Hansard 2 May 2001

2 May 2001 Legislative Assembly 539 WEDNESDAY, 2 MAY 2001 Mr SPEAKER (Hon. R. K. Hollis, Redcliffe) read prayers and took the chair at 9.30 a.m. PETITION The Clerk announced the receipt of the following petition— Somerset Dam Mrs Pratt from 1,600 petitioners, requesting the House to intercede and, if possible, prevent the closure of the Somerset Dam camping and picnic ground. PAPERS MINISTERIAL RESPONSE TO PETITION The following responses to a petition was tabled by The Clerk— Response from the Minister for Local Government and Planning (Mrs J Cunningham) to a petition presented by Mr Horan from 84 petitioners, regarding the regulation of inner-city parking by the Brisbane City Council: 27 APR 2001 Mr R Doyle The Clerk of the Parliament Legislative Assembly of Queensland CENTRAL DOCUMENT EXCHANGE M29 Dear Mr Doyle I refer to your letter of 5 April 2001 forwarding a copy of a petition tabled in the Parliament on 4 April 2001 regarding the regulation of inner-city parking by the Brisbane City Council. Under the Local Government Act 1993, the Brisbane City Council has control of all local government roads in its area. The Council's control of roads includes the regulation of the movement of traffic and parking of vehicles. Local governments are afforded considerable autonomy and there exists no powers for the State Government to intervene or direct the Council in this matter. With respect to the signage used, the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 provides that local governments must install official traffic signs to regulate parking in their areas. Responsibility for the design of official traffic signs rests with the chief executive of the Department of Main Roads. I trust this information is helpful. Yours sincerely (sgd) Nita Cunningham Nita Cunningham MP Minister for Local Government and Planning MINISTERIAL PAPER The following ministerial paper was tabled— Hon. M. J. Foley (Minister for Employment, Training and Youth and Minister for the Arts)— Queensland Theatre Company—Annual Report for the year 2000 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Dingoes, Fraser Island Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.32 a.m.), by leave: I have ordered, after consultation with the Minister for the Environment, that the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service conduct an immediate cull of dingoes on Fraser Island following the dingo attacks on two boys on the island on Monday. By 'culled' I mean destroyed, as humanely as possible and as quickly as possible. I stress that what I am referring to is a limited cull of any dingo that frequents the townships and the camp grounds. The two dingoes believed responsible for the fatal attack on a nine year old boy and the attack on his seven year old brother have already been culled. Further culling will take place at the Waddy Point camp ground where Monday's fatality occurred. Any dog that stays in the bush will not be touched. 540 Ministerial Statement 2 May 2001 Further, I have ordered the strict enforcement of the 'no feeding' law, which is the root cause of the current problem. This offence can carry a fine of more than $1,000 and I want to see the penalties imposed in every case that is detected. The Minister for Environment will have something further to say about that in a ministerial statement shortly. I believe this is a commonsense approach and one that will be acceptable to all fair-minded Queenslanders. It is not acceptable to have dingoes wandering through townships and camping grounds on the island. The dingo is protected in Queensland in national parks by virtue of the fact that it is a wild animal. It is not protected as an animal to be befriended, tamed or habituated to human contact, as has occurred on Fraser Island. Fraser Island is a very large island which is almost all national park and is close to pristine wilderness. There is enough room for a viable population of wild dingoes to exist without coming anywhere near the few small townships and camp grounds that are mainly confined to the eastern side of the island. As Premier, I have responsibilities to ensure the safety of visitors to our national parks and to protect the wildlife that lives in those national parks. MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Naltrexone Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.34 a.m.), by leave: I understand the high level of community interest in using Naltrexone both as a drug for relapse prevention and as a withdrawal treatment for opiates. Families who are suffering as a result of a loved one's addiction want relief, they want a cure, but there are no quick fixes. The proponents of Naltrexone, including Dr Stuart Reece, would have us believe that Naltrexone tablets or Naltrexone implants are the miracle cure that these unfortunate families are searching for. I wish it was. But my government has had concerns from the beginning that this cure may not be the answer and that is why we have moved cautiously and have instigated proper trials. This has brought us into conflict with Dr Reece and his methods. However, I am pleased to report that investigations by Queensland Health following two complaints about Dr Reece in 1999 resulted in changes to his practices which have brought him into line with our Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulations with respect to his use of controlled drugs such as Diazapam, Valium and Rohypnol. The proponents of Naltrexone play down the alarming signs that treatment with this drug may lead to fatal consequences. I note that in today's Courier-Mail Dr Reece concedes that there are risks associated with the use of this drug, but he still argues that claims that Naltrexone is dangerous should not be enough to stop the treatment. A recent report in Western Australia by a psychiatrist, Dr James Fellow-Smith, and a GP, Dr John Edwards, found that untreated heroin addicts had a one in 100 chance of dying, while heroin dependent persons who had been prescribed Naltrexone had a one in 61 chance of dying. That is almost twice the risk. I find that fact to be of grave concern, and that is one of the reasons why I believe that the Courier-Mail has been quite correctly pursuing this issue. It also found that heroin dependent people prescribed methadone had a mortality rate of one in 458. The risk for Naltrexone is fourfold compared with the outcome of being prescribed methadone. This was based on a study of 3,617 heroin users. It found that heroin overdose, in combination with other central nervous system depressants, was the main cause of death in the Naltrexone and methadone test groups. Patients using Naltrexone risk overdose when they reuse heroin after ceasing treatment. Most deaths in the Naltrexone test group occurred within a month of ceasing treatment. What this means is that treating heroin addicts is not something that can be done quickly and easily. Even when heroin users have received a course of treatment, they may continue to be at risk—in fact, even more at risk than if they had not been treated. That is why, in 1998, my government allocated adequate funding of $400,000 for proper clinical trials of the Naltrexone treatment so that it could be trialled safely and effectively. It is because of the complexities of addiction treatment that our approach to the problem has not been tied to one treatment or one action. Queensland Health was also involved in trialling the use of buprenorphine. The training of doctors who will be using this drug began this week. We have resisted strong community and media pressure to provide Naltrexone as a treatment for opiate addiction through the public system until the national trials have been evaluated. That is one of the reasons why we have 2 May 2001 Ministerial Statement 541 taken this cautious approach, and I am pleased to see that the Courier-Mail supports our attitude and approach in this matter. The role of Naltrexone as a treatment option will be much better understood when the results of the national evaluation of pharmacotherapies are finalised at the end of 2001. My government is taking drug addiction very seriously and we are involving many different treatments, many areas of medical expertise and many different departments and organisations in our approach, but we will not endorse any quick fix solutions and we will not apologise for being cautious when dealing with people's lives. MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Shepherdson Inquiry Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.39 a.m.), by leave: I want to make it very clear that I welcome the Shepherdson report on electoral fraud, and so does my government. The inquiry was good for the Labor Party and good for democracy. The actions of a few rorters nearly destroyed a good Labor government committed to job creation and a visionary program to make Queensland the Smart State—and I will never forgive them for it. The Labor Party has learned from the inquiry's investigations, has acted against those who did not do the right thing and has formulated a package designed to create the best system of government in the country and restore public faith in the electoral system. In January, on behalf of my government, I promised to deliver a far-reaching twin reform package. Let there be no misunderstanding anywhere: I will deliver it. I table a copy of that Barcaldine plan. The reforms in this plan, Restoring integrity—the Beattie good government plan for Queensland, will be implemented.

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