Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak in the parliament today on an important area of concern to the Queensland public and also to the Ryan electorate. This is about the Queensland health system. The Queensland health system today in 2006 is in total shambles. It is a system that is falling down and falling apart. Queenslanders deserve better. The ALP government—now led by Premier Beattie—has been in office since 1989 bar two years of the Borbidge government. Queenslanders need to be reminded of this, because effectively the administration of the health system in Queensland has been squarely in the hands of the Beattie government since 1998, when he won office, and has been in the hands of Labor since even earlier, 1989, when Labor came to power and gained control of the Queensland parliament.

Beattie continues to promise that he will fix the system and will resign if he does not fix the system. I think he should resign now. As the Queensland health system is in complete chaos, I do not see how his promises to fix the system in six months time will come to fruition, and only then will he resign if it is not fixed. I doubt very much whether Queenslanders believe that he will be able to repair the enormous damage that exists in the Queensland health system.

We all know that the Bundaberg hospital saga dominated the news last year with the Dr Death scandal. We all know that over the last few months the Caboolture hospital emergency services ward closed and that it is now operating in only a very limited capacity. In recent days we have heard about the Maryborough hospital potentially closing. Mr Fixit, the Queensland Premier, does not seem to have the magic wand in his hand to do something about this. If he thinks he can fix it in six months, he is very much overestimating the people of Queensland’s faith in him. I think in due course they will show at the appropriate time that he should take the full blame for this problem.

Mr Beattie has decided to blame the federal government, with full-page advertisements in Queensland papers—some $150,000 worth of advertisements. This is an affront to the Queensland taxpayer. It is just a complete political stunt. It is a total waste of Queensland taxpayers’ money. I call on the Queensland public, and in particular the constituents of the state seat of Indooroopilly, which is held by Ronan Lee, the Labor incumbent, and the constituents of the state seat of Mount Ommaney, which is currently held by the Labor member Ms Julie Attwood—I call on the residents of those two electorates of Indooroopilly and Mount Ommaney, which fall in my federal seat of Ryan—to really get on to their local members and say to them that this is just unacceptable—bearing in mind again that in Queensland the Labor Party has been in office since 1989 bar two years of the Borbidge government.

Recently the Queensland Premier wrote to federal members asking us to help him out of his mess. I am delighted that he has actually called Liberal members of the federal parliament champions of Queensland. We certainly are champions of Queensland. Certainly we are more the champions of Queensland than are federal Labor members, because the Queensland public in their droves have again and again voted for Queensland federal members.

I draw the House’s attention to Premier Beattie’s letter of 6 February to all Queensland federal members. In particular, I understand there is a strong emphasis on Queensland federal Liberal members. For the benefit of my colleagues in the House, the theme of the letter is to lay blame on the federal government. Mr Beattie talks about the shortage of public and private doctors in the health system. He talks about the Queensland government taking the extraordinary step of spending more than $60 million to train additional doctors. What is extraordinary is the sheer incompetence and negligence of the management of the Queensland health system. It is about time that the Queensland public got on to their Labor members and gave them a real whack. As elected representatives of the Queensland public, those members should be working hard for Queensland.

Queenslanders deserve better. They deserve better than the absolute incompetence and negligence that they are being subjected to at the moment. They deserve better than the wastage of $150,000 per ad in Queensland newspapers. Can you imagine what $150,000 would do for Maryborough hospital? Can you imagine what $150,000 would do for placing extra facilities and services in the Caboolture hospital? I think that Queenslanders can think of better ways for this money to be spent. (Time expired)