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

Faith plays an important role in the lives of many Australians, and prayer is also a source of immense comfort to many of our fellow Australians. So too is the Bible a source of immense comfort and reassurance to many millions of Australians, as it is to many thousands of my constituents in Ryan. I want in the parliament today to thank those constituents of mine who have contacted me to join in the chorus of strong opposition to and condemnation of the Queensland government in its attempt to ban the Bible in the Queensland public hospital system. As I said, prayer, faith and the Bible are of great importance to Australians in times of tragedy and despair. The Queensland government’s attempt to ban the Bible in public hospitals is simply political correctness gone mad. I want to join my colleagues in the parliament and many of my fellow Ryan residents to condemn this very churlish and selfish attempt, this very mindless proposal, to take away bibles from Queensland hospital bedrooms.

The state member for Capalaba, Mr Michael Choi, was the only Labor member in the state parliament—as far as I am aware—to voice his personal opposition to this ridiculous proposal. I want to condemn the state Labor members in the Ryan electorate—that is, the state member for Mount Ommaney, Mrs Julie Attwood; and the state member for Indooroopilly, Mr Ronan Lee—for remaining silent in the face of widespread opposition to this from their constituents and the Ryan constituency generally. This attempt to take away a source of great comfort from the bedrooms in hospitals is just an example of the Queensland Labor government taking its eye off the ball. It is as if it does not have enough problems in the Queensland health system to worry about when it focuses on this absurd proposition of taking away bibles from hospital bedrooms. I will be writing to my constituents and letting them know that this is the sort of governance that the Queensland government gets involved in. Instead of trying to fix the problems of the ailing and underfunded Queensland hospital system, it turns its mind to this mindless activity.

The Queensland government is even talking about changing the curriculum to try and do away with religious education. Fortuitously, many Queenslanders, the churches and other very sensible people in the community have stood up and said that this too is an absurd proposition. It is no less absurd than trying to take away bibles from the hospital beds. I stand here in the parliament to very strongly condemn this mindless proposition by the Labor government in Queensland. (Time expired)