16 Oct 2003 Legislative Assembly 4219 THURSDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2003 Mr SPEAKER (Hon. R. K. Hollis, Redcliffe) read prayers and took the chair at 9.30 a.m. PETITIONS The following honourable member has lodged a paper petition for presentation— Pedestrian Crossings, Petrie Mrs Lavarch from 225 petitioners requesting the House to provide traffic lights, including pedestrian crossings, at the existing Petrie roundabout located at the junction of Dayboro Road/River Street/Gympie Road/Anzac Avenue/Whites Road, Petrie in order to: allow pedestrians to safety cross these major roads; improve pedestrian access to local shops & services; and reduce traffic congestion at peak hours. The following honourable member has sponsored an e-petition which is now closed and presented— Taxes on Water Usage Mr Hobbs from 125 petitioners requesting the House to not impose the $50 fee for licensed water bores and dams as well as the interim $3 per mega litre charge for water harvesting until such time as meaningful consultation has been undertaken with Queensland's water using communities and a social and economic impact study has been conducted to determine the effect of the taxes on water users and their communities. PAPERS MINISTERIAL PAPER TABLED BY THE CLERK The following ministerial paper was tabled by The Clerk— Minister for Education (Ms Bligh) • Response from the Minister for Education (Ms Bligh) to a paper petition presented by Mr Copeland from 2036 petitioners and an E-petition sponsored by Mr Copeland from 335 petitioners both regarding class sizes and wage and non wage benefits to teachers in the state school system 15.10.03 Mr Neil Laurie The Clerk of the Parliament Queensland Parliamentary Service Parliament House Cnr Alice and George Streets BRISBANE QLD 4000 Dear Neil, Thank you for your letter received on 25 August 2003 enclosing a petition, tabled paper numbers 5652 and 5654, lodged by Ms Melanie Richards and received by the House on 19 August 2003. I sincerely apologise for the delay in replying to you. I am pleased to advise that the Government, the Queensland Teachers' Union and the Queensland Public Sector Union have recently reached an historic agreement that will be voted on by teachers in the near future. Amongst other wage and non-wage benefits, the agreement proposes a range of benefits to teachers and to our state school system and follows the release of the Middle Phase of Learning State School Action Plan. The proposed agreement heralds a new era in Queensland State education with the reduction of class size targets in Years 4-10 from 30 to 28 by 2007. This will be first reduction in class size targets in more than two decades and will mean Queensland has the lowest class size targets in Years 4-10 in the country. Underpinning this initiative is the Government's commitment to employ approximately 300 additional teachers and 184 teacher aides at an annual cost of around $38m. This is over and above the 800 teachers being employed as part of the Government's 2001 election commitment, which in itself was the largest single initiative to provide additional classroom teaching positions to schools and until now, the only initiative with a focus on reducing class sizes since 1980. It is my belief that the agreement reached with the unions on the issue of class size targets will effectively address the concerns expressed by the petitioners referred to in your correspondence. I invite you to contact Mr Paul Leitch, Director, Strategic Human Resources on telephone (07) 3404 3966 should you wish to obtain further details in relation to this matter. I trust this information will be of assistance to you. Yours sincerely (sgd) Anna Bligh MP Minister for Education 4220 Ministerial Statement 16 Oct 2003 MINISTERIAL PAPER The following ministerial paper was tabled— Minister for Families and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Minister for Disability Services (Ms Spence)— Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984— Community Services (Aborigines—Dissolution of Palm Island Aboriginal Council) Regulation (No. 1) 2003 (Subordinate Legislation 2003 No. 249) MINISTERIAL STATEMENT TAB Merger Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.33 a.m.): Last week here at Parliament House I met with representatives of both UNiTAB Ltd and TAB Ltd of New South Wales and I have had a number of conversations with them since. At that meeting was Dick McIlwain, the CEO of UNiTAB, Warren Wilson, the CEO of TAB Ltd, the two chairs of the respective organisations, George Chapman from UNiTAB and Graham Kelly from TAB Ltd, as well as representatives from my office and Queensland Treasury. The state government has been involved in recent weeks in detailed discussions with UNiTAB and TAB Ltd concerning a merger. While this is essentially a commercial transaction between two companies, the government has insisted on delivering a result that is in the best interests of Queensland. The Queensland government is backing a winner by enabling a merger which will create a top 50 Australian company headquartered in Queensland. It will be Queensland's second biggest company. And it will bring real and direct benefits to the racing industry in this state. We will amend legislation—and I will be introducing that into the House at 11.30 a.m. this morning—to enable a merger between the former TAB Queensland and the New South Wales TAB. UNiTAB Ltd, the old TAB Queensland, and TAB Ltd, the NSW TAB, will be known as UNiTAB Ltd after the merger. The merger remains subject to the approval of the normal corporate regulatory processes, including shareholder approvals, the ACCC and the normal gaming regulatory approvals. While the company will still need to work through its detailed integration plan, it has provided an assurance to the government that job numbers in Queensland will not decline for at least the next three years—and hopefully increase. In addition to gaining a major headquarters, Queensland is also likely to benefit through an increase of up to $10 million a year in payments to the racing industry, an increase in betting tax revenue of up to $5 million a year, and significant IT infrastructure investment for network upgrades. We have come a long way since 1999 when the Queensland TAB was owned by the state government and was seen as isolated and ailing in trying to compete with larger, privatised TABs. I said then that the TABQ needed greater access to capital—something that governments are reluctant to divert from core social services such as hospitals, schools and family services. The capital needed to compete with its bigger competitors was gained when TAB Queensland was floated at the end of 1999. Queensland mums and dads who wanted to be part of the action received 530 shares at $2 each. The float raised about $270 million. We said then that privatisation of the TAB would enable it to be better able to compete with its southern counterparts. Since then the company has taken over the Northern Territory and South Australian TABs and the value of its shares has more than tripled to be worth around $6.50. Now we will have the headquarters of the combined TABs of four states in Queensland, operating as the biggest wagering operation in Australia and Queensland's second-biggest company. When we privatised the TAB we built in safeguards to protect jobs. We said that there should be a 10 per cent shareholding cap until August 2004 to prevent hostile takeovers. We are going to extend that protection now forever. We recognise that if the new company is going to prosper and expand, it will need to attract the best directors available from anywhere in the world. But we also believe we need to ensure Queensland's interests are very much to the fore. So we will legislate to ensure that at least three of the 10 directors live in Queensland and that there are at least four board meetings in Queensland every year. In addition, annual general meetings and the board's key annual strategy meetings will take place in Queensland. Finally, it is worth pointing out that the National and Liberal Parties are threatening to pull $10 million a year out of core services such as health and education to give to the racing industry while my government has made it possible for the racing industry to gain this money through this 16 Oct 2003 Ministerial Statement 4221 private sector merger. That's a win for the racing industry and a win for the taxpayer. Mr Speaker, I should stress to you, as I said— Mr Horan: How can you stand up there and lie? Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is unparliamentary. Mr BEATTIE:—we will legislate to ensure that at least three of the 10 directors live in Queensland so that there are at least four board meetings in Queensland every year. As I said, in addition annual general meetings and the board's key annual strategy meetings will take place in Queensland. When I introduce the legislation at 11.30 a.m. this morning it will also provide that three key office bearers, as required in the legislation, will be ordinarily resident in Queensland. Not only do we have the head office; we have that guaranteed by those three key officers who will need to be resident in Queensland. This is a substantial merger. It is in the best interests of the racing industry, the best interests of the TAB and in the best interests of Queensland. MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Tree Clearing Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—ALP) (Premier and Minister for Trade) (9.38 a.m.): Yesterday, New South Wales Premier Bob Carr announced the end of broadscale tree clearing in his state.