PROOF ISSN 1322-0330

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

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

FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-FOURTH PARLIAMENT

Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Subject Page PETITIONS ...... 2685 REPORTS ...... 2685 Ministerial Expenses ...... 2685 Tabled paper: Public report of ministerial expenses for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013...... 2685 Record of Reportable Gifts ...... 2686 Tabled paper: Ministerial Gift Register, reportable gifts, for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013...... 2686 MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS ...... 2686 Broncos Leagues Club ...... 2686 Galilee Basin ...... 2686 Queensland Economy ...... 2687 Youth Boot Camps ...... 2688 Seniors Week ...... 2688 Task Force Argos ...... 2689 Public Housing ...... 2690 Department of Transport and Main Roads, Speed Limit Review...... 2690 REPORT...... 2691 Office of the Leader of the Opposition ...... 2691 Tabled paper: Public report of office expenses of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013...... 2691 PARLIAMENTARY CRIME AND MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE ...... 2691 Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner, Report ...... 2691 Tabled paper: Report of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner on the results of the inspection of the records of the Crime and Misconduct Commission pursuant to section 362 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, June 2013...... 2691

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

Table of Contents – Wednesday, 21 August 2013

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...... 2691 Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Air Travel ...... 2691 Princess Alexandra Hospital, Pathology Unit ...... 2692 Public Housing ...... 2693 Schools, Sale of Assets ...... 2694 Tabled paper: Briefing note to the Minister for Education, Training and Employment, Hon. John-Paul Langbroek, dated August 2013, regarding 2012-13 disposal program and plan. .... 2694 Galilee Basin ...... 2695 Sexual Health Services ...... 2695 Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements ...... 2696 Gaming Machine Licences ...... 2697 Queensland Nurses Union ...... 2697 Gold Coast Hospital ...... 2698 Natural Disasters, Recovery Assistance ...... 2699 Jobs...... 2699 Katter’s Australian Party ...... 2700 Western Downs Regional Council ...... 2701 Racing Industry ...... 2702 Cairns Base Hospital ...... 2703 Tourism, Occupancy Rates ...... 2703 MOTION ...... 2704 Revocation of Protected Areas ...... 2704 EDUCATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL ...... 2706 Second Reading ...... 2706 Tabled paper: Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013, erratum to explanatory notes...... 2707 Tabled paper: Education and Innovation Committee: Report No. 11—Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013, government response...... 2707 Consideration in Detail...... 2733 Clauses 1 to 14, as read, agreed to...... 2733 Insertion of new clause— ...... 2733 Division: Question put—That the amendment be agreed to...... 2736 Resolved in the negative...... 2736 Non-government amendment (Mr Katter) negatived...... 2736 Clauses 15 to 19, as read, agreed to...... 2736 Schedule, as read, agreed to...... 2736 Third Reading ...... 2736 Long Title ...... 2736 TRANSPORT AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT REGULATION (NO. 1) ...... 2737 Disallowance of Statutory Instrument ...... 2737 Tabled paper: Document, dated 25 July 2012, released under RTI—Department of Transport and Main Roads, email between Keith Watts, Manager, Vehicle Standards and Regulation, and Russell Hoelzl, Manager, Heavy Vehicle Access Policy, regarding segways...... 2737 Tabled paper: Department of Transport and Main Roads: Segway PT Safety—A review of the legislative and safety implications of Segway PT use on or around the road network, version 2.2, dated 5 July 2012...... 2738 Tabled paper: Webpage from time.com titled ‘The 50 Worst Inventions’, dated 27 May 2010, regarding segways...... 2739 Tabled paper: Article, dated 28 September 2010, from dailymail.co.uk titled ‘Millionaire Segway tycoon dies in cliff plunge on one of his own scooters’...... 2739 Tabled paper: Document, dated 5 February 2013, released under RTI—Department of Transport and Main Roads, from Pam Palmer, Senior Manager, Safer Road Users, to various officers regarding segways...... 2739 Tabled paper: Document, dated 20 February 2013, released under RTI—Department of Transport and Main Roads Decision Brief MC67485 regarding segways...... 2739 Division: Question put—That the motion be agreed to...... 2749 Resolved in the negative...... 2749 ADJOURNMENT ...... 2749 Springfield ...... 2749 Tabled paper: Letter, dated 21 August 2013, from Raynuha Sinnathamby, Springfield Land Corporation, to the member for Bundamba, Mrs Jo-Ann Miller MP, regarding GE moving Queensland headquarters to greater Springfield...... 2749 Nanango Electorate, Schools ...... 2750 Cape Indigenous Mayors Alliance ...... 2750 Far North Queensland, Education ...... 2751 Moggill Electorate, Historical Societies ...... 2752 Challenge Games ...... 2752 Moreton Bay Discovery Centre ...... 2753 Gladstone, Community Cabinet ...... 2753 Toowoomba, Second Range Crossing ...... 2754 Dairy Industry ...... 2755 ATTENDANCE ...... 2755

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WEDNESDAY, 21 AUGUST 2013 ______

The Legislative Assembly met at 2.00 pm.

Madam Speaker (Hon. Fiona Simpson, Maroochydore) read prayers and took the chair.

PETITIONS The Clerk presented the following paper petitions, lodged by the honourable members indicated—

Lawton, Gympie Road-Paisely Drive, Traffic Lights

Mr Holswich, from 1,100 petitioners, requesting the House to install traffic lights and U-turn facilities at the intersection of Gympie Road and Paisely Drive, Lawnton [3266].

Agricultural College Facility, Mareeba

Mr Knuth, from 498 petitioners, requesting the House to halt any decision to sell the old Agricultural College Facility on Tinaroo Creek Road, Mareeba and to reinvigorate the college by establishing the Mareeba Training Hub [3267].

The Clerk presented the following paper and e-petition, sponsored and lodged by the Clerk in accordance with Standing Orders 119(3) and (4)—

Cleveland Train Line, Service

487 petitioners, requesting the House to review the frequency on the Cleveland train line between Murarrie and Norman Park with the objective of increasing patronage [3270] [3271].

The Clerk presented the following e-petition, sponsored by the honourable member indicated—

Water Safety

Mrs Cunningham, from 17 petitioners, requesting the House to educate the citizens of Queensland on the nature of shallow water hypoxia including a warning regarding the dangers of extended underwater breath holding on existing compulsory CPR pool signage [3268].

The Clerk presented the following e-petition, sponsored by the Clerk in accordance with Standing Order 119(4)—

Hard Yakka Youth Boot Camp

312 petitioners, requesting the House to immediately provide funding to the Hard Yakka Youth Boot Camp, one of the most proven successful programs of its type in Australia [3269].

Petitions received.

REPORTS

Ministerial Expenses Hon. CKT NEWMAN (Ashgrove—LNP) (Premier) (2.02 pm): I lay upon the table of the House the Public Report of Ministerial Office Expenses for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013.

Tabled paper: Public report of ministerial expenses for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 [3262]. This is my first full-year public report of ministerial expenses since becoming Premier on 26 March 2012. Since taking office, I have ensured that the ministry operates with economy and efficiency. This report shows that ministerial expenditure has been maintained at low levels, which reflects the priority of this government to act in a fiscally responsible way. Major items of expenditure outlined in the report are: salaries and related costs at approximately $22.476 million; administrative costs of approximately $11.752 million; and depreciation of $0.242 million. The report also includes some outstanding expenses that have continued to be processed for the former government cost centre. As at 30 June 2013, total charges processed for the former ministerial offices amount to $88,504.

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Record of Reportable Gifts Hon. CKT NEWMAN (Ashgrove—LNP) (Premier) (2.03 pm): In accordance with the Ministerial Handbook I also lay upon the table of the House a record of the reportable gifts received by ministers, assistant ministers and ministerial staff for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. Tabled paper: Ministerial Gift Register, reportable gifts, for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 [3263]. A total of 73 reportable gifts were received during 2012-13. As can be seen in the report, the majority of reportable gifts received are either on display or held by Ministerial Services at the Department of Premier and Cabinet. I note, for the interest of the members, the picture of a cassowary given to me by Senator Larissa Waters of the Greens. I commend both of these reports to the House. Ms Palaszczuk: What have you done with it? Mr NEWMAN: I will take the interjection from the Leader of the Opposition. I am happy to lend it to her.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

Broncos Leagues Club Hon. CKT NEWMAN (Ashgrove—LNP) (Premier) (2.05 pm): I met this morning at Red Hill with Broncos legends Darren Lockyer, Shane Webcke, Allan Langer, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker and coach Anthony Griffin to announce that this government will provide the land needed to enable the Brisbane Broncos to stay at their traditional home at Red Hill. In a win-win agreement, the government is giving the Brisbane Broncos Leagues Club exclusive access to the old, unused northern part of the Ithaca TAFE campus to build a new sports field and a high-performance training facility, which will set the club and the local community in good stead for the future. A key consideration in agreeing to the deal was the leagues club’s plan to improve community amenity and increase opportunities for local sporting, charity and community groups as part of the development plan. The leagues club will work closely with us on surveying and planning for the site, which will then be leased back to them on a long-term basis. Part of the work we will be doing will be to clearly spell out how this new facility will be accessed by local community and sporting groups and how parking impacts will be managed. The Broncos came to me with the outline of their plan late last year, and it has been refined and widely consulted on since that time. They have talked about their plan with local people, community groups and political representatives, and they have worked hard to make sure all of the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed. It was also great to have with me today at Red Hill the man I hope will be the next Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, Mr Tony Abbott. I have been talking to Tony about the work that we have been doing with the Broncos, so I was pleased today that he came and stood next to me and the federal member Teresa Gambaro and committed a coalition government to provide $5 million to kick-start the Broncos Leagues Club project. This is a real commitment to provide real, hard cash to Queensland to get this win-win plan going. The contribution of a future Abbott-led federal government will help us to improve community amenity, create new green space and provide the facilities needed to secure the future of the Broncos in the inner north-western suburbs of Brisbane. It is a good plan; it is a good deal supported by us and supported by the federal coalition.

Galilee Basin Hon. JW SEENEY (Callide—LNP) (Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning) (2.07 pm): In recent months the Coordinator-General has approved three major coal projects in the Galilee Basin: the Alpha Coal Project; the Kevin’s Corner Project; and in the past two weeks the Galilee Coal Project. Combined, they hold the potential for more than $17 billion in investment, the creation of almost 10,000 construction jobs and around 5,000 ongoing jobs in the long term. The flow-on benefits to the state’s economy from these projects would be massive. Unfortunately for Queenslanders, the Rudd Labor government clearly does not care about building our economy or securing these jobs for future generations of Queenslanders. Recent weeks have seen two crucial instances of Kevin Rudd delaying decisions on these projects. The Rudd government was due to provide an approvals decision on the Kevin’s Corner project in July but delayed it until early August. Then when it came time, it delayed it again until the end of October— some five months after the Queensland Coordinator-General’s approval. Likewise, the new federal

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environment minister, Mark Butler, seems incapable of making a decision about the expansion of the Abbot Point Coal Terminal—a very necessary component for the development of the Galilee Basin. A decision on it too was due in July, but Mr Butler postponed it until August. Now it has also been put off into the never-never by this incompetent Labor federal administration. It is little wonder that national and international resource business leaders now question Australia’s commitment to providing the conditions in which they can confidently invest in our economy. Hopefully that will change soon, but as a government we will not shirk our responsibilities to Queenslanders, as Kevin Rudd is constantly prepared to do. We will actively seek the investment that is needed to keep our economy growing here in Queensland. We are already outperforming the other states, creating more than 18,000 new jobs in July alone. To continue that job creation and that flow of investment, at the end of this week I will lead a trade mission to India and to Africa. This will follow up the Premier’s successful mission to India last year and will continue to explore the business opportunities for our companies in these emerging economies and for their continuing investment into Queensland. My message will be that there has never been a better time to invest, employ and grow in Queensland and that Queensland is the best place in Australia to do business—a great state with great opportunities.

Queensland Economy Hon. TJ NICHOLLS (Clayfield—LNP) (Treasurer and Minister for Trade) (2.09 pm): Queensland is undoubtedly an exporting state, and our exporters are keen to be recognised across Queensland and across the nation. I am pleased to inform the House that this year 65 Queensland companies have nominated for the Premier’s Export Awards—a 12 per cent increase on last year. These companies are contributing a huge amount to our state, and it is important that we acknowledge their contribution to the state’s economic growth and our prosperity here at home. Last financial year merchandised exports contributed more than $44 billion to the state’s economy. In 1992, just over two decades ago, that figure was just $11 billion—one-quarter of today’s total. So we have certainly come a long way in two decades. A large part of the credit for Queensland’s growth has to go to these dedicated and motivated exporting businesses. The Newman government is determined to provide as much support as possible to these businesses. That is why in November last year we announced a comprehensive review of the operation of Trade and Investment Queensland, led by international businessman Geoffrey Thomas and former trade minister John Mickel. That is why, as recommended by those two highly respected individuals in their review, the Newman government committed to establishing Trade and Investment Queensland as a statutory authority with its own board to enhance its capabilities. This is all about freeing Trade and Investment Queensland from the confines of the departmental process and allowing the organisation to focus on its core role of assisting Queensland businesses and attracting investment. Since 1990 the Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards have been recognising the work of our foresighted and hardworking exporters. Applications for this year’s export awards have now closed and the awards ceremony, hosted by the honourable the Premier, will be held on 24 October. Last year’s winners came from all across the state and a range of industries. The 2012 Queensland Exporter of the Year Award went to NOJA Power, a company which manufactures low- and medium-voltage switchgear products right here in Brisbane for export to every continent in the world—to countries from Brazil to Russia. Queensland’s exporting businesses are also widely recognised as the best performing in Australia. This is reflected by the fact that Queensland companies dominated last year’s Australian Export Awards, taking out five of the 13 categories. The Australian Exporter of the Year Award went to PWR Performance Products, based at Yatala—a company that designs and sells cooling systems to racing markets around the world. PWR has supplied products to winning NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 race teams. This was the third time in four years that a Queensland company had been awarded the Australian Exporter of the Year Award. Earlier this year, in this very place, I also congratulated Queensland architect Noel Robinson for collecting a coveted Australian Export Heroes Award. Noel’s achievements over a 40-year career are legendary. He has delivered his brand of innovative and original design to the Middle East, South-East Asia, Japan, Korea, the United States and Europe. He is yet another example of a Queenslander making their mark on the world stage.

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As always, I am looking forward to this year’s Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards—a great night enjoyed by all those who attend. There can be no doubt: Queensland is the best state in Australia to invest, employ and grow, and the strength and success of our exporters is testament to their confidence in this state and this government.

Youth Boot Camps Hon. JP BLEIJIE (Kawana—LNP) (Attorney-General and Minister for Justice) (2.12 pm): This Newman government is serious about tackling the issues of youth crime in the state. This is why we expanded the trial of youth boot camps on 24 March 2013. The addition of three new youth boot camps included the early intervention youth boot camps, to be trialled at the Fraser/Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton, and the sentenced youth boot camp, to be trialled in the Townsville region. Additionally, the Cairns youth boot camp was returned to the expressions-of-interest stage to find a suitable experienced boot camp provider for the remainder of the trial in the region. I was pleased this morning to visit Hervey Bay with the members for Hervey Bay and Maryborough as we announced the new boot camps in Queensland. I am pleased to advise the House that Beyond Billabong has been selected to deliver the super sentenced youth boot camp across both the Townsville and Cairns regions. The early intervention boot camps will be delivered by Operation Hard Yakka on the Fraser/Sunshine Coast. I thank Bob Davis for again putting me through the rope course this morning and I thank the members for Hervey Bay and Maryborough for being my spotters. And the PCYC in Rockhampton will deliver the early intervention camp. The Department of Justice and Attorney-General will work closely with these providers to ensure the youth boot camps are operational as soon as possible. The government made a clear commitment as part of its Safer Streets Crime Action Plan to trial these camps with the aim of reducing instances of youth offending within our community. The announcement of these providers ensures this commitment is fulfilled. The boot camps are an important part of the Queensland government’s overhaul of the youth justice system. The Newman government is trying something different—to intervene at an early stage to reduce the pool of high-risk young people and to break the cycle of youth crime for those who have already become entrenched in the criminal justice system. The previous government’s slap-on-the-wrist approach has created a generation of arrogant repeat young offenders, with 36 per cent of offenders in detention having been there five times or more. These boot camps are the centrepiece in a raft of measures focused on putting a stop to the serious problem of youth crime. In addition, this government has put a stop to the inappropriate spending at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, including scuba-diving lessons, jumping castles and bucking bulls. It has also enacted legislation increasing the penalty for graffiti offences and has made it compulsory for graffiti offenders to clean up the mess. This is just the start of a long list of reforms by the Newman government to rebalance the scales of justice in this great state.

Seniors Week Hon. TE DAVIS (Aspley—LNP) (Minister for Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services) (2.14 pm): This week Queensland is celebrating Seniors Week. The Newman government is committed to making Queensland an inclusive state that recognises the abilities and needs of Queenslanders. This includes recognising the contribution our seniors make to our great state. It is expected that by 2021 there will be almost one million seniors—people aged 65 years and over— living here in Queensland, almost twice as many as in 2006. It is important that we acknowledge those in our community—our seniors—who have given so much over so many years. Seniors Week is a great opportunity for Queenslanders of all ages to recognise and celebrate the vibrant and active role seniors play in our families and communities. It is also a way to highlight the wealth of experience seniors bring to their families and communities. Seniors make a major contribution to Queensland through their social and voluntary activities. They play a vital part in leading our communities and supporting people within them. Some of our seniors continue to maintain a strong presence in the workforce; however, often seniors play an important caring role within their family unit, whether that be looking after their grandchildren or caring for their adult son or daughter with a disability.

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Seniors Week is about promoting positive community attitudes towards older people and ageing, and increasing the participation of seniors in their communities. Seniors Week kicked off on Saturday, 17 August and will continue until this coming Sunday, 25 August. I am very happy to say that celebrations are already in full swing across Queensland. The many fun activities on offer means there is something for everyone to enjoy. Events range from high teas and grey olympics on the Gold Coast to a ‘Senior’s Got Talent’ contest to luncheons and dancing in Cunnamulla—all with the aim of celebrating enjoying a life well lived and much more to come, which is the theme for this year’s Seniors Week. Queensland seniors have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy many varied and exciting life experiences which resonate across generations. Today’s young people may be surprised at the similar experiences and common ground they share with Queensland seniors. That is the message we really want to promote this year. The Newman government provided $125,000 in funding to the Council on the Ageing to support local events and activities across the state for this year’s Seniors Week. In fact, this morning I attended one of the Seniors Week events at the Active Living Seniors Expo at LifeTec in Newmarket. It was wonderful to see so many seniors there talking to the stallholders about opportunities, events, activities and supports in their community. It was great to not only meet new people there but also see some of the seniors I met at last year’s events. Today I would like to announce that my department is inviting peak seniors groups to apply for more than $360,000 in funding to represent the interests of older people. The funding will go to support an organisation which can effectively represent issues faced by older people as well as provide advice and input to help shape government policies, programs and services. More information on this three-year funding opportunity is available on the Queensland government website. This is a great state with great opportunity. Our government appreciates the opportunity to celebrate the contribution of our seniors across Queensland this week.

Task Force Argos Hon. JM DEMPSEY (Bundaberg—LNP) (Minister for Police and Community Safety) (2.18 pm): To reiterate the minister’s words, this is a great state with great opportunity. It is also a safe state in which to do business so the economy can grow. Today I would like to detail the dedication of and hard work undertaken by the Queensland Police Service’s Task Force Argos to ensure Queensland children—and in fact children all over the world—remain safe from online predators. Task Force Argos is principally responsible for the investigation of organised child abuse and computer facilitated child exploitation. It is the world leader in investigating computer facilitated crimes against children. One only has to look at the front page of today’s Courier-Mail to gain an understanding of the disgusting depths to which paedophiles and other internet trolls will go when seeking innocent young lives to destroy.

In this financial year detectives from Task Force Argos seized over 877,000 child exploitation images and 1,039 hours of child exploitation video. They also helped in the rescue of 158 children, both in Australia and overseas. By way of example of the outstanding investigation work conducted by Argos detectives, on 27 July this year undercover Task Force Argos investigators engaged a person of interest from New York online. Investigators received three indecent images of a young female child. Investigators then referred the matter to the United States federal authorities as it was believed the child in those photos was at risk of sexual abuse. On 8 August this year the United States Homeland Security Investigations and the New York State Police executed a search warrant in New York. A seven-year-old child was removed from harm and two adult brothers were taken into custody. The brothers were charged with producing child pornography and are in federal custody with their bail refused. This matter again highlights the importance and the vital work required across national and international jurisdictions to ensure the safety of children and the communities of our great state and more broadly. Another high-profile matter saw North Queensland men jailed for the horrific abuse they inflicted on their own child over a number of years. Task Force Argos detectives began investigating the matter after discovering digital photos of the two men and the child. Argos detectives were available to identify the men, discover where they lived and determine that they had just left for the United States. These inquiries led to search warrants being conducted in Los Angeles and North Queensland and a large amount of digital evidence seized. The Task Force Argos Victim

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Identification Unit spent months examining the evidence found in Cairns and from this they were able to construct a time line of people and places which would prove crucial in the downfall of these child sex offenders and their particular networks. Mr Johnson: They’re very professional. Mr DEMPSEY: I take that interjection. They are true professionals and highly regarded worldwide. The men in this particular incident were eventually arrested in the United States and sentenced in July this year. The fantastic work of Task Force Argos ensured that the child, who is now eight, will no longer be subjected to the torment inflicted on him by these two men. Officials in the United States have praised Task Force Argos for its outstanding work in stopping these paedophiles. I take this opportunity to again recognise the excellent work conducted every day by detectives from this unit. Each year scores of children are removed from unsafe situations because of the hard work conducted by these detectives. On behalf of all Queenslanders, I say thank you to all those involved in Task Force Argos for their hard work and dedication.

Public Housing Hon. TL MANDER (Everton—LNP) (Minister for Housing and Public Works) (2.22 pm): In a great state like Queensland it is important that everybody has access to safe and affordable housing. Sadly, under the former Labor government tens of thousands of Queensland’s most vulnerable were left languishing on the public housing waiting list, with no reprieve in sight. This problem just did not happen overnight; this has taken decades of neglect from those opposite. The social and economic changes of the past 20 years or so have left the housing system struggling to accommodate a demographic completely different from the one that it was set up for. Whereas in days gone by public tenants tended to be low-income working families, these days more than 50 per cent of applicants are single, the majority are reliant on some form of government pension and more than half will have at least one household member with a disability. While the needs of our tenants have evolved, the housing system has not. In complete defiance of the changing circumstances, previous Labor governments continued to provide detached dwellings in suburban enclaves with little regard to their suitability for the new tenants or the social consequences for the broader community. Last month I was proud to launch the Newman government’s new Housing 2020 Strategy. Housing 2020 is a complete rethink of the way that we deliver housing assistance in this state and will deliver bricks and mortar solutions as well as a vastly expanding array of alternative types of housing assistance to help people find or sustain a tenancy in the private rental market. Between now and 2020 we will deliver an additional 12,000 social affordable housing dwellings. We will also see up to 90 per cent of social housing tenancies managed by the community housing sector. This is an added boon for tenants because community housing organisations are better equipped to offer a personalised, holistic service and better able to engage the sort of wraparound services that many of our high-needs tenants require. For too long social housing has been seen as a destination in itself. This is unhealthy and counterproductive. Taxpayer subsidised housing should be there for the duration of your need, not necessarily the duration of your life. Of course, there are those who will always need our assistance and to whom we have an enduring responsibility. There are many others, however, whose barriers to the private market could be overcome with the right support. Housing 2020 is about recognising those barriers and helping people work through them rather than just saying, ‘Here’s your public housing property. You’re set for the rest of your life.’ Those opposite like to pat themselves on the back about how compassionate they are. The truth is they have had a shameful record when it comes to looking after and housing the vulnerable, and it is the Newman government that will put it right.

Department of Transport and Main Roads, Speed Limit Review Hon. SA EMERSON (Indooroopilly—LNP) (Minister for Transport and Main Roads) (2.25 pm): This government is committed to keeping Queensland roads safe and easier to use. Sadly, this year 181 people have lost their lives on Queensland roads, eight more than this time last year. The Newman government has announced a number of initiatives to tackle the rising road toll, including the $350 million two-year Road Safety Action Plan announced as part of our 2013-14 budget. It includes other safety priorities such as flashing lights at 300 schools, $82 million a year for road safety improvements, and licence reforms for younger and older drivers and motorcyclists. As well as this, we have also launched a state-wide speed limit review. Launched on 1 August, this review aims to simplify the speed limit setting process and improve speed limit consistency across the state. Almost

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three weeks since we launched this review, we have already been overwhelmed with submissions and nominations from the public. I am pleased to report that more than 2,000 nominations from all over Queensland have been received. I am equally pleased to report that compared to our neighbouring states that sought similar public feedback no-one experienced a response rate quite like ours. I welcome this high-level public participation and I think it proves a review like this is well and truly overdue. Queensland is such a vast state and community input is vital to pinpoint where speed limits may need to be reduced or increased. Sections of the Bruce Highway and the Warrego Highway have received the highest nominations so far—92 nominations for the Bruce and 22 nominations for the Warrego. My message to Queenslanders is: if you think a road near you is too fast, too slow, too confusing or too inconsistent, now is the time to nominate. Public submissions close on Friday, 13 September, so there is still plenty of time to have your say. Once submissions close, TMR will work together with local councils to identify the top 100 priority roads for review. It will take six months to consider all of the submissions and the results will be published on the TMR website. Submissions can be made online at the TMR website or posted to ‘Speed Limit Review, PO Box 673, Fortitude Valley, Queensland’.

REPORT

Office of the Leader of the Opposition Ms PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Leader of the Opposition) (2.27 pm): I table the public report of the office expenses for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. Tabled paper: Public report of office expenses of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 [3264].

PARLIAMENTARY CRIME AND MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE

Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner, Report Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (2.28 pm): I lay upon the table of the House the report of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner, Mr Paul Favell, titled Report on the results of the inspection of the records of the Crime and Misconduct Commission pursuant to section 362 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000. Tabled paper: Report of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner on the results of the inspection of the records of the Crime and Misconduct Commission pursuant to section 362 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, June 2013 [3265]. The inspection covers the period 9 November 2012 to 15 April 2013 and was conducted pursuant to section 362 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act. The parliamentary commissioner found an error in an affidavit for one surveillance device warrant but otherwise the CMC complied with the legislation in all respects. The parliamentary commissioner sets out the full details of his inspection and findings in the report.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Air Travel Ms PALASZCZUK (2.28 pm): My question is to the Deputy Premier. I know of the Deputy Premier’s love of the aviation industry. I ask the Deputy Premier to explain to the House why in his office of ministerial expenses he has spent $207,000 in one year travelling to and from his electorate, which equates to approximately $4,000 a week of taxpayers’ money? Honourable members interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Order! I warn members. Their interjections occurred during that question and that is inappropriate.

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Mr SEENEY: I have sat here patiently for 18 months waiting for a question from the Leader of the Opposition and finally she has asked me one that has a very simple answer. I fly backwards and forwards to regional Queensland because I do not live in Inala. I do not get a big white car to take me home to dinner every night like the Leader of the Opposition does. I do not get a big white car and a driver to drive me backwards and forwards to my electorate so that I can go to electorate functions like the member for Inala does. The Leader of the Opposition has asked me this question twice before in estimates hearings. She has asked me the question in estimates hearings two years in a row. This is the third time she has asked the question and the answer is still the same. This government represents regional Queensland. I represent regional Queensland. I and other members of this government will travel from regional Queensland to represent regional Queensland however we can and we will continue to do that. It is in the interests of the Leader of the Opposition to prevent those of us who live in regional Queensland from adequately representing those parts of Queensland in this parliament. It is interesting to note that the attitude of the Leader of the Opposition is certainly not one shared by other members of the Labor Party. Certainly, it was not shared by the former Premier, Premier Beattie, who, when I was Leader of the Opposition, gave me a charter allocation—and this was back in 2006—of $60,000 a year to fly backwards and forwards because I was the Leader of the Opposition. And do members know what? That allocation is still in the opposition leader’s budget. She still has that allocation. Obviously, she does not use it for charter flights, but she uses it for something else, because it is the best resourced, most poorly performing opposition in Queensland’s history. The former Premier understood that this parliament works best when every member can contribute to the role that they have irrespective of where they live. I can assure the Leader of the Opposition and I can assure the people of regional Queensland that I will continue to represent regional Queensland at the highest levels of this government. I will continue to do that by flying from Brisbane to where I live in Monto once a week in a small Cessna aeroplane. Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition that if she wants a bit of excitement she should come with me, especially in October and November when the storms are around. She will find that it is not quite as much fun as being in a Qantas business class seat. She will find that it is no fun at all. When there are plenty of storms around and when you are landing at the Monto airstrip and your mate has to go out and chase the kangaroos off the strip so that you can land, it is not the sort of thing you do for fun. You do it because you want to represent regional Queensland in this parliament. (Time expired)

Princess Alexandra Hospital, Pathology Unit Ms PALASZCZUK: Once again, no answer. My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier confirm that the important pathology unit staff at the PA Hospital, some of them scientists, some of them laboratory staff, who both diagnose and help prevent disease, are being sacked and explain who will now carry out this vital work? Mr NEWMAN: I would ask the Leader of the Opposition to put the question on notice or direct it to the health minister who would have a more intimate knowledge of such affairs. But I will take this opportunity to talk about Health today and what has been achieved over 18 months. As I have said before, I have an audio file of an interview on radio station 4BC going back about four years ago between Michael Smith, who was the compere, and Stephen Robertson. Last night the Deputy Premier, the Treasurer and I were enjoying a late-night drink and we put on the tape and listened to the whole blithering incompetence of the Bligh-Beattie era coming forward in one radio interview where Stephen Robertson would not take responsibility for the ramping of ambulances. I ask people to remember that. Queenslanders need to remember that only a few years ago there was a scandal where people were sitting in ambulances because the ambulance officers could not let them out to get into the EDs. There were queues outside the hospitals. The more important thing was the attitude of the then Labor state government. Stephen Robertson would not take responsibility and, finally, in a pique, he hung up. Not only was he not prepared to answer the questions but he was not prepared to take responsibility and do something about it. What has been achieved in 18 months under this administration? That is right: we now have the best performing emergency departments in the nation and we do not have ambulance ramping to speak of. That is what is going on in Health, which has had an extra $1 billion of funding pumped into it. The only cut to the health service in this state has been—

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Mr PITT: Madam Speaker, I rise to a point of order. I ask for your ruling on relevance. It was a specific question that related to the pathology unit, not a general question about Health. Madam SPEAKER: Please take your seat. I listened to the Premier’s answer. In the first part of his answer he addressed the detail of the question by saying that it could be put on notice and then he said that he would address issues in Health. I call the Premier. Mr NEWMAN: I just ask them to listen to the answer, because they are so quick and so keen, like a bunch of university kids, to get the next question out that they have cooked up with their 22 highly paid staff out the back. As I was saying, we now have a hospital system that is under the control of 17 local hospital and health boards, which are making the right decisions to improve the health of Queenslanders. Our objective is very clear. We are going to sweep away the cobwebs, we are going to deal with the inefficiencies and the waste and even the corruption that was identified through the Tahitian prince scandal and we are going to clean up Health, because we are committed to the best free public hospital system in the nation. Nothing but the best will do for us. Nothing but the best for Queenslanders is our objective. Make no mistake: that is what we are about. I know the Labor Party over here is a bunch of ex-union hacks who do not understand that there are problems in Health, because they never wanted to deal with them. But we will deal with the problems and make it a better free public health system. (Time expired)

Public Housing Mr SHUTTLEWORTH: My question without notice is to the Premier. Considering Labor’s legacy of 30,000 people on the public housing waiting list and the huge debt burden they left to us, what plans does the government have to provide much needed social housing? Mr NEWMAN: We have indeed many challenges to overcome as a result of the debt and deficit left to us by the Beattie and Bligh governments. As the member says, this includes a very large—an unacceptably large—public housing waiting list. We also have many people with disabilities and disadvantaged people who cannot get into public housing. That is why, when we look at the way we are going to be delivering services and infrastructure, this government will do a whole lot more with less. Practically, that is what we have to do, because the money is not in the till, thanks to those opposite. As an immediate example, last week I was really pleased, excited and proud to announce a partnership where the Queensland government will give Youngcare to provide housing and support to young people with disabilities. We are gifting them land at Thorrold Street, Wooloowin to build new innovative housing for young adults with 24-7 needs. Youngcare general manager, Anna Cox, welcomed the announcement. She stated— When you are talking about a national tragedy like young people living in aged care, no charity can solve these problems on their own.

Neither can the state government. We all need to work together. I could not have said it better myself. We need to be working in partnership with reputable organisations to deliver better services. It is not going to stop with Youngcare. Another example is that we are already working closely with the Lady Musgrave Trust to support the expansion of its work to provide safe housing for vulnerable women of up to 20 units of accommodation and common areas and meeting rooms. We are also providing land on Lutwyche Road to the Brisbane Housing Company for affordable and social housing. A minimum of 30 housing units will be built, four of which will be adapted for people with a disability. This initiative is clear evidence that you can provide more with less. I contrast that, particularly the last example, with the current Leader of the Opposition when she was the minister for transport. What plans did the minister for transport ever have? What vision did she have for that unused land at Lutwyche? There it was sitting there. It had been sitting there vacant for some years while the project was being built and then had been practically completed by the time we came to office. But no, there was no plan for homeless people, no plan for people with disabilities, even though there is $90.7 billion worth of land across this state on the books sitting, lazy, not working for the people of Queensland, because they would not work hard enough.

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We will do better, even though we do not have the money, thanks to their financial ineptitude and incompetence. We are looking after people who have needs. We are looking after people who need housing. We are looking after people who have disabilities. We are working in partnership with great organisations like Youngcare and the Brisbane Housing Company to give a better deal to those Queenslanders in need.

Schools, Sale of Assets Mr PITT: My question without notice is to the Minister for Education. I note that the education minister has denied government plans to sell a further $30 million of school assets each year for the next four years despite his signature being on a briefing note, which I table, which approves this approach. I ask: will the minister immediately release materials which prove that he has reversed his decision or are school assets still part of the government’s agenda? Tabled paper: Briefing note to the Minister for Education, Training and Employment, Hon. John-Paul Langbroek, dated August 2013, regarding 2012-13 disposal program and plan [3272]. Mr LANGBROEK: I thank the honourable member for the question. I want to reject the assertion in the question where the Manager of Opposition Business suggested I should reverse a decision, a decision that has not even been made. Ms Palaszczuk: You approved it. You approved the briefing note. Mr LANGBROEK: This is asserting that something that is in a briefing note then subsequently becomes government policy. That is what I am rejecting out of hand. Mr Pitt interjected. Mr Nicholls interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Order! We will allow the minister to answer the question. Mr LANGBROEK: I take that interjection from the Treasurer. A briefing note to those opposite when they were ministers would have subsequently become government policy because they were not ministers with their own thought processes. But under this government a briefing note is provided which gives advice to the minister or suggestions from the department in the absence of any of those individual thought processes coming from the minister, as happened in my department when it came to issues like school closures that had been stopped by the previous minister Cameron Dick and the previous minister to that Geoff Wilson who said ‘It is too sensitive, we cannot look at our asset portfolio’—even though it is an $18 billion asset portfolio with a turnover every year of $11 billion—‘we cannot look at our assets and plan for the future.’ That was the view that those previous ministers took. I have said that when I was first presented with briefing notes about many matters, these are briefing notes with potential suggestions but also advice to the minister. In this case the government and ministers have views that reflect our own policy and they are the decisions that we make. Mr Pitt: You approved the briefing note. Mr LANGBROEK: I take that interjection. Approving a briefing note does not mean that the policy contained within it is anything other than an acknowledgement of the fact that the briefing note has been presented to the minister and signed off on. Mr Pitt interjected. Madam SPEAKER: Order! I warn the Manager of Opposition Business under 253A. He will cease the interjections. Mr LANGBROEK: What we have here is an acknowledgement from the opposition that when they were in government every minister who received a briefing note which he or she subsequently approved accepted that briefing note as the policy of the government that they would then carry out. No wonder we have ended up with the process that we have. It is an indictment on those opposite. We have said very clearly that it is those opposite who closed 139 schools over the last 20 years. We are currently still in the process of looking at the eight schools that we are considering. But it is those opposite who closed 139 schools. I was shut down yesterday by the Manager of Opposition Business as I attempted to read the entire list, but I tabled that list and I am happy to continue again with the last numbers if those opposite would like to hear it. I reiterate that a briefing note to me does not mean, when I sign off and approve it, that the policy contained within is the policy that I am going to then necessarily be invoking. They are the rules of this government. We decide the policy in conjunction with our department. Those opposite obviously had different ways of carrying on.

21 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2695

Galilee Basin Mr COX: My question without notice is to the Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. Can the Deputy Premier update the House about the approvals for major projects in the Galilee Basin? Mr SEENEY: I can, because the Galilee Basin is very important to us. A couple of weeks ago the Coordinator-General approved the latest proposal in the Galilee Basin, a proposal that was being put forward by Clive Palmer, which makes it all the more absurd then to see that the Palmer United Party has given its preferences to the Greens, a party that would not only shut down coalmining in the Galilee Basin but shut down coalmining everywhere. That absurdity is reflected in an equal absurdity of the Katter’s Australian Party giving its preferences to the Labor Party. A vote for Bob Katter is a vote for Kevin Rudd. A vote for the Katter’s Australian Party is a vote for the Australian Labor Party. In fact, I think they should change their name. They are not the Katter’s Australian Party they are the Katter Labor Party. The people of Australia need to understand at the next election that if they vote for the man in the big hat they are going to get Kevin Rudd; they are going to get Penny Wong; they are going to get Bill Ludwig; they are going to get Tony Burke—all of those people who have had such devastating impacts across Queensland. That is the sort of absurdity that is supported and promoted by the Katter Labor Party. We have seen the alliance in this House develop over a period of months. I think it is time we rearranged the seating. I think it is time that the Katter Labor Party came down and sat with the Australian Labor Party. The member for Dalrymple should come down and sit beside the member for South Brisbane and they can hold hands and talk about bats. They can talk about the bats in Charters Towers. The member for Dalrymple could explain to the member for South Brisbane about the bats in Charters Towers. And that intellectual genius, the member for Condamine, he can come down and sit beside the member for Mulgrave and explain how he is going to address the $85 billion debt that the former Labor government left to the people of Queensland. This federal election gets more and more absurd all the time. There is only one option for the people of Queensland and that is to vote for Tony Abbott and make Tony Abbott the Prime Minister. A vote for anybody else is a vote for Kevin Rudd; it is a vote for the Australian Labor Party. A vote for the Katter’s Australian Party is a vote for the Australian Labor Party. A vote for Bob Katter is a vote for Kevin Rudd. Everybody should remember that. The people who sit in this House representing Bob Katter should have enough intestinal fortitude to stand up and reject the absurdity. They should stand up for the people who elected them. But they will not, of course, because the member for Condamine and the member for Dalrymple have betrayed the people who elected them over and over and over again. They have abandoned the people who put faith in them every time they— (Time expired)

Sexual Health Services Mrs MILLER: I have a serious question for the Premier. Premier, I refer to your government’s cuts to sexual health services provided by Biala at the Redcliffe Sexual Health Clinic and the Redcliffe-Caboolture Sexual Assault Service, and I ask: where will people who fear that they have contracted HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases now go to seek a diagnosis and treatment? Mr NEWMAN: I thank the member for Bundamba for her question. Before I go directly to my answer I should just expand on a theme that I have been talking about for some months now and that is we need a debate in this country about how our Constitution is to be interpreted after 30 or 40 years of judicial activism and how our Federation works. What I am saying is that each level of government has certain responsibilities that they should be undertaking. The federal government originally had very clear and perhaps far more minimal responsibilities than it seems to have today; the states have very clear responsibilities that kicked off from Federation from the former colonies; and local government of course is delegated responsibilities from state governments. What we have seen, particularly over the last 30 years, is a real erosion of those boundaries and we now have a situation where the federal government seeks to intrude. A case in point is Gonski where we have Kevin Rudd, being the centralist control-type person that he is, seeking to take over the running of schools around the nation, which are the responsibility of the states. He wants to impose red tape and bureaucracy and a great big new federal quango on the schools of the nation. Of course, we do not support that. The point I am making is that if we are to sort out some of the issues in the country, before we talk about tax reform we need to talk about the responsibilities of the respective levels of government.

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Coming back to the question, let us be very clear: the responsibility of the state government is not primary health care. What the honourable member has referred to is primary health care, which is—and I will speak very slowly for the benefit of the member—the responsibility of the federal government. Mrs Miller: In your opinion. Mr NEWMAN: I will take the interjection. It is in any number of national agreements between the Commonwealth and the states. There is an old saying about empty vessels making the most noise and I am afraid we have just seen an example of that. It is in the various agreements between the Commonwealth and the states. Primary health care, including the sexual health clinics, are the responsibility of Mr Kevin Rudd, our Prime Minister—until 7 September when, hopefully, Mr Abbott will take the reins. Mr Abbott has undertaken to sort out this duplication and overlap that results in waste and inefficiency, which ultimately men and women, families and taxpayers are paying for. That is what Labor is all about: waste, inefficiency and more taxes for Australians. We will not stand for it. (Time expired)

Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements Mr BERRY: My question without notice is to the Treasurer and Minister for Trade. Can the Treasurer please inform the House as to the status of $725 million in natural disaster relief and recovery funding owed to Queensland by the Commonwealth? Mr NICHOLLS: Firstly, I apologise for the misapplication of a button on my phone a little while ago. Madam Speaker, to you and the parliament, I am sorry for that. I thank the honourable member for the question. The honourable member represents an area that was devastated by the floods and the events that occurred in 2010, 2011 and subsequently. Obviously, he is vitally interested in knowing what goes on in the state and in ensuring that Queenslanders are served properly not only by their local government, which he represents and does a great job in so doing, but also by the federal government. Ours is a government that does what it says and says what it means. In contrast, let us look at the federal government. We have a situation where, as I have explained to the House before, some $725 million has been promised to the state of Queensland in order to undertake repairs and disaster recovery work. Former federal Treasurer Wayne Swan calls himself a Queenslander, but he does not call himself a Labor member anymore; these days he is just ‘Swanny’. I have not seen too many recent photographs of ‘Swanny’ and ‘Ruddy’ standing together. I have to say that I think ‘Swanny’ is after a bit of a ruddy change. Nonetheless, he called himself a Queenslander, promised $725 million and, as members know, has continually failed to deliver that $725 million which is owed to the people of Queensland so that we can get on with rebuilding this great state. Mr Swan is one matter and I have been having a debate with him. We have had the return of Mr Rudd. Mr Rudd came back and he was going to fix it all. In April last year, I asked the opposition leader whether she would co-sign a letter with the Premier urging Prime Minister Gillard to come on board and get that $725 million, and there has been deafening silence ever since. One hundred and twenty-five days ago Kevin Rudd came back in and we thought there would be some improvement. We thought we would see some money come back in. What did Kevin Rudd say? He said he would take personal responsibility for solving any problems with Queensland’s flood reconstruction program. He said— I want to see it concluded. That means not just for Brisbane but for south east Queensland and wherever else the current arrangements apply. He said— I want to make sure that everyone who has been affected by flood damage and is eligible for assistance and support gets it. He had 35 days from making that statement until the announcement of the election and going into caretaker mode. I wrote to him. I said, ‘Dear Kevin, thank you for that commitment. We are happy to work with you.’ Have I heard anything since? Not a word! The silence from Canberra has been deafening. We have done everything that we need to do. We have extended the hand of friendship, somewhat forlornly, and we have heard nothing back. There is no doubt about it: Rudd is a dud for Queensland.

21 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2697

Gaming Machine Licences Mrs CUNNINGHAM: My question without notice is to the Attorney-General. A local club manager advised me that a licence for a gaming machine in the Brisbane-Gold Coast area is between $3,000 and $5,000, yet in Central Queensland the cost is between $13,000 and $15,000. Given this inequity, are there plans to equalise this cost for all applicants, irrespective of where they live in Queensland? Mr BLEIJIE: I thank the member for Gladstone for the question. These matters generally are subject to the review that we are currently undertaking. We have set up an expert panel. Some months ago the honourable Premier and I announced the formation of the expert panel led by Geoff Harley and people from the gaming industry, the casino industry and the liquor licensing industry. We want to ensure that in Queensland we have a system of liquor licensing and gaming such that our outback clubs and pubs can operate in an environment that reduces regulation and red tape so that they can get on with the job. There are two forms of poker machine reforms in Queensland: one deals with hotels and one deals with community clubs and pubs. There are different mechanisms by which people can tender for those particular machines. If the member is referring to a community club, we have a cap on pokies of about $24,000 in Queensland. Currently, in the pool are 1,000 machines available for purchase and, periodically, they come up online. In relation to the specific matter that the member asks about, following question time I would be more than happy to look into that particular matter. If there is an inequitable situation, of course, we will want to address it for clubs, particularly in regional Queensland. As the Deputy Premier said today, we are a government for regional Queensland. Ours is not a government just for South-East Queensland, as the Labor Party’s was for 10 years. If there are inequities, of course, we will want to address them. I can tell the member for Gladstone that, pursuant to the findings of the expert panel, we have released discussion papers on liquor and gaming. The expert panel has finalised its interim report, which deals with all things liquor and gaming. The sole purpose of that review was to ensure that our great community clubs and pubs right around Queensland can continue to actively participate as economies change. In our electorates we all have community groups, sporting clubs, golf clubs and surf-lifesaving clubs, although I do not know if the Deputy Premier has a surf-lifesaving club in Callide. Community groups do an immense amount of work for our communities. As a government, we should be doing whatever we can to support community clubs right around Queensland. Community clubs have over three million members. They contribute billions of dollars to the Queensland economy and, of course, as members of parliament will know, through the Gambling Community Benefit Fund millions and millions of dollars are given back to our communities. Again, I thank the member for Gladstone for the question. If there are inequities in the state, of course, we will want to address those. After question time I will get some details and I am more than happy to look at that particular situation. In the next week when we travel as a cabinet to Gladstone, I will be more than happy to talk to the publicans and the community clubs there to try to resolve any outstanding issues.

Queensland Nurses Union Mr DAVIES: My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. I refer to the stunning silence from the bosses at the Queensland Nurses Union when their own rank-and-file members were going without their basic right to a pay packet as a direct result of the former Labor government’s Health payroll debacle. I ask: does the minister have any evidence that the bosses at the Queensland Nurses Union intend to levy their members to help the Labor Party election campaign and once again put the job security of politicians ahead of the job security of our valuable nurses and midwives? Madam SPEAKER: I will call the Minister for Health, but first I remind members that these questions need to be tighter. That is right on the edge. Mr SPRINGBORG: I thank the honourable member for Capalaba for his question. It is probably fair to say that over the past few years the honourable member for Capalaba and all other members of this parliament have been absolutely amazed as they have witnessed the bosses of the Queensland Nurses Union and, indeed, the other health workforce unions sit back completely mute as their members were overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all.

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We had people ringing us when we were sitting over there in opposition. We asked then minister Paul Lucas questions about the privations and problems being caused for their members. We had then minister Lucas standing here saying there were no problems. We had people ringing up and crying over the phone asking how they were going to put food on the table. They were begging for charity. We had the bosses of the Queensland Nurses Union saying absolutely nothing. Indeed, they were out there saying it was all fixed. Why would they not say it was all fixed? Because they actually sat on the implementation committee which said that it was all fixed before it was brought in. This is how mute they are prepared to be when they are closely affiliated and aligned with the Labor Party. What happens in the situation where they have been mute and not raised one voice of protest when their thousands of members have been overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all? What actually happens when there is ambulance ramping, ambulance bypass and a higher rate of standardised hospital mortality than we have under the Newman LNP government and its policies? What they do is go out and raise a levy so they can actually fight against the reforms which have delivered so much for their members and the health system in Queensland. The other day the Queensland Nurses Union proudly proclaimed that they gathered—the whole 300 of them—out here in a sea of red. It was a bit like the Bolshevik Revolution of the spring of 1917. They went on to say that what they were going to do was levy their members $1 a week starting from 1 July 2014 and put it in a quarantined nurse power fund. This is not to fight against the privations of the payroll system, not to actually fight against fake Tahitian princes, not to actually stand up for better functioning EDs, better elective surgery performance and lower outpatient waiting lists but so they can secure the political futures of Labor bosses and Labor members of parliament. Again, what we see with the Nurses Union bosses is a group of people who are prepared to put their selfish political motivations to support their kindreds on that side of the parliament ahead of the interests of their members who suffered so much under the Labor Party for a long time. (Time expired)

Gold Coast Hospital

Dr DOUGLAS: My question is to the health minister. Can the minister please explain why suddenly yesterday the acting director-general of Queensland Health indefinitely cancelled his planned meeting with key specialist doctors and the AMA to discuss serious, current, medically occurring, complicated matters related to the Gold Coast Hospital at Southport?

Mr SPRINGBORG: The honourable member for Gaven is off on another wild goose chase. As I said last night, not only is he not the Minister for Health—he is not going to be—he is not going to be the director-general and he is not going to be in charge of the World Health Organisation, as he would love to be. The simple reality is this. When that particular meeting was planned the current acting director-general was a deputy director-general. He is now in a position where he may have to adjudicate on that particular matter. There is a very simple answer to that question. What I have here is a little genius CD which is basically all about Clive and the Titanic. We have to wonder whether something that sank in 1912 is going to sink again 101 years later. That will be seen on 7 September. I received this little gem yesterday. There is one thing I did not actually get time to deal with yesterday. As we open this we find that Clive actually talks about standing up for Australia. He talks about processing Australian resources in Australia. One of the things I was about to get to yesterday—the honourable member for Gaven was somewhat agitated to cover this up—is that in fine print, about one font, on the back it says, ‘Printed by Queensland Nickel, 11 Don Zhi Men Street, People’s Republic of China.’ So we have the honourable member for Gaven once again exporting jobs out of Australia to Beijing. That is what is happening in Townsville and all over the place. Once again we have the honourable member for Gaven not prepared to stand up for Australians and for Australian jobs. He is happy to walk lockstep with Clive Palmer as he seeks to export Australian jobs to Beijing. I think he is going to whip out about five million of these little beauties in Beijing and not in Brisbane. Treasurer, imagine what that would have done in terms of creating jobs and providing economic development in Queensland.

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What we have here is the honourable member for Gaven speaking with forked tongue and that person whom he aspires to be associated with exporting jobs overseas to China or somewhere else. I ask the honourable member to come clean. Does he actually agree with this? Why is he not prepared to stand up for jobs on the Gold Coast? Why is he not prepared to stand up for jobs in Queensland? Why is he not prepared to stand up for jobs in Australia? Why does the honourable member for Gaven think that jobs in China are more important than jobs in Australia? The best thing he could do is get ‘Uncle’ Clive on the phone and say it is just not good enough. (Time expired)

Natural Disasters, Recovery Assistance Mr GIBSON: My question is to the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines. Can the Minister for Natural Resources reveal to the House how Kevin Rudd and his cabinet colleagues have pulled the plug on recovery flood funding to Queensland communities like Gympie which has experienced five floods in two years?

Mr CRIPPS: I thank the member for Gympie for his question and note that this issue does touch his electorate of Gympie and many others that were impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald. Earlier this year the Newman government entered into a joint funding agreement with Senator Joe Ludwig, the then Australian government minister assisting on the Queensland flood recovery. This agreement saw the Queensland government and the Commonwealth commit $10 million each to a scheme designed to help regional Queensland communities recover from the impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald and prepare for future natural disasters. The aim of this initiative was to support on-farm initiatives, productivity initiatives and environmental recovery projects as part of our NDRRA arrangements. Since that agreement was reached my department has been carefully administering that $20 million program through the delivery of practical, on-ground solutions to repair damage in those local communities and help prepare primary producers for future flood events in places like the Bundaberg-Burnett region and the Lockyer Valley, amongst others. I regret to advise the House that a lot of that good work is now at risk due to a disgraceful decision in bad faith by the Rudd government to halve its pledged contribution. Last month the Queensland government received correspondence from the Australian government advising that the federal contribution would now not be delivered through this joint initiative but through existing unspecified federal programs over the forward estimates. In other words, on the never-never; after the next election. There were no details, no work program, no opportunity for the state funds which are being spent to be coordinated with those federal programs—nothing. The hypocrisy of Kevin Rudd passing himself off as an asset to Queensland and Queenslanders as Prime Minister has become very clear for all of us. Queensland communities suffering from the impact of ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald have been stabbed in the back by Kevin Rudd in their time of need. The Labor opposition here in Queensland should be ashamed of Kevin Rudd slashing flood recovery funding in his home state and threatening dozens of local remediation projects that are very useful for those local communities. The federal Labor government has broken its promise to help Queenslanders through this valuable initiative and has left communities that it was designed to support short-changed. It goes to show that a promise from the federal Labor government and Kevin Rudd is not worth the paper it is written on. I have requested the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Joel Fitzgibbon, to urgently reconsider this decision to allow us to get on with the job of helping these local communities and primary producers get back on their feet. I hope he can stand up to Kevin Rudd and do something that Kevin Rudd will not do—support Queensland farmers and communities to get over ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald. (Time expired)

Jobs Mr WELLINGTON: My question is to the Premier. Some construction leaders have requested that the government extend the first home owners building incentive to a wider range of potential recipients as an incentive to create new jobs. Will the government investigate this request?

2700 Questions Without Notice 21 Aug 2013

Mr NEWMAN: I thank the honourable member for the question. I actually have not seen those comments. I am always happy to look at suggestions that people make to improve government service delivery and our initiatives. So I will be very keen to see what they are actually saying. At the moment, though, we have a very targeted scheme—$15,000 for a first home buyer’s needs on a brand-new construction project, whether it be a home or a unit, whether it has just been completed or off the plan. I have to say that I believe, and the Treasurer of course believes very strongly, that this is the right way of spending scarce public funds. While we are helping those first home buyers, we are also trying to get the construction sector going again in Queensland. Just to broaden this out a bit though, I think we are actually seeing some exciting green shoots in construction. It dawned on me the other day that I was seeing quite a lot of construction going on in the Brisbane CBD in the immediate city frame. There are a lot of holes being dug right now. The cranes are not there yet, but they will be in six to 12 months. There is a lot of activity. I was speaking as well the other night to a leading property developer who was with a number of interstate marketing people who work for that firm. They indicated some interesting views on the Queensland and particularly the Brisbane and the South-East Queensland market. What they see is that, over the last four or five years, the situation that we had only a few years ago where Brisbane was as expensive as Melbourne and Perth and almost as expensive as Sydney has changed. Brisbane is now cheaper again. Prices have increased in those other interstate cities, and they are now looking from an interstate and overseas perspective at Brisbane as being a great investment opportunity. He also reflected—this is the property developer—on the fact that for the first time in four or five years the major construction companies, the builders, are actually starting to put their prices up. They flatlined for years. In fact, it has been a very good time to build, with very competitive prices—hence the deal we did for 1 William Street. It was the right time to sign a contract like that. The prices for construction work are on the increase now. There are just the first signs of that. That shows the market waking up. The point of all this is this: the construction grant that we are offering is the right way of doing this. We are seeing these green shoots of recovery. That is one of the reasons we saw such a good jobs result last month that we have been talking about, and that is why this is going to be a great state with great opportunity.

Katter’s Australian Party Mr MALONE: My question without notice is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Minister, are there any threats to Queensland agriculture with the Queensland support for the Katter party on 7 September? Dr McVEIGH: I thank the honourable member for his question. The short answer is that there are numerous threats because the Katter party, and in particular Bob Katter, have shown their true colours, and it is red—it is Labor red. In the dead of night, and hoping that no-one in his electorate of Kennedy would know, Bob Katter has struck a dirty little deal with the Labor Party. Yes, Bob cut a sneaky deal, swapping preferences with Labor, the same party that absolutely destroyed the very industry that his electorate relies on—the live cattle trade. The northern beef industry would be absolutely outraged and gutted that Bob Katter, the federal member for Kennedy, is prepared to jump back into bed with Labor. It begs the question: does the Katter party leader in this chamber also want Peter Beattie back in power—a man who demonised and terrorised farmers for a decade and did his best to destroy farming here in Queensland? Is the KAP leader, the ‘Katter’s Labor Party’ leader, the member for Condamine, wholeheartedly supporting Peter Beattie’s return through a grubby preference deal in Forde? Is Ray Hopper serious? Sure, he has been in more parties than Paris Hilton and now he is jumping into bed with Peter Beattie’s Labor. Is this part of his plan, to join the Queensland opposition? I wonder who would be shadow agriculture minister in that case. Would it be Jackie Trad? Who would be looking after natural resources? Would it be Jo-Ann Miller? Madam SPEAKER: Minister, I ask you to refer to members by their appropriate titles. Dr McVEIGH: I apologise, Madam Speaker. It just makes me wonder whether the two parties are joining forces and whether, of course, the ALP will soon be wearing big hats too!

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Let’s contrast Labor’s shocking record and this dirty Katter deal with the Newman LNP government’s record which supports agriculture and farmers. We have put together the Drought Relief Assistance Scheme. We have finalised the farm refinance package for Queensland farmers. We have been to Indonesia to kick off the live cattle trade again and to open a Queensland government office in Jakarta focused on market development for Queensland farmers. We have renewed and reviewed vegetation management and land tenure, invested in beef and sugarcane research, streamlined disaster recovery and resilience planning, and developed a 30-year strategy for agriculture. A vote for Katter is a vote for Labor and for Peter Beattie. Mr Johnson: Katter has turned on the very people who put him there. Dr McVEIGH: I take that interjection and I agree with the member for Gregory, because a vote for Katter is a vote for Labor’s anti agriculture policies. Only the LNP government is rolling its sleeves up for Queensland farmers. The Katter party, the ‘Katter Labor Party’ here in Queensland, should hang their head in shame, as I said yesterday. The farmers and graziers in this state know what they are up to.

(Time expired)

Western Downs Regional Council Mr HOPPER: My question is to the Minister for Local Government. Can the minister please advise how the Western Downs Regional Council— Government members interjected. Mr HOPPER:—can use the council’s planning scheme to implement building height guidelines when it is currently in draft form only and submissions are still being called to implement the scheme?

Government members interjected. Madam SPEAKER: I am going to remind members again about the warnings about interjecting or making a lot of noise during questions. One of the reasons is that we need to hear the question that is being put to the minister and I need to understand if it is in order. So I am going to ask the member to ask the question again. I warn members about their interjections and to understand why we need to hear the question. Mr HOPPER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Local Government. Can the minister please advise how the Western Downs Regional Council can use the council’s planning scheme to implement building height guidelines when it is currently in draft form only and submissions are still being called to implement the scheme? Mr CRISAFULLI: I sincerely thank the member for the question. It is with great regret that I inform him that I am not in fact the planning minister. However, I am a friend of local government and I am a friend of regional Queensland, and any opportunity to talk about both of those makes me very happy. I love nothing more than to get a question from the member that relates to the Western Downs area because it was that area that I visited many times following the summer of heartache that we witnessed. In many cases when I rolled up I was the first person they had seen. In fact, the question of ‘Where’s Ray?’ came up over and over again. It was around the same time that he was courting for another role—he was more interested in some ambitions to be a senator perhaps than he was serving the people of Condamine. It was around the same time that he was having a bit of a hissy fit wondering why he could not get himself a vehicle. Mr Stevens: And a fuel card. Mr CRISAFULLI: And a fuel card. It seems that somehow that became more of a priority than the people who had been flogged again and again. Interestingly, I went a little bit further down the road and I walked into a recovery centre in Chinchilla, and who was there? None other than the member for Warrego, seeing his constituents—and it was not his first visit; he had been there before. But no-one had seen the member for Condamine in Dalby, and neither did they see him a little bit later. To continue a theme for today, it just goes to the heart of what that mob are about. It is about self-interest. It has never been about regional Queensland.

Mr Hopper: It has taken three members—the government is so worried.

2702 Questions Without Notice 21 Aug 2013

Mr CRISAFULLI: The fact that you have a party that is prepared to do a deal with the very people who are the cause of the problem for regional Queensland right now shows what absolute frauds they are. They are absolute frauds. Mr Hopper: Even Seeney before—three members of parliament! Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! Member for Condamine, the minister has the call.

Mr CRISAFULLI: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. We have had the member for Condamine skulking around locations trying to incite anger and violence in flood recovery, but it is going pretty well. Yet he comes in here today and the best he can come up with is a planning question from his home area. There is not one question about the people who he has—

Mr Hopper interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Mr CRISAFULLI: I say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, there is a huge choice for the people of regional Queensland. Do they back this mob that are backing Labor? Because if Rudd’s a dud, Katter doesn’t matter.

Racing Industry Mr WOODFORTH: My question without notice is to the Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing. Can the minister please update the House about the Newman government’s initiatives to protect the jobs of 30,000 Queenslanders who work in the racing industry?

Mr DICKSON: I thank the member for Nudgee for the question. I have had the privilege before in this chamber to speak about the bright outlook for the racing industry here in Queensland—a far cry from the industry that the LNP inherited which had been brought to its knees by the former Labor government. We are now clear of that terrible era in racing—an era under Labor when Racing Queensland executives saw more brown paper bags than a school tuckshop. The Queensland government’s $110 million Racing Industry Capital Development Scheme is delivering racing infrastructure investment across our great state, and the Newman government’s establishment of a new governance structure for racing has marked a major turning point for the industry in Queensland. The hendra virus outbreak has the potential to threaten the livelihood of 30,000 Queenslanders who work in the racing industry. So we have been acting, and we will continue to act, against this virus. I am pleased to inform the House that Racing Queensland is now offering a subsidised hendra virus vaccination program to all registered thoroughbred and harness racehorses throughout the state in a bid to reduce the risk of the deadly disease. I welcome last week’s news from Hong Kong, where a decision was made to lift import restrictions on Australian horses vaccinated for the hendra virus. This is great news for our thoroughbred industry and for Racing Queensland’s hendra virus vaccination program, as some horse owners had been holding off vaccinating for fear they could not export their horses to Hong Kong. With the Ekka wrapping up last week, I am sure it would interest members to know that only vaccinated horses were allowed at the Ekka. I echo the call made by my colleague the Minister for Agriculture and urge all horse owners to protect themselves and their horses from the hendra virus by vaccination. We know that vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of hendra virus. By vaccinating, owners are not only protecting their horses but also protecting themselves, their families and their employees. The Newman government continues to work very closely with horse owners, veterinary surgeons and vaccine manufacturer Zoetis to fight hendra virus. This is another way the Newman government is restoring confidence and excitement in the sport across Queensland, continuing to deliver on its election commitment to rejuvenate racing in this great state. Country racing is alive and active again. We are putting $1 million a year into country racing, delivering great outcomes. I spoke to a fellow from St George who had been going to the races for 75 years. He said it was the best racing day he had ever seen last year, and it is going to get better and better.

21 Aug 2013 Questions Without Notice 2703

Cairns Base Hospital Mr KNUTH: My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister advise whether the Cairns Base Hospital will receive an upgrade to the tier 1 status which would ensure services such as oncology and neurology receive specialist staffing levels that would be able to treat the backlog of patients as well as those already being treated? Mr SPRINGBORG: I acknowledge the question from the honourable member for Dalrymple. I can start by informing the honourable member for Dalrymple that since the LNP came to government in Queensland there has been an 8.82 per cent increase in the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service’s budget or an increase in dollar terms of $50,291,825. This is a real commitment from the Newman government to looking after the people of Cairns. It is certainly very reflective of our concern for the people of that area and right across the district. It is also reflective of the increases that we have seen in many of our hospital and health services across the state of Queensland. As the honourable member would know, we made a commitment and we are keeping our commitment to ensure that some $15 million over a four-year period will go to enhancing specialist, subspecialist and other services at the Cairns Base Hospital—services which were not available under a Labor Party government in Queensland. Last year with regard to the first stage of that recruitment the hospital and health service started a recruitment process in a range of areas including neurology, and it is going through the process of recruitment in the area of urology as well. The commitment of funding is there. It is now a matter of the recruitment of people. One of the real challenges, as the honourable member would know, is ensuring that we not only have specialists available but also that they can be recruited into those parts of the world. We understand absolutely why we need to reinstate services in Queensland that have been taken away by the Labor government previously. These are services that need to be built in the future. It really begs the question why the honourable member for Dalrymple and his ragtag bunch of people in the Katter party are prepared to preference a bunch of people who inflicted great misery on the people of Queensland with regard to a reduction in health services over a long period of time. What I have done since I have been minister is not only reinforce and fulfil those commitments in stages to the Cairns Base Hospital and the move towards tier 1 but also take steps to reopen the birthing service at Cooktown and the birthing service at Weipa. We are ahead of time with reopening the birthing service at Beaudesert and putting the obstetrician and gynaecologist in the air for more areas. There is also Telehealth and other things which were not delivered under the previous Labor government. Indeed, they sat in the corner like glorified dust collectors. Yet what we see from the member for Dalrymple is someone who is continually prepared to tear down the system, make excuses for the Labor Party and not be prepared to support us when we are reinstating or building those services in his part of the world and the rest of Queensland. (Time expired)

Tourism, Occupancy Rates Mr HART: My question without notice is to the Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games, and I ask: can the minister update the House on any new information regarding occupancy rates across Queensland’s key tourism destinations? Mrs STUCKEY: I thank the honourable member for the question. He represents an area that is very popular with visitors, particularly those in the domestic market. Today I want to report on the Deloitte Access Economics’ Tourism and hotel market outlook: half yearly update 2013, which reveals more good news on the health of the Queensland tourism industry. For the Gold Coast, Deloittes report average occupancy rates over the year to March 2013 at 71 per cent, an increase in four per cent from March 2012. This means that more visitors are staying at Gold Coast hotels and resorts and enjoying all the delights that the region has to offer. When you include the huge increase in passenger movements reported by Gold Coast Airport—and I remind honourable members that the Gold Coast Airport saw an incredible increase of 19.3 per cent in international passenger movements—this is great news for the Gold Coast but also great news for Queensland. For Brisbane, Deloittes report average occupancy rates over the year to March 2013 at 79.3 per cent. We are working closely in partnership with industry to attract investment in Brisbane CBD hotels to improve upon this figure.

2704 Motion 21 Aug 2013

In March this year together with Mayor Quirk I launched a joint Queensland government- Brisbane Marketing guide to hotel investment in Brisbane to deal with a growing bed shortage in our fair capital city. The report also provides forecasts on visitor nights that will be of interest to the House. I speak of India, where there is a boost in visitor nights of 8.6 per cent. I understand the Premier visited there recently so obviously he has done quite a bit in promoting our fair Queensland to India. Unsurprisingly, though, the report forecasts that China will play a key part in our tourism future, with a 6.7 per cent per annum growth in visitor nights. Chinese visitors spend, on average, $212 a day compared to $99 for the average international holiday visitor. That assists us to double our goal of overnight visitor expenditure from $15 billion to $30 billion by the year 2020. The growth in the Chinese holiday visitor market towards 2020 will bring an extra 278,000 visitor nights and 145,000 annual visitor nights for tropical North Queensland. Add 278,000 extra visitors for the Gold Coast to those of tropical North Queensland and we are looking at a lot more Chinese visitors. These forecasts are a sign of international confidence returning to Queensland after some very dark years under a Labor government. We recognise the need to do more and that is why all roads will lead to the Gold Coast next week for the DestinationQ tourism industry conference. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! The time for questions has expired. (Time expired)

MOTION

Revocation of Protected Areas Hon. AC POWELL (Glass House—LNP) (Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection) (3.30 pm): I move— (1) That this House requests the Governor in Council to revoke by regulation under sections 32 and 70E of the Nature Conservation Act 1992 the dedication of protected area and forest reserves as set out in the proposal tabled by me in the House today viz

Description of areas to be revoked

Nicoll Scrub National Park Area described as lot 51 on SP261072 and containing an area of 99m2 as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “A”.

Tamborine National Park Area described as lot 1 and the area shown and described on SP149051 as road to be opened, containing an area of 308m2 as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “B”.

Eungella National Park Area described as lots 1 to 3 on SP235546 and lots 7 and 8 on SP249157 and containing an area of 4.119 hectares as illustrated on the attached sketches marked “C” and “D”.

Maria Creek National Park Area described as lot 1 on SP239450 and containing an area of 3.027 hectares as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “E”.

Tewantin National Park Area described as lot 201 on SP255083 and containing an area of 2.1931 hectares as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “F”.

Yurol Forest Reserve Area described as lot 202 on SP255083 and containing an area of 0.4831 hectares as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “G”.

Glastonbury Forest Reserve Area described as lot 1 on AP19303 and containing an area of about 55.9 hectares as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “H”.

Kelvin Forest Reserve Area described as lot 10 on SP253071 and containing an area of 3.931 hectares as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “I”.

Monkhouse Forest Reserve Area described as lot 14 on SP252498 and containing an area of 900m2 as illustrated on the attached sketch marked “J”.

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(2) That Madam Speaker and the Clerk of the Parliament forward a copy of this resolution to the Minister for Environment for submission to the Governor in Council. With such a large and disperse protected area estate in Queensland, there is the occasional need to revoke the dedication of small areas for practical and valid reasons. The common-sense changes that I will outline today will correct boundary inconsistencies, achieve more effective management boundaries through land exchanges, or allow for the upgrade or expansion of public infrastructure such as roads and railways. Careful consideration has been given to each proposal, and in each instance consultation has occurred with the affected stakeholders and state and local government agencies. Native title matters have also been considered in relation to the above proposals and in each case it has been determined that the action may proceed. I will quickly outline the background for each proposal and the compensation arrangements that have been agreed to for the loss of conservation values where applicable. In the case of Nicoll Scrub National Park, the proposal is for the revocation of 99 square metres. Nicoll Scrub National Park is located about 14 kilometres south-east of Springbrook. The proposal will resolve an historic boundary incursion and land use issue between the state and a private individual. In exchange, an area of 200 square metres of native vegetation will be made available for addition to Nicoll Scrub National Park. The proposal for Tamborine National Park, which is about 14 kilometres north-west of Nerang, is for the revocation of 308 square metres. This will correct an erroneous surveying error, which I am led to believe occurred as long ago as 1925 when part of a private individual’s land was incorrectly added to the national park. The revocation action will correct a boundary alignment in one area of the national park and open a second area as a public road. Two revocation proposals, totalling 4.119 hectares, concern Eungella National Park, which is located about 70 kilometres west of Mackay. The first proposal is for the revocation of just over four hectares and will locate the gazetted alignment for part of Dalrymple Road onto its actual physical location and will not require any roadworks to be undertaken. The second proposal is for the revocation of 300 square metres and is for important road safety and alignment upgrades of parts of Crediton Loop Road. In exchange for the two proposals, an area of just under 4½ hectares of undeveloped road reserve will be made available for addition to Eungella National Park. The Maria Creek National Park proposal is for the revocation of 3.027 hectares from Maria Creek National Park, which is located about three kilometres north-west of Kurrimine Beach. The proposal will resolve a dedication error which occurred when part of a privately owned prawn farm was incorrectly gazetted national park. In exchange, monetary compensation will be provided to offset the loss of conservation values. Proposals in Tewantin National Park and Yurol Forest Reserve are for the revocation of 2.1931 hectares from Tewantin National Park and 4,831 square metres from Yurol Forest Reserve, both being located about four kilometres north-west of Cooroy. The proposal is for important road safety and alignment upgrades as part of the Bruce Highway at Cooroy Connection Road—Elm Street. In exchange, monetary compensation will be provided to offset the loss of conservation values. The proposal at Glastonbury Forest Reserve is for the revocation of the whole of Glastonbury Forest Reserve, about 55.9 hectares, which is located about 57 kilometres north-west of Nambour. The proposal will resolve a longstanding land use agreement between the state and a private individual. I understand it goes back to the South East Queensland Forestry Agreement. In Kelvin Forest Reserve the proposal is for the revocation of 3.931 hectares. Kelvin Forest Reserve is located about 51 kilometres south of Mackay. The proposal is for the partial duplication of the existing Goonyella rail corridor connecting the northern Bowen Basin with the port of Hay Point. In exchange, approximately 26 hectares of largely undeveloped native vegetation will be made available for addition to Kelvin Forest Reserve. Finally, regarding Monkhouse Forest Reserve, this proposal is for the revocation of the whole of Monkhouse Forest Reserve, equating to some 900 square metres, which is located about 32 kilometres south of Cooktown. The proposal will enable land to be granted to the Jabalbina Yalanji Land Trust in accordance with the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people native title determination. The member for Mulgrave has my apologies for my mispronunciation. I recommend that the parliament supports the revocation of the protected areas and forest reserves, or parts thereof, specified in the proposals. I commend the motion to the House.

2706 Education Legislation Amendment Bill 21 Aug 2013

Mr BYRNE (Rockhampton—ALP) (3.35 pm): I rise to contribute to the motion moved by the Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection allowing for the revocation of land from the national park estate. I would like to state from the outset that the opposition supports this motion. Three of these revocations include a land exchange with larger areas being added to the protected area estate than are being revoked. This is most notable with the Kelvin Forest Reserve, where about five times as much land will be added to the reserve than will be removed. Three of the changes under consideration involve monetary compensation, which can be redirected to further acquisitions or conservation purposes. Several of these revocations enable important road safety works to be undertaken, which the opposition believes is in the public interest. There are also a number of historical surveying errors, boundary encroachments and land tenure anomalies which will be rectified. The opposition supports these changes. I would like to thank the minister and his staff for taking the time to provide me with a briefing on this motion earlier this afternoon. The documents he gave me reinforce my earlier view taken from the documents tabled back in May that these are logical, common-sense revocations. Again, the opposition lends support to the motion. Hon. AC POWELL (Glass House—LNP) (Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection) (3.36 pm), in reply: I commend the motion to the House. Question put—That the motion be agreed to. Motion agreed to.

EDUCATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL Resumed from 16 April (see p. 959).

Second Reading Hon. JH LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—LNP) (Minister for Education, Training and Employment) (3.37 pm): I move— That the bill be now read a second time. I would like to thank the Education and Innovation Committee for its report tabled on 16 July 2013 regarding the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. I am pleased to note that the committee supports the bill and recommends that it be passed. The committee also made a number of recommendations which I will now respond to. The committee’s second recommendation is that I confirm in the House that tuition fee charging practices for students listed on page 2 of the explanatory notes will not change as a result of the bill. Page 2 of the explanatory notes lists the type of international students who enrol in state schools in Queensland. These include refugees, children of asylum seekers, children of temporary skilled migrants, New Zealanders, persons on student visas and dependent students, that is, children of international visitors who are studying for vocational or higher educational qualifications. I am pleased to confirm for the committee and all members that there is no intention to amend the tuition fee charging practices for international students. The proposed amendments are not aimed at broadening charging practices but, rather, to support my department’s ability to recoup outstanding tuition fees from those families who are charged fees, namely, parents of dependent students. The committee’s third recommendation is that I develop and publish on my department’s website a fact sheet in simple English and relevant community languages to outline the process the department can take in the event that tuition fees for certain international students are not paid. The government accepts this recommendation and confirms that a fact sheet will be posted on the Education Queensland International website. There is already a comprehensive section on this website regarding the enrolment of dependant students. Details will be added to this information about the process related to the cancellation of enrolment for nonpayment of tuition fees. Education Queensland International will also prepare a fact sheet to underpin this information and specifically address the issues raised by the committee. The committee’s fourth recommendation is that I amend the bill to require that 14 days notice be provided to fee-paying international students enrolled after commencement of the amendments. I am pleased that this was the only recommendation the committee made for amendment to the bill.

21 Aug 2013 Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2707

The government does not support this recommendation. I can nevertheless assure the committee and all members that the administrative practices used by my department to recoup outstanding tuition fees will support parents being given ample opportunity to rectify nonpayment and support the ongoing enrolment of affected students. The cancellation of enrolment will be a last resort following reminder letters and an invitation to enter into a payment plan. Enrolment will not be cancelled without first advising parents of the outstanding fees and discussing various options to satisfy payment of the outstanding fees; however, it is not proposed to prescribe in the bill the cancellation process because it can be a seesawing one whereby plans are entered into and payment could stop and start several times. Parents will be able to apply to re-enrol their child at any time after cancellation subsequent to payment of outstanding fees. The committee’s fifth and final recommendation is that I amend the explanatory notes to correct some minor typographical errors. The government accepts this recommendation, and I now table an erratum to the explanatory notes to correct the typographical errors contained within. Tabled paper: Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013, erratum to explanatory notes [3273]. The committee also raised a number of points for clarification in its report. Responses to these matters are contained in the government’s response to the committee’s report, which I now table. Tabled paper: Education and Innovation Committee: Report No. 11—Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013, government response [3274]. However, I would like to respond specifically to the committee’s first point of clarification regarding transitional arrangements for non-state schools moving to offer year 7 as secondary education from 2015. The committee has sought clarification about whether it might be appropriate to offer a streamlined accreditation process for non-state stand-alone primary schools that wish to continue to offer year 7 beyond 2015 as secondary education. Here the committee is referring to a primary school accredited to offer education from the preparatory year to year 7. The government believes that the transition processes proposed in the bill for stand-alone non-state primary schools is appropriate. A school wishing to offer year 7 as secondary education from 2015 onwards will be required to apply in the usual way to add secondary accreditation. As these schools are not experienced in providing secondary education, it is appropriate and reasonable that the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board has the capacity to assess the school’s proposed educational program, facilities and staffing arrangements. The bill enables the application to add secondary accreditation for year 7 to be processed before 2015, when the technical amendments changing the definitions of primary and secondary education will commence. Also, schools which are currently eligible for government funding for year 7 as primary will be deemed eligible for funding for year 7 as secondary. This may reduce processing time by as much as five months. This bill provides necessary technical amendments to Queensland legislation to support the government’s commitment to move year 7 to secondary school. It will provide transitional arrangements to support non-state schools to change their accreditation arrangements in preparation for the move of year 7. It will formally recognise the government’s policy that the preparatory year is the first formal year of schooling in Queensland and the government’s commitment to provide 13 years of state schooling. Finally, it will allow for the cancellation of the enrolment of international students at state schools for nonpayment of tuition fees. I commend the bill to the House. Ms PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (Leader of the Opposition) (3.45 pm): Can I state at the outset that the opposition will be supporting this bill. It is very practical in nature. I also want to take this opportunity to place on record my thanks to the committee in relation to their recommendations. I have listened to what the minister has said in response to the recommendations. From the opposition’s point of view, we are quite comfortable with what he has proposed. I do acknowledge that he has taken on board the committee’s proposal in relation to providing a fact sheet that will provide assistance, especially to those overseas students coming from different countries to ensure that it is in their language. I thank the minister for that. In relation to this bill there are perhaps three key components, the first of which is supporting the implementation of the move of year 7 to secondary school from 2015. Members of this House, especially those new members, might not be aware that this was an initiative under the former Labor government. It is good to see that the government has endorsed this proposal and is following through on it. It is the right thing to do. In relation to moving year 7 into secondary school, it is good to see that we actually have bipartisan support in relation to this matter. It is needed.

2708 Education Legislation Amendment Bill 21 Aug 2013

This is an initiative that the former government spent a lot of time considering all aspects of. We do know that initially there were some concerns from parents, but now we have prep coming into our primary school system, and I think the participation rate for children enrolled in prep is around 97 per cent. My niece is currently at prep, and the development that has taken place in the first eight months means that she is just so much more ready to go into year 1 next year. I think having that prep component in our schools is great for our young children. It gives them great opportunities, and I think that all members can be proud that we are actually making reforms in education that are being felt right across the state and are wholeheartedly benefiting our young children. In the future, as a result of this extra year of schooling, our children will be suited for a different type of Queensland—a Queensland that will need young minds which are ready for innovation and ready to take up challenges. I think many members here could even go back to their days of schooling when we did not even have computers in primary school. To now see prep students utilising iPads is something that I did not think I would see in my lifetime. But perhaps we will see a much more computer-literate generation as we move with the advances that are happening in our state and which will make Queensland much better. In relation to the third aspect, which is international students, I might just make a few comments here, if I may. The bill also will allow the Director-General of the department to cancel the enrolment of international students for the nonpayment of fees. A student who is not an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident or a child of an Australian citizen or permanent resident is required to pay fees for state school education. If a family is in financial hardship, a payment plan can be entered into or fees may be exempted or waived. I agree with the Education and Innovation Committee that, excluding those children listed in the explanatory notes, it is appropriate that international students be required to pay fees for a state education. Parents are made aware of their obligation to pay fees when they apply for visas to enter Australia, and they must show evidence of their capacity to pay before a visa is granted. This condition is established under Commonwealth law. It is noted that there are safeguards in place to ensure that these provisions cancelling a child’s enrolment are used as a last resort. These safeguards include warning parents or carers before any enrolment is cancelled, the option of entering into a payment plan and retaining the power to exempt a person from having to pay fees under certain circumstances. This bill before us is straightforward, but in my closing comments I cannot escape the fact today that the minister said in question time that if he approves a briefing note, it is not really an approval. I have very grave concerns about this. As the education minister of this state responsible for a large budget, when you are a minister of the Crown you have to be fully aware of what you are signing. If you approve something, and you circle it, and you sign it, and you have more than— Mr LANGBROEK: Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise to a point of order.

Ms PALASZCZUK: You have more than enough opportunity— Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, please resume your seat. Ms PALASZCZUK:—to present those other briefing notes. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, please do not ignore my instructions. I call the minister with a point of order. Mr LANGBROEK: The Leader of the Opposition has every opportunity to ask me about that tomorrow—and the misrepresentation that we heard from them today in question time. This has nothing to do with this bill. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am going to ask the Leader of the Opposition to return to the bill. Ms PALASZCZUK: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The briefing note in question related to education and my comments were broad in that the minister would sign off a number of briefing notes—in relation to moving year 7 into high school, in relation to prep, in relation to asset disposal or in relation to overseas students studying here. So the minister has the opportunity to sign off on briefing notes on a broad number of topics. An approval is an approval. They are the clear points I wanted to make to the minister. In relation to the specifics of the bill, the opposition will be supporting this bill wholeheartedly.

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Mrs MENKENS (Burdekin—LNP) (3.50 pm): I am delighted to be able to speak to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill. I congratulate the minister on bringing this bill to the parliament. The Education and Innovation Committee examined this bill to consider the policy outcomes that would be achieved as well as to determine its consistency with fundamental legislative principles. I noted the minister’s comments on the recommendations the committee made. I thank him very much for his response to those. On behalf of the committee I thank the Director-General of the Department of Education, Training and Employment, Dr Jim Watterston, and the other five members of staff who briefed the committee on this bill. Six submissions were received. These were taken into consideration by the committee. I thank those submitters for their input. This is a significant piece of legislation that affects the future of education in Queensland, with the implementation of the move of year 7 to secondary school and the inclusion of the prep year in a state school’s basic allocation. The bill also allows for the cancellation of enrolment of international students for nonpayment of fees. The transition of year 7 to secondary school and the recognition of the prep year are part of the Flying Start education reforms which were highlighted in the previous government’s white paper in 2011. The Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 defines primary education as prep to year 7 and defines secondary education as years 8 to 12. This bill makes a number of technical amendments to education legislation to actually define year 7 as secondary education from 2015. Year 7 is part of secondary school in most other states in Australia. Certainly many non-government schools in Queensland have already successfully had this implemented for some years. Along with the prep year, this now allows for 13 years of formal schooling. Quite a few of my constituents who visited me a couple of years ago had major concerns about the changes. They were worried about how young the children would be as year 7 students going into high school and potentially mixing with 17-year-old and 18-year-old students. With the advent of prep, these children are six months older than was the case before, and thus will be only six months younger than the current year 8s when they enter secondary school. Many parents did express concerns about this, but certainly the schools that are trialling this currently seem to be overcoming that problem. Some principals have said that, particularly in the larger schools, the younger students are often in another area of the school and do not even have the opportunity to mix with the older students. Those who made submissions to the committee’s inquiry gave general support to the inclusion of year 7 in secondary school. There were some concerns raised about the transitional arrangements for this to occur, but the department did address these at quite some length and very well. The committee particularly noted in the points for clarification—about accreditation for schools that were raised in submissions—that the responses from the department did make it quite clear that a streamlined approach is available for schools that are provisionally accredited. An issue was raised by Independent Schools Queensland about independent schools that wish to offer year 7 in primary school. The committee did seek clarification from the minister on whether there were circumstances in which it might be appropriate to offer a streamlined accreditation process for independent primary schools or other schools that currently offer year 7 and want to have accreditation to continue to offer year 7. I thank the minister for his explanation. The explanatory notes outline the situation where a stand-alone primary school that is already registered to deliver P-7 may under certain circumstances need to continue to deliver year 7; however, it would be delivered as a secondary year. There would then arise the need for the school to become accredited to offer this secondary year, as it would require different resourcing and so on to do so. The amendments do make provision for this process to apply for those schools that are currently eligible for government funding for the delivery of year 7. This is an issue that people from the west have also raised with me. Those in small western communities have been worried about that. This situation could occur in those areas that have a stand-alone primary school but may not offer secondary school. It is very good to see that the government has acknowledged there may be a need for this in regional and remote areas. From 2015, year 7 will become part of secondary education right across the state. All schools will have to comply with this. Schools must commence delivery of year 7 as secondary on or after 1 January 2015 and before 1 March 2016. The recognition of prep as part of a student’s basic education did not attract any negative comments in the submissions. Under the act, all students attending a state school are currently entitled to 24 semesters of education. With the inclusion of prep it has become formally recognised as

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the first year of schooling. The main issue that was raised about the inclusion of the prep year was a lack of clarity around homeschooling and subsequent access to the remaining allocations. However, I thank the department for how well they addressed that issue. Another issue that was raised by the QTU was that prep should be compulsory and that the definition of ‘school age’ should be amended to reflect this. However, it was very interesting to note in the department’s response that enrolment numbers are very high in the prep year, at around 97 per cent. Bearing in mind that prep is not compulsory, I think that figure is very interesting and certainly shows the community’s acceptance of prep. There is no need for it to be made compulsory when one considers those figures. There are times when parents genuinely do consider their child too immature, at 4½ years of age, to commence formal education. There may be other reasons as well. Certainly this gives them that flexibility. It would be interesting to know, though, why not all parents enrol their children in prep. The other area of this bill addresses the situation where certain international students who have not paid their fees may have their enrolment cancelled. In his introductory speech the minister noted that all states charge tuition fees to dependent overseas students. Queensland students are charged $8,000 to $10,000 per year, according to the year of enrolment. Parents seeking to come to Australia are informed of these charges for their children before they apply for their visa. They must also prove to the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship that they are able to pay those fees. However, here in Queensland, if people defaulted on those payments there was no legislative facility to cancel the enrolment of their children. Of course, that is what this bill seeks to address. It is noted that not all children from overseas are required to pay fees. This is dependent on their particular visa. Certainly, children of refugee status are not required to pay schooling fees. There is currently $1.5 million outstanding that the department has had difficulty in recouping, which has created the need for this amendment. Where parents face financial hardship there are provisions whereby fees may be exempted or waived, or payment plans may be entered into to enable payment of these fees over a period of time. One of the recommendations of the committee was that the Minister for Education, Training and Employment develop and publish a fact sheet in simple English and relevant community languages on the department website. I certainly thank the minister for accepting that recommendation. I appreciate his acknowledgement of it. This is a piece of legislation that is very important for education in Queensland and for its future delivery. The Newman government and Minister Langbroek are committed to the delivery of world-class education to Queensland children and adults. The Newman government Great Teachers = Great Results action plan for schools focuses on our teachers and acknowledges and values our teachers—the most important resource of education. This is a plan that has been backed by research and features 15 actions aimed at lifting standards of teaching and giving schools more flexibility to get on with the job. Professional excellence in teachers is paramount and this is an action plan that focuses on lifting the standards of teachers and school leaders. I want to share some very interesting comments from some students. While attending a Queensland Plan discussion with Home Hill State High School student leaders a couple of weeks ago, students themselves brought up how important teachers are and also their perception in the community—that is, what people in the community think of teachers. These students felt that teachers have the most important role of all of the professions, but this is not reflected in the community perception of teachers. Actually, I agree with the children in this regard. Their vision for the 30-year future— Mr Rickuss interjected. Mrs MENKENS: I hear where the member for Lockyer is coming from. Perhaps I am biased, but we will not go there. Seriously, let me get back to what these students said. These students’ vision for the 30-year future is that teachers will be accorded a much higher role of respect within the community because of the important role they play and the enormous influence that teachers have on young people. I thought that this was worthy to note as this came from students themselves, because schools are really important in all of our electorates. Including special education, there are 47 schools in the Burdekin electorate and they are all great schools. They range from several one-teacher schools such as Gumlu and Osborne through to the magnificent William Ross State High School in Townsville. Each school has its own particular strengths and character, and that is certainly something to which the school community and the staff contribute. One of the real joys in the role we have as parliamentarians is being able to visit our schools.

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Many students attending schools in the Townsville end of my electorate are from families who are part of the defence forces. Many of those students have attended schools right across Australia as their parents are transferred to all states. Bringing year 7 into secondary school in line with other states should make that transition across states perhaps less difficult for those students and others who have transferred across the states. The move of year 7 into secondary level certainly has the support of all of the submitters to the committee and I also note that the move has the support of both sides of the House. I congratulate the minister for introducing these positive changes to education in Queensland. I also thank the members of the committee for their cooperation and the research staff for their tireless efforts. I commend this bill to the House. Mr BENNETT (Burnett—LNP) (4.02 pm): I also rise to support the Education Legislation Amendment Bill. The Queensland government’s commitment to move year 7 from primary to secondary education from 2015 will give these students the opportunity to not only have the same learning experience as the majority of their interstate peers but also enjoy the maximum benefit of the Australian Curriculum through specialist teaching staff and facilities. The abundantly clear message that came through during the community consultation period was that what matters most is the quality of education our young people receive and that they are well supported through the tender years of early adolescence and making the transition from primary school to high school. With this in mind, secondary school is without a doubt the right place for year 7 students. In its submission to the inquiry into the Education Legislation Amendment Bill, Queensland’s peak parent body, P&Cs Queensland, stated that— ... it is important to amend the Bill to include Year 7 in the definition of secondary school from 2015 as the majority of year 7 students in Queensland will be in their eighth year of school by 2015. It comes as no surprise then that pilot schools are currently reporting strong attendance, participation and engagement by year 7 students and their parents. They are in the correct environment with the appropriate resources for students at their level. We look forward to seeing the results of the formal evaluations of the pilot schools that will be conducted later in this current school year. It is important to acknowledge the impact on families with students moving to high school a year earlier, especially in regional and remote locations. I refer to communities like Bargara, Agnes Water and Moore Park Beach that would benefit from having their own high school, but the travel will be an issue. Another change for the better that will result from the amendments in this legislation takes place at the beginning of a child’s education in that prep will be formally recognised as the first year of schooling. The addition of a full year of quality education for our students comes with the full support of the Queensland Teachers Union, which has consulted closely with this and the previous government to see this change come to fruition. Having prep as the formal commencement of schooling will allow schools to give their students the best possible foundation for their entire education. I turn now to the administrative requirements for non-state schools to comply with the new definitions of primary school as ‘prep to year 6’ and high school as ‘year 7 to year 12’. From day one our government has promised to reduce red tape wherever possible, and this situation is no exception. It pleases me to note that the bill provides for a streamlined process that will be easy and straightforward for the non-state schools in the Burnett electorate that will need to change their accreditation status for 2015. One of these schools in my electorate is the Bundaberg Christian College, which is one of 130 independent schools across Queensland that offers prep to year 12 on one campus. Under the bill, for these independent schools such as the Bundaberg Christian College that offer both primary and secondary, it will simply be a matter of notifying the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board that they propose to deliver year 7 as secondary education. This simple process will reduce the administrative burden on the schools as well as on the accreditation board itself. The final important amendment made by this bill is another that I fully support. It allows for the cancellation of enrolment of international students at state schools when tuition fees have not been paid. In its submission to the inquiry, the Queensland Teachers Union agreed that if international students are to utilise the resources and services of state schools it is reasonable that they should contribute to the cost of providing these services. However, at this point in time the state currently has around $1.5 million of tuition fees outstanding from international students, with very little chance of recouping the debt due to the lengthy time frames and relative ineffectiveness of civil enforcement options. The only way to stop this from happening and to ensure that the resources of state schools are not being drained unnecessarily is for cancellation of enrolment to become a real and genuine

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deterrent. Of course the government recognises that all human beings have a basic right to education. We will certainly not be cancelling enrolments without first exploring the full financial situation of each family and working with them to enable payment of fees. The parents will be given at least three warnings to either pay the outstanding fees or enter into a payment arrangement. The director-general will also have the discretion to waive fees where exceptional circumstances exist. We expect that, under this process with the cancellation of enrolment being a real possibility, families will be encouraged to communicate with the department rather than ignoring requests for payment, as has happened in the past. In closing, I commend the minister and the department for their vision for the education of our children and the amendments in the bill that will allow the education system to work more effectively. I take this opportunity to thank the committee staff—Bernice, Emily, Greg and Carolyn—and thank my fellow members of the committee for the bipartisan way that this was done. Mr BOOTHMAN (Albert—LNP) (4.07 pm): Today I rise to speak to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013—a bill that shows this government’s unwavering commitment to education in this state. Before I speak to the bill itself, I want to thank my fellow committee members, committee staff and our committee chair, Rosemary Menkens. It is always a privilege having you as our committee chair. You are always a guiding light for us. Albert, as I keep alluding to in this House, is a part of the growth corridor of the northern Gold Coast and the southern Logan regions. It is made up of young families. As at June 2011, the Albert electorate’s most numerous age group was 25 to 44, making up about 32 per cent of the population. The age bracket between zero to 14—the age group that this bill directly affects—makes up about 25 per cent of the population in Albert and roughly equates to 15,000 individuals. The state-wide average for the bracket of zero to 14 is 19.4 per cent, so that just goes to show how many more individuals of that young age reside in the Albert electorate. These figures show how this legislation will impact in the electorate of Albert compared to other places in Queensland. Education is a key cornerstone for Albert families. As a parent—and I am sure I can speak for all of us here—we want what is best for our children. Enrolment and full-time attendance in prep are considered essential to enable students to take full advantage of the Australian Curriculum and develop the foundation skills and knowledge and understanding for this level of schooling. This bill recognises prep as the first year of schooling and ensures the basic allocation of semesters for a student in order to complete school from prep to year 12. The aim of the bill is to maximise the attendance of students to give them the best start in life and help them achieve success. I must add that in a recent visit by Police Commissioner Ian Stewart to Highland Reserve State School he certainly conveyed a positive impression of what he saw at the school. I have to add that, as we were walking past a classroom, one of the younger students, who may have been in prep—he was certainly of that age group—yelled out, ‘There must be a big police investigation in the school today having all of these police officers around.’ That just shows members how young minds are very inquisitive and how they are certainly open to their environment. They know what is going on. So at this age it is imperative for our students to have prep as a core basis of their education. Giving our children the best start in life is crucial. Prep is designed to prepare students for the demands of school life. Some may say that this bill is only a symbolic amendment, but I certainly feel that it is a lot more. It is a commitment to providing 13 years of state education and providing a framework for our future. As a parent of a two-year-old daughter who is an absolute whiz on the iPad—she knows how to play education games et cetera—I know the world is changing and that we must adjust to keep up with future technologies. Certainly, having prep to get kids’ minds developing early is crucial. This bill also includes amendments to streamline the transition of year 7 to secondary schools. In recent times, the Coomera and Albert electorates have experienced a massive amount of development and schools have been constructed to handle a large increase in population in those areas, especially in Pimpama, Coomera Springs, Coomera and Upper Coomera. The new Pimpama State Secondary College is physically located in the electorate of Coomera—next door to my electorate—represented by Michael Crandon MP, who is a very good hardworking colleague of mine. That new school had a year 7 cohort allocated to it on its opening. I should add that, as my electorate is part of the southern Logan and northern Gold Coast growth corridor, there has been an influx of students and the government continues to fund crucial expansion of education facilities in my electorate. As I have enlightened the House, recently the

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Norfolk Village State School received funding for additional classrooms, costing $1.5 million. Highland Reserve State School has also been allocated temporary classrooms to meet the demands of a growing population. The principals of those schools, Chris Capra and David Roach, are certainly very strong voices for their schools. All the school principals in the Albert electorate are very vocal in terms of getting what is best for their students. The department is well aware of the growth requirements of my electorate. I harass the department on a regular basis fighting for what is necessary for my local area. This move of year 7 to secondary education gives year 7 students access to specialised secondary teachers and facilities that are appropriate to their age group and academic challenges. This move maximises the benefit of the Australian Curriculum and puts Queensland on a par with schools in other states. The bill also helps address concerns by non-state schools by reducing the administrative burdens that are associated with their accreditation to offer year 7 in secondary schools. The removal of these burdens makes it possible for non-state schools to offer year 7 education in secondary schools for 2015. That should significantly reduce the processing time for accreditation. Furthermore, the accreditation boards will not need to consider a school’s ability to meet the prescribed accreditation requirements if the school is accredited to offer secondary education. If a non-state school wishes to offer year 7 after 2015 as secondary education, it will have to apply for accreditation. As I say, this move of year 7 to secondary school puts Queensland on a par with other jurisdictions and it certainly is positive for education in this state. This bill does not change the rules on compulsory schooling. However, it makes an important amendment to allow for the cancellation of enrolments of international students at state schools for the nonpayment of tuition fees. In this regard Queensland is not alone, as all states charge tuition fees to dependant students. All parents are advised before they apply for a visa that they must enrol their children in school and that they must provide to the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship evidence that they have sufficient funds to pay school fees. Currently, I believe there is about $1.5 million owing in outstanding tuition fees, which the department is experiencing difficulty recouping. To prevent any confusion, I should add that students entering Australia on New Zealand passports or refugee families do not need to pay school fees. That arrangement will not change as a result of the bill. My electorate has quite a large number of people from New Zealand. It is great to see that all sides of the House are supporting this bill. This is a very proactive bill. It is crucial to recognise prep as the first year of learning. So I thank the opposition for supporting this bill, because this is the best way forward for our state. We are the custodians of this state and our children are our future. I believe that this bill will certainly be a positive move forward for Queensland. I certainly commend the bill to the House. Dr DOUGLAS (Gaven—UAP) (4.16 pm): We of the UAP support this bill. It seems to adequately address those issues related to bringing year 7 into the revised secondary school structure in Queensland. It also addresses the issue of correcting the links with the prep school. Such is the comprehensive massive issue of change that has to occur for this process to succeed, this legislation addresses some of the critical issues that will assist this process. I congratulate the committee on a very detailed report and a series of recommendations. Initially, I would like to acknowledge the role of the chair. I was not on the committee, but I heard the presentation and I have read the reports and the legislation. The longstanding member for Burdekin presided over this legislation and its review. As a former teacher, for her it must have been rather serendipitous to be facilitating something that many teachers like her would have wished for their students for a very long time and I congratulate her for being part of that process. The report also demonstrates that not only can the committee process value-add but that at the public hearings many interesting issues are raised that would not otherwise get a hearing. In fact, the member for Burdekin noted that she agreed with one of the students on a critical issue that many parliamentarians and other people in the committee might not otherwise support. That is a rather interesting element of this serendipitous committee process. Additionally, what happens with examination of these types of non-controversial bills is that the issues raised by the committee process yield ideas and flag possible amendments to bills for the future. That makes legislation workable and it is easier for people such as the education minister to work towards these bills, using them as a type of plan and as a type of template. That is the real value of the committee process. In the past so-called cosmetic bills, template legislation bills and minor

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omnibus amendment bills were dealt with in a procedural manner. Now, they are dealt with in the committee process with proper scrutiny and considered opinion and we get a much better result for having done so. The nature of education in a modern world is in many ways different to that of the past and, rather paradoxically, very similar to that of the past. More specifically, to explain that, modern teaching methods, the curriculums, the processes now, the structures—we have prep here in Queensland and also grade 7 going into secondary school—are massive changes. But whether we consider them reforms or not and whether those reforms succeed may take us seven to 10 years to ascertain. In contrast to that, what is the same is what parents want from schooling for their children, what children want from their own schooling and from their friendships that they make at school and, finally, what teachers want from their pupils. In answer to all three questions they would have to say that they want the very best that a system can provide for them. This legislation, we can only hope, will make those things more likely. I was one of the children of the final year of prep in Queensland before these new changes came along. Equally I was in primary school when three years ahead of me grade 7 moved back into the primary school. We used to have the intermediate and grade 8. Mr Rickuss: Scholarship. Dr DOUGLAS: Scholarship or intermediate. Some of the members here would have remembered that. Grade 7 was called form 1 in those days and you were part of the secondary school at that stage. There were a lot of people who felt very strongly, when these changes came about, that they were regressive steps. I think to some extent they have been corrected very formatively by what has been done here. It is an ongoing process. Around the time of the original changes there was debate and a lot of unhappiness. Some of the private schools were very defensive and felt it should not be changed and, interestingly enough, some of the high schools and some of the major state schools—which had very strong headmasters and headmistresses in those days—were strongly opposed to some of the changes and the government eventually conceded to some of their demands. It just goes to show that there is not always one way of doing these things, there are probably many ways. I think inherently these changes are good and I think that this bill will facilitate them. Whilst we are talking about better models and what comes of it, about 100 years ago, interestingly enough, teachers had a very, very major role in communities. In fact, if you go back, historically in Greece they were almost revered as gods. The point was well made minutes ago by the member for Burdekin. At about the same time 100 years ago magistrates, teachers, doctors—to some extent although not as much—and also theatrical people, artistic people, were greatly revered in the community. People would have very strong relationships with their teachers all their lives and would often quote their teachers and what they learned when they were very young children. This picks up the fact that in prep these children are very young. What influences children in that first seven years of life makes that child for the rest of their life. They learn values. They learn all sorts of things. We are not necessarily asking schools to provide the same things that families in their homes provide, but they learn a lot from their teachers. I think this will go a long way to recognising the true role of teachers in children’s education and making us the society that we are. I hope that that brings the kind of confidence to the teachers that they are looking for. They certainly deserve it. I think it will improve our young people’s lives and make us a stronger society and a better community. This bill does that. I thank the members of the committee for what they did. I think this is a good piece of legislation. Mr LATTER (Waterford—LNP) (4.24 pm): I rise today to speak in support of the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. I thank and acknowledge my colleagues on the Education and Innovation Committee and also our very own shining beacon of guidance, the member for Burdekin. This bill seeks to address three issues that are primarily administrative in function. The first issue seeks to formalise the implementation of the move of year 7 to secondary school from 2015. I note that a great deal of work has gone into, and continues to go into, this exciting transition. Where I and my colleagues on the Education and Innovation Committee have been able to attend schools that have already embraced the move of year 7 to secondary school, I must say it was a pleasure to meet and speak to those students who demonstrated a great deal of excitement, if not some small trepidation, at the prospect of embarking on this new pathway towards a further education. This is a matter that has been considered, researched and debated at length previously. This bill simply seeks to address the issue of definition of primary education as opposed to secondary education and the

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provision of transitional arrangements. This bill also seeks to recognise prep in state schools as the first year of schooling in order to ensure that a state school student’s basic allocation allows sufficient semesters for a student to complete prep to year 12. Our schools know that early intervention in the form of better learning opportunities through prep provide our youth with the best possible opportunity for success. Indeed, I often attend my primary schools, have regular discussions with some of my principals and get to interact with our preppies. There is an absolute passion within our schools. Just last week I was at the Loganholme State School and recently I was at Mabel Park State School. They are achieving wonderful things in those schools. That focus on early learning is absolutely critical in this space. I note the comments by the Leader of the Opposition and her reference to preppies and their use of technology—iPads in particular. Having a daughter in prep, I know it can be both a wonderful and a very scary thing seeing them embark on this path. Indeed, she can navigate an iPad far better than I can—for that matter, so can my two-year-old son. It is very scary. This amendment further highlights not only the government’s commitment to providing 13 years of education, but also the government’s commitment to providing the best possible opportunities for our children. Finally, this bill will also allow for the cancellation of enrolment of international students at state schools for nonpayment of fees. At the outset I held some reservations about this proposal. For any government to wilfully impose such disadvantage as to deny a child an opportunity to gain an education is certainly contrary to my values. But while I have reservations, I can certainly say that my initial concerns were unfounded. It is simply not the case that the government is imposing such a disadvantage. In fact, the vulnerable are and will remain protected under the legislation. Fees can be exempted or waived or payment plans can be entered into to enable fees to be paid over a period of time. This measure remains specifically to support the truly vulnerable; to support families in financial hardship regardless of status or circumstance. This measure simply seeks to address the issue of those who are required under the legislation to pay fees, who have the means by which to pay those fees and have agreed under the terms of their visas to pay fees, but simply elect not to. They do this without any regard for the consequences. Civil mechanisms to pursue and/or recoup outstanding fees are often frustrated as offenders will often leave the country before civil enforcement options have been exhausted. Those targeted by this bill are depriving our schools of resources that benefit all students. I believe that this is a fair measure and will serve more as a deterrent than an actual penalty. I say again that there is and will remain sufficient scope to protect the truly vulnerable and address any such circumstances at the discretion of the school to meet any concerns regarding financial hardship. Again I thank and note the opposition’s support of this bill. On that basis I commend the bill to the House. Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (4.29 pm): I rise to make a short contribution to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill. I will go through the bill in the order that the matters are dealt with. I commend the amendment in relation to providing kindy through distance education. A lot of kids are not able to access a school readily and their older siblings receive education through distance education. For parents who are providing education in the home, it is very difficult to keep the little ones also involved and engaged. If the little ones are going to have a similar engagement to their older siblings, it will be good for them. It will stimulate the young ones and it will help the parents to provide educational and enjoyable activities for the younger children in a family, particularly where there are a number of children already receiving distance education. As a parent it can be difficult. When we moved out of town, my youngest did not go to kindy. I did not mind a messy house, so they were able to cut and glue and do all sorts of things. However, some families find it difficult to accommodate kindergarten-type activities, so to have things organised and provided at an appropriate level for those students will be welcome. It will give little children a great start to their educational futures. In relation to the reporting of sexual abuse, I believe that teachers take that responsibility very seriously. I think the unintended consequence where it could be a criminal offence was unintended and this change in the legislation is remedial. In my electorate we have wonderful teachers, principals and HODs. They do an amazing job, sometimes in difficult circumstances. They have the sensitivity and the experience in most cases to recognise where a child’s behaviour changes and where the potential for that change is through abuse, particularly sexual abuse. As I said, I believe all of those people take their responsibilities very seriously, so that remedial change is certainly welcome. In relation to international student fees, I want to raise an issue that was raised with me by a constituent only in the past fortnight. It involves a couple who are here on a 457 visa. I received an email that indicated that they were not paying fees and suddenly were told that they would have to

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start paying student fees. In the email, they commented that they feel aggrieved because they are working here in Australia, they are paying taxes in Queensland and they are paying all the other associated costs for working in Queensland and they ask why they have to pay student fees. I would be interested to know if the minister has any information in relation to that comment; I would welcome that. The vast majority of Queenslanders would agree that if somebody comes from overseas and is not paying their way in terms of the educational services that are provided to our students, they should make a contribution. I welcome the change in relation to the anniversary letters that are going to be sent to excluded students. It takes a very serious number of behaviours to have a student excluded for a protracted period, particularly a permanent exclusion. Some of those students will not change their behaviours, for a lot of reasons. Perhaps they come from a disadvantaged family background or from a family that is completely dysfunctional and they have not learnt socially acceptable behaviour. There has to be an opportunity to adjust their behaviours to make their inclusion in school acceptable. For some students, the very exclusion on a protracted period, whether it is permanent or over 12 months, is a wake-up call and they can address their unacceptable behaviours. Giving them the opportunity on a regular basis, albeit annually, to present to the Education Department reasons why they should be re-included into an educational stream gives them the opportunity to consider their future and also to make changes to their behaviour. It is not a permanently closed door. I welcome that change. I thank the Minister for Education. His is not an easy portfolio. Our teachers go above and beyond merely teaching our students the three Rs. In many instances, they are required to teach them social graces, to teach them communication and to teach them social interaction. As parents we have to step up to the mark and do more. I commend the teachers for their hard work. I support this legislation and I look forward to any information that the minister may be able to give me in relation to that constituent inquiry. Mr SYMES (Lytton—LNP) (4.35 pm): Today I rise to make a brief contribution on the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 as a member of the Education and Innovation Committee and also as a local member whose electorate will greatly benefit from this legislation. The main objective of the bill surrounds the smooth transition of year 7 from primary to secondary school. In collaboration with the department, numerous primary schools in the Lytton electorate have had or are in the process of hosting forums with parents about these changes to education in Queensland and, more importantly, on the Brisbane bayside. For example, throughout August and September Wynnum State High School and Brisbane Bayside State College are conducting various drop-in sessions to meet the principal and the staff over a cuppa and morning tea. The primary schools are hosting more formal information nights for parents to learn of the changes and how best to prepare their children to enter high school. As outlined in the 2013 budget, the Newman government is committed to investing approximately $4.5 million in a new building at Brisbane Bayside State College for the transition of year 7 into high school. Only a few weeks ago, it was great to attend the first morning tea with the principal and tour the school. I saw the construction plans at the administration block before visiting the proposed site on the school campus. I highlight another point that will be of interest to the wider community and the parliament. This amendment bill will give the Queensland government the ability to cancel the enrolment for international students in Queensland state schools for the nonpayment of school fees. Currently, the Department of Education is $1.5 million out of pocket for tuition fees from parents of dependent children. The advice from the department shows that, after the first year of enrolment, some parents who enrol their kids as per their visa stipulations ignore their payment requirements due to the department’s lack of power to cancel an enrolment due to the nonpayment of fees. This amendment will rectify the issue and save Queensland taxpayers in the long run. I commend my fellow committee members, the committee staff and the committee chair for their guidance in the analysis of the bill. I commend the bill to the House. Mr GULLEY (Murrumba—LNP) (4.38 pm): I rise to speak on behalf of the good people of Murrumba. I will try to avoid going over topics covered by previous speakers. I take this opportunity to compliment the Minister for Education. I come from an education background, having had a leadership role in a school, so I can speak on education from a position of knowledge. I take a slight diversion by acknowledging that the members of this chamber from our side of politics come from a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, which allows us to bring great depth to this government. I give a slight dig to the former government, the members of which all came from one small bubble.

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By drawing from a wide church, a wide range from within society, not only professionally but also ethically, clearly we bring a greater depth to government, as opposed to an organisation that draws from a small group of people. This afternoon we are debating the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. It is a bill for an act to amend the Child Care Act 2002, the Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Act 2001, the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 and the Education (Queensland Studies Authority) Act 2002. Part 4 of the bill deals with the transitional provisions for the Education Legislation Amendment Act 2013. This is common sense and recognises that year 7 will become part of high school and that year 6 will be the highest level in primary school. Why is this happening? The national curriculum, which we are all familiar with from the press, requires our education system to be similar to that of the other states, which is that the highest level of primary school is year 6. It goes deeper than that. It also allows early childhood education to be prep to year 3 and senior primary school to be years 4 to 6. It also allows year 7s, who are ready for high school, to attend high school. They will be part of junior high school which is years 7 to 9. I gained knowledge of this from my wife who is a secondary science teacher and supports moving year 7 into high school. Section 244 talks about funding. Funding is something near to an accountant’s heart. This will unfortunately have impacts for the Treasurer. When we move year 7 from primary school to high school there will be an impact on staffing ratios. The primary school staffing ratio is about 17 students to one teacher and the high school staffing ratio is about 13 students to one teacher. Why is that? In primary school students have a main teacher whereas in high school they have specialist teachers in English, maths et cetera. Unfortunately for the Treasurer, moving year 7 students to high school will create an operating cost. That is certainly something that needs to be considered. It also involves a capital cost. Some high schools have spare capacity. Fortunately, in my electorate that is the case. It is not just the case of having extra general learning areas or classrooms but having extra specialised classrooms when we go to the high school teaching model. The year 7s will require more time in the science labs, in the language labs and in the manual arts rooms. There are many high schools which will need a capital program. I heard the previous speaker give an example within his electorate. Part 4 of the bill deals with the amendment of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006. Clause 9 talks about the basic allocation. This clause is really a housekeeping clause. It is bringing the legislation into line with common practice. Attendance rates for prep are probably at 95 or 98 per cent even though it is not a legal requirement. That has certainly become the practice. I remember back to my first day of formal education in year 1 and the classrooms at Morningside State School. Mr Dillaway: Great school. Mr GULLEY: Great school, great electorate, but not as good as my electorate, may I say member for Bulimba. I digress for a moment and mention kindergarten which is a child’s first introduction to formal learning. They can go one, two or three days. It is an introduction to formal learning but is more play based than formal education. It is certainly a great innovation when compared to my childhood. Part 6 of the bill deals with the transitional provisions for the Education Legislation Amendment Act 2013. Section 515 deals with the ability of the chief executive to cancel enrolments for particular students. In this case we are focussing on the overseas students. Their parents had to prove as part of their visa process a capacity to pay and have to enrol their kids into local schools. If some parents of overseas students pay and some do not pay where is the fairness in that? I compliment the minister for bringing in this provision. I would implore the Attorney-General to be proactive, pragmatic and on the front foot in recovering these funds. Can I ask the Attorney-General to be compassionate where applicable and show our generosity as a society. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for your generosity in allowing me to speak on behalf of the people of Murrumba. It is a great place and I seek every day in this role to play my part in assisting in its growth and ensuring that its existing services are maintained and improved. I commend the bill to the House.

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Mr PUCCI (Logan—LNP) (4.45 pm): I rise today to contribute to the debate in favour of the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. This amendment bill is yet more evidence of our government’s commitment to improving education in Queensland and will offer our students and teachers real action and opportunities. Our government’s Great Teachers = Great Results initiative has seen the largest investment in the future of education for our great state in recent times. From providing opportunities for teachers to build on their skill sets, to improving the physical schooling environment and increasing prep teacher aide availability, these steps will continue to build on the government’s hard work to make Queensland the leading state in education across the country. This amendment bill will bring about three key changes that will see an evolution in the Queensland education system. The first will incorporate year 7 into the secondary school system as of 2015. The second will see additional semesters added to include prep into the basic allocation for state schools. The third will see students who are not citizens or permanent residents or a child of a citizen or permanent resident pay for tuition whilst attending a state school. Moving year 7 into the secondary system is a major change for our schools, students, the parents and families of students and the hardworking staff at each school across our great state. This amendment will see a change in the organisational structure of our schools, as well as the leadership culture that is embodied at the school level. Making year 7 the first year of high school from 2015 was a key outcome of the consultation period that occurred over the past several years and one that this government is committed to delivering as we set out to reinvigorate the education system and deliver real results. This amendment bill has received favourable support from the education sector and from parent and community groups. Meeting regularly with my local principals throughout the year, it is during these discussions that support from both primary and secondary principals has been positive towards the addition of year 7 to the secondary education system. In order to help prepare for the significant change to our system, a decision was made to pilot year 7 in high school in up to 20 state schools ahead of the state-wide move in 2015. Like many parents across our state, my wife and I have already experienced this change. My daughter’s school was one of the many schools across the state that trialled the introduction of prep and then year 7 into the secondary system. To quote my daughter Lidia, ‘It is a bit tougher, Daddy, but I like being in high school.’ That is the kind of thing that daddy likes to hear. As far as my daughter is concerned it is a good move, and that is good enough for me. The 19 pilot schools that welcomed year 7 students this year put in an enormous amount of effort preparing and were supported by the provision of infrastructure, IT and human resources. Many of the pilot schools have undergone significant upgrades and refurbishments to accommodate year 7 students. Some $300 million has been dedicated to clearing the maintenance backlog that afflicts many of our schools. Within my electorate of Logan, all of Logan’s state schools have received extra maintenance funding to bring the environment in which our students learn up to par. But it is not just the physical attributes that are important in this move. We must ensure that our teachers are equipped and ready to meet the growing needs of education in our great state. This will be achieved through this LNP government’s Great Teachers = Great Results initiative and the $537 million that we are injecting into boosting teacher numbers, delivering more prep teacher aide hours and enabling our teachers to enhance their skill sets through further study. Our schools have quality teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to support young adolescents through their early high school years. It is a great responsibility that we as a society entrust educators with. Such initiatives as Great Teachers = Great Results demonstrate that we proudly continue empowering the hardworking professionals within our school system. These changes will also align our students with their interstate peers and give them access to the specialist teachers and facilities to allow them the maximum benefit of the Australian Curriculum. This move will undoubtedly make the transition for interstate students smoother as they integrate into the Queensland schooling system and vice versa. Students from a state high school perspective will also benefit from the introduction of a junior secondary phase of schooling. Junior secondary is a phase of learning in state secondary schools that focuses on the specific academic, social and emotional needs of students in years 7 to 9. It is a key element supporting the move of year 7 in state schools. It will help build a strong, consistent connection between primary and secondary for adolescent students and focuses on students’ wellbeing and pastoral care.

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This bill also amends the basic allocation under the Education General Provisions Act 1999 for state school students to include adequate semesters necessary for completion from prep through to year 12. Though enrolment in prep is not compulsory, this amendment does provide the provisions so that the government’s ongoing commitment to providing 13 years of state education can come to fruition. I would like to commend the ongoing efforts of the Minister for Education, Training and Employment and his ministerial and departmental staff to improve the exceptional standard of education in Queensland. I would also like to commend the efforts of the Education and Innovation Committee, under the stewardship of the honourable member for Burdekin. The committee’s continued efforts to work for the current and next generation of Queensland is a vital role in our state’s development and ensures that Queensland remains a great state with great opportunities. It was a great pleasure for me to be a part of this committee when this bill was introduced and to have a say on it as well. I proudly commend this bill to the House.

Mr HOLSWICH (Pine Rivers—LNP) (4.51 pm): I rise to offer a short contribution in support of the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. I want to focus the bulk of my short contribution on the move of year 7 to secondary school and the associated Flying Start trial that is currently underway. This bill, once passed, will amend the definitions of primary and secondary education in the act, ensuring that from 2015 primary education will be defined as including prep through to year 6, while secondary education will be defined as year 7 to year 12. As the minister said when he introduced this bill into parliament, secondary school is the right place for this cohort of students. Whilst I agree with the minister on this statement, or at least my head agrees with the minister on this statement, as the parent of a year 5 student and him being my eldest child, my heart is torn about high school being the right place for year 7 students. I think it is probably partly to do with the denial that I have that my child is actually growing up to the point where he is only five terms away from being in high school. So maybe we can go back the other way and move year 8 back into primary school and that will help me with my midlife parenting crisis! But I am sure I will come to grips with that as the reality of it draws closer. Secondary schools have the specialist teaching and facility resources required to provide a quality education to year 7 students and will bring our schools into line with other Australian states. This has the added benefit of making the transition easier for students who move from one state to another, particularly at that time of transition from primary to high school. I am fortunate enough to have one of the Flying Start trial schools in the Pine Rivers electorate. Bray Park State High School joined the Flying Start trial at the start of this year, with around 80 students enrolling for year 7 in high school. This exceeded expectations by nearly 30 students, showing the popularity of the move. Bray Park State High School have worked very closely with their feeder schools—in particular, Strathpine West State School—to ensure a smooth transition for the students involved. I would like to publicly acknowledge the principals particularly of those two schools—Michael Knox and Mark Bates—for the work they have done to ensure that that transition has been a smooth one. We have seen teaching staff moving across from Strathpine West State School to Bray Park State High School to help facilitate the transition and, as well as that particular strategy, it is very pleasing to see that the chaplains from the two schools have worked closely together to assist the students with their transition. I pass on my thanks to the chaplains from those schools—Gideon Blazey and Eric Swavley—for the support they have provided for these students. I think it is important to point out how these schools are working so well together on this transition because, if other schools can follow the lead being shown by Bray Park State High School and Strathpine West State School, then I am sure the state-wide transition in 2015 will be a relatively smooth one. The infrastructure support for the introduction of year 7 at Bray Park State High School was completed in October 2012 in readiness for the introduction of year 7 this year. Nine classrooms were refurbished, including the creation of a flexible learning area for year 7 students, at a total cost of $370,244. It is also pleasing to see that the infrastructure support for the introduction of year 7 for the other state high school in my electorate, Pine Rivers State High School, was also completed in May 2013—well ahead of the 2015 introduction of year 7 to the school. The school benefited from the refurbishment of 12 classrooms and a new two-space relocatable building at a total cost of $911,143.

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This move of year 7 will obviously impact non-state schools as well as state schools, and this bill will introduce a streamlined process for non-state schools to ensure a reduced administrative burden for schools needing to change their accreditation status from 2015 onwards. Under business-as-usual circumstances, it can take many months for non-state schools to change their accreditation status to add an extra year of schooling. This bill will allow for this process to be completed in just over a month as part of the state-wide transition. This is certainly a sensible move and it will reduce administrative burdens as this transition takes place over the next 18 months. I think it is important to note as well that the Accreditation Board, Independent Schools Queensland and the Queensland Catholic Education Commission have all been consulted about this process and have all indicated their support of the proposed transitional arrangements. This bill will facilitate a smooth transition of year 7 into high school in 2015, ensuring administrative requirements are kept to a minimum and processes are streamlined for both state and non-state schools. I certainly commend the minister and his department for ensuring that this legislation is in place in plenty of time to facilitate the transition process during the rest of this year and next year in readiness for the 2015 state-wide commencement. I also want to briefly touch on the common-sense move to ensure that increasing debt levels associated with international students attending Queensland state schools, due to not paying their total fees, are addressed. There are obviously loopholes in the current legislation that are being exploited, unintentionally or otherwise, that are stripping significant amounts of potential funding from our education system. For there to be no enforcement mechanism available for parents who do not pay the required fees for their children’s education and for there to be no option to cancel that enrolment is an untenable situation, and I am pleased to see this being rectified through this legislation. Hardship provisions will remain in place, but it is entirely appropriate that the option to cancel an enrolment as a last resort be an option available to the director-general. I commend the bill to the House. Mr KNUTH (Dalrymple—KAP) (4.57 pm): I rise to speak to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. The policy objectives and the reason for them, as explained in the explanatory notes, are that the bill will support the implementation of the move of year 7 to secondary school from 2015; include the preparatory year, prep, in a state school student’s basic allocation; and allow for the cancellation of the enrolment of international students at state schools for nonpayment of fees. As the previous speakers have said, the most important issues that will ever come your way are health and education. Education is an important part of the development of children—right from the beginning to the end, when they leave school and prepare for a job that will lead to a bigger and better future. The push for the transition of year 7 into high school is something that the KAP has opposed from the beginning due to the cost factor. It will cost approximately $600 million, and that money could have been better used elsewhere. But we can see the negative impact that that cost factor will have, especially on rural constituencies, and the burden that will be placed on those people in rural and regional areas. Schooling is so important. I know that the minister listed all the schools that Labor closed while it was in government. I have seen a number of schools close in my electorate. Likewise, the government is doing the same thing. A school is basically the social fabric of a community. If you lose the school and you lose the hospital, you lose the community. This is why there is a lot of passion when it comes to closing schools. One school that is closing is the Stuart State School. I attended Stuart State School. It is a great school. Mr Dillaway: It’s not closing. It’s under consideration. Mr KNUTH: It is under consideration. Well, that is good. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Miss Barton): Order! Member for Dalrymple, could you please direct your comments through the chair and not across the chamber? Mr LANGBROEK: Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise to a point of order. Firstly, what he is referring to has nothing to do with the provisions of the bill. Secondly, he is asserting that Stuart State School is closing when no decision has been made. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, what is your point of order? Mr LANGBROEK: My point of order is that we have a misrepresentation coming from the member.

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Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: If you believe there is a misrepresentation, I suggest that you write to the Speaker. The member for Dalrymple has the call. Mr KNUTH: Madam Deputy Speaker, we do know how important these schools are to these communities. The push to transition year 7 students to high school is very similar to what the Labor Party did to all those schools in rural and regional Queensland. Mr Cox interjected. Mr KNUTH: Yes, it is very similar to what the Labor Party has done. As I was saying, there is a cost factor in transitioning year 7 into high school. It is a big burden to people in the bush, some of whom have to travel a hundred kilometres to take their kids to a bus stop. But they are prepared to do it provided there is a local school in that township. If there is a local school in that township, they have an opportunity to send their children to receive education at that local state primary school. What this is going to do is place extra cost on those families, and I can understand the concern of those families in regard to that cost. But at a time when we are in debt, as the government has mentioned, this is an opportunity where we could have used that $600 million to pay off debt rather than waste it transitioning year 7 students. Mrs Frecklington interjected. Mr KNUTH: This is Labor policy, and we opposed it while the Labor Party was in government. I know that this government opposed the closure of many schools, too, but now they are being closed. We must understand that schools are the hubs of communities. Charters Towers is an example of this. We have three private schools, we have a high school, we have three primary schools— Richmond Hill, Millchester and Central—and we have the School of Distance Education. In the surrounding districts we have Ravenswood, Greenvale, Homestead and Pentland, and they are everything to these communities. I am very proud to say that Charters Towers is not up, even though I do have schools that stretch from Moranbah to Kilcummin and right up to the Atherton Tableland. They are all good schools. We lost the Upper Barron school, which the minister promised he would save. I am not pointing the finger at him, but we lost that great school. I attended Stuart State School. When members mention that it is under consideration, I hope that is true. When I attended Stuart State School, back in those days we had a monkey bar and we had a pipe. There was not much there back in those days, but all the students hung out at the pipe. They did their homework in that pipe and they had their smoko in that pipe. That pipe was everything to those students. The only students who could go into that pipe were the grade 7 students. As we saw the transition of students from grade 7 to grade 8 and as I was going from grade 6 to grade 7, we said to ourselves, ‘One of the great things about students going from grade 7 to grade 8 is that we are going to have that pipe.’ I believe we need provision in this bill to allow children who are transitioning from grade 7 into high school to access a School of Distance Education where the primary school is more than 50 kilometres from the nearest high school, rather than parents having to bear a massive cost in sending their children to a private school and likewise the children being away from their families. I do not think that is much to ask for. A lot of families are going to be burdened here. Sometimes when legislation is drawn up in the city there is no understanding from the bureaucracy of how rural and regional Queensland operates. I really believe the minister needs to look at a School of Distance Education being accessible for students at a primary school which is more than 50 kilometres from the nearest high school. With independent public schools, it is very difficult to gauge whether they are successful. There is always a concern with regard to independent public schools— Mr Dillaway interjected. Mr Cox interjected. Mr KNUTH: When Queensland Rail was corporatised, the next step was that it was privatised. Mrs Frecklington interjected Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Honourable members! Mr KNUTH: There is always an issue going from one to the other when we have independent public schools, but I believe that if they are going to transition and even if the principal puts in a submission and has dialogue with the community and with the teachers that still does not mean there is overall support from those teachers. Likewise, there is not overall support from that school. Just because a submission is made— Mr Cox interjected.

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Mr KNUTH: Yes, I know. It may appear to have support, but if there is a vote or if there is a petition and it does not have the support of the teachers or the community, does that necessarily mean that we have to support that submission because it has been put in? We need to really evaluate the position of the community, the parents and the teachers in terms of whether they want to go ahead with it. It is very important to ensure that the principal and the school, if they are going in that direction, bring the families of the schools with them. (Time expired) Mr SHUTTLEWORTH (Ferny Grove—LNP) (5.08 pm): I rise with great pleasure this afternoon to speak very briefly to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. This relatively simple bill largely aligns Queensland with many other jurisdictions throughout Australia. Mr Knuth interjected. Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Dalrymple, please do not have conversations across the chamber. The member for Ferny Grove has the call. Mr SHUTTLEWORTH: The bill will support the implementation of year 7 into secondary schools from 2015. It will also ensure that there are additional semester allocations to include prep within the allocation and, lastly, it will ensure that international students’ fee payments must be paid up to ensure their continued enrolment. The part of this bill that relates to the transition of year 7 into high school is of particular interest to my electorate of Ferny Grove where there is a very large number of transient residents who, throughout their military careers, may undertake transfers between major military establishments and all capitals on Australia’s mainland while at the same time their children transition and are transferred from one nearby school to the next. This move will go a long way towards providing a level of consistency— Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Miss Barton): Order! Member for Dalrymple, it is a common courtesy that you do not walk in front of members who are on their feet. Members extend that courtesy to you and I would ask that you extend that same courtesy to them. Mr SHUTTLEWORTH: This move will go a long way towards providing a level of consistency to many thousands of families who, at the year’s end, undertake a transfer between major defence establishments throughout Australia. Additionally, within my electorate, which has just the one state high school, there is a lot of discussion regarding transitional arrangements including administrative and operational considerations not just for the high school but also for the many feeder primary schools in the area. This move will ensure that there is a clear understanding of the transitional arrangements and the dates for commencement. It is worth mentioning, too, that Ferny Grove State High School, which is currently undertaking an application to be part of that magnificent independent public school program, which I think the last member was trying to talk about, is well on track to ensuring that the new year 7 students will be well catered for, protected but not isolated and made most welcome into the school community. Ferny Grove State High School also has a significant advantage in that over recent years its enrolment numbers have actually declined. So the physical assets at the school are substantial enough to ensure that the transitional arrangements will not need immediate attention in terms of the building of new assets. Another significant component of this bill is the addition of two semesters of allocation catering for the inclusion of prep into the educational program in Queensland. This measure will also ensure that the primary schools within my electorate, which will be faced with a significant loss in terms of enrolment numbers when the year 7 cohort transitions to senior campuses, can have confidence in the ongoing allocation. The remaining component of the bill and perhaps the most contentious aspect relates to the overseas student fees. Essentially, schools may now have the capacity to cancel the enrolment of students who fail to pay the allocated fee. As the member for Waterford outlined, this measure is not likely to impose financial hardship upon families as the department’s fee schedule already accounts for families from disadvantaged backgrounds such as refugees, temporary skilled migrants or students on student visas. Further, for other families where financial hardships are evident, the payment of fees may be waived or undertaken through a payment schedule. As I said, my submission is going to be relatively short. In closing, I thank the minister and his department for the preparation of the bill and the committee for its consideration of the bill. I commend the bill to the House.

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Mr KRAUSE (Beaudesert—LNP) (5.12 pm): It is a pleasure to speak on the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 this afternoon. This bill has three primary purposes: to recognise prep as the first year of schooling, to support the move of year 7 into secondary school from 2015 and to allow for the cancellation of enrolment of international students at state schools for nonpayment of fees. I will address each of these in turn. Firstly, prep is now seen as an integral part of school and the curriculum in Queensland. Under present legislative arrangements, a basic allocation of 24 semesters is provided for state schooling— that is, 12 years. This amendment increases that to 26 semesters, recognising that 13 years of schooling may be undertaken. The amendment is prospective only, so it does not affect any past arrangements and does not change the fact that enrolment in prep is not compulsory. Secondly, it supports the move of year 7 into high school by amending the definitions of primary and secondary education from 2015. It also introduces a streamlined process for non-state schools to alter their accreditation status to offer year 7 in secondary education from 2015. Thirdly, the power will be given to the director-general to cancel the enrolment of an international student if the student or their parents do not pay the required fees for the education being received. Let’s be clear: where there is financial hardship, such fees can be waived, an exemption can be given or payment plans can be entered into. Refugee families do not pay fees, nor do children of asylum seekers held in community detention. This is not about denying an international student an education but about ensuring that those who can pay for this service, which is provided by the Queensland taxpayer to Australian citizens and permanent residents, do in fact pay for the service. This is a sensible proposal to prudently manage the precious resources of the state. My electorate has around 30 schools, five of which are non-state schools. I have visited many of them, some on numerous occasions. I thank the minister for visiting Tamborine Mountain in the aftermath of the Australia Day storms which wreaked havoc there. The communities and staff of Tamborine Mountain State School, the state high school and St Bernard State School appreciated the minister’s visit. I know that staff at the high school in particular are looking forward to the transition of year 7 into high school. No doubt it will have its challenges, but the feedback I receive about the great things that are happening in all of our schools gives me confidence that the transition can be well managed and great outcomes will continue to be achieved. Some of the recent visits to schools have provided wonderful examples of the dedication and hard work of our high schools in particular, although nothing should be taken away from our primary schools. At this point, I should make mention of a tragic event that occurred this week in Beaudesert in relation to the St Mary’s Catholic Primary School community. Early Monday morning a fire ripped through one of several of the blocks at St Mary’s in Beaudesert. It was well alight when firefighters arrived there around 1 am. It destroyed the school’s year 5, 6 and 7 classrooms, the staffroom, toilet block and storage sheds. It has also caused damage to the front section of an iconic two-storey building which dates back to the late 1930s. There are still people around Beaudesert who were involved in the construction of this building and some of the other buildings that were destroyed. A lot of memories of the Beaudesert community, of the generations of Catholic families and other families who have fond memories of the buildings that have been destroyed and of the St Mary’s community have been lost. The building that was destroyed was opened and blessed on 3 September 1939, the same day that the Second World War started. That gives an indication of the amount of history—70 years of educational history—that went up in smoke on Monday morning. It was a tragic event for the community. There were 30 firefighters on site. Water was applied to the historic St Mary’s church to protect the stained glass windows, which are very beautiful and needed to be protected. Fortunately, the fire occurred at night and there were no people on site, no students on site and no lives were lost, although a great deal of educational history and assets were lost. One of the local state schools, Gleneagle State School, has opened its doors for St Mary’s students this week to enable parents who need to go to work to have their children looked after during the day. The St Mary’s community will be arranging for a temporary building later on in the week so they can reopen before they get new buildings further down the track. It is a terrible event, but the community has pulled together. There have been cook-ups for the staff and families who are so busy. I am sure the community, which is very tight-knit, will recover from this tragedy, large as it is. Many great schools will benefit from this reform. Boonah State High School is one of those schools which will be taking year 7 in 2015. Recently they held a leaders forum in which year 12 leaders got together with other community leaders and talked about the issues facing their

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community. There has been a great dialogue between the student leaders and the other community leaders around Fassifern. They have also been participating in QuoCKa, which is a reading program involving secondary students and primary students to increase literacy skills. There were great participants in the National Reading Day as well. Under the leadership of Principal Bronwyn Johnstone, I am sure that when year 7 commences in 2015 there will continue to be great outcomes for the whole community. Beaudesert State High School is another such school. They recently celebrated 50 years in Beaudesert providing secondary education. I was also honoured recently, together with the Minister for Education, to see several students from Beaudesert State High School performing in the Creative Generation Excellence Awards in Instrumental Music at QPAC on the same night as the second State of Origin a couple of months ago. It was great to see so much talent from Beaudesert State High School, and there was a student from Boonah State High School there as well. Five out of 77 performers from across the state were from the Beaudesert State High School. It was great to see the minister there and great to see the array of talent from those schools. Planning is well underway for a trades training centre at the school. When year 7 arrives at Beaudesert State High School, they are going to be welcomed into a community that is punching well above its weight Tamborine Mountain College is a secondary school on Tamborine Mountain which has been the recipient of $515,000 in capital funding under the government’s Building Our Future Schools program, which overall delivered $24.5 million of extra capital funding for both the state and non-state sectors this year. It is part of a four-year $115 million election commitment, and this will assist Tamborine Mountain College to construct the additional facilities necessary for the movement of year 7 into high school. The college is a great asset on the mountain, and it was great to visit during their awards night at the end of last year and to see all of the hard work that is going on in the community. Tamborine Mountain State High School has also been allocated around $3 million to facilitate the movement of year 7 into high school. It is a great school which is led very well by the principal Tracey Brose, and I know that the school community is happy now that the goat track is open again. That is the road connecting Canungra and Tambourine Mountain. A lot of students, families and teachers go up and down that road each day to get to work and to school. There are many, many other fantastic things that I could say about all of the independent, Catholic and state schools in my electorate. There have been a lot of sports days of late: Fassifern small schools, All Saints, St Marys, Jimboomba State School, Hillview and Kooralbyn International School. That is another fantastic school. It is prep to 12 already, so they have had the primary, middle and high school for some time now. Rathdowney State School was there as well. They won the prize for the best march-past. They had a marching band on their school sports day, which was fantastic. The $200 million in funding last year and the $100 million in funding this year to clear maintenance backlogs has been a terrific boon for all of the schools in my electorate and for local businesses as well. It is a shame that the former government let those maintenance backlogs get so big. I am pleased that we have addressed those, and we also are addressing the substantive changes to the education system coming up in 2015. It is a great— (Time expired) Mr COX (Thuringowa—LNP) (5.23 pm): I rise to speak on the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 in my short contribution. I realise that the objectives of this bill are: to support the implementation of the move of year 7 to secondary school from 2015; to include the prep year in a state school student’s basic allocation; and to allow for the cancellation of the enrolment of international students at state schools for nonpayment of fees. I understand that from 2015, year 7 will be considered a part of secondary school as part of the Flying Start education reforms. Year 7 in secondary school will be piloted in 20 schools before the transition formally takes place in 2015. One of those schools is a great school in the northern part of my electorate, Northern Beaches High School, which is one of those pilot schools that has been selected. I congratulate Principal Robin Sprott and her staff for the way in which they are embracing this transition. I realise there is also bipartisan support for this bill, although that may not be the case with some of the members who sit behind me. Consultation on the move of year 7 to high school commenced with the release of a green paper back in 2010 and a white paper back in 2011, so our minister has moved forward from that. Educators do agree that young teenagers are ready for greater independence and the depth of learning that high schools provide, which is why in most other states and territories year 7 is already the first year of high school.

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In 2015 Queensland year 7 students will be in their eighth year of school, and this is the right year for high school to begin. In 2012 Queensland adopted a new Australian Curriculum for the subjects of English, mathematics and science. Every Australian school student will learn this core national curriculum. In high school our year 7 students will have access to specialist resources such as science labs and science teachers. The second part, which is the recognition of the preparatory year as the first year of schooling, was also part of the Flying Start education reforms. Since 2012 prep has been considered the first year of school in Queensland. This government’s ambition is that every Queensland child will have 13 years of schooling from prep to year 12. This means that prep is the first year of school. With the introduction of the new Australian Curriculum in 2012, students’ full-time attendance in prep will give them the important foundation education they need for a successful transition into year 1. The nonpayment of school fees by parents of dependant students who are required to enrol their children in school as a condition of their visa has resulted in $1.5 million, from my understanding, in outstanding school fees. I do not wish to say more about that other than to congratulate the minister for nipping something in the bud which we do not want to see turn into something worse. I will focus quickly now on the first two parts of this bill and the importance of education for our children. We know Queensland is a great state with great opportunities. This extends to our school system. We are implementing programs like Great Teachers = Great Results and making up for the neglect of 20 years that we saw under the previous government. While the media and some of those in unions may not portray it, we are very supportive of our teachers. We understand that it is they who educate our children. But in saying that, we also understand the importance of ensuring that our children have a good, safe environment in which to learn. That is why we are catching up on the $300 million school maintenance program which we inherited, and we are doing this in a way which is better and more efficient: direct to market gives schools the choice of who they will use to do the maintenance in their schools. It is important to provide a safe learning environment in our schools. Rasmussen State School joined together with four other schools to take advantage of that opportunity. The independent schools program is another thing that this government has brought in under our minister. It gives our principals greater autonomy for their schools, and they can tailor their individual requirements to the needs of their schools. In my case, Kirwan State High School—one of the largest state high schools in this state—was one of those schools chosen. I congratulate them for the way they are embracing their new independence. They are a school at the cutting edge in lot of ways, especially in IT, and they have been winning awards along the way. I am sure they will continue to excel. A strong education policy leads to better outcomes for our students—not just academically, but socially and in emotional ways. We need to get back to schools as the hub of our communities. These are places where families get together, and this is seen through the inclusion of prep, where we do get more of the younger kids coming through and beginning to learn how to be part of the community. We also need to each our kids resilience, confidence and respect, and I think this link from year 7 into high school will be another step in doing that. I have great confidence in this minister and what he has done for education since this government took over, and I congratulate him on that. I do commend the bill to the House. Mr MINNIKIN (Chatsworth—LNP) (5.29 pm): I rise in this chamber to speak on the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. From the outset I too wish to thank the Minister for Education, Training and Employment for his efforts in bringing this important legislation to the House. Gilbert K Chesterton once stated— Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. Education is an issue that is close to my heart. My wife is a dedicated secondary schoolteacher, and I know from being a father of two boys that getting education right for families is a critical issue for the future of Queensland. Any of us who have had teachers for partners fully acknowledge the countless hours they put in, long after the school bell has rung. I take this opportunity to briefly salute all of the state’s dedicated teachers. The move to place year 7 into secondary schools will bring Queensland into line with many other states. I wish to commend the minister for overseeing the transition phase in its early stages. I have full confidence that this transition will be undertaken with the utmost care. Sadly, as has been demonstrated time and time again, this government has inherited a financial mess. Therefore, the minister has had to not only implement this change but also deal with the mismanagement of the

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previous administration, which left behind $300 million of backlogged maintenance in local schools, including schools within the Chatsworth electorate—such as Whites Hill State College and Tingalpa State School. The former failed state Labor government announced in June 2011 that it would start the transition. However, like many policies the previous failed government announced, little planning ensued. As I said earlier, the minister has done an outstanding job, despite the obstacles left by Anna Bligh and her comrade, former education minister Cameron Dick. This legislation will serve to ensure that non-state schools will not have to shoulder a heavy administrative burden to alter their accreditation. Throughout the past 18 months the Newman LNP government has sought to be the slasher of red tape and to ensure that relevant stakeholders, such as non-state schools, can progress forward with this important educational transition. I am extremely proud to be part of a reformist government that is committed to streamlining processes to get things done. The Education Legislation Amendment Bill provides three different options. The first is to allow stand-alone secondary schools delivering years 8 to 12 to add year 7. The second is for combined primary and secondary schools—that is, prep to year 12—to provide year 7 as secondary education. The third is to allow stand-alone primary schools to keep year 7 but to teach under the secondary education framework. This amendment bill will enable non-state schools to simply notify the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board that they wish to take up either of the first two options. This will ensure that schools that are eligible for funding will automatically receive it in 2015. This process will ensure schools can easily meet the necessary criteria, thus removing the requirement to go through an application process to change the definition of their accreditation as well as rule out the need to check if they are eligible for government funding. This will enable the accreditation board’s process to be shortened significantly. However, to take advantage of this process non-state schools will have to ensure they deliver year 7 on or after 1 January and by no later than 1 March 2016. This bill will make the necessary amendments to change the definition of secondary education to years 7 to 12. These changes will come into effect on 1 January 2015 and, as a consequence, the definition of primary school education will be prep to year 6. This amendment bill will also recognise prep as the first year of schooling. However, it will still not be compulsory for parents to enrol students in prep. Education is such an important and vital area of public policy. Simply put, it determines the future of all Queenslanders. I am proud to represent the people of Chatsworth in a government which understands and recognises this fact. The left-wing neophytes across the chamber, along with their federal counterparts, will claim the opposite. However, the LNP government is making strides in improving the education system in Queensland. The desperate Rudd government, which is tanking in the polls presently, is running scare campaigns that an elected LNP government will not care about education. I find that proposition both absurd and offensive. The Newman government has a plan, and this amendment bill is just a small part of the bigger plan that this government has for Queensland’s overall education system. With programs ranging from Great Teachers = Great Results to the schools maintenance backlog scheme, I am confident that the LNP is getting our schools and the education system back on track, with full gusto. I thoroughly commend the bill to the House and again congratulate the minister on the sterling work he has undertaken over the last 18 months. Mr WATTS (Toowoomba North—LNP) (5.33 pm): I rise to make a contribution to the debate of the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. Isn’t it great to have a minister who has grasped the portfolio and is getting on with the job of modernising our education system here in Queensland? As I moved around my schools I was faced with paint falling off ceilings and gutters that were leaking. It is fantastic that the minister immediately moved on that with the maintenance backlog program. This has allowed several schools, some in very tough socioeconomic areas, to actually have pride in their school again—new paint, gutters that do not leak, classrooms that have doors that open and close without getting stuck. I certainly thank the minister for that. The bill has three objectives: to support the implementation of the move of year 7 to secondary school from 2015; to include the preparatory year in a state school student’s basic allocation; and to allow for the cancellation of the enrolment of international students at state schools for nonpayment of fees. I will address the last point first. Toowoomba is a great education hub. A lot of overseas students come to our university to study. Often they bring children with them. Certainly, lots of those people have enjoyed the great facilities we have in our state, private, independent and Catholic schools. As would be expected,

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people from overseas in certain circumstances need to pay for that education, as all Queenslanders do through the various forms of taxation. I think it incredibly prudent of the education minister to move to ensure that the great education facilities we have are not abused by people and that they make a contribution when using our facilities. I certainly support that part of the bill. I think it is only fair to the taxpayer of Queensland to ensure people from overseas who have availed themselves of our facilities pay their way. I refer to the move to recognise prep. Obviously prep has been rolled out for a number of years. I have seen that working very well on the ground in Toowoomba, to the point where we actually have a couple of even earlier programs now being implemented at Newtown and Toowoomba North state schools to encourage reading and participation of the family in early childhood development. I think it is great to have prep recognised as part of schooling. The availability of additional prep teacher aides has also been really well received. This is all part of a bigger plan for education. We hear a lot of huff and puff from Kevin Rudd at the federal level about his plans for education, but he basically sold Queensland down the river. He would not give us the same deal that was being offered to Victoria. He certainly did not want to see the schoolchildren of Queensland treated exactly the same as the children in Victoria. Mr Dillaway: Bill is coming for him. Mr WATTS: Let us hope Dr Bill does come for him. Won’t it be great to have a Queenslander representing that electorate who actually cares about Queensland? It was very disappointing to see that Mr Rudd would not give us the same support he gave to Victoria and to other states. As the Great Teachers = Great Results program is rolled out in Toowoomba North, a lot of teachers will avail themselves of the various opportunities that will present. The move of year 7 to secondary school will have a big impact in Toowoomba. There are over 20 schools in the Toowoomba North electorate. We provide a great education. There is independent, Catholic and state education available. Boarding schools take children from a very wide catchment— from both Queensland and interstate as well as from overseas. Several of these schools have really had great support from the minister in relation to Flying Start. Schools that I have visited have shown me their plans. St Ursula’s College showed me their plans for the various upgrades they are implementing. Mr Johnson: A great school, too. Mr WATTS: A very good school. They had a walk-through diagram. They are very excited about the opportunities the Flying Start funding will provide. I recently visited St Mary’s College—another great school in my electorate—and had the opportunity to speak to some of the school leaders about the various opportunities and upgrades on that campus. I recently attended the Toowoomba Grammar School and Downlands weekend, which is a great tradition in Toowoomba, and witnessed the rivalry of those two great boarding schools over a game of rugby. What was interesting in talking to people from both of those schools was the great support they have received from the minister in relation to Flying Start and opportunities that have presented to modernise and bring those facilities up to current standards in order to allow them to accept year 7 into their boarding program into the future. Another really hardworking school in my electorate is Toowoomba Christian College, which has received some very welcome funding to get some improvements in its facilities. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been invested in schools and the education of the young people of Toowoomba North and, as I say, young people from further afield from many country areas who come to Toowoomba to get their education. Without wishing to leave anybody out, I should mention my recent visit to the Glennie School, which has some fantastic facilities and great opportunities. Mr Johnson: They’ve got a great tartan track there. Mr WATTS: It has a good tartan track there, and I will give you a race around that one day, Vaughan. Fairholme College has also received some funding to upgrade some boarding facilities and some classroom facilities. Mr Johnson: It was the last coalition government that made that happen, too! Mr WATTS: It was the last coalition government that got the tartan track, was it? Mr Johnson: Correct.

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Mr WATTS: Excellent. I am very pleased to hear that. Again, they are great schools. I refer also to Toowoomba State High. Both the Mount Lofty campus and the Wilsonton campus have received funding through Flying Start so they can modernise and build facilities. We have heard huff and puff this week about the education minister and cuts in education, and that is of course completely untrue. In my area the amount of maintenance, construction and development going on across all of our existing schools—which is hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment—has been welcomed by both the schools in terms of education and also welcomed by the community, the builders, the plumbers, the painters and the various tradespeople who have all been able to put tenders in for that work and then have executed that work well. And there is more coming. One of the most significant contributions that has been made in my electorate in terms of education—and we hear talk as to whether we need all of the schools we have in Queensland—is that it is great to have a minister who recognises a growing area such as Highfields and how it needs a school and will be investing tens of millions of dollars in building a high school facility in one of the fastest growing areas in Queensland. The primary school there has 900 children and the Catholic primary school, Mary MacKillop school, is a very good school. All of the people in that community are so excited to have a high school opening that will mean that we do not have to have over 1,000 kids catching buses every day to the various schools in Toowoomba. The transition of year 7 into high school presented the opportunity for this transition to happen effectively in Toowoomba North and gave the opportunity for the high school to go ahead. The schematic plans for the high school are out and the community consultation has happened. That is certainly a welcome investment both in the future education needs of the people of Toowoomba North, particularly the community of Highfields, and also presents some great opportunities for those in the building and construction industry, who have been doing it a little bit tough. That is certainly one of the economic pillars that we have been trying to stimulate. The building of high schools and the before mentioned maintenance program have presented those opportunities and allowed people to help develop our education system in Queensland while at the same time run their construction businesses and make a good profit from it. I commend the bill to the House and thank the minister for it. Mr SORENSEN (Hervey Bay—LNP) (5.43 pm): I rise to make a small contribution to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. This bill allows for the move of grade 7 students to high school from 2015; recognises prep as the first year of school; allows for the cancellation of enrolment of overseas students for nonpayment of fees; and includes changes to several acts within the Education portfolio of legislation. This transition is a huge undertaking, with many students and schools being affected. The bill provides a streamlined process for the transition to happen with a minimum of red tape and reduced administration burdens on non-state schools. This means that under this streamlined process the school will not need to be assessed for eligibility for government funding or accreditation in certain cases—for example, for schools that deliver years 8 to 12 and wish to add year 7 or combined primary and secondary schools such as prep to grade 12 that wish to deliver year 7 as secondary education. In my electorate Xavier Catholic College and the Anglican college already have prep to grade 12 students. Xavier Catholic College in particular has done a fantastic job of this in terms of how the architects have put all of the buildings around in a circle to make it very accessible for those students to stay in certain areas right around the school. It is one of the best examples that I have ever seen of any school from prep to grade 12. The Newman government is already delivering. This year we announced in the budget funding for many buildings, especially for the Hervey Bay State High School. I have to congratulate Julie Learoyd and the P&C association for all of the hard work that they put in to ensure that this happens. I also thank the minister for the funding for that. Hervey Bay is a very fast growing area and we have to meet the needs of the future in terms of the growth of Hervey Bay and those schools. Hervey Bay State High School is the only high school that has the capacity to grow, as the Urangan State High School is already nearly at full capacity, but there is still a fair bit of building construction ahead. I also thank Ross Zelow from Urangan State High School for the foresight and ability to manage that project. He has done a fantastic job and that building project is already underway to meet the needs of the grade 7s going up into the high school curriculum. Construction is one of the Newman government’s four economic pillars. Given all of that extra building activity, most of that building activity is going to local builders and I can assure members that that helps many areas in regional Queensland. It certainly creates a lot of work. I also thank the minister for the maintenance backlog money as well. A very important part of education is to ensure that the buildings are up to standard, especially given that local builders in those areas have had that

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opportunity. The one thing that disappoints me is the amount of Labor propaganda that we have reduced services and reduced funding. The Newman government and its members have to get the message out there that we have actually increased funding for education. Mrs Scott interjected. Mr SORENSEN: Do not worry about that, because we are not going to give over our schools to the federal government anyway. We are going to ensure that we still control education in Queensland. I want to get the message across that we have increased funding in Queensland, and the same goes for the hospital system as well. We have increased funding for hospitals. We really have to get the message out there that we are looking after our kids in Queensland. Hon. JH LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—LNP) (Minister for Education, Training and Employment) (5.48 pm), in reply: I thank all members for their contributions in the debate this afternoon. I especially want to thank members of the Education and Innovation Committee for their contributions. They have all acknowledged the chair of the Education and Innovation Committee, the member for Burdekin. I want to thank all of those committee members who made such considered contributions. Of course, this is a very important change that the government has agreed to bring in. It was originally proposed by the Labor government in 2010. We have committed to year 7 becoming the first year of secondary education from 1 January 2015. This is a case of us having a look at a policy and being satisfied that it was and is a good thing. We do not just say no for the sake of saying no. We consider these things on a case-by-case basis and when we reject something we have a good reason for it. We do not reject it simply because the other mob put it in. I think that is an important acknowledgement that the opposition could learn from. In fact, I want to begin by acknowledging an interjection that the member for Woodridge just made, suggesting that when national partnerships finish that is going to be an issue affecting our funding. I should make the point, as the member for Hervey Bay just did, that we have increased education funding in this state in the last budget by over 6.5 per cent. But in relation to issues to do with national partnerships, which are arrangements between the state and the federal government, the funding that Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne as the shadow minister have agreed to is the exact funding that the Labor Party has proposed for the next four years. So in terms of the election on 7 September, there is no debate about whether someone is going to be funding something that someone else is not going to be. They have committed to the funding in the four years that are covered by the budget from the alternative government. So we welcome that commitment. We are also disappointed, as I noted that the member for Toowoomba North mentioned, that Kevin Rudd was not prepared to offer the same deal when it came to future funding for education that he was prepared to offer Victoria. And has he not been a major let-down! We have seen Kevin Rudd, in his second iteration as Prime Minister, hair flicking and everything across all different sorts of issues. Mr Bleijie: Twenty-six times. Mr LANGBROEK: Flicking his hair 26 times. If it is a bit windy, he is more preoccupied with his own appearance than with getting things done for the people who he supposedly represents, including the people of Queensland. I notice that a couple of weeks ago Peter Beattie, in the week before he became a candidate, was quick to say that he thought that Kevin Rudd would win this election and that Queenslanders would vote for him because he is a Queenslander. We await the result on 7 September with interest, because I have my doubts. Of course, there is still a long way to go until 7 September, but the signs are not promising, especially from a campaign that is all over the shop. In just over half an hour there will be a very interesting debate at the Broncos Leagues Club between the Prime Minister and the opposition leader. We will see then who can answer the questions best, who can interact in a genuine and grown-up way with the people who they seek to represent and whether we will see a new way from the Prime Minister or whether we are just going to see a continuation of the old ways that, unfortunately, we have seen from him throughout this campaign over the past few weeks. I have noted many of the contributions from those opposite. I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for her support for this bill. Over the past couple of years we have had year 7 being piloted through 20 schools. There is one that will be trialled in Gordonvale, in the electorate of the Manager of the Opposition Business, in 2014. Mr Pitt: Looking forward to it.

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Mr LANGBROEK: Yes, we are all looking forward to that, just as I know have many of the schools that I have been to that I will probably come to a little bit later. Honourable members would be aware that I have enjoyed listing schools in the parliament this week. This is a very positive announcement that we have been able to make over the past couple of years. Murrumba State Secondary College and Southport State High School have had trials of year 7 in high school. We have seen a very positive engagement of that trial at those schools. A number of other schools have conducted trials, such as Cleveland District State High School, the Gap State High School in the Premier’s electorate, Varsity College on the Gold Coast and Pimpama State Secondary College, which is one of the schools that I was proud to open earlier this year. There are others as well that I will come to later. We have almost 2,300 year 7 students enrolled. It is important that we support the transition of year 7 into secondary school with the provision of infrastructure, human resources, IT services and professional development. It is those experiences gained from those trials that are informing the state-wide approach for the implementation of year 7 in secondary school in 2015. The governing bodies of non-state schools have been planning for this transition for several years. The bill supports the transition of non-state schools by providing streamlined processes for them to change their accreditation status. People ask why we are doing it. We had some people sitting at the back of this place asking in their own way—and I will come to their contributions later—why we are doing it. It is because it will place early adolescent students in the best possible situation for their educational progression and achievement. We have an increasingly mobile Australian population. I am sure that many parents are not aware that, under our Constitution, the states are responsible for education. That has been an impediment to parents, who are increasingly mobile, understanding why they would suffer the frustrations of being told over the years that their children, having moved from one jurisdiction to another, would not necessarily be in the same grade or progressing to the next class because of the differences between jurisdictions. So although over the years we have managed to progress issues such as the Australian Curriculum, year 7 as it currently exists has not been able to receive aspects of that curriculum as well as they would be delivered if year 7 were in high school. We will have students having access to specialist teachers and facilities, especially in areas such as science, languages and music, that will offer age-appropriate academic challenges. So this move of year 7 into secondary school will align Queensland students with their interstate peers and it will position students to maximise the benefits of the Australian Curriculum. By 2015, the majority of year 7 students in Queensland will be in their eighth year of school. It is a time that most students in Australia commence secondary school. With year 7 in the secondary school environment, Queensland students will have access to specialist teachers and facilities to support their success with the new Australian Curriculum. It will provide them with the variety, the intellectual challenge and the age-appropriate support that adolescents need during this important life phase. That is what I have seen as I have travelled to the trial schools: good social interaction, carefully monitored by their teachers and the leaders of their schools, pointing out to me that the year 8s have welcomed the year 7s into their schools. Murrumba State Secondary College and Pimpama State Secondary College are two schools that have opened with that cohort. For those who have questions about what happens to the year 7 teachers after the move, this is an issue that has received some publicity over the past week. I want to point out that we are going to need approximately 1,300 additional teachers in state secondary schools when year 7 transitions. My department has undertaken significant workforce planning and has developed a range of strategies for staff in both primary and secondary schools. Up to 500 junior secondary school scholarships will be made available for primary school teachers transitioning to secondary school. Teachers in junior secondary schools will be supported through a suite of professional development activities. The usual retirement rates for primary teachers, more targeted recruitment of graduates ahead of the transition and encouraging a greater supply of secondary teaching graduates will ensure that the increased demand is met. I want to reassure those who are studying teaching that we think that there will be the greatest recruitment since the prep year came into being in Queensland a few years ago. We have provided significant financial support for both the state and the non-state sector. This transition is costing over $600 million altogether when you take in capital cost and recurrent costs. We have committed a total of $110 million to the non-state sector in the three financial years from 2012-13 to 2014-15 for capital programs. As honourable members have mentioned, the bill introduces streamlined processes for non-state schools to change their accreditation arrangements and government funding eligibility to offer year 7 in secondary education from 1 January 2015. I have

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asked the accreditation board to communicate with the non-state school sector to inform them about the proposed processes. To give some more clarity, it is expected that all non-state schools accredited for both primary and secondary education will offer year 7 as secondary education. There are over 170 schools in this category. It is anticipated that all stand-alone non-state secondary schools accredited for secondary education and currently offering year 8 will seek to offer year 7 as secondary education. There are almost 80 of these schools. It is expected that some of the almost 230 stand-alone non-state primary schools may seek to extend their school’s offering into secondary education. These are strategic decisions, of course, to be informed by local school board and council deliberations and non-state school accreditation processes. The financial and other support provided by government and the streamlined processes in the bill will assist schools to put into place appropriate arrangements to suit their particular school communities. When we come to the issue of communication with school communities, as I have already mentioned the bill was originally released for community consultation in 2010. It has been in the planning for several years. One of the first questions I asked my department when I became the minister just on a year and a half ago was whether we would be ready. There was an evaluation process that has been undertaken during this school year, the 2013 school year, and the experiences of the pilot schools will inform best practice models and shape the individual school approaches to the transition of year 7 into a secondary setting, including such issues as infrastructure and facilities, human resources, IT, student transition programs and the implementation of junior secondary. The state sector will continue its work to make sure that all schools are ready by 2015. Non-state schools have been planning this for several years. I have asked the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board to inform the non-state sector about those streamlined processes to assist their schools to implement the move of year 7 to secondary education. The community will continue to be informed about these changes through their local schools and other mechanisms in the lead-up to 2015. I will not go through those streamlined processes. It is important to note that we could not just change the accreditation status of all non-state secondary schools to include year 7 because not all of them will necessarily want to provide year 7 as secondary education. It is a streamlined process and a practical process where they inform the accreditation board of the attributes of accreditation that will apply to year 7, including the educational program for the year level and the site at which year 7 will be offered. I have already mentioned the schools where we are having the pilot. They are in all the different regions. In fact, I will go through them: Alexandra Hills State High School, Bray Park State High School, Bremer State High School, Cleveland District State High School, Clifton State High School. Mr Crisafulli interjected. Mr LANGBROEK: No time restrictions today, can I say to the honourable Minister for Local Government. Crow’s Nest State School, Glenden State School, Glenmore State High School, Mackay Northern Beaches State High School—another school that I was proud to open this year when we were there during the Queensland Plan—Meridan State College, Murrumba State Secondary College, Nambour State High School, Northern Beaches State High School, Pimpama State Secondary College, Southport State High School, Springfield Central State High School, The Gap State High School, Toolooa State High School and Varsity College. I have mentioned the cost. I said that it is being supported by capital investment of $328.2 million in state secondary schools over four years from 2011-12 with an additional $293.8 million in recurrent funding. I will now turn to an issue that was of significant interest to members at the back and that is students in rural and remote communities. I will not be accepting the amendment put forward by the member for Mount Isa, who I note did not actually make a contribution to the debate on the bill. I look forward to his contribution in the consideration of the clauses. We did have a contribution from the member for Dalrymple who, of course, showed what we have come to expect from the member for Dalrymple and from members of the Katter’s Australian Party—all care and no responsibility. A government member: He is good on grade 7. Mr LANGBROEK: That is right. I take that interjection. He is very good on year 7, but not much beyond that. They come in here and say anything they like. I want to reflect on that part of the contribution that was about Stuart State School, which I note is not in the honourable member’s electorate anyway, and the complete misrepresentation that we have made a decision about that. I have been very clear about that. I am sure honourable members would agree. You just cannot say anything you like in debate. It is irresponsible to do that. I again say that it is not good enough to

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stand up in here as a member and suggest something that is not true and be allowed to get away with it. It just shows that the members of Katter’s Australian Party are not fit to be anywhere near executive government. We are the party of regional Queensland. I well remember on election night 2012 when I was on a radio panel and the leader of Katter’s Australian Party, the member for Mount Isa’s father, came in and told us that it had been a great triumph. He is already pre-empting the results for 7 September. As I pointed out to him, they came in with two and they ended up with two. Of course, they then had someone else who joined them. What a great result. I am confident we are going to see exactly the same thing on 7 September. I say to the people of North and North-West Queensland that a vote for Katter’s Australian Party on 7 September is a vote for the Labor Party. Those members opposite should be considering issues in relation to students in rural and remote communities. The member for Mount Isa has written to me and I will happily address his issues when we come to the amendments. There is nothing that typifies the shallow nature of those opposite more than the Katter’s Australian Party website. Whilst I do not want to encourage too much activity on their website, the first question asked on that website is, ‘Do you want something more than spin?’ The answer, of course, is, ‘Yes, we would like something more than spin’, but when you go to the policy section there is nothing about health and there is nothing about education. There is all this stuff about Coles and Woolworths, all the stuff that the man in the hat is always espousing, but nothing about health and nothing about education on the website of Katter’s Australian Party. It just shows the all care and no responsibility attitude that we see from those opposite. We do want to support students in rural and remote communities. I am happy to deal with the issues they have raised. The member for Mount Isa has asked me about this in the House. He has mentioned a number of schools these students attend. I will deal with that when the amendment is raised in consideration in detail. As I say, it is particularly disappointing that the member wants to make an amendment but does not make a contribution in the general part of the bill in relation to that amendment. The issue of tuition fees for students who are not Australian citizens was raised. Currently about $1.5 million in tuition fees owed by families of dependent students is outstanding. The bill does enable the director-general to cancel the enrolment of an international student if the student or their parents do not pay the required tuition fees. It primarily targets the families of dependent students. There are students who reside in Australia temporarily to take advantage of vocational education opportunities who have not always paid the fees. I have had representations from some of those students themselves who have mentioned to me their difficulties in paying those fees. The fees that are charged are very clear and upfront. They are consistent with fees charged in other states such as New South Wales and Victoria. We will make sure that we are prepared as a department to adopt flexible arrangements to support families who are experiencing financial hardship, including refugee families and asylum seekers. The tuition fee charging practice varies depending on the immigration status of the child and their parent. For example, under current practices refugee families are not charged for state education. Children of asylum seekers in community detention are financially supported by the Australian government and my department manages the funding. As I said, the Australian Curriculum is bringing new challenges to year 7 learning. Placing year 7 in a secondary school environment helps to better position Queensland students to take advantage of the Australian Curriculum. Year 7 students will have access to specialist staff and facilities that provide challenging and age-appropriate learning experiences, as well as variety and the intellectually challenging and age-appropriate support that adolescents need during this important life phase. We will continue to work with ACAR to develop the Australian Curriculum and to ensure that students in Queensland get the best education they can. I acknowledge the fact that, with Health, we will continue to ensure that we have the necessary funding. When these two portfolio areas are considered together, they take up almost 50 per cent of the budget. That shows the importance of these portfolio areas to the Newman government and to the people of Queensland. This bill is very important as it is continuing work that has progressed for some time. Again, I thank the members who have made contributions this evening. The member for Gladstone raised an issue about the tuition fees. I am happy to progress the details and advise her about her particular query when I have the chance to get that information. I look forward to the consideration of the bill in detail. Once again, I thank all members for their contributions. I acknowledge the importance of education, especially as we look forward to progressing these matters. We have added the prep year and we have moved year 7 to secondary school. However, I am committed to ensuring that we do not just do these things for the sake of it; we should also be

21 Aug 2013 Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2733

seeing better results from our school students to ensure that, in a world-class system, we are competitive with other states. Parents want to know that ours is a world-class system and I am confident that it is. The director-general has made me very aware of his intention to ensure that we focus not just on doing something for the sake of it but also on getting better results from these things. Simply adding years or moving years will not automatically lead to better outcomes; we have to look at the data and the research, and we have to check the outcomes to ensure that we are always progressing. Education is a section of policy around which there will always be a lot of debate as it is a very vibrant sector, and that is exactly as it should be. We want to ensure that we have well considered ideas, not ideas thought of on the run by people who bring them in here or take them to policy committees, thinking that they are things that the government should be progressing because of particular biases or ideas that they may have. I have said that before in this place. Our kids are too important. You do not sit around a barbecue or at the pub and say, ‘I reckon we should just do something like bring back external exams because that will make us more competitive.’ We have announced a number of reviews of the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board and the OP system. There are other issues that we are constantly reviewing and will always review, no matter who is in government. Education is a never-ending race. Again, I thank members for their contributions and commend the bill to the House. Question put—That the bill be now read a second time. Motion agreed to. Bill read a second time. Consideration in Detail Clauses 1 to 14, as read, agreed to. Insertion of new clause— Mr KATTER (6.14 pm): I move the following amendment— 1 After clause 14— Page 20, after line 16— insert— 14A Insertion of new ch 19, pt 1B Chapter 19— insert— Part 1B Exemption for State schools that only offer primary education 419I Operation of pt 1B This part applies if— (a) immediately before 1 January 2015, a State school (the local school) offers primary education for year 7; and (b) on or after 1 January 2015— (i) the local school does not offer secondary education for year 7; and (ii) there is no other State school, within 50km of the local school, that offers secondary education for year 7. 419J Continued physical attendance at local school for program of distance education (1) This section applies if a child is enrolled at a State school (the distance education school) offering secondary education for year 7 by a distance education program. (2) Despite the child’s enrolment at the distance education school, the child may physically attend the local school, in accordance with the local school’s requirements, to complete and return the assigned work for the program of distance education at the distance education school. (3) If the child physically attends the local school under subsection (2), the principal of the local school must ensure the child is provided with all necessary facilities to undertake the program of distance education. 419K Cost of providing program of distance education Despite sections 50, 51, 52 and 55, the cost of providing adequate supervision for the program of distance education to the child at the local school must be met by the State.

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419L Transitional regulation-making power (1) A regulation may make provision for a matter relating to— (a) an application under this part for enrolment at a distance education school; or (b) a child’s physical attendance at the local school to undertake the program of distance education; or (c) the cost of the child’s distance education. (2) A regulation (a transitional regulation) may also make provision for another matter relating to this part for which this Act does not make provision or sufficient provision. (3) A transitional regulation may have retrospective operation to a day not earlier than the day on which this section commences. (4) A transitional regulation must declare it is a transitional regulation. (5) Subsections (2) to (4), this subsection and any transitional regulation expire 2 years after the day on which this section commences. I have raised this issue with the minister before. It has affected my electorate considerably. It has caused a lot of angst among many parents and schoolteachers, who have identified some of the problems to me. I will go through some of their issues with the House. A lot of towns do not have a high school. In my electorate there are 15 primary schools and 392 students will be adversely affected by the year 7 transition. They will be forced to leave town or partake in School of the Air activities a year earlier than they would have otherwise. Schools affected include those at Karumba, Julia Creek, Croydon, Boulia and Burketown. Parents are greatly concerned at having to send their 12-year-old sons and daughters to boarding schools one year earlier. Of course, that comes at a considerable cost. Even after subsidies, the cost is estimated at $20,000 per child after allowances are calculated, plus there is the cost of travel and so on. That is a considerable cost to families that are already battling in remote areas. I am looking for a practical solution to help keep the kids in town. Some families leave town when their kids are ready to go to years 8, 9 and 10. We would like to open middle schools, but instead, through this legislation, we are pulling the rug out from under them even more as some families do leave town when their kids go to high school. I am appealing to the government. With all due respect to the minister, this is an opportunity to keep the kids in town. Some people in the community and teachers have suggested to me that it would be viable to have kids taught by a teacher aide in a classroom on the campus under the School of the Air curriculum, which I am told is a robust curriculum. That would allow those kids to move into year 8 in the following year. This is a plea to keep the kids in town and to stop families from losing their kids a year earlier. I urge the minister to consider this amendment or some other solution that would keep the kids in town for one more year. A lot of Indigenous communities are trying to keep their kids in school. Many kids have an enormous problem with the transition from primary school to high school. In those towns where there are no high schools, many kids are likely to drop out of the system in grade 6. That is a big problem that needs to be addressed. I urge the government to consider this practical solution. Mr KNUTH: I fully support and understand this amendment. Quite a lot of rural electorates are represented in this House, such as the electorates of the honourable members for Cook, Gregory, Warrego and Mount Isa, as well as my own. The electorates of Callide and Burdekin fit into the category, as well. It is very important that we support our schools, which are the social fabric of their communities. The transition of year 7 to high school will mean that a lot of people who live on the land or in rural communities will have to send their children to private schools and that has a big cost factor. Those kids will be only 12 years old, which is a big concern. They can suffer from homesickness and are at an age when they need to be close to their families. As the member for Mount Isa said, parents should have the right to keep their kids in town, in the community. It has been proven that if we lose a school, we lose the township. As I have said before, it is the same with railway stations. If we lose the railway station, we lose the station master. If we lose kids from a particular school, it means fewer teacher aides because the school’s numbers have dropped. It creates an issue for the yards man, whose hours will be cut because the school’s numbers have dropped. Grade 7 always contains the highest number of students participating in small primary schools in rural and regional areas. Therefore, there is a cost factor and it needs to be addressed.

21 Aug 2013 Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2735

We have a solution, which, as the member for Mount Isa said, is through distance education. I cannot see that being a problem. I see one member shaking his head. Mr Cox interjected. Mr KNUTH: I do not think that the member understands the burden on parents in rural and regional Queensland. I have spoken to them and I have spoken to the P&Cs. Perhaps if the member spoke to them he would have a better understanding, rather than shaking his head and rolling over, as he always does. I am aware that this is a Labor Party policy that has been embraced by the Liberal Party. I am disappointed that the National Party members are not supporting this amendment. I fully support this amendment. Well done, member for Mount Isa. It is good to see him stick up for rural and regional Queensland. (Time expired) Mrs CUNNINGHAM: I only want to speak on this for a moment. I can see some merit in this amendment. When a child reaches year 6 and they transition to year 7 they would become students of distance education. If they can access a school and do their schooling as part of their peer group I can see great merit in that, particularly in terms of social development, maintaining friendship and accessing assistance with difficult concepts in education. The amendment talks about where another state school is not available within 50 kilometres. I think being able to continue on at the primary school where they have attended for years 1 to 6 will also give some assistance to a parent who would have to assume responsibility for the year 7 distance education teaching responsibilities. On that basis, I am going to support the amendment. The other matters in relation to not going to boarding school are very real in terms of the financial implications. I am more concerned about those students who move to year 7. Year 7 will not be on offer in a remote school. Under this amendment, that student would be able to attend the school, albeit as a distance education student, but with the assistance of that school structure and infrastructure. Mr LANGBROEK: I can foreshadow that the government will not be accepting this amendment. I want to separate the issue about whether we are concerned about rural and regional parents and their students and the issues that honourable members have just raised and their arguments as to why we should accept the amendment. I just want to point out that having added the prep year to our school system students in year 7 are exactly the same age as they were before we had the prep year. In other words, 50 per cent of students turn 13 in year 7 under the current arrangements and that is exactly the same as before. These kids in that year level are not younger than they used to be. Schools are not going to close as a result of these provisions. Communities are not going to be emasculated as a result of these provisions. This is a matter of policy that the government will assess because we are concerned about those issues that the member for Mount Isa has previously raised with me in the House in question time. It is not something that should be in legislation. It does not necessarily mean as a matter of policy, having assessed it over time, that it is not something that we might consider depending on what happens over the transition period. There are other options that those opposite are not considering. They are implying that everyone is going to have to leave the community as though everyone apart from year 7s are going to be leaving the community therefore the schools will close. It is a continuation of the misrepresentation that we have seen from the member for Dalrymple in this debate already. Opposition members: Not us. Mr LANGBROEK: No, I am pointing out that it is the Katter party that are making these misrepresentations. We have distance education provisions that we want to provide for some of these students. But in terms of costs, not everyone has to go to private boarding schools that cost more than parents are given through the Living Away from Home Allowances Scheme, LAFHAS. Should parents do that, they will be able to access a higher rate of LAFHAS. The secondary rate of LAFHAS is higher than the primary rate. That is something that those parents would get.

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We also have two state secondary schools at Dalby and Spinifex. There is a much smaller difference between the rebate that those parents would get and the cost if their students were to go to Spinifex State College. I have been to Spinifex. Unfortunately, they had a fire there recently. The member for Beaudesert mentioned that there was a fire at St Mary’s recently. Spinifex State College, in the electorate of Mount Isa, is a state secondary boarding college. That brings me to the contribution that I wanted to make a little earlier about what we are actually getting from the members of the Katter party. It comes from my old mate Tony McGrady, now the mayor of Mount Isa. I refer to what he had to say on 7.30 about who it is who are members of parties like the Katter party. I will paraphrase what he said. I think he suggested that these are people who do not like the disciplines of normal, regular, major parties and people who used to be in One Nation. It is the rejects who used to be in One Nation who are now in the Katter’s Australian Party. I reiterate our support for those families in rural and regional Queensland. I have members all around the state. The member for Callide was here a moment ago. His name was mentioned by the member for Dalrymple. The member for Cook was also mentioned as having students who are affected by these changes. We will continue to monitor this, but we will not be accepting an amendment from a party that will preference the Labor Party in the upcoming federal election and yet come in here and criticise a policy that they say is a Labor Party policy that we progressed holus- bolus. I have already said that we are not going to accept this amendment. The issues around distance education we will keep monitoring. The cost issues are ones we want to consider. We reject that schools and communities are going to be emasculated as a result of year 7 going into high school in 2015. We will make sure we listen to those constituents and consider all the things that they raise. It is not a matter for legislation; it is policy. We do not accept it. If you win the next election you can bring it in as part of your policy. We do not accept it. Division: Question put—That the amendment be agreed to. AYES, 6—Cunningham, Douglas, Hopper, Wellington. Tellers: Katter, Knuth

NOES, 67—Bates, Bennett, Berry, Bleijie, Boothman, Byrne, Cavallucci, Choat, Cox, Cripps, Crisafulli, Davies, C Davis, T Davis, Dempsey, Dickson, Dillaway, Dowling, Elmes, Emerson, Flegg, France, Frecklington, Gibson, Grant, Grimwade, Gulley, Hart, Hathaway, Hobbs, Holswich, Johnson, Kempton, King, Krause, Langbroek, Maddern, Malone, Mander, McVeigh, Millard, Miller, Minnikin, Molhoek, Nicholls, Ostapovitch, Palaszczuk, Pitt, Rickuss, Robinson, Scott, Seeney, Shorten, Shuttleworth, Smith, Sorensen, Stevens, Stewart, Stuckey, Symes, Trad, Walker, Watts, Woodforth, Young. Tellers: Kaye, Menkens Resolved in the negative. Non-government amendment (Mr Katter) negatived. Clauses 15 to 19, as read, agreed to. Schedule, as read, agreed to.

Third Reading Hon. JH LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—LNP) (Minister for Education, Training and Employment) (6.36 pm): I move— That the bill be now read a third time. Question put—That the bill be now read a third time. Motion agreed to. Bill read a third time.

Long Title Hon. JH LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—LNP) (Minister for Education, Training and Employment) (6.36 pm): I move— That the long title of the bill be agreed to. Question put—That the long title of the bill be agreed to. Motion agreed to. Sitting suspended from 6.37 pm to 7.40 pm.

21 Aug 2013 Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation (No. 1) 2737

TRANSPORT AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT REGULATION (NO. 1)

Disallowance of Statutory Instrument Ms TRAD (South Brisbane—ALP) (7.40 pm): I move— That the Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation (No. 1) 2013, Subordinate Legislation No. 150 of 2013, tabled in the House on 6 August 2013, be disallowed. The genesis of the plan to legalise segways in Queensland was in a letter written by a tourist operator to the Premier. Mr Andrew Cusack wrote to the Premier requesting to use segways for commercial purposes around riverside bikeways adjacent to the Brisbane River at South Bank. As the local member for this area, I know firsthand how busy this area is. It is a favourite for pedestrians, for cyclists, for families with small children, for the health conscious exercisers and so forth. With the speed usually reserved for the implementation of a top priority, the Department of Transport and Main Roads was poked and prodded, cajoled, massaged and directed by the LNP to make segways legal. The Premier decided there were no questions to be asked. Evidence, facts and expert advice were to be ignored. One of the departmental officers in Transport and Main Roads let the cat out of the bag in an email released under a right-to-information request. They wrote, ‘... the Premier thinks Segways are good for tourism and they are to be made legal immediately.’ I table a copy of the email for the benefit of the House. Tabled paper: Document, dated 25 July 2012, released under RTI—Department of Transport and Main Roads, email between Keith Watts, Manager, Vehicle Standards and Regulation, and Russell Hoelzl, Manager, Heavy Vehicle Access Policy, regarding segways [3275]. That attitude and approach to decision making tells Queenslanders everything they need to know about this government. The Premier made a decision, sight unseen, on the basis of no advice or evidence whatsoever. All it took was one letter from one person and the law was changed because the Premier had a light bulb moment. He did not ask for advice about the use of segways. He did not seek information about whether they were safe to be used in Queensland’s parks and on our footpaths. He did not wonder about how or whether they could be used safely, or even whether the majority of people wanted to see segways used in Queensland. The LNP backbench I know were sitting there wondering what the fuss was all about. Quite frankly, this cannot be chalked up to another win for the can-do philosophy. I know that they might think as much. It is another glorious example of their leader’s innate sensibility and common touch. A man who surveys the state from level 15 of the Executive Building—soon to be level 43 of 1 William Street—instinctively knows what all Queenslanders want and need. Government members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! The member has the call. Ms TRAD: There we go. Finally they have woken up, Mr Deputy Speaker. It only took them two minutes. A government member interjected. Ms TRAD: I did not have to try hard. I will take that interjection—I did not have to try hard. Government members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for South Brisbane has the call. Members, order! Ms TRAD: Obviously the LNP backbench think that they have in the Premier a man who gets things done. He does not need advice, evidence or information in order to make the right decision. Like the good old National Party premiers of old, he knows what is right, it is in his waters and he just does it—forget the consequences and ignore anybody who says otherwise. Anybody who says, ‘Premier, perhaps we should consider the potential impacts of this decision,’ or, ‘Premier, all the evidence and past experience suggests that we should not do this,’ is just getting in the way. They are just being too bureaucratic. Maybe they should be sacked because they do not have the can-do attitude that Queensland needs. They are what is wrong with Queensland, obviously. Medical experts who say, ‘Don’t cut sexually transmitted infection services at Biala. Don’t cut the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program— Government members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting.

2738 Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation (No. 1) 21 Aug 2013

Ms TRAD: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The point is expert advice. Whether it is medical expert advice about curtailing services or cutting services at a particular clinic, whether it is about continuing a very effective employment preparation program through the Skilling Queenslanders for Work—whatever the expert advice says tends to get ignored if this government has an ideological position to push through. And we know in the case of vegetation management that this government does not even look for independent advice. It does not even ask the department to do any sort of analysis. The government just goes ahead and does it. Obviously this is the sort of arrogance and foolishness that has infiltrated the decision-making process of the Queensland government. It is such a perverse and self-reinforcing attitude that the more people complain about it the more the proponents are convinced that they are doing the right thing. Government members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting. The member for South Brisbane has the call. Ms TRAD: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Obviously the backbench might think that it is great now, but I can tell them that that sort of approach will eventually come unstuck in the end. Government members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting. The member for South Brisbane has the call. Ms TRAD: I think a lot of red wine went around the LNP dinner table tonight. Let’s look at what the expert advice says about the use of segways on roads and on footpaths in Queensland. Helpfully, the Department of Transport and Main Roads produced a report in July 2012 entitled Segway PT safety: a review of the legislative and safety implications of Segway PT use on or around the road network. I table a copy of the report for the benefit of the House. Tabled paper: Department of Transport and Main Roads: Segway PT Safety—A review of the legislative and safety implications of Segway PT use on or around the road network, version 2.2, dated 5 July 2012 [3276]. This report was released as part of a right-to-information request. The report made the following conclusions about the safety of segways, and I quote— Mr Dowling: Is that Labor policy now? Ms TRAD: Mr Deputy Speaker, I would implore the backbench to listen. This is expert safety advice on the use of segways on public roads and footpaths. It is probably very important that they listen to this expert safety advice. Mr Dowling: Why do you hate segways? Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Mr Dowling: Why does the member hate segways? Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting. Member for Redlands, the member for South Brisbane has the call. Ms TRAD: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Again, I quote from the report— Mr Dowling: See, a segway requires balance. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Redlands will cease interjecting. I will warn the member on the next occasion. Ms TRAD: Mr Deputy Speaker, there are so many ways I could take that interjection, but for the dignity of the House I will refrain myself. The report states— Further analysis revealed it is undesirable to allow the Segway PT to be operated on footpaths as their braking and manoeuvrability constraints and significantly greater speed and mass, compared to pedestrians, results in such a much higher kinetic energy. If not dissipated appropriately, this energy has the potential to cause significant damage and injury, particularly to the— unprotected— vulnerable pedestrian. Allowing Segway PT use on the road also raises serious safety concerns. On the road the Segway PT operator becomes the vulnerable user as they mix with other faster moving and heavier vehicles. The potential for conflict and crashes increases when vehicles using the same road are travelling at different speeds.

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The report went on to discuss the National Transport Commission’s position on segways. It states— The National Transport Commission (NTC) have provided the following recommendations in relation to allowing the use of Segway PTs on the Australian road network: • Segway PTs are not needed on the road network and so the current regulations which prevent them from being used do not need to be altered; and • Segway PTs are undesirable on footpaths and other road related areas as they are potentially dangerous to pedestrians and so the current regulations which prevent them from being used in these areas do not need to be altered. Based on these recommendations and the safety issues highlighted in the report, there appears to be no compelling reason to allow Segway PTs on the Queensland road network. In doing so would place both segway operators and other road users—for example, pedestrian and cyclists— at risk. As such, the current mandate for segways to be only operated on private property with no public access appears sufficient. It is a pretty damning picture painted by the Department of Transport and Main Roads and the National Transport Commission. It says basically and simply for the benefit of the LNP backbench that segways are dangerous and unnecessary. They are not suitable for use on roads or on footpaths in Queensland. The Department of Transport and Main Roads are not the only people to question whether segways are a good idea. Time magazine named them No. 1 on their list of the 50 worst inventions of all time in 2010, beating New Coke, agent orange, tanning beds and asbestos. An honourable member: It beat New Coke? Ms TRAD: It beat New Coke. For the benefit of the House, I table a copy of that article. Tabled paper: Webpage from time.com titled ‘The 50 Worst Inventions’, dated 27 May 2010, regarding segways [3277]. Leaving aside the fact that the owner of the company which manufactures Segways died in 2010 when he rode over a cliff whilst on a Segway, I table for the benefit of the House the article that details his very tragic death on one of the machines that his company built. Tabled paper: Article, dated 28 September 2010, from dailymail.co.uk titled ‘Millionaire Segway tycoon dies in cliff plunge on one of his own scooters’ [3278]. But forget all of that. The Premier apparently knows more than all the experts in the Department of Transport and Main Roads, the people at the National Transport Commission and everyone else who sees segways for what they are: an expensive, unnecessary novelty item, pure and simple. Once the decision about legalising segways had been made by the Premier, it was up to the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Minister Emerson to get it done. I must commend the officers of the Department of Transport and Main Roads on the thorough and professional work they have done to implement the decision of the Premier. It is clear that the department did not want to legalise segways. It is clear that the experts in the department thought they were unnecessary and dangerous. It is also clear from the right to information documents that the minister’s office directed the department to change the recommendations the minister received for approval. I quote from an email of 5 February 2013— Graham rang this morning to advise of feedback from the Minister’s office. We are to progress the ministerial briefing note in much the same form it is in, however, the recommendation needs to change to approve the establishment of a permit system for tour operators, with the review after a period (I suggest 12 months) of the demand for wider use as per the road rules option. I table this email for the benefit of the House. Tabled paper: Document, dated 5 February 2013, released under RTI—Department of Transport and Main Roads, from Pam Palmer, Senior Manager, Safer Road Users, to various officers regarding segways [3279]. The department was explicitly ordered by the minister’s office to change the recommendations on the ministerial briefing note. I table for the benefit of the House a copy of the briefing note as approved. Tabled paper: Document, dated 20 February 2013, released under RTI—Department of Transport and Main Roads Decision Brief MC67485 regarding segways [3280]. But there will be no review, as foreshadowed, after 12 months. The matter is now closed. All of this begs the question: how much interference did the minister and his office have in the development of this proposal? Who told the Department of Transport and Main Roads to change the briefing note that went for the minister’s approval? What was changed? What was taken out? Was any of the content about safety censored? These are legitimate questions, and Queenslanders deserve to know.

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When asked at estimates, the Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads said—

Mr Scales: We provided advice to the minister on a number of options. There were three options, and the minister chose two of those options. ...

Mr Scales: We recommended that Segways be used on a trial basis and a permit basis. We also recommended that the speed be limited to 12 kph. We also recommended that the matter be trialled first. The minister took that advice. Well, I am sorry, but the minister did not take that advice. The minister ignored that advice. There are no permits and there will be no trial. Of course, that comment also presupposes that the minister received the full and uncensored advice of his department, which was that segways were not safe for use and did not need to be legalised in Queensland. I ask honourable members: is legalising segways really a top priority for this government? Is having this many officers in the Department of Transport and Main Roads spending this much time and effort on an issue that does not matter in the slightest to the vast majority of Queenslanders a wise use of their resources—of their ever-diminishing number as a work population? Are they so devoid of policy ideas that they will latch on to any that come along just to make it look like they are doing something apart from sacking Queenslanders, cutting front-line services and outsourcing services to their mates? I recently called on the transport minister to suspend the introduction of segways, to genuinely consult with the public about the very real and valid concerns around safety and to listen to the expert advice that his department has prepared and conduct a proper trial. This has not been taken up by the government. We want to see a government that is committed to evidence based policy making that takes into account expert advice, particularly expert safety advice, not policy making through the Premier’s whim and fancy. I commend the motion to the House. Mr HOBBS (Warrego—LNP) (7.55 pm): The member for South Brisbane has to realise that there was an election on 24 March 2012. This government was elected to govern, and govern we will. Mr Berry: And we do. Mr HOBBS: And we do. The Labor government was, and the Labor opposition still is, incapable of making a decision and whatever the department says goes. This is the problem we have had for the last 20 years. They did not have the intellectual capacity to make a decision about what they thought was really best for the whole of the state. They had to go and find a bureaucracy to give them some advice. Guess what? A lot of times they got it wrong. Most times they got it wrong. No-one ever gets decisions 100 per cent right all of the time. We will make mistakes, but you are better off making a few decisions and getting some wrong rather than make none at all, which is what those opposite have done over many years. The member said that segways are dangerous and unnecessary. Has she ever ridden a segway? An opposition member: Have you? Mr HOBBS: Yes, I have. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member will speak through the chair. Mr HOBBS: Mr Deputy Speaker, I have. Just out here. And they are fine. Many of us have as well. The minister has ridden one, as have quite a few others around here. Have any of the members opposite ridden a segway? Hands up? No hands up, Mr Deputy Speaker. Therefore, they have not tried them. Branch out in the world. Have a go at it. It is not that hard. Lean forward and they go. Sit back and they stop. You turn it this way and it goes there. You turn it that way and it goes there. It is not rocket science. They use them all over the world. At the summer Olympics in Beijing they used them. The police use them. They use them around the world. I do not really see that it is a big issue for us here. Not only have they used them in Beijing; they are used in Asia, Europe, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Italy. There are many companies that use segways on their premises to get around. They are vehicles that are used for mobility purposes. At Singapore airport they use them to get around. It is not as if they are new. I know that it is new and exciting to you, but it is not new and exciting for us. If you used them in my area, it would be a long drive. We use motorbikes, choppers and things like that, but I would use one around here. We would give them a go. Let us look a little deeper at this. They are not going to be in everyone’s face. They are going to be on the footpath. Do you know what the most important thing is? Ms Trad: Speak through the chair.

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Mr HOBBS: Through you, Mr Deputy Speaker, if you do not want to use one, you do not have to. You can stay at home. You can hop on a skateboard. You can hop on a rollerblade and zoom around on two wheels. I think they might be a little more dangerous than a segway. Mr Cox interjected. Mr HOBBS: The member says that they should stick to a Tarago. We know that joke and I will not go into that. At the end of the day, there are many more things in life that are dangerous. You can walk across the street and be in more danger than you can on a segway. Mrs Menkens: You can climb a tree. Mr HOBBS: You can climb a tree, and it can be more dangerous. Let’s have a bit of a look at this legislation, which will introduce the concept of a personal mobility device. These devices can be used by police. They can use them in the malls and at functions. A government member interjected. Mr HOBBS: The transport department has now accepted the fact that the government has made a decision. We have made a decision and they are going to be used. We are going to reduce red tape by allowing previously prohibited devices to be used in certain public places. Commercial tourism businesses can use them. There are a lot of opportunities there for tourists. They use them overseas. Why can they not use them here? It is not rocket science. The amendments commenced on 1 August 2013. It defies logic that we cannot utilise something that is a little bit new. I know it is hard for some members opposite to take on things that are new—they want to keep things traditional—but the reality is that we have to branch out in the world and try something different. It is a challenge, and I understand that. But at the end of the day— Mr Berry: Electorally challenging. Mr HOBBS: Electorally challenging, that is quite true. We can expand the commuting and recreational options out there. A lot of things can be done. As I mentioned before, one of the places where segways have been used around the world was at the Beijing games. They were used over there—and successfully. Did we hear of any significant issues regarding the use of segways? Mr Mander: There were a few people over there, too. Mr HOBBS: There were a few people, and they did not run into anybody that we are aware of. Looking at Singapore airport, those who have been there know it is a darn big place. There are a lot of people there as well, but they did not run anyone over. Using segways here in the streets is not a great issue. In moving this disallowance motion, the opposition is not only disallowing segways, but it is also disallowing an exemption from bicycle helmet laws on religious grounds, disallowing the issuing of a maximum 12-month medical certificate to drivers aged over 75 years, disallowing the provision that a person not drink liquor while supervising a learner driver—and I think we would all agree with those things—and disallowing the exclusion provision relating to Toyota LandCruisers. People use those vehicles out there in the workforce and we need to have that exemption. This regulation is a very practical, sensible one that has been put up. I think that the Labor Party needs to get a life. I really do. We are in the middle of a federal election and we are talking about segways. I would have thought the people opposite would bring up something a bit more dramatic than this. The opportunities are there. Mr Berry: There’s a segue about to happen. Mr HOBBS: I take the interjection. There is a segue about to happen. It is going to be a big one, too. I certainly hope so. The minister has taken the opportunity to do this. He has done a good job. I support the regulation. Mr MINNIKIN (Chatsworth—LNP) (8.03 pm): The last time I checked the history books, the Berlin wall came down in 1989. I would like to start off by talking about a great freedom that we on this side of the chamber do not take for granted. It is that great liberal freedom, the notion of freedom—not the nanny state, but that notion of freedom. Rather than wasting time in this hallowed chamber tonight talking about this pitiful disallowance motion, I have some great advice for those six souls opposite. Why do you not come in here and do what you should have done 18 months ago? Why do you not use this opportunity, rather than moving this disallowance motion, to get up and do what you should have done not just for this chamber but also for the people of Queensland? One of you should simply stand up at that lectern and say, ‘We apologise.’

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Ms TRAD: I rise to a point of order. Mr Deputy Speaker, can you ask the member to refer to you as opposed to us in the debate? He continually refers to ‘you’. He is directly debating us as opposed to going through you. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! I have missed that. The member knows to address things through the chair. I call the member. Mr MINNIKIN: Through the chair, I ask for members of the ALP to apologise to the people of Queensland for wasting our time tonight. Let me make a couple of facts. We do not make policy on the run, but we will make decisions when those decisions are in the best interests of one of the four pillars of the economy, that is, tourism. At the end of day you do not need to be an Einstein academic to actually conduct some research, which members opposite fail to do day in, day out. They are overresourced and overstaffed, but they do not do their basic homework. Let’s move on to a segway point. Segways are currently used in just a couple of places. Some of them might be known to those members opposite. They include luminary states such as Israel, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden not to mention that small little colony called the United States of America, within which no fewer than 22 states have successfully operated segways for many years. At the end of the day this government has taken a safety-first approach to the introduction of segways. Anyone who comes from the real world would know that if a portable mobility device, whether it be a motorised scooter or what-not, is operated in an irresponsible way—and I speak of any equipment, whether it be a skateboard skating onto the politburo on Peel Street across the creek or whether they are on a segway—if they do not take personal responsibility, there may be consequences. We all know that. I pose a question to members right now. Do we want to live in a state for the next 20 years that operates as we did for the last 20 years? I do not think so. At about 20 past 7 on 26 March I was very privileged, along with everyone on this side of the chamber—and might I add, most of that side of the chamber—to actually represent a seat as an LNP member. Why do we have members in the numbers that we have? It is simply because of this. Eighteen months ago the good people of Queensland from Coolangatta to Cooktown, with seven exceptions and a couple of exceptions on the crossbenches—and I notice again that they are not here tonight—elected an absolute sea of blue, and why is that? They want us to come in here and exercise due diligence, common sense and get on— Mr Cox: Make decisions. Mr MINNIKIN:—and make decisions—I take the interjection—and get on and govern not for me, not for the member for Thuringowa, but for every single Queenslander including the kids coming through. They are the same kids who are going to have to pay economically and clean up the scraps and the economic mess that these seven soulless souls and their kindred comrades in arms before them have left us. The bottom line is this: the minister, the Premier and cabinet comprise men and woman who get on with the job of leading this great state. They have taken on a herculean task since we came to office. We could name them all from the Premier, the DP, the Treasurer, to the whole ministry. Each and every single one of them has gotten on with the job of making decisions, and this is no different. We have the member for South Brisbane being pious and sanctimonious about the fact that segways have been implemented too quickly; the decision was made too rashly. I absolutely reject that. We do get full, frank and fearless advice from members of the Public Service. Being an assistant minister, I am very privileged to receive that full and frank advice. Unlike those opposite, we will listen to it and we will digest it. Unlike those opposite, we will do something a little bit different that has not been displayed here for the last 20 years. We will digest it and make a decision. In the case of segways, many tourism operators are just itching to get on board and use these, and some of them have taken them up already. I will again make the point that it comes back to personal responsibility. If someone wants to use them, let them get on and use them. If it can make a dollar for a tourism operator, whether it be at Coolangatta or at Palm Cove, good for them. If the implementation of this policy plays a very small role in making sure that this great state continues to get back on its economic horse, we will absolutely support it every stage of the way. To those opposite, they can come in here with their disallowance motions and their silly divides and they can continue to waste our time, but those on this side of the chamber will take this very privileged opportunity each and every time to do the best thing—not by themselves, but for the people

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that they serve in their electorates and the greater good of Queensland. To the minister and the Premier, I say to them ‘good on you’ for having the gumption to show what has sadly been lacking in this state for the better part of two decades, and that is the essence of true leadership. Mr GRIMWADE (Morayfield—LNP) (8.10 pm): I rise to make a contribution tonight as well. It is a hard task to follow the member for South Brisbane, who went on for 15 minutes. I probably saw more emotion out of the member for Warrego, who is a champion in this place and who made a very entertaining speech as well. Of course he is the chair of the committee which looked at this legislation. I have been one of the new members in this place since March 2012, and I have seen and heard a lot of things. But one thing that I have not heard so far is somebody stand up and talk about a disallowance motion on an item that they actually have no idea about: what it does, how to use it, how to ride it, never had a go at it. But they will tell us that it is terrible; it is really difficult; and ‘I sort of don’t know, but one of my staff of 22 told me that it is really bad and we should do this politically’. Coming into this place I like to talk about things that I understand and things that I have actually tried so that I understand. Then when I stand up in this parliament and represent my constituents, the people of Queensland, I can actually make a recommendation because I have some understanding of the issue. I will move on to segways. The disallowance motion itself has four or five parts, as was pointed out by the member for Warrego earlier. The part that we are talking about tonight, which has been brought to the parliament by the member of South Brisbane, is in relation to segways. When this government considered the segway proposal, the first thing they wanted to do was take a safety-first approach. They were not going to introduce something bad to the streets of Queensland which tourist operators could use on the streets of the Gold Coast to hurt people or make people in our communities feel unsafe. I think you ought to take a bit of a reality check sometimes with these sorts of things. We heard the member for South Brisbane going on like someone was driving a Volvo down the middle of the Broadwater. It is going to go so fast that she can hardly stop it. It is going to run up the back of you and knock 15 people over like in a bowling alley. I think what they need to understand is that it is a small device where, as the member for Warrego said, if you lean forward it goes forward; if you lean back, it goes back. It is restricted to 12 kilometres an hour. When I get around town, or the Broadwater on the Gold Coast, or up in Port Douglas and Cairns and I am looking at these tourist operators, I probably walk as fast as 10 to 12 kilometres an hour. If I ran into you, I would probably bowl you over. At the end of the day, you have this device that is going along and the person is attached to it. Obviously if they are going to run into something, they are going to pull back and it is going to stop. It is going 12 kilometres an hour; it is like walking speed. It is a little bit hypocritical to say that it is a big safety concern to have these things flying down the street at a million miles an hour, when, if you compare that to a 12-year-old riding a bike along a footpath, I reckon rollerbladers or people riding bicycles could go flying along the Broadwater or the Strand there in Port Douglas and they would probably have more of a chance of not seeing you and being uncontrolled and knocking you over than the Segway. I am not going to go on too much about where these things are used. Mr Gibson interjected. Mr GRIMWADE: I will take the interjection from the member for Gympie. He said we could deliver pizzas on it, and he is probably right. We have little scooters these days that we use to burl the pizzas around in. Those who know me know that I own a pizza shop. You can do that, and I suppose on a segway you would get there a lot slower. It would be like walking. But at the end of the day, speed is not the biggest issue. These things are available all around the world, as we have heard from other members: Berlin, Chicago, Munich, Paris and San Francisco. I almost second what the member for Warrego said earlier, that when you bring things like this disallowance motion to the parliament you have got to get a life. When I go out into the community and I talk to mums and dads, do you know what they tell me? They probably say the same thing to everyone in this place. They tell me that they are sick and tired of this state becoming a nanny state. Their children cannot do anything. Mr Mander: The fun police! Mr GRIMWADE: I take the interjection from the member for Everton. It is the fun police. You cannot play brandy at school because someone will get hurt. You cannot climb a tree because you might fall out. On the one hand, people say that our kids cannot do things and we cannot go out and do things in life; but on the other hand, why don’t our kids go out and do things? Why are they not

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active? Why are our children not playing sport? They are not doing all of these things because we are mothballing them. We tell them that they cannot break any rules because we are trying to mothball them. This is the issue. When I go out and I talk to mums and dads, they talk about the nanny state issues. I am sure that for two decades the previous government moved a lot of legislation in this place that they were told—whether it was by the unions or their bureaucrats—was a good idea. Maybe it was with the best of intentions. There is legislation regarding safe eating practices at school canteens and these sorts of things, but these good intentions do not actually work. People in this parliament may sometimes follow me on social networking sites. I am sure the member for South Brisbane probably uses social networking. If you look at my Facebook page, you will see that I go to school canteens a fair bit. That is almost another example of ‘nanny state-ism’. We make all these laws with regard to what kids can and cannot do and that sort of thing. We have P&Cs at schools for a good reason. As the member from Chatsworth mentioned before, we want to give people individual responsibility. We want to give parents the responsibility of making decisions for themselves and their children: what should my kid eat? The P&C has to decide what to serve at the canteen. Where should my little Johnny go and play? Do I, as a parent, think he should climb a tree? When you are ‘nanny state-ing’ everything, you cannot go into national parks any more. Someone commented on my Facebook page today that you cannot go into national parks and access certain areas. You cannot go commercial shooting in this state and that state. You cannot do anything as a result of all of these laws. But it is our state! It is the people’s state! What we find is that as you get around it, you cannot do anything. These disallowance motions prove nothing more than the continual ALP policy of trying to shut everything down. The member for South Brisbane raised some points regarding safety, and I have addressed some of those in my speech tonight. We spoke about the fact that you can only go 12 kilometres an hour. That is probably a lot slower than someone skateboarding down a footpath or riding a bike. Segways can have lights and reflectors like a bike; they can have a bell or a similar warning device if you like; you cannot use a mobile phone—it is just like a car; and the operator must be at least 12 years old. But they are intended to be on footpaths like pedestrians. At the end of the day it is like walking along, but you can have safety devices as well. People can still have them and still make the choice whether they think that those safety devices are appropriate for their children. To sum up, this government obviously wants to get out of the way of community groups, mums and dads and Queenslanders and wants to let them enjoy their own state for once in their lives. This is what this legislation is about. I would make the point that when motor vehicles and locomotives first came out in the 1800s, you had to have someone walk along in front carrying a red flag and a lantern. Could you imagine that? If someone brought a car in, all of a sudden this person has a red flag out in front, ‘Oh, my God! It’s a dangerous automobile! I might run into someone!’ Then as the years go by and technology improves and people get used to things, what do you know? People are not walking in South Brisbane any more waving red flags in front of cars! It will be no different with segways; people will get used to them. This government has done a number of things to get out of the way of Queenslanders, and that is something of which I am proud. One of the reasons I joined this particular party was that we give people the freedom of choice. Obviously the people who use these things will take individual responsibility. One of this government’s proudest moments was when we cut the liquor licensing requirements for school P&Cs and community groups. That was another nanny state idea. If we want to have a raffle and we want to have a bottle of Campbell Newman signed wine, we have to fill out 50 pieces of paper, pay $80 and get a volunteer to spend six or seven hours going through all the red tape. Such nonsense! Another one is whale watching. We have removed some of the costly fees and red tape with regard to that. Crikey, people are going to Hervey Bay to go out on a ship to check out some whales? We had better make a whole heap of regulations about how you cannot look at the whales from this angle, you cannot drive here and you cannot do this. One thing that has benefited businesses in my electorate is the removal of 20 ERAs. They no longer have to comply with silly, nonsense regulations. This will save small business thousands of dollars in application fees. We are cutting red tape, moving away from having a nanny state and getting out of the road of people—allowing people to actually enjoy their state. Queensland is the best state—a great state with great opportunity.

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Mr SHORTEN (Algester—LNP) (8.19 pm): I rise to speak against the disallowance motion moved by the member for South Brisbane. Again the Labor Party shows its true colours—wanting to be the problem and not part of the solution. The member for South Brisbane is being held back by her party’s old-time and tired thinking. Worse than that, if this disallowance motion were successful the member for South Brisbane would be holding back small businesses in her own electorate. The Newman government was elected with a plan to build a four-pillar economy. We want to open up commercial opportunities for operators who may want to hire out segways to tourists. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane talks about Brisbane being a new-world city. Well, this legislation allowing segways puts Brisbane on par with cities such as Berlin, Chicago, Munich, Paris, Vienna and Singapore, which all currently have segway tours. No-one would argue that these cities are not well-known world cities. We have a number of segway tours already operating in Queensland— Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Novotel Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast and Peppers Ruffles Lodge and Spa at Willow Vale near the Gold Coast, just to name a few. Segways are an innovative form of transport. The Labor Party talks a lot about innovation but does not support measures that facilitate practical innovation. Queensland will be the first state or territory in Australia to allow the public to use segways on road related areas such as footpaths. But we do not just say to people, ‘Off you go. You have the right to use segways on public paths.’ As part of the legislation we make sure that people use them in a safe manner and that the user is protected. That is why we will make riders wear a helmet and why it is proposed that a person on a segway will generally be treated as a pedestrian, with similar restrictions. Also, segways will be required to have a bell or similar warning device as a safety measure. The Newman government has taken a safety-first approach to the introduction of personal mobility devices such as segways. It is worth noting that the restrictions placed upon PMDs here in Queensland are tougher than those in many European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, where segways are a very popular transport option. I cannot and will not support this disallowance motion, particularly when this move to legislate the use of segways has been welcomed by tourism operators including the Tourism Industry Council. Again I ask the opposition to become part of the solution and not be the problem. The member for South Brisbane should get in and support her local tourism operators. She should just think about the opportunities this opens up for South Bank. As I said, I will not be supporting the opposition’s disallowance motion. Dr DOUGLAS (Gaven—UAP) (8.23 pm): I support the disallowance motion, and for very sound reasons. Government members interjected. Dr DOUGLAS: Just listen up. You might learn something. Do a bit of reading. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, members! The member has barely started his speech. Dr DOUGLAS: The feel-good statements made about changing the legislation to permit the near unrestricted access of segways on our footpaths are wrong. They are being introduced without any initial community consultation. They are wrong for reasons of safety, they are wrong for reasons of engineering and they are a wrong message to send to a rapidly increasingly indolent and sedentary society. Incorrectly, these rather ingenious people-moving mobility scooters—albeit where the operator stands and uses their balance skills—are perceived as something other than mobility scooters. They are not. And rather intriguingly, a mobility scooter is what they are classified as under current Queensland legislation. They are included in that act with motorised wheelchairs, buggies and gophers. Clearly, they are none of these things. This government, like the last Labor government, refused to address this issue when I raised it in parliament on 8 September 2011. I tabled all the relevant documents. People were laughing. They then realised that people were being killed or maimed. The accident rate was 10 times that for any other comparable personal moving device. At the time I demanded that the groups be split and that the legislation take into account how dangerous mobility scooters are. There has been an unabated 10 per cent growth in registrations. That is twice the rate for motorcycles and motor scooters that people run around the city on. Honourable members should remember that these vehicles, by and large—the ones required to be registered—could travel at only 10 kilometres per hour. It is estimated there are currently 36,000 of them in Queensland.

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There were 62 fatalities due to mobility scooters from July 2000 to August 2010. The majority of the fatalities were of people under 60 years of age. Between 2006 and 2008 there were 442 motorised mobility scooter fall injury hospitalisations in Australia. That is for just a two-year period, and it has been rising every year. That figure rises to 700 if you use the coding to include all types of those devices. A large proportion of the deaths occurred when the scooters were crossing the road, when people were attempting to alight from the scooter or when people were entering or approaching intersections. And members should remember that not all of these people were geriatrics, blind or incapable. Footpaths are designed for exactly that—foot traffic—not for a segway and probably a vast number of those currently using mobility scooters. They are reasonable to nearly all motorised wheelchairs, excepting those that do greater than 10 kilometres per hour and therefore must be registered with the department of transport. They are issued with a numberplate, have compulsory third-party insurance and must be driven on the road, not on the footpath. The key problem with segways is that they are even more dangerous than mobility scooters because they are inherently unstable. Particularly when their governor is tampered with, they will exceed 12 kilometres per hour—and it is easy to tamper with their governor. They are 900 millimetres wide and literally extend to the outer limits of the average footpath. They have high kinetic energy, as the member stated earlier. What she did not talk about—I am looking at the member for Callide—was bullets, guns and what the shells do. High kinetic energy is what kills people. That is why the military uses shells that have high kinetic energy. Segways unfortunately cause problems. They break bones. They cause internal injuries. A helmet is not going to do anything for you—absolutely nothing. It is the equivalent of using .308s rather than .222s. That is the issue with them having high kinetic energy: it causes greater injury to the rider; it also causes significant injuries to pedestrians. This is the impact of what the government is doing. And this is on footpaths! This is a case of a little knowledge being a very dangerous thing. I heard all sorts of statements from various members who knew nothing of this. They talked about segways on roads, not on approved footpaths. The Northern Territory has just passed legislation for segways to be used on approved paths. That is the case with all of the legislation overseas. It is not for footpaths, because they are not designed for them. We currently have a major problem in Australia with motorised wheelchairs alone. When you add in mobility scooters you have a secondary problem.

I greatly respect the member for Warrego and know that he likes segways, but segways should not be licensed for use on our footpaths. As I said, the first of the states that considered that did not do it, and that was the Northern Territory and it does not have a very high density of population. If members of the government want to see fatalities, major accidents and people complaining, trust me: put segways on footpaths. They should support this disallowance motion. This is a load of rubbish. There is nothing to say that commercial tour operators cannot use them as they do overseas when used on approved paths and certainly on roads. If that is the case, they should be the same as motorised wheelchairs in that they should be covered by compulsory third-party insurance, riders should wear helmets and they should be registered. That would mean that they would have to be put through the pits and everything the same as everything else. That is the way we should treat this or otherwise there will be problems. Members of the government may decide that this is just such a good thing, but what are they going to do when there are accidents? The accident profile is just too high. With regard to the concluding remarks in terms of asking the Labor Party or the member for South Brisbane to get a life, I tell you what: if you want to save lives, do not put segways on footpaths. Do what everybody else does—put them on approved paths and register them for the roads. It is okay if police want to use them, but do not put them on footpaths because we have a big enough problem with mobility scooters. The evidence is all there. I have tabled it in the parliament, but the problem is nobody reads it. You all laughed at the time. You thought it was stupid, but you should take note of it now. All those members who made stupid comments about it should hang their heads in shame.

Hon. SA EMERSON (Indooroopilly—LNP) (Minister for Transport and Main Roads) (8.30 pm): I rise to oppose this disallowance motion, and I start by commenting on that last effort by the member for Gaven. The one thing that he said that really struck me was that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and I think the member for Gaven typifies that across many levels. I reassure the member for Gaven that we are not putting guns on these things. I am waiting for the member for

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Callide, my good friend the Deputy Premier, to give me a lengthy lesson about kinetic energy. He apparently understands these things. I am sorry but I do not understand the issue, but the member for Gaven is a very learned man apparently. Let me turn to the member for South Brisbane because she moved this disallowance motion. This disallowance motion is not just about segways; there are other aspects to this disallowance motion, as the member for South Brisbane would be aware, and they cover a whole series of other aspects that I want to touch on during my comments tonight. Apart from that, let me just briefly mention the issues about the use of helmets for religious exemptions, the changes to medical certificates for older drivers, issues about restrictions on the use of eight-cylinder cars such as Land Cruisers as well as learners and instructors for learner drivers and alcohol. All of these have been put together tonight— Opposition members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Dr Robinson): Order! Those on my left will cease interjecting. The minister is not taking interjections. The minister has the call. Mr EMERSON: As I said, tonight we are seeing Labor oppose all of these things. Let us go through some of them, and I first mentioned segways. As many of my colleagues have mentioned tonight, these are widely used around the world. They are used in Israel, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and, as the member for Warrego mentioned, in many states of the United States. They are used around the world. They are used in parts of China and parts of Japan. All of these countries are using segways and people say why not Queensland? Well, why not? Commercial segways are already used in other parts of Australia. They are used in WA, the ACT and Tasmania. Why not in Queensland? Well, why not? That is what I say. Why not use them? That is what many people have said: why are they used in other parts of the world and for many years? Many have experienced them. Those who have travelled in other parts of the world would have seen them or used them in other parts of the world. If they have travelled to other parts of Australia, they would have seen them or used them in other parts of Australia. Why not in Queensland? As we have said over and over again, this is not a nanny state. Earlier the member for Morayfield said that we try to put our society in cotton wool nowadays. We are not in that business. We are not here to create a nanny state. We are here to make reasonable and sensible decisions, to reduce red tape and to foster business, and that is what we have tried to do. When we announced this decision, the tourism sector came out in support of it. Daniel Gschwind— Mr Stevens: A good fellow Daniel. Mr EMERSON: I take the interjection. He has been a champion for the tourism industry for so many years. As CEO of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council he came out in support of this because he understood that this is a great initiative for the tourism industry. It surprises me to see the member for South Brisbane opposing this because I know that in her own electorate we are already seeing businesses making use of these. In fact, today I went to see Riverlife at the Kangaroo Point cliffs and spoke to the management and saw people enjoying them—having a go on segways in the member for South Brisbane’s own electorate. This is what businesses want and the community also wants to give it a go. The telling comment tonight was from the member for Warrego, who told the Labor Party and told the member for South Brisbane to get a life. Get a life! Come on! The rest of the world can do it. Why can’t we do it? The member for South Brisbane talked at length tonight about the advice we received. We asked for advice from the departments, we considered that advice and that is why we put in appropriate safety precautions and appropriate safety procedures. The reality is that we instituted a speed limit of 12 kilometres per hour, no passengers are to be carried and helmets are mandatory. In terms of an age limit, no-one under 12 is to ride them and those aged between 12 and 16 have to be supervised. Only those aged 16 and over can use these unsupervised. These are sensible provisions. Twelve kilometres per hour is not fast. They can do up to 20 kilometres an hour. We put these sensible restrictions in place. What have we seen already? We saw from Labor when this was announced that the world was going to end. The sun came up again this morning. I was at Riverlife at Kangaroo Point cliffs this morning watching them. Mr Stevens: Why not? Mr EMERSON: I again take the interjection. Mr Stevens interjected.

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Mr EMERSON: I saw the segways being used. The world had not ended. I have not seen any reports so far of any problems at all. Even in the member for South Brisbane’s own electorate where Riverlife is running these tours and using these segways, there have been no problems at all. Mr Stevens: I used them in the Caribbean. Mr EMERSON: I again take the interjection. Members have already used them around the world. I make the point that these are used around the world. We have put sensible provisions in place for safety, and the world has not ended since we introduced segways. Let me turn to other issues that Labor is trying to stop tonight with this disallowance motion because there are other sensible parts of this regulation which Labor is again trying to oppose. Opposition members interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left will cease interjecting. There is too much audible noise in the chamber. Please keep your voices down. The minister has the call. Mr EMERSON: One of the issues raised, particularly under the previous government, was the issue of older drivers in our society. Older drivers have a very important place in our society and older drivers are not overrepresented in terms of crash statistics in our state. However, the reality is that there have been some incidents that demonstrate that the rules need to be revised for an ageing population. The previous situation was that if you were 75 years or older you needed to have a medical certificate. Under the previous rules you could get a medical certificate for up to five years. The government has quite rightly looked at those laws, taken feedback from the public, considered it and made the decision that medical certificates should only be issued for up to 12 months. I was very conscious to ensure that older people in our society were not cut off from the use of their vehicles and it was important for me to see Val French from Older People Speak Out come out and support what was an important and sensible initiative. Tonight, we see Labor opposing that sensible initiative. For me, that is extraordinary, because I know that one of their former colleagues was looking for changes to that law. But tonight we see the member for South Brisbane and the other members of the Labor Party opposing that sensible change to the law. Mr Pitt interjected. Mr EMERSON: I hear the member for Mulgrave constantly interjecting. We know why he is constantly interjecting, because the regulation, the subject of this disallowance motion, includes what I believe to be a sensible change to helmet laws relating to religious exemptions for Sikhs. This is part of the regulation, which apparently Labor is opposing. Here we have a sensible change to this regulation to make it align with something that occurs already in other states of Australia. Who supports it? Labor opposed it tonight. It moved a disallowance motion against this regulation. But who supported this change? Members would be surprised to know that one of the people who supported it was, of course, the member for Mulgrave, Curtis Pitt, who wrote to me after I brought in the change to the law saying what a great idea it was. It was something that his community wanted. But tonight we see the hypocrisy of Labor in moving this motion. Will we see the member for Mulgrave vote for the disallowance of this regulation, which he previously wrote to me saying that he supported? Does he support the view of the member for South Brisbane to disallow that regulation or not? That is the reality. It is an extraordinary situation to see the member for South Brisbane move to disallow a regulation that apparently the member for Mulgrave supported. It would be interesting to see later tonight if he will back his own view and support this regulation or if he will oppose it. Will he back the member for South Brisbane or stand up for something that he wrote to us and said that he wanted? We will see later tonight. It is an extraordinary situation. There are other issues in terms of this regulation tonight that Labor is moving to disallow that I think are sensible changes to laws in Queensland. One is the ban on driving instructors being allowed to have alcohol in their system. The reality is that learner drivers are banned from having any alcohol in their system. It seems bizarre that we are allowing instructors to have a drink while trying to allegedly supervise a learner driver. We have changed that law to say that they both have to have zero alcohol levels. Tonight, we have the situation where Labor is opposing what we believe to be a sensible change to the law. It is a sensible regulation that Labor is opposing. Finally, another issue relating to the regulations that Labor is opposing tonight is an issue that many members representing regional and rural Queensland have raised with me repeatedly and that is about V8 Toyota LandCruisers and P-plate drivers. Previously, P-plate drivers under 25 years of age were prohibited from operating—and still are prohibited from operating—high-powered vehicles in

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Queensland. Under the current definition, if a car has eight or more cylinders it is considered to be high powered and, therefore, prohibited for use by P-platers. It has been identified that HPV restrictions negatively impact on young Queenslanders, particularly those who are involved in the agricultural sector and who are required to drive eight-cylinder four-wheel drives. Many people would know that the key vehicle type—and I know that the member for South Brisbane would be intimately aware of this herself—that is used is the V8 Toyota LandCruiser. It is not considered a high-powered vehicle, but the reality is that, because of the laws that are in place, P-plate drivers involved in the agricultural sector were prohibited from driving them. In that regard, we have made a sensible change to the regulation. I have gone through these sensible, important regulations that relate to segways, younger drivers, older drivers and the need to have medical certificates, religious exemptions in terms of wearing helmets and high-powered vehicles. Many of these regulations were supported by not just the LNP members but by others—and not just from Labor, can I say, because some of the members of the other parties on the crossbenches and their leaders backed these regulations as well. But tonight we see the extraordinary situation where the member for South Brisbane is trying to knock out a whole series of regulations that has widespread community support. They are just playing silly political games with this disallowance motion. I oppose this disallowance motion. Division: Question put—That the motion be agreed to.

AYES, 8—Byrne, Douglas, Hopper, Palaszczuk, Pitt, Trad. Tellers: Miller, Scott

NOES, 59—Barton, Bates, Bennett, Berry, Bleijie, Boothman, Cavallucci, Choat, Cox, Cripps, Cunningham, C Davis, T Davis, Dempsey, Dickson, Dillaway, Dowling, Elmes, Emerson, Flegg, France, Frecklington, Gibson, Grant, Grimwade, Gulley, Hart, Hathaway, Hobbs, Holswich, Johnson, Kempton, King, Krause, Langbroek, Maddern, Mander, McVeigh, Millard, Minnikin, Molhoek, Nicholls, Ostapovitch, Rickuss, Seeney, Shorten, Shuttleworth, Smith, Sorensen, Springborg, Stevens, Stewart, Stuckey, Symes, Watts, Woodforth, Young. Tellers: Kaye, Menkens Resolved in the negative.

ADJOURNMENT Mr STEVENS (Mermaid Beach—LNP) (Manager of Government Business) (8.54 pm): I move— That the House do now adjourn.

Springfield Mrs MILLER (Bundamba—ALP) (8.55 pm): It is always fabulous to see the progress on the great Labor initiative, the Springfield rail line. Each time I share the information with residents about the progress of the work I can see the flow-on effect it has on the confidence of residents and businesses alike. This confidence flows throughout the community and can be seen in the latest announcements of what is happening in our community. From 22 to 25 August at the Brookwater Golf Club we have the 2013 Isuzu Queensland Open Golf. This prestigious event has been secured for three years. There is free entry for spectators. Just last week the Brisbane Lions, the AFL and the federal government announced a new $60 million training and administration facility for Springfield. This coup for our community will bring state-of-the-art facilities that will be available to the community to use. They will see the benefits of having an elite sporting facility right on our doorstep. The Mater Private Hospital is another key piece of infrastructure in our community. I encourage the government to take my advice and work with the community to provide public spaces in the facility. Part of the vision of Springfield creator Maha Sinnathamby is to create a place which includes health and education as an integral part of our community. This is something that I have supported through working with our Labor government and the developers to deliver aims like life-long learning, which I have also championed, as a creator for personal opportunity and also for our great community’s development. As Maha said at the opening yesterday, he is proud that Springfield has the highest rate of educational participation in Australia. I was unable to attend the sod-turning ceremony yesterday. I table this letter from Maha Sinnathamby, managing director of Springfield Land Corporation. Tabled paper: Letter, dated 21 August 2013, from Raynuha Sinnathamby, Springfield Land Corporation, to the member for Bundamba, Mrs Jo-Ann Miller MP, regarding GE moving Queensland headquarters to greater Springfield [3281].

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It shows what a cowardly, false and pathetically petty political smear the member for Nanango tried to pull yesterday in this parliament. It is typical of this Newman government to try to divert from the previous Labor government’s achievement’s in Springfield, like building, before time, a police station, an ambulance station, new schools, roads and infrastructure. This government has stopped spending under this Newman government. There is no more government investment in Springfield. In fact, it has cut, cut, cut spending. We would have started building new schools by now for the growth in the area. The Premier embarrassed himself at the sod-turning ceremony. He called Springfield Spring Hill. What a joke! He can never get his head out of Brisbane. He must have trouble, because this state has stopped investing in the Springfield area.

Nanango Electorate, Schools Mrs FRECKLINGTON (Nanango—LNP) (8.58 pm): I rise tonight to again talk about the wonderful electorate of Nanango. Across this region there are some 35 schools, including private and high schools. I am always very impressed whenever I visit these schools. I would like to pass on some recent stories about the visits to the schools of Quinalow, Kulpi, Haden and Geham. Quinalow is a P-10 school in the north rural region of the Toowoomba Regional Council. The facilities are second to none, including a swimming pool, great school grounds, new classrooms, a very neat home economics classroom and a great manual arts space. I would like to give a special thank you to the staff and students of Quinalow P-10 for making me feel so welcome during my visit and also for presenting me with a Quinalow achiever bracelet while I was there. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many of the students and teachers and learning more about the programs this wonderful country school has to offer. Keep up the good work. I look forward to visiting again soon. Kulpi State School is a very small regional school with some seven students. I spent time with the children talking to them about my role as a member of parliament. I especially liked their Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden project which is a wonderful facility for our country kids, teaching some of these children how to cook and how to hold knives and forks. It is really quite impressive. At Haden State School I had the opportunity to speak to both junior and senior students about parliament, which was timely as the seniors were off for their Canberra camp week. Camps were also on the agenda for the juniors—a much anticipated trip to Underwater World is on the calendar. I would also like to talk about the Geham State School. It is such a beautiful little country school. Thanks to the Minister for Transport they have installed flashing lights on the highway just outside the school. The P&C of the Geham State School need to be congratulated. A recent trail bike ride held by the Geham State School P&C raised $23,329. It is absolutely amazing. What these go-getter P&Cs are doing is using that money to fence off the dangerous car park that is within the school grounds, they are looking towards helping the school buy extra music and sporting equipment and also saving up to build an outdoor education centre to provide much needed after-school sports so that the children of hardworking mums and dads can have somewhere to go after school. My visits to these little rural schools are always such a pleasure. I would like to thank the teachers, principals and all the children and the hardworking P&C parents for everything that they do to keep these little schools ticking along. I look forward to many more visits to many more of my schools in the coming weeks.

Cape Indigenous Mayors Alliance Mr KEMPTON (Cook—LNP) (9.01 pm): There is a new conversation going on in the Indigenous communities in my electorate of Cook. It is a conversation about hope and the future, a conversation about opportunity with responsibility, a conversation about a legacy for the next generation. Tired of being left behind by bureaucrats, dictated to by self-appointed and so-called leaders and overridden by the previous government, the mayors of six cape communities now speak with one strong united voice. These mayors from Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw, Aurukun, Napranum, Mapoon, Lockhart River and Northern Peninsula, representing all the central and northern cape communities, have come together to form the Cape Indigenous Mayors Alliance. These mayors meet every month in alternate communities, with the mayor of that community sitting as the chair and hosting the meeting. Exotic local tucker is provided and the competition to outdo the fare from the previous meeting is becoming frenetic.

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This group of countrymen understand that incontrovertible connection between economic development and community growth. The mayors are negotiating with our government to design, build and maintain their own homes. They are resurrecting the cattle industry that was decimated by Labor's environmental policy in Cape York, a policy based on Green deals rather than any science. They are negotiating with Rio Tinto Alcan for more effective participation in the workplace and wider career options and to re-establish the timber harvesting industry. They are in negotiations with TMR in respect of road construction and are looking at waste management opportunities. Their catchcry to government is: do not step away; just step back and give us a go. I will read an extract from a letter from Wayne Butcher, the mayor of Lockhart River, dated 12 August, following the last CIMA meeting. He writes—

I want to take this opportunity to thank every Mayor, CEO, David Kempton MP and Government Officials that visited my Community. It was a great privilege to host CIMA in Lockhart and build a foundation through strategic planning and delivery. CIMA can be built into a very strong leadership group that will drive tangible and practical outcomes in our respective Communities. CIMA is a leadership strategy building a foundation of united elected leaders, networking, communicating and leading in and around our Cape York Region voicing the messages and the community driven agenda to the region, state and nation. It is a pleasure and I am humbled to be able to work with these mayors on their vision. They are a credit to the communities they serve.

Far North Queensland, Education Mr PITT (Mulgrave—ALP) (9.03 pm): Earlier this year, the Labor opposition released a discussion paper about the concept of same-sex state schools and we will continue to look at other areas of innovation in our education system. In the Far North, I have long held the view that we need to tap into the existing strengths of our secondary schools to formalise a niche school model that could see schools of excellence in various endeavours, for example, sports and vocational education at Bentley Park College or agriculture, multimedia and creative arts at Gordonvale State High School. That is why I add my excitement to that of the entire Innisfail community about a federal funding grant for Innisfail State College. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced $1.5 million to establish a health trade training centre to include training rooms, a hospital ward and a dental examination room. These grants have been around since 2008 and are responsible for some great facilities and training opportunities in our region's schools such as SchoolTech and Marine Tech, as well as others in agriculture and mining. When college principal Kate MacDonald and her team looked at the trends for graduates in terms of career choices and matched that with the areas of skills shortage, it was clear that many of Innisfail's students pursued careers in the various health fields. Among other things, the establishment of the Innisfail Health Training Centre will help stem the flow of many of our young people who are forced to move to attend city based tertiary institutions. Students will be able to commence dental assistant studies or nursing studies in their senior secondary schooling and continue post-secondary in Innisfail. Strong relationships already exist between the college and James Cook University and the Tropical North Queensland TAFE. Students will be able to study a Certificate III in Nursing and progress to a Diploma in Nursing, before moving onto a Bachelor of Nursing at JCU. Work is underway regarding the Certificate III Dental Assistant with the Australian Dental Association Queensland. The JCU Dental School, which is another initiative strongly supported by Labor, is producing 80 quality ready-to-practice dentists each year, but the Sunshine Coast is currently the only facility offering training for dental assistants. Innisfail is well positioned to provide that same training, which will lead to real job opportunities. There are many trade training centres that focus on areas such as engineering, construction, automotive and agriculture. It has been suggested that we may see a move to focus TAFE courses offered on the LNP's four pillars of mining, construction, tourism and agriculture. I have said in this place before that this approach may leave out one of the most important growth areas. For example, mining is the only pillar that has seen large jobs growth and it has only grown at around one-third of jobs in the health and community care sector. That is why I am so pleased about this funding. It will set Innisfail State College apart as a future focussed secondary school, not only in terms of the needs of students but also in terms of the needs of the whole community and the whole state.

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Some people may be aware that Far North Queensland has been one of the most improved regions in NAPLAN between 2008 and 2012. No doubt much hard work has been done by many teachers and, of course, students and their parents. Before I finish this evening, I want to say that integral to this improvement has been the leadership of Regional Executive Director Clive Dixon, who will be retiring on 20 September. I wish Clive well in his retirement. I also bid farewell to 'super principal' Bruce Houghton. As sad as I am to see Bruce leaving Gordonvale, I hope he will enjoy the new challenge that lies ahead for him at Woree.

Moggill Electorate, Historical Societies Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (9.06 pm): It is said that if we fail to learn the lessons of history we are doomed to repeat them. We have no such concerns in the electorate of Moggill because we have three wonderfully strong history groups preserving, researching and writing up the history of various areas. The Brookfield Historical Society was formed in 2002 by a small group led by local legend Brendan Ryan. The current committee is acting president Don Midgley, secretary Jean Clark and treasurer Jonathan Richards. Recently, Jonathan Richards and Margaret Watts have done some wonderful work collecting oral histories from long-time Brookfield residents. Their work has resulted in a 235-page book of Brookfield stories that was published earlier this year. It is a good read. They meet at the Brookfield Historical Museum, which is well worth a visit and is open on the first Sunday of each month from two till four. The Mount Crosby Historical Society led by Col Hester is legendary. If you drive up Mount Crosby Road you will drive past Hester Court. Col is descended from people who many years ago worked at the water treatment plant at Mount Crosby. He is the repository of the history of the Mount Crosby water treatment plant and the weir. He is an absolute legend in the Mount Crosby area. The new Moggill Historical Society held its first meeting last month. They have already outlined an ambitious program to record and save local history. The president of this new society is Helen McMonagle. The foundation committee consists of secretary Judith Nissen, treasurer Beverley D'Aquino and committee members Mark Todd and Joan Westaway. Of course, the Westaways are well known as having been pineapple farmers in the Moggill area before subdivision. These people are to be commended for their efforts in organising community meetings and getting the new society off the ground. Helen McMonagle is also president of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. She has had a meteoric rise, having joined the Royal Historical Society as a member in 2009. She was elected to the society council in 2011. She is an inspirational figure as a young person who has a real passion for our history and preserving it. Helen is a professional historian. She completed her honours degree at the University of Queensland and currently works at the university as a research assistant to the head of history. She has also started her own history research consulting business. It is important to record the history of areas such as Brookfield and Moggill, which was first settled in the 1840s. Those groups have done a wonderful job in preserving it.

Challenge Games Mr HATHAWAY (Townsville—LNP) (9.09 pm): Honourable members will recall that about this time last year I spoke about the Challenge Games. Tonight I am happy to provide an update. Late last month this fantastic annual event was held across two days at Townsville Sports Reserve. The Challenge Games provide two days of fun, friendship and participation across a range of athletic and sporting activities for students who have a disability. The games are now in their 19th year. The games continue to attract a record number of participants and schools—with about 840 students travelling from across the north to take part. It is believed to be the largest event of its type in Australia for students with a disability. Their ongoing success and expansion is testimony to the tremendous efforts of Lynne Derry and all her helpers and volunteers. Many students who have taken part in the Challenge Games have gone on to participate in the Special Olympics and the Paralympics. One of those local sporting heroes is Dave Nicholas, formerly a Proserpine student. Dave was a gold medal winner in cycling at the London 2012 Paralympics and was a special guest at this year's games. He also took time out to pass on some tips to the up and coming athletes.

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I also note for the record the official launch of the games and thank event organiser Col Kenna for thinking outside the square to promote the games. Col encouraged local businesses, sports teams and community leaders to get involved in the launch by taking part in a wheelchair relay race. I put together a pollie team, made up of me and three Townsville city councillors—Tony Parsons, Gary Eddiehausen and Pat Ernst. It sounds simple to race a wheelchair on a running track for 100 metres. It is certainly not as easy as it looks to manoeuvre a wheelchair. While we made the finals, we could not keep up the pace. I will go with the excuse that we were merely outdone by some very fit sports people—with the Townsville Crocodiles crossing the line in first place, followed by the Townsville Fire and Brothers Rugby Union. A dozen teams took part, including a number of teams from local businesses. I thank them all for supporting such a wonderful event. I have an important tip. Please make sure that your racing wheelchair fits your derriere! The launch certainly highlighted to me some of the obstacles people in a wheelchair face each day. That is why next month's North Queensland Spinal Injuries Association's Take My Seat Challenge campaign is so important. It not only raises awareness but also raises much needed funding for the North Queensland Spinal Injuries Association. After being fitted with a manual wheelchair, participants spend a couple of hours with a chaperone in the CBD experiencing the many challenges that come with being confined to a wheelchair. On this note, I will be sending my support and sponsorship to my colleague from Thuringowa, Sam Cox. I just hope he is a little bit more coordinated than I was at using a wheelchair. I also encourage our community and indeed this chamber to get behind Sam and his Take My Seat Challenge campaign to be held on 3 September.

Moreton Bay Discovery Centre Mr SYMES (Lytton—LNP) (9.12 pm): Tonight I rise to discuss how the Newman government is strengthening one of the four pillars of the Queensland economy in the Brisbane bay side—that is, tourism. As part of my commitment to the good people of Lytton in building a better Lytton, one of my main visions is supercharging the local economy and making Manly harbour the focal point of the tourism sector in Lytton. Five years ago local community leaders and prominent businesspeople in Manly came up with the Moreton Bay Discovery Centre concept. However, due to much bureaucratic red tape and a lack of communication between various levels of government and departments, their idea was only a dream. That is until the Newman government came to office. The Premier and I want to make this a reality. Today it was announced that the old jetty kiosk in Manly will be the site where the Moreton Bay Discovery Centre will be developed. I put on the record my thanks to Minister Emerson and his department for giving this proposal the green light. The consortium can now find investors to construct the $2 million facility which will provide the Wynnum-Manly Tourism Information Centre with a brand new home. As well it will have a cafe and dining facility. It is proposed to have an aquarium and digital interactive displays to teach tourists and school groups about the bay, its history and the fauna and flora that live in and around Moreton Bay. I envisage this facility will be well utilised by locals, schools and even overseas tourists whilst revitalising the harbour. This announcement comes off the back of the Today show filming in Manly as well as Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie eating at local Manly small business, Wilson's Boathouse. Manly will be the tourism destination for Brisbane as the Newman government is committed to making Queensland a great state with great opportunities.

Gladstone, Community Cabinet Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (9.14 pm): I rise to publicly welcome, albeit a couple of days early, community cabinet to Gladstone. It will meet with my community on Sunday. It will be wonderful to have the ministers in the region. Mr Gibson: It's a great place.

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Mrs CUNNINGHAM: It is a great place to visit; thank you, member for Gympie. It will be wonderful not only for people in my electorate to have an opportunity to meet with ministers but, more importantly, for the ministers to get to meet the community of Gladstone. They are a wonderful bunch of people—energetic, visionary, caring and compassionate. They have shown that on so many occasions when people have found themselves in unfortunate positions. I hope the ministers get the opportunity to see Kin Kora roundabout at its worst—during peak hour. We do have peak hour in Gladstone—eight o'clock, nine o'clock, three o'clock and five o'clock— and the queuing is significant. The federal minister came up a week or so ago and pledged $10 million towards the roundabout upgrade. Stockland has committed $5 million. They have said though that if there is not some action soon they will take their redevelopment plans and put them somewhere else. We need the state government to make a commitment in relation to the Kin Kora roundabout capital works. It is the major infrastructure project for the region in terms of state government road works. It is the bottleneck that holds so much of the community up in peak hour. During other times of the day the roundabout works perfectly. It really has a significant queuing problem at specific times of the day. I know that the ministers will meet some wonderful representatives of small business and tourism, health staff at the hospital. The Minister for Health has been up on a number of occasions and knows the great work they do at the hospital and how much they are looking forward to improved infrastructure and services. The people with special needs and their families, what an amazing group of people they are. They are so full of hope and care. Our sporting organisations cater for shiftworkers. A huge percentage of workers in my electorate are shiftworkers. Parents are concerned to see good educational opportunities, including the parents who want to see the Calliope high school site retained. The fishermen, many of whom are not fishing out of Gladstone, provide wonderful seafood. I am hoping the ministers get an opportunity to have some of that great seafood because it is second to none. It is a great place to visit. I would encourage all members, not just the ministers who are coming up for the community cabinet, to come to Gladstone. It is a great place to meet. Mr Johnson: Would you like me to come? Mrs CUNNINGHAM: You can come, member for Gregory, because you do not have a lot of prawns where you come from. I look forward to the visit by cabinet. (Time expired)

Toowoomba, Second Range Crossing Mr WATTS (Toowoomba North—LNP) (9.17 pm): I rise to talk about my passion for my electorate of Toowoomba North and the most important thing we need at the moment. What we in fact need is a Tony Abbott led government in Canberra. Only Tony Abbott has committed to the second range crossing. The second range crossing is the single most important thing to everybody in Toowoomba and to a large proportion of Queensland as well because our productivity and wealth trundle down the range. I wanted to remind people that it was actually three years ago today—it is the anniversary today—that Labor came together as a ragtag bunch of Labor, Greens and Independents. They clearly had no plan for Australia. They clearly had no plan for a second range crossing or for any infrastructure for Western Queensland and for the people of Toowoomba. I wanted to remind people that, if they live in Toowoomba, if they live along the Warrego or if they actually care about the productivity of Queensland and care about getting this great state going, this critical piece of infrastructure is needed. We also need to ensure that we have a good vote in the Senate for a conservative government in Canberra. I wanted to remind people that, based on the preference deals that are out there at the moment, a vote for Family First is actually a vote for the Katter party, a vote for the Katter party is actually a vote for the Labor Party, a vote for the Palmer party is a vote for the Greens and a vote for the Greens is a vote for Labor. So the message is loud and clear to anybody who lives along the Warrego Highway, who lives in Western Queensland or who cares about the productivity of this great state: if you want to see infrastructure built, such as the second range crossing, then you need to vote twice for the LNP—once in the Senate and once in the House of Representatives—at the coming election.

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We had several Senate candidates come and visit us in Toowoomba—Ian Macdonald, James McGrath, Matthew Canavan and Theresa Craig. They are all running for the Senate for the LNP. They have all been outspoken in the media about the second range crossing—how it is a priority for an Abbott government and how it is a priority for a Newman government. Strangely quiet has been Senator Claire Moore, Labor’s candidate, who claims to be from Toowoomba. She has never once spoken out that I can find in support of the second range crossing for my community. So she does not care about Toowoomba, but anybody who does needs to make absolutely sure that on the 7th they vote for the LNP in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Dairy Industry Mr GIBSON (Gympie—LNP) (9.21 pm): I rise tonight to speak on an industry that is very important to my electorate of Gympie—that is, the dairy industry. As the rich veins of gold were exhausted, my community looked to other industries that could be built around the growing township of Gympie and it moved to dairying. However, dairying today is an industry in crisis, not just within the Gympie region but across the state of Queensland. It is not experiencing market failure. Indeed, we could say that we are seeing the success of deregulation taken to an absolute extreme, where Woolworths and Coles are able to sell a product at a dollar a litre which directly impacts on the viability of dairy farms. But this is a far more complicated issue than just the major supermarkets. If it was so simple, the problems could have easily been solved some time ago. This is a problem facing an industry that cuts across all sectors of that industry—from the dairy farmer to the producer, to the supermarkets and to the consumers. If I have a plea tonight, it is to the people of Queensland to think about what they want from a dairy industry. Do we want a local Queensland based dairy industry? Do we want to be drinking Queensland fresh milk? This is something that all consumers need to struggle with, because on the current path we will not have a dairy industry that is viable in Queensland. To that end I want to commend the minister. Last week he hosted a dairy forum where he was able to pull together a broad range of people to discuss this very important issue. As you would expect from my electorate in Gympie, we were well represented. We had John Cochrane and Ken Rough—two local dairy farmers with a lot of experience, both in dairying and also in the broader industry, of the issues that they face. We also had a local solicitor, Simon Young, who understands the dairy industry as he has been involved in representing dairy farmers during the deregulation. I was honoured to be there, along with many other MPs from other dairying areas. We also had people there representing the Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation, Dairy Australia, processors, and I am impressed to say that one of the supermarkets that is not yet open here in Queensland—Costco— was also represented. I want to commend the minister for that step. Whilst no solution was found because the problem is complex, what we were able to do was in a very measured way talk about the future of our industry. There is a long way to go. There is no doubt about that. But if Queensland is to have a dairy industry, then all people—from those who purchase the milk in their supermarkets all the way through the supply chain down to the dairy farmer—need to be looking for solutions and answers, and I believe this government is on the path to doing that. Question put—That the House do now adjourn. Motion agreed to. The House adjourned at 9.24 pm.

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