PROOF ISSN 1322-0330

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

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

FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-FOURTH PARLIAMENT

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Subject Page PETITION ...... 2757 TABLED PAPER ...... 2757 MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS ...... 2757 Jones, Mr K, Motion to Take Note ...... 2757 Tabled paper: Eulogy of Kevin Vincent Jones delivered by the Clerk of the Parliament, Mr Neil Laurie, on 21 August 2013...... 2758 Irwin, Mr P ...... 2761 DestinationQ ...... 2762 Newman Government, Achievements ...... 2762 Queensland Health, Payroll System; IBM ...... 2763 Gladstone Harbour ...... 2764 Tabled paper: Independent Review of the Port of Gladstone, Report on Findings, July 2013...... 2764 Law, Auntie Pam ...... 2764 EDUCATION AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE ...... 2765 Reports ...... 2765 Tabled paper: Education and Innovation Committee: Report No. 21—Review of Auditor-General’s Report 2: 2012-13, Follow up of 2010 audit recommendations...... 2765 Tabled report: Education and Innovation Committee: Report No. 22—Review of Auditor-General’s Report 8: 2012-13, Online service delivery...... 2765 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...... 2765 Barrett Adolescent Centre ...... 2765 Tabled paper: West Moreton Hospital and Health Service, Expert Clinical Reference Group Recommendations, Barrett Adolescent Strategy, July 2013...... 2765 Barrett Adolescent Centre ...... 2766 Queensland Plan ...... 2767 Schools, Nurses ...... 2767 Tabled paper: Document titled ‘A National Health and Hospitals Network for Australia’s Future’...... 2768

FS SIMPSON NJ LAURIE LJ OSMOND SPEAKER CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENT CHIEF HANSARD REPORTER

Table of Contents – Thursday, 22 August 2013

Bruce Highway, Upgrade ...... 2768 Gold Coast Hospital ...... 2769 Federal Election, State Finances ...... 2770 Fraser Coast, Youth Boot Camp ...... 2770 Health Funding ...... 2771 Cairns, Youth Boot Camp ...... 2772 Education Funding ...... 2773 McKinlay Health Clinic ...... 2773 Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine ...... 2774 Gladstone, Fishing Industry ...... 2775 Ports ...... 2776 Health Funding ...... 2777 Tabled paper: Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16...... 2777 Tabled paper: Health System Priorities for Queensland 2013-14, supporting document one...... 2777 Tabled paper: Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14- 2015/16...... 2777 Tabled paper: Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16...... 2777 Tabled paper: Metro North Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16. .... 2777 SPEAKER’S STATEMENT ...... 2777 School Group Tours ...... 2777 PARLIAMENTARY CRIME AND MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE ...... 2778 Report No. 91, Motion to Take Note ...... 2778 FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE ...... 2779 Report No. 28, Motion to Take Note ...... 2779 STATE DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND INDUSTRY COMMITTEE ...... 2784 Report No. 25, Motion to Take Note ...... 2784 HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE ...... 2784 Report No. 24, Motion to Take Note ...... 2784 EDUCATION AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE ...... 2784 Report No. 19, Motion to Take Note ...... 2784 LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE ...... 2784 Report No. 34, Motion to Take Note ...... 2784 LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE ...... 2784 Report No. 35, Motion to Take Note ...... 2784 LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE ...... 2785 Report No. 36, Motion to Take Note ...... 2785 LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE ...... 2785 Report No. 37, Motion to Take Note ...... 2785 LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE ...... 2785 Report No. 38, Motion to Take Note ...... 2785 HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE ...... 2785 Report No. 26, Motion to Take Note ...... 2785 QUEENSLAND BUILDING SERVICES AUTHORITY AMENDMENT BILL ...... 2785 Second Reading ...... 2785 Tabled paper: Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee: Report No. 27— Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013, government response...... 2785 ETHICS COMMITTEE...... 2798 Report ...... 2798 Tabled paper: Ethics Committee—Report No. 135, titled ‘Report on a study investigation by the committee’...... 2798 GUIDE, HEARING AND ASSISTANCE DOGS (PLACES OF ACCOMMODATION) AMENDMENT BILL ...... 2798 Introduction ...... 2798 Tabled paper: Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs (Places of Accommodation) Amendment Bill 2013...... 2798 Tabled paper: Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs (Places of Accommodation) Amendment Bill 2013, explanatory notes...... 2798 First Reading ...... 2799 Referral to the Health and Community Services Committee ...... 2799 PRIVATE MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS ...... 2799 Broadbeach Jazz Festival; Gold Coast, Beaches ...... 2799 Queensland Plan ...... 2800 Cleveland Electorate, Schools ...... 2800 Sunshine Coast University Hospital ...... 2801 Pyjama Foundation; Foster Care ...... 2802 Mackay-Whitsunday, Events...... 2802 Vietnam Veterans Day ...... 2803 National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework ...... 2804 Tabled paper: Report of the Standing Council on Health, titled ‘National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework, April 2013’...... 2804 Tabled paper: Document regarding health services, titled ‘Across the 17 agreements these services include’...... 2804 Everton Park State High School ...... 2804 Table of Contents – Thursday, 22 August 2013

Broadwater Electorate, Queensland Plan ...... 2805 Noosa Council Deamalgamation ...... 2806 Indigenous Australians, Closing the Gap ...... 2806 Bus Driver Safety ...... 2807 Tabled paper: Letters to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Hon. Scott Emerson, regarding bus and taxi drivers...... 2807 Tabled paper: Petition regarding bus drivers...... 2807 Maryborough Hospital ...... 2808 Hervey Bay Seafood Festival ...... 2808 South Sea Islanders, Sesquicentenary ...... 2809 Sale of Public Assets ...... 2810 World Suicide Prevention Day ...... 2810 South Sea Islanders, Sesquicentenary ...... 2811 Lockyer Electorate ...... 2812 Tabled paper: Correspondence from the member for Lockyer, Mr Ian Rickuss MP, to the acting chairperson of the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Dr Ken Levy, regarding work undertaken at Grantham...... 2812 Katter’s Australian Party...... 2812 Townsville, V8 Supercars ...... 2813 Adopt-a-Cop ...... 2813 Katter’s Australian Party...... 2814 Catalina A24-24 Crash, Anniversary ...... 2814 Work Ethic ...... 2815 Weinam Creek, Priority Development Area ...... 2816 Tabled paper: Non-conforming petition regarding increases to electricity tariffs...... 2816 Kallangur Electorate, Schools ...... 2816 Gladstone Electorate ...... 2817 QUEENSLAND BUILDING SERVICES AUTHORITY AMENDMENT BILL ...... 2817 Second Reading ...... 2817 Consideration in Detail ...... 2833 Clauses 1 to 4, as read, agreed to...... 2833 Clause 5— ...... 2833 Tabled paper: Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013, explanatory notes to Hon. Tim Mander’s amendments...... 2834 Clause 5, as amended, agreed to...... 2834 Clauses 6 to 14, as read, agreed to...... 2834 Schedule— ...... 2834 Schedule, as amended, agreed to...... 2834 Third Reading ...... 2834 Long Title ...... 2834 Amendment agreed to...... 2834 SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT ...... 2834 ADJOURNMENT ...... 2834 Vision Australia; Seniors Week ...... 2835 Tabled paper: Letter to the Premier, Hon. Campbell Newman, signed by blind workers from Vision Australia Coorparoo, regarding funding for Vision Australia...... 2835 Variety ...... 2835 Security Force, Royal Australian Air Force ...... 2836 Long Tan Day ...... 2836 South Sea Islanders, Sesquicentenary ...... 2837 Irwin, Mr P; Bribie Island, Seniors Expo; Storm Preparedness ...... 2837 Book Week ...... 2838 Vietnam Veterans Day ...... 2839 Julia Creek DirtnDust Festival ...... 2839 Health ...... 2840 ATTENDANCE ...... 2840

22 Aug 2013 Legislative Assembly 2757

THURSDAY, 22 AUGUST 2013 ______

The Legislative Assembly met at 9.30 am. Madam Speaker (Hon. Fiona Simpson, Maroochydore) read prayers and took the chair.

PETITION The Clerk presented the following paper petition, lodged by the honourable member indicated—

Euthanasia

Mr Bennett, from 181 petitioners, requesting the House to enact legislation that enables residents to choose, while of sound mind, the legal option of assisted suicide or euthanasia should they become unable to care for themselves and thereby lose their independence, dignity and quality of life [3282].

Petition received.

TABLED PAPER MEMBER’S PAPER TABLED BY THE CLERK The following member’s paper was tabled by the Clerk––

Member for Burnett (Mr Bennett)— 3282A Non-conforming petition relating to assisted suicide and euthanasia

MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

Jones, Mr K, Motion to Take Note Hon. CKT NEWMAN (Ashgrove—LNP) (Premier) (9.32 am): I rise to address the House about the passing of Kevin Jones, the former Sergeant-at-Arms of this parliament. Like all members and staff of the Parliamentary Service, I was greatly shocked and, indeed, saddened upon hearing the news of Kevin’s passing last week. This was especially so given Madam Speaker’s statement only during the last sitting week of Kevin’s official retirement after 21 years of distinguished service to this parliament and to the people of Queensland. While Kevin had been enjoying a period of preretirement leave since September last year including quite a deal of overseas travel, his sudden passing has been a tremendous shock to his family and friends given the many years of happy retirement that they and Kevin would have expected to lay right out into the future ahead of him. As this parliament’s Sergeant-at-Arms, Kevin was a prominent figure in the sittings of this House, heralding the start of each sitting day by leading the Speaker’s procession into the chamber by carrying the parliament’s mace. Madam Speaker, as you have outlined to the House, Kevin contributed many years of distinguished service to the parliament and he was a very well-known, very well-respected person in this place. In serving this parliament, Kevin also helped to serve our democracy. Our democratic ways are something which we, as Queenslanders and Australians, should always hold very dear. Outside of this place Kevin was also a great family man and a very prominent member of his local community. I am advised that Kevin was a life member of the Mitchelton Football Club, having been a long-term player and immediate past president of the club. He was a great club stalwart, and his presence will be sadly missed by everyone at Mitchelton Football Club, but in no way will he or his contribution ever be forgotten. Kevin’s funeral was held at the Albany Creek Crematorium at Bridgeman Downs yesterday morning, and I understand that it was a fitting service that celebrated and remembered his life. I have also had feedback that it was one of the largest funerals that those who attended had ever seen— surely a great tribute to his prominence and standing in his local community. The government was formally represented at the funeral by the Leader of the House, and I understand that numerous members and former members from all sides of the House were present to pay their respects, and

2758 Ministerial Statements 22 Aug 2013

that included ministers and former ministers. I also understand that a large number of current and former staff of the Parliamentary Service were present at the funeral. Such representation gives an indication of the wide-ranging respect that was held for Kevin and is a measure of the mark that he left on this place. Indeed, I understand that the Clerk of the Parliament gave a heartfelt eulogy at the funeral that recounted many tales of Kevin’s working life here at Parliament House. As a tribute to Kevin, I think it would be appropriate for the Clerk’s eulogy to be incorporated into Hansard. Through you, Madam Speaker, I therefore seek leave of the House for that incorporation. Tabled paper: Eulogy of Kevin Vincent Jones delivered by the Clerk of the Parliament, Mr Neil Laurie, on 21 August 2013 [3283]. Madam SPEAKER: I have read the eulogy and it is appropriate for it to be incorporated. Leave granted.

Kevin Jones Every person has different aspects or spheres of their life. There is their family life, their social life, their sporting life, their working life, the list goes on. Kevin loved his family dearly. As he did his beloved Mitchie Soccer club. My role here today is to talk about Kevin Jones the co-worker. Make no mistake, through my contact with Kevin I know much about the other aspects or spheres of his life. But it is his role as a co-worker that I know him most intimately. Kevin was an officer of the Queensland Parliament for 21 years. Kevin had started working in the Parliament about a year before me, and when I commenced at Parliament Kevin was the Deputy Chief Attendant and then later Chief Attendant. I really got to know Kevin well from about 1999. Around that time, then as Deputy Clerk, I had been given the task, along with Craig Atkinson and Peter Morris, both here today, to review Attendants and Security Services at Parliament House. Our report recommended that Security and Attendants be merged and that Kevin Jones take over management of the combined area under the then Sergeant at Arms Ian Thompson who is also here today. It is no secret that Kevin’s appointment caused some angst amongst the security staff. Critics amongst them pointed to the fact that Kevin had no special knowledge of security and did not have a security background or qualifications. Those critics missed the point. Management was not after a former commando or an SAS officer. We were after someone who: (a) Had common sense—because security is 90% common sense; (b) Had an appreciation for the special environment that is Parliament—because in the Parliamentary environment security has to be balanced with public access; and (c) Most importantly, would be fearless in making sure that people did the job they were supposed to do—that is, would walk around and call a spade a spade and not be afraid to “kick some backsides” as required. In Kevin we trusted. We were never to be disappointed. Over the years there were many who tried it on with Kevin; they all came out second best. It was shortly after Kevin’s appointment that I got to know him and Vicki a little better personally, especially after a week-long conference in Melbourne, which was followed by a long night and day of black jack at Crown casino. Indeed, I spent more than a few hours in casinos in various locations with Kevin over the years since. But Kevin was not just the day time manager of a work unit at Parliament. For many years he was also the President of the social club at Parliament House—a far more influential and important position. Kevin and his team were instrumental in bringing staff together at some fantastic events—chief amongst them was the 2000 celebration on the rooftop at Parliament House, overlooking the fireworks on the river. Let us all face it—Kevin could always be relied upon to organise a party. It was no doubt his excellent organisational party skills that led to Kevin being part of a small, select team that were bought together to arrange regional sittings of Parliament in Townsville, Rockhampton, Cairns and Mackay over a ten-year period. Kevin was one of only a handful of people that was intimately involved in each and every one of these events—from bump in to bump out. Yes Kevin was a parliamentary roadie. Kevin was there for all aspects—always in the centre of the action. Despite the hard work associated with these events—the key people involved formed key bonds and friendships. I know it was through these regional sittings that Kevin formed close bonds with some people who are here today, such as myself at the Townsville sitting, Kerryn Newton who project managed the Rockhampton sitting, Lyndel Bates who project managed the Cairns sitting, Kellie Moule who project managed the Mackay sitting and the former Deputy Clerk Siwan Davies who has come up from Canberra today to pay her respects to Kevin. A few of my own best memories of Kevin arise from these events. At the Townsville sitting, on the last day as we were packing up, Kevin became very upset with me because I had allowed the majority of staff to take off before they had to catch their flight. Kevin was outraged that everyone was not forced to stay until everything was packed. Now everyone here knew Kevin—he definitely let you know what he thought. In that respect we were both similar, so it led to an interesting “discussion”—well, let’s face it, there was a fair bit of swearing and yelling. Anyway when

22 Aug 2013 Ministerial Statements 2759

the argument started there were about 10-15 people in close proximity. At the end of the argument, Kevin said to me: “Well fair enough you’re the boss, but you know what I think!” I said: “Well fair enough I know what you think, but I am the boss.” To us the argument was then concluded. No hard feelings. We both looked around and could not see anyone, they had all bolted obviously fearful of the cross fire. Now Kevin and I had virtually the same argument after the Rockhampton and Cairns sitting. But in Mackay—guess what?—I did it Kevin’s way—he had a way of wearing you down even if it took ten years. He still wasn’t happy though. I think he just missed the regular fight. Another great memory I have is at the sitting in Cairns. The community engagement section had made large photographic cut outs of various officers of the parliament: the Speaker, the Clerk, the Sergeant at Arms. One lunch hour Leah, my fiancé, and I slipped out to Vinnies and got the most slinky bright pink dress we could find. After the sittings we put the dress on the model of Kevin Jones. The model, I should mention was of Kevin dressed in full regalia with the Mace over his shoulder. The pink dress was stretched over his bearded form, the bottom part of the mace jutted out a little so that the pink dress was a little skew-if. Kevin came around the corner and saw his cut-out in the hot pink dress. He maintained a completely impassive face, stared at where the dress jutted out because of the mace and simply said “that dress makes my bum look big”. The cut-out of Kevin is now in the possession of the Jones’ family—and Kellie tells me that they will probably end up dressing up the cut-out of their dad with a red Santa hat at Christmas’. Kevin made friends easily. I remember very well a delegation from the United Kingdom visiting Queensland in around 2001. Kevin was involved in taking the delegation around. The delegation was led by Mrs Helen Liddell, also known as the Right Honourable the Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke. The Baroness later became the British High Commissioner to Australia. I later discovered that Kevin and Vicki had become quite friendly with the Baroness and her husband Alistair and dined with them in Australia and the UK. I joked that we should call Kevin the Right Honourable the Baron of Kedron Brook upon Mitchie. We can only hope that Kevin minded his Ps and Qs a bit—but I doubt it. Kevin was omnipresent at Parliament. He was everywhere. He knew everything. He liked to let you know he knew everything. He was not short of an opinion, always ready to offer an opinion and most likely an argument if you didn’t agree with his opinion. But the arguments always ended with the line “Well I am just saying that is all, your call, but I am just saying”. Of course, if anything went wrong he would then say “Well I did tell you”. At Parliament Kevin was like a father to some, a little bit like a mad uncle to others and a friend to pretty well everyone. He was an excellent source of gossip and I would catch up with him, and the gossip, pretty well most days as he would have his morning coffee ritual with his friend and my secretary Sandy Musch. Kevin was so well liked that he could get away with things that others could not, because they knew there was never any malice intended—and simply because he was Kevin, or KJ as most people called him. For example, he would walk past the Hansard girls’ rooms and if anyone looked over at him he would give them the forks and keep walking. If it had been any one else I would have had a complaint lodged. But it was KJ. One of his female co-workers introduced KJ to her new fiancé—KJ’s response was to look conspicuously all around the fiancé—when asked what he was doing he said “looking for his guide dog”. If it had of been any one else I would have had a complaint lodged. But it was KJ. About five years ago I could tell that Kevin was starting to prepare to leave the Parliament. There were more frequent and longer trips with Vicki abroad. To an ever increasing number of interesting locations—I mean how many people go to ICELAND? Then in about August last year Kevin started his pre-retirement leave. He had a little farewell party for those that knew pretty well that he would not come back to work and would retire, eventually. I still have Kevin’s invitation to this little gathering—and I shall read the passage that follows venue and time: Entertainment In recognition of our long standing friendship Michael Hickey has decided to place a $100 on the bar to buy us all a drink to mark the occasion. This event will be the highlight of the night as no one has ever actually seen M H’s wallet/purse. Anticipated script Michael will tearfully withdraw his wallet (kept in his undies for security purposes) and slowly place 20 neatly folded $5 notes (could be pounds) on the bar. I am certainly very grateful to M H for volunteering to perform this death defying act to ensure everyone has an enjoyable night. Get there early to get a good seat and witness a once in a lifetime experience. Please RSVP for catering purposes as the budget will only permit each guest: 1 x drink (tap water) Choice of a sausage roll or cheerio. Please circle preferred delicacy.

When Kevin started his extended leave, those who remained at work then had to endure his travel logs and other witty comments via email, like: At Coffs Harbour sucking on a schooner of Tooheys Old. By the way how’s WORK?

2760 Ministerial Statements 22 Aug 2013

And then, even though he was in Spain, or Portugal or in a flat in Chester, out of the blue I would still get an email from Kevin giving me a bullocking about something that had happened here in Brisbane and he had heard about it! Did I mention that Kevin could be a bit of a gossip? In one of our last email exchanges I told him that I always held him in the greatest respect even though he was moody and cranky and on occasions prone to temper tantrums. I also told him he had a holiday to get on with. That email exchange ended like this: Neil As you are aware I say what I think and those are my feelings. I appreciate your comments and agree with a number of them. It’s obvious from the length of your email that things are quiet at Parl. House. :) :) You obviously haven’t had your coffee yet. I get the moody cranky characteristics from the Clerk of Parliament. And yes I am on a holiday which I am enjoying immensely Mate you know me better than anyone there and that I will always say what I think. Believe it or not I am sometimes wrong however I am always upfront. KJ The last two sentences of that email sums up Kevin perfectly. Kevin and Vicki had only attended Parliament the Wednesday before his passing for his official retirement dinner and were present in the gallery for a statement about his service to the House. I know that his many friends who saw him that evening are so very grateful to have seen him before his passing, although seeing him in apparently good health so soon before his passing left us all the more shocked. To Vicki, Adam, Kellie and Matthew, I know that the thoughts of everyone here today are with you. Adam, Kellie and Matthew—you must know that KJ talked about you all the time and was so very proud of you all and your achievements and exploits. Vicki it was obvious to all that he loved you deeply and you were truly his soul mate. I know that you will all regret not having another ten or twenty years with KJ. For my part, I am so very glad that in the last few years KJ and Vicki travelled and experienced so much. I am so very glad that KJ had a full and happy life. We will all see you later mate. Mr NEWMAN: On behalf of the government, I place on record our thanks for the years of service that Kevin gave to the parliament of Queensland and to his community. I also extend my sympathy and that of this House to Kevin’s family and friends. I move— That the House take note of the statement. Ms PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Leader of the Opposition) (9.36 am): I rise in this House to pay tribute to Mr Kevin Jones, who sadly passed away on 13 August 2013. It was only a fortnight ago on the night of Wednesday, 7 August that this House stopped and paid tribute to the years of dedication and service that Kevin gave to the Queensland parliament and, in turn, to the people of Queensland upon his official retirement. Yesterday, sadly, I, along with the Manager of Opposition Business, Curtis Pitt, attended his funeral which, rather than a solemn occasion, was a celebration of the life of this great gentleman. It was a celebration by his family, his friends and the hundreds of other people who knew and admired Kevin Jones. I was particularly moved to see so many staff of this House attend Kevin’s funeral. That is a testament to how respected he was and the extent to which his colleagues were touched by his genuine friendly nature, his sense of humour, his professionalism and his dedication to the services of this House. The respect in which he was held is little wonder considering Kevin Jones dedicated 21 years of his life to the Parliamentary Service, first starting work here on 9 March 1992. Within a short period he was promoted to the position of deputy chief attendant and then went on to become the chief attendant, giving his utmost to ensure the parliamentary chamber ran smoothly and without fault. In 2002 Kevin was given the responsibility for the security of the parliamentary precinct and subsequently was appointed Sergeant-at-Arms and manager of security and attendants. I was particularly touched with the stories that were shared and the light that was shone upon this great character at Kevin’s service at Albany Creek yesterday. If ever the old adage ‘larger than life’ was apt to describe a person, the person was Kevin. There were stories about his love of his family, his pride in his work and his dedication to his beloved Mitchelton Football Club. Kevin’s nephew spoke from the heart about his uncle’s engrained sense of humour—and some stories I dare

22 Aug 2013 Ministerial Statements 2761

not repeat here—and his unconditional love of course for his family. His daughter spoke of the wonderful childhood she enjoyed because of her father and the regular family parties nearly every Saturday night. The Clerk of the Parliament, ‘Reverend Neil Laurie’, shared some of the many emails he exchanged with Kevin, especially when Kevin was on his overseas adventures. Neil Laurie told how he and Kevin would occasionally disagree, especially after regional parliamentary sittings, and typical of them both they would both each walk away thinking they had won the argument. Others spoke of Kevin’s other passion, his love of soccer. As a young lad, Kevin found a passion for the sport and soon become associated with the Mitchelton Football Club, an association which would last for decades and where most recently he was the club president. I also have a slight family connection to Kevin. One day he stopped me in the hallway and asked how Kathy and Joe were. I was a bit perplexed. ‘Kathy and Joe?’ He said, ‘You know, your aunt and uncle.’ I then found out that Kevin and his wife, Vicki, had actually lived next to my aunt and uncle at the Grange. Earlier this week I received a message from my aunt in which she remembered Kevin and his wife, Vicki, when they moved in next door as a young couple equipped with a very large sedan and a sense of fun. She recalled them saving for trips to go over the border to play the pokies. She also remembered their great joy at the birth of their first son. My aunt has asked me to pass on her family’s genuine sympathies. I would ask each member of this House to consider the length of service Kevin gave to us in his professional life. He served this parliament longer than but a few of the current members of this place. He saw five Premiers come and go. He watched four different Governors open the Queensland parliament. Personally, I will always remember Kevin’s ability to handle any situation. No matter what challenge was thrown at him he always remained pleasant and was always willing to stop, to say hello and to have a chat. It was this very nature that led to Kevin being awarded a service badge in 2002 for his work on the regional parliament in North Queensland and the Clerk’s Award in 2011 for his many years of excellent service in support of the Parliamentary Service. It is clear that Kevin was a man of passions—passion for his family, for his job and for his beloved sport. I want to pass our condolences to Kevin’s family—his wife, Vicki; daughter, Kellie; and sons, Adam and Matthew—as well as his extended family and friends and assure them that our thoughts are with them today. On behalf of the opposition and all former Labor members of this House we pay our respects to Kevin and thank him for his years of dedicated service to this place. We also tell his family that he will be sadly missed. At yesterday’s service there were many photographs of Kevin displayed on a screen—smiling, happy pictures of him doing the things he loved. It is memories like these that we should reflect on. As I walk around the House, I will always truly be thinking that Kevin is just around the corner. He will remain in our thoughts, he will remain in our hearts and he will remain in our chamber here at Parliament House. Perhaps this morning he is smiling down upon us. Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members will be aware that on Tuesday of this week I made a statement about Kevin Jones and his service. I am sure that all members support the further messages of condolence and support made here this morning in sending their prayers and best wishes to Kevin’s family. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

Irwin, Mr P Hon. CKT NEWMAN (Ashgrove—LNP) (Premier) (9.42 am): It is with some sadness that I recall that today is the 10th anniversary of a tragic event in the life of the Queensland Police Service, indeed, in the history of this state when Senior Sergeant Perry James Irwin, 42 years old, was gunned down by a vicious criminal at Caboolture near the Sunshine Coast. Sadly, this morning we hear news of another incident overnight in which police have had to use lethal force and perhaps a family tragedy has unfolded as well. The men and women who wear the blue uniforms wear them proudly in a true spirit of community service, putting their lives on the line every single hour of the day. This morning let us remember Senior Sergeant Perry James Irwin, his friends and his family who no doubt still grieve for his loss in the line of duty for the people of Queensland. Let our thoughts and prayers also be with the families of the two officers from the Sunshine Coast, from Coolum, and also the friends and families of those who were involved in this apparent tragedy.

2762 Ministerial Statements 22 Aug 2013

DestinationQ Hon. CKT NEWMAN (Ashgrove—LNP) (Premier) (9.43 am): I am also pleased to update the House about the upcoming DestinationQ forum being held on the Gold Coast next Tuesday and Wednesday, 27 and 28 August 2013. Building on the highly successful 2012 forum, the 2013 event will report on progress of the DestinationQ partnership agreement with the Queensland Tourism Industry Council and its 25-point key action plan. The forum will also focus on major strategic issues and the advancement of a 20-year plan for tourism. Around 400 tourism operators, industry leaders and local government representatives will gather with me, tourism minister Jann Stuckey, members of the tourism cabinet committee and other key ministers at the forum to discuss, debate and decide on the long-term issues affecting the Queensland tourism industry. The industry is vital to Queensland’s economy and its long-term success is something that requires long-term planning. As the House is aware, DestinationQ is the government’s innovative approach to supporting Queensland tourism. It involves strong partnerships with industry and is about delivering opportunities for individual tourism operators and project proponents as well as holding us accountable to the delivery of our promises and commitments to the industry. The annual DestinationQ forum is an important part of this approach in bringing government and industry together to look at the issues and set a clear direction for Queensland’s tourism industry. I am sure the 2013 DestinationQ forum will also be a great success. I look forward to meeting with many of our tourism operators and industry people and gaining a further understanding of their views about the long-term issues impacting on the Queensland tourism industry.

Newman Government, Achievements Hon. TJ NICHOLLS (Clayfield—LNP) (Treasurer and Minister for Trade) (9.45 am): Last night Kevin Rudd again confirmed that he will say or do anything to save his own job and the jobs of his Labor mates. In the people’s debate, which occurred last night just down the road at the Broncos Leagues Club in Red Hill, he claimed that the Newman government had not been upfront with its plans when it went to the 2012 election. As we all know, the Newman government took a comprehensive, costed platform to the people of Queensland and the people of Queensland voted overwhelmingly for a change. We costed our policies. More than that, in our first budget we set out and fully detailed our commitments and the cost of delivering those commitments. We were as close to our figures as made no difference. Upon coming to government we also received dire warnings from independent experts and the Treasury officials about the state of the government’s finances. However, we did not cut and run from our policies and our principles like Labor would have. We rolled up our sleeves and got on with one of the biggest reform agendas in recent memory. As I stand here today, I can tell honourable members what we have done. We have charted a course to stabilise debt, and the forecast level of borrowings at 30 June 2015 is expected to be $6.2 billion lower than the comparable estimate in the independent Commission of Audit’s interim report and $5.2 billion lower than that forecast by the previous government in its 2011-12 midyear update. That means we are saving $750 million in interest, and that is money we can use to deliver front-line services. We have had to refocus resources to ensure that the government is living within its means and is not a drain on Queensland households. However, we did not sack 14,000 workers, as claimed by Kevin Rudd. We put in place a voluntary redundancy process for 9,200 employees in order to right-size the Public Service, which grew by over 60,000 employees in 10 years under the former Labor government. Unfortunately, the increase in the size of that Public Service was not matched by a commensurate increase in services for Queenslanders. We saw that in the independent Commission of Audit report. We saw that in the health department. We saw that in the police department and we saw that in the cost of living, which spiralled under Labor. The Newman government has delivered $1.4 billion worth of measures to ease the cost of living. At the same time Commonwealth Labor has introduced a job-destroying carbon tax, which has added $100 to the electricity bill of an average Queensland household and wiped over a billion dollars of value from Queensland assets. We have delivered record funding for Health of $12.3 billion this year alone. At the same time, Labor’s federal budget included a cut in Health funding of almost $500 million over the forward estimates—the equivalent funding for 5,000 nurses, but we have not heard the Nurses Union talk about that. This was on top of the $103 million cut in December last year, which included a retrospective cut of $40 million for services that had already been delivered.

22 Aug 2013 Ministerial Statements 2763

We have committed to providing an initial $868 million over the period to 2018-19 to address the historical underfunding of disability services in Queensland and to support implementing the NDIS in Queensland, something that our predecessors never did. I take this opportunity to note again that, during this year’s budget debate, the Labor members in this House voted against a sustainable funding source to deliver the NDIS in Queensland. We have also boosted education spending to $11.4 billion—another record—including our $537 million flagship program Great Teachers = Great Results. Our program is more than a hollow slogan as Labor’s is. It will deliver professional excellence in teaching and increase the autonomy of our schools. In federal Labor’s last Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook it cut $400 million of specific-purpose payments and national partnership agreements for education in Queensland, and many more remain in jeopardy. We have also committed another $300 million to address the school maintenance backlog left by Labor, and we have gone to market for the construction and delivery of 10 new state schools. It is not just about spending. We are modernising the way services are delivered in Queensland, and we are striving to make the Queensland Public Service the best in Australia. Already we have banned ambulance bypass and implemented strategies to improve ambulance access to hospital emergency departments. We have also put an end to ambulance ramping, which grew rampant under the Beattie and Bligh Labor governments. Kevin Rudd and his Labor mates keep talking down Queensland for their own self-interest. They do not care about Queensland; they care about themselves. The Newman government has full confidence in where Queensland is headed. There is much to look forward to in our great state of Queensland, and we will continue working hard every day to make Queensland the best place to invest, employ and grow. But we will not stand by and let Kevin Rudd, aided and abetted by his Labor mates in this place, his underlings here in Queensland, keep peddling these mistruths and falsehoods. We will be telling the people of Queensland and the people of Australia that Queensland is the best place to invest, employ and grow. Queensland Health, Payroll System; IBM Hon. IB WALKER (Mansfield—LNP) (Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts) (9.50 am): The Newman government has a clear commitment to deal with organisations that deliver real benefits to Queensland, and that is a responsibility that I take seriously. It is apparent from the Health payroll debacle that IBM showed complete and utter disregard for the employees of Queensland Health and the people of Queensland. The payroll system failed on delivery and has required significant modification since. In fact, because those opposite failed to act in Queensland’s interest and hold IBM to account, all Queenslanders continue to pay for IBM’s Health payroll failures. Labor’s response was weak in many, many ways. Amongst other things, they were advised that the state could seek damages against IBM worth as much as $88 million, but they let them off the hook. I do not have to remind Queensland taxpayers that this mess will end up costing about $1.2 billion. That is $1.2 billion that could have been spent delivering more services to Queenslanders. I am committed to ensuring that these mistakes are never again repeated. To this end, IBM must be held to account for its failings. I want IBM to present evidence that it has dealt with its past unethical practices. My department’s director-general has written to IBM to inform them that the Newman government will not enter into any new contracts with IBM until I am satisfied it has adopted a governance model to remedy its past misconduct. If it wishes to engage with the Newman government again, IBM must consider all of the adverse Health payroll inquiry findings and demonstrate that it has addressed its past failings to the satisfaction of this government. Finally, IBM must explain what action it has taken to deal with any employees, both present and past, who were the subject of adverse findings. The Premier also has tasked the Public Service Commission chief executive with evaluating what actions should be taken against public sector employees who were adversely named. I am advised that the chief executive has determined there is information or sufficient concern to issue notices to five public servants to show cause why they should not be disciplined for their role in the project. Further consideration is ongoing in relation to other public servants named in the inquiry. The Newman government is committed to working with the Queensland public sector to make it the best in Australia. To achieve this, we need public servants to perform their role to the highest standards. This means that public servants need to be accountable for their conduct and performance, from the most senior officers through to the lower levels. These are significant matters, and I am confident the Public Service Commission chief executive will give them careful consideration before any decisions are made.

2764 Ministerial Statements 22 Aug 2013

Gladstone Harbour Hon. AC POWELL (Glass House—LNP) (Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection) (9.53 am): The federal government has released its long-awaited independent review into Gladstone Harbour. The report was authored by several highly credible scientists, including the chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, and assessed the planning and approvals processes as well as the current conditions within Gladstone Harbour. The key findings vindicate what the Newman government has been saying all along. It vindicates our approach in dealing with facts and not rhetoric, science and not scaremongering. I am pleased to inform the House that recommendations in the Commonwealth funded report not only support the great work that the Newman government has done in Gladstone to date, but equally are supportive of our moves to cut green tape and streamline approval processes. It comes as no surprise that the review found the environmental management and governance of the Port of Gladstone is comprehensive as it is one of the most studied ports in Australia, if not the world. After all, this is the only place in the world where an industrial harbour sits on the doorstep of a World Heritage reef. The harbour needs to be a functioning port to allow the local community to benefit from the heavy industry of Gladstone, the resource development in the broader region and the economic opportunities that these bring. Queensland is a great state with great opportunities. We are open for business, but not at the expense of the environment. The report overwhelmingly supported the Newman government’s Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership that we began establishing last year. It rightly recognised that the partnership and the associated independent science panel ‘provides an excellent opportunity for addressing environmental issues and building stakeholder and public confidence in the future’. Finding No. 14 of the report stated— Approval conditions that facilitate and enable cooperation and collaboration between proponents, and avoid duplication, are a useful mechanism for maximising environmental benefits, minimising regulatory burden and creating certainty for industry and the broader community. That is why we are confident that under an Abbott-led coalition government we will establish a one-stop shop for major environmental approvals. Recommendation 8 states— That the Queensland government not declare any more state development areas within or adjoining the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area without detailed consideration of impacts to world heritage values and robust consultation, including with the Australian government. We are mindful of the impact of development on the Great Barrier Reef, which is exactly why we have scaled back the crazy expansion plans the former Labor government had approved at Abbot Point. It is time those opposite stopped talking down this state and got on board. It is time that they stopped playing politics and put the interests of Queenslanders first, rather than playing green games and inciting hysteria with unbacked scientific claims. I table this report, which supports this government’s approach to managing the environment while continuing to allow great opportunities for this great state. Tabled paper: Independent Review of the Port of Gladstone, Report on Findings, July 2013 [3284].

Law, Auntie Pam Hon. GW ELMES (Noosa—LNP) (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier) (9.57 am): It is with great sadness that I inform the House of the passing of one of Brisbane’s prominent Aboriginal elders, Auntie Pamela Law. I first met her soon after taking up the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander portfolio and was immediately impressed by her generous spirit, inviting hospitality and steely determination to see a better world come from the one in which she was born. She willingly accepted the mantle of community leader. She never shirked the responsibilities that go with it, no matter how difficult the task. Auntie Pam was already head of the Inala Elders Association when I came to know her. She became equipped for that position through a life of struggle, out of which grew a spirit of selfless determination. Auntie Pam, a Wakka Wakka woman, was born in Mundubbera, where her father worked as a stockman. Her family moved to Eidsvold, where she stayed until she was 18. Auntie Pam lived and worked in Sydney before returning north, to Brisbane’s West End. In 1980 she moved to her much loved community of Inala, where she quickly became appreciated as a leader and a woman with a heart for her people’s welfare. She worked as a teacher’s aide, became president of the Aboriginal Student Support Parents Association and set up a homework centre at Serviceton State School, which all three of her boys attended. Auntie Pam was an active member of the Inala

22 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2765

community, and over the years she always made herself available to attend community meetings and help organise local NAIDOC events. In 2002 Auntie Pam joined the Inala Elders Association. She became board member, then secretary and finally president up until her passing. In addition, Auntie Pam was the chair of the Inala Round Table, a group that developed the Inala action plan to address community needs. With DATSIMA, Auntie Pam oversaw the development and implementation of the Inala action plan. It was through the hospitality, insistence and determination of Auntie Pam that I made the decision to become an active member of the Inala Round Table. Auntie Pam Law lived in Inala for 33 years. Right to the end, she undertook volunteer work five days a week, 52 weeks a year, from 9 am until three o’clock. Her physical presence and tireless work will be sadly missed in the Inala community and the wider Aboriginal community.

EDUCATION AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE

Reports Mrs MENKENS (Burdekin—LNP) (10.00 am): I lay upon the table of the House two reports of the Education and Innovation Committee. The first is report No. 21, Review of Auditor-General’s report 2: 2012-13, Follow up of 2010 audit recommendations. This report considers the Auditor-General’s follow-up audit of a 2010 performance management system audit that looked into the use of student data such as NAPLAN results and school based data to inform teaching and learning. We were pleased to note that six out of the eight recommendations made by the Auditor-General in the original audit had been implemented by the department. We also found that the remaining two recommendations have either been implemented since the follow-up audit or are in the process of being fully implemented. Tabled paper: Education and Innovation Committee: Report No. 21—Review of Auditor-General’s Report 2: 2012-13, Follow up of 2010 audit recommendations [3285]. I also table report No. 22, Review of Auditor-General’s report 8: 2012-13, Online service delivery. This report details our consideration of a performance audit that looked at whether the public sector had optimised its use of information technology for the delivery of services online. We concluded that there is a significant amount of improvement that could be achieved in this area while acknowledging the work that is currently being done to address the issues identified by the audit, such as making more services available online. I commend the reports to the House. Tabled report: Education and Innovation Committee: Report No. 22—Review of Auditor-General’s Report 8: 2012-13, Online service delivery [3286].

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Madam SPEAKER: Question time will go until 11.01 am.

Barrett Adolescent Centre Ms PALASZCZUK (10.01 am): My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, I refer to the expert clinical reference group that the minister asked to examine the future of the Barrett Adolescent Centre, and I table a copy of that report. Why is the minister closing the centre when the reference group’s recommendation was to keep open an integrated intensive care unit, including a special school? Tabled paper: West Moreton Hospital and Health Service, Expert Clinical Reference Group Recommendations, Barrett Adolescent Strategy, July 2013 [3287]. Mr SPRINGBORG: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. As the Leader of the Opposition knows full well, the Barrett adolescent mental health facility was coming towards the end of its life, and indeed that is exactly why the previous Labor government had made a decision to not only close that facility but to open another facility based in the Redlands. With regard to that, the concern continued to be, particularly from those throughout the rest of Queensland, that they would not be able to access services which are close or near to their community. One of the other concerns with regard to the closure of the facility at Barrett was that it created an institutional environment within the broader context of The Park mental health facility, and that is also one of the reasons why that decision needed to be made. Ms Palaszczuk: That’s why we were going to build a brand-new facility. You’ve cut it!

2766 Questions Without Notice 22 Aug 2013

Mr SPRINGBORG: The other thing that I informed this House about recently—and the opposition leader knows this—in response to community interest that has come from throughout Queensland is that we have a significant number of people throughout the state who need to be able to access these services closer to home. As a part of that with regard to the expert panel and its recommendations and working with the Mental Health Commissioner, no decision will be made to close that facility until such time as we know that appropriate alternatives are in place, including alternatives which adequately ensure that young people with educational needs, as many of them are, can be supported in conjunction with Education Queensland. The Leader of the Opposition knows that and that is why I have informed her of that view. This is a decision which will be made some time in the early part of next year. In relation to that particular expert panel, it is working through the final details at the moment. The expert panel is made up of clinicians, from both interstate and Queensland, and also those who have had experience from the perspective of consumers and their family members. Indeed, as I have previously indicated, there may need to be some form of intensive facility which will continue to operate in some way on a smaller scale to bring together a broader collective of people, but we have to ensure that in other areas of Queensland we can deliver these services in those areas rather than having people being dislocated from their families and travel some thousands of kilometres away. I can assure the House that no-one will be disadvantaged by this decision. (Time expired)

Barrett Adolescent Centre Ms PALASZCZUK: My question is to the Minister for Education. I again refer to the Barrett Adolescent Centre and ask: will the minister advise if he has breached the education act by failing to provide six months notice of the closure of the Barrett adolescent school, especially now that the Minister for Health has said that it is planned to close early next year? Mr LANGBROEK: I thank the honourable member for the question, even though we again have imputations in the question that the health minister has just rejected in terms of time lines. It is also very clear that the health minister has just said that, when it comes to issues about what is going to happen with the Barrett centre and the planning that is happening, the West Moreton Hospital and Health Service is looking at alternative models. He said very clearly just then that it will ensure that adequate provisions are made for patients. My department is of course working closely with the health department, as the health minister just said. Once again we see the Leader of the Opposition making accusations that those opposite will then seek to go out and promulgate with wild, outrageous claims about us and what we on this side of the House are doing when these are often plans that had been put in place by the former government and under this government we are actually putting it through a due process to ensure that there are proper planning processes put in place, whether it is for the health concerns of these patients and students as it happens in my portfolio or other situations. It is very clear that my department through the metropolitan region is establishing a working group to review and make recommendations on effective educational provisions to meet the needs of the new service model being investigated by Queensland Health. I am advised that Queensland Health advises that this model could take up to three years to develop and implement. Once again we have wild accusations from the Leader of the Opposition, as we did yesterday with reference to the briefing note that I provided to which the Manager of Opposition Business referred. Let us have a very close look at that. I warn honourable members who may find themselves on the front bench of the government that, should they be asked questions and briefing notes are supposedly tabled and accusations are made about what is contained in those briefing notes— Ms Palaszczuk: So you didn’t approve it? Mr LANGBROEK: I am going to come to the detail about what is in the briefing note. I am just warning those in this House about the tactics of those opposite and the low tactics that they will employ. As we saw Kevin Rudd last night— Opposition members interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Pause the clock. There are too many interjections on my left which are making it harder to hear the minister in his response and he is not taking the interjections. I warn members on my left. I call the minister.

22 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2767

Mr LANGBROEK: We saw that last night from Kevin Rudd—making wild accusations completely without fact. Yesterday those opposite tabled a briefing note that I was given last year, and there are two issues. The first is that I note the contents of this brief and attachments in which it speaks about an ongoing disposal plan which we have always had in the department of education under previous ministers. The second issue was to agree to progress the 2012-13 disposal program and plan. I note that in attachment 1 of that briefing note was the 2012-13 disposal plan for 85 assets that were okayed by previous ministers—by previous ministers. It actually says that they had been approved for disposal by previous ministers. Their accusation yesterday was about our ongoing plan. This clearly shows that they say anything and do anything. (Time expired)

Queensland Plan Mr LATTER: My question without notice is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the House on the consultation process underway on the Queensland Plan and whether there is still time for Queenslanders to have their say on the 30-year vision for our state? Mr NEWMAN: It is a delight to get a question. I thank the honourable member. I am really thrilled to report— Mr Seeney: Now you know how I feel. Mr NEWMAN: I feel the Deputy Premier’s pain. I am delighted to report that thousands of Queenslanders have joined in the journey to develop the Queensland Plan—a 30-year vision for our great state. I have been really impressed by the careful thought that has been taken in responding to the six questions that we developed together in Mackay back in May and the feedback that has highlighted that, while we are very diverse geographically, we are all passionate about our local communities—that is for sure—and we are all committed to make a difference. As I said at the start of the year, the development of the Queensland Plan is as much about the process as it is the plan itself or the outcome. Over the past four months members have been engaging with their communities through community meetings, information stands at local shows and fetes, business forums, networking seminars, webinars, drop-in sessions and school visits. Queenslanders have also been getting together at local sporting clubs, history societies, church groups and around the family dining table. We have been receiving a host of responses from individuals and from groups. People have had their say online and we have seen a diverse range of interests and a very large base of people coming forward to say something about the plan. I note today—and this is an increase on the figure that I was giving out to the media last week—that we now have had 37,000 Queenslanders, individuals and representative groups, having their say today. That is up from 33,000 about a week ago. That is a tremendous result. If we had had any more than 10,000 I would have been thrilled. Thirty-seven thousand pieces of individual feedback or group feedback is a tremendous statement from people across the state. But there is still time for those who have not had their say yet to have their say. They have about a week—they have until 30 August. They should talk to their local member of parliament or they should visit the website. Then we will be turning our attention to collating all of this and we are going to come together on 9 October and 10 October here in Brisbane to synthesise this and pull it altogether. My own Ashgrove community group that we have set up has put together a submission. We will be finalising that this Friday. They have taken the approach of talking about what they see in the next 30 years in the electorate. So we have an electorate plan—an electorate vision—and they have also been talking about those questions for the whole of Queensland. I am really proud of the work that my group has done under the leadership of many great local people and I am looking forward to October when we bring all of this together and deliver the plan.

Schools, Nurses Ms TRAD: My question without notice is to the Premier—do not worry, Premier, we have not forgotten you. I refer to the fact that the government has devolved to each of the 17 hospital and health boards responsibility for continuing to fund school based youth health nurses. Will the Premier advise how many of these positions have now been cut from schools as a result of the decision to cease central funding? Mr NEWMAN: I thank the member for South Brisbane for her question because I wanted a question from the member for South Brisbane. I will come back to her specifically later on. Yesterday, I was asked about Biala. This is really part of this theme from the Australian Labor Party that

2768 Questions Without Notice 22 Aug 2013

somehow we should be in the job of primary health care. Again, I have to say that we are not in primary health care. Yesterday they hooted and tooted over there and said that it was not so. They said that I was making it up. I believe Kevin Rudd has even waded into these matters as well. I have a printout that I will table in a moment from the federal government’s own website. It talks about a national health and hospital network for Australia’s future. At 5.2 it states— Taking full funding and policy responsibility for GP and primary health care. It says this in bold at the start— The Commonwealth Government will take full policy and funding responsibility for GP and primary health care services in Australia. Ms Palaszczuk interjected. Mr NEWMAN: They should stop interjecting and listen. I go back to yesterday’s question. I wish they would listen. It states further— This important structural change to roles and responsibilities within the health system means that one level of government—the Commonwealth—will be responsible and accountable for the strategic direction, planning and public funding of primary health care, as recommended by the NHHRC.

Currently, the Commonwealth subsidises privately provided GP and some nursing and allied health services. States provide a range of services including community health centres, subsidised GP clinics, allied health services, child and maternal health clinics, drug and alcohol services, and community mental health services.

Over time, this arrangement has resulted in duplication of effort by Commonwealth and state governments in some areas and delivery gaps in others. Consequently, primary health care services are not as effective as they need to be. It goes on. I table the document for the information of members. Tabled paper: Document titled ‘A National Health and Hospitals Network for Australia’s Future’ [3288]. The federal government is responsible for these matters. Before I conclude, just to digress for a moment because it is the member for South Brisbane, how comfortable is the member for South Brisbane aligning herself and her party with the Katter party? We now know that we have the ‘K-ALP-er’ party. How comfortable is she down there in the independent republic of South Brisbane? How comfortable is she exchanging preferences with a party that ran the most homophobic advertisements 18 months ago—anti gay and lesbian people? How comfortable is the member for South Brisbane? How does she explain that to her local community? (Time expired)

Bruce Highway, Upgrade Mr GIBSON: My question without notice is to the Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. Can the Deputy Premier inform the House of funding commitments for infrastructure upgrades to the Bruce Highway? Mr SEENEY: I thank the member for Gympie for the question and I look forward to joining with him before the end of this calendar year in turning the sod on part A of the Cooroy-Curra section of the Bruce Highway—a notorious piece of highway just south of Gympie that he and I both know the reconstruction of which has been made possible because of a $395 million commitment by our state government to that part of the highway. That is an indication that we are determined to keep our commitment to the regional cities up and down the length of the Bruce Highway to ensure that the Bruce Highway is brought up to a standard that is more fitting of a National Highway. The highway accounts for seven per cent of the National Highway network but, sadly, it represents 17 per cent of the fatalities on the National Highway. So one of the key promises of our government was to put in place a Bruce Highway Action Plan to allocate an extra billion dollars over 10 years from the state coffers to the Bruce Highway. It has been gratifying to see Tony Abbott commit $6.7 billion over 10 years to the Bruce Highway in addition to the $1.3 billion that he has already committed for the Gateway upgrade. This will mean that, with the commitment that our government has made, there will be $10 billion spent on the Bruce Highway over the next 10 years if Tony Abbott is elected on 7 September. I would suggest that there is no greater reason for any member who represents regional Queensland to ensure that Tony Abbott and the coalition are elected than that: $10 billion to correct the scandalous embarrassment that is the Bruce Highway, $10 billion that will mean that our Bruce

22 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2769

Highway Action Plan is implemented. It was a key commitment of our government. It was a key commitment of the Premier in the run-up to the last state election that we would ensure that the Bruce Highway embarrassment was addressed, that the Bruce Highway crisis was addressed in a way that brought that highway up to a standard that it should be for a National Highway that is so critical to the importance of the economic future of all Queenslanders. With the commitment that Tony Abbott has made, that will come to fruition over the next 10 years, because $10 billion over 10 years will be spent on the highway. The commitment that has been made by Kevin Rudd is almost $3 billion less than that—almost $3 billion less—and it is spread out over a long period of time. Kevin Rudd, as a Queenslander, should be leading the battle to rebuild the Bruce Highway. Kevin Rudd fails Queensland. Kevin Rudd is a dud. The only option on 7 September is to vote for Tony Abbott.

Gold Coast Hospital Dr DOUGLAS: My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister please advise who is undertaking the independent investigation of serious matters of patient safety and medical care at the Gold Coast Hospital at Southport and when will this person meet with the key specialist doctors and the AMA at the hospital? Mr SPRINGBORG: To the repressed, self-appointed but never to be Queensland health minister, I simply say— Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Health, I ask you to refer to people by their appropriate titles. Mr SPRINGBORG: I refer to the leader of the PUP party, who resembles a repressed minister for health in Queensland, somebody who aspires to that particular position. Indeed, I would be interested to know what the honourable member has done in the last 24 hours to provide Clive Palmer with a reprimand on how he is and why he is stripping jobs away from Australians, particularly in the IT and the manufacturing industry; why it is that he actually supports people getting jobs in Beijing and actually pumping out the PUP party propaganda and why he does not support those jobs here in Queensland. As the honourable member knows full well, there is currently a review being undertaken into the matters which have been raised by a number of clinicians on the Gold Coast. Indeed, when that information actually went to the board chair, on 29 July I understand, after all the remonstrations and carrying on from the honourable member for Gaven, it was quickly looked at and quickly referred to Queensland Health by the board chairman within two days. He actually asked for us to undertake an independent review, notwithstanding the fact that when they assessed the information they found little of any substance whatsoever. This stands in stark contrast to those people opposite who seek to cohabitate with the honourable member for Gaven—this weird and perverse collectivisation of the Katter party and the PUP party. We basically have the KALP now—the Katter’s Australian Labor PUPs. That is basically what we have now in this parliament. When he was running around supporting those people over there, they would never have conducted such a review. The honourable member for Gaven has to understand that each and every action that he takes in this area actually pulls down and seriously affects not only the morale of those people within the system but clinicians. Dr DOUGLAS: I rise to a point of order. Madam SPEAKER: Minister, take your seat. Pause the clock. What is your point of order? Dr DOUGLAS: I asked the minister could the minister advise who is undertaking the investigation and when that person will meet them. Madam SPEAKER: Take your seat. The minister addressed your question. I call the minister. Mr SPRINGBORG: Absolutely, Madam Speaker, which is in stark contrast to members opposite when they were in government and swept matters under the carpet—fake Tahitian princes, Health payroll, all of those sorts of debacles. They did absolutely nothing. We are conducting a review into this particular matter and we will wait until we get the results of that review. I say to the honourable member for Gaven that it is about time that he started to recognise some of the amazing achievements of those people who work in Queensland Health, particularly on the Gold Coast who have had a quantum increase in their performance in their hospital in emergency department elective surgery over the last six months.

2770 Questions Without Notice 22 Aug 2013

Federal Election, State Finances Dr ROBINSON: My question without notice is to the Treasurer and Minister for Trade. Can the Treasurer update the House on the federal election and how announced policies could potentially impact Queensland’s financial position? Are there any alternative views? Mr NICHOLLS: I thank the member for Cleveland for his question. This is important. The people of Australia are making a decision in a little over two weeks’ time about not just the financial future of this country, but the productive future of this country, the country that they want to see delivered for the next three years. It is my very firm view they do not want to see what has been delivered for the last six years in terms of what has been coming out of Canberra. Unfortunately in terms of the finances for Queensland, just about every policy that the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government has thrown up has had a negative effect on our state. At the last election we had a Prime Minister who promised ‘there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead’ and, of course, immediately introduced a carbon tax. I note that it was supported by the former, now current, Prime Minister. Not only did that tax drive up the cost of living for Queensland families and negatively impact on businesses that have to pay it, but it also cost countless jobs. It cost councils across Queensland millions of dollars and that has filtered its way down to the ratepayers in those councils. Kevin Rudd now wants to move to an emissions trading scheme, but he has not said how he is going to fill the black hole as a result of it. The answer is simple. If Kevin Rudd is re-elected everyday Australians will be paying more for his failed emissions trading scheme. We all know that changes to the fringe benefits tax have been mooted by Mr Rudd so he can fill his budget black hole. Modelling from BDO indicates that a nurse earning around $70,000 a year will lose between $2,000 and $3,000 as a result of Kevin Rudd’s changes to the fringe benefits tax to plug the black hole from the failed emissions trading scheming. And who could forget the mining tax—yet another successful tax? It was so successful that it killed off a Prime Minister—although his ghost has come back to haunt us. It was so successful it raised almost no revenue and so successful that it destroyed Australia’s sovereign risk reputation overseas. It was another successful tax from Labor. Nowhere have those two policies that I have mentioned had more of an impact than right here in Queensland. Now we have Kevin Rudd’s northern conversion. He has gone north—not quite to Alaska, member for Gregory, but he has gone north and he has a commitment to create a special economic zone and slash the company tax rate. He had a press conference where he had three separate positions in one 30-second grab. Unbelievable! Putting aside the fact that he did have those positions, he cherry picked the best of the coalition policy, a policy that only a month earlier he had carpeted. Compare these tax and policy-on-the-run issues with those being offered by the federal coalition: no carbon tax, no mining tax, a positive plan to work with the states, a cut to company tax and, of course, a plan to bring Australia into line with our paid parental leave program. On 7 September the decision will be clear.

Fraser Coast, Youth Boot Camp Mr PITT: My question without notice is to the Attorney-General. Will the Attorney-General guarantee that the successful tenderer for the Fraser Coast boot camp was ranked as the No. 1 applicant by the panel and that he accepted the panel’s recommendation without outside interference? Mr BLEIJIE: I thank the honourable member for the question. I have particularly looked forward over the last few days to a question about boot camps, particularly as the shadow police minister is concerned. I can assure the member for Mulgrave that there were two considerations that I took into account when dealing with these boot camps—one, that they have got a track record and they have the runs on the board in running boot camps in this state; and, secondly, that the community will be safe. They were the lessons learned from the incidents in Cairns. While we are on the subject of the boot camps can I draw the attention of honourable members to the member for Rockhampton, the shadow police minister, who does not support boot camps. In an article that appeared in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin on 12 December 2011—and members will remember that he was the Labor candidate for the Labor Party at the 2012 election—he is quoted as saying— It is the one consistent issue that crops up in Rockhampton, no matter who you talk to. All sections of society recognise that, for whatever reason, the current system is not working. The Labor system for 12 years was not working. That was admitted by the member for Rockhampton. When we say that we are going to do boot camps in Queensland, he opposes boot camps. He also said in this article that he was going to join the Ascot Hotel publican Will Cordwell to

22 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2771

announce innovative initiatives with the aim of breaking the cycle. After we were elected and we set up the boot camps, Will Cordwell, the owner of the Ascot Hotel, was the subject of an article titled ‘Victim Favours Boot Camp’. He supports our policies! The member for Rockhampton is living in denial. His community supports boot camps, but he does not. Honourable members, it gets better. Mr PITT: I rise to a point of order. While I appreciate the Attorney-General is addressing the issue of boot camps, will he please address the specific issues around the tender process and outside interference as asked in the question. Madam SPEAKER: Okay, please take your seat. Mr BLEIJIE: Madam Speaker, I answered the question. I took two things into consideration: track record and runs on the board; and community safety, which is paramount. I understand why they do not want to talk about boot camps. Yesterday, the member for Rockhampton went on ABC Radio and said he does not support boot camps. He was a candidate at the 2012 election and the Labor Party went to that election with a boot camp policy. Yesterday on ABC Radio the interviewer said, ‘Hang on, you were a candidate for a political party that supported a boot camp.’ Incidentally, they were going to fund the same people we funded to run the boot camp on the Gold Coast. In answer to that, the member for Rockhampton said, ‘Oh, I’ve never agreed with boot camps.’ So he went to the 2012 election completely misleading the people of Rockhampton. It is hypocrisy. His community wants boot camps, the general community wants boot camps and we are going to have a ‘super boot camp’. The PCYC has been given a boot camp. The member should be ashamed of himself. He favours innuendos over facts, he favours smear over argument and he favours supposition over reality. He is a sham. (Time expired)

Health Funding Mr DAVIES: My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. I refer to last night’s debate between Tony Abbott and Mr Rudd, and I ask: given that Kevin Rudd answered, ‘Simply, simply untrue,’ when he was asked if the federal government had retrospectively cut millions of dollars from last year’s state health budgets, can the minister please outline for the House if there is any truth in what Mr Kevin Rudd said? Mr SPRINGBORG: I think it is fair to say that there is no truth in anything that Kevin Rudd says. I thank the honourable member for Capalaba for his question, because Kevin Rudd has been misleading Australians for many years. He initially misled them in his first iteration as Prime Minister and that led to his own party dealing with him in some ways, which led to the people of Australia feeing a sense of remorse that they had been denied that opportunity, although they may get that opportunity on 7 September. Before I get to that particular issue, I note that we have one former Premier of Queensland, Mr Peter Beattie, running rampant on the Twitterverse at the moment. He has given up on Forde, but he wants to talk a lot about health. Today I say to Mr Beattie that the one tweet he should put out is, ‘Elect me to the federal parliament and I will do exactly the same thing for the Australian health system as I did for the Queensland Health system.’ I doubt that he will put out that tweet today, because he does not want to talk about his record. In the debate last night, I was very intrigued when Mr Abbott asked Mr Rudd why he retrospectively cut hundreds of millions of dollars from last year’s budgets in the middle of the financial year. The honest Kevin Rudd stood up and said, ‘Simply, simply untrue.’ I am in possession of a document. This is not an LNP document. It is not an LNP government document. It is not an LNP party document. It is not a federal coalition government document. This is from Wayne Swan, the former federal Treasurer. It is one of his Treasury executive minutes, which he signed off on last year. It very, very clearly points out that the residual adjustment, the retrospective adjustment, the reduction for Queensland Health for the 2011-12 financial year was $40,151,701.97. That is a retrospective adjustment. It is a retrospective clawback in November last year of $40 million for the 2011-12 financial year. I do not know what you call that if it is not a retrospective clawback. It is a retrospective reduction. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. That looks to me like a retrospective clawback by any means. What could that have bought? It could have bought 1,795 knee replacements, 1,822 hip replacements, 936 cochlear impacts and we know what they think about cochlear implants, because they voted against additional money for them. (Time expired)

2772 Questions Without Notice 22 Aug 2013

Cairns, Youth Boot Camp Mr BYRNE: My question is to the Attorney-General. I note that the new tender to replace the botched Cairns boot camp was announced by the Attorney-General on 20 May 2013 and closed on 14 June 2013. I ask: why did the Attorney-General meet Beyond Billabong, announced yesterday as the successful boot camp tenderer, on 5 June when he knew that the tender process was well underway and that his actions were contrary to his previously stated position to remain at arm’s length from such processes? Mr BLEIJIE: Round 2. Honourable members interjected. Mr Seeney interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, take your seat. I warn the Deputy Premier and ask him to withdraw his unparliamentary language. Mr SEENEY: I withdraw, Madam Speaker. Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Mr BLEIJIE: I thank the honourable member for Rockhampton for the question. I will continue from where I left off on the whole boot camp process. We want a change in the culture of youth justice in Queensland; the Labor Party does not. We want to sort out young people; the Labor Party does not. We want young people to take responsibility for their actions; the Labor Party does not. We went to the 2012 election with a clear plan to use youth justice policies to rebalance the scales of justice in this state. Under the Labor Party, victims were ignored. Members can see the hypocrisy of the member for Rockhampton. Despite me answering all these questions on boot camps only three minutes ago, the over-resourced opposition could not redraft a question, so they put Bill back in the firing line. They put the member for Rockhampton back in the firing line, because they did not have a backup question. They are an ineffective and incompetent opposition that did not have a backup question. Two issues have been taken into consideration with these boot camps, and of those community safety is paramount. We are doing more in the youth justice sphere than the Labor Party could have ever dreamt of. I draw the attention of honourable members to Anna Bligh who, when Premier, went to the election in 2009 with a policy document titled ‘Keep Queensland Strong’. It states— Premier Anna Bligh said the youth crime crackdown would include stronger naming-and-shaming powers and longer mandatory imprisonment periods for multiple murders. That is what they said would happen if the Bligh government was re-elected. Mr PITT: I rise to a point of order. Madam Speaker, I respectfully ask that the Attorney-General answer the specific question as it relates to the tender process and the arm’s-length approach that he promised to take. Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Manager of Opposition Business. Attorney-General, you have time on the clock. I ask you to address the question. Mr BLEIJIE: Madam Speaker, I am answering the question; he just does not want to hear the rest of the answer. That is his problem. In 2009, when the member for Mulgrave— Opposition members interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Attorney-General, I am going to ask you to pause and to please take your seat. There are too many interjections in the House. I appreciate that during the Attorney’s response barbs have been traded across the chamber. However, the Attorney-General has the call to answer the question. It is becoming difficult to hear the full answer to the question. I ask the Attorney-General to address the question. Mr BLEIJIE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. When the five opposite were candidates for the 2009 election, they had a strong get-tough approach on youth crime. Anna Bligh said— We need tough laws to deal with repeat offenders and the worst of these youth. She went on to say— That’s why we will crack down on youth crime by committing to a range of initiatives that will strengthen our juvenile justice system. She said her government would give courts specific powers to place curfews on juvenile offenders to reduce the chances of them offending. She said they would widen court powers in relation to naming and shaming, allowing orders to be issued allowing the publication of identifying information if the

22 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2773

court considered it in the interests of justice to do so. However, they have failed in youth justice in this state. Under the Labor Party, we had the highest number of offenders committing crimes in this state. We are serious about change. That is why the boot camps form such an important part of this policy. (Time expired)

Education Funding Mr RUTHENBERG: My question without notice is to the Minister for Education, Training and Employment. Can the minister please outline to the House the Newman’s government additional investment in education? Mr LANGBROEK: I thank the honourable member for the question because I know it is an area in which he is passionately interested. Last night during the debate that was held at the Broncos we heard more and more untruths from Kevin Rudd, not just in the area of health as has been outlined by the honourable health minister—we saw Prime Minister Kevin Rudd getting more flustered and more agitated and making more and more misrepresentations—but in the area of education too. He said last night, ‘We have seen massive cuts to Queensland’s education system.’ We have heard already this morning from those opposite the refrain ‘cuts, cuts, cuts’. That is all they have. They have done it before. They think it worked for them before and it gave them an extra term. Let us have a look at what is actually happening in the education system and who is making the cuts. We heard from the Treasurer earlier this morning about the $400 million cuts to the Queensland education budget contained in the forward estimates of the federal budget. Mr Rudd likes a good fact. He likes flicking his hair, but he does not like talking about the facts. In this year’s budget the Newman government increased spending for state schools by 6.5 per cent and for non-state schools by 5.5 per cent. We have spoken a number of times about having pumped $300 million into our system to fix the maintenance backlog. Honourable members are aware of that. Every Queensland school has benefited from that funding. We inherited that $293 million backlog. There are 300 more teacher aides in our prep classrooms and $115 million more in our capital program through the Building Our Future Schools Fund. We have committed $537 million over five years for Great Teachers = Great Results—a focussed, structured policy. It is not policy on the run. It is not an attempt to come up with a policy in the middle of a campaign like Bill Shorten did the other day with Teach for Australia—another idea that they have come up with on the run. Our policy is a structured policy that will boost teacher quality, boost school autonomy and boost school outcomes. The Premier stated in writing to Kevin Rudd on 11 July this year that Queensland will commit $1.8 billion in new money to our schools over the next six years. Kevin Rudd might not like these facts and those opposite who spread the same myths might not like them, but they are the facts. But there is no doubt that the Prime Minister is being more and more vacuous, becoming more and more self-absorbed—abusing and not being courteous to make-up artists at the debate last night. He is the same person he has always been—the fake and the fraud who has conned the Australian public once but will not do it again. We see that the Labor Party’s only refrain is about cuts. As Chris Uhlmann said the other night, in a press conference the Prime Minister said ‘cut’ or ‘cutting’ 57 times. The only person making cuts to the education sector is Kevin Rudd—universities $4 billion, kindergartens $1.15 billion and training $242 million.

McKinlay Health Clinic Mr KATTER: My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister reconsider the reinstatement of funding of just over $100,000 per annum for the full-time services of the bush nurse at the McKinlay Health Clinic which provides primary health care in the remote area between Cloncurry and Winton? Mr SPRINGBORG: I thank the honourable member for his question. The primary health facility at McKinlay is not run by Queensland Health. I understand the contract for the clinic exists with the Central and North Queensland Medicare Local and Queensland Health has previously contributed some finances to that particular facility in north-western Queensland. The primary responsibility for that clinic actually sits with the Medicare Local. It is exactly the same thing the Premier outlined in the parliament a little earlier this morning.

2774 Questions Without Notice 22 Aug 2013

Once again we are seeing with the Katter’s Australian Labor PUPs that they are all over there using the same narrative. They just do not get what is going on with regard to healthcare services in Queensland and the transformational changes that we have seen in recent times. We are improving our performance in health care right across the spectrum. We have the best performing emergency departments in Australia. Five out of six indicators with regard to elective surgery have actually improved in Queensland. For the first time in seven years, as at 30 June this year we actually have fewer people on the outpatient waiting list than we did the year before. Is that an indication of a system in crisis? It is certainly not. It is an indication of a system which is working exceptionally well to deliver outcomes for the people of Queensland. If we look at the North West Hospital and Health Service we find that since the Newman government came to power we have increased its budget by $8,134,000 or 6.39 per cent. There has been a significant increase. If the honourable member really wants to make a contribution with regard to this he should get on the telephone to his father or when they sit around the dinner table tonight or whenever it might be and say, ‘Daddy, will you go down there and make sure that your very, very best mate Kevin Rudd coughs up for what he is responsible for—that is, primary and preventative health care, particularly in a primary care facility which is not even principally run by Queensland Health or the North West Hospital and Health Service.’ Mr KATTER: I rise to a point of order, Madam Speaker. Madam SPEAKER: Pause the clock. What is your point of order? Mr KATTER: Those statements made were untrue and I find them offensive. I ask for them to be withdrawn. Madam SPEAKER: Minister, I ask you to withdraw. Mr Langbroek: There is no personal reflection in them. What have you reflected on? Madam SPEAKER: I will just ask the minister to withdraw. There was a reference to the member. We will then start the clock. Mr SPRINGBORG: If the honourable member for Mount Isa would like to speak to the honourable member for Kennedy—they have a very close relationship, a familial relationship— Madam SPEAKER: Minister, I just ask you to withdraw and then we will start the clock. Mr SPRINGBORG: I withdraw. As I indicated, if the honourable member for Mount Isa and the honourable member for Kennedy would like to come together maybe the honourable member for Mount Isa can say to the honourable member for Kennedy, ‘Under the national health reform agreement and Kevin Rudd—the person you love and support—primary care is their responsibility. Cough up the money so the facility can continue to operate as it has done in the past.’ Mr LANGBROEK: I rise to a point of order, Madam Speaker. I respectfully ask for your ruling about personal reflections and the standing order to which that applies. Madam SPEAKER: I considered the issue. The member took offence to what he believed was a personal reflection. I listened to the answer. In accordance with the usual practice in the House, I asked the minister to withdraw. I call the member for Burdekin.

Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine Mrs MENKENS: My question without notice is to the Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. I note that the federal coalition has just announced a commitment of $42 million to the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine. How will this commitment complement the $42 million already committed by the Newman government? Mr WALKER: I certainly thank the honourable member for her question. I know that she will be as pleased as I am to have heard the statements made this morning by Andrew Robb and Joe Hockey regarding the coalition’s election commitment, as indeed will my old friend Senator Ian Macdonald who has been pushing for this for a long time and Ewen Jones the local MP. The commitment is to match the Queensland government’s commitment of $42.12 million to the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine. These funds will complement the Newman government’s investment enabling the expansion and consolidation of planned activities in all locations. The funds will establish a tropical health research and training facility at James Cook University Townsville, Cairns and Torres Strait—$25.5 million of the commitment—which will include research and training in virology, disease and vector control and the development of new treatments and vaccines for tropical diseases. This will complement the Queensland government’s funding in all of these locations. They will fund a translational research centre at James Cook University

22 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2775

Townsville—a $10 million commitment—to include research and training facilities and expertise to support clinical trials, telehealth and translational research and training to support world-class contributions in infectious and chronic diseases. They will fund an occupation health research centre at Mackay—a $1.5 million commitment—which will conduct research to investigate, develop and test strategies to reduce the incidence of work related death, injury and illness in key regional industries. Some $5 million will go towards network and general operating activities, including support linkages with medical researchers and health workers throughout Australia to maximise the quality and impact of research and to ensure that it is focused on the key health problems of Tropical Australia. This is a great commitment and a great investment, not only for North Queensland but in fact for our entire state. Thanks to Kevin Rudd’s cavalier attitude to border security between Queensland and Papua New Guinea, risks to health and quarantine posed by unpoliced borders will cost Queensland taxpayers around $10 million a year as we carry the can for the shunned health responsibilities of Kevin Rudd. This lack of responsibility from the Rudd government exposes our island residents to serious illnesses, ranging from STDs, HIV, rabies and cholera to mosquito-borne viruses. Only last week on Cairns radio the issue of chikungunya, another mosquito-borne disease, was raised as a matter of significant concern to that community. Mr Abbott and his coalition team recognise the need for vital research into tropical health and the infrastructure to house it. They also recognise Queensland’s strengths in tropical health and medicine, and instead of talking, talking, talking—as Mr Rudd is wont to do—they are promising real and practical support to the people of Queensland and to the people of North Queensland and Far North Queensland in particular. The Newman government welcomes this commitment, and I look forward to updating the House on the progress of this initiative.

Gladstone, Fishing Industry Mrs CUNNINGHAM: My question without notice is to the Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection. I note the minister’s statement to the House this morning regarding Gladstone Harbour. How is the minister assisting to rebuild the previously highly regarded seafood industry that was based in Gladstone? Mr POWELL: I thank the honourable member for Gladstone. I thank her for her ongoing representation of that community, and I look forward to visiting it with cabinet on the weekend. The short answer to the member’s question is that I will assist the member in rebuilding the fishing industry in Gladstone by what I said this morning—through facts, not rhetoric; through science, not scaremongering; and through being transparent with the community of Gladstone in the work we are doing particularly around water quality and fish health in that part of the world. The member for Gladstone referred to the independent review of Gladstone Harbour that I mentioned this morning in my ministerial statement. I think it is important that I take a moment to share with the member a number of the findings of that report, and I encourage her and her fishermen in particular to refer to chapter 5 of that report. It is available online, and I am happy to provide that to her after question time this morning. Finding 7 of the report states— The ANZECC Guidelines contain a suitable framework for determining the species protection guideline trigger levels for toxicants in water in the Port of Gladstone and have been appropriately applied. Finding 8 states— The National Assessment Guidelines for Dredging 2009 … contain a robust framework for determining the suitability for ocean disposal of dredged material from the Port of Gladstone. Finding 9 states— Sediment sampling and analysis in the Port of Gladstone were undertaken in accordance with the— National Assessment Guidelines for Dredging— and the data showed that the sediments to be dredged were compliant with the requirements of the NAGD for ocean disposal ... Finding 10 states— Dredging and disposal of PASS-containing sediments in the marine environment are unlikely to result in either significant oxidation of this material, acid production, or release of significant quantities of heavy metals to the water column. Finding 11 states— There is no clear single cause identified for the fish health issues observed in the Port of Gladstone in 2011. They are likely to be the result of multiple pressures, in particular extreme weather events and associated overcrowding from fish that moved into the area after overspilling Awoonga Dam.

2776 Questions Without Notice 22 Aug 2013

This report is consistent with the reports that we recently released. The key findings of reports into Gladstone Harbour are all publicly available and they are all saying the same thing. What they are saying is that economic development can co-exist alongside environmental management in Gladstone Harbour and that the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership will help to restore the community’s trust. It is clear that UNESCO lost faith in the previous Labor government, that the state of Queensland lost faith in the previous Labor government, that the community of Gladstone lost faith in the previous Labor government. My job, as part of the Newman government, is to restore that faith in the Gladstone community that we do take seriously our environmental responsibilities while supporting economic development.

Ports Mr YOUNG: My question without notice is to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads. Can the minister outline the results of the Newman government’s efforts to cut red tape and boost our coal export industry? Madam SPEAKER: Could you repeat the question? I just want to hear it again in relation to how it is framed. Mr YOUNG: Can the minister outline the results of the Newman government’s efforts to cut red tape and boost our coal export industry? Madam SPEAKER: I take it that that is relating to the minister’s portfolio. Could you please rephrase that? Mr Emerson: Through ports. Mr YOUNG: Yes, ports. Madam SPEAKER: Ports, I apologise. I was having trouble hearing the question. So you referred to ports. I call the Minister for Transport and Main Roads. Mr EMERSON: I thank the member for Keppel for his question because we have some very good news on this. But let me go back to before we came to office. I remember travelling through our ports and to our coalmines, particularly with the now Deputy Premier, the now environment minister and also the now police minister, and we inspected these areas. It was a tale of woe, because the reality was that we hit mine after mine that still had water in them from the events of 2011, the floods. We had mines that were being hampered by red tape—everywhere was red tape. Approvals were slow or not happening at all. The reality is that since we have come to office we have made significant changes, particularly through the efforts of my good colleagues the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines and the Deputy Premier. So I am very pleased to inform colleagues that this July, just past, we had a record total of 16.257 million tonnes through our five major Queensland ports. That is two per cent higher than occurred in 2009. Last year was the second highest movement of coking and thermal coal in Queensland history—180 million tonnes in 2012-13. That compares to 183 million tonnes in 2009-10. These are figures that are pre-GFC and pre the natural disasters. Our mining sector in terms of the throughput of our ports is getting back to where it was. Why is that? Because we have dealt with that red tape. We are getting the approvals processes in place. We are getting the water out of those mines. When we went up there to see the mines, that was a huge problem because of the incompetence of the previous government. The previous government put the red tape in place, stopped the approvals processes occurring and also could not deal with the issues of the natural disasters and act fast enough and efficiently enough to help our mining sector get up. We are still paying for the lost revenue, the lost royalties, to the state. We are struggling as a government to deal with those lost revenues caused by the incompetence of the Labor state government. There is more we can do, but we need a federal government in place that can do that. We need to get rid of the mining tax. As the Treasurer said, it has crippled our mining sector. We need approvals to be fast-tracked in appropriate ways. We can do more and more. What we need is a Tony Abbott coalition government in place to help our mining sector because, if we have another three years of Labor like the last six years, we will see the mining sector continue to go backwards and backwards. No matter what our efforts are as a state LNP government, Queensland cannot afford three more years of a Labor federal government. (Time expired)

22 Aug 2013 Speaker’s Statement 2777

Health Funding Mrs SCOTT: My question without notice is to the Premier. Yesterday the Premier said, ‘Primary health care, including the sexual health clinics, are the responsibility of Mr Kevin Rudd.’ Can the Premier explain why primary health care is specified in the hospital and health service agreements? I table the documents. Tabled paper: Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16 [3289]. Tabled paper: Health System Priorities for Queensland 2013-14, supporting document one [3290]. Tabled paper: Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16 [3291]. Tabled paper: Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16 [3292]. Tabled paper: Metro North Hospital and Health Service—Service Agreement 2013/14-2015/16 [3293]. Mr NEWMAN: I rise to address the member’s question, but before I do I just have to reflect that we have an opposition that clearly must be adopting the railroad track approach to effective opposition. It is like you set the railway tracks down and it does not matter what happens—the ground could disappear beneath the tracks, there can be buckling of the tracks due to extreme weather conditions, terrorists can lay bombs under the tracks and blow them up—but they will keep driving their train down the tracks in a mindless way. That is what they will do. Mr Langbroek: No agility. Mr NEWMAN: They have no agility. They have no brains clearly, even though they have 22 members of staff to prop them up. I have already tabled the document. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Premier, I would ask you not to cast personal aspersions in your answer, and I would ask you to answer the question. Ms Trad interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for South Brisbane under standing order 253A. I call the Premier. Mr NEWMAN: Madam Speaker, with the greatest respect, I have not referred to any individual. I have referred to a collective lack of brain power, and I am afraid it has been manifested by asking a question. I tabled a document from the federal health department’s website which sets out— Ms Palaszczuk: These are your documents. These are your service agreements. Madam SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease her interjections or she will also be warned under the standing orders. Mr NEWMAN: The document from the federal government sets out what the agreement is between the Commonwealth and the states. It is true that there are documents in Queensland Health that refer to the residual services that still are being delivered, but we make no apologies for getting out of those services. It is very clear. It is very simple. It is not our responsibility and the federal government—the Kevin Rudd government, the Julia Gillard government and the former Kevin Rudd government—agreed to this. I say to the opposition: it is about time you showed some agility and some political nous. It is about time you change your questions when you have found that the railway line has been blown up in front of you. Like the good and dutiful soldier he once was, ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends,’ goes the poor old member for Rockhampton, or is it the Charge of the Light Brigade? Mr Springborg interjected. Mr NEWMAN: He was in the Infantry Corps. They are brave people. They are the ones who are sent forward to storm the machine gun posts under shellfire, through barbed wire with hand grenades raining down, but sadly the member for Rockhampton was KIA today. Madam SPEAKER: The time for questions has expired.

SPEAKER’S STATEMENT

School Group Tours Madam SPEAKER: I recognise the following schools which will be visiting today: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School in Coorparoo from the electorate of Greenslopes; St Rita’s Primary School in Victoria Point from the electorate of Redlands; and Woodcrest State College from the electorate of Bundamba. Happy birthday to the member for Bundamba.

2778 Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee 22 Aug 2013

PARLIAMENTARY CRIME AND MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE

Report No. 91, Motion to Take Note Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (11.02 am): I move— That the House takes note of report No. 91 of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee, tabled on 23 May 2013. I rise today to speak to the report of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee on a complaint made to the committee by Mr Scott Flavell, initially by way of a submission to the former PCMC three-yearly review of the CMC. In its 2008 report on its investigation of Mr Flavell’s conduct while he was Director-General of the Department of Education and Training, Public duty, private interests, the CMC found that Mr Flavell had a conflict of interest between his personal interests in a private company and his employment and responsibilities as the DG of DET. Mr Flavell’s submission and complaint to the PCMC focused on the conduct of the CMC in relation to that investigation, public hearings and subsequent report to the parliament. The committee requested a report from the CMC to detail its handling of this matter. That report was provided nearly a year after the committee’s request. The committee has outlined its dissatisfaction with this time frame in its report. The CMC advised that the delay was due to the majority of CMC officers involved in this investigation no longer working at the CMC. The committee considered that appropriate record keeping on the part of the CMC, particularly in relation to a significant public interest investigation which necessitated public hearings, would negate any such delay. Given the potential damage to Mr Flavell’s reputation, the committee requested that the Parliamentary Commissioner investigate and report to the committee. Upon receipt of the Parliamentary Commissioner’s report, the committee determined that this matter should be brought to the attention of the House. The committee accepted the Parliamentary Commissioner’s advice that the CMC found Mr Flavell’s complaints baseless and that his ongoing concerns reflect his refusal to accept that the CMC’s investigation and report regarding his conduct were justified. The Parliamentary Commissioner also concluded that Mr Flavell misconceives the functions, objectives and obligations of the CMC. While Mr Flavell will undoubtedly disagree with the committee’s determinations in this matter, the evidence simply did not support his complaints. Additionally, the committee found that Mr Flavell’s complaint that the CMC’s investigation, public hearings and subsequent report into allegations against him were the result of poor process is flawed. The CMC investigation was to gather evidence. It did so and concluded that, whilst there were no criminal charges that could be laid, the CMC found that his conduct fell below that expected of a DG of a government department. The committee noted that the advisory panel which reviewed the CMC appeared to rely on a submission from Mr Flavell apparently without reference to the CMC for comment or even the CMC’s report on this matter. The panel also criticised the former PCMC in relation to a reference in its three-yearly review of the CMC to the insertion of an offence in the Criminal Code as a result of this CMC investigation and report. The panel considered there is no suggestion that the amendment of the Criminal Code was in any way specifically a result of the CMC investigation. The committee disagreed. The committee considered there was a clear correlation between the insertion of section 92A and the CMC’s investigation of Mr Flavell’s conduct. This is evidenced in the CMC’s report which recommended the amendment and by the debate in this place. Hansard shows that the Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Misconduct, Breaches of Discipline and Public Sector Ethics) Amendment Bill 2009 enjoyed bipartisan support in the parliament, and there was debate on the actions of Mr Flavell and the subsequent CMC investigation and report which identified the gap in the then state of the Criminal Code and the need to create this offence. The committee appended the three reports it considered as part of its consideration of this matter—the CMC report, the Parliamentary Commissioner’s report and the CMC response to the comments of the advisory panel. These are not reports of the committee and speak for themselves. I thank the members of the committee for their diligent consideration of this matter and the oversight of the actions of the CMC. I also acknowledge the untiring work of the PCMC secretariat. I commend the committee’s report to the House. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

22 Aug 2013 Finance and Administration Committee 2779

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE

Report No. 28, Motion to Take Note Mr DAVIES (Capalaba—LNP) (11.07 am): I move— That the House takes note of report No. 28 of the Finance and Administration Committee, tabled on 23 May 2013. I rise to speak to report No. 28 of the Finance and Administration Committee’s inquiry into the operations of Queensland’s workers compensation scheme. This report was adopted by the committee prior to my appointment as the chair of the committee and has been signed by the former chair, the member for Coomera. Before I continue, I would like to thank those involved with the Finance and Administration Committee who made this report possible. As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, this is only my second week as the chair and I can take no credit for the productive and industrious work of all members and staff who played their part to produce this document. I would like to thank the previous chair, Michael Crandon, who worked exceptionally hard and brought together all sides of politics—ALP, Independent and the government—to produce a work that has no negative reports. That is an outstanding achievement and a credit to his leadership. I also thank Deb Jeffrey and the other parliamentary staff who make such a significant contribution to the work of the committee members. The commitment of the parliamentary staff is unquestionable and a true credit to the organisation. I look forward to getting to know them and their team and working productively with them all to serve the people of Queensland. I would also like to thank the current and former members of the committee for their thorough consideration of the issues raised in the report. There is a great balance of perspective on the committee and I very much look forward to future deliberations as we as a committee continue to work hard for Queensland. As a small business owner myself—and the work of the workers compensation commission has a real impact on business—I would like to highlight a number of recommendations that jumped out from the pages at me. Recommendation 22 recommends that all allegations of fraud relating to WorkCover be investigated by Q-Comp, which currently investigates and manages self-insured fraud referrals. The fact that the committee has recommended that Q-Comp should look after the investigation allows WorkCover the ability to work collegiately with both employers and employees without the perception of bias. This is a great recommendation. The ability to successfully investigate potential fraudulent claims is vital to maintain both the integrity of the process as well as making sure the bottom line is protected. The second recommendation I would like to highlight is recommendation 28. It recommends that the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice investigate the issue of no-win, no-fee arrangements and the 50-50 rule where lawyers get 50 per cent of the successful claim—and sometimes more after costs. We need the AG to take a good, hard look at this with the view of curtailing the speculative nature of some of these claims. While not wanting to offend my fellow MPs with a background in the legal profession, I point out that the Americanisation of litigation and the predatory ambulance chasing in the area of workers compensation really need to be nipped in the bud. Finally, I would like to say that I am truly humbled to have been selected for this position. Being a chair of a committee is an overwhelming honour and an undertaking that I accept with the commitment to always do my very best. I was elected to this place for the purpose of representing my constituents and I feel I owe each of them a debt of gratitude. I promise to continue working for them as hard as ever. This report represents the results of the committee’s examination of the operation of the workers compensation scheme. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all those who participated in the hearings. Their assistance was invaluable in allowing the committee to complete its deliberations. I would also like to thank those individuals and organisations who took the time to provide submissions to the committee. I commend the report to the House. Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (11.12 am): In speaking to the report on the inquiry into the workers compensation scheme, I would like to add my thanks and congratulations to our staff, in particular, Deb, Maggie and the outgoing chair, Michael Crandon, the member for Coomera. This involved a huge volume of work and I think they have done a fabulous job in relation to it. I will now touch on some of the issues raised in the report. The issues around the definition of ‘worker’ have been widely canvassed. I have concerns that the definition of ‘worker’ in WorkCover differs from the definition that might apply in relation to payroll tax and in other government acts, and

2780 Finance and Administration Committee 22 Aug 2013

that is a matter yet to be resolved. The committee was concerned that vulnerable people like fruit pickers, employees on fishing craft and so forth were included in the net of protection offered by workers compensation. That is well dealt with. The issue of journey claims has been well canvassed. We concluded that, as journey claims only cost around 5c in the dollar in terms of premium, any savings to be made by removing them were not justified in terms of the loss of protection of workers. Psychological claims were a big issue. This is the growth area. As the new chairman of the committee just pointed out, with the ambulance chasing nature of litigation these days, the area of psychological injury is likely to go through the roof and there is some evidence that that is already occurring. The significant recommendation there is that, when claiming for psychological injury, the work event should be the major contributing factor to the psychological injury, not a major contributing factor. Honourable members can imagine what sort of a truck some of these lawyers would try to drive through that loophole if left. We did look at two different classifications for psychological injury. One such classification would apply in the extreme cases where it might be expected that an event would cause a psychological injury to anybody regardless of their vulnerability. This would apply to people who are involved in messy death events, such as where people jump under trains, or who are involved in violent armed hold-ups with physical assault and so forth as opposed to situations in which most people would be all right but an effect is really only evident in people with pre-existing vulnerability. It is a complex area; there are no two ways about that. However, we cannot let this explode into expensive litigation and dramatic cost to our workers compensation system. We have mentioned before the no-win, no-fee arrangement and the 50 per cent rule. Many of these lawyers target unsophisticated people. These people are often not aware that they can still be up for thousands of dollars in outgoing costs to lawyers. They are not aware that if they take out a litigation loan, they will still have to pay interest on that loan out of their 50 per cent. Many are not aware that they could be up for the cost of the other side’s legal fees and they may not be able to afford that. This is an area that, going forward, the government will need to address. The report also looked at the area of self-insurance. We tried to balance the cost of allowing self-insurance in terms of the loss of premium to the WorkCover system with the fact that large companies frequently have very sophisticated internal systems to deal with worker injury. I think the recommendations and discussion on that have been very valuable. The Attorney-General has already foreshadowed some very sensible change in that area. The final area—and I would refer interested people to page 218 of the report—looked at whether minor claims need to be reported or not. We have not come to very firm conclusions on that. If somebody is injured, they go to the doctor, get a tetanus needle and go back to work. A lot of jurisdictions do not require that to be reported. We require a lot of these medical only claims to be reported, and there are a lot of very minor claims. My view is that some of these do not need to be reported. In practice, in Queensland many of them are not reported because the employer finds it convenient to just pay the bill and not report it. (Time expired) Mr PITT (Mulgrave—ALP) (11.17 am): As deputy chair, I would like to start by commending the members of the Finance and Administration Committee for the hard work that was involved in preparing this detailed report. I congratulate the government members and also the member for Gladstone on the all-party approach taken here. We should thank the former chair, Mr Michael Crandon, the member for Coomera, for his leadership—and it was very much stellar leadership under very difficult circumstances—while, of course, welcoming the member for Capalaba as the new chair. I also thank the committee support staff, the secretariat, for their many hours of hard work. This inquiry involved many in-depth submissions and public hearings with stakeholders right across Queensland in this policy area. We heard from employers, unions, employer organisations, representatives from Q-Comp and many legal representatives who have worked in the field of workers comp for decades. We were able to have substantive decisions and discussions throughout the hearings and engaged in meaningful analysis of Queensland’s very robust scheme. We also held regional hearings so that stakeholders could be involved in this process right across our great state. The committee delivered a detailed and well considered report. Importantly, unlike many committee reports that are often divided across the lines of government and opposition, our report was unanimous in its recommendations. One would think that in these circumstances it would be obvious and very straightforward for the government to implement the recommendations.

22 Aug 2013 Finance and Administration Committee 2781

The cross-party committee agreed that Queensland has the best workers compensation scheme in Australia and Queensland’s system is fair, sustainable and efficient. Key recommendations included that journey claims stay in. There is a need for workers to be covered for journey claims and the inclusion of these claims in the scheme is a small proportion and is well and truly sustainable. There is to be no change to the definition of ‘worker’ in stark contrast to the Attorney-General’s pre-emptive strike and pre-empting of the committee’s findings. There is to be no whole-of-person injury threshold imposed for access to common law and recommended improvements to the use of the reasonable management action defence that employers often try to get away with. Despite these clear recommendations, it seems that this arrogant Attorney-General and Premier are determined to thumb their nose at the committee and to ignore their own LNP members. We have already seen that the Attorney-General ignored not once, but twice, two LNP dominated committees. The government ignored the Finance and Administration Committee and the legal affairs committee, which both recommended that the definition of ‘worker’ not be weakened but in fact strengthened. He knew that this was not going his own way, and that is why he moved ahead of the committee’s findings. This is a real shame for the parliament, and it is certainly a slap in the face for our very robust committee system. On Tuesday I specifically asked the Premier about journey claims regarding workers compensation. I would ask the Premier to note that the Finance and Administration Committee’s inquiry into the Queensland workers compensation scheme recommended that the current provisions for journey claims be retained. I asked the Premier to guarantee that the government will retain these important provisions. The Premier refused to rule it out. He had a clear opportunity—this should be a no-brainer—but he refused to rule out the stripping of these rights from injured workers. We have also been informed by good sources that the cabinet may be considering this issue. That may not be unusual, given the report has been handed down by this committee and it is fair enough for the government to be considering the contents of that report, but one must question the timing of this. I think we all need to be very concerned about the timing, which we all know is about making sure that this Queensland LNP government does not tip its hand in terms of the role it will play with regard to a potential Abbott government in Canberra. We know that they have already talked about a so-called ‘sensible centre’ when it comes to industrial relations, and we certainly know that they have moves afoot when it comes to the workers compensation scheme. The ministers involved here will be considering journey claims as part of their cabinet deliberations, but we know that this is in direct contrast to what has been happening here in this committee and what it reported. This goes against the interests of workers and decent public policy in Queensland. The response and the early strike from the Attorney-General go against the processes that we have here in this state in terms of committees. An all-party committee unanimously made recommendations, a second committee made sure that they reiterated the findings of the first committee, and this Attorney-General says, ‘I do not care what you think. I have made a decision, and I am going to go through with that decision.’ That just goes to show the respect that this government has for the importance of workers compensation and the men and women right across our state who suffer injuries because of their work. The Labor opposition will not be turning its back on the men and women in our workforce who require these protections. I commend the committee yet again for their strong work in ensuring that a fair and balanced approach was taken to this. It is a shame that the Attorney-General has not learned his lesson yet. Let us hope he makes the right decision when it comes to keeping journey claims in. Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (11.22 am): I rise to speak to this report. Workers compensation is an issue that is dear to my heart. I did a significant amount of work with a former member for Clayfield when he was the industrial relations minister. I acknowledge that I was late coming to the committee: the hearings had been completed but I was there for the deliberations. Like other speakers this morning, I would commend the chair, the member for Coomera, for his bipartisanship in relation to this very sensitive issue and the committee, which worked very well together in relation to bringing this report to fruition. There are a number of issues that I would like to canvass, some of which have already been spoken about. The definition of ‘worker’ was taken out of the purview of the committee, and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice took it upon himself to make those changes outside of the reporting mechanism of the committee.

2782 Finance and Administration Committee 22 Aug 2013

One of the greatest concerns that I have in relation to this report is the retention of journey claims. Santo Santoro and I had significant debates in relation to his proposal to remove journey claims from workers compensation, and I think in a state like Queensland it would be the worst outcome possible. We live in a very diverse state. Here in the south-east corner it is possible for many workers to take pushbikes or buses to work instead of a car, but in rural and regional Queensland that option is not available. Many workers have to drive to work, and that adds a layer of risk to them as workers. At the time Santo Santoro was the minister and we were having these debates, I had the experience of speaking with one of the teaching nurses in Gladstone. She lived in Gladstone, but she was required to train some nurses in Biloela in relation to hospital matters. On Monday mornings she would leave her home and drive to Biloela—which is about an hour and ten minutes from Gladstone—on pretty rough roads which at times are subject to flooding and wear because of heavy vehicle transportation movements. When she had finished teaching, because of the time of the day, she would usually drive directly home. If journey claims are removed from the workers compensation legislation she will not be covered, yet she has no other way of getting to Biloela. That travel does form part of her employment. It is the same with many people in rural and regional Queensland: travel intrinsically is involved with their employment. To remove it will place workers at significant risk. I would not support any removal of those claims. Journey claims are a small percentage of claims, they make up a small part of the premium, and yet the removal of those journey claims would have a significant impact on our diverse state. The member for Moggill has already talked about the no-win, no-fee arrangement which gives the impression that an injured worker can take up the offer of a law firm with no financial impact on themselves unless they win the case. That is not the case. In the small print there is quite a significant financial exposure for those workers. With regard to those companies which are allowed to self-insure, that needs to be tightened to ensure the balance within the workers compensation fund has a broad base. WorkCover in Queensland is strong. There have been a number of studies over a long period of time confirming that. Indeed, payments are made from WorkCover to government to fund educational and other processes which relate to the workforce. This report shows that WorkCover as it is currently structured is sustainable, and I think it has to be fundamental to our consideration that WorkCover claims are made when individuals and families are at their most vulnerable. Some are facing significant disability or death. Those families need to know that the state covers them, has their best interests at heart and will maintain a WorkCover system that is sustainable and is the broadest cover possible for our wonderful community of Queensland. Mr STEWART (Sunnybank—LNP) (11.27 am): I rise today to speak about the report on the operation of the Queensland workers compensation scheme. The Finance and Administration Committee was asked to report on the effectiveness of the scheme and whether the scheme remains appropriate for the modern-day working environment. In particular, the committee set out to ensure that the principle of universal coverage is protected and that vulnerable workers are not unknowingly excluded. This process was a huge task with many public submissions and, depending on the recommendations, could impact most families in Queensland. I found this process very rewarding, and the committee at times had great debates on the findings. I was pleased with the unanimous recommendations. The committee was initially asked to consider the definition of ‘worker’ as part of the inquiry. This definition is extremely important, as it assists employers to identify who must be included in their workers compensation policy; however, the task of considering the definition of ‘worker’ was then later taken from the committee. I will say, though, that the committee’s initial discussions related to the fact that the existing definition of ‘worker’ has been tried and tested by law and works in many cases. Psychological injury claims were the fastest growing category of claims and may place an increasing strain on the current workers compensation scheme. Whilst the committee acknowledged that this is a reflection of a greater awareness of mental health issues in the community, there is a need for further checks and balances in assessing these types of claims. As such, the committee recommended that in the context of psychological injury the definition should be amended to be ‘the major significant contributing factor’ rather than ‘a major significant contributing factor’. Whilst that may seem a very small and minor change, it could have a huge impact on many claims in terms of how quickly they can be assessed and how quickly workers could return back to work.

22 Aug 2013 Finance and Administration Committee 2783

Addressing the occurrence of workplace bullying is an additional way to reduce the number of psychological injury claims and is something that should be investigated. The committee considered that a specialty Medical Assessment Tribunal be established to include specialists when considering psychological injury claims. Given the different factors involved with these claims, the committee has recommended that psychological injuries be included under separate provisions within the legislation. Return to work programs are very valuable, and this remains to be the most effective means of facilitating the transition from being injured to returning to work, with injured workers who participate in these programs more likely to successfully recommence paid employment. The main criticism about these programs received by the committee was with regard to the ability of the employer to find suitable duties for injured workers looking to resume some responsibilities in the workplace. The committee also discussed self-insurance arrangements, and I am very pleased that the Attorney-General has already implemented some of those recommendations with self-insurance to ensure that companies with a proven track record are able to continue to self-insure their employees. I also want to touch on travel claims. The committee did have some great discussions in relation to travel claims and it was interesting to see the outcomes in terms of that issue and I look forward to any further discussions on that issue. As a member of the Finance and Administration Committee, we also strongly looked into the current arrangements with no-win, no-fee arrangement for lawyers, but I think the member for Moggill covered most of that in his contribution. I thank those who briefed the committee, gave submissions, gave evidence or otherwise participated or assisted with its inquiries. I make mention of the valuable assistance provided by the office of the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice as well as the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel. I also give my special acknowledgement to the members of the Finance and Administration Committee as well as its support staff and thank the chair, Mr Michael Crandon, and the deputy chair, Mr Curtis Pitt, for their guiding discussions on an inquiry that has become the cornerstone of workplace relations. The workers compensation scheme is fundamentally important in a variety of employment situations. I commend the report to the House. Mrs OSTAPOVITCH (Stretton—LNP) (11.32 am): Today I rise to praise the committee and the member for Coomera as the chair of the Finance and Administration Committee. We were asked to review the workers compensation act, and we did so in great detail. We had many submissions, many reviews, many meetings and many discussions on all of the aspects raised. One of the main things that was highlighted to me in this learning experience related to psychological injuries. It was noted that there has been a great rise in mental health injuries. In particular, teachers suffer this injury because there is a lack of discipline in schools. This results in teachers being abused and certainly having to suffer the consequences of that abuse. The committee recommended that a change be made that this would be ‘the major contributing factor’ rather than ‘a major contributing factor’. The committee also discussed journey claims. It heard the two sides of the story. We listened to many employers and their perspectives on this. There is a great deal of sympathy to be given to employers for this. If a person is working in an office, many employers feel that it is unfair that they should be held accountable if that worker suffers an injury in a car on the way to work. From the other side though, we heard that for many employees such as nurses, police officers and those people who work shiftwork it is very difficult sometimes to get a good night’s sleep if working shifts. The fact that people are tired does contribute to the possibility of an injury and we felt that this needed to be taken into account and that we should still include journey claims because of the small difference to the premiums. We really felt that it was more of a benefit to keep it rather than take it out. The committee also discussed the definition of ‘worker’ in detail and WorkCover and the fact that WorkCover in Queensland is one of the best in the country. We spent a great deal of time on no- win, no-fee. We made some recommendations in that regard. It would be wonderful to be able to say that we have got rid of the ambulance chasers in the legal profession, but it will remain to be seen how that plays out. I thank our chair, the member for Coomera, Michael Crandon, who did an outstanding job in my opinion. The committee really worked together to get the best outcome for the people of Queensland. We came up with some very good suggestions and we await the outcomes of those. I also thank my fellow committee members and also the very hardworking staff who went above and beyond— sometimes at very short notice—working to all hours of the night to prepare the documentation that was necessary for us to consider the review of the workers compensation act. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

2784 Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee 22 Aug 2013

STATE DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND INDUSTRY COMMITTEE Report No. 25, Motion to Take Note Mr GIBSON (Gympie—LNP) (11.37 am): I move— That the debate be postponed until 12 September. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE Report No. 24, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

EDUCATION AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE Report No. 19, Motion to Take Note Mrs MENKENS (Burdekin—LNP) (11.38 am): I move— That the House take note of report No. 19 of the Education and Innovation Committee. One of the committee’s roles is to assess the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the financial management of public accounts that come within the area of the committee’s responsibility. The Auditor-General’s report No. 11 2012-13, Results of audits: education sector entities 2012, was tabled in this parliament on 30 April this year and was referred to the Education and Innovation Committee by the CLA on 1 May 2013. The committee has reviewed that report, including the public responses of Central Queensland University and Ipswich Grammar School as well as a verbal briefing from the Auditor-General on that particular report. The committee was pleased to note that overall the governing bodies of the universities, the grammar schools and their controlled entities were able to prepare reliable, good-quality financial statements within their legislative time frames. The committee also noted that the grammar schools were able to resolve the issue that led to the qualification of their 2011 financial reports. The committee brought down two recommendations in its report. Recommendation No. 1 was— The committee recommends that the Minister for Education, Training and Employment request all statutory bodies within the education sector consider and adopt the Better Practice Guidelines on short term cash flow liquidity management developed by the Queensland Audit Office. The second recommendation was— The committee recommends that the Minister for Education, Training and Employment advises the Parliament how the issues raised by the Auditor-General in the Review of the Auditor-General’s Report 11: 2012-13, Results of audit: Education sector entities 2012 are being addressed. I would like to particularly thank the Auditor-General and his staff for their time in briefing the committee, the hardworking and tireless research staff of the committee and also the members of the committee for their work on and support for this review. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE Report No. 34, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE Report No. 35, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2785

LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE

Report No. 36, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE

Report No. 37, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE

Report No. 38, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE

Report No. 26, Motion to Take Note Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! In accordance with standing order 71, the notice of motion has lapsed.

QUEENSLAND BUILDING SERVICES AUTHORITY AMENDMENT BILL Resumed from 5 June (see p. 1943).

Second Reading Hon. TL MANDER (Everton—LNP) (Minister for Housing and Public Works) (11.42 am): I move— That the bill be now read a second time. I thank the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee for its prompt consideration of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. In particular, I thank the committee and the chairman, the member for Warrego, for their deliberation and report on the bill. The committee tabled its report on 31 July 2013. I am now pleased to table the government’s response to the committee report. Tabled paper: Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee: Report No. 27—Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013, government response [3294]. I would also like to thank those who made submissions on the bill to the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee. Submissions on the bill included those from the Queensland Master Builders, the Housing Industry Association and the Australian Institute of Building. I thank all submitters for their time and effort in providing a response and I note that all submissions were carefully considered by the government. The construction industry is one of the pillars of the Queensland economy. It is vital that we have a building regulator that allows the industry to thrive and that adequately balances the interests of contractors and consumers. The main purpose of the bill is to amend the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission— QBCC—in place of the Queensland Building Services Authority. The new commission will have a professional governing board and a commissioner who will be appointed by and report to the governing board. The board of the QBCC will set the strategic direction and the operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. It will report to me directly on matters of performance and issues affecting the building industry and consumers.

2786 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

The bill is the first stage of the implementation of the government’s response to the report in November 2012 by the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee on the operation and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority. The second stage of reforms will address the balance of the committee’s recommendations and is being overseen by an implementation committee chaired by my director-general, Mr Neil Castles. The committee will make recommendations to the government later this year on the reform of building certification, the insurance scheme, licensing and a proposed dispute resolution process for domestic building disputes. The committee’s report on the bill, tabled on 31 July 2013, makes four recommendations for amendment of the bill. Recommendation No. 1 is that the bill be passed, and I thank the committee for its endorsement of the bill. Recommendation No. 2 is that new section 20J of the bill, which details the responsibility of the commissioner, be amended to include a provision that makes the commissioner responsible for preventing conflicts of interest between business divisions of the new commission and for advising the board of any conflicts of interest that arise. I understand that perceived conflicts of interest within the Building Services Authority were one of the major issues raised by stakeholders during the committee’s review and I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of the proposed amendment. However, although I recognise the issue underpinning the recommendation, I do not propose to proceed with that amendment, because I believe that that concern is adequately dealt with under the administrative law principles in the Judicial Review Act 1991, which require statutory decisions to be made independently. I am also mindful of the risk of inadvertently adding an unnecessary layer of red tape by creating additional avenues for legal disputes. On that basis, I consider it more appropriate to rely on the established principles in the Judicial Review Act rather than restating them in the bill. The committee’s third recommendation was that proposed new subsection 11(f) of the bill, which sets out the functions of the board, be amended to read— ... advising the Minister about unfair or unconscionable trading practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors and contractors. This amendment would include contractors as well as subcontractors in the provision. The committee supported the submission that the new subsection 11(f) should be amended to capture the entire contractual chain. It was of the view that both contractors and subcontractors should be included in the wording. The committee’s view was that this amendment would ensure that the board is responsible for advising me about unfair or unconscionable trading practices affecting the security of payments to both contractors and subcontractors. I support this proposed amendment. The committee’s fourth recommendation was that, for the purpose of consistency, schedule 1 of the bill include an amendment to section 14(1)(d)(i) of the Pest Management Act 2001 to replace the provision’s reference to the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991. This is to correct a drafting oversight and I support this amendment. Once again, I thank the committee and all the stakeholders for their contribution to the bill, which is the first step in a suite of initiatives which, as a whole, will have a positive effect on the construction industry in Queensland. Lastly, I would like to thank the existing board of the QBSA for its commitment to the improvement of the building industry in Queensland and its cooperation during the period of review. I also thank the staff of the QBSA for their ongoing dedication to delivering high-quality services to consumers and licensees throughout Queensland. I commend the bill to the House. Mr BYRNE (Rockhampton—ALP) (11.49 am): I was initially part and parcel of the committee that looked into the BSA—at least the initial stages of the public hearings. I make no criticism of the chair or other members of the committee or the secretariat. In fact, I hold quite the reverse view. I believe the committee did the best it could in the circumstances. Despite those efforts, I am not sure that the committee was in a position to represent a full and thorough appreciation of all the issues surrounding the design and operation of the BSA. At times some of those providing evidence to the committee went off the reservation, as far as I was concerned. This bill is, on its surface, a machinery bill. It seeks to make certain adjustments in the name of reform and review. The BSA is a creature of my side of politics. Its genesis goes right back to the days of the late Tom Burns, the then Deputy Premier under Labor Premier Wayne Goss. In more recent history—that is, since the Beattie Labor government came to office in 1998—there has been ongoing reform of legislation which set out to regulate the building industry and protect competent,

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2787

qualified builders from the unfair competition of fraudsters and gerry builders, while establishing protection and insurance for consumers innocently caught up by unscrupulous people pretending to be builders. The BSA is responsible for helping thousands of Queenslanders over the last decade and has been written up favourably by consumer magazine Choice several times. It is the envy of other states. I note that recently a building company on the Sunshine Coast, Hotondo, was quoted in the Sunshine Coast Daily as being highly supportive of the current BSA structure, pointing out that the New South Wales government was attempting to replicate the high standard of builder and consumer service that Queenslanders take for granted. I hope the minister when summing-up is able to give some breakdown of the number of people, builders and consumers, that the BSA has helped during his watch so that the House can better understand the fact that despite the best efforts of some to talk down the BSA, in actual fact it continues to record a very high rate of successful closures to consumer and builder problems. The fact is that there will always be consumers and builders who will not follow the law, either by ignorance or by insolence—maybe even arrogance—but we as legislators owe it to the majority of those who elect us to put in place measures that, as far as humanly possible and economically sensible, give everybody a fair go. Every credible independent source has indeed said that the BSA has maintained this balance over the past decade or so. However, that does not mean that there is no requirement to continually hold a watching and listening brief over the legislation governing this body. By any measure the previous Labor government continued to challenge the board of the BSA and itself and, indeed, the opposition of the day, to continue to close loopholes and address inconsistencies and close off opportunities for shysters to succeed. In fact, I note that the opposition, which now forms the government, was a willing partner to such an approach and supported every piece of Labor government legislation brought before the House since it took office back in 1998. I note very favourable references from now government members and ministers towards the current manager of the BSA, Mr Ian Jennings, during the debates on the BSA legislation. I find it difficult to reconcile such warm praise with the seeming lack of support for this same dedicated public servant in recent times. Further, I note that the previous Labor minister, the member for Rockhampton, Schwarto as we all know him, even accepted amendments to the act from the member for Mermaid Beach and now Leader of the House and, I might add, praised him for that initiative. One could not imagine today such bipartisan cooperation from this government on any issue. I think it is regrettable that this government and its ministers have chosen to misuse the majority that it holds in such a way. May I point out that last time Queensland was run by conservatives under Premier Borbidge the BSA was a cot case. It was in the red so deeply that the government had to bail it out. That government had a costly inquiry—just like the government today seems to have at the drop of a hat. The Scurr inquiry into the building industry came and went but solved nothing. When Labor took the reins the BSA was broke and its insurance scheme was paying out about 120 per cent of its premiums. According to its annual report for 2011-12 the BSA processed 73,256 policies under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, gross premium receipts totalled $67 million for works valued at approximately $8.13 billion, 1,585 claims were made by consumers against the scheme and 2,824 claim approvals were processed for a total value of $37.56 million. Payments amounted to approximately 56 per cent of the premiums collected. Let us not hear too much wailing from the government or anyone else about the state of the BSA. Furthermore, there would be no consumer insurance scheme as we know it today had those opposite had their way, as the election of a Labor government in 1998 meant that well advanced plans of the Borbidge government to privatise the insurance fund were derailed by the then incoming minister Judy Spence. I call on this minister to rule out any suggestion that this government is planning now or at any point in the future a revisitation of such policy and ask him to rule out the privatisation of the BSA insurance scheme and any other function of that organisation once and for all. This bill is not as noxious as it may seem to some, as what it actually does is create a new administration for the BSA. I must say that I am yet to meet anyone who can explain to me how the commission proposed under this bill differs from the current authority and its capabilities or functions in any great way. In fact, as far as I can see, the commission is really just a name change. It is merely a branding exercise in some respects which does not significantly alter the relationship between the minister and the board. Is the agenda here to sack the old board, get rid of Mr Jennings and others and merely dress it all up as reform? The bill seeks to reconstitute the Queensland Building Services Authority as the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. As with the BSA, the QBCC will have a board that will set strategic direction for the body. There is a slight difference in that the power

2788 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

to set strategic direction and policies will now be exercised solely by the board and not in conjunction with the general manager who will now be known as a commissioner. The powers of the board are intended to be changed slightly from the current powers of the BSA board, although not in any significant way. The fact is that the government would have achieved the same outcomes, except for a reduction in numbers, by the minister exercising the powers that he has under the current act. I would like to hear in the minister’s reply why we have been taken down this convoluted path instead of the minister simply exercising those powers. There is a cost to the implementation of the new structure. I would like the minister to detail to the House what the cost will be. It is not sufficient for him to simply say that it will be met from within the existing budget. The minister should also be transparent about who he has in mind to sit on the board. Is it true, for example, that he has already made offers or approached those who are involved in conducting the review on his behalf? Surely it would be a real or perceived conflict of interest if such had taken place. If this matter was left purely to the minister I would not be raising such concerns. Are names such as Michael Caltabiano going to crop up again, or is the minister going to do what has always been the case and appoint stakeholders and experts from areas such as insurance to the new commission? Is the commission going to be a rubber stamp for the government, made up of a bunch of mealy-mouthed LNP hacks who will do what they are told, or will the minister assure the House that full transparency and merit based selection for competent stakeholders and experts will prevail with the board selections? Certainly I believe the minister owes it to the parliament to reveal whether he has made any inquiries or suggestions to individuals prior to this bill being considered by the House. The BSA depends on reinsurers for the viability of the statutory home warranty scheme, which I am told has no equal anywhere in the world. Every decision on structure and function of the BSA has ramifications for reinsurers. There has been talk of firewalling various functions of the authority, especially separation out of the insurance scheme. From the minister’s statements today I take it that that is not likely to be the case. I am very pleased to hear that in many respects, because that would have had impacts on the insurance scheme and it would have had impacts in terms of how the compliance division was able to provide warning to the insurance component in advance, to cut off problems before they really materialised. At the moment, one entity, the manager, has the capacity to view early indications of builder stress such as nonpayment or slow payment of subcontractors and intervene to either support the consumer or builder, or sometimes both, and avoid failure or greater insurance payouts. I hope that that function will be retained. I trust the minister has had discussions with insurers and will be able to speak to or table advice as part of his summing-up. I had expected that the minister was going to firewall those functions and I note that that is not occurring. I am aware that there is previous advice from the ACCC, which was that there was no conflict of interest in the BSA having the home warranty scheme under its roof. I know that HIA has a long-held policy of opposing the government’s right to host such a scheme, which it is perfectly entitled to do. However, this government runs the risk of alienating reinsurers and adding costs and stress to the BSA and industry should it ever contemplate embarking on such courses of action. To summarise, it is obvious to me that there is some form of agenda here. I suspect that the fix might have been in and, if nothing else, another bunch of conservative supporters will be rewarded within the new structure of the BSA. What else could the community expect from a government that does not seem to understand the problems of giving jobs to the boys and girls? This government risks throwing out the baby with the bathwater at some level. Get it wrong and there will be hell to pay within the industry. That said, the opposition sees some merit in many aspects of the legislation and has never opposed the notion of continuous improvement within any government entity. On that basis, the opposition will be supporting the bill. Mr HOBBS (Warrego—LNP) (12.02 pm): On 2 August 2012, the Legislative Assembly asked the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee to inquire into and report on the operations and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority. Following extensive consultation with stakeholders, the committee tabled its report No. 14 in parliament on 30 November 2012. Having inquired into the operations and performance of the QBSA, the committee recommended that extensive changes be made. We had to do that. Changes had to be made. The QBSA had served well over many years, but it was becoming irrelevant in this day and a lot of issues would not go away. On 29 May 2013, the Queensland government formally responded to the 41 recommendations that the committee made in its report. The bill represents the first stage of the government’s response to that committee report.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2789

The objective of the Building Services Authority Amendment Bill, obviously, is to amend the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission to replace the Queensland Building Services Authority; provide for the appointment of a governing board, which will report to the Minister for Housing and Public Works, to replace the existing board; and provide for the appointment of a commissioner, effectively the chief executive, to replace the existing general manager, appointed by the governing board. The committee recommend that the amendment bill be passed. The bill proposes to amend the QBSA Act 1991. The name of the act will change because the QBSA will be replaced by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, the QBCC. The amended act will be called the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991. The QBCC will consist of the Queensland Building and Construction Board and the commissioner, as well as the organisational unit under the control of the commissioner. The functions of the commission will be similar to the current QBSA and the provisions in the bill allow for those functions to transfer from the QBSA to the commission. However, the explanatory notes explain there is a significant change in the governance arrangements—that had to happen—to be reflective of the governance structure of a public company and other government authorities such as the Residential Tenancies Authority. Transitional provisions will transfer the assets and liabilities of the QBSA to the commission. A transitional provision will also re-establish the employing office under which the QBSA will continue to be employed. Section 38 of the bill provides that, upon his commencement, the position of general manager of the QBSA is abolished and the appointment and employment of the general manager ends. However, section 39 of the bill provides that compensation, if any, to be paid to an outgoing general manager will be in accordance with the provisions that would have applied if the employment had been terminated other than by the general manager prior to the completion date of the appointment. The general manager will be responsible for each of the three business units—licensing, dispute resolution and the home warranty scheme—with those units being firewalled from each other to prevent any potential conflict of interest. At the committee’s public briefing on the bill, staff from the Department of Housing and Public Works elaborated that the firewalling is something that the board and the commission will actually put in place. It is envisaged that it will be managed through operational procedures established by the board and the commissioner, and the relationship across the independent groups will only be at a general manager level. From an operational point of view, procedures will be put in place to give that firewalling effect. The minister has had a good look at this. The committee was also concerned about ensuring that we had a good and a safe system in place for firewalling. The detailed inspection of the system means that this is the best model that we can put together for the people of Queensland. The bill provides for the appointment of a Queensland Building and Construction Board and the commissioner will be appointed and report to the governing board. The board will set the strategic direction and the operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. It will report directly to the Minister for Housing and Public Works on matters of performance and on issues affecting the building industry and consumers. Introducing the bill to the assembly, the minister stated, and this is important— This is a significant departure from the system used by the Building Services Authority, where the board served in a purely advisory capacity with no real authority. The board will also ensure that the commission performs its functions and exercises its powers in a proper, effective and efficient way, making and reviewing policies governing the administration of the act, providing guidance and leadership to the commissioner, and advising me about unfair trading practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors. We talked to the minister about that, saying that the bill should refer to contractors as well as subcontractors, and the minister has agreed to that amendment. I thank the minister for taking that on board. The responsible minister will have the power to give formal direction to the commission, which is to be tabled in parliament. Any formal policy of the board governing the administration of the act will need to be endorsed by the minister as part of the approval process by the Governor in Council. Those policies are required to be approved by a regulation. We cannot make it clearer than that. There will be seven members of the board, including the chair and deputy chair, appointed by the Governor in Council for a term of not more than three years. The commissioner will not be a member of the board. The board positions will be advertised following the passage of the bill, with members to be selected on the basis of their ability to contribute to the effective and efficient performance of the commission.

2790 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

This is important: the board’s functions will include deciding the strategies and the operational, administrative and financial policies to be followed by the commission; ensuring that the commission performs its functions and exercises its powers in a proper, effective and efficient way; making and reviewing policies governing the administration of the act; providing guidance and leadership to the commissioner; advising the Minister for Housing and Public Works on issues affecting the building industry and consumers; advising the minister about unfair or unconscionable trading practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors and contractors; and consulting the building industry and its consumers and advancing their interests, consistently with the objects of the act. The Master Builders Association consider that the wording in the new section is too narrow given that unfair or unconscionable trading practices generally flow from the head contract. The use of the term ‘contractor’ rather than ‘subcontractor’ in this subsection would, in their view, help to ensure that the proposed function is sufficiently wide enough to capture the entire contractual chain. The department has agreed to those changes. The commissioner will be appointed by the board, subject to approval by the Minister for Housing and Public Works, for a term of not more than three years. The role will be akin to that of a chief executive. The commissioner will be responsible for implementing the strategic direction set by the board for the operation of the commission. The commissioner’s responsibilities will be similar to those of a general manager of the QBSA. The commissioner will be required to declare any conflict of interest and step aside from any decision making where a conflict of interest occurs. The role of the minister will remain essentially unchanged. The minister will retain the power to give formal directions to the commission with directions to be tabled in the parliament, as is currently the case. Any formal policies of the board will need to be endorsed by the minister as part of the approval process by Governor in Council as these policies are required to be approved by regulation. The committee tabled report No. 14. Following the committee’s report to parliament, the Department of Housing and Public Works engaged KPMG to undertake consultation with industry, licensees and builders, consumer groups and individual consumers in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Rockhampton. Key themes considered during the consultation process included dispute resolution, the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, licensing and the role, structure and governance of the QBSA. The department has advised that the views of industry and consumer stakeholders were taken into account by the government when considering an appropriate structure for the reformed building authority and board. On 29 May 2013 the Queensland government formally responded to the 41 recommendations made by the committee and agreed to implement the majority of those reforms. The bill represents the first stage of this, as I mentioned before. The department advised the committee that the implementation committee will be established to provide advice to the minister on the implementation of the government’s reform process over the next six months. We would expect that, in terms of the areas they will further review, they will not provide advice and recommendations to the department and the minister until the end of the year. They will be doing this work concurrently with the work on amendments contained in the bill and the appointment of the board so the board and commissioner can take that work on. The implementation committee will comprise people from different parts of the industry. There are probably about five areas for further review, consideration and recommendation. In each of those areas there will be working groups. The implementation committee will seek specialist advice and representations on the particular areas of review. This is a much needed bill. It is only the initial stage. I believe it will be welcomed by Queenslanders. I commend the bill to the House. Hon. JA STUCKEY (Currumbin—LNP) (Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games) (12.12 pm): I rise to contribute to the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013, introduced into the House on 5 June 2013 by the Minister for Housing and Public Works, the honourable member for Everton. I thank the honourable member for Chatsworth for allowing me to step in in front of him in speaking to this bill. The primary objective of this bill is to replace the Queensland Building Services Authority with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. The LNP has been unwavering in its pledge to Queenslanders to grow a four-pillar economy focusing on tourism, agriculture, resources and construction. Under the very capable watch of the honourable member for Everton, this bill will deliver on strengthening the construction pillar of the economy. It will facilitate the biggest reform of building industry regulations in more than two decades.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2791

The Newman government is committed to generating and supporting confidence in the building sector because, unlike those opposite, we understand a good economy requires work on all four pillars—not putting all your eggs in one basket. The $15,000 Great State Grant is an example of this support and provided a positive step towards enabling Queenslanders to buy their first home. The provisions in this bill will further build on the initiatives already underway to encourage people to build a new home, renovate an existing one or perhaps start or expand a business in the industry. In August of 2012 this House agreed to task the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee with an inquiry into the operation and performance of the Queensland BSA. ‘And not before time,’ were the cries we heard in the community. On 30 November 2012 the results of the inquiry were tabled. Having held the shadow portfolio of public works for two years in opposition, it comes as no surprise that the inquiry suggested extensive changes to the BSA. In my role at the time, I was privy to a large number of incidents and information that were ample justification that a far-reaching review was required. Disputes that dragged on for years with no clear outcomes brought a steady stream of distraught homeowners through my door. In one of the many media releases I distributed on the issues surrounding the BSA, I criticised then minister Robert Schwarten for his refusal to address or comprehend these serious issues. In 2009-10 he boasted that $88,000 worth of fines were issued, yet in that same period a record $42 million in payouts were made to protect affected homeowners. Interestingly, that was up 50 per cent on the previous year. As I highlighted at the time, issuing fines and boasting about it failed to address a clearly systemic issue. It comes as no surprise that it took a change of government to see real action and real changes. On 29 May this year the government’s response to the inquiry was released and includes a clear 10-point action plan. The minister is to be commended for setting the bar high and for working towards having the best building regulator in the country—one that provides independence in decision making and one that is fair and equitable to both consumers and licensees alike. We set our standards high in this government because we recognise that Queensland is a great state with great opportunity. The new commission, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, will have a governing board and a commissioner. The board will be responsible for strategic planning and operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. Critics of the BSA long held the view that it was a toothless tiger and purely served in an advisory role. Importantly, the passage of this bill will ensure that is no longer the case. The board will be responsible for ensuring the efficient, effective and proper performance of the commission. They will also have a role in reporting to the minister on performance and issues affecting the building industry and consumers—for example, unfair trading practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors. This is an extremely important sector and those in the industry deserve to know they have a government working with them with a clear goal and intent to strike the right balance between consumers and contractors. I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to the BSA area manager for the Gold Coast, Mr Paul Nash, for providing statistics on the Currumbin electorate. It is a big industry on the Gold Coast with 9,932 active licences. Currumbin alone has 1,575 active licences, 421 individual builder licences and 89 company builder licences. On the contracting side, Currumbin has 838 individual contractor licences and 142 company contractor licences. Complaints received for 2012-13 for the Gold Coast totalled 430. Some 83 of them were from the Currumbin electorate. As members can see, there is certainly a need for review of this industry. As the minister has indicated, this bill addresses two of the recommendations in the 10-point action plan. Replacing the Queensland Building Services Authority with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission is a very big step towards resolving disputes in a more timely and balanced manner and creating a more efficient and effective industry for all involved. I commend the minister for introducing this legislation. I look forward to watching the transformation of the industry into the very best in Australia. Mr MINNIKIN (Chatsworth—LNP) (12.18 pm): I rise in the chamber today to speak in favour of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. Firstly, I too wish to thank the Minister for Housing and Public Works, the Hon. Tim Mander, for his excellent work in reviewing the QBSA. The building and construction industries are such an important foundation of our economy. Therefore, it is essential that our state’s governing body is both effective and efficient.

2792 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

On 2 August 2012 members of this House agreed to allow the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee to conduct an inquiry into the Queensland Building Services Authority. On 30 November the subsequent report was tabled in parliament. I am pleased to speak in favour of this bill, which is the first stage of the Newman government’s response to the committee’s findings. The Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013 will seek to alter the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991. It will provide mechanisms to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in place of the QBSA. Secondly, it will ensure the appointment of a governing board, which will be responsible to the Minister for Housing and Public Works. Finally, it will provide an opportunity for a commissioner to be appointed, thus answerable to the governing body. Residents in my electorate of Chatsworth can rest assured that the LNP government is committed to ensuring positive changes are made to this vital organisation in Queensland. With recent natural disasters and the subsequent building works required across Queensland, it is essential that a governing body exists to protect the interests of the builder and the consumer. For too long the Queensland Building Services Authority has been deemed a ‘toothless tiger’, as well as ineffective in governing the building industry. This commission will have similar functions to the current QBSA. However, it will ensure that the processes are streamlined for stakeholders in the building industry. Like many government organisations, the former Labor state government had left the QBSA to languish and lapse as an efficient organisation in Queensland. This amendment bill will provide a framework for the commission to reflect the structure of a public company similar to the Residential Tenancies Authority. It is indeed timely that Queensland, this great state with great opportunity, moves towards a more strategic direction. Without clear direction this organisation would not be able to respond to the challenges present in the Queensland building industry. As I mentioned before, Queensland has suffered more than its fair share of natural disasters, and reconstruction is absolutely essential. Therefore, an organisation needs to exist to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected in a timely manner. As a result of this amendment bill, the incoming board will clearly define its strategic, operational, financial and administrative policies. It will ensure that there is more accountability and transparency when it comes to the activities of the commission. Particularly in my treasured electorate of Chatsworth, this new commission will ensure that residents who undertake renovations on their home in, say, Carina or Belmont or who decide to build in expanding areas such as Wakerley or Tingalpa will have the peace of mind that this commission is overseeing the building industry. When the Newman government came to power on 26 March last year, Queenslanders were promised accountability and transparency. The board will consist of seven members, which comprises of a chair and deputy chair appointed by the Governor in Council. Board members will not have tenure longer than three years and the commissioner will not be a member. Indeed, the Newman government is committed to selecting people on their merits. Therefore, these board members will be selected on their ability to contribute in a meaningful way. Board members will be required to disclose any conflict of interests and will be obligated to refrain from decision making when it comes to those interests. Let’s cut to the chase here. The ALP for the past 20 years or so has selected various board members based on their faction or union connections. We know this to be true. The LNP prides itself on selecting candidates for such board positions on their merits and capabilities. Let me repeat that again for the benefit of the seven comrades from the Peel Street politburo across the chamber— merits and capabilities. This amendment bill will set out clear guidelines for the functions of the board. There will not be a vague directive. By direct contrast to the former Beattie-Bligh governments, it will set out the objectives to be clearly achieved. It will be bound to ensure that the commission is effective and efficient, and it will also review the policies under the act as well as provide guidance to the commissioner. The board will not be a talkfest. It will advise the minister on the relevant issues as well as discuss unfair or unconscionable trading practices that impact on the viability of subcontractors—a very important point. It will be a constructive and consultative board, ensuring that it engages the building industry and consumers to further progress this vital industry in Queensland. For far too long government in this state has not properly consulted, thus not comprehending the real-life ramifications of policy and legislation that it imposes. We should never forget that the decisions we make in this hallowed chamber result in real-life ramifications for the people we all represent. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission will enable and empower the building industry rather than be a hindrance to the people who are trying to make an honest living or build their own slice of paradise.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2793

Finally, the appointed commissioner will have a defined role in that he or she will be primarily responsible for implementing the strategic direction that the board outlines. The commissioner will have many similar responsibilities as the former general manager. Again, this amendment bill ensures that accountability and transparency are of paramount importance, and the commission will be required to disclose any conflicts of interest. For the benefit of the ALP tyros opposite, I restate that, if there is a conflict of interest, the commissioner will be required to remove themselves from the decision-making process. Now I realise that this is a very foreign concept to those across the chamber. I am delighted to speak in favour of this legislation as a person who was involved in the private sector property development industry before entering politics. Unlike those across the chamber, I truly understand the importance of the building and construction industry and the role that government and undue interference can have on businesses. Make no mistake: this is important legislation. It is essential that this amendment bill be supported to get this state back on track and to make sure that this great state bounces back from the Beattie-Bligh governments’ mismanagement, endless red tape and excessive regulation. I wish to again thank the Minister for Housing and Public Works as well as his staff for their commendable work. I also take this opportunity to thank the committee that has conducted the inquiry. I thoroughly commend this important bill to the House. Mr SHORTEN (Algester—LNP) (12.25 pm): As a member of the committee that investigated the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill, I can assure the House that this was a comprehensive and far-reaching inquiry and I recommend the bill to the House. I would like to drill down into some of the detail, particularly the role of the commissioner. One of the recommendations contained in the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee’s report into the operation and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority, which was tabled in this parliament on 30 November 2012, was to establish a new statutory authority to be managed by a general manager who is directly accountable to, and reports through, a decision-making board to the responsible minister. The Minister for Housing and Public Works tabled the government response to the committee’s report on 29 May 2013. This bill implements the government’s response, which is to establish the commission as a new statutory body with a governing board and the commissioner as its chief executive. Upon commencement of this bill, the position of general manager of the QBSA will be abolished. The commissioner will be appointed by the Queensland Building and Construction Board on approval by the Minister for Housing and Public Works. The commissioner’s role will be similar to that of a chief executive. The commissioner will be responsible for implementing the strategic direction set by the board for operational matters. The bill also sets out the commissioner’s responsibilities which include the overall management of the organisational unit under the commissioner’s control, assessing and approving payment of insurance claims, administration of the licensing system, administration of a system of inspection, issuing directions for rectification of building work, and taking disciplinary and other proceedings under the act. The commissioner cannot be a member of the board and will be required to declare any conflicts of interest and step aside from decision making where a conflict of interest arises. The commissioner must give effect to any policy or direction of the board when carrying out the commissioner’s responsibilities. However, the commissioner must act independently of the board when making any decisions in regard to licensing, directions to rectify or the statutory insurance scheme. Last but not least, additionally the bill provides that the commissioner must not have regard to the implications for the statutory insurance scheme in deciding the action to be taken in relation to a licensee’s licence. I think the report speaks for itself. It was a thorough investigation of the QBSA Act, and the committee having made 41 recommendations I think speaks volumes about the fact that after 20 years of this particular organisation being in effect it needed to change. It needed to be looked at. It needed to be pulled apart. It need to be dissected. You cannot trundle along for 20-odd years in the same way doing the same thing all the time and expect a different outcome. We had witnesses who came before the committee whose biggest investment in their lives is their homes, and they were having difficulty with their builders or with other aspects of their contract. When the biggest investment of their life is going off track, they want someone to help them. They were coming before the committee because they were so frustrated by the sheer lack of understanding or by the decisions being made within the BSA which they did not agree with or they could not understand or that was not being communicated to them correctly.

2794 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

Mr Rickuss: The process was poor. Mr SHORTEN: The process was poor, and after 20 years you need to have a look at it, pull it apart and make changes. That is what we are doing now. I commend the Minister for Housing and Public Works, the Hon. Tim Mander and member for Everton, his staff and his department for making this happen. I commend the bill to the House. Mr WOODFORTH (Nudgee—LNP) (12.30 pm): I rise to speak briefly in support of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill. My constituents in the electorate of Nudgee are going to be rapt with these changes going forward. However, unfortunately for many who have had problems in the past with builders—and, as the member for Algester has just pointed out, their home is their castle—it is all too late, but at least we can move forward from this point. The Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee developed a report subsequently tabled in the parliament on the operation and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority. In that report the committee recommended that, in the interest of improved confidence and transparency, the one-stop shop model for the provision of Queensland government services be discontinued and the QBSA be disbanded. The government recognises that there is a need to establish a new statutory authority with the functions of licensing, management of the home warranty insurance scheme and management of directions to rectify. These will be completely firewalled from each other, headed by a general manager who is directly accountable to and reports through a decision-making board to the responsible minister. This government agreed to implement the majority of the reforms recommended by the committee, and this bill implemented the first stage by establishing the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, replacing the former QBSA. Regardless, the functions of the commission will be relatively similar to that of the QBSA. There will, however, be a significant change in the governance arrangements which will be more reflective of the Queensland government’s structure of a public company and other government authorities such as the RTA. The establishment of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission will signal a significant change with improvements in the delivery of services provided by the QBSA. This new commission will consist of a professional governing board known as the Queensland Building and Construction Board and a commissioner. Subsequently, the organisational unit will be under the control of the commissioner. The legislation will establish that the board will consist of seven members appointed by the Governor in Council for a term no longer than three years. These seven members will be selected based on their ability to demonstrate effective and efficient performance of the commission. The board will be tasked to set the strategic direction of the organisation as well as the operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. They will report directly to the minister on issues affecting the building industry and consumers in addition to matters of performance. This is significantly different from the current regime under the QBSA where the board had served in a mainly advisory capacity. The board will have numerous functions allowing it to have meaningful influence over the commission. These functions include deciding the strategies and policies of the commission, ensuring the commission performs its functions in a proper, efficient way. Providing guidance and leadership to the commissioner and advising the minister on issues affecting the building industry is central to the role of the board. It will also be the responsibility of the board to advise the minister about unfair and unconscionable trading practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors in addition to advancing the interests of both the building industry and its consumers in a way that is consistent with the objects of the act. Lastly, the Minister for Housing and Public Works will retain the power to give formal directions to the commission and to endorse any formal policies of the board prior to approval by the Governor in Council. Both the board and minister have the capacity to appoint committees to advise the board on particular subjects. I thank the Minister for Housing and Public Works for introducing this bill. My electorate of Nudgee is looking forward to it. I am pleased to commend this bill to the House. Mr GRANT (Springwood—LNP) (12.34 pm): I rise today to speak to the restructuring of the QBSA and to offer my support for the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. As a former building designer, I have had a long interest in the operation, function and services of the Queensland Building Services Authority. Indeed, it was a privilege and quite a surprising opportunity to sit on the committee that reviewed the performance of the QBSA as we know it. We had a very significant number of people who travelled significant distances to tell us of their experiences in coping with the stresses, strains and pressures of working with builders when things go wrong or

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2795

when things have gone off track. While hundreds of thousands of homes were built over the last 20 years and significant percentages got through very well thank you very much, there were still thousands of people who did not feel they had been looked after, and they were the ones that we had to listen to. They were the ones that we had to watch as they recounted in tears the stresses, pressures, hospital visits and everything that took them down during months and sometimes years of dealing with a builder and shoddy workmanship. After listening to these submissions and witnesses give testimony, we made 41 recommendations to the minister. Incidentally, the minister and cabinet supported 31 of 41 recommendations. One of the really strong messages that came through was that the chiefs of QBSA had their hands tied to a very large extent by legislation which had been in place for some 20 years because they could not intervene early. Time and again we heard it said, ‘While the contract is on foot we cannot intervene.’ I am very displeased about that situation. I want members to imagine a situation where a builder puts down the foundations of a building, an owner sees immediately that there are problems, calls for help and QBSA says, ‘Can’t intervene; the contract is still on foot,’ and to the owner’s dismay the builder proceeds to build on a faulty foundation—poor reinforcement, no waterproofing, water ingress—and frustrations build as their dreams start to crumble. We had to listen to that time and again. It is so important for those of us in government to realise that our role is not just to criticise our predecessors for not fixing this problem over 20 years but to turn our knowledge and our experience to good effect. This LNP government is doing that. We see the trauma and drama that consumers go through, and in the short time that we have been in office we have set about to remove the problems that the officers at the top and the staff throughout the QBSA faced. We are untying those shackles so they can act and act early, because the committee saw that early intervention was essential. It is logical. You do not have to be a builder to know that if shoddy foundations are put in that is when you must respond and get it corrected, not after the superstructure is finished and the cost of repairs far greater. The next major message that I saw was that the poor staff and officers in QBSA operating under the legislation were subjected to many conflicts of interest. The QBSA was responsible for issuing licences to subcontractors and to contractors. It was also responsible for keeping a public record of demerit points. It was responsible for trying to ensure that professional development was maintained and kept. Then the next area of interest is the fact that they had to be responsible for deciding when and when not to pay out insurance claims. One does not have to look very hard to realise that the various departments of the QBSA were, indeed, conflicted. We set about recommending very strongly that that is totally inappropriate; as an absolute minimum, we must firewall the different functions of the QBSA so that those officers can operate independently and do not try to be friend and disciplinarian to individuals as they discharge their daily work. The third large concern that we had as we saw the witnesses give testimony was that the QBSA did not even have highly qualified, experienced builders who could go to the sites, see the problems and say, ‘There is your problem. That’s not acceptable. Fix it. Fix it now.’ So we recommended that the new, restructured QBSA be equipped with appropriately qualified builders who can go out early on and see the problems and require rectification bright and early. As I speak wholeheartedly in support of this bill today, my main aim is to see the benefits flow through to the residents of the electorate of Springwood. I must say that many individuals who are suffering still are coming to my office, asking for help. Issues still have not been rectified to this day. They show me photographs of homes where the ground has sunk away from the bottom of their foundations and their homes are cracking—literally physically cracking. With that sort of history, I am just so delighted to stand today in this House and recommend wholeheartedly the changes that both the minister and cabinet have agreed to endorse. I appreciate very much the work that they have done and the decisions that have been made. I look forward very much to seeing the benefits flow across my electorate. Mr RUTHENBERG (Kallangur—LNP) (12.42 pm): It pleases me to stand today and speak in support of this bill. At the time of the initial review of the BSA, I was a member of the Transport and Local Government Committee. In common with the former speaker, my friend the member for Springwood, I have personally experienced people coming into my office in absolute despair, watching many thousands of dollars—and sometimes many hundreds of thousands of dollars— seemingly disappear into a building nightmare. It was interesting that one of the very first people I was able to help as an elected official was someone struggling with a building project. Unfortunately, there were many who came to my office whom I simply could not help because of the way the BSA was set up.

2796 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

I note that the initial report made some 41 recommendations and I note that the government’s response to that was very favourable. Of particular note—and my contribution will be somewhat short—was the inability of anybody to interfere during contract stage. Contracts, especially those in the residential area, are set up in such a fashion that progress payments are made. So a payment is made and progress is done, a payment is made and progress is done. That is very normal. Unfortunately, when a dispute occurs, the only thing that the homeowner has at their disposal is to withhold payment at which point the builder simply stops building. They then reach the point at which there is a major dispute: the homeowner must continue to make payments to a loan they have taken to build a house, the builder feels for whatever reason that they have been aggrieved and the only way to move forward is to sever the contract, at which point the Building Services Authority can step in. I found this rather distressing. I understand that in our society there is a need to check out your builder, what the contract says, what your rights are and where you are at. Those of us who have been in business all know that there are legal mechanisms that can be used, such as through the courts or through lawyers’ letters, to stall or to stop a certain progress payment within a contract. So I am glad that the minister has agreed to look at this circumstance in the next stage of the process. I understand the need to set the platform and I understand the need to make sure that the foundations are proper and correct, so I applaud cabinet’s response in this regard. I think this is a good move. I think it is good to get that foundation down. I am glad that the 10-point plan has been put out there so that we can see the intent and where it is coming from. I want to mention the recommendation regarding how the new structure should look versus what is set up currently. As a person with some considerable corporate knowledge in industry and within companies, I am sufficiently satisfied that the structure recommended by the minister will achieve the purpose that the committee intended. I think that will need to come with some discipline, but I think that that discipline is very achievable. I am glad that the board will be set up with the power that it has. Again, I reflect that this is very normal corporate structure. Many companies around Australia operate with this sort of corporate structure. Under the structures that are to be set up I think we can accomplish the things that we talked about in the report. Slightly out of this government’s capability, I would urge ASIC to consider what it can do within legislation to prevent directors of a company shutting down that company when it gets into trouble and opening a new one under a different name doing almost the same thing not too long after. I would ask the directors of ASIC to have a look at that. This occurs all over Australia, not just in the building industry. If a company, for whatever reason, gets into trouble, that person will shut the company down and open a new one the next day under a different name doing almost the exact same thing. We need to look at that because we heard that that is impacting people across the building industry. In my time available I do want to note also that not all people involved in residential building projects cause problems. I do not know the exact numbers, but somewhere around 90,000 residential contracts are signed every year. Of that, some 4½ thousand receive complaints. That means there are many thousands of contracts that are signed that go through to completion without complaints being received or where the builder on site or the person doing the extensions or the building works is able to adequately negotiate with the homeowner through the process. I note that the industry is not in wrack and ruin. However, I also note that some of those 4½ thousand people who feel they needed to make complaints end up in ruin due to the circumstances. I am pleased that the minister and the department have taken up this action. I am pleased with the outcome. I think that 10-point plan is a good plan. I think it is sound and solid. I am glad of the governance structures. I think they are sound and solid. I am glad to see that those are being put in place. I will be interested to see that progress. I am glad to give my support to this bill. Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (12.49 pm): I rise to make a brief contribution to the Queensland Building Services Amendment Bill 2013. I am sure the minister is pleased to hear that it will be brief. There is nothing worse than the ghost of a minister past. This is a pretty important function within the Queensland government, and I am sure, as the minister would be well aware, this is only the first step. Much of the hard work in dealing with these problems, some of which I found to be very complex, still lies ahead. I think it would probably be fair to say that on both sides of politics, and even at times within the BSA itself, there was a fair degree of dissatisfaction with many of the ways in which the BSA operated or was forced to operate. It was a very large organisation with a very large budget, a very large staff and a very large office down at West End which covered a whole array of highly challenging and controversial areas; for example, the home warranty insurance scheme. That is absolutely critical, but it is very complex and there are many different models around.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2797

The BSA covered BCIPA, which deals with everything from the payment arrangements for contractors on relatively small amounts, to massive contracts for pipelines out to gas liquefaction plants. As my colleague the member for Kallangur just mentioned, it also covered the antiphoenix provisions, and in some ways these were the most challenging. In the building industry there has been a history of people accumulating liabilities to their subcontractors and building material suppliers, taking money upfront from customers and declaring themselves bankrupt. Then somehow or other the next week, having pocketed everybody’s money, they have managed to get back into business with a new company. Because of the nature of these long contracts and large sums of money, people could milk the customer paying for it, the supplier of materials, the subcontractors and then go back into business and do it again. It was the phoenix rising from the ashes very quickly. On the other hand, I dealt with a few of those occasions where people who had a long history of working as a carpenter, for example, suffered as a result of a contract where they did not get paid, or a divorce, or something that impacted on them financially, and those people could not then go on to earn their living as a carpenter because they could not get BSA registration. I think the predominant principle here is to stop that dreadful rort that occurred for so long in the building industry, and we should never allow that to happen. Obviously, this bill will abolish the QBSA and replace it with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. I think it is fair to say that there were broad concerns around the governance of the BSA. The board seemed to play a very limited role. I am sure the minister is not aware of this, but I will just highlight the fact that when the managing director of the QBSA came up for renewal and the ministerial briefing note came to me within days of being appointed as minister, the board made no recommendation. The board did not recommend his reappointment or nonreappointment. I think it would be fair to say that the changes in governance are probably going to be very positive and welcomed. There are a whole range of things that still need to be resolved. I am sure the minister is going to be spending a lot of time on these issues, because I know the complexity of them. There are things such as: reviewing domestic building contracts and making sure that they are fair and balance the interests of owners who are building a home with the interests of the builders and subcontractors; improving education so that people understand the contract that they enter into when they build a home; and dealing with BCIPA. There were particular issues within the resource industry because BCIPA regulations which were meant to deal with relatively small building projects were suddenly applied to complex $50 million and $100 million contracts and the respondents had only a matter of days in which to respond. There is a long way to go in an area where every decision that is made by the government will have to strike a balance between the interests of both sides, because in almost every one of these areas there are two sides. I notice that the government stated its intention to retain the home warranty insurance scheme in government ownership, and I think that would be welcomed. It is a scheme that I think is very, very valuable, but I do not for a moment feel that there are not ways that it could be improved on. The reinsurance arrangements always seemed to me to be a very expensive luxury, given the track record of the scheme and the limitations on payouts of claims. In relation to the probity of private certifiers, if you move around industry circles in the building industry issues around private certifiers having ticked off on one thing or another come up quite regularly. Expanding the licensing rule of the new QBCC would be an interesting provision. For example, electricians were licensed by the Attorney-General’s department under the Electrical Safety office and plumbers were licensed by the Plumbing Industry Council under the BSA, so there is quite a scope there. There was a considerable conflict between plumbers and electricians in relation to the installation of solar hot-water systems and the like, so there may be real scope for improving the way the system works. It is a first step, but it looks like a good first step, and I commend the minister on his work and I commend the bill to the House. Mr YOUNG (Keppel—LNP) (12.56 pm): I rise to support the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. This bill was derived from the need to report on the operation and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority. The minister referred the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill to the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee. Through the process of consultation, the committee was briefed by the Department of Housing and Public Works. It received 109 submissions, which made for interesting reading.

Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs (Places of Accommodation) 2798 22 Aug 2013 Amendment Bill

Submissions came from all quarters: homeowners, builders, legal firms, house designers, building certifiers, housing industry associations, Master Builders and even an 82-page submission from the Queensland Building Services Authority. Many submissions from the industry groups argued strongly that the Queensland Building Services Authority was weighted towards consumers. Both industry groups were very critical of the Queensland Building Services Authority’s failure to act on disputes in a timely manner, and some submitters highlighted the grave concerns that not acting caused: financial strain and undue psychological stress. Then there were the homeowner horror stories of what happened to what can be considered their most valuable asset—their house. Out of that consultation, three policy objectives were created along with a 10-point action plan. Points 1 and 2 of the action plan are to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in place of the QBSA. The new commission will have a governing board which will then appoint a commissioner. Although the new commissioner will perform a similar fundamental role to that of the QBSA, the commission will be under the control of the board. The seven board members will be selected on the basis of their ability to contribute to the effective and efficient performance of the commission. The terms of the board and the commissioner they appoint will be no longer than three years. The commissioner will oversee the general managers to manage the three main business units: licensing, dispute resolution and the home warranty scheme. Those business units will be firewalled from each other. Another action plan to enhance the faster resolution of matters is the ability for early interventions in the dispute process, hopefully resolving those disputes so that fewer cases end up in the law courts. This aspect of the bill, along with the home warranty insurance scheme, will address issues that plague the industry. Builders and subcontractors live in fear of not being paid. How many people in this House know of a builder or subcontractor who is no longer in the industry because of nonpayment or a dispute between parties? In closing, I would like to reiterate that the many industry representations that were made to my office showed the glowing need for the QBSA to be overhauled. I would like to thank the minister, his staff, the chair of the committee and the committee for their work in the development of this bill. I commend the bill to the House. Debate, on motion of Mr Young, adjourned. Sitting suspended from 1.00 pm to 2.30 pm.

ETHICS COMMITTEE

Report Mr CRANDON (Coomera—LNP) (2.30 pm), by leave: I lay upon the table of the House Ethics Committee report No. 135, titled Report on a study investigation by the committee—June 2013. I commend the report and the committee’s recommendations to the House. Tabled paper: Ethics Committee—Report No. 135, titled ‘Report on a study investigation by the committee’ [3295].

GUIDE, HEARING AND ASSISTANCE DOGS (PLACES OF ACCOMMODATION) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction Mrs SCOTT (Woodridge—ALP) (2.31 pm): I present a bill for an act to amend the Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs Act 2009 to provide for rights and obligations relating to guide, hearing and assistance dogs in places of accommodation. I table the bill and the explanatory notes. I nominate the Health and Community Services Committee to consider the bill. Tabled paper: Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs (Places of Accommodation) Amendment Bill 2013 [3296]. Tabled paper: Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs (Places of Accommodation) Amendment Bill 2013, explanatory notes [3297]. This bill amends the Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs Act 2009 to restore rights that had been in the previous 1972 act. When the Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs Act 2009 was passed in this House, an oversight meant that places of accommodation were unintentionally left out. This meant that rental accommodation, whether for permanent residential purposes or casual or holiday rental, is not covered by the legislation and guide, hearing or assistance dog users can be refused accommodation. Prior to the last state election, the amendment to correct this oversight was before

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2799

the House but lapsed when the parliament was prorogued. Vision Australia has made several requests to the current disability services minister, Tracy Davis, who has to date not introduced the amendments and has said the issue will be considered at some unspecified date in the future. It has already been 18 months. On International Guide Dog Day this year the member for Mulgrave, who was the former disability services minister, issued a media release calling on Minister Davis to reintroduce the amendments that had already been drafted and were ready to be actioned under his watch. Unfortunately, his call has been met with stony silence. The amendments proposed in the bill will build on the safeguards in the current act which allow people with a disability to be accompanied by their guide, hearing or assistance dog in public places and public passenger vehicles. Prior to 2009 these rights were entrenched in law. It is incumbent on government to ensure that people with a disability are not subject to discrimination and denied accommodation. Users of guide, hearing and assistance dogs should not be turned away and forced to seek redress through the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, as has happened. The Leader of the Opposition has been approached by a gentleman who was forced to pursue a complaint through the Anti-Discrimination Commission when he and his guide-dog were refused holiday accommodation. This is a scandalous situation and a person with any empathy would have moved to do anything in their power to ensure this will never happen again to another Queenslander. The amendments are consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and promote equality of opportunity and access for people with a disability by helping to prevent discrimination and exclusion on the basis of disability. There is an existing obligation under Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act not to discriminate by refusing to provide accommodation to a person who has a disability and is accompanied by a guide, hearing or assistance dog. However, the new offence will provide an alternative avenue for redress that is likely to be less complex, expensive and time consuming for a complainant.

First Reading Mrs SCOTT (Woodridge—ALP) (2.34 pm): I move— That the bill be now read a first time. Question put—That the bill be now read a first time. Motion agreed to. Bill read a first time.

Referral to the Health and Community Services Committee Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Cunningham): Order! In accordance with standing order 131, the bill is now referred to the Health and Community Services Committee.

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS

Broadbeach Jazz Festival; Gold Coast, Beaches Mr STEVENS (Mermaid Beach—LNP) (2.35 pm): It is with great delight that I inform the House of the fabulously successful Broadbeach Jazz Festival which brought over 20,000 visitors to the area last weekend and enhanced Broadbeach’s reputation for being the family entertainment capital of Australia’s capital for tourism—the glamorous, glitzy and glorious Gold Coast! I congratulate Jan McCormick from Broadbeach Alliance and the Gold Coast City Council for supporting this outstanding community event to turn the weekend into another Gold Coast event spectacular. More importantly, visitors to Broadie would now know that the world famous Gold Coast beaches are back with heaps, stacks and piles of sand for everyone to lay on, sunbake on, kick a footy on, jog on or just walk on to enjoy the magnificent vista and unequalled 42 kilometres of golden sand filled beaches. Following constant media reporting of the ‘beach’ part missing from the good electorate of Mermaid Beach, I can confirm following my Sunday morning bike ride from Broadie to Burleigh that the beaches are back to their sparkling best and the Gold Coast is ready to welcome tourists from all over Australia and the world to enjoy the ultimate beach paradise called Gold Coast City. Sure there are some graded banks to negotiate to the beach areas at Mermaid, Miami and Broadie, but the overwhelming conclusion that can only be drawn by personally witnessing thousands and thousands

2800 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

of holiday-makers frolicking on our beaches is that negativity about our Gold Coast beaches is now officially dead and buried and positivity about our No. 1 tourism asset—that is, our beaches—is definitely the only news story in town. We have enjoyed a real boost in national tourism figures on the Gold Coast and now, with a weakening Australian dollar, it is to be hoped the international tourists will join the increasing flock of tourists heading to the Gold Coast beaches that are, as we know, famous for fun. The Gold Coast City Council and Mayor Tate are getting on with the job of replenishing the sand on the beaches, aided and abetted by the Gold Coast Waterways Authority, a state government funded organisation. We all love and are proud of our Gold Coast City beaches and our respective responsibilities in ensuring the beaches are maintained in pristine condition and that every tourist throughout the world is given the opportunity to enjoy our wonderful beach experience is central to good government for our community. As the member for Mermaid Beach I feel absolutely blessed to represent one of the most iconic destinations in the world and at every stage I will protect, enhance and defend its reputation without fear or influence or even succumbing to outside pressures.

Queensland Plan Mr COX (Thuringowa—LNP) (2.38 pm): We have all been working hard in the last few months to promote the Queensland Plan within our electorates and encourage Queenslanders to have their say about our future. Last week I held a forum on the subject for members and staff of the Spinal Injuries Association. The group is a peak body providing a range of services for members who have suffered a spinal cord injury or those with the late effects of polio. Members of the Spinal Injuries Association are empowered within their homes, workplaces and in the community to live fulfilling lives. The association also runs an award-winning injury prevention program for schools and workplaces and advocates on behalf of groups and individuals on a wide range of disability issues. At the forum we focused on two questions that had been chosen beforehand as the most relevant to the members. In the context of living in the community, how did we move our focus from me to we? How do we empower and educate individuals, communities and institutions to embrace responsibilities for an active and healthy lifestyle? Some key messages that came out of answering those questions were that these people wanted to be included and treated like everybody else. There are issues with building compliance as many wheelchair-accessible entries are at the side of buildings or are the back entrances to buildings and these people would like to have the ability to go through the front door like other patrons. One member noted that South Australia is much more wheelchair friendly than our own state. We need to look at what that state is doing with its planning and ensure that councils, town planners and state governments include people with disabilities in their planning and maybe even have people with disabilities working on those plans. There are key issues relating to health that affect people with spinal cord injuries. One of those is that, on average, these people age 10 years faster than an able-bodied person. Government departments and service providers need to work more cohesively. There are boundaries between disability care and aged care. These people are looking forward to having more autonomy in choosing care providers when the NDIS kicks in. One of the main points that I took away was that these people are people first and should not be defined by their disability. Their vision for the future is a world that is inclusive and accessible and does not see them as different from anyone else. I will be spending more time with people from the Spinal Injuries Association in the future as I join their Take My Seat campaign on 3 September. The member for Townsville will be sponsoring me when I take on that challenge. I appreciate that and thank him for it. When I go to visit schools in Thuringowa, I see and meet kids in wheelchairs—something that I would not have seen in my day when I was at school. Today, society, at least in this country and in this state, has become much more inclusive of people not just with disabilities but those of different cultures and religions. This is something that we should never take for granted.

Cleveland Electorate, Schools Dr ROBINSON (Cleveland—LNP) (2.41 pm): On behalf of the people of the Cleveland electorate I rise to report to the parliament some good things happening in the education sphere in my electorate. The Newman LNP government is delivering better education to the children of the Cleveland electorate, whether that be the successful rollout of year 7, including the construction of new buildings at Cleveland State High School; providing improved education options for the

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2801

Quandamooka high school students of North Stradbroke Island; providing e-tablets for children with special education needs at Redland District Special School; or the success of the Independent Public Schools initiative. One of the most significant education infrastructure developments has been the start of the construction of the indoor sports auditorium or multipurpose hall at Bay View State School. A total of $2.8 million or so has been allocated for the construction of this vital project. The new multipurpose hall facility will feature a multipurpose court area, stage, toilets, change rooms, kitchen and storage space. The hall will service both the school and the local community and it will be a welcome boost to the school’s resources in providing a top-grade education. I want to acknowledge Minister Langbroek, principal Peter Black and the school P&C and parents for their role in making this great opportunity happen. I want to make special mention of Kim Griffin-Smith, a school mum who has been wonderfully relentless on this project. Another great development is the success of the Independent Public Schools initiative at Cleveland District State High School. The principal of the Cleveland District State High School, Mr Paul Bancroft, recently reported on the key benefits that Cleveland District State High School has received since the adoption of this program. With the school being responsible for its own staffing, that has meant that it can hire the best staff and ensure that it has the capabilities needed. Principal Paul Bancroft stated— We have been able to ensure that they— that is the teachers— are not only very capable in their key curriculum areas but also have a range of skills in co-curricular areas. We have picked up some teachers with great IT skills, but also musical skills and debating skills and sports coaching capabilities. Mr Bancroft went on to state— Becoming an IPS gives us greater flexibility to tailor the curriculum to suit the needs of our students. The Independent Public Schools scheme has opened up opportunities for our students. What a great endorsement of the Independent Public Schools initiative by one of Queensland’s longest serving and most well respected principals. There are other schools in my area—Birkdale State School, headed by principal Steve Logan, and Wellington Point State High School, headed by principal Debbie Ward—and they are also looking into this Independent Public Schools initiative. On 15 August in Cleveland, as part of the Queensland Plan, the Redland city student forum was held. Numbers of student leaders came together to talk about a 30-year vision for their region and state and it was a great success. It is clear that the Newman LNP government is delivering on education in the schools of the Cleveland electorate.

Sunshine Coast University Hospital Hon. JP BLEIJIE (Kawana—LNP) (Attorney-General and Minister for Justice) (2.44 pm): I rise today to refute the blatant mistruths that the Queensland Nurses Union and the member for Bundamba are putting to Queenslanders about the future of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. These baseless and blatantly dishonest claims about a user-pays system are solely aimed at causing fear and panic to push a union agenda. It is very rude and the member for Bundamba is as guilty of peddling these mistruths as are her union thug mates. The Sunshine Coast University Hospital, in my electorate of Kawana, will be a free public hospital, as we promised when we fast-tracked it after the former government shelved it. The former Labor government shelved the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. There will be no user-pays system—no credit cards required as claimed by the member for Bundamba on a rare visit to the Sunshine Coast recently to help push her union mates’ agenda. Thankfully, the residents of the Kawana electorate are smart enough to see through the member for Bundamba’s mistruths and misinformation. That is why no-one showed up to support her little stunt at Kawana that day. The big protest of the century attracted about 10 union officials and the member for Bundamba. It was not worth the fuel from Bundamba. Mr Stevens: They put it on their credit card. Mr BLEIJIE: I take that interjection from the Leader of the House. They probably put it on their union credit card, but they will not disclose that to the people of Queensland. Let us be clear: the Sunshine Coast University Hospital will offer world-class free hospital services to the people of the Sunshine Coast. Unlike Labor, this government cares about improving our health system—and for throat infections, I might add. Under Labor we had a system that could not get much sicker. The

2802 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

Sunshine Coast university public hospital would likely never have been built under the Labor government. In fact, I am surprised Mrs Miller, the member for Bundamba, could even remember how to find the Sunshine Coast given that her Labor cohorts forgot the region entirely when they were in government. The only people in this room who are guilty of conning Queenslanders about health are the Labor members and their union thug mates. Under the former government, there were secret waiting lists just to get on the waiting lists, fake Tahitian princes running around, massive dental waiting lists and ambulance ramping that was absolutely out of control. Despite the mistruths from the unions and the opposition, who would not know the first thing about a quality health system if it bit them on the backside— Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Cunningham): Order! The member for Kawana’s language is unparliamentary. I would ask him to withdraw. Mr BLEIJIE: Withdrawn. Remember, the mentor for the member for Bundamba, Gordon Nuttall—a corrupt former minister. He was the mentor for the member for Bundamba. Despite these mistruths, the Sunshine Coast community will not be fooled by the Labor Party and its union thug mates who do not believe in accountability, respect, integrity, openness and transparency. We will deliver a world-class free hospital for the entire population of the Sunshine Coast. Pyjama Foundation; Foster Care Ms MILLARD (Sandgate—LNP) (2.47 pm): Earlier this month on behalf of the Sandgate electorate I delivered over 50 pairs of children’s pyjamas in a range of sizes and designs to the Pyjama Foundation as a donation for its annual pyjama drive. The pyjama drive is a sharp reminder to us that there are over 30,000 children in foster care in Australia who may have arrived in a hurry or from a high-risk situation and are in need of something as basic as a clean, dry pair of pyjamas. It is also a reminder that the government is not alone in taking care of children at risk. Children are in the first instance the charge of their families, but if that fails their safety and security becomes a matter of public concern among child safety workers and departmental officials, community workers, foster families and groups such as the Pyjama Foundation. Firstly, I would like to publicly acknowledge the ongoing work of the Pyjama Foundation for not only its pyjama drive but also creative programs such as the Pyjama Angels and volunteers who offer support and friendship to children in care and foster families in need of a break. Secondly, I would like to thank those of my constituents who responded so willingly and generously to the call for pyjama donations and all of those who are foster carers and foster parents. Again, I thank them. I would also like to acknowledge the Minister for Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, her assistant minister and her departmental officials who work so tirelessly to try to break through in a system that exists only in response to dysfunction. At times it must seem overwhelming. Here is some of what they deal with. At present, there are over 3,100 approved foster carers in Queensland alone and foster care statistics are almost double that of a decade ago. One in four children are known to Child Safety Services in Queensland, although in 80 per cent of the cases no further intervention is warranted. Recent figures show that a massive $733 million for the year was spent on our child protection services, which is around four times the figure that was spent a decade ago. I do not think that any of us would disagree with Leneen Forde, commissioner of the 1999 Forde review into children in institutionalised care, when she said, ‘We must all accept responsibility for children. They are our most valuable and vulnerable asset.’ But the question is how. Past Queensland governments had two bites of the cherry to explore ways in which to improve the system, including the Forde review followed by a Crime and Misconduct Commission review of children in foster care in 2003. To give credit where credit is due, I have spoken with constituents who have experienced some restitution through these processes, but clearly prevention is better than cure. There is no way around the facts. They tell us that demand is increasing, overreporting continues and costs are growing. I am not just talking about budgets when I am talking about costs but, more importantly, the emotional cost to our most valuable and vulnerable assets, our children. I look forward to the government’s full consideration and response to the recent Carmody report. I believe this will have a great outcome for the safety of our children in the future. Mackay-Whitsunday, Events Mr COSTIGAN (Whitsunday—LNP) (2.50 pm): I would like to recognise a couple of major events recently held in the Mackay-Whitsunday region. The first is Abell Point Marina Airlie Beach Race Week which I was delighted to launch on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2803

Business and the Commonwealth Games. With the support of Tourism and Events Queensland this event has certainly come a long way since it started thanks to the likes of Mr Don Algie of Hog’s Breath Cafe fame many moons ago. It was again a great success in 2013. In my address I acknowledged the many volunteers who have made a huge contribution to Race Week over many years. I commend Commodore Rob Davis of the Whitsunday Sailing Club on his stewardship of the club and congratulate the entire Race Week committee on their outstanding work. Well done to all the crews, in particular the crew of Morticia, skippered by Chris Williams, which took out the Australian multihull championship. I also acknowledge the sponsor of this year’s Race Week, Abell Point Marina, and thank Paul Darrouzet for his support, particularly as we look ahead to 2014 and the 25th Airlie Beach Race Week. This year was certainly a big occasion in itself, tying in nicely with the Whitsunday Reef Festival, again attracting plenty of visitors to Airlie Beach, the heart of the reef and a place that is as captivating as ever. I was particularly pleased to be alongside the mayor, Councillor Jenny Whitney, and my fellow colleague George Christensen MP for the long awaited reopening of the main street after its multimillion dollar upgrade. The street parade was one of many highlights. It was wonderful seeing the children of the Whitsundays, including the students and teachers from Cannonvale State School, whom I caught up with beforehand and proudly showed off their reef guardian status to a massive Airlie crowd. To Kerry Head, Merewyn Wright, the other teachers and the parents of the children I say congratulations. Noting the buzz in town that afternoon—in fact, the whole weekend—invoked memories of years gone by, suggesting there are better days ahead for this iconic tourism town in the place that I call paradise. I would also like to recognise the Mackay Airport Mackay Harbour Beach Horse Racing Festival, which had its high point last Sunday when thousands lined Harbour Beach watching the thoroughbreds power up along the sand with the Coral Sea and the nearby islands providing a breathtaking backdrop. Entertainer Rhonda Burchmore, champion jockeys ‘Miracle’ Malcolm Johnston and Damien Oliver, rugby league legends such as Allan Langer and ‘Wombat’ Eadie were there in North Queensland for a memorable day. I was pleased to join these sporting greats on the sand taking on a heap of kids in a game of celebrity tug-of-war. Needless to say, the kids won. The beach horseracing only started last year but it has already cemented itself on our social calendar, raising money for local charities and community groups such as Riding for the Disabled and the local surf-lifesaving movement; at the same time, as members can imagine, bringing visitors to our great city of Mackay which forms a big part of my electorate. To Mick Pope and the rest of the organisers, including Councillor Greg Martin and the representatives of the local community groups that benefited, I say a job well done. We cannot wait until next year.

Vietnam Veterans Day Mr CHOAT (Ipswich West—LNP) (2.53 pm): As I stand here today I am proud to be wearing my commemorative Vietnam War pin. I want to reflect today on the Battle of Long Tan and the Vietnam War. Vietnam Veterans Day is celebrated in Australia on 18 August each year and commemorates the Battle of Long Tan and those who served during the Vietnam War. It is an opportunity to remember the almost 60,000 Australians, including Army, Air Force and Navy personnel, who served in the conflict from 1962 to 1973. Sadly, 521 personnel died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded. Last Sunday I had the privilege of representing my people at commemorations at the Ipswich RSL at North Ipswich. The service was presided over by Mr Ray Watherston, our RSL president, and attended by many veterans, my colleague the member for Ipswich and the fantastic Blair candidate Teresa Harding and her husband, serving veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Steven Voll. The most well known Australian engagement of the Vietnam War was the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966. The battle saw the action of 108 Anzacs against a North Vietnamese communist force estimated at between 1,500 and 2,500. The battle was one of the heaviest conflicts of the Vietnam War, as well as one of the few battles in the recorded history of the world to be won against such odds, testament to the courage, strength and resilience of those men who so bravely demonstrated the Anzac spirit. The Vietnam War was the longest war Australia was involved in and it was marked by controversy and significant levels of public opposition to conscription and concern about casualties. The Vietnam War was notably the first war of the media age and was witnessed in the loungerooms of Australians via television. I want to take a moment to reflect on the ugly Australia that sought to

2804 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

vilify our veterans of the Vietnam campaign at the time. It is a blight on modern Australian history that the socialist left used the war as a political weapon and our veterans as targets for abuse and disgraceful disrespect. I have heard first-hand recounts of the actions of the socialist fanatics of the time. They should be ashamed and are forever condemned by Australians who today respect and appreciate the sacrifices of our Vietnam veterans and their fight to protect democracy and human rights. Our Vietnam veterans, along with those of the Malaya and Korean wars, are more and more adored by Australians as our veterans of earlier conflicts pass on. I say to veterans of Vietnam, and indeed all active, past and present service campaigns, men and women of courage like Mr Terry Pinkerton of Karalee and Mr Ray Martin of One Mile, those campaigns were fantastic efforts, you are heroes and may God bless you.

National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework Mrs MILLER (Bundamba—ALP) (2.56 pm): Yesterday and again today the Premier demonstrated the depth of his knowledge of health policy, and a very shallow depth it is indeed. Supposedly steering the ship of state, the Premier ran aground on his government’s own service agreements with our 17 hospital and health services. Premier, I hope you are watching, because in April this year health minister Springborg signed the National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework, which I table, but before doing so, here is a photo of the health minister. He signed this agreement. It is called the National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework. Tabled paper: Report of the Standing Council on Health, titled ‘National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework, April 2013’ [3298]. This agreement for the first time provides a mechanism for coordinated action at the Commonwealth, state and local levels to enable a more harmonised approach to—wait for it—primary healthcare planning and service delivery. Today the Premier has torn up the minister’s agreement with other state health ministers and with the federal government and, like a blundering Captain Hook suffering from too much rum—perhaps with the mad monk last night—the Premier has called for a bosun Smee to swing the Queensland health system towards America. The framework agreement the Minister for Health signed in April states that while ‘state and territory governments are responsible for system management of public hospitals, including managing local hospital network performance’, they are ‘also responsible for funding and providing a range of community health services including prevention and health promotion services and services that help maintain community health and wellbeing’. Traditionally, some of those community health services have also included—wait for it—primary healthcare type services. These primary health community services and public health services are specified in the heading of every health service agreement with our 17 hospital and health services. In the parliament this morning the Premier said that they were getting out of it. He actually said, ‘It is true that there are documents in Queensland Health that refer to the residual services that still are being delivered, but we make no apologies for getting out of those services.’ He said, ‘It is very clear. It is very simple.’ These are the services that they are going to get out of: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, aged care and rehabilitation, antenatal and postnatal care, infant child and family health, chronic disease management, home and community care, mental health, oral health. I table a list of the rest of them they are going to get out of—cut, cut, cut; sack, sack, sack; close, close, close. Tabled paper: Document regarding health services, titled ‘Across the 17 agreements these services include’ [3299].

Everton Park State High School Hon. TL MANDER (Everton—LNP) (Minister for Housing and Public Works) (2.59 pm): I rise in the House to speak about a school in my community, Everton Park State High School. Everton Park State High School is one of two state high schools in my electorate. Everton Park State High School happens to be the former school of Minister Elmes. It has a great reputation and has produced some great people, including Geoffrey Rush. Geoffrey Rush, Glen Elmes: it is a wild mix. I speak about the school today because Everton Park State High School is one of the schools gazetted for closure. Of course, when that was announced a couple of months ago, there was great angst amongst the school community. This school has a real viability issue. It has 230 school students in a facility that was built for 1,100. The viability issue is on two fronts. Of course, one is the financial viability issue, but there is also an educational issue. Everton Park State High School cannot offer the same range of subjects as can another high school. Nevertheless, it is a very good school and has a very good principal in Sue Wallace.

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2805

As they have gone through the consultation process over the past three months, I have counselled the school community not to base their argument on emotion. Of course that is the initial response and that is what they did. However, since then they have taken an incredibly mature approach. We have had a number of meetings with the P&C and the school community. I encouraged them to address the viability issues. I have written a framework for them to respond to. I am delighted to say that they have taken a mature approach. They recognise that there are viability issues and they have put a submission together that I think is very worthy of consideration and it is one that I am very happy to support. They want to keep the school small. They have a unique environment. There are 230 kids. They recognise that 230 is too few, but they have a plan to go to 500. That will be a small school still in a secondary school context. They recognise that they need to be on a smaller footprint, so they have submitted that they are happy to use half the school campus. They are very willing to have a co-location partner. Part of the job that I have been doing over the past few months is looking for somebody who could come into the school. The submission has gone to the education minister. He is now considering it. I pay tribute to the people who put together the submission. David Brock, the P&C president, has led this cause, along with Byron Adams and his wife, Sasha. Byron is the school chaplain and he has been sticking up for his people, just as he should as school chaplain. Mr Greg Herbert and his wife, Rosanda, and Byron’s wife, Sasha, have also led the charge. I congratulate them on the way they have done this. We are looking forward to a good consideration of the proposal. I am very hopeful that we can keep a state high school presence in that part of the community at Everton Park.

Broadwater Electorate, Queensland Plan Miss BARTON (Broadwater—LNP) (3.02 pm): I rise to update the House on the activities of the Broadwater community and its involvement in the Queensland Plan, which is a fantastic opportunity for people across our communities to have their say on what they think the future of Queensland should be and what their vision of Queensland is. I am very proud to say that more than 100 Broadwater participants have been actively involved in some fantastic meetings. Everyone has been looking at unique and different ways they can engage with their communities. One of the things that I have done, which I have found has been particularly successful, is to hold roundtable discussions that focus on the individual questions. It means that people who are passionate about those issues have an opportunity to meet with other people in their community who hold the same passion. We all get together and spend a couple of hours really nutting it out. I think that the offer of free red frogs is probably a fair incentive for people to come along. Already we have held five such meetings and I have had some fantastic feedback from my community. Another meeting is coming up next week. We will culminate the discussions with a community-wide forum to discuss all of the issues raised at the roundtable meetings and to get broader feedback on the whole plan generally. One of the things that I am going to be putting together for people in my community to access is a booklet that will talk about the issues that people in our community have brought up, particularly in terms of the issues that are localised to the Broadwater electorate and the Gold Coast. That will give me an opportunity to really understand what it is that people in my community want me to do for them over the next few years, as hopefully I continue to be their voice in government. I acknowledge Coombabah State High School and its senior leadership students, whom I visited to have a chat with. In 30 years’ time, our year 11 and 12 students will be the leaders of our communities and our governments. It is incredibly important that we ask them what they think about a 30-year vision. I thank the students who got involved. I also pay tribute to the three delegates I took to the Mackay summit, who will join me in Brisbane. They are Leo Beutel, David Morgan and Evange Epa. They have really been driving forces in our community, making sure that we are able to tap into exactly what people want. I pay tribute to the Gold Coast Baha’i community and thank them for allowing me to participate in their UN International Youth Day celebrations last weekend. As a young member of our community, it is fantastic for me to be able to talk to other young people about the empowerment of youth, making sure that they feel their voice can be heard and that they can participate in, support, serve and lead our communities.

2806 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

Noosa Council Deamalgamation Hon. GW ELMES (Noosa—LNP) (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier) (3.05 pm): Whatever distortions and mistruths Peter Beattie tries to peddle to the people of Forde in his bid to make himself relevant, one thing he cannot deny is his determination to kill off local councils across the state. He can pretend the huge budget black hole left for this government was all Anna Bligh’s fault. He can deny responsibility for opening the floodgates to soaring electricity prices through deregulation. He can even try to claim credit for positive things which happened despite him being Premier. However, he cannot escape responsibility for being the one who obliterated the Noosa shire council and dozens more around the state. Maybe that is why he was in Townsville this week: he was trying to convince people that they were better off without the Thuringowa council, which he got rid of. If recent polls are any guide, Peter Beattie is failing to remake himself as a federal politician, but thanks to the Newman government the Noosa shire is having no such problem remaking itself. One thing Beattie and his bumbling apprentice, Andrew Fraser, could not destroy was the spirit of the people of Noosa. What Beattie and Fraser dismantled in Noosa, this government is helping to rebuild. In March 2007, the Beattie Labor government pushed through legislation that took away the right of the people of Noosa to decide on whether or not they wanted to be a part of the amalgamated Sunshine Coast Regional Council. In just over three months time, we will see Noosa recreated as the proud local government area it was before the Beattie local government jihad. Part of that process is reconstructing the council structure and reclaiming buildings, machinery, motor vehicles and other assets that were taken over by the Sunshine Coast megacouncil. Amalgamating was a simpler job because it just required all of the Noosa assets to be handed over to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council. Untangling the Beattie mess is a more complicated task. Transition manager, Peter Franks, is doing a great job to keep the process on track to ensure that from 1 January next year we will have the Noosa council back. I would also like to thank my cabinet colleague the local government minister for providing the legislative framework so that it can happen. I am particularly pleased that the recreated Noosa council will not be stuck with a bill for the payment of duties for assets transferred back from the Sunshine Coast council. The assets were taken without the people of Noosa having a say and it would be nothing short of criminal if Noosa ratepayers had to pay an extra charge to get back what is rightfully theirs. I look forward to the recreated Noosa council serving the local government needs of the people of Noosa, providing the locally based services and amenities they were denied by the Beattie Labor government. When Noosa residents finally got to have a say in a referendum earlier this year about the forced amalgamation, more than 80 per cent said they wanted the Noosa council back as a stand-alone council.

Indigenous Australians, Closing the Gap Mr HOLSWICH (Pine Rivers—LNP) (3.08 pm): The disparity between life expectancy and quality of life for Indigenous Australians when compared to non-Indigenous Australians remains one of the most shameful aspects of Australian society. The statistics are well known and do not need to be repeated. What we need to be concentrating our efforts on are solutions, real answers and long-term answers. If issues of disparity were easily solved, they would have been solved a long time ago, but they are not. They are complex issues and require long-term strategies. Before entering this parliament I spent a few years working for the Australian Employment Covenant and Generation One—organisations set up with the sole aim of reducing this disparity. The founder of these organisations, Andrew Forrest, is often quoted as saying, ‘The best way to change someone’s life, family or community is for them to get a job.’ And I wholeheartedly agree. Stable, long-term employment is one of the most effective ways to eliminate disparity. Of course, the issue in so many cases is that individuals who are disadvantaged—and this is by no means specific to Indigenous Australians—have many barriers that are keeping them from being able to either get a job or to hold down a stable job. How difficult is it for anyone to hold down a job when they are suffering from chronic health complaints or when they have not completed a basic education or when all they have known since they were a child is a culture of unemployment. These barriers need to be addressed before many long-term unemployed Indigenous Australians have even a fighting chance of getting a job or starting a business and creating a better life for themselves and their family.

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2807

I am proud that this government is committed to closing the gap and is actively working to meet these objectives. We are progressing initiatives aimed at closing the gap, including the Learning Earning Active Places strategy which implements a broad range of initiatives in urban and regional areas across the state. Locally in my electorate it was a pleasure to welcome Minister Springborg to Strathpine last week to open the new Indigenous health service right next door to my office. This is a service that receives significant state government funding and assists the local Indigenous community with many basic health issues. However, too often our society places the responsibility of closing the disparity gap solely on the shoulders of government. To do this minimises the responsibility that rests on the entire community and particularly the business community to help close the gap. When I worked for the Employment Covenant I saw over 100 businesses throughout Queensland, large and small, make commitments to employ more Indigenous workers in their businesses. Even more pleasing was that I saw many of those businesses taking tangible steps towards meeting those commitments. I was able to witness, time after time, individuals whose lives had changed forever because they were given a job and a renewed purpose in life. To all businesses in Queensland, but specifically in the Pine Rivers electorate, I say that ending Indigenous disparity is not solely the responsibility of governments. It is time for every business to step up and play a part in ending Indigenous disparity in our great state.

Bus Driver Safety Ms TRAD (South Brisbane—ALP) (3.11 pm): Last parliamentary sitting on Tuesday, 6 August I greeted many bus and taxi drivers out the front of Parliament House to receive a petition and a number of open letters addressed to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads. I have been advised that the minister refused to come out and meet with them. So for the benefit of the House, and particularly for the benefit of the minister, I want to table the petition and the open letters that were presented to me, in his absence, by many bus and taxi drivers who attended this rally. Tabled paper: Letters to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Hon. Scott Emerson, regarding bus and taxi drivers [3300]. Tabled paper: Petition regarding bus drivers [3301]. The many signatories call on the minister to do more to address the violence, the threats and the poor working conditions experienced by bus and taxi drivers daily. Some 4,000 Queenslanders have signed this petition and/or open letter. Mr Bleijie interjected. Ms TRAD: Figures acquired by the TWU, the Transport Workers Union—yes, it is a union; very insightful—indicated that there have been on average 50 assaults— Mr Bleijie: Your leader was the minister for transport. Your leader was the minister. What did she do for 12 months? Nothing! Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Cunningham): Order! The member for South Brisbane has the call. Ms TRAD: Figures acquired by the Transport Workers Union indicate that over the past 12 months in Queensland there have been on average 50 assaults a month on bus drivers. According to Bond University criminology researchers, fewer than 10 per cent of incidents are reported because drivers claim the process is too time consuming, because they do not want to cause a fuss and because they are worried about a backlash from management. The Transport Workers Union indicate drivers are inclined towards only recording— Government members interjected. Ms TRAD: It is obvious that those present are not interested in the poor working conditions and violence faced by taxidrivers and bus drivers regularly. Government members interjected. Ms TRAD: It would do them well to sit their quietly and listen to what thousands of Queenslanders are asking them to do in relation to guaranteeing the safety of people who transport passengers— Mr Bleijie interjected. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for South Brisbane. Ms TRAD: Every day we see bus drivers and taxidrivers being robbed and assaulted, both physically and verbally. No-one should have to live in fear while doing their job.

2808 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

The former Labor government had costed and committed to safety measures for buses on the Gold Coast—namely, duress alarms like the Brisbane City Council uses. So far, this LNP government has done nothing because they intend to do nothing, because the minister responsible is only interested in what is set for him to go out and prance about in. He does not want to tackle the big issues. He does not want to tackle the issues that are important to Queenslanders. Mr Bleijie interjected. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Attorney-General! Ms TRAD: Cross River Rail and safety for bus drivers— Mr Bleijie interjected. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Attorney-General! Ms TRAD: You are a juvenile, Attorney-General. You are a juvenile! Mr Bleijie: You sat on your hands for 12 years and did nothing. Ms TRAD: And you’re sitting on your hands now. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for South Brisbane, I remind you that you have already been warned under standing order 253A. I warn the Attorney-General under standing order 253A.

Maryborough Hospital Mrs MADDERN (Maryborough—LNP) (3.15 pm): As constituents in the Maryborough electorate know, one of my key passions has been to ensure an increase in services to the Maryborough Hospital. That process started a number of years ago when patients requiring dialysis had to be driven to Gympie three times a week—a nine-hour round trip—because there was no dialysis unit at the Maryborough Hospital. The community in Maryborough literally rose to the challenge and together we lobbied the then Labor government to renovate part of the Maryborough Hospital to install a dialysis unit. This has become the platform of what I call the LNP government’s rebirth of services at Maryborough Hospital—not the same type of hospital it used to be, but a hospital as part of a group of hospitals each providing centre of excellence care in various fields to patients on the Fraser Coast and the greater Wide Bay area. Services such as the centre of excellence in rehabilitation has now been established at the Maryborough Hospital. Today I want to talk about a different service—dental care. It was very satisfying to be advised of a significant reduction in waiting times for dental treatment through the Maryborough Hospital— down from 8.1 years to 6.6 years; a total of over 700 patients. The great thing is that reduction has been achieved in the short time frame of three months. It is an achievement of our LNP government. The Maryborough Hospital now has available 10 dental chairs. Two new dental chairs have been recently commissioned. This has involved some renovation work to accommodate the chairs. An additional dentist has also been employed. This is the first part of a two-pronged attack to reduce the waiting list. The second part of the process has been the issuing of what I have labelled vouchers to public patients so that they can have their dental treatment carried out by a private dentist. Not many of us are very keen on a trip to the dentist, but, according to a private dentist providing this service, patients are extremely pleased and excited to be able to access this treatment. I guess when they have been waiting up to eight years to have treatment then a trip to the dentist is an event to look forward to, particularly if they have been suffering with a toothache or have not been able to chew properly during that time. While this is a really pleasing outcome from the point of view of the patients, it is also likely to be a long-term bonus for the hospital as poor dental health often leads to chronic disease and that cost is imposed on our hospital system. To Maryborough residents I say, ‘You can be proud of the team working at the hospital. They are doing a great job. You can look forward to many more positive changes in the future.’

Hervey Bay Seafood Festival Mr SORENSEN (Hervey Bay—LNP) (3.18 pm): August is a great month in Hervey Bay. It is the month where we showcase what Hervey Bay has to offer. Many people from all around the region come to Hervey Bay for events such as the Seafood Festival, the celebrations for the start of the

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2809

whale-watching season, the blessing of the fleet and the illumination parade which took place on Saturday night and saw local schools, pipe bands, community groups and businesses put a great amount of effort into their floats to light up the city esplanade with colour and fanfare. This year’s Hervey Bay Seafood Festival saw some 10,000 people come through the gates. It is growing bigger and stronger each year under the professional guidance and efforts of Seafood Festival coordinators Elaine Lewthwaite and Michelle Fuchs and all their many helpers. Our commercial fishing industry in Hervey Bay employs hundreds of people, and I know that they enjoy showcasing the value of our seafood industry. It is a big industry in Hervey Bay and it does employ around 400 to 500 people. I do not mind tasting the renowned Hervey Bay scallops, the whiting and the king prawns. That is my idea of having a great time. The Seafood Festival was enjoyed and well attended by many colleagues as well. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, John McVeigh, had the pleasure of opening the Seafood Festival. Other members also came along. The member for Burnett, Stephen Bennett; the member for Maryborough, Anne Maddern; the Hon. Warren Truss; the retired member for Hinkler, Paul Neville; Senator Boswell; Senator Ian Macdonald; the candidate for Hinkler, Mr Keith Pitt; along with the Senate candidates Matt Canavan and Theresa Craig—thank you all for coming along. It was a great day. The Hervey Bay Seafood Festival is a premier event not to be missed and I hope to see you all again there next year. We also had the unveiling of the St Peter statue and memorial of those lives lost or perished at sea. St Peter takes pride of place on the rock wall at the Urangan marina, honouring those names on plaques at the base of the statue. St Peter is the patron saint of the fishermen and, while he ordains the names of those lost and perished at sea, he also guides and protects the fishermen as they go out to make their living—which can often be in dangerous seas. The sea can be really deadly. I would like to thank Nicky Schulz of Urangan Fisheries and Rob McLaughlin for all their efforts and all the sponsors and community groups who came together and made it happen. I would also like to thank Minister McVeigh for unveiling the St Peter statue.

South Sea Islanders, Sesquicentenary Mr KRAUSE (Beaudesert—LNP) (3.21 pm): This year marks the 150th anniversary of the landing of the first South Sea islanders in Queensland. On 15 August 1863, 150 years ago, the first group of 67 arrived on the Don Juan to work on a cotton plantation at Townsvale, near Beaudesert, in areas which later evolved into the areas of Veresdale and Woodhill, areas split by the Mount Lindesay Highway heading towards Beaudesert. Cotton was in strong demand at the time, owing to shortages arising due to the American Civil War, and landowner Robert Towns’ plantation was worked hard by the South Sea islanders for many years. Those who arrived 150 years ago this week were not the last. It was reported in the Brisbane Courier on 5 October 1866— ... during the past week, Captain Towns received another large addition of South Sea Islanders. They were brought up the river by Mr Pettigrew’s new steamer— that is, the Logan River. Over the next 40 years or so, an estimated 62,000 South Sea islanders arrived in Australia, doing work that was physically demanding for long hours. It was not the Australia we have today that they worked in. It was a pioneer country—there would have been a lot of hard work and they would have had to endure very hard living conditions for very little pay and in very poor conditions. As the Premier noted in his statement to the parliament on Tuesday, South Sea islanders contributed to the growth and prosperity of Queensland. It is true as well that they contributed to the early development of areas around Beaudesert, and the industry they worked in attracted other settlers and other economic development. The Premier noted also that, while some South Sea islanders came willingly, many did not—there being trickery and kidnapping involved in bringing to Queensland people to work in our industries. This weekend Minister Glen Elmes will join a commemorative ceremony at Gleneagle, near Beaudesert, commencing with a commemorative walk by members of the South Sea islander community, including Chief Richard Fandanumata, together with members of the Walker family, who are descendants of the original landowners, and they will be welcomed on to the property of Townsvale by elders from the Mununjali people. One hundred and fifty years on, Australian South Sea islanders will be welcomed on to Townsvale and as a community we will stop to remember.

2810 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

The Scenic Rim Regional Council is also holding a two-month exhibition titled Echoes: ASSI 150—A shared history of Beaudesert and the arrival of South Sea Islanders, and this will be launched tomorrow night. This exhibition has been prepared in partnership with the Beaudesert Historical Society and the Vanuatu-Australian South Sea islander community, with funding from the council and the Queensland government. I would like to thank the many people from the Beaudesert community who have supported this initiative. No doubt wrongs occurred in the past—that happens in societies. How we deal with the past, remember it and honour those who worked hard for little or no reward, who were discriminated against and many of whom were deported, is a matter for our society today. This week Beaudesert and the surrounding communities will pay tribute to Australia’s South Sea islanders.

Sale of Public Assets Mr KNUTH (Dalrymple—KAP) (3.24 pm): Yesterday I tabled a petition on behalf of 500 residents of the Tablelands Regional Council area. It states— The Petition of the residents of Tablelands Regional Council local government area wish to draw to the attention of the House the closure of the “old Agricultural College” facility on Tinaroo Creek Road Mareeba. This currently unutilised asset should not be sold off by the Queensland Government and should be retained and used as a specialised training hub to support and promote local industry. The “Old Agricultural College” has a long history of providing quality training in Far North Queensland. The facility has extensive specialised infrastructure that could be utilised by the many interested organisations for training, education and research for Queensland industry. We the residents of the Tablelands Regional council, call on the State Government to halt any decisions to sell the facility, and reinvigorate the Old Agricultural College to establish the Mareeba Training Hub. This is very simple. This is an iconic facility that provided research and extension for that region. It is important that that facility is not sold off, that that asset is not sold off and the proceeds used to fill the Treasury coffers, when it could be used to benefit the community. This is something that the region is very, very passionate at—securing and saving this asset, to be used for research and extension and, likewise, to give an opportunity for the local training facilities that are based on the Tablelands to also be able to access and use that facility where they can train people for the benefit of that area. It is a massive agricultural area and, likewise, it is an area where education is needed. It is important that we retain our assets. We have seen what has happened when Queensland Rail was sold, where $1.1 billion could have been going into state revenue right at this moment and, likewise, with the sale of our forestries. We have seen the railway from Townsville to Mount Isa— Mr Rickuss: Your Labor mates sold all of them. Mr KNUTH: That was sold; that is right. We saw the LNP government sit here until four o’clock in the morning and condemn the Labor government for that sale, but they are frothing at the mouth to sell our energy assets and they are frothing at the mouth to sell the water assets. They are frothing at the mouth because it is in the DNA of the LNP to sell assets, and they are frothing at the mouth. Why are they shedding crocodile tears? They are getting eight of 10 preferences, yet they are shedding crocodile tears because they believe they are born to rule. How dare you— (Time expired)

World Suicide Prevention Day Mr DAVIES (Capalaba—LNP) (3.27 pm): Australia is truly the lucky country. Mr Kempton: It will be on 7 September. Mr DAVIES: We hope so. This is a serious matter today. Australia is a lucky country. Australia is a country that is blessed with great resources and a wonderful lifestyle. But one of the real problems in Australia is suicide. I would like take this opportunity to highlight one of the real tragedies in our nation. We are a lucky country in many ways but a very unlucky country in other ways. Suicide is very much a First World or developing world problem. I have had the privilege of travelling across the Third World to countries which most of us would never want to live in. But one of the interesting things about going to places like Mozambique or Bangladesh is that in many of these places people do not commit suicide; they are just struggling to live and there is a sense of wanting to live. The suicide statistics in Australia are quite astounding: 2,100 people die every year by suicide, and that is basically one every four hours. As a person whose father succumbed to depression—and suicide became part of my world through that—I have been personally affected. The point about

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2811

suicide is that it does not just affect the person; it affects the wider family and it goes on and on. The statistics are that 2,100 people die by suicide each year, but they are the ones who are identified. I think in country Queensland there are a lot of single-vehicle accidents, and probably a lot of those are suicides as well. The statistics are that men in Australia are four times more likely to die by suicide than women, and Indigenous people are four times more likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous people. So it is an absolute crisis. In Queensland the suicide rate for children and young people is well above the national average. The number and rate of youth suicides have increased since 2004. Forty-two per cent of suicides were contagion or imitative suicides, which is where a number of suicides occur following an initial suicide. That is exactly what recently happened in Capalaba. A young girl committed suicide and soon after two or three other girls did the same. In light of this, the sister of the young girl, a very brave woman named Nicky Brummell Keyes, has organised a walk to raise awareness of suicide. Lifeline World Suicide Prevention Day is 7 September—which is a bit of a bummer for her because she planned it well before the election—and the walk starts at two o’clock at Capalaba Regional Park. It is about raising people’s awareness of this important issue. I commend it to the House and encourage all people to think about it.

South Sea Islanders, Sesquicentenary Mr KAYE (Greenslopes—LNP) (3.30 pm): Recently I had the honour of representing Ministers Elmes and Walker at the opening of an exhibition at South Bank to commemorate the rich and diverse contribution of the peoples of the South Sea islands in Queensland. The exhibition told a harrowing and little-known story of South Sea islander people who were bought to Australia between 1863 and 1904 for the purpose of providing cheap labour. Many Pacific islander nations contributed countrymen to work in cotton and sugar plantations, with the majority arriving from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. In a century where unskilled labour was cheap and plentiful, many of these workers were deceived into coming to Australia with promises of a better life, but were instead forced to work long hours for little or no wages while living in extremely poor conditions. More often than not, the workers’ under-age children were forced into labour to meet demand as well. Battling disconnection from their culture, fatigue, chronic illness and even death, thousands were deported back to their countries of origin between 1906 and 1908. Some were just dropped off at the first island they came to—which was not necessarily their home. Those who remained and their descendants were confronted with harsh restrictions on their work, racial discrimination and significant social disadvantage. How they came to be here and what they went through is part of our shared history as Queenslanders but it is not, sadly, a story that all Queenslanders have heard. That is what makes this exhibition so important. The exhibitions at the Cultural Precinct celebrate our Australian South Sea islander community through seminars, photographic displays, music and storytelling while also acknowledging a troubled and difficult past. This is a great example of the arts providing a wonderful platform for communicating and interpreting different cultures, histories and stories, and where arts and cultural diversity meet to bring us together, break down barriers and increase our understanding and appreciation of each other. It is appropriate that this moment in history is acknowledged by our state’s cultural institutions. The 150th anniversary year also provides an opportunity for the Queensland government to reaffirm its commitment to the Australian South Sea islander community. In recognition of this significant milestone, the government has supported a number of initiatives in 2013 including the historic Vanuatu-Australian South Sea Islander 150th Anniversary Invitational Rugby League Tour of Queensland. This exhibition has provided everyday Queenslanders with an opportunity to learn more of this little-known history, to acknowledge past mistakes and to celebrate the rich diversity that our Australian South Sea islander brothers and sisters bring to our community. As I spoke to those gathered last week, I was struck by the enduring resilience of these communities, their irrepressible joy and their willingness to embrace all that it is to be Australian while trying to retain their own cultural traditions. Australian South Sea islanders are rightly proud of their heritage and continue to maintain their identity as well as links back to their homelands. I hope the events held in this Cultural Precinct and across Queensland for the 150th anniversary year enable Australian South Sea islanders to commemorate and celebrate their cultural identity. I also trust that it will give all Queenslanders the chance to connect with and acknowledge the Australian South Sea islander community’s significance in our state’s history.

2812 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

Lockyer Electorate Mr RICKUSS (Lockyer—LNP) (3.33 pm): I rise to make a brief statement today about a few issues that are relevant to the Lockyer Valley. Unfortunately, during the recent floods and disasters that have occurred in my electorate some illegal activity has also occurred. Recently someone was charged in the Southport courthouse for fraud of several hundred thousand dollars. Some allegations have been made, and I will table some documents that relate to some issues that need investigating. Tabled paper: Correspondence from the member for Lockyer, Mr Ian Rickuss MP, to the acting chairperson of the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Dr Ken Levy, regarding work undertaken at Grantham [3302]. It is unfortunate that these sorts of things happen, but sometimes out of chaos people try to take advantage of situations. I would like to raise another issue about the traffic at Withcott in the Toowoomba range. We all know that a lot of roadwork is happening around the state, and a lot of that roadwork is desperately needed as we try to catch up on the backlog left by the previous mismanagement of the Labor government. It is important that this work is done. The member for Toowoomba North would agree that the work being done on the range now is vitally important and will improve the flow of traffic through the local area. It is more than likely that in a few weeks time there will be a real push to get the Toowoomba bypass done as well. I would say that will come to the fore in the very near future. Mr Watts: Pushing hard. Mr RICKUSS: Pushing hard; that is right. Everyone who drives through the Toowoomba range realises the need for the Toowoomba bypass. It will be of great benefit to the communities when it occurs. It will benefit even electorates such as the member for Gregory’s. A lot of freight goes via the Toowoomba range and the savings that will be produced by the bypass will be great. Withcott itself is the unfortunate village at the bottom of the range which has thousands of trucks and cars travelling through it every day. It is a lovely village that has a major highway right through the middle of it. The problem is that it is still on probably a 10 to 15 per cent grade. A lot of trucks, particularly those coming eastbound, and other vehicles are travelling at excess speeds. I have been working really hard to try to get a set speed camera in the area. It is one of those few communities which wants a fixed speed camera in the area. It will be an asset to the community. I have had correspondence with the police minister and I have had discussions with the transport minister as well. One thing we need to keep pushing for is safer roads. We do not want people killed on the Warrego Highway. Unfortunately, the Warrego Highway is quite a dangerous strip of road. We need to improve people’s attitude to driving as well. It is not only the highway; it is also their attitude to driving.

Katter’s Australian Party Mr HOPPER (Condamine—KAP) (3.36 pm): That was a good speech, Ian. In the last two days we have seen a massive attack on the Katter’s Australian Party in this House. It is an attack that I have not seen the likes of since first being elected to this chamber. Why have we seen this attack? I have got wind that the LNP have done internal polling. What does their internal polling tell them? Their internal polling tells them that they are going to lose the seat of Maranoa. They are going to lose the seat of Wide Bay. They are going to lose the seat of Capricornia. They are going to lose the seat of Wright. We are going to get at least one senator up in Queensland and we will win the seat of Kennedy back. That is what LNP polling is saying. That is why we have seen the barrage of attacks. Government members interjected. Mr HOPPER: Listen to these poor little backbenchers yap, yap, yap away. We saw the LNP preference the Greens— Government members interjected. Mr HOPPER: Can we stop the clock, please? Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Cunningham): Order! I call the member for Condamine. Mr HOPPER: We saw the LNP preference the Greens to put Adam Bandt in federal parliament. Their preferences put a Greens senator in parliament. How could we ever see these hypocrites sit in this chamber when they preference the Greens? They are also preferencing the Labor Party before some of the minor parties. It is the Greens who are totally against live exports. They want to ban the live export market totally. It was Katter’s Australian Party which worked with the cockies in the west to call that meeting for Richmond. I myself was on my phone hook-ups with those property owners to arrange that meeting in Richmond. What did we then see? We saw it hijacked by

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2813

the LNP. Then we saw the federal government put $60 million on the table so that our drought- stricken farmers would not commit suicide. Then we had to crawl on our hands and knees to an inexperienced, first-term agriculture minister to get that $60 million released. That is what we had to do. It was Katter’s Australian Party that got that money for those cockies in the west. It is as simple as that. We have seen an inexperienced agriculture minister who failed to move while farmers were shooting themselves. That is what we have seen. We have also seen that same inexperienced agriculture minister this week launch an attack on the Katter’s Australian Party. Why? Because he knows we mean business. Why have we seen the pay rise stop? Why have we seen the school asset sales stop? Because the feds said, ‘Don’t do it because the polling is too bad. The Katter’s Australian Party is going to win five seats.’

Townsville, V8 Supercars Mr HATHAWAY (Townsville—LNP) (3.39 pm): I take this opportunity to highlight one of Townsville’s biggest events on the tourism calendar, the Townsville 400 V8 Supercars, which was held last month. I also take the opportunity to put on record my thanks to the Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games for all her efforts in securing the races for Queensland for another three years. Mr Rickuss interjected. Mr HATHAWAY: I did indeed. The event has been held in my electorate for five years and has gone from strength to strength. It is a significant contributor to both the local economy and, more importantly, the branding of Townsville as a tourist and events destination. Our state government acknowledges that all three V8 Supercar events—held in Townsville in July, Ipswich at the end of last month and the Gold Coast in October—provide benefits to all the local communities and businesses as well as providing a very significant boost to the state’s economy. That is why this government has secured the three V8 Supercar events for another three years. This is great news for not only V8 Supercars fans, but also tourism operators. This agreement with the V8 Supercars supports tourism, one of our four pillars to grow Queensland’s economy. The three races generate almost 200,000 visitor nights and over $60 million in economic benefits to the state. Investing in this event forms part of our goal to double annual overnight visitor expenditure to $30 billion by 2020. The V8 Supercars event in Townsville attracts holiday-makers from across Australia to our city and the event is broadcast across the world which, in turn, showcases our tourism destination to both the domestic and international markets. It continues to draw very strong crowds. We can already see from data collected at last year’s event by the School of Business at James Cook University that there are significant benefits to both the local economy and the tourism sector. According to the JCU research, the 2012 event injected about $30 million into our local economy. We also had increases in visitors from New South Wales. As we know, one of the best forms of tourism marketing is word of mouth. When visitors have a great experience in Townsville, they then go back and tell their family and friends. That is why this year we concentrated on ensuring visitor satisfaction. This year I was part of the Townsville 400 committee which launched the ‘Cabassadors’ and ‘Ambussadors’—the bus drivers—initiative. We recognise that the lasting memories of a visit to a city are the first and last impressions and often they involve our cabbies and bus drivers. That initiative was tremendously successful. I thank the minister for securing for three years the events for Queensland V8s.

Adopt-a-Cop Mr DILLAWAY (Bulimba—LNP) (3.42 pm): I would like to take the opportunity today to congratulate Acting Senior Constable Carl Rohweder, who has been an outstanding adopt-a-cop for Morningside State School in the Bulimba electorate over the past five years. Acting Senior Constable Carl has been rewarded for this role by taking out the south-side district and, most recently, the regional Adopt-a-Cop 2013 Awards and is now in the running for the state award. The winner will be announced during Child Protection Week from 1 September to 7 September 2013. I have witnessed firsthand on a number of occasions how Acting Senior Constable Carl is enthusiastic in his duties and responsibilities and has been a great ambassador for the QPS in representing the service in a positive, proactive role for not only the students at Morningside State School, but also the broader local community. He actively encourages communications between students and any police officers they encounter. Adopt-a-cops are usually a child’s first active interaction with any member of the police, and this interaction allows important lessons on local issues to be taught to a whole school community.

2814 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

Acting Senior Constable Carl also volunteers his time to arrange and attend a variety of functions ranging from bicycle engraving for students to lectures and presentations to students and parents surrounding travel safe, personal safety and bullying. In the weeks preceding Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, Acting Senior Constable Carl entranced the children through his firsthand experience as a military officer by promoting awareness of the days’ meaning and traditions and invoked active participation by the students on the day. Acting Senior Constable Carl is also an active participant on the school’s P&C committee as a past president and current vice-president. He is always getting in there and doing the heavy lifting when it comes to raising money for the school and at working bees. His work ethic is of the highest standard; he gives of himself above what is expected and is equally committed to his policing duties and his adopt-a-cop duties with such passion. The local schools in the Bulimba electorate have a number of dedicated and highly respected adopt-a-cops including Senior Constable Chris Hebblethwaite, who looks after Seven Hills and Murarrie. Like acting Senior Constable Carl, he was nominated by his school also to be the adopt-a-cop of the year. There is also Sergeant Jose, Senior Constable Jo, Senior Constable Tracey, Constables Kieran and Natalie and Detective Senior Constable Shaun and Plain Clothes Constable Belinda. The Adopt-a-Cop program is a great way to educate children on how to keep safe, identify risk and apply safe practices. It maintains strong ties with the community. That is why the Newman government has committed to providing an additional 15 school based police officers across the state. Our government is firmly committed, in both our intent and our continued financial contribution, to community policing and crime prevention. I will continue to work proactively to ensure that my local schools have ties to our local police to enable an important partnership to continue into the future. I say thank you to all the adopt-a-cops who work in the Bulimba community and best of luck, Acting Senior Constable Carl, for the state award.

Katter’s Australian Party Mr JOHNSON (Gregory—LNP) (3.45 pm): The people of the federal electorate of Kennedy are represented in the federal parliament by the ‘Katter’s Australian Labor Party’. That is a result of the words voiced in this parliament last Tuesday night by the ‘Katter’s Australian Labor Party’. He stated— Every preference we give will not be counted because we are only going to preference in the seats that we will win. We heard virtually the same comment made here this afternoon when the member for Condamine said that they would win five seats in Queensland. That means that we are going to see the ‘Katter Australian Labor Party’ now preference the Labor Party so they can keep Kevin Rudd in Canberra. I have news for the Katter party and for the Labor Party and I also have news for the member for Condamine. It was Joe Ludwig who pulled the rug out from under the live cattle exports and it was John McVeigh and Joel Fitzgibbon who were the first ones to sign up for that concessional loan to the beef producers of Northern Australia. As a result of the actions of Joe Ludwig, we have seen people virtually dying at the stake in North Queensland because they have no market for their cattle as there are no live exports. Looking at what happens in Queensland, Meat & Livestock Australia reports that the June quarter decline saw a 50 per cent reduction in the numbers to Indonesia, at 23,291 head, which carried the fiscal year total to 271,000. Before they pulled the rug out from under this industry, it was up at about 770,000. Beef is Queensland’s largest agricultural industry. Gross value of cattle sales and processing was worth $4.8 billion in 2011-12 with Queensland meatworks processing 3.55 million head. The real losers here are the local businesses of North Queensland, the meat producers themselves, the transport operators, the helicopter mustering operators, the contract mustering operators but, more importantly, those men and women who are losing their blood, sweat and tears every day because people like this crew in the corner, who have now left the chamber, and Bob Katter, who got his life out of this party—the National Party and now the LNP in Queensland. Talk about prostituting your values— (Time expired)

Catalina A24-24 Crash, Anniversary Mrs MENKENS (Burdekin—LNP) (3.49 pm): Last Saturday I was privileged to attend a special commemorative event in the electorate of Burdekin when Bowen stopped to remember the 14 men who died when a Catalina A24-24 crashed off Bowen during World War II. The 70th anniversary commemorations were well attended. A large crowd gathered at Front Beach for a service and the

22 Aug 2013 Private Members’ Statements 2815

unveiling of a memorial stone listing the names of the casualties. According to the Australian national shipwreck database, the Catalina wreck off Bowen, serial number A24-24, crashed into the sea after gunnery practice about nine nautical miles north north-east of the Don River mouth at about 3 pm on 17 August 1943. During World War II Bowen was home to a Catalina maintenance base, and it is believed that 15½ months after its first flight into Bowen, the 20 Squadron RAAF aircraft was flying low when the port wing of the Catalina hit choppy water and crashed into the sea. It was the largest fatality toll in regards to a Catalina crash during World War II in Bowen. Its captain, Flying Officer Peter Keene, and five crew—Pilot Officer Stanley John Porteous, navigator Sergeant Raymond Charles Ciglander, Sergeant Leslie George Dalgleish, Sergeant Harold Stuart Thomas, Leading Aircraftman Ainslie Ivor Dent—and eight Army Media Corps personnel passengers—Captain Lawrence Edward Tansey, Acting Captain Donald Charles Whitfield, Staff Sergeant Leslie Harry Harrison, Sergeant Robert Ronald Harrison, Sergeant Lloyd George Fiske, Private Douglas McLaine, Private Irvine George Osbourne and Private Kenneth Reginald Walker—were killed. Two crew members, Aircraftman 1st Class Cyril Leslie Edwards and Sergeant Robin Fowler, survived the crash and were pulled from the water. Saturday’s 70th anniversary commemorations event ambassador Shane Porteous—best known for his role as Dr Terrence Elliot from the long-running television series A Country Practice— lost his father, Pilot Officer Stanley John Porteous, in the crash, and it was extremely touching as he shared his personal story. In 1988 when Shane had been invited to Stanthorpe for a celebration, a gentleman came up to him and said that he remembered the actor’s first birthday on 17 August 1943. As a young boy, the gentleman had only started working in his first job as a messenger and had delivered a telegram to Shane’s mother from Shane’s father which wished Shane a happy first birthday. The messenger left, thinking how lovely his job was delivering such happy news. However, the very next morning he was called upon to deliver another telegram to Shane’s mother, this time with the news that her husband had died on his son’s first birthday. At Saturday’s commemorations about 20 family members travelled by boat to lay wreaths at the crash site. It was wonderful to see so many family members able to come from across Australia. Bowen will continue to honour this wartime tragedy and perpetuate the memories of those lives lost. (Time expired)

Work Ethic Mrs OSTAPOVITCH (Stretton—LNP) (3.52 pm): I rise to speak on the hope, reward and opportunity that made Australia the great nation that it is today. I compare this with the perplexing attitude of some Labor government supporters, who appear fuelled by envy and hatred of those who have achieved success. They denigrate what millions of Australians understand are the well-earned rewards of hard work and sacrifice. My family understands the value of the dollar. My husband and I literally built our first home with our own hands. I lifted concrete besser blocks on to walls while I was pregnant with my second child. That is the kind of work ethic I have had all my life, and it is also why my business flourished. To this day I work days, nights and weekends for my community, and the people of Stretton know that because they tell me that they see me everywhere. I come from a migrant family who came to this country with just their suitcases, but they understood that Australia was the land of opportunity with rewards for work. My husband and I, much like the Howard government—and indeed this government—have made wise business decisions, and we made sacrifices to pay off debt. We used good debt to build a strong household economy in order to educate our sons, become self-reliant and provide for our retirement without the need of a pension. I am proud of what I have achieved in my life before public service and, I might add, without a university degree. My success is testament to the fact that if I can do it, then anyone can. Nothing gives me greater joy than to see others achieve their dreams, and that is why I believe so passionately about mentoring and self-improvement. It is time to restore the ethos of rewarding work by voting out socialist parties like those from which so many Europeans and Asians have fled. We need a grown-up government that understands how important it is to reward those who work and pay taxes; a government that believes it is evil to saddle our children with debt because a few people want faster internet to download movies. We need a government that leads by example so that our children grow up understanding that self-esteem comes from accomplishment—not

2816 Private Members’ Statements 22 Aug 2013

necessarily from big ones, but from the satisfaction of achieving many little goals that improve their lives and hopefully the lives of others. Every human being needs to live a life with purpose. I end with the quote— You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.

Weinam Creek, Priority Development Area Mr DOWLING (Redlands—LNP) (3.54 pm): I seek leave to table a non-conforming petition. Leave granted. Tabled paper: Non-conforming petition regarding increases to electricity tariffs [3303]. Mr DOWLING: I rise today to update the House on the progress of the priority development area Weinam Creek. A most exciting community engagement process occurred last week on Russell Island and the Redland Bay community hall. I believe that between those two meetings there were in excess of 200 people voicing their ideas and their suggestions as to how we can redevelop that vital piece of infrastructure. Mr Walker: It is a great project! Mr DOWLING: I do take the interjection from the minister for arts and IT. It supports two of our four pillars: constriction and tourism. Based on the feedback and the comments made to me at those two events, we will see the most amazing transformation of a car park wasteland into a tourist attraction which will become a seamless environment in which to transition between bus, car and ferry and vice versa. But the big question was what can a PDA deliver? Within reason, the sky is the limit. The only given is that it remain a transport hub for the island communities on the southern Moreton Bay islands. It is also a public transport hub for the wider community and a car park facility for the bay, island residents and boaties accessing Moreton Bay. It is a most precious piece of public open space, and the attendance and input from the community is testimony to the importance that this piece of my electorate plays in the community. The ideas were free flowing and inclusive. If it is done correctly, we can have a showpiece transport gateway home to SMBI for the first time, offering a real opportunity for tourism to the bay: fishing tourism, pleasure craft, marinas and charter boats—both fishing and diving. It will offer parking choices to meet the various needs and uses of that precinct such as: buying a car park space; annual lease arrangements similar to those currently available; perhaps some metered short-stay parking; and obviously some free parking. Part of any attraction will be a vibrant foreshore parkland similar to quality waterfront communities we see around the state and around the world, incorporating cafes and restaurants and passive activities. It should be a family-friendly precinct with waterfront parklands which draw people from far and wide, and there should be marinas for boating which complement and enhance the current facilities. The accommodation possibilities should include a residential mix with a good balance of commercially viable whole-of-precinct planning, because that is what this government does. It is a people place. I would also put on record my thanks to the Redland City Council for embracing this opportunity, Mayor Karen Williams for leading that charge and the minister for recognising this neglected part of Queensland, which was left abandoned for so long under 20 years of Labor. It can become a place of which to be proud.

Kallangur Electorate, Schools Mr RUTHENBERG (Kallangur—LNP) (3.57 pm): Today I want to brag a little bit about some of the accomplishments of some of the schools in my community. Firstly I would like to talk about Undurba State School. On Sunday night the school’s aerobics team, the Undurba Dazzlers, competed at the state finals at Ormiston College. After many months of training the team came first and have been named the state champions. But wait, there’s more! The Undurba Dazzlers went on to compete in the national competition in August at the Gold Coast, where they performed very well and came a credible fifth. I understand the competition was very close. Coach Trudy Gribble has worked very hard to prepare the girls for the competition, and the community is very proud of their efforts. The Undurba Dazzlers are: Caitlin Green, Courtney Barry, Sophie Plank, Jacinta Williams, Olivia Stelzer, Peyton Mazlin, Kiara Costello, Mio Tardy and Tahlia Ellis. Congratulations to the new state champions—the Undurba Dazzlers! I note that Murrumba State Secondary College also had a team coached by Trudy that came sixth at the national event. That is a great outcome for these two fantastic schools and a wonderful testament to the expertise, dedication and sheer hard work on Trudy’s behalf. Thank you, Trudy, for

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2817

being such a great contributor to our community. I now want to brag just a little bit about Dakabin State School, particularly Mr Tony McNee, the school’s HPE teacher. Recently the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation awarded Mr McNee the very prestigious award of the Quality PE Teacher of the Year. This award recognises the significant contributions made by an individual member or teacher in a Queensland primary or secondary school to the promotion of active and healthy lifestyles amongst the student body, teacher cohort or student and local community. Further, because of Tony’s work, the school’s HPE program was also recognised with an award. I congratulate Mr McNee for his excellent contribution to our community. Good job, Tony! In the time remaining I simply want to extend to my wife’s family condolences on the death of my wife’s mother earlier this week. Yesterday we attended her funeral. Fay Isabella Grieshaber was a phenomenal stable rock for my wife’s family. She provided a great deal of comfort and love to that family. You would walk into the house and see this humongous kitchen table. No matter who you were or what you were or what your association, dinner was always waiting. It was always a stew and pikelets with apple pie afterwards. My condolences to my wife’s family.

Gladstone Electorate Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (4.01 pm): When people think of Gladstone, they do not automatically think of tourism: heavy industry, yes; port and shipping, yes; coal and bulk commodities, yes; construction, yes. However, I want to draw the chamber’s attention to a Pandora’s box of experiences in my region as well as an industry focus. Herron Island is a well-known destination and Quoin Island is being revitalised. Mr Grimwade interjected. Mrs CUNNINGHAM: Yes, it is a great place. The Boyne-Tannum region has beautiful beaches and wonderful people. There is Awoonga Dam with its houseboats, and that particular business is still recovering from the floods. If you want a land based experience, there is Kroombit Tops inland from the Gladstone coastline. There are several farm based experiences—farmers who have expanded and will provide a living experience on a working property. There are also industry tours. You can hop on a bus and go to most of the major industries and have a look at these monoliths operating on a daily basis. There are many galleries, museums and artists groups. There is Arts on Goondoon and Cedar Galleries, which has lots to see and which also provides a wedding venue. The Calliope River Historical Village is run by volunteers and has one of the best collections of homes, old equipment and pastimes. The volunteer committee that holds the historical village together does an amazing job of ensuring that these historic buildings are not lost to the community but are aggregated on that site to allow visitors. Approximately once a month there are markets at the village and they are very well supported and attended, and that is the major fundraiser for the village. Over the years it has done an incredible job. Pulling all of these experiences and opportunities together is Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Ltd. While it also has an industry focus, it provides a central place for people to get information about these experiences that visitors and residents can have in the Gladstone region. I commend all of our small businesses that contribute to the opportunities in the Gladstone region and would encourage visitors to remember that it is not just about big industry; it is also about some wonderful and relaxing times in what I would say is arguably the best region of Queensland.

QUEENSLAND BUILDING SERVICES AUTHORITY AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading Resumed from p. 2797 on motion of Mr Mander— That the bill be now read a second time. Mr CAVALLUCCI (Brisbane Central—LNP) (4.04 pm): I rise to make a short contribution to the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. As someone who has spent a lifetime in the building industry before entering politics, I say from the outset how proud I am to be a member of this government which is setting up a new independent Queensland Building and Construction Commission to replace the Queensland Building Services Authority as part of the biggest change to the industry regulator in 22 years. Our government was determined to hold a much needed review of the BSA. The review centred around five key areas: (1) the building and construction industry being one of the four pillars which will underpin the state’s future prosperity; (2) a parliamentary committee inquiry into the operation and performance of the BSA that identified 41 recommendations;

2818 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

(3) establishing a review panel; (4) the government’s response consisting of a 10-point action plan of reforms for a more effective building regulator; and (5) the action plan setting out a series of reforms across all aspects of the building and construction industry. The Newman government’s 10-point action plan focuses on several key things. First, it will replace the Queensland Building Services Authority with a new entity called the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. Second, it will install a professional governing board with appropriate committees and establish an appropriate commission structure with functional business units headed by their own general managers. The first two actions will be progressed immediately. Actions 3 to 6 will be progressed as soon as possible, with oversight by the implementation committee. Three, it will establish appropriate mechanisms of review. Fourth, it will develop an improved suite of domestic building contracts. Fifth, it will review licensing and compliance requirements. Sixth, it will develop improved education and training processes for homeowners and consumers. Actions 7 to 10 will be considered by the implementation committee, including consultation with stakeholders before recommendations are made on implementation. Seventh, in conjunction with the review into the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004, it will consider the development and implementation of a rapid domestic adjudication model to fast-track domestic building disputes with mandated response time lines. Eighth, it will retain the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme under government ownership and review the current Queensland Home Warranty Scheme to provide greater definition and clarity. Ninth, it will review the role of private certifiers with an emphasis on probity, conflicts of interest, quality and an appropriate penalty regime for failure to perform. Finally, No. 10, it will expand the licensing role of the new QBCC. These are long-awaited and much needed changes for the industry. As I mentioned before, having worked in the industry for the past 15 years as part of my family business before entering politics, I can assure all honourable members that the Newman government’s 10-point plan is welcome news for industry leaders and small businesses around the state. In developing this response, the government was mindful that the implementation of a number of initiatives, particularly with respect to domestic building works, should entail a public benefit assessment and proceed in accordance with the principles of minimising red tape and minimising the cost to consumers of building or renovating a home. The Newman government’s response is comprehensive and will result in a wholesale reform of the QBSA, which, as I have said before, will be an exciting development for those in the industry or who rely on the industry. In short, like any organisation that has been in place for 22 years, overhaul and renewal is needed. It has been in place without review or assessment for far too long. That is why I am delighted to speak on this legislation and welcome the announcements made by Minister Mander today in the form of the government’s 10-point plan. The Newman government will implement the action plan in stages and with proper consultation with the industry, as we do in all cases. Due to the time it may take to fully consider certain recommendations and undertake, where required, regulatory impact statements, this will take time, but the government is determined to work with the industry and get this right. If this is to be true to form, which is what the industry so desperately wants, we absolutely need to get it right. The first stage is to implement the legislation which establishes the commission, together with the roles and responsibilities of a governing board and the commissioner as chief executive. This is the right thing to do. Furthermore, a number of actions are being referred for implementation by the QBSA/QBCC, with oversight by the implementation committee. Action items requiring further investigation will be considered by the implementation committee, including consultation with stakeholders, before recommendations are made to government. In summary, the initiatives outlined in the action plan will reform the supervision of the building and construction industry and, as I said, that will be implemented progressively. The minister has said that he expects that the new commission will be established by the end of this year, with the professional governing board and the commissioner in place shortly after that. It is anticipated that the implementation of the remaining initiatives may take up to 12 months after the appointment of the governing board. The building and construction industry is one of the four pillars of economic growth in Queensland. As such the government is committed to a strong building and construction industry. This action plan provides solid foundations for the industry to flourish in the future. I am pleased that Minister Mander has said that the new governing board will have real control over the future directions and performance of the commission and will report directly to him. This is a positive step forward. I am delighted to join with Minister Mander and speak to this important legislation and welcome its introduction to the parliament for debate. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I am proud to be a member of this government—a government that is focused on delivering for Queenslanders and

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2819

engaging with important industries that provide so much benefit across our state. That is why I am delighted to welcome the minister’s release of our 10-point action plan to reform building regulation in response to the 41 recommendations that were handed down last year after the parliamentary committee conducted its inquiry. I commend the bill to the House. Mr BENNETT (Burnett—LNP) (4.10 pm): I rise to speak in support of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill, which seeks to facilitate major reforms to building industry regulations. As a result of these reforms the Queensland building industry will be able to look to the future confident in the knowledge that we have put in place the best industry regulator in the country. With reference to the contribution made by the honourable member for Rockhampton, I was very disappointed that he failed to acknowledge that the system was in desperate need of reform. I can share with the member many examples of the failures of the QBSA—the small mum-and-dad builders in my electorate who were not paid and who have gone broke or families who have spent their life savings building their dream home but who have limited protections or enforceable rulings to give them some confidence in maintaining a home and getting support when things have gone wrong. I am not saying that it is all bad, either. I have had a long professional association with many staff of the QBSA, some of whom work very hard with professional integrity all within the framework of the old QBSA. For many years I worked in project management and construction management working on government projects and I remain disappointed with many issues around the security of payments, the BCIPA projects and many times when subcontractors were owed large amounts of money, especially in rural and remote Queensland, all ending up with very poor outcomes. I have also had 35 years experience in the building industry. I am a licensed builder and I have been a member of the housing association for the last 15 years. I know that the vast majority of builders and contractors set out to do the right thing in the way they carry out their works and administer their contracts. I also know that there are some practices that need some scrutiny. What is more, I know that it can be easy for misunderstandings to happen between builders and consumers. For the majority of the time, these misunderstandings are easily solved, but some of them escalate into a dispute process that is extremely draining both financially and emotionally for all parties. I am certainly not alone in having witnessed such situations. The committee reported that during its inquiry it consulted widely with consumer and industry groups as well as numerous individual consumers and builders. The committee also received over 100 submissions. The key finding was that the vast majority of building projects were completed without dispute. Nonetheless, in 2011-12 there were 4,726 complaints lodged with the QBSA, with 896 directions to rectify issued. That is still many Queenslanders having to endure an extremely stressful experience. The committee’s report sets out a number recommendations that will reduce the number of disputes, make the dispute-resolution process easier and grow confidence in the industry. This bill addresses some of those recommendations by establishing the Queensland Building and Construction Commission to replace the QBSA. The structure of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission will create a clear divide between the roles of licensing, dispute resolution and the home warranty scheme—a step that disposes of much of the muddy water that was the result of the one-stop shop structure of the QBSA. I also agree with the approach of having an accountable board that will actively drive the strategic direction and policies of the commission and that reports directly to the minister on matters regarding performance and issues that affect the two key industry stakeholders, builders and consumers. That is in contrast to the existing QBSA board, which serves only in an advisory capacity and has no real authority. Having no real authority makes it difficult for the board to take real action and get results that improve the industry. I say to the member for Rockhampton that I have had many personal experiences with the previous manager of the QBSA and found him quite responsive to my needs. The staff of the QBSA, particularly here in Brisbane, have been very good but sometimes their capacity to deliver has been limited. I turn now to another issue that I have seen plague the industry and for which the new Queensland board will be responsible for in providing advice to the minister. One of the biggest minefields for building industry subcontractors to tread is when they are not getting paid by a building contractor. It is an area that causes a great deal of stress as subcontractors try to strike a balance between being paid what they are entitled to and the ever-present threat of jeopardising future work. It is not uncommon to see subcontractors led down a path by major principal contracting firms with the promise of future work, the promise of the next job, the promise of the next progress claim, but all ending in tears. It is a minefield that people who are just trying to make an honest living should not

2820 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

have to walk through. I welcome those provisions in the bill that, under the QBCC, allow the board to advise the minister directly about the unfair practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors. It is a major issue and it really is disturbing to see mum-and-dad building companies, plumbing firms and others struggling to pay their bills as a result of unscrupulous operators. We need a building industry in which people who have developed their skills can confidently go about their business knowing that they will not be exploited. In turn, we also need our builders to be confident that their businesses cannot be brought to their knees financially any time there is a dispute. We need consumers to be confident that our building industry has its act together and is being led by an authority that has a clear direction. I commend the Minister for Housing and Public Works and his team for their work in formulating this bill. I commend the staff, and particularly the minister, for the appropriations bills that we have to look at as members of our committees. I think this bill is a great step forward. I commend the work that the minister has undertaken in his portfolio of Housing and Public Works. With those few words, I commend the bill to the House and I look forward to future directions from the Minister for Housing and Public Works. Mrs MENKENS (Burdekin—LNP) (4.16 pm): I must say that I enjoyed listening to the contribution of the previous speaker, the member for Burnett. Mr Cripps: Very sensible. Mrs MENKENS: Yes. I take that interjection. As Minister Cripps said, it was a very sensible contribution. The member for Burnett certainly outlined the experience that he has had as a builder and also his experience with the Building Services Authority. It is really good when we have members who have hands-on experience of an issue. They understand the issues at hand. So many of us have to rely on submissions and what we hear from the community about an issue. I certainly commend the member for Burnett for the presentation that he gave. I am very happy to rise to speak in support of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. I congratulate the Minister for Housing and Public Works, the Hon. Tim Mander, and those associated with the introduction of the bill to the House. Eight per cent of the people employed in the Burdekin electorate are employed in the construction industry. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics census of population and housing for 2011, that industry employs the most number of people in my electorate second to agriculture. Of course, agriculture is the main driver of employment in the Burdekin electorate—and I have to get a plug in here—as it is the largest sugar-growing area in Queensland. Like other industries, the construction industry has been affected by the global financial crisis, with many builders and trade workers struggling to survive within a stifled economy. With the downturn in the resources industry, in my electorate I have seen the effects of that with many contractors who have been affected. However, we are being positive and looking to the future. In talking to builders and members of the construction industry, I am told that for quite some time the Queensland Building Services Authority—the BSA—has been in much need of a complete overhaul. I am sure that it was with great relish that the minister tackled this real renovator’s delight— renovating the BSA, not a building. This bill will amend the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991. I note that the parliamentary committee, under the good leadership of Howard Hobbs, the member for Warrego, and his team, conducted extensive consultation prior to tabling its report in parliament on 30 November last year. The Department of Housing and Public Works consulted with industry, licensees, builders, consumer groups and individual consumers in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Rockhampton. During the public inquiry into the operation and performance of the Building Services Authority and via submissions the BSA was sometimes described as a toothless tiger. This happened on more than one occasion. As Mr Warwick Temby, the executive director of the Housing Industry Association pointed out, it has been 20 years or thereabouts since the BSA was established and by and large its functions and operations have not changed all that much over the last 20 years but the housing industry in particular has changed dramatically over that time. It was good to hear the balanced arguments from consumers who the BSA aims to protect—because their aim is to protect consumers—but also from the other side of the fence, from members of the construction industry. In our electorate offices, as members of parliament we often hear from constituents who have complaints. They may be complaints against builders, they may be complaints against the BSA. As the Housing Industry Association pointed out from the other side of the equation, there is an absolute epidemic in Queensland right now of consumers and developers exploiting the depressed conditions that we have in the home building industry and refusing to pay. That has a huge impact. The inquiry

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2821

was told it is particularly an issue in the renovation market. There are many, many instances of consumers taking illegal possession of a home without paying and then going to the BSA looking to get whatever work they think is defective fixed under the BSA’s Home Warranty Scheme. The builder is still out of pocket and then has to wait in a queue for two or three years at QCAT. It has also been relayed to me, ‘Who would want to be in business or, worse still, be a builder or work in construction in Queensland?’ They are the themes I know the minister has been looking at. Key themes considered in the consultation process included dispute resolution, the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, licensing and the role, structure and governance of the Queensland Building Services Authority. The views of industry and consumer stakeholders were taken into account by the government when considering an appropriate structure for the reformed building authority and the board. The construction area is one of the four pillars of economic growth in Queensland. This Newman government is committed to a strong building and construction industry. This long awaited overhaul of the BSA has been welcomed by peak industry groups and consumers, home builders and renovators alike. Ultimately we want to see fewer disputes, fewer cases going to QCAT and faster resolution of those disputes that do arise. Ultimately we also want to see construction moving forward in Queensland with the aim of a simpler and less complex system put in place, an improvement of consumer awareness, the reduction of red tape on business and the professional development of licensees and contractors providing a much needed boost in jobs in this state while also having the security of payment for services rendered. The replacement of the QBSA with the new independent Queensland Building and Construction Commission is one of the biggest changes to the industry regulator in 22 years which, like other areas such as school maintenance, had become shabby and run down under Labor. Under 20 years of Labor we saw no changes in the BSA. The commission’s structure will include licensing, dispute resolution and home warranty scheme management divisions which will be completely firewalled from each other to improve the governance. The objectives of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013 are to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in place of the QBSA; to provide for the appointment of a governing board, which will report to the Minister for Housing and Public Works, to replace the existing board; and to provide for the appointment of a commissioner, effectively the chief executive, to replace the existing general manager appointed by the governing board. This new structure will give it much more power and, shall we say, more teeth. The functions of the commission upon its establishment will be similar to the current QBSA. The provisions in the bill allow for functions to transfer from the QBSA to the commission. As the explanatory notes state, it will be more reflective of the governance structure of a public company rather than the current situation. The Newman government has a plan and a strategic direction. This has been backed by thorough industry and public consultation. This bill is focused on getting the balance right between consumers and contractors. I congratulate the minister for his vision and for the direction he is taking housing and the construction industry across Queensland. I thoroughly commend this bill to the House. Mr HART (Burleigh—LNP) (4.26 pm): I rise to add in a small way to the debate on the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this bill and to support the amendments that it contains. I start by thanking the chair of the committee, the member for Warrego, and the members of his committee for their consideration of the bill and its previous inquiry. The building and construction industry as we all know is one of the LNP’s four pillars, along with tourism, agriculture and resources. This LNP government is committed to putting the right framework in place to allow it to continue and drive growth in our state. In theory the QBSA should have worked. It was interesting to listen earlier in the day to the contribution from the member for Rockhampton when he said that the QBSA was, in fact, a creature of his side of politics. That explained a few things to me. As I move around my electorate, as I talk to the builders, the homeowners and the people in the marketplace, they tell me over and over again that the QBSA was a bloated bureaucracy, that it was slow to react, that it seemed unable to help and did not seem to work and that people had lost faith in it. What does that sound like? It sounds like the Labor Party. People have lost faith in it. I will give a bit of background to this bill. On 2 August 2012 the Legislative Assembly asked the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee to inquire into and report on the operation and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority or, as we know it, the QBSA. There was extensive consultation with stakeholders. I understand there were 109-odd submissions put into that inquiry from builders, homeowners and those people doing renovations. In fact, I have just done a bit

2822 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

of renovation myself. Over Christmas I put in a new kitchen. I did sign a BSA contract thinking that that covered me for everything. Luckily I had a very good experience with a local Burleigh kitchen company so everything went smoothly. I am very happy about that. The committee heard that in 2011 and 2012 there were, in fact, 73,256 insurable building contracts issued, similar to the contract that I signed when I did my kitchen. With 4,726 complaints received about those particular contracts, the QBSA actually issued 896 directions to rectify. Having conducted the inquiry, the committee tabled its report No. 14 on 30 November 2012. The report contained 41 recommendations. On 29 May the minister gave the Queensland government’s formal response to those 41 recommendations and agreed to implement the majority of the reforms as they were recommended. As we have heard from many members who have spoken about this particular bill, the government’s response was to come up with a 10-point action plan. This bill implements the first two points of that 10-point action plan, which is to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission—the QBCC—to replace the Queensland Building Services Authority. That will facilitate the biggest reforms in Queensland’s building industry regulations in over two decades and it will ensure that Queenslanders have the best building regulator in the country. The new commission will have a professional governing body and a commissioner who will be appointed by and report to the governing board. Doesn’t that make sense? The board of the QBCC will set the strategic direction and the operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. It will report directly to the minister on matters of performance and on issues affecting the building industry and consumers. Points 3 to 10 in the minister’s action plan contain a raft of other measures including early intervention in the disputes process; improved accountability of the certification of building work; possible changes to the scope of the home warranty insurance scheme; improved consumer awareness in industry training; a review of the professional development, licensing and compliance of contractors; and an expanded licensing role of the commission. I understand that those remaining actions will be implemented progressively by the new commission in consultation with the industry and the stakeholders. It is very refreshing to hear that a government is consulting with the industry and the stakeholders, because we all know that the previous failed Labor government was not very good at consulting. In fact, they did not seem to understand the concept in any fashion. Ultimately, the best outcome for everyone is that there will be fewer disputes, fewer cases going to QCAT and faster resolutions to the disputes that do in fact arise. The bill has had input from key stakeholders, including the Master Builders Association, the Australian Institute of Building and the HIA. A branch of the HIA is located in my electorate on the Gold Coast. I have spent a lot of time talking to Colin Buttenshaw and Morgan Rick, the HIA business development officer, about their particular issues with the QBSA. The HIA wanted us to go further with these reforms, but they are quite content with the minister’s program for moving forward. They will sit back, watch and see what happens. They have a great deal of enthusiasm for this particular bill, because the bill will ensure an even playing field for all players: consumers and contractors alike. As I said before, as I move around my electorate I talk to a lot of people. I go down to the markets and I sit on the esplanade of a Friday morning and I talk to a lot of people. I know that a lot of people were very concerned about the BSA. The amendments that we make today will put those worries to rest. I commend the Minister for Housing and Public Works and member for Everton for bringing this bill forward. I also commend the last housing and public works minister, the member for Moggill, for instigating that inquiry initially. I commend the minister’s staff for the effort that they put into this particular bill. I commend the bill to the House. Mr BERRY (Ipswich—LNP) (4.34 pm): I rise to speak to the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. Before doing so, I pay homage to the member for Warrego, Mr Howard Hobbs. I have read the inquiry reports and I know that he has done a fantastic job in directing his committee. I also acknowledge the committee members and the Minister for Housing and Public Works. A fair amount of work has gone into this refurbishment, if I can put it in those terms, of the Queensland Building Services Authority. As a lawyer, I have acted for both consumers and builders. One of the primary issues in relation to these amendments is that it is always a case of a balance between builders and consumers. Of course, builders suffer from poor economic circumstances that happen from time to time. Consumers’ circumstances can change as well. They want something built and they have expectations in relation to that. Sometimes, those expectations are unreal. There is a strict liability in terms of what is built and the builder has to build in accordance with the consumer’s expectations. There is always a balance and the difficulty is how to solve that balance. It is not for the QBSA to put too much of an emphasis on that balance, because a lot of circumstances are beyond anybody’s

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2823

control, such as the economy, which I have already mentioned. In this House today we all know that builders are doing it fairly tough, which is what happens. Economies go up and down and, as a result, there is a process whereby some builders find themselves having to go back on the tools of the trade to make ends meet until the economy picks up. I might say, though, that there are so many promising features to our economy at the moment. We are seeing green shots, which is pleasing. Therefore, it is timely that the minister introduces this bill to the House. I will give a little bit of history on how this all came about, because it is of some interest, certainly to my constituents. My electorate is an urban city area that is growing and where constructions are taking place. This was an inquiry into the operation and performance of the QBSA as far back as 2012. The bill was introduced to the parliament in May 2013. I notice that its parameters of inquiry involved the performance of the QBSA in what it achieves and the balance between the interests of contractors and consumers. That is fairly understandable. It included the cost of building a home and whether that could be lowered by introducing new legislation. It involved the effectiveness of the QBSA in remedying defective work. We all know that it is a human frailty that we cannot all be brilliant and that, in fact, sometimes things go wrong. I mentioned before about a consumer’s expectation and the builder meeting that expectation. There is always a disconnect at times although, as I will reveal later, relatively speaking the disconnect is not that huge. That may be because of the economic circumstances since 2009. The inquiry looked at the governance of the general manager and the board. It looked at the home warranty scheme, the licensing requirements and whether they are still adequate in our circumstances today. The inquiry looked at whether industry groups should be taking a greater role in the play of this area of our economy and, obviously, whether there are any areas for reform. I mention briefly that there were 109 public submissions, a public briefing in August 2012 involving eight witnesses and a public hearing in October 2012 involving 34 witnesses. To give a brief summary, that means that the inquiry was quite extensive. I applaud the chair for bringing this process home, because it was important in enabling the minister to progress to the next step. The QBSA was a beast or creature of the 1992 era. As a result—and with the greatest respect—while dealing with licensing, dispute resolution and home warranty schemes, it worked off a corporate governance model of the 1990s. Times have changed. Through research and workings public companies and large private companies now have models which comprise a board and the board outlines the objectives, the strategies, the goals, the policies. From that the person heading the company, in this case the commissioner, is then charged with the obligation of using his or her skills, qualifications and experience to ensure that those policies are carried out. He does that through direct interaction with the organisation itself. The corporate governance model today very clearly is that boards do not interfere with the day-to-day activities of an organisation. The commissioner here will be fully responsible for that activity. The member for Burleigh gave some statistics. Some 73,256 policies were issued for the 2011-12 year. One-third were for new constructions, which I work out to be 15,000. For alterations and extensions about 50,000 policies were issued. There is quite a marked difference there. That works on the present economic values. Some 2,128 homeowners used the warranty scheme. This amounted to claims worth about $37.6 million. That is not an insubstantial sum with which this authority needed to deal. To summarise, we have in this bill a new corporate governance model—the board, the organisation and the commissioner. The commissioner is to be appointed by the board. How appropriate is that. It is for the board to ensure that its policy is carried out by the commissioner. That is very clear. The board should be involved in his appointment. Again, it is very clear. There is one proviso and I will make some comments about the proviso because it is outlined in some of the submissions. The proviso is that the minister has the right of veto. This was a problem for one submitter. I would respectfully submit that I cannot see it being a problem. Effectively, the veto is a mechanism to ensure that the appropriate person with the appropriate skills is given the job. This new structure is not new when it comes to public corporate governance. It is quite appropriate. There are so many facets around which the board can comment and give policy direction—strategic, operational, administrative and financial. It is for the commissioner to carry this out. It is part of the corporate governance to ensure that the commissioner is appointed for a term of three years. It is not dissimilar to the parliamentary term. The commissioner has that time within which to implement policy. It is for the commissioner to justify his position to the board by ensuring that their policies are carried out in a timely and appropriate manner.

2824 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

I will deal with some of the submissions. The minister has dealt with the Master Builders suggestion that subcontractors should be contractors. That is appropriate. I thank the Master Builders for that contribution. It is also appropriate for me to comment on the contribution of the HIA. They had some doubts as to whether there was a need for a commission. One needs to temper that view with the fact that there is no evidence to back up that opinion. I might be able to fully understand what their position is if they gave reasons. The HIA had some other comments to make. They suggested that there could be three commissioners to deal with the areas I discussed earlier. That is fine in a world where we can afford to pay three commissioners appropriately. (Time expired) Mr GRIMWADE (Morayfield—LNP) (4.44 pm): I rise this afternoon to contribute to the debate on the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill which is before the parliament. With the indulgence of the parliament, I will start my speech by acknowledging my deepest condolences for Senior Sergeant Perry Irwin. This morning the Premier and the Minister for Police spoke about the 10-year anniversary of Perry Irwin’s tragic death in Caboolture. I accompanied the member for Pumicestone to the Caboolture region to be with our boys in blue and acknowledge the 10-year anniversary and the hurt that his family must be experiencing today. I put that on the record of the parliament today. I will get back to the bill. I was on the committee that examined this bill. I had to opportunity to take on board the views of those people who are involved in building homes—the mums and dads, the small business owners and the contractors. We heard from people who have sadly been through the situation of having their house half built and not had it finished. Obviously, I will not go into too much detail with regard to what the original QBSA bill was about. We all know that an investigation into the QBSA was undertaken in this place. Recommendations were made to the minister. On the basis of that, the minister has put forward a 10-point action plan. We are discussing today the first two points of the plan—establishing the commission. I will touch a little on the first two points and the establishment of the commission which is, of course, what this bill aims to do. The bill before the House looks at points 1 and 2 of the 10-point action plan. There are other points of that plan that will come before the parliament at a later date. They will include: early intervention disputes, which was a big issue for the original parliamentary inquiry; improved accountability and certification of building work; possible changes to the scope of the warranty scheme, which was another big issue for the committee; improved consumer awareness and industry training; and review of professional development, licensing and compliance. The establishment of the board and the appointment of the commissioner is a big step in terms of what the Building and Construction Commission will look like. It is a very important aspect. The electorate of Morayfield is arguably the fastest growing region. I know the members for Ipswich and Ipswich West, who are sitting in front of me in the chamber, will attest to that. Ipswich, Morayfield and Caboolture have very fast growing populations. That is why it is very important that we get legislation like this right. Tens of thousands of houses will be built in these areas. We want to provide protection through the QBCC for not only the mums and dads who are achieving the great Aussie dream of owning their own homes but also the small business people and construction people associated with building those homes. We need to ensure they have security and assistance when things go wrong through the process of achieving the great Australian dream of building their family home. I touched before on the importance of this legislation. There are a huge number of estates planned for my local area of Morayfield. There will be new estates in Narangba Heights, Narangba East, Burpengary and Caboolture West. Some 60,000 to 70,000 people will be moving into the Caboolture West development. It comprises seven suburbs. It is a huge area. Demographically it is the same size as large parts of Tasmania or Gladstone. I was talking to the member for Gladstone about the size of this estate. We are talking about tens of thousands of people who are going to build in our region. The other area is the residential component of the Northeast Business Park that I spoke about in this place on Tuesday night. It is a large scale investment in Caboolture, my local area. It is very welcome and going to bring a lot of jobs, a lot of investment and a lot of homes to the area. I come to this place and review this legislation on the basis that we need to make sure that we get this right. We obviously have to look after the consumer—and I will touch on that a bit in a minute. We need to look after the small business owners. We need to look after the construction industry. We have to make the right decisions now when putting these things in place to ensure everyone in Queensland is looked after through an appropriate mechanism.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2825

The building industry has a number of key stakeholders and no more important, obviously, than consumers and licensees. For this reason the bill contains important provisions that are aimed at ensuring that both of these groups benefit from these reforms. That is what I was just saying. It is important that when you introduce legislation you cannot favour one or the other because representations or submissions were put to the committee from either side throughout the review period. The bill will establish a more accountable and professional governing body, which is obviously the aim of it. The board will set the strategic direction and the operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. The commission will report to the minister directly on matters of performance and on issues affecting the building industry and consumers. So it is very important that there is that direct communication. The board’s functions require that it advise the Minister for Housing and Public Works on issues affecting the building industry and consumers and consult with the building industry and its consumers in advancing their interests in a way that is consistent with the objects of the act. Again, that is very important. Additionally—and I touched on this before when I was talking about consumers and making sure that our consumers are protected under the act—the government’s response to the parliamentary committee’s report provides for the establishment of a consumer reference group, and this is very important when it comes to having some protection for our consumers as consumers can go to that reference group. The reference group will provide advice to the board on consumer issues. Representation on the consumer reference group will be considered following the appointment of the board, but it is intended that there will be broad representation on this group, of course. The commissioner will be appointed by and report to the board. However, the commissioner will be independent of the board in making decisions on licensing, rectification of building works and claims against the home warranty scheme. It is critical that that they have that representation and that those provisions are in place. Distancing themselves from those other areas will be a big benefit. It is like firewalling them, if you like, from some of those decisions and allowing those independent groups to make their decisions. As a government, when we are looking at protecting consumers, licensees, businesses, the construction industry and those sorts of things, we look at the government’s agenda. It has been mentioned throughout the debate here tonight that the Newman government is obviously concentrating on the four pillars—agriculture, tourism, resources and the construction industry. In my local area of Morayfield, we do have a bit of agriculture. The member for Pumicestone has a bit of agriculture going on in her electorate and most definitely so does the electorate of Glass House. We do not have a lot of tourism in our area. We are starting to get a real focus on resources now, as I highlighted on Tuesday night, with the flow-on effect of jobs coming to the Northeast Business Park and the training facilities and those sorts of things, which is great because it brings jobs to our region. But with hundreds of thousands of houses proposed to be built over the next 10, 20 and 30 years in our region, construction is really one of the four pillars of our economy that we are looking to drive. Being a fierce advocate in that area, I believe this gives me support. There are a lot of new people coming in. A lot of people are building first homes. The Newman government has the $15,000 Great Start Grant, which is encouraging first home owners to build a home, to stimulate the local economy and give mums and dads and small business owners construction jobs. Of course, with all of these people coming into the market as first home owners—people who may not have ever seen a contract before, who may not understand what it takes to build a house and go through a contract process and who may not know what they can do when things go wrong—it is on that basis that we need to have the right structure in place now to ensure that these people who are entering the market and doing this for the first time have appropriate consumer representation and a system that they know they can be confident in. One of the things we originally reviewed and one of the biggest issues that came up throughout the review process in the committee was about early intervention. When problems arose you had to be mindful because the only time you could do anything or intervene was when the contract was cancelled. Obviously the last thing you want to do when you are a builder or a consumer is cancel a contract and go through court for many months. Under the new structure, they will be able to review that and maybe come up with a different model—have a common-sense approach where early intervention can take place and we can get it sorted out, we can have fewer people going to QCAT, we can have fewer people clogging up our legal system and those sorts of things. Ultimately, as we move forward with the right structure now, we will have a better system of governance when it comes to the QBSA, or the Queensland Building and Construction Commission as it will be.

2826 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

I commend the minister, who is in the House tonight, for introducing this bill and for the great work he is doing. As we heard before from the member for Burdekin, we have a lot of government policies that we are trying to clean up at the moment—things that have been established for 20 and 30 years that have not been touched. Obviously, times have changed now. Like what was said in the segway debate last night, we live in a different society and we have to keep reviewing these things and making sure that we have the right and relevant protections as we move forward. I thank the minister for the job he is doing in not only areas like the QBSA and other areas of technical commissions and boards and those sorts of things but also the area of housing. Housing is a very big issue for my electorate and one that we have been able to work through with the minister’s guidance, as well as that of the former minister, Bruce Flegg. The minister would understand that, as he was out in my electorate last week opening up 13 more units for the Coast2Bay public housing scheme. We have another project for 17 more units in Frank Street. We have taken our public housing waiting list numbers from 831 down to 325. We continue to work hard as a government. The minister continues to work hard. We are getting the right reform set so that the people of Queensland have a brighter and better future to look forward to because, as we all know, we live in a great state and it has great opportunity. Mr PUCCI (Logan—LNP) (4.56 pm): I rise today to contribute to the debate in favour of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. The construction industry is a vital sector in the future prosperity of our great state of Queensland. As our government focuses on a four-pillar economy action plan to get Queensland back on track, construction will form the backbone of any future development of our community and a vibrant economy. The construction industry affects every Queenslander. From large scale projects to community developments, the construction industry plays an essential role in every local community. Prime examples can be found in my electorate of Logan. With growing communities such as Flagstone and Logan Village, opportunities for the industry are ripe for expansion. The benefits for our community continue to grow. Local material, produce and employment are set to reap strong rewards as this government continues to support the construction industry. However, the industry itself needs to be managed in the best possible fashion, and that begins with good governance. Unambiguous and unified leadership unrestricted from regulatory burden is pertinent should we, as a state, see our construction industry prosper in the years to come. The Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013 will establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission—the QBCC—to replace the current Queensland Building Services Authority. The establishment of the QBCC will exercise a new style of governance structure that will be reflective of current structures exercised by other government authorities. A subordinate function of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission will be conducted by the Queensland Building and Construction Board. Appointed by the Governor in Council, the board, consisting of seven members, will serve a period of no more than three years. The board will preside over deciding the strategic, operational, administrative and financial policies to be followed by the commission. The board will also ensure that the commission performs its functions and exercises its powers in a proper, effective and efficient way. A function of the board will also be to advise the Minister for Housing and Public Works on issues facing the building industry and consumers. In this role, the board will also advise the minister on unfair or unconscionable trading practices affecting the security of payments to subcontractors. On election night last year, after it was announced that my seat was called and I had won, one of my good mates who owns and runs a concreting business turned to me just after the announcement and said, ‘Now you guys can do something about the BSA.’ I have also met with constituents of mine whose businesses have been adversely affected by the current legislation. Listening to their concerns about the current legislation and how, through mismanagement and red tape, they have been affected financially and competitively, it was clear that improvements need to be made to the current structure. The establishment of the commission and its subsequent board are warmly received by my constituents, especially subcontractors. I am privileged to be part of a government that is amending policies and that responds to the concerns and needs of industry. I would like to commend the efforts of the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee for its work in building confidence in our construction industry. As we work towards undoing 20 years of bad Labor policies, the work that the committee is doing is crucial in building a prosperous future for all Queenslanders. I commend the efforts of the honourable Minister for

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2827

Housing and Public Works. There has never been a better time to invest in Queensland. The minister continues to work tirelessly to rebuild industries in Queensland that will ultimately ensure that Queensland remains a great state with great opportunities. I commend the bill to the House. Mr STEWART (Sunnybank—LNP) (5.00 pm): Mr Deputy Speaker— Dr DOUGLAS: Mr Deputy Speaker— Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Watts): Order! I call the member for Sunnybank. I remind members that you need to jump and call, and I will recognise the first call I hear. Mr STEWART: I rise all but briefly to add my contribution to the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013. I could not let an opportunity go without, firstly, putting on the record my congratulations to the minister on his efforts in renovating the BSA. Time after time I have received numerous complaints about the BSA from frustrated people. A lot of frustrated contractors have also come through my office with many a bad tale about the BSA. A family also came to my office telling me that they had lost about $100,000 due to a builder going into receivership, and the BSA had recommended this builder on its website. To me these are definitely signs that a renovation is needed. I also have my own experience with the BSA, which really makes me wonder what they actually did, and I will share that with honourable members shortly. When a committee has met and has received some 109 public submissions—many of them not happy with the current structure—then clearly something has to be done. This government is committed to getting Queensland back on track by building a four-pillar economy. One of those important pillars is the construction industry. This bill will ensure an effective Queensland Building and Construction Commission will be able to run efficiently and effectively and will assist with the many jobs that the construction industry creates in our great state. Recently, as many members would be aware, I tabled a report in the House in relation to social and accommodation guidelines in the Sunnybank area. That report contained 12 recommendations in total and one of those directly relates to the BSA. This reform goes a long way to effectively changing this. That report stated— This committee recommends that the State Government consider the existing powers of the BSA and determine whether these are adequate to allow for the regulation and enforcement of the BCA including the power to audit relationships in the building sector. I think this will definitely go a long way to changing those relationships and working for the future for Queensland. Finally, I would like to share my experience of the BSA. I noticed that in my electorate there was some building going on, although there was no building sign out the front. In my area a lot of student accommodation is going up with sometimes 20 or 30 students in each house as landlords take advantage of our international students. I called the BSA because the construction was occurring. Mr Rickuss: That would actually be illegal. Mr STEWART: That is definitely well and truly illegal. I thought I would stop it right there by calling the BSA. This was a house that was probably built about five years ago. So it is quite easy to tell what was part of the original house and what was not. I am a politician who has had some very little building experience—none professional. I can tell members that as soon as I saw some blue board—and, for those members who do not know what that is, it is exterior grade fibro cement sheeting—on the outside of the house I called the BSA and said, ‘Hey, there is a problem here. You might want to go and have a look. I don’t think it’s a legal modification. There’s a granny flat. There’s an exterior laundry.’ It looked like there was possibly a toilet hanging on the side, all made from blue board. There was no guttering, no flashing—nothing at all going on at this stage. I called the BSA and they came out and had a look, and guess what? They did not call me back, but I called them the next day and said, ‘How did you go?’ ‘Oh there was nothing wrong with any of the works there. There was no structural work. Nothing was wrong with it.’ I am not a builder and I am not a building inspector, but I could tell that there was definitely more than the allotted amount of work occurring. Also it is definitely structural when something is going up above your head. There is something wrong when a building inspector can come out and say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I obviously made a phone call and they revisited the site. All of a sudden they said, ‘I’m terribly sorry, sir. There are nine bedrooms going in upstairs and another four out the back. Yes, it definitely was over the allotted amount. We don’t know what we were actually looking at. We only saw one small piece.’ I commend the bill to the House. I thank the minister for bringing this to the attention of the House.

2828 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

Dr DOUGLAS (Gaven—UAP) (5.05 pm): I, too, support this bill. Construction, building, earthworks and all the related trades are a big component of my electorate of Gaven. The provision we are debating today to change the BSA to a commission is supported with some reservations. We are still a bit concerned that perhaps it is just a change of names. We are hoping to see significant changes in time. Everyone does have a BSA story. I have heard a few here today and I will not bore honourable members with yet more of them. When builders of all types make up a very significant proportion of those employed in one’s electorate, it really does help to listen to what they have to say. The builders are sick of the BSA, not because they are doing it tough at the moment but because the BSA has continuously ignored reasonable requests from builders and has done so with bloody-mindedness. Builders want fairness but they do not get it. They are continually offered a section 72 result, which effectively dictates to them what the result will be with little regard for input from the builders themselves. This is the idea of the discretionary result from the BSA itself. The builders thought the home warranty scheme was a joke and a plaything of the BSA, and they resented the BSA intensely because of it. They felt the internal capacity of the BSA to review itself and set the outcome was terrifying; it was absolutely dreadful. Even when there was some change due to the external review, they wondered whether it would really be any different under the new structure. Certainly the BSA has appeared to pay lip-service to any review that has ever been done. One would hope that with the new change more than just lip-service is paid. In fact, the review almost needs to be completed annually. Builders have said that their collective impression of the BSA was of a closed community that sat around and decided what it might do on any particular day with absolutely no regard to what was being demanded of it as a board or what it fairly was expected to deliver in a wider result. In some ways the commission has some comparable situations to them on the ground. I know that lots of good things have been said about it, and that is not to deride the fact that it has been said. However, when you are a tradesman and you are looking upwards, it is very different. They certainly want these things to work, but they want to see quantifiable evidence that it is going to make a difference. I recognise that the member for Ipswich talked about all the failings, and in the interests of brevity I will not repeat those statistics. I thank the chair of the committee, the member for Warrego, and other members of the committee for their due diligence in delivering what I think is a piece of legislation that appears to rectify some of the serious problems with the former BSA. I see the solutions being imposed are an incremental step to resolving the problems. This is probably a reasonable approach. I think the government’s response with a 10-point action plan should at least give the builders hope. They at least have some hope. I am not saying that they have a lot on the Gold Coast; maybe it is different in different places. I say this because builders have asked me, ‘Why would you want to be a builder if the old BSA or anything like it continued as it has been going on?’ My son certainly left the trade for that reason. The points have all been covered by most of the other members who have spoken. My guess is that most builders are just hoping that the new structure will allow them to do their work and not have the BSA as what they call their biggest problem—not the weather, not finance, not the crashes in finance, not the council et cetera. The commission should start with both a clean slate and everyone’s high hopes. No doubt there are still plenty of the building equivalent of what would be called dead bodies—and excuse that term—from the old face of the BSA. I suppose they will have to work their way through it. It will be a great challenge to review those things and see what comes of them. I am sure the commission will be judged in some ways by some of the older problems that it has to deal with as well. The builders say they do not expect any more than their own fair share, but in order to be profitable and to keep going they need as much fairness as they can get. In progressing forward there is more accountability and more consumer interaction, and this is to be welcomed. We need builders to be successful to order to get homes, units and developments built on the Gold Coast. I know that throughout the rest of the state it is as important, but certainly we really need it to get our community going at this point in time. Both unemployment and underemployment are still rising rapidly. Our community has suffered for many years due to neglect, lack of financial confidence, the actions of investors and even the behaviour of gen X and gen Y. They tend to rent instead of buy and they move a little bit—they are certainly more portable. Sadly, the BSA has been a big part of the problem. Reforming the BSA is a step forward if it delivers a fraction of what has been suggested

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2829

could happen. If the board proposed becomes just another version of the previous incantation, then nothing will change. Governments always tend to promise high and deliver low. One would hope that does not occur in this case. The people of Gaven—and I am sure the rest of the Gold Coast as well—will be looking very closely at what happens, because construction is a big part of our industry, but they will be looking very closely to see whether the actions match the language. They will not be measuring it by how many things go to QCAT; it will be measured by what is in their hip pocket. The Master Builders on the Gold Coast seem to be supportive. I have spoken to one this afternoon, and they are hoping that some good comes of it. Hon. TL MANDER (Everton—LNP) (Minister for Housing and Public Works) (5.11 pm), in reply: I thank the honourable members for their contribution to the debate today. The main purpose of the Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013 is to revitalise the regulation of the building industry in Queensland. The first step in this process is the passage of this bill to replace the Queensland Building Service Authority with the new Queensland Building and Construction Commission. Such is the significance of this legislation that I believe it is important we pause and reflect on the path that we have taken to get to this point. This bill is part of the biggest reform to the regulator of the building and construction industry in more than two decades. The government’s aim with these reforms is to give consumers and contractors confidence in the industry—confidence to build a new home or to renovate an existing home and confidence to start or grow a business or get a job within the industry. In August 2012 this parliament agreed to a motion that the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee inquire and report on the operation and performance of the Queensland Building Services Authority and its regulation of the industry, including the maintenance of proper standards in the industry. On 30 November 2012 the parliamentary committee tabled in the Legislative Assembly its report, which recommended far-reaching changes to the Queensland Building Services Authority. My department then appointed a panel of experts to fully assess the recommendations of the parliamentary committee. I thank those panel members—Mr Phil Kesby, Mr Andrew Wallace, Mr David Hanna—and the director-general of my department Mr Neil Castles for their valuable assistance in developing the government’s response. That response was further informed by additional consultation conducted by KPMG. As part of this consultation, KPMG spoke with two consumer groups. They also conducted four consumer focus groups held across four regions throughout the state. In total there were 34 consumers who were consulted as part of these focus groups. These 34 were selected at random from a list of all consumers that have been through the dispute process, some of whom had gone through insurance claims. In addition, there were 10 one-on-one sessions held with individual consumers who had contacted my office and indicated interest in providing feedback. Builders and licensees of all categories were also consulted. These businesses included large commercial builders, medium commercial builders, large project residential builders, small to medium residential builders and trade residential contractors. Seventeen industry associations including Master Builders, HIH, SPASA and the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors were also consulted, as was the BSA board, the general manager and the executive team. Importantly, staff that had an interest were also spoken to in order to get their ideas and thoughts on the organisation that they worked for—the BSA. Reinsurers who underwrite the insurance scheme were also consulted by KPMG, as was the Queensland Law Society. Stakeholders provided a range of different views on the recommendations of the committee and key considerations for implementation. Some of the key issues discussed with stakeholders include: what things work and should be retained, and what things do not and should be improved; a need to improve the timeliness and performance of the current BSA processes, particularly through early intervention in the dispute resolution process with access to independent expert advice; the use of standard contracts and the introduction of standards and tolerance manuals to provide greater certainty to all parties, as well as the provision of relevant advice to consumers at the contracting stage; communication and information provided to consumers and a need for greater clarity so they know what information to access and where to find it; education for consumers and other participants in the industry; the continued provision of training for BSA staff in areas relevant to their roles and responsibilities; the broader focus on continuing professional development across the industry; the role of engagement and monitoring of certifiers; the performance of the home guarantee scheme and

2830 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

opportunities to broaden its coverage; and most importantly, governance changes to the BSA, including, significantly, support for the establishment of a governing board reporting directly to the minister. The government’s response to the committee’s report—which was tabled on 29 May 2013— includes a 10-point action plan to reform building regulations in response to the parliamentary committee’s inquiry. The action plan is about getting the balance right between the rights of consumers and the rights of contractors. It is about ensuring that there is confidence in the industry. This bill today sets in motion points 1 and 2 of the action plan only a week after it was released. Points 3 to 10 of the action plan will be implemented progressively and in consultation with industry and stakeholders. The action plan will provide a solid foundation for the industry to progress into the future. This bill represents the first stage of these reforms, which is to establish the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in place of the Queensland Building Services Authority. The new commission will have a professional governing board and a commissioner, who will be appointed by, and report to, the governing board. This is a significant change in the governance arrangements currently in place at the BSA. The changes introduced as part of this bill will result in a governance structure more reflective of a public company and other government authorities. The Queensland Building and Construction Board will set the strategic direction and the operational, financial and administrative policies of the commission. These responsibilities were previously exercised in conjunction with the general manager of the Queensland Building Services Authority. The board will have responsibility for the future direction and performance of the commission and will report to me directly on that performance and on issues affecting the building industry and consumers. The board will also ensure the commission performs its functions and exercises its powers in a proper, effective and efficient way, making reviewing policies governing the administration of the act, providing guidance and leadership to the commissioner and advising me about unfair or unconscionable trading practices affecting the security of payments to contractors and subcontractors. There will be seven members of the board, including a chair and a deputy chair, who will be appointed by the Governor in Council for a term of not more than three years. The commissioner will not be a member of the board. The selection of the board members will be on the basis of their experience and skill as a member of a governing board. I would ask the member for Rockhampton to take note that they will also show the ability to contribute to the effective and efficient performance of the commission. It is expected that positions on the board will be advertised shortly after the bill is passed. To ensure input from stakeholders, industry and consumer reference groups will be formed which will report to the board on issues which impact on them. The commissioner will be appointed by the board, subject to my approval, for a term of not more than three years. The role is akin to that of a chief executive. The commissioner will implement the strategic direction set by the board and have responsibility for the management of the business and for reporting on performance. General managers will be responsible for each of these three main business units: licensing, dispute resolution and home warranty scheme management. To ensure that there is little room for conflict of interest issues to arise, these units will be administratively firewalled from each other. My role as the responsible minister will remain essentially unchanged. I will retain the power to give formal directions to the commission which are to be tabled in parliament. As is currently the case, any formal policies of the board governing the administration of the act will need to be endorsed by me as part of the approval process by the Governor in Council, as these policies are required to be approved by regulation. The new governing board will set the strategic direction of the commission and report directly to me on matters of performance and on issues affecting the building industry and consumers. Consistent with this enhanced role, the board will appoint the commissioner, subject to my approval. The commissioner will retain responsibility for decision making on licensing, dispute resolution and the home warranty insurance scheme. As previously outlined, my department is also chairing an implementation committee that will recommend improvements identified in the government’s response to the committee’s report on the QBSA. This will include recommendations for early intervention in disputes, improved accountability for certification of building work, possible changes to the scope of the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, a review of licensing requirements, and improved consumer awareness and industry training.

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2831

I now want to address some of the issues that were raised during the debate. I thank the member for Rockhampton for taking us on a rather nostalgic stroll through the history of the BSA and I thank him for his support of the bill, albeit reluctantly granted. I must confess to feeling slightly sorry for the member. It cannot be easy being forced to stand up to try to criticise what is an eminently sensible suite of reforms, but if nothing else I think the member deserves full marks for effort. It is true that the BSA has had a comparatively good track record, but if the member believes that after 20 years everything is rosy and there is no room for improvement then he has not been paying attention. However, contrary to the member’s comments, this is far more than a cosmetic change. The change from the QBSA to the QBCC will signal a significant change and improvements in the delivery of services provided by the building regulator. The commission will be overseen by a professional governing board which will be responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of the functions and performance of the commission to ensure efficient, effective and transparent services are provided. As I did during estimates hearings when asked this question, I can reassure the member that we have no plans to privatise the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme. I cannot be more plain or black and white about that. The scheme in Queensland provides the best cover available nationally for residents who undertake building work. It provides consumers with peace of mind that if their home is not finished because a builder goes bust or there are defects in the building which are not fixed then insurance will kick in and finish or fix their home. Finally, I note some of the colourful notions put forward by the member for Rockhampton about ulterior motives for these reforms. I simply say that the member can choose to amuse himself with these sorts of conspiracy theories if he wishes. However, he knows that the Newman government is the most open and transparent government this state has ever had and that all appointments will be made in an open and transparent way on merit. The board will have seven members. Unlike the Labor Party, which appointed board members on the basis of their union or party affiliation—and I use the example of the current board with Wally Trohear from the CFMEU and John Battams from the Queensland Council of Unions on the RTA board—members of the QBCC board will be chosen by their ability to make a contribution to the effective and efficient performance of the commission’s functions through their expertise and experience. Board members will be appointed by the Governor in Council for a period no longer than three years. We anticipate that advertisements for board members will go out in September. Finally with regard to the cost of these reforms, I am not going to be lectured on fiscal probity by the party that left this state with a $65 billion debt. The commission will continue to be self-funding, just as the current BSA is now. However, during the implementation phase of the reforms a thorough analysis of the potential costs and benefits of each reform will be undertaken and in some instances a regulatory impact statement will be carried out to evaluate the likely costs and benefits to business, community and government that would result from the adoption of the proposals. I will be seeking to limit the costs associated with implementation through the use of existing government resources. I do thank the member for Warrego for his stewardship of the committee and for presiding over the public hearings and production of this very thorough report. Thank you for correcting the member for Rockhampton’s comments about this being a purely cosmetic change. As the member for Warrego rightly points out, under the QBSA the current board operates largely in an advisory capacity. The new QBCC will have a professional governing board which will provide strategic direction and oversee the performance of the commission. KPMG was engaged to undertake consultation with stakeholder groups, including consumers, during development of the government’s response to ensure that all viewpoints were considered. This included meetings with two consumer groups and 34 individual consumers in focus group sessions in Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton and the Gold Coast and 10 one-on-one interviews with individual consumers who had previously been in contact with my office. The Queensland Consumers Association also met with the independent review panel advising me on the parliamentary committee’s recommendations. Consumers are also represented in the work currently being undertaken by the subcommittees established under the implementation committee in the Department of Housing and Public Works to further investigate a rapid dispute adjudication model, building certification and insurance and licensing. The Queensland Consumers Association is a member of the rapid dispute adjudication subcommittee and is consulted by the other subcommittees on the direction of their reviews. When the new commission is established, consumers will have an opportunity to have their views heard through the establishment of a consumer reference group which will have input into the governing board.

2832 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 22 Aug 2013

I thank the member for Chatsworth for recognising the importance of creating confidence in the industry. By striking the right balance between consumers and contractors, the QBCC will help build confidence in the industry, whether that is the confidence to build a new home or the confidence to start or grow a business or pursue a career in the industry. I also thank the member for drawing the distinction between the open and transparent way the Newman government conducts itself and the ‘jobs for the boys’ mentality that was allowed to flourish under those opposite. I also thank the Minister for Tourism and member for Currumbin for her interest in this bill and acknowledge the hard work she did in this space while in opposition. I particularly endorse her comments about the high standards of this government and I know that she, along with my other colleagues in cabinet, also sets high standards for herself and her department. The member for Algester is absolutely correct that there was a real need for change and renewal. No statutory body can stay the same for more than 20 years, much as the member for Rockhampton might wish it to be otherwise. The member for Algester touched on the frustration experienced by homeowners when their greatest investment is under threat. While there are always going to be disputes in the building industry, it is vital that we make sure that when things do go wrong there is a suitable dispute resolution process in place that minimises the stress and anxiety. Addressing that issue is something that the board of the QBCC will be tasked with sorting out. I thank the member for his interest and his hard work on the committee. The people of Algester are fortunate to have such a devoted member working on their behalf. I thank the member for Nudgee for his contribution to the debate and note in particular his emphasis on the structure of the new commission. As the member noted, while the functions of the QBCC will remain similar to those of the BSA, there will be a significant change in governance arrangements to more closely reflect the public company or similar government authorities. I thank the members for Springwood and Kallangur for noting the extent to which the current regulator is precluded from intervening in disputes until it is too late. The BSA has maintained a policy of not intervening in domestic building disputes while a contract remains on foot. Also, the BSA does not intervene in disputes about contractual matters as opposed to issues about defects or incomplete work. Neither of these policies has any direct legislative standing. However, the BSA argues that it would be unfair to issue a direction to rectify to a contractor while the work remains incomplete, as the builder could claim intent to complete the job at a later stage. This potentially leaves owners in the position of deciding whether to allow the contractor to complete the works even though the work appears to be defective or to terminate the contract and make a claim under the home warranty scheme. A further issue for owners is that builders may dispute any termination of a contract and, until a decision is made by a court or QCAT that the determination was lawful, this may delay a decision being made under the home warranty scheme. The members also raised the issues of conflict of interest, either real or perceived, and I recognise the sheer number of complaints the committee dealt with on this particular topic. By way of example, I refer to the comments of Mr John Andrew, a builder, who noted in relation to the home warranty scheme that it is likely that officers who handle claims are also aware of the budgetary considerations of the organisation which may influence their decisions. I also note the observation of Deborah Brown that it is probably impossible for the BSA to balance the interests of both parties so both are happy since to some extent their interests are opposed. Interestingly, the evidence in this area shows that both builders and consumers are equally convinced that the BSA is biased towards the other side. Perceived conflicts of interest are an inevitable consequence of an organisation with such a broad remit in which the competing functions are not adequately firewalled from each other. I thank the member for Moggill for his contribution. I note the excellent work that he did on this issue while in charge of this portfolio. I note the member’s comments that in his experience the board played a very limited role. It is an astonishing thought that the board could not even form an opinion on whether the general manager should be reappointed. That is something that will change under the new commission, where the governing board, as well as having actual power, will have actual responsibilities and will be accountable to the minister. The member spoke about a number of challenges in this area and I would like to touch on a few of them. It is extremely important that consumers are made fully aware of their contractual rights and obligations to improve consumer awareness training. The QBCC will also look at the introduction of continuous professional development in the building industry to enable consumers to choose a builder who is up to date with industry standards. This is standard practice in other fields such as law or project management and I believe that it would be a real asset to the building industry. The QBCC will also investigate the introduction of a rapid dispute adjudication system, which will mean that

22 Aug 2013 Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2833

disputes can be addressed during construction, reducing the number of disputes being referred to QCAT, which can take up considerable time and money. The member also touched on the challenge around the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act—BCIPA—which, as he correctly identified, was originally meant to deal with small projects but ended up being involved in multimillion-dollar contracts. The member will be aware that that act is undergoing its own review, which I look forward to advising the House of at a later date. I thank the member for Brisbane Central for his support. The member speaks from a position of considerable experience, having spent 15 years with his family’s construction company. So he is well positioned to make comment. I thank the member for Burnett for his support. I note that the member has had over 35 years of experience in the industry and is a registered builder as well as a member of the HIA. Construction is one of this government’s four economic pillars. In 2011-12 it contributed over $15 billion to the economy. So we want to make sure that both contractors and consumers are equipped and confident in undertaking a building project in Queensland. In 2011-12, there were over 4,700 complaints received about defective building works. With a solid foundation based on this suite of proposed changes, which includes improved certification processes, the development of a standards and tolerance manual and a form of rapid dispute resolution, we believe that we can improve this position. The implementation of this plan will give both consumers and builders confidence in a system and the industry with less time spent resolving these issues. In the past four years, there have been over 22,000 complaints. This year, 323 builders have had their licences suspended or taken from them. Anything that we can do to improve the ongoing professional development for builders will reduce this number and give more confidence to consumers to build a house or renovate. I thank the member for Burdekin for her contribution and in particular her focus on consumer representation. As I outlined in my opening remarks, KPMG was engaged to undertake consultation with stakeholder groups, including consumers, during the development of the government’s response to ensure that all viewpoints were considered. This included meetings with two consumer groups and 34 individual consumers in focus group sessions in Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton and the Gold Coast and 10 one-on-one interviews with individual consumers who had previously been in contact with my office. The Queensland Consumers Association also met with the independent review panel advising me on the parliamentary committee’s recommendations. Consumers are also represented on the work currently being undertaken by the subcommittee established under the implementation committee to the Department of Housing and Public Works to further investigate a rapid dispute adjudication model, building certification, insurance and licensing. The Queensland Consumers Association is a member of the rapid dispute adjudication subcommittee and is consulted by the other subcommittees on the direction of their reviews. When the new commission is established, consumers will have an opportunity to have their views heard through the establishment of a consumer reference group, which will have input to the governing board. I thank the member for Burleigh for his impassioned contribution. The people of the Burleigh electorate are fortunate to have such a hardworking and dedicated local member. The member for Ipswich made some salient points about the BSA operating under a 1990 model of corporate governance. I thank him for his contribution and recognition of the importance of implementing an updated governance model with clear lines of responsibility. I also thank the members for Morayfield, Sunnybank, Logan and Gaven for their contributions. This is an extremely significant piece of legislation. I thank the members for their interest and for their contributions to the debate today. I also thank the committee and in particular the chairman, the member for Warrego, for the hard work that they have put in to get us to this point. Question put—That the bill be now read a second time. Motion agreed to. Bill read a second time.

Consideration in Detail Clauses 1 to 4, as read, agreed to. Clause 5—

2834 Adjournment 22 Aug 2013

Mr MANDER (5.35 pm): I move the following amendment— 1 Clause 5 (Replacement of pt 2, divs 1–4) Page 9, line 28, ‘subcontractors’— omit, insert— contractors and subcontractors I table the explanatory notes to my amendments. Tabled paper: Queensland Building Services Authority Amendment Bill 2013, explanatory notes to Hon. Tim Mander’s amendments [3304]. Amendment agreed to. Clause 5, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 6 to 14, as read, agreed to. Schedule— Mr MANDER (5.36 pm): I move the following amendment— 2 Schedule 1 (Minor and consequential amendments) Page 45, line 6, ‘(1)(d)(iv)’— omit. Amendment agreed to. Schedule, as amended, agreed to.

Third Reading Hon. TL MANDER (Everton—LNP) (Minister for Housing and Public Works) (5.36 pm): I move— That the bill, as amended, be now read a third time. Question put—That the bill, as amended, be now read a third time. Motion agreed to. Bill read a third time.

Long Title Hon. TL MANDER (Everton—LNP) (Minister for Housing and Public Works) (5.36 pm): I move the following amendment— 3 Long title Long title, ‘amendment’— omit, insert— amend Amendment agreed to. Question put—That the long title of the bill, as amended, be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT Mr STEVENS (Mermaid Beach—LNP) (Manager of Government Business) (5.37 pm): I move— That the House, at its rising, do adjourn until 9.30 am on Tuesday, 10 September 2013. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT Mr STEVENS (Mermaid Beach—LNP) (Manager of Government Business) (5.37 pm): I move— That the House do now adjourn.

22 Aug 2013 Adjournment 2835

Vision Australia; Seniors Week

Mrs SCOTT (Woodridge—ALP) (5.38 pm): Yesterday’s demonstration outside the gates of this place—although small in number with some 20-plus sight impaired workers, one guide-dog, support workers and carers, and support from the United Voice union—highlighted the utter ruthlessness and callous attitude of this LNP government towards our most vulnerable citizens. These were our vision impaired workers at Vision Australia. With cuts of $500,000 over two years and their current contracts ceasing in June 2014, the 20 or so workers and others in New South Wales and Victoria, some of whom have been at the enterprise workshop for several decades, will lose their jobs. These workshops commenced in 1884 and it took Campbell Newman in 2013 to completely decimate the centre, destroy these people’s jobs, destroy their social network and destroy their sense of purpose and wellbeing. What do they do at the workshop? They construct shark nets, among other things, for $6 an hour. As one young lady pleaded, ‘Who will make the shark nets? People will be in danger.’ These workers handed me a letter addressed to Premier Campbell Newman pleading for the retention of their jobs. I table a copy of their letter. Tabled paper: Letter to the Premier, Hon. Campbell Newman, signed by blind workers from Vision Australia Coorparoo, regarding funding for Vision Australia [3305]. They have expressed a desire to retain the original which they have all signed. I simply plead with the Premier to show some heart and empathy and to reinstate this funding so that this enterprise centre will remain not only for these workers but also for those who will come after them. I would now like to highlight the wonderful contribution our senior members make to our communities. We need to recognise that many who are chronologically classed as seniors are still very much involved in the workforce. The huge number of seniors who are giving to their community in a voluntary capacity is really at the heart of our celebration of Seniors Week, as well as an opportunity to thank others for their lifetime of service and to provide a time to just enjoy the company of others in events and functions across the state, whether it be the Marvellous Mature Women, commenced and coordinated by Norma Kawak, the 40+ Club at Crestmead or the Council on the Ageing, Seniors Week Expo yesterday, our Autumn Years Club and many, many more. This week we also give thanks to the organisations which give so much support to seniors in their homes: Meals on Wheels, Blue Care, Anglicare and our aged-care facilities. (Time expired)

Variety Mr STEWART (Sunnybank—LNP) (5.41 pm): I rise today to inform the House of the excellent work being done by Variety and the thousands of hardworking volunteers across Queensland and Australia. This worthwhile charity is dedicated to children. I have seen firsthand how it helps empower children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs to live, laugh and learn. This charity was started by a group of theatre owners in the USA. Initially it was a social club but one night in 1928 they heard an unusual sound in an abandoned theatre. It was a baby with a note pinned to its clothing saying, ‘Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of showbusiness people and pray to God that you will look after her.’ It was signed, ‘A heartbroken mother.’ This inspired the group to take the baby in and to set about raising money for items needed for her support. They were so successful that they were able to broaden their generosity to help local orphanages. Their philosophy was that they would not give money, only goods and services. This ideal remains across 14 countries with over $2 billion worth of goods and services going to disadvantaged children. Variety raises funds through many forms in Australia, including corporate partnerships, race days, gala events, golf days, the Santa Fun Run and various motoring events including the Fourex Gold Variety Bash. One of the things that makes Variety successful is its ethos of the importance of having fun. I can testify that Variety succeeds in bring smiles to the faces of all those involved. A recent event held in Queensland was the 2013 Fourex Gold Sun, Saddles & Surf Variety Bash. This was a 10-day, 3,700-kilometre trek across the Queensland outback raising $1.277 million. The colourful convoy of over 140 vehicles and 400 bashers started in Emerald and wound its way through Blackall, Stonehenge, Winton, Boulia, Mount Isa, Normanton, Georgetown, Mareeba and finishing on the coastal setting of Mission Beach. During the travels the bashers brought smiles to the faces of over 500 children across 11 schools. Presentations were also made to children and schools including a trailer and greenhouse, grandstands and shade sails for playgrounds, countless laptops, iPads and iPad minis, air

2836 Adjournment 22 Aug 2013

conditioning for classrooms, sound amplification systems for classrooms, a beach wheelchair and an electric wheelchair. In my opinion all of the above pale in comparison to the opening of a liberty swing, a wheelchair accessible swing in Mareeba. Watching the face of a child that has never been on a swing transition from fear to sheer excitement and knowing that your efforts helped brought a tear to even the hardest of onlookers. The benefits of the bash continue all year round as Variety continues to improve the lives of many children and their families. I would like to thank Rob Goodwin, Erin, Penny and all officials for their work in bringing this event together. To the QFRS, QAS and QPS officers who attended the event, thank you for your support. Most importantly, I thank the 400 bashers for their tremendous efforts in raising the funds to change lives across Australia and our great state. Special mention must go to the boys in Car 555—the Gremlin, Mike, Gerry and Oz—for putting up with me for a few days and the many great sponsors that helped, including Georgiou Civil, Kyocera Document Solutions and Toshiba. The Fourex Gold Variety Bash, put simply, changes lives. (Time expired)

Security Force, Royal Australian Air Force Mr BERRY (Ipswich—LNP) (5.44 pm): It is with a great deal of pleasure that I report to the House the honour of having attended the welcoming home ceremony officiated by the Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown AO at the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Amberley. Air Marshal Brown AO addressed the 65 Air Force personnel from the security force, in RAAF language called SECFOR1. These troops had a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan and their diligence and dedication to duty led to Air Marshal Brown honouring the personnel with an Air Force Ground Combat Badge. SECFOR1 had the primary task of working at Tarinkot district, guarding the base and its adjacent airfield. This Air Force Ground Combat Badge is not awarded to all those who serve overseas. As Air Marshal Geoff Brown indicated, it is a badge that is given in recognition of service by Air Force members whose overseas duty had them operate in an escalated threat environment beyond that routinely experienced within a deployed base. The design of the badge depicts a bayonet inside the airman’s wreath with an Air Force eagle overlaid—a representation of the dedication and sacrifice required to knowingly forsake the safety of the base, said Air Marshal Geoff Brown. I had the great honour of meeting Air Marshall Selwyn David Evans AC, DSO, AFC, who I found to be an absolute gentleman. He served as Chief of Air Force from 1982 to 1985. In having a conversation with him I noted that he served during World War II. He was a most interesting man with whom to speak. The retired air marshal was afforded the honour of viewing the SECFOR1 parade. I wish to thank the commander of the 23rd Squadron, Wing Commander Simon Nickson, for his help. I also had the opportunity of meeting his good friend Dirko. Wing Commander Simon Nickson has been a great ambassador for the Air Force and is a person we hold in great esteem in Ipswich. Ipswich has a strong commitment to the Air Force base and its personnel. We have an extremely harmonious and caring relationship and one which I have absolutely no doubt will continue on in the future. It is an honour to be able to attend the Air Force base to honour the men and women who have served in Afghanistan and have now come back from that deployment.

Long Tan Day Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (5.46 pm): On Sunday, 18 August, as in many electorates across Australia, we celebrated and remembered Long Tan Day. While numbers were down because there were a lot of other events on in Gladstone, including the Botanic to Bridge, the Vietnam vets in particular assembled to remember those that had fallen and those who have returned but with a legacy of great memory. I acknowledge the President of the RSL, Russell Tibbs, and his team for the work that they did in organising this event, the Gladstone Regional Council, Bob Palethorpe, who always attends, and Trevor Webb who played the bugle. After the remembrance service we all met at the new drop-in centre at the old VMR building to get together to talk about experiences and to celebrate the bravery and the wisdom of these men and women. It is also important to put on the record the appreciation that the community and I have for the families who support these returned service men and women, irrespective of the theatre of war in which they were involved. It is these families who often pay a price for the legacy of memories and experience that these men and women have to deal with on a daily basis. A lady in my electorate called Chris sent me a very poignant saying which I used on the day. It is this: not everyone who lost

22 Aug 2013 Adjournment 2837

his life in Vietnam died there; not everyone who came home from Vietnam ever left. I think that is true of everybody’s experience, not just of Vietnam but for all of us who have returned service men and women in our lives, in our hearts and in our families. Each of them leave a part of themselves in the sphere of conflict and each of them bring home with them part of that conflict that is forever indelibly imprinted on their hearts, minds and emotions. Those are some of the amazing people ministers of this state parliament will be privileged to meet on Sunday. They are a great bunch of people who live not only in my electorate but also across this great nation of Australia. In many theatres of war, they have defended the freedoms not only of Australians but also of others who live in this great world. Lest we forget.

South Sea Islanders, Sesquicentenary Mr BENNETT (Burnett—LNP) (5.49 pm): I rise to share with the House the privilege I had in representing the Premier at the dedication ceremony of 29 Pacific islander gravesites on a farm in my electorate. The dedication ceremony was thoughtful, sensitive, emotional and informed, and had strong symbolic importance to Australian South Sea islanders. Strong representation from the governments and peoples of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands and a large representation from my local community highlighted the significance and the emotion of the occasion. We all worked hard to gain recognition for the Sunnyside property. I was delighted when the property was recently heritage listed, as the drystone wall built by South Sea islander labour, two weeping fig trees planted by Edward Turner in 1874 and the existence of 29 graves have been recognised. I acknowledge Brian and Marcia Courtice whose dedication to the historic recognition of their property was tireless. In recognising Australia’s past inhumane treatment of Australian South Sea islanders, many descendants again call for action to remove disadvantage for descendants. That is a message for us all and one I support. The reality of the conditions for Pacific islanders on indenture contracts is not well known in Queensland. It is a part of our history that needs to be publicly acknowledged, with government action to reduce disadvantage among descendants. Most people do not know that Australia has a history of slavery, which began 150 years ago and involved the blackbirding of 50,000 people from the Pacific islands to work on sugarcane fields in Queensland on 62,000 indenture contracts. Islanders were kidnapped, coerced and subject to contracts they could not have understood and that were designed to keep them in many forms of slavery. When the White Australia Policy was introduced, Pacific islanders were forced to leave the country despite building families and communities, and sometimes not knowing where they originated from. Australian South Sea Islanders Recognition Day is on 25 August, and I take this opportunity in the parliament to reflect on the past and talk about moving forward for the 40,000 descendants living in Australia, whose social and economic disadvantage is equivalent to that of Aboriginal Australians. While being defined as a distinct disadvantaged ethnic group, there are no specific programs and services for Australian South Sea islanders nor are there official figures on how many descendants there are in Australia. I welcome the government’s commitment to multicultural affairs and the formation of parliamentary friends, of which I am a proud representative, to work with Australian South Sea islanders to help build community esteem and a positive future. The minister’s visit to our Bundaberg Multicultural Festival on 18 August was a significant recognition of the value of the multicultural society we have in Queensland. The Bundaberg Multicultural Festival, in acknowledging the 150-year recognition of blackbirding, was also well represented, with the Prime Minister for the Solomon Islands and Paramount Chiefs from Vanuatu in attendance. It was a great day for all who attended the Bundaberg Multicultural Festival. We had a large representation from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. People came and spent a week or so in Bundaberg, doing wood carvings and other culturally important activities. Of course, we all know and respect their strong Christian values. On 25 August we should all take a moment to recognise the blackbirding history in Australia. I wish all members a good weekend.

Irwin, Mr P; Bribie Island, Seniors Expo; Storm Preparedness Mrs FRANCE (Pumicestone—LNP) (5.52 pm): This morning I attended the memorial service for Senior Sergeant Perry Irwin. Today is the 10th anniversary of his tragic death in Caboolture. I attended the service on behalf of the minister, Jack Dempsey, and alongside my colleague Darren Grimwade, the member for Morayfield; Wyatt Roy, the member for Longman; Councillor Greg Chippendale; and Police Commissioner Ian Stewart. Also in attendance today were Superintendent Mick Brady, Senior Sergeant Scotty McQueen, police chaplain Ian Todd, VMR representatives from Bribie who have named a boat in honour of Perry Irwin, and many police who served alongside Perry.

2838 Adjournment 22 Aug 2013

Today gave us all an opportunity to remember Perry and the contribution that he made to our community through his work and, sadly, his tragic death. Today my thoughts are with Perry’s wife and children. I pray that our police stay safe while protecting our community. On a different note, tomorrow we have the Seniors Expo on Bribie Island. It is a fantastic expo attended by about 3,000 of our community members and many service providers in our area. It is a great opportunity for our seniors to get up-to-date information on concessions, rebates and services available in our local area. I will be there with my own stand and information packs on our state government initiatives. I look forward to spending my day tomorrow in the park, looking out over Bribie Island and Pumicestone Passage, and mingling with my fantastic community. It is no wonder that I love my job. Tomorrow morning before I head home to my electorate, I have the pleasure of hosting the Banksia Beach State School Chamber Choir, which will be performing in parliament for the seniors’ concert. The chamber choir is conducted by Mr David White, accompanied by Mrs Jenny Munford. I am really looking forward to hearing the choir in parliament tomorrow. They do a fantastic job. I have had many opportunities to enjoy listening to them over the past year. I was extremely proud to see them sing for our minister, JP Langbroek, when he came to Bribie Island. Finally, I bring everyone’s attention to the upcoming storm season. I want to talk about being prepared for the storm season. In my area, you can go online to Moreton Alert or contact the council on 3205 0555 and register for telephone updates about what is happening with flooding events and storms. I encourage everyone to look at the preparedness packs that the council has put out. There is $50 worth of value in each pack. They include all the requirements to survive 72 hours without electricity.

Book Week Ms TRAD (South Brisbane—ALP) (5.55 pm): This week marks an important event in the calendar of many schools, libraries, childcare centres and kindergartens across the state—that is, the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week. As a parent and someone who is passionate about education, I know how important it is to instil a love of reading and literature from a young age. Developing reading skills is a vital part of a child’s development and allows them to interpret, contextualise and engage with the world around them. A 2003 study by the Programme for International Student Assessment across 37 countries found that the most important factor for academic success was the amount of time pupils spent reading magazines, newspapers and websites, and particularly and most importantly books. On Monday, I had the pleasure of taking part in this year’s Book Week celebrations at some of the schools in my electorate. On Monday morning, Junction Park State School had a character dress-up parade where the kids brought to life characters from their favourite books. The parade was full of Harry Potters, princesses, Harrys with their buckets full of dinosaurs and, to my delight but maybe not the teachers’, Thing 1 and Thing 2. There was so much colour and vibrancy and the children were happy and excited to be letting their imaginations run wild. On Monday afternoon, at the East Brisbane State School assembly I saw a lot of enthusiasm for Book Week and reading in general. I had the opportunity to present every child in Prep with a copy of Narelle Oliver’s book Home. It is a beautifully illustrated book that captures many aspects of Brisbane City from the perspective of two peregrine falcons displaced by a bush fire. The falcons describe the traffic outside this very house as ‘beasts chasing each other, whining and hissing and honking’. While I have been unable to visit every school in my electorate this week, I have been able to mark 2013 Book Week by donating two fantastic books to every primary school. One of the books, Mozzie and Midgie, is written by Doug MacLeod and illustrated by Sandy Okalyi. Sandy is an extremely talented South Brisbane constituent whose illustrations are colourful, playful and put big smiles on many tiny faces. While some of our lasting childhood memories and adventures were formed by Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Animalia, Storm Boy, The Secret Seven or The Eagle of the Ninth and our children and grandchildren may prefer new characters such Greg Heffley and his sidekick Rowley or Zach Freeman who had a body part go psycho, books shape our thinking and our imagination; they help shape who we are. Congratulations to all the schools in South Brisbane and, particularly, the teachers for participating in this year’s Book Week and for playing a huge role in nurturing our children’s love of reading. Whether parent, teacher, librarian, grandma, grandad or big sister, people who give children respect for books and a love of literature leave children with a lifelong gift. I encourage all of us in this House to find time, not just this week but every week, to share the gift of reading.

22 Aug 2013 Adjournment 2839

Vietnam Veterans Day Mr SHORTEN (Algester—LNP) (5.58 pm): Each year on 18 August we commemorate and remember our Vietnam veterans. Australians first served in Vietnam in 1962. Thirty advisers from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam began operations in August of that year. It is worth noting that the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam became the most highly decorated Australian unit in the war, receiving the four Victoria Crosses that were awarded during that conflict. They were also awarded the Republic of Vietnam Cross for Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation and the United States Army Unit Commendation. The date of 18 August was chosen to commemorate the Vietnam conflict because it was the day in 1966 at the Battle of Long Tan that a company from 6RAR inflicted an overwhelming defeat on a massed enemy formation. During this pivotal battle 18 Australians were killed and a further 24 wounded. Australian forces in Vietnam reached their peak from 1969 to mid-1970. At this point there were 8½ thousand service personnel committed, with over 7,000 of these being Army personnel. The last elements of the Australian Army left Vietnam in June 1973. Almost 60,000 Australians served their country in this conflict. We thank them for their service and we remember their 521 mates who did not come home to their families. Even though the majority of casualties were from the Army—496 in fact—there were also 17 from the RAAF and 18 from the Royal Australian Navy. I pay tribute to them and to their families whom they left behind. They answered the call of their nation and paid the ultimate sacrifice. With these thoughts in my mind, I was very honoured to attend the RSL Carrington, Algester earlier this week to be a part of the residents’ celebrations for Seniors Week and to celebrate the 75th birthday celebration for RSL nursing. I was asked to speak to the residents. I can tell members that I especially enjoyed doing so as it gave me the chance to thank them for the wonderful contribution they have all made to our community. I thank them for their service and I look forward to visiting again.

Julia Creek DirtnDust Festival Mr KATTER (Mount Isa—KAP) (6.01 pm): I rise tonight to talk about the Julia Creek DirtnDust Festival. It is a three-day festival generating a long-lasting financial benefit for North-West Queensland, according to a new economic impact study released this week. It is an event I am pleased to be involved with. It is bolstered by the triathlon event on the Saturday. I have done that for the last four years. A study of the economic and tourism value of the Julia Creek DirtnDust Festival found some striking facts and showed its value to the outback community. It highlighted the value of the investment by Queensland Tourism. The event attracted 2,400 visitors this year. It generated more than $1.04 million for outback Queensland. For a town of 6,000 people, that is pretty good. Included in this figure is $860,000 of new money injected into the region. The town’s population increases almost tenfold over the three days of the festival. Members need to bear in mind that this is a pretty remote part of North-West Queensland. People come from as far away as Brisbane for the festival. A lot of people come from Townsville. A lot of the country people from the area also come to the festival. Once the spend is adjusted to account for the input-output flow of funds, the final economic impact of the festival was found to be $590,000. That stays in the town of Julia Creek and the McKinlay shire. This equates to 10 full-time jobs in Queensland’s economy and means a lot to this modest little town. We have also known for a long time that the festival is good for community spirit and morale. We cannot put a dollar value on that. Some 2,400 unique visitors attended the 2013 festival. There were a total of 5,026 attendances at the combined dirt and dust events. Of the 2,400 festival visitors, some 2,198 were in the McKinlay shire specifically for the festival. The average festival attendee spends almost three nights within 100 kilometres of the town. Evidently, it is very good for the town. From its modest beginnings, it celebrated its 19th year in 2013. It started after a conversation in the pub 19 years ago. I think there were about 20 competitors at the first event. I think there were about 300 starters in the triathlon this year. We welcome the support of the Queensland government. We recently received a grant of $100,000 to promote the event through marketing. That was money well spent. The people of the McKinlay shire are very grateful for the money from the government and also for the support from BHP Billiton’s Cannington mine and the McKinlay shire itself. I think this is money well spent on

2840 Attendance 22 Aug 2013

tourism in the local area. All people in the north-west benefit from it, as can be seen from the economic study that was done on the impact of the event. It is no wonder the festival won the best festival and event in Queensland at the Tourism Queensland Awards in 2009 and has been a finalist in many other years. It is a credit to all those people who still work at the festival and who started it so many years ago.

Health Mr WOODFORTH (Nudgee—LNP) (6.04 pm): I said in my maiden speech that in 10 to 15 years time the health budgets around the country would be ‘the budgets’. So I think it is very important that we speak about this often. I have a few newspaper clippings on the subject here— ‘Panel gives junk food a bad rap’, ‘Obese pose added risk in surgery’, ‘Strategy called to stop diabetes epidemic rising uncontrollably’, ‘Battle of kids’ bulge a priority’, ‘US scientists say toxic sugar is killing millions’, ‘We are on the brink of a diabetes epidemic’—I think it is a pandemic because it is a problem in all countries. In 2010-11 over half the recorded hospitalisation for falls—173,000 of them— involved people over the age of 65. I want to speak tonight about Marion Keane from Zillmere, who lives in my electorate. I spoke about her about three or four months ago. She was going in a power-lifting competition. At 73 years of age, what else do you do but go into a power-lifting competition! The competition was on 10 August. She hit her bench press of 45 kilograms. Members need to keep in mind that this lady was only 55.6 kilograms on the day. She squatted 50 kilograms. Keep in mind that for both of these events she had to stop the weight and then press and then get her bottom down to the ground below parallel and stop and press again. I think that is pretty impressive for a 73-year-old. The impressive one was her dead lift. When I spoke about her last time I said it was like getting two 30-kilogram cement bags, putting them on the ground and trying to lift them. That was what she was trying to achieve. In her training she got to that as her warm-up weight. On game day she put 70 kilograms on. She got that as her first lift. For her second lift she put on 80 kilograms and got that. We thought we should throw 90 kilograms on. She had never lifted 90 kilograms before. I spoke to her coach. He said, ‘Jas, what do you think?’ I said, ‘Big Mick, let’s do it. She has the adrenalin pumping.’ She put 90 kilograms on and at 73 years of age and 55.6 kilograms she hoisted this dead weight off the ground and got it up for an Australian record. We are trying to confirm whether it is a world record. My ‘Arnie’ moment this week does go to my Australian champion, Marion Keane. In other news I would like to congratulate Mount Isa council for voting seven to zip to stop hydrofluorosilicic acid being put into their water. That is a great thing because the people of Mount Isa do not need any more toxic chemicals going into the air, food or water up there. As the member for Burnett said, have a great weekend and three weeks, and see you back here soon. Question put—That the House do now adjourn. Motion agreed to. The House adjourned at 6.07 pm.

ATTENDANCE Barton, Bates, Bennett, Berry, Bleijie, Boothman, Byrne, Cavallucci, Choat, Costigan, Cox, Crandon, Cripps, Crisafulli, Cunningham, Davies, C Davis, T Davis, Dempsey, Dickson, Dillaway, Douglas, Dowling, Elmes, Emerson, Flegg, France, Frecklington, Gibson, Grant, Grimwade, Gulley, Hart, Hathaway, Hobbs, Holswich, Hopper, Johnson, Judge, Katter, Kaye, Kempton, King, Knuth, Krause, Langbroek, Latter, Maddern, Malone, Mander, McVeigh, Menkens, Millard, Miller, Minnikin, Molhoek, Newman, Nicholls, Ostapovitch, Palaszczuk, Pitt, Powell, Pucci, Rickuss, Robinson, Ruthenberg, Scott, Seeney, Shorten, Shuttleworth, Simpson, Smith, Sorensen, Springborg, Stevens, Stewart, Stuckey, Symes, Trad, Walker, Watts, Wellington, Woodforth, Young