Deb Frecklingtonm p Leader of the and Shadow Minister for Trade

Queensland Legislative Assembly Number:

21 F ebruary 201! ^ ® ^ ^ BylMveD

Hon Steven Miles MP Clerk's Signature: Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services Member for Murrumba

By email: [email protected]

Dear Minister

DELIBERATELY MISLEADING PARLIAMENT

I write concerned that you have deliberately misled Parliament,

During Question Time on Thursday 15 Pebruai 7 2018, you made a number of very serious allegations against me in response to a Question without Notice asked by the Member for Lytton.

Your comments are reported at page 74 of Hansard. Specifically you accused me as follows:

• That you had written to me outlining your concerns about inter-governmental relations; • T ha t I had failed to respond to you; • That my failure to respond was due to my “partisan interests;” • That the failure to respond evidenced that I valued my “partisan interests" above my duty to my community; and • That by failing to respond I was “covering up" for the Prime Minister

Your accusation that I had ignored such an important matter is something I take very seriously. Accordingly I instructed my staff to examine the records of both the Opposition Office and my electorate office.

Despite an exhaustive search of the records and registers of my offices, there is no evidence that you have written to me since becoming Minister for Health on 12 December 2017.

My staff have contacted your Ministerial office and requested from your staff on three occasions a copy of the correspondence in question which your office has been unable to provide.

It is now clear that you have not written to me at all and the accusations you made against me in the H ouse are all false.

Tclc|->hoiic O'' 38.38 676^ Stinail rccfption(«'apposition.qld.go\.au M ijieral 1 louse, Level 7, 4 I Cieorge Street, Brisbane Q kl 4000 • PC.) Box 'L50.‘'7, C ity East CJld 4002 On the first opportunity to show Queenslanders that you are focused on their interests and improving the Queensland health system, you instead made a sloppy and false political attack.

You have fabricated these accusations and deliberately misled the House for your own political gain.

Your conduct is unbecoming of a Member of Parliament and a Minister of the Crown, even in a Labor governm ent.

Queenslanders will be rightly disappointed to know that instead of focusing on service delivery and improving Queensland’s health service, you are more interested in playing politics.

As the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services, you have a vital role to play in protecting the health and wellbeing of many Queenslanders. In the interests of all Queenslanders who rely on our health service, I implore you to take your role seriously and apply your efforts diligently and tirelessly in service of all Queenslanders.

You should reflect on your behaviour and the example you set.

I look forward to receiving your apology to the House for your deliberately misleading statements at the next sitting of Parliament. I have copied this correspondence to the Speaker for him to consider referring you to the Ethics Committee for punishment.

Yours sincerely

/ / / . '^ / / ./)

DEB FREGKLINGTOW/MP Leader of the Opposftion Sh^jdow MinisteVfor Trade Member for Nananqo

(

CC: Hon , Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Queensland Legislative Assembly Number:______. - Tabled H " Hon Steven Miles MP 0 6 m 2018 By Leove □ Minister for Health and

Queensland Clerk's Signature:, Ciovpnt.iiptif Minister for Ambulance Services

1 William Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 48 Biisbane Queensland 4001 Australia T e lep h o ne +81 7 3036 6100 F a c s im ile +61 7 3220 6231

Hon. Curtis Pitt MP Speaker of the House Parliament House 1 6 FEB 2018 Cnr of Alice and George Streets BRISBANE Q 4000

In S Dear Sp|eaker

On Thursday 15 February 201J I made the following statement to the House in response to a Question Without Notice from the Member for Lytton, referring to the Member for Nanango:

"I have written to her and outlined In great detail how these funding cuts are affecting Queensland hospitals and health services in her HHS, but still we have not heard a word.” (Hansard, page 73),

I wish to correct the record.

On Wednesday 21 February 2018, my office received correspondence from the Member from Nanango, Ms Deb Frecklington in which she states that she had not received any correspondence from me.

Subsequent investigations determined that although I approved correspondence addressed to the Member for Nanango and was of the understanding it had been sent, due to an administrative oversight in my office it was not sent.

My office emailed a copy of the correspondence in question to the Member for Nanango’s parliamentary email address within two days of being alerted to the error.

I apologise for inadvertently misleading the House.

Yours sincerely

STEVEN MILES MP Minister for Health Minister for Ambulance Services Queensland Legislative Assembly Number:

Totlid _ 0 6 MAJi20:ut i«8

Clerk's Signature: Your Ref: Our Ref: 180302-GUT-Miles

2 March 2018

Hon Steven Miles MP M inister fo r Health Minister for Ambulance Services GPO Box 48 Brisbane QLD 4001

By E-Mail: healthfSministerial.qld.gov.au

Dear Minister,

I refer to your letter dated 26 February 2018 wherein you advised that you wish to correct the parliamentary record for a statement you made on Thursday 15 February 2018, in response to a Question without Notice from the Member for Lytton, referring to the Member for Nanango.

I also note that your incorrect statement was due to an administrative error in your office, whereby relevant correspondence you had signed had not been sent to the Member and your apology for inadvertently misleading the House.

I note that the recommended approach contained in the Code of Ethical Standards is as follows:

M em bers shall correct the record in the House as soon as it is apparent a statem ent m ay be misleading

Members may sometimes make incorrect or misleading statements in the House without actually Intending to mislead the House. Recklessness by a member resulting In Incorrect or misleading statements to the House is in Itself a serious matter. Members have a duty to correct the official record In the House as soon as It becomes apparent that their statements were Incorrect or could be misleading.

Therefore, I would request that on the next sitting day (Tuesday 6 March 2018), at matters of privilege, you rise and correct the record and apologise in the same terms as your correspondence. Once you satisfactorily comply with this step, I will then have little difficulty in dismissing the matter under Standing Order 269(6) for the reasons given in Standing Order 269(4).

I have copied the Leader of the Opposition into this letter as a matter of courtesy. I would ask that the Leader of the Opposition in turn oblige me with the courtesy of taking no further action and keeping this correspondence confidential until after you rise on the matter of privilege.

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: : St Kii'.'-] :,r- 'u 4000 A:i..iidila

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Lnr !| .|n:aKl>r('-':.'.-,i v . p ; : '; L :. o ! 0 . p o v -:U Yours sincerely,

;-<^C

HON CURTIS PITT MP Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

Cc: Mrs Deb Frecklington MP, Leader of the Opposition