21 Jun 2002 Legislative Assembly 2187

FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2002

Mr SPEAKER (Hon. R. K. Hollis, Redcliffe) read prayers and took the chair at 9.30 a.m.

SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT DAY Mr SPEAKER: Order! I remind honourable members of the Science in Parliament day on Tuesday, 20 August 2002. I am pleased to be able to play a role in supporting this initiative to bring Queensland's parliamentarians and scientific community together to learn from each other. Members who have not already registered may wish to complete the Registration of Interest forms which have been placed before them this morning. The forms can be returned to the Speaker's office today.

PETITIONS Import of Bananas from Philippines Mr Rowell from 4,049 petitioners requesting the House to immediately ban all imports of bananas from the Philippines and all proposals to do so in the future until such time as the Australian Government can guarantee that (a) under no circumstances will any disease or pest be allowed to cross our borders at all on the grounds of trade as occurred with Black Sigatoka and with imported Californian table grapes in New Zealand recently, (b) the Australian standard of living won’t be threatened by the introduction of third world rates of pay to Australian workers to allow Australian industry to compete on a level playing field and (c) Australian industry’s labour costs will be subsidised to create level playing field conditions where Australian industry is forced to compete against countries with third world labour costs.

Food Irradiation Mr Wells from 315 petitioners requesting the House to (a) prohibit the establishment of a nuclear irradiation facility or X-Ray or electron beam irradiation facility at any location in Queensland, (b) ban the import, export and sale of irradiated food in Queensland and (c) call on the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council (ANZFSC) and the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) to amend Standards A-17 and 1.5.3 Irradiation of Foods in the Food Standards Code to ban food irradiation outright in Australia and New Zealand.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Appointment of Minister Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.33 a.m.), by leave: I desire to inform the House that on 20 June 2002, in accordance with the Constitution of Queensland 2001, His Excellency the Governor appointed Judith Caroline Spence to be Minister for Families and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Minister for Disability Services and Minister for Seniors of Queensland. This was after she resigned. She resigned and then had to be reappointed. There was one moment when we had one minister fewer, but only for a fraction of time. I do not want any more resignations, either. So that is it. I also inform the House that on 20 June 2002, in accordance with the Constitution of Queensland 2001, His Excellency the Governor, acting by and with the advice of the Executive Council, approved Administrative Arrangements Amendment Order (No. 1) 2002. I lay upon the table of the House copies of the relevant notifications from the Queensland Extraordinary Government Gazette.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Electronic Petitions Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.34 a.m.), by leave: As members are aware, my government is committed to making parliament more accessible to the people. In line with this, we have promised to trial the feasibility of the Queensland parliament accepting e-petitions, that is, petitions on line during this term of the parliament. Unfortunately, the trial—which I had hoped would commence on 1 July 2002, as previously advised—is not possible as amendments to both standing and sessional orders may be required. 2188 Ministerial Statement 21 Jun 2002

I therefore advise the House that a committee of three, comprising the Leader of the House, Anna Bligh, yourself, Mr Speaker, and the Leader of the Opposition or his representative, will be established to work through the issues and make a recommendation on the best way to extend e-democracy to include petitions. The committee will endeavour to report back to the parliament during the next sitting. It just means that we have to work through some issues that have not been resolved. This is quite complicated—double-checking and verifying names on petitions—and I would rather that we spent a bit more time to get it right. So I will move that we establish that committee—if it has been agreed to. I understand the Leader of the Opposition has agreed, so I will move that we establish it. Mr SPEAKER: Do we need a motion for that? Mr BEATTIE: Okay. I will just announce that we have established it. There you go. That is the best way to do it. I like that. I will do a few more of those. I will just announce that we are doing it. That is terrific. Thanks everybody for your support! I am delighted. Mr Foley: You can do it by email. Mr BEATTIE: I will announce it by email next time. How about that! Mr Springborg: With a 42-seat majority— Mr BEATTIE: Now, now, none of that. We would take the member with us. We are compassionate and inclusive.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Roma Street Police Station Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.36 a.m.), by leave: Later today I will join my colleague the Minister for Police, Tony McGrady, to officially open the new $934,804 Roma Street Police Station based at Queensland Police Headquarters. For the past eight years police headquarters has not been an operational police station, but that has changed. It will now be a fully fledged 24-hour operational police station because we are committed to placing police in areas where they are most needed. While there I will also release details of a package of measures that expands our community crime prevention program. The package involves $4.65 million over three years to implement the Strategic Framework for Community Crime Prevention—a blueprint to help communities find solutions to local crime. Under the framework our regional network of crime prevention resource officers will help develop local action teams. The teams, comprising councils, community groups, business, individuals and government agencies—including Queensland police—will find ways to tackle crime issues in their communities. The strategic framework expands on work undertaken in five current crime prevention programs in regional Queensland. The latest initiative will begin on 1 July and will be rolled out across eight regions over three years and cover all areas where community crime prevention partnerships have been active. The regions are: far-north Queensland/Cape York; north Queensland; Mackay/Whitsunday; Wide Bay; north-west Queensland; central Queensland; Sunshine Coast/Cooloola; and parts of SEQ west/eastern Darling Downs. The number and locations of the action teams in each region will be based on the type and rate of crime, the community's potential for program sustainability and the resources available. The package includes a Building Safer Communities training program, the establishment costs for three additional police beats and a new web site.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Constitution Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.38 a.m.), by leave: This parliament can claim a rare title—it was the one that brought it all together—the Constitution, that is. On 3 June—as a Queensland Week event—I formally launched the promotion of our state's new-look Constitution. The consolidation of Queensland's Constitution is a significant achievement of which all in this House—and all Queenslanders—can rightly be proud. On 3 June I launched two civics education initiatives. The initiatives are designed to better inform Queenslanders of our Constitution and our system of government. From 6 June 21 Jun 2002 Ministerial Statement 2189

2002—Queensland Day—the Constitution of Queensland 2001 became law. For the first time in over 130 years the 10 or more pieces of legislation which comprised the Constitution were brought into one act and made more relevant by being rewritten in modern language. So in a smart way we have taken that commitment made before the last election to enhance civics education for all. In keeping with that smart way we have taken a jumble of old-fashioned hard-to- find elements and turned them into one easily read and easily accessed informative document—and with an attached self-help guide. This government is committed to ensuring all Queenslanders know and understand our system of government and that they are fully equipped to better engage with the government to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The initiatives launched comprise Queensland's Constitution: Educational Resource Kit and a Queensland Arts Council on tour in-schools theatre production entitled Citizen Jane. I table a copy of the kit. I also want to highlight that this year Queensland enjoyed a week-long program of celebrations from 2-9 June to mark Queensland Week. Because of time, I seek leave to incorporate the rest of my ministerial statements in Hansard. Leave granted. Included in the educational resource kit, designed for secondary schools and adult education programs, are: an annotated version of the Constitution of Queensland 2001, which sets the Constitution in its historical context and provides an explanation about each section; a civics education video which demonstrates how all Queensland citizens have access to the processes of government and how they can have input into our laws; and two curriculum modules which are aligned to existing Queensland school syllabuses: the Study of Society and Environment Syllabus for Years 9 and 10 and the Legal Studies and Study of Society Syllabus for senior students. The kit is being distributed through all secondary schools, as well as the electoral offices of all MPs, local governments, universities and TAFE colleges and a network of community groups. As well to further engage our young Queenslanders in learning about government we have joined forces with the Queensland Arts Council to present Citizen Jane. It is an entertaining and informative new work by Brisbane playwrights Helen Howard and Michael Futcher. It was launched by my colleague Matt Foley the Minister for Employment, Training and Youth and the Arts. He launched Citizen Jane, on my behalf, at Bundamba State High School on Thursday (June 6). I'm told that launch was a great success and all involved deserve every thanks. Citizen Jane was staged for the public at Parliament House on Sunday June 9 and has begun a tour of free performances to government and non-government schools in regional Queensland. These initiatives again show that government has a proud unmatched record when it comes to community engagement. This is another step in better ensuring Queenslanders know and understand the core structure upon which we build our legislation and develop the laws that govern us. Citizen Jane has already played at Jimboomba, Boonah, Nerang, Mudgeeraba, Tamborine Mountain, Yangan, Killarney, Warwick and Stanthorpe. This week it is to play at Texas, Inglewood, Goondiwindi, Boonah, Kalbar, Peak Crossing and Beaudesert. In the coming weeks it begins its northern run. During August and September the play will travel to Yeppoon, Rockhampton, Mt Morgan, Biloela, Moura, Springsure, Emerald, Capella, Tieri, Blackwater, Clermont, Moranbah, Dysart, Charters Towers, Hermit Park and Townsville.

Mr Speaker, this year Queensland enjoyed a week long program of celebrations from June 2-9 to mark Queensland Week. Queensland Day, June 6, was the pinnacle of the week. On that date we celebrated the 143rd anniversary of separation from New South Wales. The celebrations were warmed by the afterglow of the Maroons, magnificent win in the 2nd State-of-Origin Rugby League clash at ANZ Stadium the previous evening. Queensland Week is an opportunity to celebrate our heritage and honour those Queenslanders who have contributed so much to making Queensland such a great place to live. I had the privilege of participating in many events during the week, starting here on the Speaker's Green at Parliament on the morning of Sunday June 2 where we paid tribute to two inspirational Queenslanders. 2190 Ministerial Statement 21 Jun 2002

Rugby champion John Eales was named Suncorp Metway Queenslander of the Year while 18 year old Danielle Begg was named the Suncorp Metway Young Queenslander of the year. The awards are the State's highest citizenship honours. John Eales rugby career spanned 10 years, including 86 tests for Australia and 52 as captain while Danielle Begg has made significant contributions to the prevention of youth suicide, drug abuse and discrimination against young people through the group she helped establish, Australian Teens Advocating Change. That afternoon I administered the Australian Citizenship Pledge for more than 500 people at a special Queensland Week citizenship ceremony at the Roma Street Parkland. Then on Queensland Day itself, hundreds of business leaders gathered in the Plaza Ballroom at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for the annual Queensland Week Golden Circle Business Breakfast. The event's focus was the celebration of innovation and the emergence of biotechnology in the Smart State. Professor Peter Andrews of the University of Queensland and I were the guest speakers. Professor Andrews is Co-director of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland and a director and founder of Alchemia Pty Ltd. During Queensland Week I launched two important publications. The first was the latest book by noted historian Dr Ross Fitzgerald titled Federation Mirror: Queensland 1901-2001. The book offers fresh insight on how Queensland arrived at Federation in 1901 and how we celebrated the event a century later. Dr Fitzgerald was Chair of Centenary of Federation Queensland, and his book, written with assistance from QUT historian Dr Keith Moore, examines on a region-by-region basis how Queenslanders approached the original question of Federation—and how they originally voted. The Queensland Government committed $25 million to community based projects—especially those with an historical flavour— to celebrate the Centenary of Federation. I also launched an exciting new photographic book Queensland By Invitation. It records and preserves the story of Queensland from the point of view of everyday people. I personally invited 400 Queenslanders from all walks of life to submit photographs with 100 of those entries chosen by a selection panel for inclusion in the book. A small number of high profile Queenslanders were among those people invited to submit photos including sportsmen Pat Rafter and Grant Kenny, model Kristy Hinze, and writer Nick Earls. Queensland Week is also a time when we acknowledge our "Queensland Greats". The Awards, now in their second year, honour "living legends" who share the vision and ideals of Queensland and have played a significant role in the history and development of the State. The outstanding Queenslanders honoured in 2002 were Professor David Tudehope AM, Clem Jones AO, Wayne Bennett OAM, Olga 'Auntie' Miller and Professor Lawrie Powell AC. I presented each recipient with hand crafted trophies at a special ceremony on the celebration lawn at Roma Street Parkland on June 5. I also unveiled brass plaques laid in a path at the Parkland to remind visitors of their achievements. These are all outstanding Queenslanders. Because of time restraints I seek leave to incorporate the biographical details of the awardees in Hansard. Biographical details of Queensland Greats 2002 Mr Clem Jones AO Mr Clem Jones is a Brisbane icon. His contribution to the development of the city and its citizens is unsurpassed. A surveyor by profession, Mr Jones' most notable role was as Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1961 to 1975. His tenure saw the capital grow from a conservative country town to a vibrant and cosmopolitan city. Mr Jones' civic service continued after his retirement from politics through membership of numerous civic, sporting and professional bodies. His vision and enthusiasm for Queensland made him a commanding force in projects including the Constitutional Convention, the Western Queensland Flood Appeal, Foodbank, aged and disabled persons care, and youth centres. Mr Jones is a recipient of the Order of Australia (1976), the Advance Australia Award for contribution to sport and the community (1982), Queenslander of the Year (1990), and he received the Keys to the City of Brisbane in 1998. Professor Lawrie Powell AC Professor Lawrie Powell is one of Queensland's most celebrated medical researchers. He has led international investigation into liver disease and cancer for more than 25 years. His research has made significant contributions to the understanding of inherited liver disease and cirrhosis, especially haemochromatosis. Professor Powell was instrumental in the development of Brisbane's new Comprehensive Cancer Research Centre which will house almost 1000 scientists and support staff. He has received numerous national and international awards in recognition of his research achievements. Professor Powell is currently Director of Research at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and Professor Emeritus at The University of Queensland. Mrs Olga Miller Known as Auntie, Mrs Olga Miller is an internationally acclaimed author and consultant on Aboriginal culture and traditions. Born in Maryborough, Auntie is an Elder of the Butchulla nation that borders Mount Bauple, Burrum Heads and Double Island Point. Her book about her father's legends of Fraser Island, the 'Legends of Moonie Jarl' was one of the first books ever written by an Aboriginal author. Auntie has prepared newspaper columns, animated film scripts and has appeared on television and radio. She now spends her time educating non-Indigenous Australians about pre-European history and Aboriginals on their own cultural background. Auntie is the Patron of 21 Jun 2002 Ministerial Statement 2191

Buallum Jarl Bah, a centre for Indigenous students studying at The University of Southern Queensland's Wide Bay Campus at Hervey Bay. Professor David Tudehope AM Australian neonatal medicine has a talented champion in Professor David Tudehope. As Director of Neonatology at the Mater Mothers' Hospital and Professor in Neonatal Paediatrics at the University of Queensland, he has spearheaded neonatal research in Queensland. A distinguished clinical physician and author, Professor Tudehope has saved many young lives and encouraged others to explore new neonatal technologies. He chairs a number of paediatric committees and received a member of the Order of Australia in 1999 for his service to medicine. His expertise is currently inspiring many doctors through the Neonatal Perinatal Training Committee of the Australian College of Paediatrics. Mr Wayne Bennett OAM Queensland rugby league is defined by Wayne Bennett. His courage, humility and undying commitment to achieving his best make him one of Australia's greatest sporting coaches. Mr Bennett played representative football for Queensland and Australia between 1971 and 1973, and began coaching in 1976. He established countless records with the clipboard and whistle, before sealing his legendary status with five Bronco premierships and four State of Origin series victories. His sporting success has also been recognised in his selection as Australian rugby league coach in 1998 and in a trifecta of Coach of the Year awards from 1998 to 2000. As a father of three and a former Queensland Father of the Year, he has an endless supply of compassion, respect and ingenuity.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Community Cabinet, Eight Mile Plains Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.41 a.m.), by leave: Our last community cabinet meeting, recently held in Stretton, our 50th community cabinet meeting, attracted 800 people. I advise the House that I am delighted with that. I thank Stephen Robertson, the local minister and member, and Phil Reeves, the member for Mansfield, and Judy Spence for their support. I highlight that our next community cabinet meeting is this coming weekend in far-north Queensland. We are again going back to Cairns. Already, we have more than 120 deputations booked and, again, the people of the region are speaking and we are continuing to listen. Because it is a short day today, I seek leave to incorporate the rest of this ministerial statement in Hansard. Leave granted. It was a magnificent turn-out for our 50th Community Cabinet and the very first in Stretton. The Member for Stretton—the Minister for Natural Resources—Stephen Robertson and those representing the surrounding electorates, especially the Member for Mansfield Phil Reeves—deserve praise for their efforts in getting such a good crowd. The day began when I joined Mr Robertson and the Police Commissioner Mr Bob Atkinson to inspect construction of the new $2.5 million Calamvale Police Station. It is due for completion in October. The new station will create a new police division which will take in the Calamvale, Parkinson and Sunnybank Hills areas, as well as complementing existing nearby police facilities at Acacia Ridge and Browns Plains. Upon arrival at the Forum representatives from Stoddart Metal Fabricators—of Sunnybank Hills—Mr Bill Stoddart Managing Director and Keri Thomas presented us all with a coffee—courtesy of their "La Barista" Coffee Machine machines. Stoddart Metal Fabricators have developed the electronically operated coffee vending machine and mobile unit that is purpose-built to suit retail and mobile coffee shop concepts. The machine is under worldwide testing with McDonalds Restaurants and the mobile unit is attracting interest in the USA through international coffee chain, Starbucks. Stoddart is just one of the many Smart State firms in that region blossoming in the supportive, job-creating, export- oriented environment we are creating. Stoddart has projected growth from $43 million to $60 million in the next three years and hopes employment grows from 250 to 350 in the same period. Their apprentice training program sees 38 apprentices presently being employed. Before the formal forum Families Minister Judy Spence and I launched the first of four family-friendly tip sheets, being produced in six languages. The tip sheets provide advice on general parenting, babies and toddlers, children aged 4-12 years and teenagers and are being produced in Chinese, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Vietnamese and Arabic. Another highlight of the gathering was to have been presented medals by Scott Geelan—the CEO of local manufacturer AJ Parkes and Co—to mark the May 31 centenary of peace from the Boer War in South Africa. One of the medals is in memory of Pte Victor Stanley Jones, from Mount Morgan, who was the first Queenslander killed in action while fighting abroad. He was shot dead on January 1 1900. There were 95 formal deputations for the Forum and just as many informal ones at Stretton. Our next Community cabinet is this coming weekend in Far North Queensland. We are again back in Cairns. 2192 Ministerial Statement 21 Jun 2002

Already we have more than 120 deputations booked. Again the people of the regions are speaking and we are continuing to listen.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Teacher Awards Hon. A. M. BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Minister for Education) (9.42 a.m.), by leave: I am pleased to announce in this Year of the Outback that one of the first five recipients of the Bid O'Sullivan Scholarships is to take up duties with Education Queensland. Ms Amanda Shannen will begin teaching at Clermont State School, day one semester two. Ms Bid O'Sullivan established Queensland's first School of the Air at Cloncurry in 1960. Like this pioneer of distance education, these scholarships are designed to help students overcome the difficulty of distance and isolation. The state government has been offering five Bid O'Sullivan Scholarships a year since 1999 to help year 12 students from rural and remote areas who have chosen primary teaching as their career. The scholarships provide financial assistance for the four years that the student is studying a Bachelor of Primary Education at a Queensland university and are each valued at $20,000. Ms Shannen has successfully completed her studies early through completing a summer school component. The other four scholarship holders from the first year of the program are due to complete their studies at the end of the year. No doubt, Bid O'Sullivan would be pleased to know that the first graduate of this scholarship program will bring her skills back to rural education. Ms Shannen asked to work in the Emerald district and will start at Clermont State School on 8 July. I congratulate Ms Shannen. I am sure members will join with me in wishing her well in her career as a primary school educator. I am sure that Bid O'Sullivan would have been very proud of this legacy. I would also like to inform members of two new scholarships for teachers that I announced during Education Week. The first is the Premier's Smart State Teacher Excellence Scholarships which recognise leaders in the field of teaching who inspire both students and peers towards lifelong learning. In addition to paid leave, the Premier's Smart State Teacher Excellence Scholarships provide sponsorship worth $25,000 to cover costs such as tuition, travel and accommodation for a study sabbatical. The first recipients will be announced on World Teacher Day in October. The second new scholarship, the Westfield Premier's Educational Scholarships, is to promote excellence in the field of science teaching. The scholarships sponsored by Westfield and Ginger Max will provide five high school teachers of science with a $24,000 scholarship to undertake further study overseas in the field of science. This program will initially run for five years. I thank Westfield and Ginger Max for their partnership in this outstanding award. The first recipients of the scholarships will be announced at the Science State—Smart State conference also to be held in October this year. Information and nomination material for these two new awards is available in schools.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Youth in Art Hon. M. J. FOLEY (Yeerongpilly—ALP) (Minister for Employment, Training and Youth and Minister for the Arts) (9.45 a.m.), by leave: The Beattie government's innovative Public Art policy, Art Built-in, is not only helping to make our public spaces more pleasant to use and visit; it is also generating vital opportunities for young Queenslanders. Art Built-in allocates two per cent of state government capital works building project budgets towards the commissioning, creation and management of public art. To maximise opportunities for young artists, there is a further element to this policy. It stipulates that capital works building projects valued in excess of $10 million should, wherever possible, provide mentor and employment opportunities for young artists in the delivery of options under the Art Built-in policy. Since the policy's inception in July 1999, it has generated more than 480 jobs for artists and artworkers around the state. In excess of $14 million has been committed toward the integration of art and design, of which $3.2 million has already been spent. There are 34 completed projects, with a further 53 currently under way with capital works funding from 14 departments. But it is clearly important that young artists should be equipped to take up the opportunities generated by this program. 21 Jun 2002 Ministerial Statement 2193

As part of its ongoing developmental work, the Public Art Agency has recently created a one- off $100,000 project to develop partnerships, resources, training and exhibition opportunities for young artists, project managers and curators in the Art Built-in program. The Young People and Public Art Project aims to bridge the gap between formal arts education and training and real employment in the public art sector by providing opportunities for young people to gain on-the-job experience and guidance on public art projects. Gaining experience in Queensland's public art sector is challenging for young people, because opportunities are primarily project-based, freelance in nature and highly competitive. This project will create information resources that offer young artists and artworkers an opportunity to understand Art Built-in and assess how they can be involved with the program. It will also offer practical, on-the-job experience through a simulated public art project at South Bank Parklands called Art Built-in South Bank. It will provide employment and professional development experience for a number of young artists for up to eight sites within South Bank. These temporary artworks will be installed in time for the opening of the Queensland Art Gallery's Asia Pacific Triennial and will remain on display until the end of November, creating an audience of up to 300,000 or more from South Bank and APT visitors. Related professional development seminars are being developed by the Bremer Institute of TAFE in partnership with Artworkers Alliance for 35 young artists, including those who are successfully commissioned. This will ensure that all these young artists are competitive in seeking job opportunities in major government projects, such as the Brisbane Magistrates Court building, which has an Art Built-in allocation of $1.7 million. Helping young people make the transition from school to work is a community obligation. Mr Schwarten: Hear, hear! Mr FOLEY: I thank the Minister for Public Works and Housing, because he appreciates the importance of apprenticeships in that role. The arts have an important contribution to make in achieving the reforms outlined in the government's green paper on education and training reforms. Public art is for all the public, including youth.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Roma Street Police Station Hon. T. McGRADY (Mount Isa—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Carpentaria Minerals Province) (9.47 a.m.), by leave: I know it might upset members opposite, but I am very proud to say that the Beattie Labor government is spending more on police than any other government in the history of this state. We are also increasing police by record numbers. If I could talk about the budget currently being debated, which I cannot, but if I could I would tell the House that we will be funding a further 307 police officers in the coming financial year. That is an increase of 307 officers. I can also advise the House that later today I will join with the Premier to open the new 24-hour Roma Street Police Station. This new station will improve policing in inner-city Brisbane. It is a concrete example of the solid commitment our government has made to improve police facilities right across this state. We recognise the valuable role police play in protecting Queenslanders and ensuring that our state remains a safe place to live. This is why we are continually striving to improve policing facilities. The new Roma Street Police Station represents an investment of more than $900,000 in the safety of Brisbane's city. This end of the city is becoming an increasingly busy area, and this new station is designed to complement the services of the Brisbane city station in Adelaide Street and also alleviate pressure on the station. Eight officers will work from the station along with the six officers who make up the Brisbane city bicycle squad, another great initiative for this area which was recently launched. It is proposed that the Roma Street Police Station will operate in conjunction with Brisbane City Police Station to provide policing services to the inner city, Paddington, Kelvin Grove, Red Hill and indeed part of Spring Hill. The Premier strongly supported the creation of a station to address this area's policing needs, and I am confident that the creation of this police station will lead to enhanced service delivery in this area. Policing is one of the Beattie government's great priorities and this will be confirmed through a record allocation of funding in this year's state budget, which I am not allowed to discuss. Obviously, with the size of our Police Service, our capital works program is a big task and one that cannot be completed overnight. We have to balance competing priorities. However, we are progressing our capital works projects throughout the state. Obviously, Rome was not built in a day. We will continue to strive for improvements. But today's opening is another example of the progress that the Beattie Labor government is making in this state. 2194 Ministerial Statement 21 Jun 2002

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Q-Fleet Hon. R. E. SCHWARTEN (Rockhampton—ALP) (Minister for Public Works and Minister for Housing) (9.50 a.m.), by leave: I wish to advise the House that the government's vehicle fleet manager, Q-Fleet, has secured a major award recognising its leadership on environmental issues. Q-Fleet recently won the Australasian Fleet Managers Association Environment Award for 2002. This award, from the nation's peak body for fleet managers, recognises outstanding achievement in the environmental practices of corporate fleets. It once again shows that as the largest vehicle fleet in Queensland—and possibly Australia—Q-Fleet is delivering on the government's commitment to valuing the environment. Q-Fleet's initiatives in seeking out ways to minimise or neutralise the impact of vehicle emissions on the environment are extensive. Time and again, Q-Fleet has set the example for others to follow. It has been extensively involved in the scientific testing of low-emission fuels and vehicle technologies. It was among the first fleets to use petrol-electric hybrid vehicles. It has also given unprecedented support to the national tree planting organisation Greenfleet. Greenfleet has publicly congratulated the state government for its support, saying that no other public sector fleet has taken such an interest in such a crucial environmental issue. All of these initiatives would not have been possible if Q-Fleet was not in public ownership. As all members are aware, it was this government that saved it from the privatisation plans of those who now sit opposite. Its 12,000-plus fleet gives it an unrivalled ability to provide environmental leadership by trialling or adopting new technologies. As a government business unit, Q-Fleet is able to act in partnership with the private sector or research organisations to improve the quality of our environment. Q-Fleet has lived up to its membership of the national greenhouse challenge and has gained the recognition of its peers as the latest award demonstrates. Q-Fleet will continue to constantly search for ways to enhance its environmental program and contribute to a reduction in vehicle emissions in Queensland.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Japan and Korea Trade Mission Hon. H. PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Minister for Primary Industries and Rural Communities) (9.52 a.m.), by leave: Last month, I led a very successful trade mission to Japan and Korea on behalf of the Queensland beef industry. I was joined on the mission by representatives from four innovative Queensland beef companies. Those representatives were Brigalow Beef Company Chairman, Ivan Schmalkuche; Kilcoy Pastoral Company Chief Executive Officer, Tony Munns; OBE Beef Business Manager, Simone Tully; and Stockyard Beef General Manager of Marketing, Lachlan Hart. In addition, I was accompanied by DPI Principal Rural Development Officer, Rick Ada; and Adrian Peake, who is a policy adviser in my office. We were well supported by the Queensland government trade and investment offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Seoul as well as Meat and Livestock Australia, Austrade and the Australian embassy in Japan where we were hosted by Ambassador John McCarthy. The trade mission to Japan followed three outbreaks of BSE in the Japanese herd. Indeed, a fourth outbreak was confirmed as we arrived in Tokyo. The impact of the BSE detections in Japan has affected all sales of beef, including Australian beef. It was clear from the meetings and public appearances that the trade delegation made that Australian beef was well regarded by Japanese consumers. The message was similar in Korea where authorities have been dealing with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The government is building on the opportunities identified in Japan and Korea. The visit to Japan and Korea was also timely as it came so close to the start of the soccer World Cup being hosted by both countries. As a trade mission, we used the World Cup as a rallying point for Australian beef. I can report that a consumer trends survey in Japan has found a 150 per cent increase in Australian beef consumption for last week—the second week of the World Cup. The increase measured retail sales for last week compared to the same week a year earlier. Japan has now exited the World Cup, but Korea has progressed to the quarter finals after it defeated Italy on Tuesday. I wish them luck in their game against Spain in the next couple of days. The Australian meat industry is undertaking special promotions in time for the World Cup 21 Jun 2002 Questions Without Notice 2195 with recipes posted on the Meat and Livestock Australia web site and in major hotels in Japan and Korea during the World Cup. Mr Mackenroth: Talk about sport. Mr PALASZCZUK: My word. The latest recipes are for Thai-Australian beef salad rolls and teriyaki Australian beef. A government member interjected. Mr PALASZCZUK: I am coming to that. While we are encouraging people across the world to eat more Australian beef, the message needs to be delivered at home. Australian beef and veal consumption has almost halved over the last 20 years from 65 kilograms to 36 kilograms per capita. That is why I am urging all Australian soccer fans who do not have the Socceroos to support to get behind the Australian beef industry. I would like to table my report on the outcomes of my trade mission.

OVERSEAS VISIT Report Mr SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—NPA) (9.56 a.m.): I lay upon the table a report of a trip that I undertook to the United States and Canada between 4 June and 14 June. This trip was supplementary to my attendance at the International Biotechnology Convention held in Toronto between 9 June and 12 June, for which I am grateful for the invitation of the Premier. I table the report, the itinerary and supplementary information gathered during that trip.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Nurses, Industrial Action Mr HORAN (9.56 a.m.): I refer the Premier to the continuing industrial action by Queensland nurses and their decision to close down 25 per cent of beds in the state's hospitals—a decision which will cause further delays, cancelled operations and chaos in a health system that is already at breaking point. I also refer the Premier to his Treasurer's massive budget deficit, the second in two consecutive years, and to the irresponsible absence of his Health Minister in this time of crisis. Once again she has gone missing in action, just as she does whenever the going gets tough. Can the Premier confirm that the only reason that the member for Mount Coot-tha is still the Minister for Health is that she is one of his factional mates? Is it not true that it is the nurses and patients of Queensland who are paying the price for the Labor Party's deal making and his budget mess? Mr Schwarten: You're a dunce. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Housing will withdraw that comment. It is unparliamentary. Mr SCHWARTEN: I withdraw. Mr BEATTIE: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Wendy Edmond is the Health Minister because she is a good Health Minister, and everybody knows that we have the highest possible standards and requirements. Wendy Edmond is in Darwin because I sent her to Darwin. Mr Hobbs: To get her out of the way. Mr BEATTIE: The members opposite cannot object to a point made by a minister if they are going to pursue the matter without giving me a chance to respond. The minister is attending the Commonwealth-state ministers conference on the status of women. She is representing me. I am the relevant minister. I did not go because I am accountable to this parliament. The agenda of that conference includes—and these issues are important to my government—women and safety; domestic violence in migrant spouses; indigenous women's health; pay equity; the national approach to sexual assault; work and family, including paid maternity leave; pay equity; and possible national action on the portrayal of women in media and advertising. These are important issues—important enough to warrant a minister's presence. About 40 per cent of the caucus are women. We take women's issues very seriously. Of course we want this industrial dispute resolved. We value our nurses. The negotiations are being handled by Gordon Nuttall, the Minister for Industrial Relations, with my support and the 2196 Questions Without Notice 21 Jun 2002 support of our ministerial colleagues. That is why Gordon and I visited the Nurses Union, in an unprecedented way, prior to the dispute commencing. I make this very clear: this has been an incredibly busy week for the government. Our focus has been on the budget and the significant statement made yesterday by Judy Spence in relation to assisting families. If the week had not been so busy, I may have perhaps reconsidered and asked Wendy to stay—not because she should not have gone to the meeting, not because her presence here would have made any difference, but to deal with issues of perception. I make it clear that those issues of perception are unfair. I accept full responsibility, personally, for Wendy's presence in Darwin. She is there because I personally value a sensible approach on women's issues. I want to examine where we are going on paid maternity leave because women's issues are important to me. This government values them and I value them. If there is any criticism of Wendy Edmond, it should be directed at me. I accept full responsibility.

State Budget; Nurses Wage Claim Mr HORAN: I refer the Premier to the Treasurer's concession in today's Financial Review that the government would have to find the money in the budget if the Industrial Relations Commission rules in favour of the nurses in their bid for better pay. I also refer him to the huge successive operating deficits this government has handed Queensland. I ask: is it not true that the financial mess the Premier has got this state into has left no capacity to pay the nurses a better wage deal if the IRC rules in their favour during this health crisis? Mr BEATTIE: All the Treasurer has done by confirming that is to tell the truth. It would not matter whether the opposition was in government or we were in government; in reality, a budget— Mr Horan interjected. Mr BEATTIE: For heaven's sake, would the member stop it. He just rattles on over there. Does he want an answer or does he just want to put his ego on the table and jump up and down? If the member wants to answer his own question, why not get up and say, 'Mr Speaker, I have a question to ask which I want to answer.' That is what the member wants to do. Will the member give me a chance to answer it? Mr Hobbs interjected. Mr BEATTIE: Oh, look, you and the village idiot over there. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrego has the opportunity to ask questions. He will now cease interjecting. Mr Hobbs interjected. Mr BEATTIE: At least I put the wheels down when I land in a plane! Mr Hobbs interjected. Mr BEATTIE: I tell you what, if I did, I would not be flying with the member for Warrego! He has left half his undercarriage in Charleville—and a few other things, too. Mr Purcell: He hasn't got a brain to put into gear. Mr BEATTIE: He left it on the undercarriage at Charleville. This is a serious issue and I want to make a serious response. What the Treasurer has said is, in fact, the reality. A budget is a snapshot of the financial circumstances at that time and the projections for the next year. Of course, in preparing a budget there must be an assessment of what EB claims will be. What figure is put in the budget? The government's offer! One does not need to be a rocket scientist to work that out! Of course that is the figure put in the budget. What other figure would be put in? We are in the middle of negotiations. Does the opposition want us to put in some mythical figure or some different offer? An opposition member interjected. Mr BEATTIE: Good heavens! What do members think the Treasurer's reserve is for? It is for droughts; it is for unforeseen circumstances. That is how it works. Mr Horan interjected. Mr BEATTIE: Just try a minute's silence. A minute's reflection will be good for the member's soul. This is how government works: there is a budget, there are projections and there is a 21 Jun 2002 Questions Without Notice 2197

Treasurer's advance for unforeseen circumstances such as natural disasters and cyclones. Basically, the member is saying that the government should indicate in the budget when the next cyclone will happen in Queensland and the total expenditure for that. We should ring god up and ask, 'God, when is the next cyclone coming and, by the way, how much will it cost?' That is what the member is suggesting. That is how ridiculous his comment is. In these circumstances, we are an employer in the process of EB negotiations. I have already said that the current EB system is archaic and we will reform it. Reform is long overdue. Yesterday's industrial action by nurses clearly highlighted one thing: nurses should not have to take that action as part of an EB process. That action highlighted how flawed the process is and why we have to do better.

Gold Coast Marathon Mr LAWLOR: I refer the Premier to his commitment that Queensland will be the events state of Australia, and I ask: how effectively is the state government marketing the annual Gold Coast Marathon to local and international runners? Mr BEATTIE: The Gold Coast is preparing itself for a bumper field of more than 9,000 runners for the 24th annual Gold Coast Marathon on 7 July. That is 1,000 more than last year, when the event pumped an estimated $6 million into the Gold Coast economy. This year the figure should be even bigger. I understand the honourable member for Southport will be one of the runners. I understand that the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Education and P. K. Croft will all be there. Are there any other members from the Gold Coast? They are shaking their heads. They can run the political marathon, not the physical one. Mr Bredhauer: I will be doing the half. Mr BEATTIE: I have already said that. Stick with me, minister. I have already said that the Minister for Transport will be there. As well as the traditional marathon, this year's events will include the half marathon, the 10 kilometre run and the Gold Coast 92.5 FM 10 kilometre walk—which is probably more my style. What about the Minister for Tourism, will she be walking that? Yes, the Minister for Tourism will be doing the 10 kilometre walk. A new event in 2002 is the junior dash—which is probably for Mr Springborg and me. Lawrence and I will do the junior dash. After all, he is the youngest member on that side of the House. All the others are a little older. We are expecting a big boost in international runners after our hard work marketing the event internationally, attracting about 2,000 overseas entrants from up to 30 countries. This year, the number of Japanese runners is likely to climb from 500 to 850. When I was in Tokyo, Queensland Tourism, with Terry Jackman, was promoting this event. The Japanese tourism operators were quite excited by it and they expected the numbers to be up. We did everything we could to support it. However, these things do not happen by accident. Our Gold Coast events management team opened an office in Tokyo and has conducted a number of successful marketing missions. It has also appointed last year's lady winner, Yuko Arimori—a lovely lady—as Japanese ambassador for the Gold Coast Marathon. Ms Arimori, a medallist at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics, has been actively marketing the race at major Japanese running events. A network of strategic marketing partners has also been developed in New Zealand to put the race in front of as many New Zealand runners as possible. Four-time winner Pat Carroll from Queensland has also been appointed as an ambassador and has been helping to boost local numbers. The 2002 Gold Coast marathon will start and finish at the hugely popular and traditional spot on the Southport Broadwater, with the route extending via Main Beach through Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Nobby Beach before turning for Runaway Bay Marina and then returning. Merri Rose, other local members and I recently launched this event and I am delighted with it. On the topic of athletics, I add that the Queensland government has thrown its support behind Australia's Commonwealth Games teams for Manchester with a $230,000 donation to the Queensland division of the Commonwealth Games Association. I had the privilege of presenting a cheque for $230,000 at the Commonwealth Games Premier's dinner which I hosted at the Sheraton Hotel in Brisbane on Thursday, 23 May. I table the rest of that for the information of the House. 2198 Questions Without Notice 21 Jun 2002

Public Transport Driver Authorisations; Convicted Paedophiles Mr JOHNSON: I direct my question to the Minister for Transport and Minister for Main Roads. In view of Labor's shameful record of harbouring paedophiles amongst its ranks in parliament, it is not surprising that his department has issued a paedophile an authority to drive a school bus. I ask: have any other paedophiles or other criminals been issued with authorities to drive public transport vehicles? What action has the minister taken to prevent this stupidity continuing— Mr English interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Who made that interjection? Mr JOHNSON: The member for Redlands. I have a long memory, Mr Speaker. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just continue with the question. Mr JOHNSON: What action has the minister taken to prevent this stupidity continuing, and will he make available to this parliament the results of any inquiry into this debacle? Mr BREDHAUER: I thank the honourable member for the question, notwithstanding its tenor, because it is a very important issue and one that I take seriously. In the particular case drawn to attention in the Courier-Mail, the person concerned had two previous convictions for offences. When he applied for a driver authorisation, that request for a driver authorisation was refused. He then asked for a judicial review. On judicial review the decision of my department was vindicated and the request for driver authorisation was again refused. The honourable member for Gregory should know this, because it happened during his time as the Minister for Transport and Minister for Main Roads. Mr Johnson: I'm asking you the question. Mr BREDHAUER: The honourable member should know this, because it happened while he was the Minister for Transport and Minister for Main Roads. Mr Johnson: You're the minister now, and you let him in. Mr BREDHAUER: The honourable member would also know, because it happened when he was the Minister for Transport and Minister for Main Roads, that an appeal was then made to the Magistrates Court and the magistrate ordered that an authorisation be issued with conditions. He should know that, because when he was the Minister for Transport and Minister for Main Roads that Magistrates Court decision was not appealed; it was accepted and the authorisation was issued with conditions. Notwithstanding that, during the time that I was the minister—and the buck stops with me—the conditions were lifted. The conditions were lifted without reference to me or to my office, and I have made it perfectly clear to my director-general and to the officers concerned who made that decision that I think the decision was wrong, and unacceptable, and that they should not have made it without referring it to me or a more senior officer in the department first. I have taken steps to ensure that that situation never, ever recurs. In relation to the honourable member's question about whether there are others, we have undertaken a review of our records which has been unable to find any others. But we are undertaking a comprehensive review of all of the driver authorisations that exist in Queensland—a number which exceeds 50,000, I am advised by my department—in conjunction with the Police Service to find out whether there are any people with criminal histories which would make them unsuitable for driver authorisation. The other thing I should mention is that the director-general has given notice to that person of our intention to remove his driver authorisation.

Rugby League Greats Visit; Year of the Outback Mrs CHRISTINE SCOTT: I refer the Premier to the fact that Queensland State of Origin footballers are important role models for young Queenslanders, and I ask: is he aware of any recent examples where our footballing legends have used their high profile for the benefit of the community? Mr BEATTIE: Yes, I am. They were doing something close to the member's heart. We visited Aramac together to promote the Year of the Outback. On 3 June I was on hand to welcome home some league legends after their four-day visit out west promoting the value of sport in outback communities. The Year of the Outback initiative saw former Queensland Rugby League greats Sam Backo, Martin Bella, Wally Fullerton-Smith, Tony Currie, Bryan Niebling, Kerry 21 Jun 2002 Questions Without Notice 2199

Boustead and Mitch Brennan visit Longreach, Emerald, Barcaldine and Alpha to provide advice and to support bush kids. It is a great program. I joined the players for breakfast at Roma Street Station after they returned to Brisbane on QR's Spirit of the Outback train. The support that these men have shown to youngsters in the outback is typical of the support they showed wearing the maroon jersey. I thank the legends and QR for their efforts in assisting Year of the Outback celebrations. At the return breakfast I branded a framed leather scroll in support of the Year of the Outback and its focus on encouraging opportunities for young people in the bush, particularly with sport. Recently, along with the honourable member, I visited Aramac and launched the Harry Redford Cattle Drive. In fact, we visited twice. Initially, the Minister for Primary Industries came out for the announcement. I think the Year of the Outback is going very well. Mr Campbell is doing a great job. This is about bridging the divide that is often seen between cities and the bush, and it is going incredibly well. I urge all members to participate in the Year of the Outback, if they have an opportunity. I have done everything I can to support it. We will continue to do that. I know members opposite have been doing that also. The member for Gregory, Mr Johnson, was at Aramac. He has been doing his bit to support it. I urge all honourable members to get behind it. While talking about major achievements in this state, I advise the House, in addition to the question that was asked, that three writers have made the short list for the Queensland Premier's Drama Award—Theatre and Public Life. I do that because one of the great things about the Year of the Outback is looking back to the culture which made Australia, and that came from the bush. Scripts by Simon Ratcliffe, Sven Swenson and Gayle Wilkinson have been commissioned to move to a new stage of development after an intensive eight-week workshop. The three writers will refine their plays between now and July when their plays will be read in public and the winner of the award will be selected. The public readings will be held at the Queensland Theatre Company, the Bille Brown Studio—a great name for a studio—78 Montague Road, South Brisbane, from 3 to 5 July 2002. One play will be read each evening, with the Queensland Theatre Company to produce the winning work in 2003. The state government has provided $215,000 for the award. BDO Kendalls Chartered Accountants and Griffith University are also sponsors. I hope people will take an interest in that as well.

Cattle Ticks Mrs PRATT: I refer the Minister for Primary Industries to the fact that tick-free areas are under threat by the movement of stock through tick-free areas. This is often due to the ignorance of the laws of stock movement by purchasers of land in or surrounding these tick-free areas. Local government records will show the proliferation of five-acre blocks, and many of these land-holders opt to be self-sufficient. I ask: with the government's backflip not to increase DPI charges for treatment inspection adding to the already high costs of treatment to reinfested areas, will the minister assist cattle producers in tick-free areas by working with local government to supply sufficient documentation outlining stock movement requirements to be forwarded to all purchasers of land in and surrounding tick-free areas, increase broadcasting of these requirements, and ensure that all roads entering these areas have appropriate signage? With livestock transporters lobbying for approval to bypass treatment inspection, will the minister ensure that this does not happen? Mr PALASZCZUK: The short answer to the question is: to most of those points I can say yes. In other areas we can certainly work in with local governments. But while I am on my feet I wish to refer to the issue of tick clearance and the government's actions in relation to that. When we talk about the landscape in relation to the export of cattle and beef, it is important to note that the landscape changed when the FMD outbreak occurred in the United Kingdom. The landscape changed when BSE was detected in Japan. The landscape changed when FMD was detected in South Korea. Let us put things into perspective. Let us have a look at Japan. The Japanese herd is one-third the size of the Queensland herd. There have been four outbreaks of BSE. That has cost the Japanese government $6 billion. Therefore, the landscape in Australia has completely changed. We as a government are committed 100 per cent to making sure that those types of incursions do not happen in Queensland or Australia. At the end of the day, as we are an exporter of beef; any incursion of one of these diseases would mean our beef industry would collapse, costing industry and government $9.5 billion. As a result, our beef exports would be wiped out for six years. Therefore, I make absolutely no apology for the action that the state government has taken in shifting subsidies from tick clearances to FMD and BSE preparedness. 2200 Questions Without Notice 21 Jun 2002

There has been a lot of conjecture in the media about my agreement with Agforce. What Agforce has said is correct. I apologise to Agforce. At the end of the day, we should forget about tick clearances; that is now a low priority issue. Our main priority is to ensure that our cattle herds in Queensland and Australia are FMD and BSE free. If we achieve that—and I am sure we will with the additional $20 million that our government has put into that over the next three years—I will be proud of what I have done. I do not care what criticism I receive from Agforce, because I know in my own heart that I have done the right thing.

Seniors Card Mr McNAMARA: My question is directed to the Minister for Seniors. I am delighted to be asking the first question of the Minister for Seniors. I congratulate the minister. Seniors is a very important portfolio for my electorate of Hervey Bay. How can Queensland seniors make maximum use of their Seniors Card and its associated discounts? Ms SPENCE: I am pleased to inform the House that the announcement of a portfolio for seniors has been well received throughout Queensland. I was interested to note today that the Gold Coast Bulletin has chosen to announce the appointment of a Seniors portfolio with the headline 'Chief Wrinkle'. I think it is a very brave move by the Gold Coast Bulletin to label such a large number of its readership in this way, but it was not alone. The Townsville Bulletin has labelled me a 'grey minister'. I rarely wear the colour grey and, while I have control of it, my hair will not be going that way, either. These are excellent examples of the stereotyping we all should avoid when we are talking about seniors. That is why the creation of this portfolio is so important to all of us. I am proud to be the Minister for Seniors and to represent those Queenslanders who have contributed so much to our society. It will be great to be the Minister for Seniors. I am happy today to talk about the seniors business directory. The directory is available to all Seniors Card holders. There are about 444,000 Seniors Card holders in this state—about one- third of them are self-funded retirees—and about 6,500 businesses participate in the Seniors Card business directory. We have recently surveyed our Seniors Card holders. They have told us that they want regional directories rather than a statewide directory. This is what we are about to deliver to them. From September there will be five regional directories for Seniors Card holders. They will be Brisbane, north Queensland, central Queensland, south-west Queensland and the Gold and Sunshine coasts. So Seniors Card holders will have a good directory with all of the available information about the local businesses that give them concessions. The Seniors Card and the Seniors Card business directory are truly one of the great success stories of this government. Of course, the Seniors Card was introduced by a Labor government. I am pleased to announce this new initiative, which is something seniors have been asking us for.

Medical Indemnity Insurance Miss SIMPSON: My question is directed to the Attorney-General. I refer to figures the opposition released to the media this week revealing that there were 29 Queensland Health doctors refused medical indemnity cover in the last financial year, according to United Medical Protection. In a letter to doctors, Health Minister Wendy Edmond and Premier Peter Beattie said that state government cover was the same as private medical defence funds. Considering that the Attorney-General, Health Minister Edmond and Premier Beattie have claimed that public doctors treating public patients in public hospitals are fully indemnified, how does he explain this? Is it not because of the fact that the insurance offered by Queensland Health is discretionary because of Queensland Health's definition of due diligence and therefore these doctors are not fully covered, as he claims? Mr WELFORD: I thank the honourable member for her question. I did note that in the second reading debate she raised this issue of the alleged 29 doctors who had to revert to their UMP insurance allegedly because they were not given insurance cover by Queensland Health. I note that the assertion is repeated in this morning's Courier-Mail, in an article quoting Dr Molloy. Queensland Health has been asked about this matter by the Health Minister. My understanding is that it has informed the Health Minister—I was at a discussion when this was considered—that it is not aware of any case in which Queensland Health has declined to provide indemnity cover to private doctors who are working in public hospitals. 21 Jun 2002 Questions Without Notice 2201

I am not sure whether that 29 relates only to Queensland or whether UMP is saying that that figure applies to the whole of Australia, and I am not sure what the circumstances of the alleged 29 were. Certainly if the member can provide more evidence of those 29 then obviously I will refer it to the Health Minister for a more detailed response, but our understanding is that what the Health Minister has said is absolutely correct. That is, the indemnity cover provided to private doctors performing treatments on public patients in public hospitals is exactly the same—it is equally extensive—as the cover provided to all publicly employed doctors. There is absolutely no question about that. The conscientiousness and due diligence requirement that is applied by Health is the same that is applied to all doctors employed by the Health Department. The effect of it is only to exclude those doctors who misbehave in the performance of their duties; for example, as the Minister for Health has previously indicated, where a doctor turns up to do surgery in a state of intoxication or similar extraordinary circumstances. Apart from those extraordinary circumstances, the simple fact is that we have no record of Health ever having refused to provide indemnity cover to doctors who are privately providing services to their patients in a public hospital.

Fire and Ambulance Services Mr SHINE: My question is directed to the Minister for Emergency Services. Our firefighters and ambulance personnel have an outstanding reputation for their expertise and caring approach to victims of emergencies. Can the minister please inform the House of whether any Queensland firefighters or paramedics have recently been recognised on the national stage? Mr REYNOLDS: I thank the member for the question. I am very proud to be able to announce that Queensland firefighters have regained their mantle as the most proficient road accident rescue exponents in Australia. The member for Toowoomba North has been very supportive of emergency services in his electorate, and I am sure that he is very pleased that the Toowoomba team of five firefighters, with the paramedic from Maleny, was one of two teams to represent the Queensland emergency services in the 2002 National Road Accident Rescue Championships at Hawkesbury in New South Wales. In wet, cold and muddy conditions—typical weather for New South Wales—the Toowoomba team won from 17 teams in the competition. Queensland's second team at the national championships, Rockhampton—the member for Rockhampton would be very keen to hear this—finished third overall. Toowoomba and Rockhampton are right out there in front. Teams were judged on their technique and rescue procedures in three road accident rescue scenarios, each with vehicles crushed together to recreate realistic road accidents. Toowoomba's team will now represent Australia at the International Extrication Championships to be held in the United States in September 2003. They will do us proud. I congratulate the team members on their excellent work and wish them well for the international competition. Today I am also very pleased to be able to report that Queensland's ambulance and fire rescue services have been ranked among the best managed organisations in Australia. Both agencies were among 17 organisations from the public and private sector to be recognised at the prestigious Australian Business Excellence Awards in Sydney recently. I am sorry that the opposition is not listening to this. These awards are hosted by Standards Australia. The Australian Business Excellence Awards recognise the very best in Australia's business practices, innovation and excellence. The QAS has now twice been recognised with a progress award—the second of four categories in the business excellence framework. The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service was also presented with a progress award, effectively skipping the foundation level, in recognition of its excellent business practices. Just three organisations received higher awards than the QFRS and the QAS. Of course, the core business of the ambulance and fire services is to provide a service to the community, and I am sure that all members will agree that their acquittal of this responsibility is second to none in Australia. However, these awards demonstrate that their management systems can also be held in very high regard. The awards recognise the efficiency and the effectiveness of their activities and confirm the value for money that they offer all Queenslanders. Today as minister I congratulate both the services. They are a credit to Queensland. They are a credit to the rest of Australia as well. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The time for questions has expired. 2202 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

APPROPRIATION (PARLIAMENT) BILL APPROPRIATION BILL Second Reading (Cognate Debate) Resumed from 20 June (see p. 2179). Miss SIMPSON (Maroochydore—NPA) (10.30 a.m.): I rise to speak in the budget debate. I will firstly address the total inadequacy of the state budget in regard to health spending. I will then turn to address other issues such as tourism and my electorate of Maroochydore. In terms of health, this budget is a flatliner. It has failed in terms of providing adequate funding for Health staffing increases in Queensland. It is no wonder that we have seen nurses, doctors and allied health professionals speaking out about their frustration. The level of strike action that we have seen this week has been unprecedented. It speaks volumes about the frustration of everyday health workers, nurses and other allied Health staff who are on the front line and dealing with patients. There has been only a 0.7 per cent increase in this budget for funding for extra staff. That shows the absolute disregard of this government for putting funds into priority areas—in this case, the front line of health care. The state government boasts about a 6.7 per cent increase in health spending, but the funding increase for additional staff falls far short. Last year there was only a 0.3 per cent increase. This year sees a 0.7 per cent increase. They are minuscule amounts. Nurses and other health staff are frustrated by the government's failure to listen. Where is the Health Minister when the action is occurring? She leaves early for an interstate conference! I turn to consider the reaction around the state to the budget. Usually there is a post-budget honeymoon period for the government. But Mr Beattie is not enjoying that luxury, particularly in the health arena. Two days after the budget was handed down, 10,000 Queensland nurses from 80 hospitals went on a 24-hour strike. As a result of the industrial action, Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital had to cancel at least 800 outpatient appointments. It cancelled non-urgent medical procedures, limited considerably elective surgery and cancelled all non-emergency surgery. This was repeated around countless hospitals throughout the state. The Beattie government's health budget is merely a token effort. I do not see workers within Queensland Health suddenly breathing a sigh of relief; in fact, entirely the opposite. I can safely say that we currently have the most unpopular Health Minister in Queensland's history. Where is Wendy? She is in the Northern Territory at a conference! I have since learned from Amanda Vanstone's office that Mrs Edmond did not need to attend that conference. She could have sent a senior official in her place and it would not have been a problem. Mrs Edmond did not even have to leave at all yesterday because the conference did not start until today. Mrs Edmond told Channel 7 news last night from the Northern Territory that she was as close there to the nursing situation as she would be if she was in Brisbane. I suppose that is true, because she is useless in Brisbane, too! There is no discernible difference whether she is at work in Brisbane or not. It is time that the minister paid attention to the portfolio, but more importantly, it is time that the Premier dealt with this issue and appointed someone with more competence to this very important portfolio. The people who are paying the price for the minister's incompetence are the health professionals on the front line and, most of all, the patients who need access to a functioning health system. It is a shame that the Beattie government has had to let the health system crumble even more through this menial funding contribution. This is a result of its financial failures, which are illustrated by the $883 million budget deficit. The government has failed the health system in other ways. It has failed to meet many targets. In this financial year, it appointed only half of the promised 500 radiation officers. This is an area in which the government has been criticised previously for falling far short in terms of staffing levels. Only 236 positions were approved. The government also fell well short of the targeted number of women screened for breast cancer—4,000 missed out. Standards in other services are also declining because of a lack of proper administration by this government. Home and Community Care service reviews were ignored by the Beattie government over the year 2001-02, with only 88 out of 200 being undertaken. We have seen a failure in the administration of this government; a failure to manage the books and deliver financial security for health services and a range of other services in Queensland. As I said, the Beattie government has increased the funding for full-time equivalent staffing levels by a measly 0.7 per cent. That is after a feeble 0.3 per cent increase in last year's budget. Consequently, there are now fewer nurses working in Queensland Health compared with the 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2203

Queensland population rate of increase. Considering that doctors and nurses are already struggling to make up the required numbers, I can only imagine that the position will get much worse, particularly after the recent announcement of an 8.5 per cent population increase in Queensland. This Health Minister has failed to meet key targets. In all areas of emergency treatment—except category 5, which relates to treatment within two hours—the proportion of patients treated within standard time frames was below the target percentages. So in terms of emergency treatment, the minister has fallen far short of meeting important targets to treat people. Once again, that is a result of the funding crisis and the lack of staff at the coalface of health care. Only 90 per cent of the targeted 95 per cent of elective surgery patients received treatment within the specified time frame of 90 days. The real story behind that statistic is the unpublished outpatient waiting lists and the fact that there is a waiting list to get on a waiting list to see a specialist to have an outpatient appointment before a patient even makes the surgery list. The Health Minister promised several years ago to make those details public so that there was full accountability, yet we have never seen those details. That is an absolute disgrace. Mental health spending per capita has decreased in the 2002-03 budget by 0.2 per cent. There has been a 0.2 per cent fall-off in mental health spending per head of population in this state. Given the fact that the incidence of people suffering from acute mental health problems and other mental health problems is one of the most concerning trends in public health, it is a disgrace that this key priority has been let down by the Beattie government. In health maintenance services this government has decreased per capita spending by two per cent and there has been an overall real per capita increase of only two per cent. The figures speak for themselves. There is a failure to address some of those key service areas. Throughout the regions of this state—certainly on the Sunshine Coast and certainly on the Gold Coast, where the government has done a secret deal over the collapse of the Robina Hospital—there is a real concern about the fact that there has been a lack of addressing the real funding needs to ensure that nurses, doctors and other allied health staff will be in place to do these jobs. I have mentioned before in this House the concerns facing other key hospitals, such as Townsville. The desperation that health workers and nurses are experiencing these days in key hospitals like Townsville is reaching an alarming point, and the fact that those professionals walked out in protest yesterday highlights this fact. Even though the Townsville Hospital has a new hospital building, there has been an inadequacy in dealing with the key areas of service delivery. This north Queensland hospital is supposed to be a tertiary level hospital supplying tertiary level services, but there is still an attitude in Queensland Health and by this Health Minister to fly people south to the south-east corner rather than putting in the infrastructure that should be available in a tertiary base hospital. Staff in that hospital are being expected to carry out high levels of service but are not being funded at that level of service. That is causing an incredible strain and having an incredible impact upon the patients who are awaiting access to services. This story is repeated right throughout Queensland. For instance, there is talk that the Maryborough Base Hospital will not deliver babies at all anymore. The Premier stood up at public meetings in Maryborough and in this parliament and promised that services would not be reduced in relation to that hospital. He promised that services would not be reduced, but this government has allowed it to get to a situation where it has not put the staff in place with adequate support to ensure that they in fact are able to continue to deliver babies at Maryborough Base Hospital. One really has to question whether this government is trying to penny pinch by allowing these services to run down, and the people who are really losing are those who do not get access to such services. More and more people are failing to get access to basic health care that should be available through public sector health in this state. I turn now to tourism and the Sunshine Coast electorate. This issue is highlighted by the government's amazing inaction on HMAS Brisbane, which was meant to be a gift from the federal government with a $3 million grant attached to it to allow for the sinking of this grand old warship and used instead as an artificial reef—a fish habitat and also a recreational facility for divers. This would have meant a tremendous boost to tourism on the Sunshine Coast and it would have had a tremendous potential to create jobs. What has Mr Beattie done? In this parliament the other day he did a dummy spit. Because he did not get his photo in the paper when they announced the $3 million gift he came into this parliament and did a dummy spit. He has made it as difficult as he possibly can to get this project up and running on the Sunshine Coast. 2204 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

Mr Cummins: Who will pay the insurance—ratepayers? Miss SIMPSON: I thank the member for Kawana for mentioning insurance, because I have talked to the organisers of this project. It is interesting to note that they have never had a dialogue with the Premier about insurance being a problem. It seems to be— Government members interjected. Miss SIMPSON: I do not have a voice because I have a sore throat. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Fouras): Order! I am sorry, but I had been diverted. The member for Maroochydore has a sore throat. She cannot speak above interjections and I ask members to take that into account and to cease interjecting. Miss SIMPSON: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. All the state government needs to do is sign off on this project. The project organisers are terrific people who have got in and done the hard yards, but they were stunned to hear the Premier's statement the other day. They do not believe that the indemnity issue is in fact a stumbling block to it. That is something that the Premier seems to have come up with in order to put the focus back on him rather than realising that we are at risk of losing this project interstate because the Queensland government has been mucking around on it. I am amazed. The Sunshine Coast has already lost out with regard to major infrastructure. There are a lot of very angry people on the Sunshine Coast. The area has a number of Labor members and there was a lot of talk that they were going to deliver a boost in capital spending, yet the other day the Premier got up here in the parliament and, through his dummy spit, threatened to send off course a very important infrastructure gift from the federal government to the Sunshine Coast—in this case, for the tourism industry—and that is most unfortunate. He needs to get over his ego problem, get on board and not pour cold water on what is a great project, because the Sunshine Coast needs this because it will create jobs. I turn now to infrastructure in relation to roads. The Sunshine Coast is one of the fastest growing regions in Queensland, yet the majority of the announcements in the budget were for federally funded roads. There was a reannouncement of the Kawana Road, but the state is actually legally obliged to go ahead with that because of its contracts with developers. It is a road that is needed, but that is really a drop in the bucket. We need to see real roads and infrastructure development on the Sunshine Coast. I have mentioned before that the Sunshine Motorway is an example of this, as is other roads such as the Maroochydore Road upgrade and David Low Way. We have seen a languishing with regard to the Pacific Paradise road network study. It was announced by Vaughan Johnson when he was the Minister for Transport. As members would realise, that was more than four years ago yet that study has still not been finished under this Transport Minister. They drag the studies out for as long as possible and then one has to go and fight for the funds for the recommendations of those planning studies. That is outrageous! That community needs that road infrastructure now. It has taken more than four years and the planning study has still not been finished. That is just an example of the way this government does business. There are other needs on the Sunshine Coast. We have an unemployment rate that is four per cent or five per cent above the state average. The state government announces some nice little job programs, but it is not talking about real infrastructure that creates ongoing jobs within the private sector and which in turn generates wealth for the greater community for average mums and dads—mums and dads who are currently waiting to get a job. Community conferencing is something that I have been lobbying for. I am pleased that other state members have come on board with regard to that issue. I met with police, family services and key youth sector people last year and they identified that this was an issue they have had trouble getting funding for. I raised that in the parliament in April and wrote to the Family Services Minister. Since then, as I said, I am very pleased that there has been support across political parties for this initiative. It is about breaking the juvenile justice crime cycle. It is about trying to nip in the bud young people who have committed offences and bring them in contact with their victim where the victim so chooses so that there is a real awareness of the impact of their crime, because the victim has the opportunity to put their case. Where it has been appropriately used and supported it has been shown to be very effective to alter the course of not just current juvenile offenders but juvenile offenders who have the potential to grow into bigger criminals. While talking about crime issues, the Sunshine Coast has a desperate need for new police stations. The current situation is that the water police are not even based on the water. They are based at Kawana Police Station. It is time that the water police were based on the water at 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2205

Mooloolaba. There is a need to look at redeveloping the Queensland Transport and Main Roads facility on the Spit at Mooloolaba into a multipurpose water based facility with the water police based there as well. It is desperately needed, as is their need for more staff. I acknowledge that there have been increases in water police numbers, but there is also a need for an increase in the boating and fisheries officers numbers. They are enforcing a lot of the regulations and there has been a lot of frustration because of the increased number of people using our waterways in south-east Queensland. One figure I heard was that the number of registered craft and people using the waterways by the year 2015 would double, a tremendous impact upon our waterways. But we certainly have not seen the officers who are able to enforce those regulations and who are funded to do that job. I mentioned police stations. The other police station to which I refer is one on the north shore at Coolum. This government says, 'Trust us, it will be in future budgets.' I would like to see more than just vague assurances. Give us a deadline, give us a date. Get out there, buy the land. The land is disappearing; it is a high growth area. It is time the government sold the existing police station at Coolum and put it in a central location with good road access to service the needs of the Maroochy north shore. But the continuing issue of real numbers of police on the beat is one that the community also raises with me constantly. We have not seen a corresponding increase in the number of police officers and other key services with the population growth. This is of great concern, because we love the Sunshine Coast. We want to keep it beautiful. It is also a great tourism destination. Ms STONE (Springwood—ALP) (10.51 a.m.): First, I congratulate the Deputy Premier and Treasurer on his second budget. In fact, I applaud the Treasurer on presenting the state's largest ever budget of $20 billion. Not only is it the largest budget but it is also a responsible budget for all Queenslanders. It focuses on families, health, education and trade, all of which are very important to maintaining the great lifestyle that Queenslanders enjoy. We can be very proud of Queensland. This state has a AAA debt-free rating, the lowest taxes of any state in Australia and a highly skilled and multilingual work force. When one adds world-class educational institutions, the most scenic and beautiful destinations in the world and, of course, the most successful athletes and top sporting facilities, it all adds up to a great lifestyle. What better place to operate a business and enjoy life. In the last couple of financial years, investment growth in Queensland has been without precedent, with many companies relocating to Queensland. Therefore, thousands of jobs were created and millions of dollars invested in the state. It will only be through good economic management, maintaining government assistance and support to companies that more and more Queenslanders will be employed. This budget does just that. In the past 12 months, job advertisements in Queensland rose 29.3 per cent. Compare this to the national figure of 9.8 per cent and it proves that Queenslanders are getting jobs, jobs, jobs. This is a wonderful achievement and it indeed demonstrates that the government is meeting job seekers' needs through effective employment initiatives, securing major projects and strong economic management—as demonstrated in this budget. How different this state budget is from the federal budget. Many business leaders and economic analysts were quoted as saying how uninspired they were by the federal budget. In fact, it was reported that at the post-federal budget breakfast in Brisbane, an economic analyst told 800 businesspeople that the federal budget would have no impact on financial markets. Funding spent on laying the foundations for integrated ticketing will be a major benefit to the people of Springwood. Public transport is the issue most often raised with me. I have spoken before in this House about Clarks Logan City Bus Service. With the construction of the $22 million Springwood Bus Station comes a lot of expectation from Springwood residents. This expectation is for the Clarks bus service and the government to work together to achieve the best possible bus service, and the people of Springwood deserve it. Integrated ticketing will be the solution to this expectation. In Logan we do not have the same concessions, bus zones or fare structures as Brisbane. With the Eight Mile Plains bus station and the South East Busway only a short drive from the Springwood electorate, it is very convenient for Springwood people to take advantage of it and to use the Brisbane bus services. While I see great advantages for the Logan residents doing this, I also see disadvantages. The disadvantage is that the Logan service is not being patronised, and with that comes operational implications, which of course affects fare structures, timetables and the operations of our local bus service. 2206 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

I applaud the state government for guaranteeing the introduction of a new integrated ticketing system. It will certainly ensure a simple zonal system and will provide standardised fares and concessions while also allowing for the integration of bus and train services. This will be the biggest step forward in better public transport for the people of Springwood and for Logan City. However, as I said before, expectations are high, and the people of Springwood will be looking very hard at what changes will be made in terms of the new Springwood bus station. Of course, this will be challenging for the Clark family. Route planning and fare structures are two major issues that will need to be assessed before the opening of the interchange. I look forward to working with the Clark family to ensure that the people of Springwood get an even better bus service. Unlike the federal government, whose budget was not family friendly, the Beattie Labor government is committed to supporting families. This Labor government has provided additional money to strengthen the Department of Families to assist Queensland families, youth and children in need. The government has increased recurrent expenditure for the Families Department by 15.5 per cent to $518 million—a record for the department. Let us compare this with the Howard-Costello government's budget. First, I refer to prescription medicine price hikes. Prescriptions will rise by $1 to $4.60 for concession cardholders and by $6.20 to $28.60 for non-concession cardholders. That is, every time a family has a sick child, if they do not have a concession card they can look forward to paying $6.20 more for medicine for that child. It is disgraceful. A government member interjected. Ms STONE: That is exactly right—not to mention how many elderly people will have to pay extra money for their medicine. Pensioners will not be able to afford prescriptions; therefore, they will not attend doctors and our seniors' health will deteriorate. This will happen because of a mean and uncaring federal government. But it does not stop there. What about the lack of funding for child-care places? Then there are the changes in the eligibility for the disability pension. The federal government does not disadvantage only families; it also picks on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our community. This is bringing more stress into the lives of those already disadvantaged—a disgraceful act that is very un-Australian. The federal government would rather take money from the most disadvantaged in our society—from families, from pensioners—and put it towards more centres with razor wire to house women and children. I noted the state opposition leader's comments in the Courier-Mail— I am impressed that Mr Costello had managed to balance the need to focus on security with a sense of compassion toward the elderly and families. What can I say? Only that there was no commitment or demonstration of compassion to the elderly or families in the federal budget. A sense of compassion is not good enough. Families and the elderly want actions from the federal government that support them, not words of compassion. On a positive note, I am pleased to see that the Beattie Labor government is not mean and uncaring—in fact, quite the opposite. It is without doubt that I am extremely pleased to see a boost of $60 million over the next four years to ensure that schools can cater properly for students with disabilities. This money will be used to hire more teachers and teacher aides. I must commend the work of teachers, especially in the Springwood electorate. They are a dedicated and enthusiastic group of professionals who do so much for our youth. Special thanks must go to teacher aides. These dedicated and special people are doing a tremendous job in schools throughout Queensland. They deserve our praise and our thanks. They often take on difficult tasks to ensure that students with special needs are catered for and receive a quality education. They certainly make a difference to many young lives. I commend them on their fine work. I seek leave to incorporate the rest of my speech in Hansard. Leave granted. As a government it is important that we ensure that people with disabilities are able to participate fully in their communities. I must say how proud I am to see so many great initiatives for people with disabilities being created in the Springwood electorate. Daisy Hill forest reserve is forging ahead with ways of making this spectacular and unique bushland inclusive for all who visit. Picnic tables designed for wheelchairs, safe ramps and paths and wheelchair accessible boardwalks are just a few of the examples of the great work being done at Daisy Hill forest reserve to encourage people to enjoy this very beautiful part of the world. The Daisy Hill Koala Centre located at the reserve offers the opportunity to see koalas close up and learn about a range of wildlife through interactive displays, multimedia shows and of course walking through the forest. Not only 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2207 does this centre and forest cater for people with disabilities it is also very family friendly with boardwalks and the centre being suitable for strollers. I thank Michael and Leanne Sievuhur and all the rangers, staff and volunteers for the wonderful work they do at that centre and in the forest. They provide a wonderful service in providing information to visitors, and rangers run a 24- hour koala ambulance, which attends to sick, injured and orphaned koalas. The Beattie Labor Government has always been and is still committed to providing the best possible law and order to all communities throughout the State. This budget once again is delivering on that commitment. This Thursday I will join the Minister for Police, the Hon. Tony Mcgrady, the member for Mansfield, Phil Reeves, and police officers at the opening of the Rochedale South neighbourhood police beat. Earlier in the year some residents of Rochedale South in my electorate were heavily targeted by criminals breaking and entering. The police worked very hard and I am pleased to say that this activity has decreased. The Rochedale South neighbourhood police beat is a welcome addition to the local community and I welcome the police officers stationed at this beat to our community. Neighbourhood police beats provide an opportunity for community policing. They encourage the community and police to actively work together to reduce crime in the local area. Recently, at a seniors morning tea, community policing was promoted by local police officers. Over 220 seniors heard from Snr Sgt Brett Munn and Sgt Ray Newman from the Slacks Creek Police Station about policing in their community. I am sure many seniors gained an insight into the life of a police officer, the services that the police provide to the community and a better understanding of what they can do to assist police in providing a safe community. In order to meet the Beattie Labor government's commitment to boost police numbers large recruitment programs are being undertaken. I am pleased that the Queensland Police Service is rapidly progressing towards 40% of recruits being female. Currently, it stands at 35%. And while female recruits are increasing, so is the number of women officers being promoted to higher ranks. The $500 000 commitment to the Loganholme Police Station is certainly welcomed by the Loganholme, Shailer Park, Cornubia, Carbrook and Logandale Communities. I look forward to the progress of the Loganholme Police Station that will be built on the corner of Bryants Road and Timor Avenue, Loganholme. Since the announcement of the site members of the community have asked me what facilities will the station house. On many occasions I have been asked for a traffic branch to be located in the station. This has mostly been due to hooning activities in the area. While I believe this statewide problem will be addressed through legislation, I can also see a need for traffic branch to be located in the Loganholme station. I ask the minister to consider this request by the community. The Logan Entertainment Centre will be an accessible and versatile venue for Logan audiences wanting to experience arts and culture. it will be an attractive place for local organisations, artists and musicians to showcase their talents. The Queensland government's $4m contribution to this great facility is money well spent for all Logan residents. it will be a vital asset to the community. Not only is it a great asset for the community but it will also provide commercial benefits to Logan City. Bookings for the 1,500 seat auditorium are already flowing. The centre will be able to be used for everything from exhibitions and trade shows to theatre and community meetings. I am looking forward to the opening of the centre in July and in particular I am looking forward to viewing the unique public artwork of the centre for the first time. Logan City has some very talented artists and musicians. Recently I attended the 10th anniversary of the Logan City Choir. I cannot speak highly enough of this talented and entertaining group. I cannot wait to hear them sing in Logan's own entertainment centre. I am sure the Logan City Choir will be a regular entertainer at the centre, and I am sure to be a regular visitor to the centre. Investment in education in information and communication technologies is one of the most important investments any government can make. This budget will deliver a 5.8% increase to education, which will mean the total Education budget will be $4.2 billion of investment in our future. $16.7m will be spent on renovating schools under the Triple R program. I am extremely pleased to see in the budget that Kimberley Park State School, Slacks Creek State School, Springwood Central State School and Springwood Road State School will have repainting maintenance attended to, while Springwood State High School will have roofing maintenance addressed. Currently the community is being asked to respond to proposals relating to senior schooling and training. I encourage youths, parents, teachers and in fact all members of the community to participate in this public debate. This is the most significant, exciting and challenging reform package that has ever been initiated in relation to our education system. These proposals need to be discussed, debated and reviewed through community participation. What does the Howard/Costello government think of education? Certainly it is not much if you analyse the federal budget. In fact. no new funding initiatives for the school or higher education sector were implemented in the federal budget. I am proud to be a member of a government that values education. The Beattie Labor government values education and it demonstrates the government's commitment to education in this budget. It is certainly wonderful to see women in my electorate take such an interest in the ICT industry. I am pleased that 30 women from the Shailer Park State School community have completed an ICT training course that has been designed outside the typical 9 to 5 workday to encourage flexible learning, thanks to the state government's commitment to improving the uptake of ICT among women under the i-star program. The 'self paced ICT skills development for women course' was run over six weeks with session times ranging from mid morning to evening. 2208 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

Rigid timetables at university's and TAFE often mean that women with children or those working during the day are unable to partake in ICT training. Latest figures show that women still make up less than 25% of Queenslanders studying ICT at university. While these figures are slowly increasing, I am pleased that the Queensland government has recognised this problem and is ensuring that all women have an equal chance to undertake training in computer and Internet usage and other relevant ICT tools. The Shailer Park State School council recognised the hard work of women at the school and offering a flexible ICT training course was a way of the school giving something back to these women. Together with the Springwood campus of the Logan TAFE they submitted a submission to fund a program that would benefit the local community. The course was developed through the efforts of the Shailer Park State School community and the Springwood campus of Logan TAFE. Not only will the course give these women the skills and confidence to enter the ICT industry work force or to undertake further study; some of these women will be able to take the skills they have learnt and give that back to the community. This could be through web site development for local community groups or taking on the role of secretary or president for a local organisation. ICT is playing a much more prominent role in everyday life. Many of the women were very excited that they would gain the skills to have their turn on the family computer. No longer will only the kids and their husbands use the computer. It will become a tool for all the family. On behalf of the participants and myself, I thank the minister, Paul Lucas, for taking the time to launch the program and making it a very special occasion. I must take this opportunity to thank the Shailer Park State School council for working with the local TAFE to submit a successful application for funding. Jane Chattaway was certainly a great supporter from the school council on this program. Mr Bill Weeks, Deputy Principal of Shailer Park State School, was instrumental in getting the course up and running. I believe after 40 years in education Bill will retire soon to spend many days fishing. He will be missed by the school and local community, and I know I speak on behalf of the community when I say that we wish him a long and healthy retirement and of course the catch he's always dreamed of. Thankyou must go to the staff of the Logan TAFE Springwood campus, especially Manager Business Development, Sherree Whelan, and coordinator Angie Neal for their help in preparing the course. Thankyou also must go to Ziggy Nowak for assisting in the submission for funding. I know the participants all thought the course was beneficial and enjoyed their time in the program. Of course, they all wanted it to continue. I am pleased that this government is committed to lifelong learning and in particular to investing in ICT programs for women. It is indeed pleasing to see in the budget that funding will continue for programs like i-star, and I look forward to hearing of more successful women and courses in my electorate. The state government is committed to maintaining a strong financial position. This budget ensures a competitive tax environment, ensures its level of service provision is sustainable, ensures financial risk in being managed and is building on the state's net worth. I applaud the government on focusing this budget on families, health and education. Queenslanders can only have a better quality of life if they are supported in healthy living, quality education and a secure and safe family environment. This is a budget for all Queenslanders. I commend the bill to the parliament. Hon. K. R. LINGARD (Beaudesert—NPA) (10.57 a.m.): One of the biggest media stories this year concerned the death of a deputy principal after an altercation with a student. This was an extremely sad and shocking event. However, out of this awful event we can learn something. We can learn that more needs to be done in regard to behaviour management. I have been saying for years that the government needs to look more seriously at this problem. Despite my continued calls for improved behaviour management in schools, little has been done. It is well known that I obviously did not support the move away from corporal punishment—not because of the fact that I believe that corporal punishment did a good job within some of the schools but because I was concerned about what might be the replacement process. What now happens to children who have behaviour problems? If they are bad enough, they are banned from all Queensland state schools. They wander the streets and get into more mischief. If, like that student involved with the deputy principal, they are banned from several schools, they go from school to school without any remedial attention at all. Students who do not get banned from schools just cause more trouble. They continually disrupt the classroom, cause teachers unnecessary stress—often resulting in their resignation—and keep other children from learning. These types of scenarios cannot continue. It is unfair on teachers, other students and society in general. When one talks to the government and to the minister, they continue to say that regional officers have the ability to implement behavioural management programs. Yes, they do, but they have very little money, so generally these behavioural management programs are left to the individual schools. To its credit, the government has established five alternative schools where students with learning problems can go. But these are alternative schools for those students with learning problems. While this is a start, it is simply not adequate, simply because to get a booking 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2209 now within those schools is impossible. Presently, at Kingston school one cannot get a booking unless one is in there very early as one of the children with a learning problem. Learning problems are not necessarily behavioural problems; it is what we do with children who have behavioural problems that is important. When we removed corporal punishment the idea was that if students were suspended from a school for up to five days they did not have to go through an unnecessary remedial program. But if they were suspended for between five and 20 days they had to go to an alternative program, and the principal had to find an alternative program that was going on somewhere in society. At present it is impossible for principals to find alternative programs. So they are suspending students for between one and five days. The student comes back for two or three days, gets into trouble again, and out he goes for another four or five days. This is simply because the principals cannot find an alternative program. If it is the case that they do have behaviour management programs within their own schools, generally they are selecting an excellent teacher who has the ability to run a management program. Extra kids are then loaded into most of the classes to enable that excellent teacher to be removed from his classroom work to run the behaviour management program. Because the behavioural problem has been removed, all the other teachers do not grumble about the fact that they have extra kids in their classes, which is what has happened to allow the behaviour management program to take place. With the removal of the corporal punishment program we promised that alternative programs would be in place. But at present, because we are continuing to say that these programs are in the hands of the regional offices, they are not being provided. I recently received a letter from a high school which stated— We firmly believe that there has been and still is a massive shortfall of funding in real terms for all schools— and behaviour management programs— Our experience has indicated that the highest costs of less effective traditional behaviour management practices is being paid by the majority of students by way of diminished opportunities of quality educational outcomes. This demonstrates the want and the need for behaviour management programs in schools, and I commend that particular school for its efforts in this regard. To implement successful behaviour management programs funding needs to be allocated for additional alternative educational settings, additional teaching and non-teaching personnel to staff these settings, additional support staff and additional classroom teachers. Additional classroom teachers are very important. This will reduce class sizes, which will not only help those disruptive students but will be beneficial to all students. I believe—as most people believe—that unless we do this in our public schools parents will remove their students from the public schools and go to the private school system. Whereas the private schools may still have some sort of definite punishment, one of their most important punishments is a self-imposed discipline whereby they are told, 'If you don't behave in this school, you are out and you can go to the public schools.' In that way they can remove disruptive students. But the public school is in a completely different situation because it has to receive all of these students. It is a well-known fact that students are more productive, better behaved and achieve higher results in smaller classes, especially in the early primary years. Research has shown that the most significant benefits are achieved when class sizes are smaller than 20. The ALP, however, is sticking to the recommended class sizes, the lowest of which is 25 students. Last year the Queensland Teachers Union conducted a survey of 103 secondary schools in Queensland. Of those 103, 68 reported at least one instance of class sizes above the recommended size. That is 66 per cent—more than half, obviously. And of the 34 per cent of schools which stated that they did not have any oversized classes, most complained that the recommended class sizes were not always appropriate. If the state government will not take into account all the research that has proved that children are better off in classes of fewer than 20 students, the least it could do is adhere to the current class size targets of preschool to year 3, 25; years 4 to 10, 30; and years 11 and 12, 25. There should not be one class in a Queensland school that has more students than I just outlined. Funding needs to be provided to ensure this happens, and more funding should be provided over the coming years to start decreasing class numbers so we can give our children the best possible education. I remind the parliament and the community of Queensland that what the coalition promised in the last election campaign was $738 million. We promised that small class sizes of 18, especially in years 1 to 3, would be implemented. 2210 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

A government member interjected. Mr LINGARD: That was a promise. And if a party goes to an election and it wins but it does not implement its promises, it deserves to be thrown out. Because a member across the chamber has made an interjection, I will remind that particular person that we promised the south-east expressway and we promised $638 million. And when we went into government we implemented it—not only the $630 million-odd but much, much more. That was very difficult for the cabinet to decide on. But the main thing that was said in cabinet was, 'This is a promise, and this is something that we must implement.' So to the member who interjected I say: $738 million was promised by those on this side to reduce class sizes in years 1 to 3. Of course, because the coalition was not elected to government, this has not been implemented. That $738 million to primary schools would have been a massive increase in funding for classrooms and teacher numbers. Cutting class sizes will be of benefit especially to minority groups—those students with learning difficulties. These students need extra attention, and smaller class sizes would allow this to happen. Given that 12 per cent of students enrolled in Queensland state schools have learning difficulties, this really is something that should be addressed Another issue that is having a detrimental effect on our children's education is that of Cooler Schools. In the 1980s the coalition started the process of airconditioning schools. This proved very popular amongst teachers, students and parents. When the ALP came to government, it decided to continue with the great work that had been started. The 1998 Beattie election campaign promised that the Cooler Schools program would consist of four stages over four years. Schools were overjoyed. Communities were impressed—relief to hundreds of school students and teachers who had to suffer almost unbearable heat for years. Schools started fundraising in an effort to raise their 20 per cent of the cost. Most schools managed this and waited patiently for their airconditioning to be installed. Many of them are still waiting because the Beattie government did not follow this election promise through to fruition. The Education Minister has now admitted in the parliament that only three rounds will be completed within the four years, and they are currently so far behind schedule that round 2, which is supposed to be completed, still has about 15 schools to go. The fact that members of the ALP have publicly criticised this project just shows what a complete joke this has been. People should realise that this was an election promise that has not been implemented by the ALP government. The project has been publicly criticised by schools and the Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Association. Let me read from a letter written to the Premier by the council which expresses its feelings on this issue— We cannot express enough the anguish that the present state of the program is causing to many of the 1300 State School P&C Associations throughout Queensland. I cannot believe that, with all the media hype and outcry from so many directions, the Education Minister has not taken action to bring the project up to speed, especially when the regional sitting of the parliament is to be held in Townsville. But of course, it is generally north of Townsville that the Cooler Schools program has not been implemented. The government has mixed priorities with some of the education programs. I have mentioned a number of issues that need to be addressed. These are things that will improve the education and wellbeing of our children. Issues that are affecting teachers and students are such that a massive number of first-year teachers are resigning from the profession. Why? These people have spent four years at university to get to where they are only to resign during their first year. These teachers blame massive book work and massive bureaucracy. But we must remember that here are good students—people who have done four years in training. I think that about seven per cent or eight per cent of first-year teachers resign. It is a massive decision. It is not as though they have not had teaching programs. In their fourth year a lot of their work is practical. But within the education system we have people who are doing four years training and then resigning in their first year. That is something the government should look at, because it reflects the great concern that exists in the teaching profession. Many teachers are just overwhelmed by the bureaucracy, the amount of book work and the fact that they just cannot get into the classrooms and teach like they believe they should be able to. Instead of realistically addressing the problem of teacher morale and finding long-term solutions, what do we find? The short-term solution of giving 200 teachers $50,000 to resign. I believe that there is an obvious reason why the government needs to do this and that is to cut its recurrent costs on its teacher salaries. There is no doubt that the government has to cut its recurrent costs, because within Education, its recurrent salaries are too high. Obviously, the government has been taking funds from its Capital Works Program and using that money as part 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2211 of its recurrent money to pay salaries. The only way the government is going to be able to resolve that is by cutting 200 teachers who are probably averaging about $57,000, $58,000 a year and bringing in 200 younger teachers on about $37,000, $38,000 a year. Yesterday, we had the minister's ridiculous answer where she tried to reflect on the ages of the members of the opposition. But we have 58-year-old teachers who are already able to retire—because 55 is the age at which these public servants can retire—who are ready to leave the Education Department, yet the government is prepared to give them a $50,000 cheque and say, 'Come and do a career that you would like.' Those people are training for careers such as renovating homes and cars. The form to fill out to apply for these grants does not even ask the type of career that those people are going to follow. That form allows a person 15 lines in which to write why they want to discontinue their services in the Education Department and do something else. This government is giving a teacher who is ready to retire, ready to hand in his resignation and give his place to a younger teacher, $50,000. I cannot imagine what that is doing to other teachers. Why would teachers who are aged 58 or 59 resign if there is some thought that the program might be continued or that they might be one of the extra 19 people selected? Why would those teachers retire now? Obviously, they would wait to see if they could get an extra $50,000. It is a ridiculous system. What does the government think the police are saying? What does the government think the other public servants are saying? If this is going to go on in the Education Department, then surely it might go on in other departments. One of the criteria for the career change program is that those teachers should use the money to bring about a career change. As I have mentioned, nowhere on the application form does it mention those other career changes. All the government is doing is hiding behind the fact that these teachers will have to prove to the Taxation Department that they have done some other sort of career training so that they can vindicate the fact that they have been given a cheque for $50,000 as well as all of their other retirement funds. I cannot believe that this government has paid people $50,000 to retire. This is one of the most ludicrous things that it has ever done. It has taken out a loan from the consolidated fund of $10 million for this, which could have gone towards Cooler Schools, reducing class sizes and behaviour management—things that would have improved schooling for children and teachers alike. Yet that money goes into some teachers' retirement funds. I support some of the new education reforms, especially the full-time preschool and an older school leaving age. I have always believed in having a full-time preschool. I think that these changes could be good for the future of Queensland and the future of our youth. However, already concerns are being raised. One of the good things is the learning and earning program, especially if the government continues to push the angle that children who turn 15 are not allowed to leave school unless they have something to go to. If they are to go into an apprenticeship program or they are to go into a learning program, then I support the fact that they should leave school and get a job. So the extra year would be added at that point. We would say to students, 'You cannot leave school until you are 16 if you have not got already a job to go to or a learning program to go into.' I certainly do not support the extra year of schooling for an 18 year old. I think that is simply just trying to help the government's unemployment program. But if you say to students who are 15, 'You cannot leave school until you are 16, until you have got a job, ' I think that is excellent. I also believe that too much money is being spent on the consultation period—$83,000 is being spent on 39 consultation forums around Queensland, especially consultations on programs that I believe the public wants already. There is no doubt in my mind that people want a full-time preschool. We are the only state in Australia that does not have a full-time preschool program. Why go around asking people whether they want a full-time preschool program? We can see already that some of the preschools are losing numbers because their students are going into the Catholic system or into the private school system, simply because their parents want their children to undertake a full-time program. So there is no need to undertake consultation forums. All the government has to do is put the money into a full-time preschool program. Also, I do not believe that there is any need for the government to consult with the public on the extra year of schooling. I believe that every person would agree with the program that I have just outlined where students are not allowed to leave at age 15 unless they are learning and earning. If the government adds an extra year to those students' learning so that they cannot leave school until they are 16, I believe that the public would accept that. There is no need to waste money on consultation. I know these changes— Mr Cummins interjected. 2212 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

Mr LINGARD: It is not a matter of just telling them; it is a matter of making a decision. I know what is happening with the government's budget. It just has not got a Capital Works Program coming through. It cannot spend its capital works, because it does not have enough money in its recurrent funding, which is necessary for salaries. If the government made a decision now to put capital works into preschools to develop those preschools, it could implement a full-year program in its preschools. But if the government decided to implement a full-time preschool program at this stage, it would not have the money to undertake the capital works. Not many schools are in a position to operate a full-time preschool at this time. Yet it is a decision that quite obviously should be made. But the government does not have the money to spend on capital works programs to implement preschool programs. So what is the government going to do? It is just going to bring them in higgledy-piggledy when it has the facilities available and hold consultation forums to work out whether we need it when the government knows that we need it already. Ms KEECH (Albert—ALP) (11.16 a.m.): Last year in my first ever budget reply speech I stated that I was proud that the 2001 budget was based on a fundamental Aussie value—when you give your word to someone, you keep it. The 2001 budget saw the Beattie Labor government delivering on its election promises and, in doing so, without raising a single additional tax. As a Labor member, I am proud to support this year's 2002 budget that is before the House. This budget is framed around another one of our traditional values—one most precious to all Australians. I refer to the value of giving everyone a fair go. I am proud to support the appropriation bills before the House, because the 2002 budget delivers for those in my electorate who most need a fair go. The $26.5 million for the preschool to year 12 state college at Upper Coomera is the highlight of this year's state budget. Mrs Carryn Sullivan: Congratulations and what a great achievement for Albert. Ms KEECH: It certainly is and we are very proud of it. This budget will deliver real results for all the people in Albert, but particularly those living in the Upper Coomera area. The families of Albert have every reason to be happy with this budget. The latest ABS figures state that Queensland is the fastest growing state in Australia and that the Gold Coast is the fastest growing area in Queensland. I am proud to say that Albert is the fastest growing district on the Gold Coast. Therefore, it is no wonder that the families of Albert are so happy with this budget. Given my area's high population growth, this budget will provide additional services not only for schools but also for training, hospitals, roads, police and jobs. Overall, we have increased recurrent expenditure to the Families Department by 15.5 per cent to $518 million; to Education by another five per cent to $4.2 billion; and to Health by 6.7 per cent to $4.3 billion. I am particularly proud, as the member for Pumicestone said in her interjection, about the construction of the new state college for Upper Coomera, which I am told will commence construction next month. The school will open its doors at the beginning of next year and it will welcome students from preschool to year 8. Every year an additional year will be added until by 2007 year 12 students will be attending the school. As honourable members are aware, the provision of a new school takes not only a lot of hard work but also a lot of planning and work behind the scenes in the construction and planning. I thank the Minister for Education, Anna Bligh, for her visit to the present Coomera State School. During her visit she saw the incredible increase in population the school was experiencing and set out to do something about it. With the announcement of the new Upper Coomera State College, we are seeing the fulfilment of that hard work. In particular, I thank some of the departmental staff who have worked so hard on the school in the planning stage: Neil Whittaker, Assistant District Director, Office of Resource Services; Al Wagner, Director, Facilities Services Branch; and Graham Atkins, Bill Zagami and Tom Jumpitz deserve particular mention. I also thank Don Wilson from the minister's office for his hard work. By focusing on key areas such as jobs, health, education and families, this budget reaffirms both mine and the Beattie Labor government's commitment to the electorate of Albert. This budget looks after the people who need it most: families, communities, individuals and children right across Queensland. Peter Beattie's team is committed to putting Queensland families first and to pumping funds and resources back into local areas. I am particularly happy to talk about jobs and one reason I am happy to do so is because one of my young constituents is in the public gallery. Not only is he a constituent, he is also my son, Joshua. A government member interjected. 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2213

Ms KEECH: No, it is not his birthday; it was my other son's birthday. Joshua and his friends are particularly excited about the jobs announcement of $6.7 million for employment programs for the Gold Coast region. I can see the excitement on his face! In addition, young people in my community such as Joshua will be excited about Riviera Marine's work with the Gold Coast TAFE at the Coomera Marine precinct to help young people such as Joshua enter the marine industry. To ensure that our streets and houses are kept safe, the Gold Coast will receive an additional 69 police officers over the next few years. Mrs Carryn Sullivan: It shows that we are committed to safety. Ms KEECH: Absolutely, and I certainly welcome it. In conclusion, I commend not only Terry Mackenroth for the budget but also the members of the Cabinet Budget Review Committee and the ministers and their staff who have helped to make this budget such a success. This is a true Labor budget and it provides significant increases in funding and resources to areas of high priority in the electorate of Albert. I commend the budget to the House. Miss ELISA ROBERTS (Gympie—Ind) (11.22 a.m.): In response to this week's state budget, I wish to outline some of the areas which affect my electorate specifically. The construction of a new $5 million clinical services building at the Gympie Hospital is a major win for the people of Gympie. This building will contain operating theatres, central sterilising supplies and medical imaging departments. The only concern in relation to its construction is the fact that Gympie has no anaesthetist, and no anaesthetist means no surgery. Unfortunately, the benefits to Gympie with regard to health services end there. A major disappointment of the budget is that the issue of nursing staff levels was not addressed. The current level of nursing staff at Gympie hospital is unsafe, unfair and unrealistic. The lack of appropriate staffing levels is placing extra responsibilities and burdens upon those who are employed at the hospital. The situation at the Gympie hospital is so dire that there are not enough nurses to replace those who are on either annual leave or sick leave. Those who do request sick leave are questioned, and if more than one sick day is taken per month, that nurse is sent to Administration to justify their reason for taking sick leave. Specialised nurses are expected to work in areas in which they have not worked for many years. In the emergency department, there are only two nurses rostered on for each eight hour shift. Many nurses are not even given meal breaks. This situation is appalling. No-one should have to work in such conditions. This whole scenario is reminiscent of the sweatshop workers during the industrial revolution. Apart from basics workers' rights, the inadequate levels of staff which exist in this state's hospitals raise issues of safety for both patients and nurses. At Gympie, for example, first year nurses are working unsupervised. Earlier this month, a female nurse was held at knife point by a patient. The current security system is not effective. The guard on duty positions himself only at the front door of the hospital to escort nurses to their vehicles. When nurses were questioned about what would make them feel safe within their working environment, the answer was not 'special alarm gadgets' but 'employ more staff'. By the time an alarm is set off and a security guard has arrived, a great deal of damage could be done. Adequate staffing levels in each ward would enable an immediate response in the event of such a situation, which I am told occurs quite frequently. There are a number of safety issues which are of particular concern to hospital staff. They include the fact that workplace health and safety issues are not addressed promptly, leaving hospital staff at risk. The unpleasant environment which many nurses are forced to endure—and which I would like an explanation for—is the climate of bullying, intimidation and fear involving senior management. This is very prevalent in the Sunshine Coast and Gympie Districts. When will this cease? Why is senior management immune from the existing workplace bullying programs? Is the preferential treatment of these senior public servants a reward for continually coming in under budget? Why are there so many nurses on stress leave, and why is the reason— stress—reported as some other type of leave? Why are large corporate structures set up in small rural hospitals? Why are the health staff who are actually in the wards not consulted about the best possible ways in which to spend allocated funds? This government says that it wants to encourage people into the health care profession. I and many others would like to know what incentive, apart from lower than adequate conditions, it offers to prospective future employees? Why will this government not allow health staff time off for 2214 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002 study leave? It supports electorate officers who wish to undertake study, but does not give nursing staff the same privilege. I take this opportunity to place on record that when I raise these issues and concerns, contrary to comments made by the Minister for Health, I am not simply 'politicking'. They are the genuine concerns of all health staff. If there are doubts as to the gravity of these concerns, one only has to check with the AMA, which has been inundated with complaints about the problems I have spelled out. I am amazed at the response by this Labor government in relation to the less than adequate conditions for nurses. Historically, Labor has been a party for the workers. When this government has the unions off side, it is ignoring its strongest advocates and supporters. The unions made the Labor Party and this government is now turning its back on them. It is obvious that the left wing faction of this government, in particular, has very little influence on policy decisions. I may be vilified and abused by members of this House because I bring to the fore the issues of discontent among members of my electorate. Nevertheless, I will continue to do so because it is what I was elected to do. People come to me when they feel they have nowhere else to go or when no-one else will listen. The role of a member of parliament is not, unfortunately, to sit back and wax lyrical about all the good things the government is doing. People are aware of the good things. A member should not be condemned for trying to do their best for their electorate. Those members who are afraid to stand up should face the wrath of this House. It is time this government showed some accountability to the people of Queensland. This government says that it values nurses. Show the nurses by rewarding them with the remuneration packages they deserve. Mr Beattie, talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. When this government sits down to decide how much it values Queensland workers, give a thought to the men and women who witness despair and sadness on a daily basis. Think about these men and women who very often are the last people on this earth that many will see as they take their last breath, and then tell them you cannot find the money to give them their rewards for choosing to work in an industry where they look after our most precious commodity—life. From a personal perspective, I believe that the work these men and women do is priceless. When I visit my father, who is suffering from cancer, it is the nurses who are helping him now; it is the nurses who provide him with a sense of reassurance—something I cannot give him, unfortunately. To see these nurses touch my father's hand when he is afraid and in pain and then provide him with the medicine that he needs to find relief is beyond words. It is so reassuring for me to know that, when I cannot be with him, someone is providing him comfort, telling him jokes and just being there at the most critical time in his life and the most difficult time of mine. Please show some compassion and provide these men and women with the working conditions they are begging for. Continuing on the subject of Health, I refer to the disappointment that the government has rescinded its promise to reduce the public dental waiting lists. In my electorate people are waiting up to four years for a dental appointment. I do not believe even Labor backbenchers can agree that that is a reasonable length of time to wait. It is all very nice to talk about prevention, but what about the hundreds of people in Gympie who are way past the prevention stage and need urgent treatment? The Gympie Police Station does not seem to be any closer to commencement, with the government allocating $200,000 less than last year in this year's budget. By the rate it is going, if the funds keep decreasing in each budget, the chance of our ever reaching the targeted $7 million is less than zero. At this rate, it will take about 35 years before Gympie will ever see its new station. And by then, the cost of building a new station will be a lot more than $7 million. In a nutshell, Labor has let us down again. The rest of the budget, in regards to Gympie, just includes proposals which have already been under way for some time, such as the upgrading of the public gallery and the new RSPCA. Once again, this government has ignored our need for crisis emergency accommodation. People are no closer to being able to access Legal Aid; according to staff at Legal Aid, Legal Aid is broke. Another big ho-hum budget for Labor to be proud of and a big 'thanks for nothing' again for the Labor government from the people of Gympie! Mr MULHERIN (Mackay—ALP) (11.30 a.m.): It is a pleasure to speak in support of the 2002- 03 state budget. Firstly, I congratulate the Treasurer, the Honourable Terry Mackenroth, on his second budget, which further delivers on the Beattie Labor government's election commitments. It is a solid and responsible budget that builds on the foundations of previous Beattie Labor 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2215 government budgets, with a strong emphasis on broadening the Queensland economy through Smart State initiatives of investment in biotechnology and information technology and, more importantly, investing in the state's most important asset—its people. The budget is based on a growth rate of 4.25 per cent in 2002-03, outperforming the rest of Australia by a half a percentage point, creating 43,000 jobs, bringing the total number of new jobs created since coming to office in 1998 to around 174,000. General government operating revenue is expected to increase by 4.3 per cent to $20.181 billion, whilst general operating expenses are expected to increase by 1.7 per cent to $20.157 billion, delivering on a range of services and infrastructure across the state. The budget will deliver a new operating surplus of $23 million and a cash surplus of $354 million in the general government sector, maintaining Queensland's AAA credit rating. The budget has been brought down under tight economic circumstances. Since September 11, the return on capital markets has weakened considerably and this has had an effect on the rate of return of government investments. This has also affected the private sector, especially insurance companies. It is expected the general government sector in 2001-02 will have an accrual deficit of $486 million because of weaker returns from capital markets. However, this will return to accrual operating surpluses in the out years. Yesterday we heard the Opposition Leader making great play of the accrual deficit. He has failed to acknowledge the impact that September 11 had on international capital markets. No investment house, government owned or not, was immune to this event. I would suggest that the Opposition Leader, rather than take a cheap political shot, acquaint himself with independent analysis by rating agency Standard and Poor's. I would like to inform the Opposition Leader of Standard and Poor's interpretation of the budget, and I quote from its media release dated 19 June 2002, which stated— In fiscal 2002, the total state sector is expected to show an accruals operating deficit of 3.8% of operating revenue compared with the earlier forecast of 1.0% ... This is due mainly to a one-off decrease in the general government's investment income, in line with the general weakening of returns in capital markets. However, the weaker budgetary performance has had no significant impact on the state's exceptionally strong balance sheet. In the medium term, Queensland's total state sector net financial liabilities ... are forecast to remain below 50% of operating revenue, the lowest of all the Australian states. Standard & Poor's also derives comfort from the forecasts for the state's improving financial performance. The return of the general government sector to accruals operating surplus in fiscal 2003, after two successive years of recording deficits, is expected to strengthen the total state sector's budgetary performance. I table the release for the benefit of his education. After lecturing the House on debt and spending, the Opposition Leader had the temerity to go on and lecture the House that the budget failed to deliver services and that more money should have been allocated for capital works. He cannot have it both ways. The facts are that general government revenue is expected to increase by 4.3 per cent to $20.181 billion whilst general government expenses are expected to increase by 1.7 per cent to $20.157 billion. That indicates to me that the government is not spending more than it receives. The capital markets will improve over the coming years and this will further strengthen the government sector's budgetary performance. The Opposition Leader, I thought, would have used his budget reply to paint a vision for a future National Party government. He did not advocate a detailed plan on how his party would have dealt with bringing down a budget under difficult conditions. Instead, he just whinged about the accrual deficit and the lack of spending by the Beattie government. I call on the Opposition Leader to come clean and detail what government owned corporations will be privatised to meet his insatiable thirst for spending. Contrast the Opposition Leader's remarks with the generally positive remarks from the Leader of the Liberal Party. No wonder the National Party is in single figures in the opinion polls. The key to the success of this budget is confidence—confidence by the business sector and confidence by the consumer. Confidence will drive investment and domestic demand, creating jobs. Lack of confidence after September 11 did affect the markets. However, positive signs suggest recovery is on the way and this will create the confidence to drive investment and domestic demand. I would like to outline some of the announcements in this budget which will benefit the people of the Mackay region, and I seek leave to incorporate the rest of my speech in Hansard. Leave granted. 2216 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

This budget will impact on the lives of every resident in the Mackay region. It has a strong emphasis on providing services for families by delivering record spending in areas such as families, education, health and law and order while further developing the region as part of the Smart State. Overall recurrent expenditure for the Department of Families has increased by 15.5% to $518M, Education by 5.8% to $4.2B and Health by 6.7% to $4.3B. This increase in expenditure will benefit the families of the Mackay region. I am confident Mackay and its region will receive its share of these new initiatives which include an additional $188M over four years to the Department of Families to assist Queensland families, youth and children in need—particularly in the area of child protection services. More than $158M has been allocated over the next four years to help undertake the most significant reform package in the history of the Queensland school system, including investment in information and communication technologies and enhancing pathways for young people from school to work, training or further education. An allocation of more than $160M has been made over four years in a package of initiatives to deliver health services and $115M over four years for law and order. The struggling sugar industry has not been overlooked. The Government will provide the industry with $20M for low interest loans to help farmers with the cost of planting and fertilising the 2003 crop. The industry productivity has been severely impacted upon by crop failure over the last four years caused by disease and unseasonal weather conditions ranging from an extreme wet to a drought. The productivity issue has been further exacerbated by low world price and the rising Australian dollar. Unfortunately, Mackay Sugar has had to take drastic action to reduce costs which includes the closure of Pleystowe Sugar Mill and the loss of jobs through voluntary retirement. It is hoped with improvements in productivity next season, the mill will re-open. That's why the announcement of the scheme will be welcome by millers and farmers. The industry is keenly waiting for the publication of the Hilldebrand Report. This report will not provide a magical solution to the industry, however, it will no doubt issue challenges to the industry to reform for the long term viability of this great industry. In addition to spending on services, $240M will be pumped into the region in Capital Works spending. The $240M Capital Works Program will create spin-offs which will benefit local employment and local businesses. Key capital works projects in the local area include $4.1M towards the redevelopment and refurbishment of the historic Mackay Court House for a total cost of $11.4M. The Mackay Court House was built in the 1930's under the Forgan Smith Labor Government. It is heritage listed and it is quite a significant landmark, not only in Mackay, but in Queensland, because of its architectural importance. The much-needed upgrade will ensure we have modern court facilities which will include a multi-purpose Court Room, additional Magistrates Courts, Registries Office, Interview rooms, facilities for child witnesses and victims of domestic violence and victims of crime. It will also have improved public space and public access. The refurbishments and extensions which are due to start in December will not only improve the efficiency of the law courts, it will also create many jobs during the construction period. The budget has also allocated $10M toward the $38M multi-purpose facilities as part of the revitalisation strategy fro the city heart. I have fought hard to convince Government of the tangible benefits this project will have for the Mackay economy. This is an exciting project where the State Government and Mackay City Council are working in partnership to transform the City Heart. Currently, Urbis Consultancy have been engaged by the Council to develop the strategy for City Heart revitalisation. The strategy will be concluded by September and will identify the site or sites within the city for the multi-purpose facility or facilities. The multi-purpose facility or facilities project, along with the Court House project, together represent a $50M investment over the next three years by the Beattie Government in the City Heart. These two projects will be a catalyst for private sector investment in the CBD. It is estimated that this funding from Government could generate up to $250M in private sector investment, such as hotels and inner city residential accommodation over the next ten years. This will enable the tourist industry to capitalise on Mackay as a destination. We have great natural and physical assets such as the blue Pioneer River, Eungella and its hinterland, wonderful beaches and islands, magnificent Marina, art deco buildings and heritage listed buildings to name a few. These two projects will compliment the River City Board Walk and generate short and long term social and economic benefits to our city. These announcements recognise the growing importance by Government that Mackay is a major regional centre. A further $1.8M has been allocated to develop specialist outpatients facility at the Mackay Hospital. This spending is in addition to $28.7M already spent on the Mackay Hospital. The budget also includes a further $860,000 to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the Hospital. Staff accommodation at the Hospital will receive a boost with $1M allocated as part of the $1.5M upgrade to accommodation facilities. I would like to place on record my appreciation for the dedication to duty by Mackay District Health Service workers. Their work is really appreciated in the community. Education is a big winner, with $4.9M allocated for projects such as $225,560 for Beaconsfield State School for a new teaching block, $2.8M for North Mackay High School's renewal program and $1.6M for cooler schools program at Pioneer High, Slade Point, Mackay High, North Mackay Primary and Fitzgerald schools. Whilst on the subject of education, I would like to congratulate the Principals and Teachers and support staff and P & C members of the Mackay District Schools, who work in partnership to ensure that our children have the best possible equational outcome. 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2217

$2.1M to complete the Mackay Harbour Road upgrade from Vines Creek to Slade Point Road roundabout. All up over $4M has been expended to upgrade the pavement which had deteriorated over the years. $10.4M for public and community housing as well as $1.1M for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing which will address waiting lists for public housing and will boost the building sector in Mackay. An allocation of $5.6M has been made for further re-development and refurbishment at Mackay sea and airports. I would like to place on record my appreciation of the Honourable Edmund Casey's contribution to the further development of our air and seaports in his role as Chair of the Mackay Port Authority. Ed is due to retire from the Chairman position at the end of June. Ed has devoted most of his life to public service and I know that the community wishes him and Laurie all the best in their retirement from public life. I also welcome the commitment to start construction in the new financial year of the Northern Beach Police Station and Fire and Ambulance facilities. I congratulate my good friend and colleague, Jan Jarratt, Member for Whitsunday for her keen interest, hard work and advocacy in securing these facilities for her electorate. These facilities will not only assist residents in the northern beaches suburbs of the Whitsunday electorate, but will also benefit residents in the Andergrove, Beaconsfield, North Mackay and Slade Point suburbs in the electorate of Mackay. The Police, Fire and Ambulance officers in Mackay do an excellent job. They are well respected in the community and I would like to commend them for their dedication to duty. Unemployment is a curse on any society and this Government is committed to assisting the unemployed. This year's capital working and increased funding for services will go a long way towards creating jobs in the Mackay District. However, we have to tackle the problem head-on for the long term unemployed and I am pleased further funding has been allocated to Breaking the Unemployment Cycle initiative which targets the long term unemployed, mature-aged job seekers, trainees and apprentices, young people including young offenders, prisoners ready for release and indigenous people. The region will also benefit from the Central Queensland Training Strategy which ensure workers have skills demanded by the growth of manufacturing and mineral processing in the region. Finally, Mr Speaker, I could go on forever talking about Mackay—it's a great place and in closing, I just want to once again thank the Treasurer and the Premier for their hard working commitment to regional Queensland, in particular, Mackay. I am sure the people of this State appreciate their efforts. This budget is a responsible budget—it is a budget for all Queenslanders and a budget which puts families and young people first. It will ensure that Queensland is totally skilled, economically strong and socially responsible. I commend both Bills to the House. Mr HOPPER (Darling Downs—NPA) (11.36 a.m.): I rise today to speak to the second budget of the 50th parliament—a budget that for the second year in succession has delivered a deficit to the people of Queensland. Last year the Treasurer blamed his deficit on the Asian economic downturn and the GST. This year he blames the activities of September 11 and various corporate collapses, so it seems that he is prepared to blame everyone else rather than look at his government's own dismal performance in handling the finances of this state. It is a budget of deficits, with the Department of Housing indicating a deficit of $17.7 million following a surplus of $28.3 million. Also in the Department of Housing there is a declining trend in cash held over the past two budgets with the forecast cash held for 2002-03 being in the negative—minus $90.3 million in fact. The Public Rental Housing Output has a forecast deficit of $3.3 million in 2002-03 after recording a large surplus of $35.4 million in 2001-02. Private Housing Assistance has a forecast deficit of $7.5 million in 2002-03. However, I notice this is because of the Department of Housing's contribution to the Brisbane Housing Company. I have to say, though, that I agree with the concept of providing housing for low income earners. I am concerned that the estimated staffing levels for the Department of Housing show an estimated decrease, as do the figures for the estimated staffing levels for Public Works, in the 2002-03 budget. I am concerned for the staff of these departments, because they must be feeling very worried knowing that there will be a decrease in staffing levels and knowing that the Beattie government is going to decrease the staffing numbers in the Public Service. I read that a future initiative for the Public Works Department is to implement guidelines that support the Queensland Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry. I have raised concerns with Minister Schwarten about the building and construction industry, and any initiative that improves the practices of this industry is welcome. At the moment in Queensland we are a state of unrest. Every day we hear about groups of employees forced to take industrial action to get the attention of the Premier and his ministers. If this was happening to a conservative government, Mr Beattie and his merry band of followers would be screeching about how bad the government was. However, the Premier now prefers to make excuses and offer union members a pittance, especially nurses, residential care officers and members of Q-Build. In fact, every government worker should be concerned about their jobs and their superannuation funds, because this government is taking them nowhere. It has taken the Premier four years to realise how important the care and protection of children is. After many deaths and much suffering by 2218 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002 children, the Premier now decides to put money into the budget for their care and protection. Any extra funding is welcome. However, these deaths should never have occurred. I would now like to talk about my electorate of Darling Downs. Unfortunately, there is little joy in this budget for the residents in my electorate. I thank the government—I am thanking the government now; this is the good part—for providing $3.5 million to the Dalby Agricultural College. The Dalby Agricultural College is a wonderful initiative for the Darling Downs region. Its further education for our rural students is outstanding, so I welcome this funding. Our Police Minister has promised a net increase in police officers of 370. I also welcome this for the state of Queensland. However, I have approached the minister on a number of occasions to try to have him allow two police liaison officers to be employed for the Dalby region. It is very disappointing to find out that it seems we have been ignored once again. There are now over 800 indigenous people in the town of Dalby. These two officers are greatly needed. I also welcome the increase in funding of $148 million over four years for family services. Each and every member would have been approached often by constituents facing problems which generally relate to family services. Quite often our hands are tied, and trying to assist constituents in this area is very hard. I do welcome this funding from the government. The town of Dalby is now seeing Petro Fuel build an ethanol plant in the area. I would have liked to see more research funding into ethanol usage in our fuels. As the shadow primary industries minister, Marc Rowell, said this week, we need to implement a 10 per cent ethanol mix in all fuels. This fuel is extremely environmentally friendly. We all know that we have to head down this road in the future. The Primary Industries Minister must work closely with Warren Truss, the federal Agriculture Minister, to ensure that the exceptional circumstances program is continued and that small businesses in our country towns are catered for. We all know that they are carrying a lot of the costs from struggling farmers. I welcome this work with the Chinchilla group. Let us hope a positive outcome will be achieved. I also recognise the input that the Minister for Primary Industries has had into the Jandowae timber town festival, and I thank him for that. The town of Dalby has a major company, Nippon, wanting to build a pig abattoir there. There is a problem with the water licence, and the government must ensure this problem is solved immediately. This abattoir will employ 300 staff in its early stages and possibly later up to 600 staff. We lost Ergon Energy and we lost Napiers, so this abattoir would be good for the town of Dalby. This budget has probably given the Darling Downs very little, as was the case last year and as is the case in most of our rural electorates. Mr CHOI (Capalaba—ALP) (11.41 a.m.): If ever I needed to be reminded of the reasons I joined the Labor Party, if ever there was any reason for me to be reminded of the differences between the Labor Party and the parties opposite, then this, the fifth budget of the Beattie Labor government, presented by the Treasurer, has to be the show and tell of it all. Matthew Franklin of the Courier-Mail in his lead article on 19 June stated— This was a budget from the heart. He was right on the money. The honourable member for Callide told the House last night that there is a big difference between his side of politics and the Labor Party. He was right for a change. For the sake of the little people, our children, the marginalised, the disabled, the unemployed and those who struggle to make ends meet, and to those who rely on the government to educate, to provide and to protect their young ones, I say: thank God for that difference. The honourable member for Callide credited the difference between his party and mine to one thing—the ability to provide a surplus budget. Whilst not in agreement with his statement, and not to belittle the importance of a surplus budget, it must be said that a black bottom line rarely translates into a content and healthy society, just as a rich family does not equate to a happy one. Having said that, the honourable member for Mackay just told the House that Standard and Poor's still gives Queensland a triple A rating. At times we have to spend to address problems in our society. At times we cannot afford to procrastinate. We have to put the most important assets of Queensland—our children and our families—before economic expediency. Again I quote Matthew Franklin— After four years of establishing pro business credentials, it was important that the Beattie Labor government re- established its bona fides with people in need. 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2219

I highlight the words 'people in need'. This Beattie Labor government delivers. I challenge the opposition to say what is more important—a budget surplus or the protection of defenceless children. I now turn to my electorate of Capalaba. This budget has provided $690,000 for the Capalaba Business Centre streetscape. The state government provided funding in previous budgets for the purchase of land in Capalaba for the proposed Capalaba bus depot. There is $233,000 for Energex to upgrade the Capalaba to Cleveland feeder and $569,000 for local housing works. The Redland Hospital will also share in $6 million in extra funding allocated to deal with increased workloads in hospitals around the state. There will be $4.3 million in greater Brisbane for the Home Assist Secure scheme, helping elderly people to remain safe and comfortable in their own homes. This budget also allocates $85,000 for construction of a hall at Capalaba State School. That will be welcomed by the school community. There is also $83,000 for the repainting of buildings at Alexandra Hills State School, Coolnwynpin State School and Vienna Woods State School. There is $810,000 allocated for asphalt resurfacing of Redland Bay Road and $185,000 for intersection improvement on Redland Bay Road. There is $1 million to continue the $6.66 million duplication to four lanes of Redland Bay Road between Windemere Road and Vienna Road. We have also received $85,000 for off-street parking for Birkdale South State School. I inform the House that $30,000 was made available from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund for a seven-seat vehicle for the Capalaba Police Citizens Youth Welfare Association—a much-needed utility indeed. There is also $30,000 for full-time project workers for the Older Men's Wellbeing Group. This parliament has a record number of female members. I am so pleased to be able to work with so many of my female colleagues. I am sure they add a lot of colour to this parliament. Having said that, a lot of men in our communities are having difficulties. They are not as open as perhaps our female counterparts in sharing their difficulties. I am so pleased that $30,000 has been made available for a full-time project worker so that we can perhaps help some of the men in need in our community. I am pleased to announce that next week I will be joined by the Honourable Minister for Emergency Services, Mike Reynolds, to take delivery of a $500,000 brand new fire truck for Capalaba Fire Station. This is a budget I am proud to take back to my community and to my branch members—a budget that shows there are politicians who still care about our children and their education and the most important nucleus of our community: the family. This is the reason for the existence of the Labor Party, and my congratulations go to the Treasurer and his team. I am so proud to commend this bill to the House. Mr MALONE (Mirani—NPA) (11.47 a.m.): It is with much pleasure that I rise to speak in response to the state budget 2002-03. As have other members on this side of the House, I have to say that I am disappointed with the way the budget has blown out again this year. For two years in a row we have seen a deficit budget in Queensland. This is probably in line with other Labor states that have taken their states into deficit and ultimately to ruin. We are now looking at a total government deficit over two years of $1.6 billion. The Beattie government is running this great state of ours into the ground when it comes to economic mismanagement. This government has managed to run another important lifesaving service into the ground. I speak of the Department of Emergency Services. Once again the government has sacrificed the Department of Emergency Services and those who work in it. By doing so, it is possibly sacrificing the lives of everyday Queenslanders. Under the direction of the Minister for Emergency Services, Mike Reynolds, we see a continual theme of fiscal mismanagement and overgrown bureaucracy in the department that unfortunately cannot identify with its operational staff. One of the biggest issues facing the Emergency Services Department is the blow-out in response times, both for the Queensland Ambulance Service and for the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service. As most members would know, ambulance response times have blown out to 17 minutes. That is 90 per cent of the time allowed for code 1 cases. Members opposite need to ask themselves: if their life was in danger as a result of heart attack or whatever, would it be acceptable to languish for up to 20 minutes before assistance arrived? 2220 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

Mr Purcell: They get more people alive to hospitals than they have ever done before in the life of the Ambulance Service. I don't know how you can say that. Mr MALONE: It has to be said that Ambulance Service officers are miracle workers, as the honourable member just interjected. They have managed to continue to be some of the highest- performing ambulance officers in the country, perhaps in the world, despite the campaign that seems to be intrinsic in this Labor government. The problems experienced by officers on the Gold Coast at Southport and the associated media articles bear reference to my assertion. The problems are not confined to the Queensland Ambulance Service. The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service has been jeopardised by increased response times. Citizens are now forced to accept a 14-minute response time. It is ridiculous that a response time of 14 minutes is condoned by the department. The bureaucrats in head office do not seem to realise that, in 14 minutes, a three-bedroom home can be reduced to ashes. There certainly is no comfort for those who might be trapped in a building for that length of time. I imagine by now that most Queenslanders are aware of these statistics because they have been highlighted regularly in the media. I want to cite some other percentages. The number of hospitals inspected for fire safety in the last 12 months was 38 per cent. The number of nursing homes inspected for compliance with the building fire safety standard was only 55 per cent. The percentage of licensed liquor premises inspected for compliance with building safety standards was only 40 per cent. The other department for which I have shadow responsibility is Employment and Training. The Beattie government's record in employment has been shameful. This government still presides over the highest unemployment rate on mainland Australia. As recently highlighted in the media, we have come last for 21 months. This government promised in 1998 to reduce the unemployment rate to five per cent. It promised jobs, jobs, jobs. Unfortunately, our employment level has continued to be the highest in mainland Australia. Even after good economic management by the federal government which reduced the national unemployment rate, the Queensland unemployment rate continues to be the highest. In fact, the gap has widened. Our poor unemployment figures are a reflection of mismanagement and lost training opportunities throughout the state. The government's commitment to reducing unemployment in terms of dollars has been excellent. However, in terms of a targeted response to job creation, it has been shameful. We have seen a reduction in the number of employment opportunities created in the 2001-02 period. It is no wonder that we have seen a reduction in employment opportunities in Queensland. The Queensland Capital Works budget is pathetic. There does not seem to be an understanding that capital works are a real driver of jobs and job creation throughout a decentralised state. This is the first government in 16 years to cut its Capital Works budget in consecutive years. In the last two years, the government has had a massive underspend on its Capital Works Program—to the tune of $600 million. I wonder how many Queenslanders have lost their jobs through that underspend in capital works. The fact that the previous budget and this budget are antibusiness is evident in the government's taxation policies. We have seen a number of examples of how underhanded and greedy this government is when it comes to taxing business activity in this state. The government has significantly decreased payroll tax but, at the same time, it has increased the amount of tax paid by the average employer. This is a disincentive to employ more people. In terms of employment creation, yet again this government has provided a framework for coming last. I want to turn now to a few of the funding items I was seeking for my electorate. Over a long period in this parliament I have spoken about the need for a rebuilt 24-hour police station at Sarina. There would be examples on record of my writing to the minister in regard to this matter. Unfortunately, the current station is located on a busy highway. It is a shambles. It also needs to operate on a 24-hour basis. The funding for this facility, which was allocated in the budget five years ago now, has been shifted to north Mackay. That is fine; a new police centre in north Mackay is probably required, but it is certainly required also at Sarina. The seed funding for a new ambulance station in south Mackay is welcomed. We hope that we can move forward with the provision of this ambulance centre to reduce response times in the Walkerston and Peak Downs areas as quickly as possible. The sugar industry is a very emotive issue. The $20 million in funding that the government has set aside for the industry is certainly a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, many farmers and people associated with the industry are in such a position that they cannot access further 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2221 funds, even with interest-only repayments. The industry now requires an injection of seed funding for some innovative projects that will put it back on its feet. It needs to be recognised that not just farmers are involved in the industry; there are also many businesspeople and contractors, all of whom are affected by the downturn almost as badly as the farmers. This issue requires a lot of understanding. Both the state and federal governments must undertake detailed research to come up with innovative measures to ensure that the industry can stand on its own two feet. I sought extra funds under the Cooler Schools program for schools in my electorate. I am still looking through the budget papers to find the extra funding to enable schools in my electorate to complete their Cooler Schools programs. I hope that the minister can supply that funding a little later on. In terms of health, the hospital in my electorate at Sarina is a hub of activity. Unfortunately, the rehab centre established under the coalition government is being run down. It certainly needs an injection not only of capital but also of manpower to ensure that it continues operating. I hear from my constituents a real indication that the Sarina Hospital is being put on the backburner and that many specialist services and even basic services are not being delivered. In my region there is a real need for innovative funding in local government for the rebuilding of bridges and the re-establishment of some council roads. I know that this is not a key funding priority for the state government. I also realise that certain responsibilities, such as the rebuilding of major bridges, were handed back to councils many years ago. However, it is now beyond the capacity of our local governments to maintain and rebuild certain infrastructure. There has to be some understanding from both state and federal governments to help those local governments out on such projects. For instance, there is a major bridge in the Mirani Shire Council area which has to be rebuilt. It is in a major tourist attraction area and its replacement could cost between $3 million and $4 million, an amount which is certainly beyond the resources of local government. Mr LIVINGSTONE (Ipswich West—ALP) (12.00 p.m.): It is certainly a great honour to rise in support of this great Labor budget. This is a budget for all of Queensland, and the people in Ipswich West and the West Moreton region have done very well—something that never happened when the Tories were in power. Our area missed out badly. We received little. It is interesting to listen to the Leader of the Opposition say that the government should increase the capital works budget and how terrible this budget is in that regard and then listen to those opposite whinge and complain about how much extra money should be spent in different areas, but I am not sure where that extra money is going to come from. The issues that are important to the people in my electorate are families, disability services, education, health and police. They are the issues that I spend most of my time on. This is a tremendous budget for which Terry Mackenroth should be congratulated. Judy Spence has played a wonderful role in Family Services and Disabilities. This budget sees increases of 15.5 per cent for families and 8.8 per cent for disabilities. This is just wonderful, even though we all recognise that there is still a long way to go. In the area of education there has been an increase of 5.8 per cent, in health an increase of 6.7 per cent and in police an increase of 6.8 per cent, yet we listen to those opposite talk about a deficit. Not very long ago when the federal government brought down a deficit the Leader of the Opposition stood up and said that it was a great budget, but because we have brought down a deficit in these difficult times the opposition is saying that we should be spending more money, for crying out loud! I congratulate the Treasurer. He has done an absolutely brilliant job. The Capital Works Program is in the vicinity of $4.8 billion, with 56 per cent of that being spent outside Brisbane, and the area that I represent is going to be getting its fair share. Many people do not realise that in education there is $3 billion in wages alone going to approximately 62,000 staff. At the railway workshops at Redbank alone there are approximately 1,000 staff and in this year's budget $32.1 million has been allocated for that, which is a very substantial amount of money. There is $42 million for the Swanbank Power Station, including $20.1 million in order to bring the Swanbank E new gas turbine online and $22.5 million to upgrade Swanbank B. As an old power worker, I must say that it is great to see these funds being allocated to that area because it helps to guarantee the employment of not only those people but also other industries which supply coal and so on. There is $15 million for an industrial park in the district, and that will certainly have great spin- offs for the whole region. Schools in my electorate such as the Amberley, Leichhardt, Tivoli and Walloon state schools will all have substantial work done on them through the Triple R program. There is $775,000 towards the Ipswich city centre revitalisation program and $2.88 million for the Railway Workshop Museum in my electorate. There is $3,000 to upgrade access to the Lowood 2222 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002 swimming pool and $107,000 towards the Esk, Gatton and Laidley councils to upgrade their water boards. An honourable member interjected. Mr LIVINGSTONE: I take the honourable member's interjection. We have certainly missed out over the years, and it is about time we got our fair share. There is $864,000 for Energex to complete a variety of works and $3 million for the Urban Renewal Program in Leichhardt. Minister Schwarten has to be congratulated for the brilliant work he is doing in that area. I acknowledge that in 1994 the Treasurer, Terry Mackenroth, started the Urban Renewal Program. That was just brilliant for areas like Leichhardt and Wulkuraka that had been totally neglected under the coalition government. It was fair to say that a lot of the people there were living in hovels. We have gone out of our way to rectify the sins of the past. In those early programs started by Terry Mackenroth and continued by Minister Schwarten $12.2 million has been spent in the past on urban renewal, including the building of a swimming pool for the local community. There has been $3.5 million for community renewal. In this budget there is $5.2 million to continue that program. There are also 28 new single units being built at North Ipswich for $3.6 million. The overall money spent in Leichhardt over that period of time amounts to something in the vicinity of $21 million. Can members imagine $21 million being pumped into housing in poor areas under a coalition government? I am sure they could not. It just simply would not have happened. As I said, $32.1 million is being spent on Queensland Rail and $15.65 million to develop industrial parks looking at manufacturing and the food industry. There is $4 million as part of the Queensland contribution to the proposed hanger at Amberley, with which we are in partnership, to some degree, with Defence. In the area of transport there is $13.3 million for the construction of the Rosewood to Helidon track relay. There is $230,000 for the Ipswich council for drainage works and $430,000 for asphalt resurfacing of the Ipswich-Walloon road. The Willowbank Raceway has received an additional $365,256 from this Treasurer, which is just wonderful, towards the upgrade of the existing drag strip. This is already an excellent facility, but this will top it off that little extra in the international championship standards. Mr English interjected. Mr LIVINGSTONE: It is certainly a great facility. Funding for that upgrade to Willowbank came from Sport and Recreation Queensland's National Standards Facility Program. This government is doing everything possible to upgrade major events, because that helps our own local athletes so much and also gives us the opportunity to attract major sporting competitions to Australia. Another area of great need—and Minister Tom Barton needs to be congratulated for the work that he is doing in this area—is state development. One major initiative set up by the government in the current financial year was the Manufacturing Leaders Group, which Minister Barton has played a very significant role in. One of its major roles is to help improve the profile of the manufacturing industry. After looking at some of these industries in recent times with staff from Mr Barton's office I was absolutely amazed and impressed at the quality of some of the work being done by these people. The boat manufacturing industry is a classic example. It was just last year that the Queensland government identified boat building and the marine industry as a priority sector. Mr Purcell: For many years down in Bulimba we've had a thriving boat industry. Mr LIVINGSTONE: And a very good local member as well. But last year the Queensland government's State Development Department established the Marine Industry Task Force to provide support for companies entering the boat manufacturing industry. There is a very impressive facility on the way to the south coast. With Queensland having 7,400 kilometres of coastline, it is little wonder that boating is a very major recreational pastime for Queenslanders. Mr Mickel: Do they miss Jack Paff up there in Ipswich West? Mr LIVINGSTONE: I do not recall the name. Many people in Queensland are pursuing marine industry products because of all the coastline we have. I was surprised to discover that in Queensland there are 165,000 registered boats and another 80,000 that do not need to be registered. There are 7,000 people alone in Queensland working in that industry, and it brings $2 billion into the Queensland economy each year. It is certainly a great advantage to Queensland to promote and support these industries. 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2223

Another issue that has interested me for a long period of time is the One Mile Bridge. I was somewhat amazed to read in the paper this week that an Ipswich councillor suggested that the state government was putting too high a barrier to the construction of the bridge. For those not familiar with the situation, the One Mile Bridge and the road going over it are 100 per cent the responsibility of the Ipswich council, but we recognised that the Ipswich council would not be able to afford a new bridge. Premier Beattie guaranteed a maximum commitment of $7.5 million from the Queensland government to pay for half of the construction of that bridge. At no stage did we ever say that the bridge had to cost $15 million. If it costs $4 million, our contribution will be $2 million. The Ipswich council has been dragging its feet in terms of trying to get this particular project up. I certainly will not let it lie, because we made a commitment. In the past, councillors from those areas asked us for support, but unfortunately they are no longer there. Today's councillors say that that is not their agenda, but when one makes a commitment one has to stick to it. I support the budget. It is an excellent document. I recommend the bill to the House. Hon. J. FOURAS (Ashgrove—ALP) (12.13 p.m.): I am pleased to take part in this budget debate. The member for Moggill, who is this parliament's most ardent pro-market advocate, and others decry the continuing decline in capital works expenditure. In fact, the member indicated that it had declined some $485 million over three years. At the same time, the member criticised the broadening of the payroll tax base, a base which is by far the lowest in Australia, as well as urging the staged removal of land tax. What do we have? Spending on capital works going up and taxes going down. There will be only one outcome from the opposition's logic, that is, a complete disservice to liberty. One is entitled to ask members of the opposition where they would find the $460 million and the lost land tax revenue. Which services would they cut? As a member of the Labor Party, I am proud to state that the true test of a democracy is the extent to which society minimises social disadvantage. The more it minimises social disadvantage, the more democratic it is; the less it does so, the less democratic it is. I am proud of Treasurer Mackenroth's budget in terms of how it looks after people in need. We must understand that, in respect of providing services and public goods, they are a great equalising force in our society. The user- pays principle may be all right for some people, but it does not allocate resources in an adequate way to people in need of social justice. After years of spending less on services than other states, Queensland has now achieved parity with the national average in the areas of health, education and families—a proud achievement. A $391 million windfall from stamp duty will fund a $400 million four-year priority infrastructure package. That is just a wonderful use of that money. This will include $50 million for health technology projects, $40 million for police information systems and capital works, and $1,500 million for school infrastructure. The Labor governments of both the Goss and Beattie years can be very proud of what they have done to maintain our schools. Under Goss we had the Building Better Schools program. All the primary schools in my electorate have developed so greatly. I remember when the electorate of Ashgrove was held by the Liberal Party in the days of National Party governments and how, when I became the member for Ashgrove, the schools were in shocking disrepair. Now we have the Beattie government's Secondary School Improvement program. There will be $3.1 million for The Gap State High School, which will be absolutely wonderful. I think back to the petty politics of the past, but we are going to treat our schools equitably and on the basis of needs. The second issue to which I refer is families. The fact that $188 million over four years will be allocated in this area is the most wonderful budget news that I have heard since entering parliament. I can remember reading a report of the Director of Children's Services, Graham Zerk, that stated that we could not do what was needed because of gross underfunding. He referred to our obligation to protect children from neglect, abuse and exploitation; but we could not meet our responsibilities in that regard. What did the National Party government do to Mr Zerk? It sacked him. When I was involved with the homeless children inquiry, I can remember a submission from the state government that stated that most of the children who were homeless had at one stage been wards of the state. What a dreadful indictment on the system! We are there to protect these children. In fact, we are worse parents than the worst parents. That was really a dreadful indictment on us. After the Labor Party lost government in 1996, I remember going to Townsville with Anna Bligh and Kenny McElligott and talking to people in disability services. They were absolutely appalled by the fact that the Labor government had done nothing for them during those years. It was not that we did not provide programs, but they were more concerned that we did not even listen to them. We did not hear what they were saying. After we lost in 1996, Mr Lingard became 2224 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002 the Family Services Minister and promised the world. I remember that he put out offers for funding for disability projects. The first round offer of funding applications amounted to $36.7 million. Mr Lingard provided funds of less than $2 million. What did he do the next year? He did not even put out an offer. At least as a result of Anna Bligh's committee, which I was on, we put forward a budget for 1998 that had $40 million more for disability services, supported by Peter Beattie and this Labor Party. This is really indicative of the fact that this Beattie Labor government has a heart. I am really very pleased to be here. I listened to the Minister for Families speak yesterday about the need for effective prevention and early intervention. I spent nine years as shadow minister in the area of families. I and others have been talking about this issue since time immemorial. We will increase the expenditure on intervention and prevention from 13 per cent to 25 per cent of the budget over the next five years. We must be careful about how we spend the money. We must identify the risk factors. We must reduce the likelihood of families falling into crisis. Of course, we must have a process to make sure that this is a cost-effective process in the long run. In the long run, that will reduce the burden on corrections, law enforcement and mental health. In the long term, prevention is really cheaper. I am glad that we have taken this philosophy. We have freed up money to spend in other areas. The non-government sector is something in which I have been involved all my life. I can remember starting a community centre in East Brisbane. I, too, believe in community development, the concept of people in the community getting together to work hard and to fundraise. That is a concept of social justice. It is a concept of providing equity. It is a wonderful concept of social justice. We should value that partnership with the community and accept the social justice concept of the community development model in this budget, because it is imperative. We should provide leadership. At the moment, I am involved with the North West Accommodation Service, a housing service for young people. From talking to these people, I am aware that they do not rate their poverty just in terms of the lack of housing or of resources; it is a problem in terms of relationships. Community groups need to address this. For example, we have fundraised with some young people to buy them computers so that they can do grade 12. Some of them do extremely well. They just need a helping hand. We as a government have to help communities provide that helping hand. I refer to the issue of youth workers in high schools. I was co-author of the Burdekin report into homelessness. We saw and understood that the schoolyard was one of the best places to attack homelessness. We are doing something about that. We are providing $40.3 million over three years, starting the year after this, so that youth workers can divert young people from homelessness, as recommended in the Burdekin report. I want to conclude by talking about the issue that has most excited people about this budget, and that is the fact that we have a deficit. Of course, that came about because we received more than $1 billion less on the return on our surplus $13 billion of financial assets than our budget estimate. I want to talk about the danger that I see in the future as to the returns that shareholders are going to get on their investments. The concept of shareholder value, which dominated management processes in the USA during the 1990s, should be ringing alarm bells for people with equity in American shares. Unfortunately, that will also impact on people who have shares in Australia. In that whole concept we have the interest of managers being aligned with that of shareholders through the use of stock options. Managers are given these stock options. The more those shares increase in value, the more they are cashed in. Within 18 months, they get more shares. In that process of building share value we have a focus on core business. So companies get rid of any business that is not core business. We have the use of financial engineering to reduce the corporate cost of capital and an emphasis on the business's ability to generate cash. That means that we have the engineering of debt. In the 1990s corporate takeovers were invariably justified on the grounds that the shareholder value rose to an unprecedented peak. Most of those takeovers ended up destroying value, as evidenced by the hundreds of billions of dollars of goodwill that has been written off by acquiring companies over the past year or so. One-third of the largest international takeovers that were agreed at the height of the boom are now being unwound. That is how smart this policy was. In the late 1990s the market was divided into the new economy and the maligned old economy. The message delivered by shareholder value to the old economy was simple: do not invest. Heeding that message, throughout the 1990s management in old economy firms reduced 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2225 the amount spent on new plant and equipment. The money that was saved was spent on buying back their shares, which were already of a high value. Through this policy of reducing investment and repurchasing shares, old economy firms were putting themselves through the gradual process of liquidation. One result of this course of action was seen in the energy industry where the lack of investment led to shortages causing energy prices to climb steeply throughout America in 2000. This prolonged period of low investment damaged the competitiveness of other US industries. Big US paper companies operate with equipment that is about 17 years old, which is roughly twice the average age of European equipment. The plant and equipment of the giant US steel companies is substantially older than that of its main European rival. American companies are now wanting tariff protection so that they can compete with European firms because of this policy that we saw in the 1990s. In practice, the generous compensation of top executives through stock options has created an overwhelming incentive to manipulate earnings. In many instances, it has allowed senior executives to cash in their options leaving the shareholders to suffer heavy losses. Companies have turned to financial engineering, replacing equity with debt to push up the share price. In 1995, for the first time in history the amount of money spent on buybacks exceeded outlays on dividends. They used more money to buy back shares than they did to give dividends to shareholders. Over the next five years, more than $US1 trillion worth of buybacks was announced by US companies despite the fact that share prices were at a record level. Many companies burdened themselves with excessive debt to repurchases shares that were at prices far above the current level. They now find themselves having to issue new shares to solve their debt problems. Having bought high, they are now selling low. How ludicrous! The share purchases are all too often made to pump up stock prices. By excluding the true cost of its stock options in 2000, Yahoo—and members would know that company—overstated its earnings more than 20-fold. In 2001, Dell Computer spent $US2.7 billion on purchasing shares, but owing to its generous options grants, the number of its shares rose by two per cent. So it is out there, bidding up in the share market and giving more and more shares. It is ripping off the shareholders. In recent years, nearly half the money that has been spent on buybacks has been used to offset the new issue of shares for options schemes. The number of accounting scandals has risen sharply in recent years. The motive for boosting profit seems to have been the desire to increase the value of managers' options. The average tenure of US chief executives has fallen to roughly four years. Stock options can usually be exercised after 18 months. Before his death in 1997, the chief executive of Coca- Cola had amassed more than $US1 billion in bonuses. US business leaders now measure their success in how many units of $US100 million they can acquire for themselves, not on whether they have built lasting businesses. I think that the continuation of this flawed concept of shareholder value, which is unravelling before our eyes, should be ringing alarm bells not only for people who have investments in American equity but also for all of those in Australia who have investments. The members opposite extol the virtues of the free market and tell us how wonderful it is, this great train that we are on, and that there is no alternative to it. I say to members that there are a lot of crooks out there ripping off a lot of little people. Mr FENLON (Greenslopes—ALP) (12.25 p.m.): I also rise to support the appropriation bills 2002, which establish the Queensland state budget for the next financial year 2002-03. General government operating expenses in this budget are $20.157 billion. That is clearly a very major investment in the future of Queensland that translates to the delivery of improved services on a suburb-by-suburb basis. In this debate, I will outline briefly what this budget means to the suburbs in the Greenslopes electorate and also on a statewide basis. I have spoken repeatedly in the Greenslopes electorate about the Beattie government's vision of a Smart State. There is clearly no better way of delivering on that vision in our local suburbs than by enhancing our education and training system. Working with my school communities is indeed the most enjoyable part of my role as a state member. To see the concrete improvements in our facilities and the content of the educational services that our educational system is delivering is very satisfying when we know that a generation of our children will be growing up with opportunities and choices that no other generation has had the privilege to enjoy. Yet still year by year, with the increasing contribution of 2226 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002 the state government and the hard work of parents and educators in each school community, we see the educational services and the level of attainment of our children continuing to increase. In that regard, I refer to everything ranging from pure academic achievement to our musical and sporting programs where children in our schools reach extremely impressive levels of attainment. I know that I join every family in my local suburbs in expressing how proud we are of the attainment levels of our children when they are faced with a complex and demanding world. The choices that they are offered will also provide them with a two-edged sword: on one edge, the benefit of finding pathways that are compatible with children's personalities, talents and dreams of attainment while on the other edge presenting dilemmas and pressures to assemble the correct array of educational skills and training to fit a future career. It is indeed the major challenge of our education system to allow students to finetune that portfolio of skills and training expertise that they wish to assemble to meet their needs when they leave the school system. Over the past decade we have witnessed various capital improvement programs that are designed to enhance the capacities of our older schools to deliver these educational services. Most of our schools have certainly fallen into this category. Therefore, over the years we have faced additional pressure to ensure that our schools receive good treatment by way of capital improvements. In recent years, the most effective and wide ranging of these programs has emerged under the Beattie government through the Secondary Schools Renewal Program. This is a visionary program that is aimed at regenerating our older secondary schools by enhancing an already existing marketplace niche to serve a particular local community. This budget continues the implementation of the strategy in our schools. The Secondary Schools Renewal Program has targeted the Coorparoo Secondary College to the extent of $4.5 million, and in this budget $677,720 has been allocated for the continuation of this program, which involves work comprising a new auditorium at a cost of approximately $2.5 million, the relocation of the ceramics room, the construction of an adult student room and the construction of an access ramp to the administration block. This is the final phase of this program, which has seen $0.75 million allocated to the Holland Park State High School and a similar amount allocated to the Whites Hill State College. It was a pleasure to take part in the opening of the $5.8 million bioscience complex and refurbishment program, which is now completed, at the Cavendish Road High School. This work at the Cavendish Road High School is complemented further with $98,000 for repainting of buildings at that school and at Wellers Hill State School. Holland Park State School has also made strong representations, via myself, in relation to the need for a new resource centre. I am pleased that this budget has allocated $10,000 toward the establishment of this new resource centre. It will liberate classroom space where the current resource centre is located after the funds are spent on enclosing the area under the current music block facility. Local residents would be aware that a major project has been proceeding at what is now referred to as the Coorparoo Education Precinct, which includes the Coorparoo State School, Access Ed—the educational curriculum arm of Education Queensland—and the Queen Alexandra Home Community Centre. Over $9 million has already been spent by the state government on the refurbishment of the old TAFE campus, including the Queen Alexandra Home Community Centre, in order to install Access Ed, which is part of the overall redevelopment. Some $4.5 million has been committed towards the refurbishment of what is a very old school and its integration within the Coorparoo Education Precinct. I seek leave to have the rest of my speech incorporated into Hansard. Leave granted. As part of this staged redevelopment, $722,350 has been allocated for the replacement of the school's swimming pool, and $462,000 has been allocated for the construction of a new music block at the Coorparoo State School. This major school redevelopment will create practically a new school with an integrated campus extending from preschool to Year 7. It will be a unique facility with its particular linkages into the Access Ed facility and adjacent high schools. All of our local schools will require major upgrading on a continuous basis in future years to ensure that our classrooms meet educational needs. To this end, I have been strongly advocating within each of our school communities the need to advance corporate planning within each school campus from first principles in order to ensure that every school community has a clear direction in terms of corporate objectives and specialisation and that commensurate capital needs are clearly identified and planned for in advance. 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2227

These local initiatives fit clearly into the overall strategy to advance our education and training sector and I know that residents of the Greenslopes electorate are acutely interested in the Government's proposals for an extra year of schooling. Here, $158 million have been allocated over four years to fund this initiative. This package incorporates 59 preparing for school trials of a full-time preparatory year. An additional 382 teachers, including 158 new teachers, is part of the Government strategy to deliver 800 teachers over four years. An additional $10 million has been allocated over two years to enhance employment prospects for Queenslanders by way of community employment programs and additional apprenticeship and training places. $100 million under the Smart State Research Facilities Fund includes $22.5 million for the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. Further, a package of more than $47 million over four years is intended to support innovation, emerging technologies and the uptake of information and communication technologies in industry and the community. The private education sector is also well catered for in this Budget which provides $284.4 million, a 6.9% increase in State financial assistance to non-government schools to support them delivering a quality education to our children. Also a further $10.6 million will be provided over the next four years commencing with $1.7 million in this financial year for capital assistance program external infrastructure subsidy, bus fare assistance and transport for students with disabilities in non-government schools. A further $1.6 million in ongoing funding will be provided towards the additional costs arising from the increase in the superannuation guarantee charge payable to the non-State school workforce. This Budget is the culmination of a decade of dedication to upgrading Queensland's education system by successive Labor Governments. In a similar vein I am very proud to make reference to the continuation of the hospital rebuilding program which started under a Labor government in the early 90s that I was part of. If it had not been for this foresight in the early 90s, we would not now have the benefit of this great facility under the campus of the Princess Alexandra Hospital where we can now ensure that our relatives and friends can have the most advanced technical environment for the provision of health care. A further $16.4 million is provided in this Budget to continue the $353 million redevelopment of the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Also our elderly residents will be provided further assistance by way of a $4.3 million allocation in the greater Brisbane area for home assistance/secure scheme. This will ensure that people remain safe and comfortable in their own homes longer and this indeed is the most valuable thing that we can offer to elderly people, the fundamental comfort of remaining in one's own home and securing that independence to live one's own life. These local initiatives fit within the delivery of major priorities in health across Queensland. An additional $13.3 million will be provided over this year for a range of acute inpatient services across Queensland. Up to $7.3 million is allocated to improving access to home and community care services. $4.6 million is allocated to implement the Government's response to the Cape York Justice Study, including funding for indigenous economic developing activities in indigenous child and public health improvements, and financial aid to the community councils and $6 million is provided as part of disability services funding. On any day of the week in our local suburbs of the Greenslopes electorate you do not have to look far to find some community organisation staffed with volunteers providing a high level of service to some sporting or other interest group ranging from very young children to the elderly. We have recently paid tribute to the many workers in these organisations who donate their time and raise money in order to continue to provide these services. No matter what they do, there is always still a need for some government assistance to top off those great efforts and help to ensure good facilities are provided throughout our community to these groups. To this end, I am pleased to announce that $53,000 is allocated towards a clubhouse extension of the Metropolitan Districts Netball Association at Coorparoo, and also $6,000 is allocated for irrigation for the soccer field at Tarragindi. $24,410.00 has been allocated to the Australian Red Cross at Greenslopes for the installation of air conditioning at the Red Cross accommodation and $20,327 has been allocated to the Holland Park State High School Parents and Citizens Association for sound and lighting equipment and stage curtains. I look forward to working with the many other community organisations in our local community to pursue further funding for their specific needs over the next year. On a wider front, other matters affecting our local community will include in the next year $5.4 million allocated to be spent on noise barrier works along Queensland railway lines on the south side, and $846,000 is allocated for housing works, thus creating local job opportunities. A further $713,000 is allocated to general upgrades of Department of Housing accommodation in the Greenslopes electorate. As near-inner-city residents, Greenslopes constituents will also enjoy a range of other Budget initiatives to upgrade various facilities. This will include $68.5 million to upgrade Energex's electricity supply infrastructure in the Greater Brisbane region, including $26,000 for Energex's upgrade to the Coorparoo feeder; $16.1 million is allocated for the new $135.5 million Brisbane Magistrates Courthouse; $19.7 million for the millennium library and the millennium arts program works at Southbank; $7 million for the Gallery of Modern Art; $5.2 million to enhance the Roma Street Parklands, and $209 million for the Suncorp Metway Stadium redevelopment. We must also ensure that our communities are safe places to live and work. Here an additional funding of $188 million over four years is provided for initiatives that will deliver better outcomes for families and children, as this comprises new funding of $148 million over four years, in addition to the final instalment of funding committed already in response to the Forde Inquiry. 2228 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

An additional 307 police are planned under funding allocation and an additional $40 million over two years is provided to enhance Police Services Information Management Systems and capital infrastructure. $4.6 million is provided for school transport safety, including enhanced safety of the school bus fleet; $6.2 million over four years for emergency helicopter services and $21 million provided over three years for the expansion of the Drug Court trial to Townsville and Cairns and to continue the trial in Ipswich, Southport and Beenleigh. I recently spoke about this matter in more detail in this House and I am very pleased to see that this successful initiative is continuing and expanding as it addresses the fundamental problem that concerns our communities. This is a very sound Budget that is about putting in place the fundamental building block for the Smart State. This indeed includes the matters that I have outlined in terms of education at a grassroots level in our schools, training and the provision of high quality health care. But still the most fundamental building blocks for our Smart State and the fundamental fabric of our society is the care for our families in general and the welfare of our children in particular. This is why I am very proud of the government's announcement this week in some detail of the future directions for the delivery of services to Queensland families and the care of children. These initiatives include an additional $33.5 million as part of the four-year strategy for foster carers and $33 million for the community sector. This will include a 6% increase in allowances for foster carers of children and young children aged 11 and over, beginning in January 2003. Foster carers will also benefit from funding for short- term respite, and there will be more financial support for carers with children with high and extreme support needs. At the other end of the spectrum, the Government has clearly recognised the need to provide special attention to our seniors and has created a new portfolio to facilitate that. This is part of the Government's termination to develop a long-term plan for the ageing population and promote a more positive image of older people and ageing. The recent Census report showed that Queensland's population was ageing at a greater rate than the Australian average. By 2026 the number of Queenslanders aged 65 years and over could pass the 1 million mark, up from the current figure of 420,000. This is the beginning of a long-term response to our changing demographics and the challenges ahead. This Budget clearly establishes the Beattie Government as a strong, stable and responsible Government that is accountable and committed to delivering cost-effective services to our communities. It is a Budget that assumes a close working relationship with Queensland's private sector. To this end, the Government wishes to pursue value for money opportunities, deliver infrastructure through the private sector and the Government recently released a draft framework for public private partnerships, or PPP. This framework sets out a process for the consideration of PPP opportunities and establishes a way to incorporate private sector innovation in the delivery of public infrastructure. This Budget also shows that the Treasurer has been attentive to the fine-tuning of our tax base. Accordingly there are changes in this Budget to land tax for companies, trustees and absentees. From 1 July 2002, the present 15% rebate for companies, trustees and absentees, will be abolished to assist small businesses. Businesses paying land tax, land tax exemption thresholds will be increased for companies, trustees and absentees from $100,000 to $150,000. The phasing in rebate will be restructured and expanded to include absentee landowners. This will mean that some 7,800 land taxpayers no longer pay land tax, and over 4,000 will pay less tax. Individual landholders will not be affected by these changes. This is a great Budget for all Queenslanders and I am very pleased with its impact on our local communities in the Greenslopes electorate. I commend the Treasurer and the Premier on their efforts in bringing this Budget before the Parliament. Mr SHINE (Toowoomba North—ALP) (12.31 p.m.): I heard recently that there is no better endorsement of one's policy than that which emanates from a third party. I thought that was probably right until I read yesterday's Toowoomba Chronicle. Guess what? An endorsement not only by a third party but by none other than the Leader of the Opposition. The headline states 'Horan hails some budget initiatives'. It quotes him as saying that he 'welcomed some local initiatives' and— I am very pleased with funding of $2.8 million for renewal at the Harristown High School, one of the biggest in the state. Also, the ongoing funding of the police station and watchhouse. Mr McGrady: Hear, hear! Mr SHINE: I take the support of the Minister for Police. The article states that Mr Horan welcomed the $3 million for an Energy Centre at the hospital. They said it would never happen. The article quotes him as stating— The ongoing spending at TAFE, I am pleased with $900,000 this year. It further states— Mr Horan said the fibre composites project developed by Wagners and USQ was important and innovative and he supported the government's 'reannouncement' of $4.5 million funding this year. Mr Horan made reference, of course, to the support for the Gatton and Toowoomba bypasses. He stated— I'm grateful for what was in the Budget. That article appeared just above another one entitled 'Downs gets big slice of budget'. I was pleased to see that that was the theme of all the articles and of the objective approach taken by 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2229 the Toowoomba Chronicle in its review of this year's budget. That article was the third party endorsement. Of course, Mr Horan was just being honest on that occasion. What a contrast with the next day, when he commenced his speech in this House by saying how sad was his task to respond to the Queensland budget. He said one thing in his electorate and another thing in this House. Mr Lawlor: He cannot make up his mind Mr SHINE: I take that interjection from the member for Southport. As a resident of the Toowoomba region, he knows—as do I and the people of Toowoomba—the fantastic things that the Beattie government has done since the last election and will continue to do in and around Toowoomba. Recently, there have been immensely significant events—and I ask honourable members to listen to this—such as the opening of the Suncorp-Metway call centre, the christening of the USQ Wagners fibre composite bridge, the substantially completed new Toowoomba Police Station, the completion of the TAFE horticultural centre, the $1.5 billion Millmerran powerhouse coming on line, and the completion of the $40 million expansion of the Big W distribution centre at Warwick. These are but a few of the exciting and tangibly supported major state government projects in and around Toowoomba. These are not dreams or possibilities or examples of futuristic thinking; they are concrete examples of the Beattie government's commitment to jobs, to Toowoomba, to the Darling Downs and to industry. I applaud the efforts of the Premier, the Treasurer and particularly the Minister for State Development. I noted with incredulity—and I assure members that my consternation is shared by a wide range of local government and business community people in Toowoomba—the recent repeated criticisms by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Horan, concerning the proactive activities of the Department of State Development in attracting job creation, development and business to Queensland. I suggest that the member go out and about in Toowoomba and he will find that there is strong support for the Department of State Development and for the government. I and community leaders in Toowoomba will continue to encourage interest from the government and the Department of State Development in Toowoomba, and I call upon my colleague from Toowoomba South to lend his positive support to this cause. I come back to the budget. Quite apart from Mr Horan's support, the endorsement from the Toowoomba Chronicle also appeared in an editorial under the heading 'A Responsible Budget'. It states— Few Queenslanders would argue with the priorities of yesterday's State Budget—families, education, health and policing. It further states— The Darling Downs, South-West and West Moreton appear to have done quite well out of the Budget, especially as regards infrastructure spending. It further states— The Labor government makes much of its keeping Queensland a low-tax State. The Budget documents claim Queenslanders will, on average, be taxed $1,321 compared to residents of other states and territories, who will pay $1,757 per capita. I seek leave to have the balance of my speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. Well let us look at how this budget does indeed provide for families, education, health, policing and infrastructure projects SCHOOL EXPENDITURE In terms of capital expenditure more than $1.4m is provided in the Budget for the Toowoomba State High School's Secondary School Renewal Program, $33,000 for the repainting of the buildings at Highfields State School and $200,000 for a Technology, Maths and Science Centre of Excellence for Highfields and Toowoomba State High Schools and $2.8m for renewal at Harristown High School. HEALTH EXPENDITURE Examples of major expenditure on Health include more than $3m at the Toowoomba base Hospital. Of course, this is for capital expenditure and does not include the recurrent expenditure for the running of the Hospital, Mt Lofty Hospital, Baillie Henderson Hospital and of course the $300,000 budgeted for the recurrent costs of the proposed Toowoomba Hospice. COMMUNITY EXPENDITURE, SPORT AND POLICE A measure of a great deal of satisfaction to many elderly citizens will be the $877,000 for the Home Assist Secure Scheme on the Darling Downs. This Scheme helps elderly people to remain safe and comfortable in their own home longer . 2230 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

The Beattie Government's concern for the local community in and around Toowoomba can be illustrated by some examples of proposed expenditure such as $500,000 for the completion of the Toowoomba C.B.D. revitalisation project, $183,000 for local sporting clubs to improve facilities, $500,000 for the Highfields District Sports Complex, $356,000 to extend the Toowoomba Police Citizens Youth Centre and $1.9m for public libraries in the region. Of interest to Highfields residents, along with the money for the Sports Complex and the recent announcement by the Police Minister for a Police Beat is the allocation of $1.2m for duplication, of 2 to 4 lanes to the New England Highway at the Cawdor Road intersection. JOBS No one can deny the Beattie Government's commitment to the creation of jobs. I am very happy to see that the commitment has in a very meaningful way been met by, for instance, the allocation of $900,000 to southern Queensland of T.A.F.E to upgrade IT and develop new facilities, $4.5m to develop the Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites at the University of Southern Queensland, $1.3m for housing works, approximately $7.8 being spent on Employment programs in the region, $6.3m to complete the construction of the new Toowoomba Police Station and Watch-house and design of the District and Regional Offices. SPORTS COMPLEXES In addition to the half million dollars being spent on the Sports Complex at Highfields, the Government has also allocated a further $750,000 on top of the $1.5m already committed, to the redevelopment of the Athletic Oval being a payment to the Toowoomba Sportsground Trust. FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE I am particularly pleased to see the ongoing commitment to the Charlton-Wellcamp Industrial Estate transport hub with respect to the allocation of $1m for further design work. The project will provide industrial land for transportation, rural production and warehousing activities. I t will provide to Toowoomba and Region the industrial land capacity so badly lacking at the moment. TACTICAL CRIME SQUAD An interesting, and I know, much appreciated allocation of $1.5m is to be provided for a Tactical Crime Squad. This Squad will focus on crime problems specific to our local area. This could include drugs, break and enter or other property offences. I hope that this will go a long way to ensure the safety of the Toowoomba Community. SUMMARY Mr speaker, a considerable number of other initiatives in most portfolios, relevant to Darling Downs and West Moreton Region either of a capital or recurrent nature are set out in the individual portfolio statements of each Minister, too numerous to mention here. I mention, however, that more than $242m has been allocated to the region in capital works spending alone. The Budget recognises that rural and regional Queensland is the backbone of our economy. Our Region will share in the extra 200 health professionals, 382 teachers and 307 police officers to be employed across the State next financial year. Mr Speaker, whilst still maintaining Queensland's AAA credit rating, with no new taxes or charges and increasing funding for essential services, the Budget focuses on key service areas such as education. health, child protection and order while maintaining the Government's commitment to the development of the Smart State. I congratulate the Treasurer for his commendable effort in producing a most successful 2002-3 Budget. Ms PHILLIPS (Thuringowa—ALP) (12.37 p.m.): I am proud to stand here as a member of the Beattie Labor government which has delivered this socially responsible budget. It focuses, in the words of the Treasurer, 'on new investment in the vital areas of families, education and training, health and housing to provide opportunities for all Queenslanders'—and, might I add, for all who live in Thuringowa. There has been considerable comment from the other side of this House and from certain sections of the media that this budget is fiscally irresponsible; that there is some sort of mystical monetary deficit that will plunge Queensland into darkness. Let me try to bring these harbingers of doom into the 21st century, where the economic soundness of a society is judged not by one but by a triple bottom line. Gone are the days of assessing a government's budget by its capital works expenditure. How dark ages is that! What is this obsession with bricks and mortar? It is far more important to invest in people and in our future. The progressive media fully understands this fact of life. The extremely positive editorials in the Australian and the Courier-Mail acknowledge this in their budget assessments. Modern day economists no longer cling to economic statistics alone in assessing the value and worth of a society. They take at least two other factors into consideration—namely, human and natural value—and these can be quantified in monetary terms. The triple bottom line is accepted in most modern countries as a truer indication of the economic soundness of the society. The triple bottom line consists not only of productive capital but of the human and natural capital as well. To explain this somewhat simplistically, when we 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2231 look at the $51 billion allocated for Education in this budget, we may see it as a huge cost—a negative under the productive capital column. However, it would be entered also in the human capital column, this time as a positive entry, because of the assets it will bring across the entire society. I would now like to examine the human capital investment in my electorate of Thuringowa, commencing with education. The pursuit of excellence in the classroom, wherever that might be, is a priority for the Department of Education, especially in this landmark year as we progress one of the most significant packages of reforms for Queensland's school system. This commitment is clearly demonstrated in Thuringowa through a range of measures, including over $1.8 million in Cooler Schools subsidies; $500,000 for Kelso State School, $450,000 for Rasmussen State School, $230,000 for Kirwan State School, and nearly $700,000 for Kirwan High School. I congratulate the minister on responding so positively to our communities' plea for cooler environments for our children to study in. Non-government schools in my area will also benefit from the $1.9 million allocated under the budget for airconditioning in their schools. The budget includes $210,000 for maintenance works at Kelso and Kirwan State Schools and Thuringowa and Kirwan High Schools, and $110,000 to the Northern Beaches High School to remedy the unsightly drain that currently exists at the front of the school. Negotiations regarding this have gone on for over five years, and I thank the minister for resolving this issue in response to my representations. The Willows State School will benefit from the $140,000 being spent in the region for the New Basics initiative, which will equip students with critical thinking, problem solving and lifelong learning skills. I would like to continue sharing with honourable members the many benefits for Thuringowa included in this budget, but in the interests of saving time I seek leave for the remainder of my speech to be incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The Human Rights Commission has codified human capital so that it can be costed in monetary terms. Some of the indicators they use are—the percentage of the community who live to be over 80 years, and the quality of their lives, the percentage of students who complete 12 years of schooling, the infant mortality rate. These and similar statistics are collected to quantify the human capital of a society. Indicators of Natural Capital would be the value of unspoiled landscape which adds to the enjoyment of life, the number of tourists who will visit this facility, how many people come to appreciate these assets. The value of minerals in the ground, timbers in forests not felled, can often exceed the moneys gained by mining the minerals or chopping down the trees. Increasingly, progressive countries are assessing the soundness of their economic base by combining these three indicators. So where does this 2002/03 Beattie Labor Government Budget stand on all these indicators? Under all three categories, no matter how stringent the analysis, this proves to be a very positive and responsible Budget. The economic bottom line reveals a net operating surplus of $23 million and a cash surplus of $354 million in the General Government sector for 2002/03, with surpluses over the forward estimates period. The State's net worth is expected to continue to grow, reaching $58.5 billion by 30 June 2003. By anyone's assessment, that is a very sound economic bottom line Lets look now at some indicators of the Human Capital Bottom Line. To paraphrase a wise saying, "the measure of a government is how it treats the least advantaged in the community". And this government's awesome Families Package is one indication of Labor's commitment to quality social outcomes for all Queenslanders We will increase funding for Families by $188 million over the next four years. This commitment continues the determined efforts made in the past four years to make up for years of neglect. When this additional money is added to the existing Families Budget, the Disabilities, Education, Health, Social Security and Welfare and Housing and Community amenities Budgets, the total outlay amounts to over $15 billion, about 80% of the General Government GFS. Overall, we have increased recurrent expenditure for the Families Department by 15.5% to $518 million, Education by 5.8% to $4.2 billion, and Health by 6.7% to $4.3 billion. This government will invest this money to make tangible improvements in Queenslanders' lives. And what about the Natural Capital? The Budget is full of positive examples of natural assets and treasures being preserved, protected, value added and celebrated. Families: Annual funding for the Families Department—excluding funding provided for concessions, is now $194 million higher or 97% higher than when the government was elected. The Thuringowa community will greatly benefit from this huge input of funds including for: Prevention and early intervention initiatives to refocus Queensland's child protection system to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency 2232 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002

A share of the $17.5 million to employ more frontline staff and enhance technology $33.5 million increase in funding for foster and relative carers who care for our most disadvantaged children—those who can't at this time live with their own parents. Health; $5.12 million has been allocated to the Townsville district for increased hospital and medical services. This will enable Thuringowa residents full access to the services they need such as: $1,230,000 to The Townsville Hospital for a range of technical medical equipment $290,000 to the Dental Unit for new procedures equipment, $123,000 to the Nathan Breastscreen Centre for diagnostic and medical equipment, $330,000 for mental health services $130,000 for staffing for the new Psycho-geriatric Unit. $286,000 for the Acquired Brain Injury Unit $350,000 in recurrent funding to expand dialysis services in the North, including to employ a full-time nephrologist $250,000 for a Neonatalist to support the retrieval of very sick babies for treatment at the Townsville Hospital Additional funding for the Home and Community Care program would target areas of identified need, in particular the basic support and maintenance services to assist people to live independently in the community. Employment and Training: Townsville region will receive almost $18 million to create regional jobs and training opportunities during 2002/03. Specifically for Thuringowa/Townsville this will mean: An estimated $4.6 million for community employment programs to assist almost 500 long term unemployed people. An estimated $12.7 million for employment support programs which will help to create entry-level jobs in crucial, skills-shortage industries and the public sector. An estimated $500,000 for programs to assist over 200 mature-age job seekers. The expenditure of $500 million for the soon to be started gas fired Townsville Power station and $6 million for Ergon to improve the electricity supply network in the area, will bring 100s of jobs into the region. $483,000 is to be spent on IT upgrades at the Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE for training students, $779,000 for housing works, while providing better housing for the community, will also create jobs. Transport and Main Roads: Funding to road infrastructure and planning projects has been maintained, despite major cuts to road funding by the Federal Government. A total of $9.9 million in federal funding has been provided towards the $48.6 million Douglas Arterial project, for which the State will meet prematurity costs of $7.2 million representing the cost of brining this federal funding responsibility forward by four years. Bikeway extensions to the Upper Ross area, on Mallee Street, between Gouldian Avenue and Gollogly Lane, and on Gouldian Avenue between Pinnacle Drive and Jabiru Park. $100 million for the upgrade of the Rockhampton to Townsville section of the rail track renewal project $3 million for infrastructure works to improve disability access to Traveltrain services. $73,000 for the rollout of 50 km/per hour speed zones Additional funding for bus operators to carry eligible students to and from school, for the taxi subsidy scheme to assist people with disabilities, for public transport needs of school students with disabilities, and a campaign on school transport safety. Leisure and Sport $600,000 in additional operational funding has been granted to the Museum of Tropical Queensland to ensure its on-going financial stability, $22,185 to the Upper Ross PCYC to resurface and line-mark the hall floor $25,000 to the Ryan Community Centre to establish an outside entertainment area, $21, 200 to the Yalga-Binbi Institute at Shalom College, to purchase computers and desktop publishing equipment for their "Black Ink" indigenous art and literature project. A share in $2 million to clubs across the State for the Thoroughbred Training Track subsidy scheme $157,000 towards new local sporting facilities, including a running track and lights at Greenwood Park, and cricket nets at the Brothers Club. Other Highlights: Nearly $600,000 to go to the Thuringowa Council towards their for the Condon Sewage Effluent Reuse project. $320,000 will be granted to the Thuringowa City Council towards their Cityscape 2000 project, 21 Jun 2002 Appropriation Bills 2233

With an enhancement of funding, the Drug Court pilot program will expand into Townsville, to help offenders overcome their drug dependence and associated criminal behaviour, through court reinforcement and supervised treatment programs, $956,000 has been allocated for the region's public libraries. $800,000 to establish an accreditation unit within the Office of Fair Trading to regulate the residential services industry across the State which will boost standards and improve the quality of life of some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Mr TERRY SULLIVAN (Stafford—ALP) (12.42 p.m.): I rise to support the Appropriation Bills before the House. As I have said before in this parliament, one way to judge the success of a society or a government is to see how well we provide for the wellbeing of the next generation. The Beattie Labor government, through its emphasis on Families, Education and Smart State initiatives, has demonstrated its absolute commitment to all Queenslanders, particularly our children. The $188 million increase for the Department of Families is remarkable by any measure. And, when we remember how poorly funded this department has been in Queensland over past decades, we can understand how important this budget will be for all Queensland families. Of particular importance will be the extra $33.5 million for foster carers. I was pleased to see that the President of Foster Care Queensland Inc., Mr Frank Young, has publicly acknowledged that he was 'extremely happy' with the additional measures to assist foster carers and their families. As well, for the first time, a Queensland state government has started to address early intervention and prevention, rather than just crisis management. I also welcome the appointment of Queensland's first Minister for Seniors. The electorate of Stafford has one of the highest percentages of population aged over 50, and I am only too aware of the needs of Queensland seniors. I know that pensioner and senior groups in my electorate support this initiative. Members of groups such as the Chermside and District Senior Citizens, based at the Burnie Brae Centre, will benefit from this in initiative. The Education budget has again been funded over and above the rate of growth. The trial of a full-time preschool year has been strongly supported by P&C and P&F associations in my electorate. I believe we face a massive challenge in rebuilding and reshaping our education systems, both state and non-government. This process will be expensive and will necessitate difficult decisions being taken by governments and by school communities. The increased funding provided to the non-government school sector shows that the Beattie Labor government is a government that cares for all Queensland schoolchildren. To provide jobs for the next generation, Queensland must develop the emerging industries. I therefore commend the Smart State initiatives that will establish new research institutes and attract world-class researchers to Queensland. It is almost impossible to compete with Asian countries in traditional manufacturing industries. As well, our current strong industries of tourism, mining and primary production suffer from significant fluctuations in world commodity prices. It therefore makes sense that we participate in emerging industries in the earliest stages so that we can be at the forefront of job creation for our children. In the area of Health, the government has again funded our public system over and above the rate of population growth. One of Australia's leading hospitals, the world-class Prince Charles Hospital, has again been granted additional funds for cardiothoracic and other services. Specific capital works funding will allow for the purchase of specialist equipment to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of Queensland patients. I congratulate the Speaker on his initiative to extend public tours for visitors to experience the beauty of Parliament House and the parliamentary precinct. Mr Speaker, this budget from the Beattie Labor government stands out in stark contrast to the recent Howard-Costello federal budget. The coalition federal budget was a disgrace insofar as it disadvantaged pensioners, the poor and the most vulnerable people in our society. The Beattie government, on the other hand, has provided the greatest assistance for families, for those in greatest need and for our children. This budget makes me proud to be a member of the Beattie Labor government. I know that the people of Queensland will see the worth of this budget, and that they will support us in our efforts to provide a better life for all Queenslanders. I support the appropriation bills before the House. Hon. T. M. MACKENROTH (Chatsworth—ALP) (Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Sport) (12.45 p.m.), in reply: I thank members for their contributions to the debate. I am particularly pleased at the level of support for the historic commitments to Families and Education 2234 Appropriation Bills 21 Jun 2002 initiatives in this budget. It has been an achievement that this government will look back on proudly. In concluding the debate on this bill, I wish to dispel some inaccuracies and mistruths that have arisen, particularly in the reply to my budget speech by the Leader of the Opposition. I seek leave to have the remainder of this speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. Let us remember that the budget information provided by Beattie government provides a greater level of transparency than ever existed under previous Queensland governments. On the old measure of cash accounting, the Beattie Labor government has passed the test and this budget is no different. In this budget, and in past budgets, the Beattie Labor government is being open, honest and accountable. And this is reflected in the positive assessment being made of this budget, not just by the social services sector, but by financial analysts and commentators, and ratings agencies. Any concern over the financial future of this state would only be if Mr Horan was ever to assume a role on the Treasury benches. This concern is justified when one looks at the contradictory statements made by the Leader of The Opposition in his reply. How can he call for large operating surpluses yet at the same time call for increases in both recurrent expenditure across several agencies and increased capital works spending with the resultant impact of increased depreciation and borrowing costs on the operating result. He can't, because it is not possible without either massive cuts to outlays in areas he dare not specify or new and increased taxes. So contrary to what he would have you believe Mr Horan is about big spending and more taxation. If he is not, he is therefore about fiscal mayhem—something this government will not countenance. Let's go through some of the opposition leader's claims. He said that I try to sweep the true debt position under the carpet by not including the whole-of-government picture. He said that I pretend that all of the GOCs are not losing money and that taxpayers will never have to pay back the losses. The government is not seeking to bury the 'total state' result. The general government sector is the sector through which the state delivers on its core service priorities. For this reason, the states, and for that matter the commonwealth, focus on the general government sector in budget documentation. On a total state basis, the 2001-02 result is expected to be a deficit, part of which is attributable to the general government deficit, the reason for which—as has already been outlined—is lower investment earnings, which had a $1.1 billion impact on our operating result. Investment returns in 2001-02 are the lowest returns achieved in over a decade. Over the past year, the events of September 11 combined with a weak global economy, the collapse of Enron and subsequent concerns over corporate accounting, have resulted in a decline in share markets. Queensland is affected because we have fully funded our future employee entitlements and invest these funds in the same way as superannuation and other managed funds do. The other states and the commonwealth are far less affected by the equity markets because they do not have fully funded super and long service schemes and have to find the money to fund those payments as and when they fall due. The point is what is the appropriate response of the government to these lower investment earnings. Should we dramatically cut back services or raise taxes every time investment markets fall? Is that what the community would expect? No—over the 1990s the state recorded large operating surpluses, due in part to high investment earnings. The earnings from the good years were prudently reinvested. To build a buffer for the years of underperformance—such as 2001-02. There is no "blow-out" in expenditure that led to the 2001-02 result. To the extent that spending did increase during 2001-02, this largely reflects the "in and out" effect of specific purpose payments, commonwealth funding for the first home owners' grant and costs of increased sales of goods and services. These revenue increases are matched by increased expenditure, with a neutral impact on the budget overall. We took all possible responsible action to mitigate against the risks of running a deficit. We rejected the calls of many who wanted us to use the additional revenues from stamp duty receipts to announce new recurrent spending or tax cuts—on the basis that such action would not have been prudent in the circumstances. Spending was kept tight in 2001-02. The amount of supplementation for agencies for urgent issues which we approved at the mid year review was modest in absolute terms and in comparison to prior years. The private sector is expected to record an estimated actual deficit of $397 million in 2001-02. 21 Jun 2002 Police Powers and Responsibilities (DNA) Amendment Bill 2235

However, this is no reflection on the underlying health of our GOCs. In fact, in 2001-02, the private sector is expected to record net operating profits after tax of some $700 million. The private sector deficits mainly reflect the treatment of dividends under government finance statistics (GFS) rather than a reflection of the underlying operating performance of the private sector. There also are some entities that run at a loss, e.g., Enertrade and Queensland Motorways. The 2001-02 and 2002-03 "total state" cash deficit figures include recurrent and capital expenditure of both the general government and private sectors. The general government sector is forecast to record cash surpluses in 2001-02 and 2002-03 while privates show a cash deficit reflecting their borrowings for capital investment that will generate commercial returns to fund that borrowing. It is contradictory to argue that we should be spending more on capital works, while at the same time begrudging cash deficits. Over 2001-02 and 2002-03, privates are investing approximately $3.8 billion in areas such as electricity generation and distribution capacity, rail and rolling stock and development and expansion of the state's ports. This is perfectly normal for a growing economy. Over the forward estimates period, as much of this additional capacity is completed, the cash position returns to surplus and privates become a net redeemer of debt rather than a net borrower. The next claim of the opposition leader I want to look at is "capital works expenditure has been slashed by the Beattie government—as a proportion of the total budget is at its lowest since the mid 1980s." Queensland will still account for approximately 22 per cent of general government capital works undertaken by state governments in 2002-03. That is, we will have the highest level-of per capita expenditure in 2002-03 of any state. This year's $4.8 billion outlay brings total Beattie government capital spending to close to $25 billion since 1998- 99. This is 40 per cent higher than the preceding five years. This significant level of capital expenditure has seen the redevelopment of our hospitals and some major transport projects such as the Pacific Motorway and South East Busway completed. This has led to some moderation in the level of the capital program this year. Furthermore, in addition to direct government provision of infrastructure, there is a range of major infrastructure projects with private sector participation under way, including expanding the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal, and the Millmerran and Townsville power station projects. As the budget papers show, business investment is forecast to increase by 17.75 per cent in 2002-03, which will see a record level of business investment of $13 billion. That should be recognised when making assessment of capital investment in this state. Motion agreed to.

Reference to Estimates Committees Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Mickel): Order! Honourable members, in accordance with the sessional orders adopted by the House on 18 April 2002, the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill and the Appropriation Bill are referred to the estimates committees for consideration and report.

POLICE POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES (DNA) AMENDMENT BILL Second Reading Resumed from 19 June (see p. 1894). Mr SEENEY (Callide—NPA) (12.48 p.m.): The opposition will not oppose the passage of this legislation, even though we have a well recorded concern with legislation of this sort. This legislation was introduced in this House in response to pending litigation and it will pass all stages in a very short period. It is retrospective legislation and, for both of those reasons, it should be viewed with some disquiet by all honourable members. However, I accept the necessity for the legislation, as outlined by the minister in his second reading speech. I accept the necessity for the legislation to be passed by this parliament today. The opposition accepts the value of the DNA testing regime in the state's prisons and we supported the original legislation that established the system. We will continue to support this very effective crime-fighting measure in our community. This bill has been introduced in the manner that it has to preserve the integrity of the DNA testing system in the state's prisons. The bill is necessary because there is a dispute in respect of the intention of the original legislation, and I accept that this legislation clarifies that intent. It is being argued that the scope of the DNA sampling powers is limited by that original legislation to a 2236 Adjournment 21 Jun 2002 sampling of prisoners sentenced in a District or Supreme Court on indictment and not those summarily convicted in a Magistrates Court. This amendment will ensure that prisoners will be treated equally if they have been convicted of an indictable offence with respect to DNA sampling, irrespective of whether they were summarily convicted or convicted by a higher court. The opposition accepts that that was always the intent of the original legislation, and the opposition supported that legislation. We accept that it is the indictable offence that triggers DNA sampling procedures and not the manner of conviction, and that is the way it should be. Therefore, the opposition will not oppose the legislation to remove any doubt about the intent and the operation of DNA testing in our state's prisons, and we will not oppose this legislation so that the integrity of that system can be preserved. However, I record again the discomfort and disquiet that we all feel towards this type of approach to amending any legislation. Hon. T. McGRADY (Mount Isa—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Carpentaria Minerals Province) (12.49 p.m.), in reply: I thank the opposition for the support it has offered to this bill. I state also that I understand parliamentarians should always be very wary of retrospective legislation. I accept the point he has made. However, as the opposition spokesman states, the reason we are bringing forward this legislation today is quite clear. In conclusion, I thank the opposition. It is good to see that in matters such as this the opposition and the government can in fact work together. Motion agreed to.

Committee Clauses 1 to 5, as read, agreed to. Bill reported, without amendment.

Third Reading Bill, on motion of Mr McGrady, by leave, read a third time. Sitting suspended from 12.52 p.m. to 2.30 p.m.

SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT Hon. T. McGRADY (Mount Isa—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Carpentaria Minerals Province) (2.30 p.m.): I move— That the House, at its rising, do adjourn until 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday, 30 July. Motion agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT Hon. T. McGRADY (Mount Isa—ALP) (Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Carpentaria Minerals Province) (2.30 p.m.): I move— That the House do now adjourn.

Queensland Thoroughbred Racing Board; Mr B. Bentley Mr HOBBS (Warrego—NPA) (2.30 p.m.): On 15 May 2002 I wrote the following to the Speaker— ... (the) Minister for Tourism and Racing and Minister for Fair Trading, the Hon Merri Rose MP, made a statement to the Parliament regarding the deliberations of the first selection panel for the Queensland Thoroughbred Racing Board (QTRB). Mrs Rose stated that: 'the panel interviewed short-listed candidates and provided the director-general of my department with a list of five names for the board and a list of "reserves" should any candidate be unable to take their place or at any later stage any member resigned from the QTRB.' In reply to a subsequent question without notice, Mrs Rose reiterated that the current chairman of the QTRB, Mr Bob Bentley, who was selected by a second selection panel after the first selection panel's nomination, Ms Nerolie Withnall, withdrew: '... was on the short list' and that: 'the panel selected five members and compiled a reserve list. There is a reserve list.' 21 Jun 2002 Adjournment 2237

However, in a statement on 1 May 2002 ... two members of the first selection panel, Mr Craig Black and Mr Chris Sourris, stated that: 'The first Selection Panel did not provide a reserve list. Although Bob Bentley had been interviewed by the first Selection Panel, he was not selected either as a member of the Board or on any reserve list by the first Selection Panel and the first Selection Panel did not sign off on any reserve list.' The statement by the two original selection panel members states that they write 'in order to correct the misinterpretations of our determination in the selection process'. They state— We have read the ... Statements made by the Honourable Merri Rose, Minister for Tourism ... on 9 April 2002 and 16 April 2002 as well as a letter dated 12 April 2002 from TMP. Worldwide directed to the director-general, Department of Tourism, Racing and Fair Trading which was tabled by the Minister in the House on 16 April 2002. It is quite clear what they had done. They said that the first selection panel did not provide a reserve list. I referred this matter to the Speaker to have it referred it to the Members' Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee. I believe the minister has clearly misled the House. There is evidence that she has misled the House. The Crime and Misconduct Commission is investigating this whole matter. The minister is under investigation over this issue. How is it that the Crime and Misconduct Commission can see that the minister obviously misled the community while the Speaker of this House cannot? We as members of parliament have a duty to uphold the laws of the land. We have a duty to not mislead the parliament. It is quite clear in this instance that the minister has misled the House. I find it extraordinary that the Speaker can say there is no point of order. In fact, the Speaker states— Having perused the supporting documentation accompanying your correspondence and other materials, I believe that you have misrepresented the Minister's words. Time expired.

Telescopic Pruning Saw Mr LIVINGSTONE (Ipswich West—ALP) (2.33 p.m.): I would like to draw to the attention of the House a particular telescopic pruning saw which remains on the market today, despite evidence of the injuries that may be incurred when using this device. Known as the Home Gardening Bypass Tree Pruner, selling at around $29.95, this unit was available for sale from a major retailing supermarket in Ipswich. The cutting head of the unit bolts on to a telescopic handle, but on one occasion of which I am aware the saw head dislodged from the telescopic handle while pruning palm fronds, falling down with some force and, in this instance, causing injury to the user's hand and fingers. These injuries required splints for four weeks involving five doctors visits, two visits for X-rays and eight physiotherapy visits. Pain and discomfort from the injuries are ongoing. The matter was reported to the retailing outlet. It promised that in-store testing would be done and that the results would be advised to the injured purchaser. No report was actually forthcoming. However, the saw was removed from the store's shelves. Some time later an updated version of the pruning saw was offered for sale by the same retailer, this time with a bolt right through the saw head and the handle to prevent it from being dislodged and thereby overcoming the potential danger to users. In the meantime, the person who sustained the injury from the pruning saw, having received no further word from the retailer, has taken legal advice and is in the process of seeking compensation. It was therefore with some concern that this person recently found the same pruning saw without the remedial bolt through the saw head advertised for sale at other hardware outlets. There is therefore a great concern that other unsuspecting people could become injured as a result of using this pruning device. While the hand injury that has been reported has been extremely painful and has had a slow recovery rate, perhaps the next injury could be even more serious. It is my understanding that this matter was reported to Consumer Affairs, Workplace Health and Safety, and Standards Australia. In the interests of public safety and the prevention of any further injury from this device, I feel that it is necessary to draw this hazard to the attention of the House. I emphasise that it is not my intention to cause any difficulties for the manufacturer of this gardening tool but merely to ensure that the faulty items are withdrawn and only the safer version of the pruning saw be available to the public. I submit this matter for the House's attention. 2238 Adjournment 21 Jun 2002

Legislation, Parliamentary Process Mrs PRATT (Nanango—Ind) (2.36 p.m.): Most people have an opinion on DNA testing and believe that their DNA sample will be destroyed after no match is found and therefore they need have no concern. Many of these voluntary DNA donors believe that if you do no wrong, it is no big deal and you have nothing to worry about. Many others believe that it is an infringement of their rights and freedoms and opens up the Pandora's box of Big Brother. My concerns were not so much with the content of the DNA bill but with its hurried passage through the House. Within two days we pushed through two bills that have been tabled for less than the standing orders stipulate—that is, 13 days. The DNA bill and the personal injuries bill were brought forward during budget week when workloads are inordinately high, minimising essential time for scrutinising legislation and calculating the possible implications of the bill. I noticed the thanks offered by the opposition to the government for its early access to the Personal Injuries Proceedings Bill. This early access was given due to the fact that the government wanted to pass the bill through the House at speed. This early confidential access to the bill allowed opposition members to prepare their responses. I can only assume that this was a courtesy offered the opposition and I would hope that other parties were accorded the same courtesy. I know that as an Independent I was not accorded that courtesy and neither were any other Independents. Regardless of what the government's views are of Independents, we have been elected to this House by the people as has every other member, regardless of political persuasion. Although both bills did present an urgency to be addressed, I am concerned that there has been a precedent set which allows for future bills to be rushed through any time the government feels justified, and each time it is done makes it easier for the next. Rushing bills through the parliamentary process without time for consultation with our community and without the benefit of professional guidance through the technicalities and possible long-term implications of any bill is not in the bests interests of government or in the interests of the people. In both these cases there was a recognised need for a certain amount of speed: in the first instance the need to negate the impact of liability insurance issues and in the second to ensure that a loophole in previous legislation was closed. These bills passed because of bipartisan support, but any bill will pass easily because of the government's numbers. I object strongly to this process of rushing bills through the House. I acknowledge the need to do so, but I wanted it on record that I am wary of any such action now and in the future.

Disability Services, Flinders Shire Mrs CHRISTINE SCOTT (Charters Towers—ALP) (2.38 p.m.): Today I draw the attention of the House to a very special group of people—a group of people who live in the heart of the Flinders shire and who have shown that they have the interests of their community at heart. These 15 wonderful people—eight from the Flinders shire HACC program and seven from the Flinders Disability Support Service—have undertaken a combined training initiative to obtain their certificate 3 in Community Services (Aged Care). They are such a very special group of people that I want to list their names in the House today. From the Flinders Shire and Community Care program were Cheryl Crighton, Gladys Douglas, Vera Grant, Rachel Greenaway, Frances Grevsmuhl, Pam Hunt, Valmai Mitchell and Margaret Steadman. From the Flinders Disability Support Service were Evelyn Corney, Val Corrigan, Tracey Pollett, Ann Hosken, Margaret McGuffie, Jenny Murphy and Michele Steadman. I actually met a number of these people in 1998 when I travelled to Hughenden to teach many of them their very first senior first aid course, which was really the beginning of the study that they completed. Mrs Barbara Dennis was the training facilitator, and her training and experience within the aged care was invaluable to all concerned. I also commend the Flinders Shire Council for its supportive attitude and for providing vital logistic support. The training initiative was the introduction and delivery of a training program to provide the staff of the council's community care program with the skills and training commensurate to their peers and to industry expectations in less remote locations. When they undertook this course, the women involved were required to adapt their lives, cope with changing values and ideals as well as face the fear of the unknown. That each was successful in this challenge has given them increased confidence, an enhanced sense of self-value and a greater recognition and respect from the community. These people believe that by undertaking and completing this course they are personally and actively working 21 Jun 2002 Adjournment 2239 towards maintaining the viability of their local community to provide services which are industry current, appropriate and of high quality. The increased self-confidence shown by these people is evident in their readiness to implement their knowledge in advocacy on behalf of their clients. They now have the skills, supported by theory and practice, to look beyond the immediately apparent in order to make valid contributions to client care planning. The initiative can been seen as an exemplar. The implementation of this program in the Flinders shire should be seen as an inspiration to other groups and organisations in regional, rural and remote areas who believe the implementation of training events are too difficult, impractical or irrelevant because of their isolation. Above and beyond anything else, this program has enhanced the care the elder and disabled citizens of our community receive. It is vital that we as a society do everything we can to help the aged and the disabled in our communities to retain their dignity, autonomy and sense of self-worth. As citizens of a modern democracy, a democracy which values each and every member of society, regardless of their age or social status— Time expired.

Frank and Tommie Keenan Mr COPELAND (Cunningham—NPA) (2.42 p.m.): I rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful couple who were very good supporters of the National Party right across Queensland, and in later years in the Darling Downs region, but who more importantly were very good friends of many people within the National Party; that is, Frank and Tommie Keenan. Last month, Frank and Tommie both passed away within days of each other. The member for Toowoomba South and I attended their joint funeral, which somehow was quite fitting given the life they led together for almost 58 years. They would have celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary on 8 June. Frank had been ill for quite some time. I must say that I did not know him quite so well as Tommie. Tommie was a wonderful lady. She was one of the most capable, forthright and, often, direct people that I have met within the National Party. Tommie was always of great support to us all within the party in that area. She had been very heavily involved both within the Toowoomba South and the Cunningham electorates. Frank and Tommie moved to Toowoomba in around 1984 after moving from Longreach. Tommie was born in Charters Towers on 26 January 1920 and attended St Anne's Church of England Girls School in Townsville. Frank was born on 6 December 1917 and was educated at Turners Creek and then at the Slade School at Warwick in 1934. Frank subsequently joined the seventh division cavalry and had previously been in the 11th Light Horse. Frank served in Cyprus and New Guinea before being discharged in May 1945. Frank and Tommie had three daughters—Zilla, Sylvia and Katharine. All have inherited many of the qualities of their parents. I know that during the eulogies Zilla said on behalf of her sisters that their legacy would be to inherit just some of their wonderful qualities. I know that they certainly have done that. They both were involved in an awful lot of community organisations when they were living in the Longreach district but also in Toowoomba in later years. Tommie was one of those many women who had honed and had learned an awful lot of skills within the CWA movement. It is an organisation that has been undervalued for the amount of training in all sorts of things that has been provided to many women right across the state. We have certainly missed having her around. Tommie cared for Frank for some time. Frank had been very ill for some time before he passed away. Unfortunately, Tommie suffered a very short illness and passed away on 9 May 2002, shortly followed by Frank who passed away just two days later on 11 May 2002. It was I guess probably a fitting way for it to happen. Tommie had cared for Frank as primary carer in their unit at Glenfield Grange, Spring Street, Toowoomba in the electorate of Cunningham for a number of years. I know that Tommie was very concerned about Frank's welfare when she did fall ill.

Mountains to Coast Orchid Expo Ms MALE (Glass House—ALP) (2.45 p.m.): I rise this afternoon to talk about a wonderful event that was held in my electorate over the Queen's Birthday weekend, that is, the Mountains to Coast Orchid Expo 2002. I went to the opening and closing of the event. The hall was full of orchids and flowers of all description—oncidiums, cymbidiums; you name it, it was there—and foliage of all kinds. It was an amazing event. There were people buzzing around everywhere. That was the start of the weekend. 2240 Adjournment 21 Jun 2002

To take things back a step or two—my parents have been very involved in orchids for as long as I can remember. I am a bit of an orchid brat. I have been going to orchid shows probably for longer than I care to remember. My parents, along with three other orchid groups—the Caboolture Orchid Society, the Glass House Mountains Orchid Society and the Bribie Island Orchid Society—got together and decided that they wanted to hold this orchid expo as part of the Sub Tropical Orchid Council. Over the past two years they have been meeting fairly often to organise what they would do on the weekends. They had a cocktail party on the Friday night and a dinner on the Saturday night. That was the social side of it. They had the show set up so that all the neighbouring orchid societies could put up their wonderful displays. They also had experts on various aspects of orchid growing and orchid presentation to talk to people. Those workshops were free to attend. They also organised a bus trip through the mountains so that we could look at orchids in the wild. All in all it was an excellent weekend. We had visitors from all over Australia and overseas. Over 2,000 people visited the orchid show. It was an amazing opportunity for Caboolture. Dad was the chairperson—Jim Male—and mum was the show organiser. She has been doing that for well over 20 years. They put on a fantastic display, helped very ably by the secretary, Carol Button—and as we know, secretaries do most of the running around and all of the work—and the treasurer, Col Parker. They made sure that they included everyone they could within the Caboolture shire. They got the council on board, which also donated the use of the hall and provided other facilities. They had the wonderful SES volunteers there, who took care of security at night so that the blooms could be well looked after. Mr Purcell: Did they have a sale after? Ms MALE: They had sales throughout. The orchid sales certainly helped to fund part of the weekend. Suppliers of orchids, such as nurseries, and other orchid related matter made the show complete. It was wonderful to see those three societies working so well together to promote orchid growing and the community fellowship that it involves. In two years time we will see the same thing repeated slightly further up the coast, when the Nambour society and several others hold another show to continue the promotion of orchids, getting together and sharing their knowledge and their love of orchids. The judges gave their time for free to judge the show and to pass on their expertise as best they could. I am probably a bit biased, because my mum is also an orchid judge. All in all, I pass on my congratulations to everyone involved for a fantastic event.

Queensland by Invitation Dr WATSON (Moggill—Lib) (2.48 p.m.): Earlier today I had the pleasure of presenting copies of the publication Queensland by Invitation to two immensely talented and charming constituents, Ms Sue Gough of Brookfield and Mrs Dorothy Singe of Kenmore. I was pleased that the Premier was also able to drop by for a few minutes to be with us and thank him for so doing. As members may recall, the Premier invited 400 Queenslanders from all walks of life to submit their view of Queensland—words or pictures that capture the spirit and the heart of this state. One hundred of the participants' picture and word combinations were selected for inclusion in the publication. Sue Gough and Dorothy Singe were two of those 100. Sue Gough, formerly a theatre critic, chose Queensland's most thriving cultural community and the oldest continuously operating theatre company in Australia, Brisbane's La Boite Theatre. It is the only functioning theatre in the round in Australia and stages Australian works and aims to encourage debate. Sue told me that she chose La Boite because it was no longer going to be viable in its present location with the development of the Lang Park stadium—the noise there will be simply too great. At the time this was chosen there was some concern as to whether La Boite would be able to continue in another location. Coincidentally, Dorothy Singe also chose a theatre as a topic—the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba, which was built in 1911. Mr Copeland: A beautiful theatre; a fantastic theatre. Dr WATSON: The member for Cunningham is right. It is a beautiful theatre. Mr Shine: We built it. 21 Jun 2002 Adjournment 2241

Dr WATSON: I also acknowledge the comments of the member for Toowoomba North. At the time, it catered for touring theatrical productions and local concerts. It was destroyed by fire in 1933, rebuilt in 1935, closed in 1970 and then acquired by the Toowoomba City Council in 1993. It was restored and now operates as a professional regional theatre. Dorothy's husband, Jack, was one of the people engaged to restore the theatre. Jack had a distinguished record in the ABC. The Empire Theatre is the only restored live theatre in Queensland. It reopened in 1997, seats 1,567 and is the largest regional theatre in Australia. The theatre has served the cultural needs of the Darling Downs for 80 years and promises to continue to do so far into the future. Sue and Dorothy are also very well-known writers, with Sue writing a number of novels and Dorothy writing short stories. In fact, she has been instrumental in a short story produced in my area just recently. It was wonderful having Sue and Dorothy at Parliament House today and I congratulate both of them on their very fine contributions.

Mr E. Arnow Mr PURCELL (Bulimba—ALP) (2.50 p.m.): Sadly, we will be losing a member of our teaching staff and a very valuable member of our community of Bulimba. Ethan Arnow, his wife and five- year-old son will be returning to America to spend some time with his elderly mother. On Ethan's arrival in Australia 27 years ago, he started teaching in Charleville. He then moved to Brisbane, where he held the position of music adviser for the instrumental music program of Queensland for about 15 or 16 years. Ethan is presently a music teacher at Balmoral High School and has been there for six and a half years. He is also an itinerant teacher for the Bulimba, Morningside, Cannon Hill, and Murarrie State Schools. Ethan would be one of the best music teachers that I have ever come across. He always gets the best out of his students and teaches his students with enthusiasm and verve. They always want to give him their best because he is such an inspiration. Ethan is the inspiration behind the two bands that are currently part of the Balmoral High School instrument program. One is a concert band and the other is a stage band. Both have been successful recently at the Wynnum Manly Eisteddfod, the concert band coming an impressive first place. That is very good for a band from a high school the size of Balmoral High School. The stage band came second. My congratulations go to all members of both bands for such a talented and exceptional effort. All students who are associated with Ethan will sadly miss him. He is a man with the drive, enthusiasm, inspiration and encouragement behind our talented students. His peers, who all have a high regard for him and for his abilities as a music teacher, will also miss him. I will attend a farewell dinner that has been organised by the teachers of Balmoral High School on Friday, 12 July. Ethan will be sadly missed by all his students and their parents. Ethan has always had time to talk to the parents about their children—about their talent, the best way in which they should express their talent and how they can continue their music. Ethan would also assist students in getting musical instruments and going on to further study. Ethan's fellow teachers who have taught with him have found him to be a gentle person to work with, very enthusiastic and always happy. I do not think that I have ever met Ethan when he was not happy. I say to Ethan to enjoy his break in America. I give him all the best in whatever he chooses to do. I understand that he is going to be there for about 12 months or so. I do not know what he is going to do after that. It depends on how his mum gets on, I suppose. But I am sure that there will always be a place in the music education program in Queensland for Ethan. So whenever he wants to come back, he should come back.

Cableway Hon. K. R. LINGARD (Beaudesert—NPA) (2.53 p.m.): I wish to express my concern that the Minister for Tourism has given her support to a cableway from Coomera to Mount Tamborine. An article in the newspaper said that the minister was giving this unqualified support following consultation with people. Unfortunately, this article appeared at least a week before a meeting at Mount Tamborine. So the consultation was obviously with Gold Coast people who had talked about the economic benefits of such a cableway between Coomera and Mount Tamborine. 2242 Adjournment 21 Jun 2002

There is no doubt that people on the mountain are split about this issue. I would say that 75 per cent of the people disagree with such a cableway and 25 per cent agree. Obviously, the businessmen on Mount Tamborine are very supportive of anything at Gallery Walk that might bring visitors to Mount Tamborine. They also supported getting a high school on the mountain. But there was a big split in opinion even on that because people are concerned that the more people who live on Mount Tamborine, the greater the need for services such as sewerage. There is a difficulty with sewerage on the mountain. Of course, 75 per cent of the people on Mount Tamborine believe that they live at Mount Tamborine simply because of the absolute delights of the environment of Mount Tamborine. This cableway, which is to be built by Eco Trans, will travel from Dreamworld at the back of Coomera to Mount Tamborine. Unfortunately—even though the minister has given her support—it is not the type of cableway in use at Kuranda, which is situated well above the trees. The views from that cableway are absolutely magnificent as one travels to Kuranda. Also, people do not have to travel back from there on the cableway; they can travel back by train. The proposed cableway to Mount Tamborine will travel just above the tree line. It will be built by people involved in tourism who might own, for example, Thunderbird Park or Songbirds. That cableway would be seen as a means of transport from Coomera to Mount Tamborine. The trip would take one and a quarter hours. That is absolutely ridiculous, considering its path is virtually the same as the Oxenford Road. It will be a long trip at a high cost. I do not think people would travel on that to the mountain, stay there and then return by some other way. I believe that they would travel back the same way. I see very little economic benefit for Mount Tamborine, unless the developers of this concept, which has not been financed as yet, can come up with some special thoughts. At this stage, the people of Mount Tamborine are asking why bring a cableway at the height of the trees from Coomera, through private property—Thunderbird Park—to Songbirds simply to provide transport? If a person travelled the Oxenford Road, they would probably get there much quicker than spending one and a quarter hours on a cableway. Residents of Mount Tamborine are talking about the environmental impacts of this cableway. It would bring people to Songbirds on Mount Tamborine, but it would not bring them to the Gallery Walk, which is the obvious tourism spot on Mount Tamborine. Time expired.

Peggy Saunders Mr ENGLISH (Redlands—ALP) (2.56 p.m.): I am privileged to speak this afternoon on behalf of the Redlands community and this House in honouring the life of Peggy Saunders. Peggy was born on 3 September 1917 and passed away on 28 May 2002. I knew Peggy Saunders for only the last 17 months or so of her life. In that time, Peggy was an enormous inspiration. Peggy's love of the southern bay islands was boundless. Her passion for the islands and the people who lived there was infectious. Peggy's community work is legendary. Her work with the Progress Association, the Queensland Country Women's Association and, of course, the church thrift shop are well known. A few weeks before her passing, I caught up with Peggy coming back from the thrift shop on Russell Island. Peggy was her usual enthusiastic self. Peggy spoke about what a great morning she had had and how much money they had raised. I am sad that we only had the short amount of time it takes to travel from Russell Island to her beloved Lamb Island to talk. Rather than see the cup as half empty and regret the short period of time I spent with Peggy, I prefer to see the cup half full and thank God for any time I spent in her company. Last year I had the pleasure of attending Peggy's annual garden party. This enjoyable party reminded me of the small 'community' functions that I experienced growing up on a dairy farm at Conondale. Last year I had the privilege of awarding Peggy with an International Year of the Volunteer medal. Peggy was unable to attend the ceremony at Parliament House, but I visited her in hospital to present her with her medal. Peggy has three children—Ron, Hazel and Shirley. Peggy will be remembered by her family, friends and all who knew her. Many of the people whom Peggy worked to help did not have the pleasure of knowing her. That is unfortunate. 21 Jun 2002 Adjournment 2243

Peggy came to the islands around 1933 and spent the majority of her life living in the Redlands. In conclusion, I will paraphrase Peter Ludlow in his book Moreton Bay People: in our hearts and minds, Peggy remains on Lamb Island, a well-known and much-loved pioneering personality of the island.

Liquor Outlets, Indooroopilly Mr LEE (Indooroopilly—ALP) (2.58 p.m.): Some time ago I wrote to the Indooroopilly community to express my concerns about drunken behaviour along Station Road and surrounding streets principally on Wednesday nights. In my opinion, the situation has, if anything, worsened over the past year, with many local residents having to regularly deal with raucous behaviour, property damage and having their wheelie bins knocked over. In common with many residents, I believe that a good deal of the loutish behaviour that we have seen recently in Station Road can be attributed to the extensive opening hours of local liquor outlets. I believe that there is a need to restrict the opening hours of local pubs, in particular the Pig 'n' Whistle. I have once again asked Liquor Licensing to investigate doing this. Liquor Licensing can act on complaints received from the public. That is why I would encourage local residents to let Liquor Licensing know of their experiences, principally in regard to patrons who they believe have attended the Pig 'n' Whistle and who are behaving in a drunken and inappropriate way. The residents and the businesses of Station Road have a right to be free from drunken and loutish behaviour on Wednesday nights. They should be free from property damage. The proprietors of the Pig 'n' Whistle have a responsibility to the community to do the right thing and make sure that they are not serving people who are underage, overly intoxicated or who are known to be carrying on like louts up and down the street after 2 a.m. every Wednesday night. Motion agreed to. The House adjourned at 3.00 p.m.

G. A. NICHOLSON, ACTING GOVERNMENT PRINTER, QUEENSLAND—2002