff who preside over a school of exceptional students and such a diverse range of subjects and programs to attract students of all talents and of all ambitions. The slogan that Mr Rickard has brought to the school is: many pathways, no limits. It is certainly great to see that so many students with diverse backgrounds and interests are being well catered for at that school. For example, one of the presentation ceremonies was for scholarships. There were five scholarship recipients for academic immersion, there were three scholarships for sport and there were three scholarships presented for arts. I congratulate all of those students who received scholarships and wish them all the best at this fine institution. I congratulate the captains for 2005, Hayley Chapman and John Picariello, and the vice-captains, Brent Mills and Grace Martin. I know that the school is very keen to give these students the help that they need and provides them with a huge level of access to teachers and administration staff. In fact, the students sit on committees that teachers are on as a way of integrating them in the process of the administration of the school. Mr Rickard and his administration and department heads are to be commended on this. I encourage other schools that do not have this initiative in place to adopt it as a way of grooming the leaders of their schools for future leadership roles and as a way of keeping in touch with the needs of students. The school should be very proud of its achievements. Last year Benowa State High School was the third best performing school on the Gold Coast. This is a remarkable achievement. It is a credit to the staff at the school who have succeeded in achieving this result and have done so on a relatively tight budget and with limited resources. There are also high expectations that this year's year 12 students will achieve a similar result. I wish them all the best in their studies. I must also say that it is wonderful to go to Benowa State High and see the multicultural atmosphere that is truly indicative of the Gold Coast today. The school provides students with a well- adjusted academic program and the students are exposed to the experiences and stories of students from around the world. They have a great French immersion program and look forward to the construction of a dedicated French immersion building. Once again, I congratulate the school. If there is anything I can do for the school in the future, I am always available. Police Beats, Kallangur Electorate Hon. KW HAYWARD (Kallangur—ALP) (5.33 pm): It is a pleasure to rise in the parliament tonight to talk about the importance of neighbourhood police beats in the Kallangur electorate. From my observations, police beats have provided an effective solution to most of the neighbourhood policing problems that are encountered. What is important about the concept of neighbourhood police beats is that they provide a visible police presence in the local area. The effect, of course—very clearly, in my experience—is to increase community satisfaction with the police. Importantly, it also increases the public's sense of safety and it most definitely reduces the incidence of certain types of offending and undesirable behaviour that can occur in the community. Through neighbourhood police beats there is a greater flow of information between the police and the community. That interaction is very important not only to my local electorate of Kallangur but also to the Police Service as well. Through all of those things, it has the effect of reducing repeat calls for service. There are a number of police beats in the electorate of Kallangur. There is one that has been well- established for a number of years at Kallangur. There is another one at Narangba that has been very successful. The Kallangur electorate takes in parts of Morayfield and there is a police beat located in Morayfield in the electorate of Pumicestone. 292 Adjournment 24 Feb 2005

Before the last election, a commitment was made to establish a police beat in Burpengary. That was identified as a need by the local community of Burpengary. We were able to make that commitment during the last state election. I am pleased to announce that funding has been provided in the last budget and I had the pleasure of visiting the property in Burpengary where that police beat will be located. That property has been purchased and the fitout is now being undertaken. It is a location within that community which makes it very accessible to the local community and it also profiles the Police Service within the Burpengary community. I know that the Burpengary police beat will go on to repeat the successful neighbourhood police beats that are in Narangba and Kallangur. Citrus Canker Mr HORAN (Toowoomba South—NPA) (5.36 pm): The citrus canker problem in Emerald has dealt a devastating blow to the people in that citrus growing irrigation area. I want to say at the outset that the work of many of the officers of the DPI after the initial outbreak in identifying and putting in place the Florida protocols has been quite outstanding. I have said that before in this parliament. But I think the time has come for some real leadership from the minister about the future of this area and the fall- back position in the event that the current systems and schemes that the minister has implemented do not work. An import risk analysis has been put through to Biosecurity Australia in an endeavour to get market access to the intrastate and the interstate markets. It is only about one and a half weeks since the last citrus canker outbreak was discovered. I think we all hope that intrastate and interstate markets will be reopened, but I think we also have to be realistic. The minister needs to put his feet in the shoes of citrus growers in other parts of Australia, interstate governments, DPIs and so forth. Realistically, they will be fairly cautious about when they will allow the product in. As I said, we all hope that within three months they will get this access. However, in many cases it will be too late for this season's mandarins. Many of the mandarins have not been picked, simply because the market was uncertain. They did not know if there would be a market. The thinning process whereby they take 70 or 80 per cent of the crop off to ensure the right balance—the right size and so forth for the market—has not occurred in some cases because they did not have the money and they did not know where the whole situation was headed. The proposal that was put forward for complete destruction of the area was a very sound one and it was supported by all of the growers at the time. It will take some three years for growers to get back on their feet after this whole citrus canker business. If there is no intrastate or interstate access for another three months, what will happen then? I am calling on the minister to tell us the fall-back position. We know what he is doing now, but in three months time, if that has not worked, what will be the fall-back position to save this industry—the workers, the businesses and the people of central Queensland who depend upon it? We need some leadership. We need the minister to say that, in the event that that does not work, the complete clearance proposal will be put in place. We need that push by our minister here in Queensland. Indooroopilly Golf Club Redevelopment; Westpac ATM, Sherwood Mr LEE (Indooroopilly—ALP) (5.40 pm): I rise to bring to the attention of the House my concerns and the concerns of many of my local constituents about proposals by the Indooroopilly Golf Club to sell off large segments of its land which is currently zoned for parkland or for sport and recreational purposes. The proposal is that the land will be sold for development by Mirvac with 300 condominiums being built. I have a number of concerns about this proposed development. I think those concerns are shared by a large number of my local residents. Firstly, the land is currently zoned for parkland or sport and recreation purposes. There is already a lack of open space in Brisbane, particularly in the western suburbs of Brisbane. I have been made aware that there is significant flora and fauna included in the area which is to be developed. I believe there has been a woeful lack of community and public consultation. I do not believe this development is in the interests of our local community as it takes open space and develops it. It will increase traffic congestion and the need for utilities in an area that is currently open space. I call upon the Brisbane City Council to reject the proposed rezoning of this land. I also bring to the attention of the House my absolute disgust at the actions of Westpac in closing the automatic teller machine that has been located on Sherwood Road, Sherwood. This means that residents and local businesses will have to travel to either Mt Ommaney or Indooroopilly for Westpac deposit transactions. A large number of people have been severely affected by the removal of deposit facilities at Westpac's ATM on Sherwood Road. I am aware that the ATM was decommissioned a day before the notice on the ATM said it would be decommissioned. This is not the first time that Westpac has attempted to remove the ATM. It last tried in 2001, but my petition of local residents and businesses forced Westpac to return the ATM to Sherwood. It is time 24 Feb 2005 Adjournment 293 that the big banks took their role as corporate citizens seriously and started to listen to local residents. I have circulated another petition throughout the community. Copies of this petition can be either emailed or faxed from my office, if people contact me, on 38781928. Maryborough District Hospital Mr CHRIS FOLEY (Maryborough—Ind) (5.42 pm): I rise to inform the House that we have quite a crisis at the Maryborough District Hospital. The Fraser Coast Chronicle headline said ‘Having a heart attack? Don't have it after 5 pm'. The Maryborough District Hospital staff are an absolute credit to the system, but they work under unacceptable duress due to staffing shortages. Most people would realise that if someone has, say, an acute crisis like a heart attack there is the golden hour in which they can be treated before they sustain much greater damage to their heart. Clearly, if there is no acute medical care available at the Maryborough hospital after 5 pm, people who come in need to be assessed and then transported the half hour drive to Hervey Bay. A significant period, if not all, of the golden hour could be wasted just in transit. I refer to a Queensland Health internal memo which was sent to me. It states— Medical staffing shortages in the Fraser Coast Health Service District have reached a critical point such that appropriate and safe acute services in Internal Medicine cannot be maintained at both Maryborough and Hervey Bay Hospitals. The staffing shortages are— An inadequate number of Emergency Department Senior Medical Officers or Principal House Officers to allow rostering of an appropriately experienced and skilled medical officer on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An inadequate number of Medical PHO's to provide 24 hour coverage, 7 days a week at both hospitals. A vacant physician position. This is a crisis—and I am not blaming the Maryborough hospital in the slightest—that falls squarely at the feet of both Queensland Health and the federal government. Paul Cotton, the chairman of the Fraser Coast health district, said that the region’s health service was about 13 doctors short and there is no shying away from this. He said, ‘All we need is for one or two doctors more to be away and we cannot sustain the service.' Clearly this is a problem. I also lay this problem at the feet of the federal government because there are not enough university places. Five thousand young people qualified to study medicine last year and only 1,500 places were available in our unis, meaning 3,500 of our young people missed out. We are importing foreign trained doctors from Third World countries. I believe that is morally wrong because those countries need their own doctors. For us to be pinching them from overseas is not right. The federal government needs to allow a lot more funding for training places and to make sure that the specialist colleges do not become old boys and girls clubs and that they are generating enough specialists to meet demand and to be able to properly supervise and train doctors. This problem is Queensland and Australia-wide. We need both the state government and the federal government to do something decisive. Noosa Electorate Ms MOLLOY (Noosa—ALP) (5.45 pm): I rise this evening to brief the House on some of things that I have been busy with since Christmas. So far this year some of my focus has included the Noosa River, the Coolum Police Station, education, housing and seniors. I thank Minister Stephen Robertson for coming up to the electorate to launch the Noosa River Plan. We were joined by Mayor Bob Abbott. It was certainly a time for celebrating when the state government, alongside Noosa council, officially introduced the Noosa River Plan recommendations to the public. This plan was the result of extensive community consultation, including 335 submissions. Others in attendance were councillors Vivien Griffen, who had worked extremely hard at the council level with Raul Weichart. There were community representatives present like Tony and Stephanie Haslam, Noosa Park’s Shirley Williamson and her husband, Ben Mullen, Councillors Bob Jarvis and Frank Pardon plus Noosa River business operators, to name but a few. The final recommendations included, among others: limiting the use of jet skis and prohibiting hovercroft, air-boats, seaplanes and helicopters operating on the river; reviewing speed limits; and ruling out a bridge across the Noosa River to the Noosa north shore. The Noosa River Plan is a major success for both state government and Noosa council and ensures that the river remains a pristine waterway for the enjoyment of both locals and tourists, with its A-minus rating. Another great success for the Noosa electorate has been the opening of the new Coolum Police Station. Previously this station was located in a 30-year-old building about five kilometres from the Coolum central business district. Its relocation to a site adjacent to the Coolum CBD has been much applauded by the Coolum constituents who feel they now have more access to their local police with the station in a highly visible location. I visited the station the day the staff moved in and met Senior 294 Adjournment 24 Feb 2005

Sergeant Peter Feldman. He was beaming. The staff were working very hard getting their gear unpacked. I look forward to the official opening with Minister Spence in the near future. On Wednesday, 16 February I represented the Hon. Anna Bligh at the launch of the Nambour District Youth Achievement Plan. It is a terrific achievement. This plan is based around a partnership involving Nambour, Maleny and Noosa schools, business, training providers and community organisations. Its implementation, through a range of practical programs, is aimed at helping young people stay in learning, expand their training opportunities and find suitable work experience. The schools represented were outstanding: Coolum High, Sunshine Beach High, Noosa District High, Nambour High School and Burnside High, whose school played. It was truly magical. The Good Shepherd Lutheran School from Noosaville was also present. While there were many community representatives present, I would like to especially thank all of the young people who took the courage to stand before so many adults and address us so beautifully. I cannot name them all here now, but we will meet again and I look forward to hearing of their progress. Time expired. Noncomplying Petition; School Speed Zones Miss SIMPSON (Maroochydore—NPA) (5.49 pm): I would like to take this opportunity to table a noncomplying petition on behalf of the residents of Buderim. This petition is for a safer intersection at the corner of King Street and Mill Road in Buderim. Some 445 people have signed the petition. They are concerned about the state of this intersection. Predominantly, the majority of these people are from Buderim. I have written to the minister seeking his assistance in addressing their concerns. I also draw his attention to this petition, which was given to me just before Christmas, but, unfortunately, due to the parliamentary recess, was unable to be tabled during the past two months. I table this petition and urge the minister's consideration of their request so that safety issues in terms of that dangerous intersection can be addressed. I also take this opportunity to talk about another safety issue, and that is school speed zones. School has been back for several weeks and there are public messages to motorists to heed the fact that, because schoolchildren are on our roads going to and from school, school speed zones have to be complied with. School speed zones have been an important initiative on our roads, but one of the challenges in that regard is that people forget about the time of day and do not realise that they have to decrease their speed. It is my belief that there needs to be a trial of flashing lights within school speed zones so that motorists who have forgotten the time of day can take heed of the fact that they are travelling through 40 kilometre an hour speed zones. This will mean that, for the sake of the safety of children, there will be a greater degree of compliance with these school speed zones. I raise this issue for the government and call on the transport minister, in an effort to measure whether this will create more compliance, to introduce a trial of appropriate flashing lights or other such mechanisms to alert people to the time of day so that they are aware that the school zone is in operation. It is not good enough to have people speeding around our schools. That 40 kilometre an hour zone is there for a reason. However, if there are other ways to alert motorists in order to get a higher compliance rate, then we need to look at them. I recommend that trial to the minister. I understand that there is appropriate technology and that it does not have to be expensive or as expensive to implement as some other measures. It is certainly something that I would like to see. Schools in my area would welcome such a trial, and I call on the minister to put this measure in place because it has the potential to improve the safety of schoolchildren around our schools. Whitsunday Electorate, Marine Industry Ms JARRATT (Whitsunday—ALP) (5.51 pm): It is no secret that the Whitsundays is an absolute magnet for yachties, boaties and tourists who crave the ultimate seagoing experience. What better way to unwind and relax than to spend time afloat the aqua waters of the Whitsunday Passage, pausing only to dive, snorkel or explore one of the many uninhabited islands in the Whitsunday group. Hundreds of people take up this option every year and the quality of our marine tourism industry was recently recognised and rewarded at the National Tourism Awards in Alice Springs where the Whitsundays received three out of 10 awards that came to Queensland. It is no coincidence that all three awards went to marine related operations or events. I congratulate Barefoot Cruises, Fantasea Cruises and the Hamilton Island Race Week on their respective awards. Obviously, the marine industry in my area has a lot to be proud of, but just occasionally things go wrong. On 18 November 2001 two boats, the Sun Paradise and the Pride of Airlie, collided while on the water. Fortunately no lives were lost and no-one was seriously injured. In part, the resulting investigation pointed to a context in which the lack of a culture of safety may have been a contributing factor in the accident. A further study undertaken by Maritime Safety Queensland that examined the culture of safety in the marine industry across the state contained good news and bad news. The really bad news was 24 Feb 2005 Adjournment 295 that around seven per cent of industry operators pay scant regard to the existence of safety regulations and are nothing more than accidents waiting to happen. Fortunately, around one-third of our operators are thought to employ best practice procedures in relation to safety, often going beyond the mere prescription of duties to actually generate a positive safety culture aboard their vessels. The vast majority of operators are considered to be compliant with regulations but are not necessarily proactive or generative. It is this group that we need to move forward if we are to genuinely improve marine safety standards. I am pleased to report that the Whitsundays has been chosen, along with Brisbane, to work with Maritime Safety Queensland to prepare and implement a pilot project aimed at creating and extending a generative safety culture in the marine industry. I was pleased to attend a stakeholder forum last week where the potential of the project was discussed and I am pleased to say that there appears to be a high level of interest in the project. The Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association is continuing its role as a peak body in the local charter boat industry through its commitment to assist in the development and implementation of the project. I thank the group for its cooperation and support and put on record my admiration for the important work the association does. In particular, I recognise the hard work of CEO Deb Lewis, who is a tireless advocate for the Whitsunday charter boat industry. While the final shape of the project is yet to be revealed, it is almost certain that the framework for the creation of a culture of generative safety in the marine industry will be performance based, be largely self-assessing and be underpinned by intrinsic reward for performance rather than a punitive approach. Interruption.

SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT

Hon. H PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries) (5.55 pm), by leave: I move— That the House, at its rising, do adjourn until 9.30 am on Tuesday, 8 March 2005. Motion agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT

Resumed. Motion agreed to. The House adjourned at 5.55 pm.

GOVERNMENT PRINTER, QUEENSLAND—2004