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Hon Steven Miles MP □ SADff] Minister for Health and \l\ G overnm ent Minister for Ambulance Services Aiqiuasstf aAijeisjeai pueisuaanh

1 William Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 48 Brisbane Queensland 4001 Australia Telephone +61 7 3035 6100 Facsimile +61 7 3220 6231 The Hon Curtis Pitt MP Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Queensland Parliament 2 6 APR 2018 Alice Street BRISBANE OLD 4000

j Dear Mr Scfeaker

I wish to draw your attention to a matter of privilege in relation to the following statement made by the Member for Mudgeeraba, Ms MP, in the House on 7 March 2018 during a motion in relation to the distribution of GST:

“Meanwhile, in its last Budget the Palaszczuk Government cut funding to Queensland hospitals by $63.8 million. We have the facts in front of us.” (Hansard, 7 March 2018, page 292)

I submit that in making this statement, the Member for Mudgeeraba deliberately misled the Parliament and is in contempt of the Parliament, in breach of Standing Order 266 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly (Standing Orders).

Section 37 of the Act 2001 sets out the meaning of contempt of the Assembly as;

(1) Contempt of the Assembly means a breach or disobedience of the powers, rights or immunities, or a contempt, of the Assembly or its members or committees.

(2) Conduct, including words, is not contempt of the Assembly unless it amounts, or is intended or likely to amount, to an improper interference with

(a) the free exercise by the Assembly or a committee of its authority or functions; or

(b) the free performance by a member of the member’s duties as a member.

Standing Order 266 of the Standing Orders sets out examples of what might constitute a contempt of the Parliament and, whilst not limiting the power of the House to the matters contained therein, includes a reference in sub-paragraph (2) to:

“deliberately misleading the House or a committee (by way of submission, statement, evidence or petition);” There are three elements to be proven in order to establish that a member has committed the contempt of deliberately misleading the House;

1. The statement must have been misleading; 2. The member making the statement must have known, at the time the statement was made, that it was incorrect; and 3. In making the statement, the member intended to mislead the House.

The Member for Mudgeeraba’s statement that “in its last Budget the Palaszczuk Government cut funding to Queensland hospitals by $63.8 million” satisfies these three elements.

1. The statement must have been misleading.

The Department of Health has provided the following advice in relation to the Member for Mudgeeraba’s statement:

As outlined on pages 6 and 19 of the 2016-17 SDS and pages 7 and 28 of the 2017-18 SDS:

1. The overall budget for the health portfolio in 2016-17 was $15,274 billion compared to the budget for 2017-18 of $16,554 billion. This is an increase of $1.28 billion.

2. There was a significant increase in HHS budgets in 2016-17 from $12,614 billion compared to the budget for 2017-18 of $13,979 billion. This is an increase of $1,365 billion.

3. The State Government contribution to the health portfolio in 2016-17 was $9,956 billion compared to the budget for 2017-18 of $10,276 billion. This is an increase of $320 million.

The SDS referred to in this advice is publicly available at: https://s3.budget.qld.gov.aU/budget/papers/5/bp5-qh-2017-18.pdf

Hospitals are funded in the HHS budgets listed in dot point two as having increased by $1,365 billion in 2017-18.

The statement by the Member for Mudgeeraba is demonstrably false and therefore satisfies the first element that the statement was misleading.

I note that the statement from the member was plagiarized word for word from a similar statement issued by the Commonwealth Minister for Health, Greg Hunt MP without attribution. I informed the House of this in response to a Question Without Notice from the Member for Pine Rivers on 8 March 2018.

The recently passed a motion requiring Minister Hunt to produce evidence to document the claim. His response to that motion is attached.

Mr Hunt claims to have calculated the alleged cut by subtracting the estimated actual expenditure in 2016-17 from the budget estimate. This does not amount to a cut. As noted above, expenditure in that year increased by more than a billion dollars. Given the member did not attribute the statement to Minister Hunt she cannot simply claim the error is Minister Hunt’s. She made the statement as her own and is therefore responsible to the House for its accuracy.

2. The member making the statement must have known, at the time the statement was made, that it was incorrect.

The member wrote to you on 6 March 2018 alleging that I had deliberately misled the House when I stated, “When the LNP was in government it out health services”.

The member supported this allegation by providing details of the Queensland Health budget from 2012 onwards including a chart of health funding from 2013-14 to 2017-18.

This demonstrates that the member is familiar with the health budget, has researched the health budget and therefore would have known that out of overall health funding, hospital funding via HHS’ also increased each year over that period, including 2016-2017.

The Member for Mudgeeraba therefore must have known, at the time she made the statement, that it was incorrect.

3. In making the statement, the member intended to mislead the House.

In considering the statement made by the Member for Mudgeeraba I have had regard to your statement to the House concerning matters of privilege on 6 March 2017; in particular, your direction that allegations of deliberately misleading the House should be accompanied by sufficient particulars and evidence in order that the allegation may be judged.

I note again that the statement in question from the Member for Mudgeeraba was directly copied from an earlier media statement issued by the Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt.

Nonetheless she chose to include this statement in her speech on the motion, deliberately disregarding her own knowledge to the contrary.

In making the statement, the Member for Mudgeeraba therefore intended to mislead the House.

Mr Speaker, I submit that this information is sufficient to establish that the Member for Mudgeeraba has made a statement to the House that is misleading, that she knew it to be incorrect at the time it was made, and that, in so doing, she has intended to mislead the House.

I therefore ask that you refer this matter to the Ethics Committee for its consideration.

Yours sincerely

STEVEN MILES MP Minister for Health Minister for Ambulance Services The Hon Greg Hunt MP Minister for Health

Senator the Hon Anthony Chisholm Senator for Queensland senate 2 7 MAR 2018 Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600

The Government welcomes theUpportunity to highlight the Commonwealth’s record funding support for Queensland’s public hospitals and the Queensland Government’s cuts to health services. Commonwealth activity based funding through the National Health Funding Pool grew from $2,598.0 million in 2014-15 to $3,362.1 million in 2016-17, an increase of $764.1 million or 29.4 per cent. This information is publicly available on the National Health Funding Body website www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au. Commonwealth block funding through the National Health Funding Pool grew from $393.6 million in 2014-15 to $415.5 million in 2016-17, an increase of $21.9 million or 5.6 per cent. This information is publicly available on the National Health Funding Body website www.publichospitalflinding.gov.au. Queensland Government activity based funding through the National Health Funding Pool grew from $5,183.1 million in 2014-15 to $5,484.6 million in 2016-17, an increase of $301.5 million or 5.8 per cent. This information is publicly available on the National Health Funding Body website www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au. Queensland Government block funding through the National Health Funding Pool reduced from $931.1 million in 2014-15 to $906.5 million in 2016-17, a decrease of $24.6 million or 2.6 per cent. This information is publicly available on the National Health Funding Body website www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au. Queensland Hospital activity based funding at a Local Hospital District Level and block funding is easily searchable www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au.clicking on the state map of Queensland and downloading the Queensland reports.

To assist. Attachment A includes a summary table of key data publicly available in the 90 reports for Activity Based Funding at Local Hospital District level and Block Funding. This information is publicly available on the National Health Funding Body website www.publichospitalfiinding.gov.au.

Information on Commonwealth Funding for Hospitals and Health services in 2017-18 is public available in 2017-18 Commonwealth Budget Paper 3. This information is publicly available on http://www.budget.gov.au/2017- 18/content/bp3/download/BP3 consolidated.pdf.

Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600 Telephone (02) 6277 7220 At the 2017-18 Commonwealth Budget, Commonwealth Hospital services funding to Queensland Hospitals is forecast to increases from $4,049.3 million in 2017-18, to $4,290.2 million in 2018-19 and $4,544.1 million in 2019-20.

To assist, Attachment B includes the table from the 2017-18 Commonwealth Budget.

Information on the reduction of $63.8 million to Queensland health services made by the Queensland Government is publicly available in the 2017-18 Queensland Health Budget Paper 5. The Queensland Government budget paper is downloadable at https://s3 .budaet ■qld.gov.au/budget/papers/5/bp5-qh-2017-18 .pdf

To assist, Attachment C includes the Queensland Health Budget Summary

To calculate the Queensland funding cut:

2016-17 Budget estimate Appropriation Revenue = $10,014,701 billion Minus 2016-17 Estimated Actual Expenditure Appropriation Revenue =$9,950,876 million Equals Difference - $63.8 million

The $63.8 million is likely to underestimate the cuts made by the Queensland Government in 2016-17 to hospital services. The Budget Paper specifies that the appropriation revenue includes State and Commonwealth revenue. Commonwealth funding to Queensland Hospitals increased by 9.1% or $320.3 million from $3,530.7 million in 2015-16 to $3,851 million in 2016-17.

The Turnbull Government is providing record funding to Queensland Health Services.

The facts are all publicly available.

Yours sincerely

Greg Hunt Ros BATES MP LNP Member for Mudgeeraba I

The Honourable Curtis Pitt MP Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Parliament House George Street BRISBANE QLD 4000

Via email: [email protected]

9 May 2018

Dear Mr Speaker

Thank you for your letter of 30 April 2018 and for giving me the opportunity to provide you with further information on the matters which have been raised.

Having reviewed the submission to you by the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services, it is my contention that rather than make a case for contempt, the Minister has used his submission as an opportunity for a political debate in relation to Commonwealth funding of the health system. In responding, I note Standing Order 269(4) states that no matter should be referred to the Ethics Committee if the matter is technical or trivial and does not warrant the further attention of the House.

I contend that the statement I made in the House to which the Minister refers is a statement of fact. In my statement, I referred to a reduction in Queensland hospital funding by the Palaszczuk Government of $63.8 million. In making this statement, I referred to the 2017/18 Queensland Health Service Delivery Statement (SDS), specifically pages 26 and 43.

According to the SDS, the budgeted balance of service appropriation for 2016/17 was $10.01 billion, whilst the estimated actual figure for the same period was $9.95 billion. Accordingly, my reference to a $63.8 million cut relates to the clear shortfall between the budgeted appropriation in the SDS and the estimated actual appropriation for the same period. This would include State and Federal funding combined. Accordingly, the statement I made in the House to which the Minister refers is supported by facts contained in the Government’s own SDS.

It is very disappointing to see that this Minister would prefer to waste the House’s time on trivial matters, rather than take responsibility for failures In his own Department. 1 note the Minister has chosen not to mention in his submission or in his public statements that Commonwealth funding for Health to Queensland for 2016/17 increased by 9.1%. I have enclosed a funding table from the Commonwealth Department of Health’s website, which clearly demonstrates this increase.

As we deal with this matter, it is a sad fact that many patients presenting at our Emergency Departments are not being seen within clinically recommended timeframes under this Minister’s watch. I am saddened but not surprised to see this Minister continuing to seek to score petty political points, rather than spending his time improving hospital performance and patient outcomes.

52 Unit C7, Mudgeeraba Professional Centre, Swan Lane, MudgeerabaQLD 4213 • PO Box 897, Mudgeeraba QLD 4213 ^ 0 7 56017100 @ mudgeeraba@parliament,qld,gov.au Q, rosbates.com.au fPosBatesMP

Authorised by R.Bates. Unit C7, Mudgeeraba Professional Centre, Swan Lane, Mudgeeraba OLD 4213. Ros BATES MP LNP Member for Mudgeeraba

1 humbly submit that my statement to the House on 7 March 2018 was based on facts and was not misleading. At the time of making my statement, I used the available evidence before me and I in no way intended to mislead the House.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Yours sincerely

Ros Bates MP Member for Mudgeeraba Shadow Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Shadow Minister for Women

IS] Unit C7. Mudgeeraba Professional Centre, Swan Lane, Mudgeeraba QLD 4213 • PO Box 897, Mudgeeraba QLD 4213 *^0 7 56017100 @ mudgeeraba@parllament,qld.gov.au Q. rosbates.com.au fPosBatesMP

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