Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker Scott, I know you spend a lot of time coming through South-East Queensland and so will be particularly interested in this motion. I have moved:

That this House:

(1) opposes the Queensland Government's plans to cut local bus services in South East Queensland;

(2) notes that these cuts will:

(a) affect many vulnerable residents that can least afford it—seniors, pensioners, part-time working mums and dads and students …

They will particularly affect people who are ill and have to travel to the QE2 hospital, the PA Hospital or the Mater hospital. The motion also asks the House to support better public transport in Queensland.

I put this motion to the House in the context of the announcement by the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, in July last year, of a review into TransLink's South-East Queensland bus network. I flag up-front that I have a bit of a conspiracy theory about this, and that is that it is a precursor to the selling off, the privatisation, of bus transportation. The Labor Party has a long, proud history of making commitments to public transport. However, the privatisation agenda of the Newman government has to be seen to be believed. The reality is that bus networks are not super viable. During peak hours they are, but, during the off-peak times, particularly when seniors travel, or when people who are ill need to go to hospital, bus companies do not make a profit. My understanding of this review is that it will be a precursor to privatisation.

I will be interested to hear the contributions of those opposite on this motion. We have already seen a bit of a north-south divide when it comes to public transport in Brisbane. The Labor government is committed to looking after trains, buses and roads, particularly on the south side of the river. One of the first things that I made sure happened, going back to 2004, was the Elizabeth Street rail crossing initiative down in Beaudesert Road, something that the member for Wright would travel through pretty regularly. There used to be a wait of up to 13 minutes. Then we secured federal government funding to make sure that the boom gates were taken off Beaudesert Road, and that freed up transport all the way down to Beaudesert and beyond so people were not sitting there waiting. We all know that if you are sitting for 13 or 14 minutes at a boom gate you are not using your time productively and it is not good for business and it is not good for environment, with cars pumping out carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide—and diesel engines running at that low speed put out more diesel particulate matter, which is carcinogenic. So it is always good to have public transport and roads working as efficiently as possible.

With that in mind, I wrote to the transport minister, the Hon. Scott Emerson, who is one of the few state MPs whose electorate includes areas both north of the river and south of the river. He shares quite a few suburbs with me. I asked him: what can we do to make sure we have public transport in Brisbane operating as efficiently as possible? Obviously buses are part of the campaign, but it is also about making sure our rail crossings are safe. I have two of the worst level crossing locations in Brisbane. In fact, I refer to an article in the Brisbane Times that rated the 10 worst level crossings in Queensland according to train drivers, and two of them—one is at Rocklea and one is at Coopers Plains—are in my electorate. Interestingly the one at Coopers Plains—I looked at the speech by former member for Moreton Gary Hardgrave to see if he had made any comments on this and in his first speech he said, 'I will fix this intersection'. That was back in March 1996.

With that in mind, I wrote to the Hon. Scott Emerson, the Minister for Transport and Main Roads, and pointed out that two of the 10 worst Queensland crossings are in my electorate and would there be funding available. And he said: 'Yes. The state government does believe in introducing grade separations to remove level crossings.' He said, 'In fact, we're doing it at two locations in Brisbane'—both on the north side—'Robinson Road at Geebung and Telegraph Road at Bracken Ridge'. Both of these are on the north side. In fact, I quote from his letter. He said:

If you would like to upgrade the level crossings in your electorate, I would welcome you securing Commonwealth government funding.

It is a letter from Scott Emerson, so it is worth something. Although I have seen when a letter from him does not necessarily mean that it will result in anything. I notice that he wrote to the federal government seeking money for the big public transport infrastructure that the City of Brisbane is calling out for, something that will benefit my electorate, something that will benefit the north side, the electorate of Brisbane. As we reach rail capacity at the South Brisbane Grey Street Bridge in three years time, this will impact on trains all the way to the Gold Coast, all the way to the border basically.

An opposition member: There's no money.

It is interesting to see: Scott Emerson requested $750 million from each level of government, and built into that an agreement of fifty-fifty funding for the availability payment for the private sector financially for the project—just to alleviate those concerns about there not being any money available. So our transport minister, Anthony Albanese, responded saying, 'Yep; tick. We'll do all of those things.' They asked for funding principles, we agreed to every single one of the funding principles. Every single one. But then Scott Emerson went into the cabinet and was rolled by the Deputy Premier, Jeff Seeney. He was rolled by Jeff Seeney. I will quote from the letter that Scott Emerson wrote to the transport minister, Mr Albanese. He said:

Once I have your confirmation of the funding principles, it is my intention to seek cabinet approval to engage with the market to confirm the constructability and validate the business case estimates. I will also instruct my department to develop an MoU between our respective departments to detail arrangements moving forward.

A direct quote from the letter from Scott Emerson saying, 'We're keen to do this.' He was saying, 'I'll be out there fighting for it'.

Infrastructure Australia, that body well-respected on both sides of parliament, has said that it is its No. 1 priority. It will benefit the people in South Queensland, and South-East Queensland and my electorate of Moreton in particular. Without it we will be moving towards gridlock not just because of rail but also because of roads. Once the trains reach capacity—they cannot pull any more train seats out of the trains going all the way to the Gold Coast; you cannot have people standing for an hour or an hour and a half going to work in Brisbane. I am not sure if that is what those opposite are suggesting, but the federal opposition leader has said, 'No, no, we won't fund any urban public rail project. We will not fund it.'

However, I thought, 'Wait a minute: in 2010 didn't the opposition leader commit to funding a rail project?' I looked into it and, sure enough, as long as it was a rail project on the north side, not the south side, he was happy to find money for it. But then, when it comes to 2013 we have a different story. Sadly, the people in my electorate are suffering because of this failure to commit to public transport, both to the bus network and to the trains. The reality is the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Scott Emerson, could not give a quicker flick past when it came to this TransLink South-East Queensland review.

We will see in the next couple of weeks how the Lord Mayor responds to these cuts to services that have already been flagged as impacting particularly the people of Acacia Ridge—a suburb that is crying out for public transport. It is an elderly suburb with a Labor councillor, so maybe it is not a voice that is being heard in the council chamber like it should. The reality is, despite Steve Griffiths great efforts, the people of Acacia Ridge are going to be shafted by the Lord Mayor and by the transport minister, Scott Emerson.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion that has just been moved by the member for Moreton, who seems to have a bit of a chip. Every time I go to his electorate he calls me 'that person over there who comes from the northside'. I am delighted to speak to the motion that he has moved today because we need to put a few facts on the table.

As a member that represents an inner-city electorate that contains the CBD of Brisbane and numerous inner-city suburbs, I am very conscious of the importance of public transport to my electorate and to my constituents. I will start on the Cross River Rail because he mentioned the Cross River Rail. It is a cruel hoax what you did the other day announcing the Cross River Rail because these projects are normally funded 50-50. But what you and your party did was offer to provide 25 per cent of the funding and claw back the other 75 per cent through GST revenues. That is not a fair deal; that is not a good deal and that is why it was rejected. The project will cost over $4 billion. You know it; you have got no money to contribute. All you are doing is providing a cruel hoax on the people of Brisbane.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

The member for Moreton knows better than that.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to draw attention to the use of the word 'you'. Address your comments through the chair.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will refer to the member for Moreton by his correct title.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a habit of many in both chambers. As the occupier of this chair, I try to get people to direct their comments through the chair.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When you go out and announce a rail project with no proper funding, that is a cruel hoax on the people of Brisbane. That is what this government does all the time: make an announcement, worry about the funding later. No one doubts that it is a good project. I am very supportive of the project if there is funding. There is no funding that is indicated—in the perilous state of the budget—to proceed with a project of this magnitude. It is important for us to discuss this topic because I have workers making the daily commute in and out of the city, students going to universities and pensioners using local services to do their shopping. The use of public transport is very wide and very varied.

The challenge for the three levels of government in our capital cities across Australia over the next 50 years will be how we manage our infrastructure challenges, how we control the congestion issues and how we find the right balance between investment in public transport and investment in road infrastructure. This motion is essentially now outdated because a lot has happened in this space since the member for Moreton submitted his motion, which is sadly something that he has not even bothered to keep up-to-date with.

The motivation behind reviewing the bus network was never to cut or decrease services. As the member for Moreton well knows, the investment in new buses is not infinite and it is not unlimited. So it is really important that the buses are used efficiently and are used effectively to provide the best value for the commuters. There is nothing more frustrating than watching some buses carry two or three passengers on a consistent basis go past and then the next minute seeing some buses leaving passengers behind bus stops because they are so full. If Labor members think that those situations are okay then they should stand up here and say so. The motivation behind the bus review was not to cut services. The Newman government's bus review was announced in July last year because people were walking away from buses. As the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Scott Emerson, said when he announced the review in the middle of 2012, the aim of the review was to eliminate service duplication, to manage the infrastructure capacity, to get more people on public transport by simplifying the network, to get better connectivity between services and models and to redirect those services to routes where there is overcrowding.

Interestingly, those 10 worst performing routes cost more than $5 million a year with less than five per cent of the cost paid for through fares. As we know, the Queensland government's agency TransLink handed down the review in March and it was released for public consultation. There was immediately a massive reaction, with 40,000 website visits in the first week and a half since the report was made public and 1,700 comments were received in the first 24 hours. Many of my constituents contacted my office. There was also concern raised about the TransLink proposal by the Brisbane City Council.

I think the problem with the TransLink proposal was that it tried to overhaul the whole bus system in Brisbane as opposed to just making the necessary changes. Consequently, Minister Emerson handed over the Brisbane portion of the review to the Brisbane City Council. He also made it clear that there would be no changes to bus routes in Brisbane without the full support of the Brisbane City Council. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said:

It is my view that the proposed changes represented a revolution rather than an evolution in public transport services.

The BCC then conducted its own review and handed down the revised review in April. There was a four-week consultation period until 20 May, with a report back to the Queensland government due by 1 June.

The Brisbane City Council's bus network review assessed 235 routes. They identified 146 routes with no changes and removed nine routes. They had 80 service changes, including 46 timetable changes, 34 route changes and three route amalgamations. Of the nine routes removed most of them had a ridiculously low number of passengers per trip. Some of them already had services available from the new BUZ or CityGlider services, which are incredibly popular with their high-frequency services.

Most of the 80 changes were timetable variations. However, 19 services are to get improvements, including extra stops and rerouting as well as servicing previously underserviced areas of Doolandella, Calamvale and Drewvale. The changes that affect my electorate are as follows. There is an additional stop on the Maroon CityGlider along Macgregor Terrace to service the Bardon shops. How bad is that? It is a good thing, member for Moreton. Rerouting the 199 through the Ivory Street tunnel to improve travel times—

Honourable members interjecting—

Hang on, we're going west now. We are off to the western suburbs now. Adding a stop on the 384 at Red Hill will provide passengers with additional city travel options in peak hours. Rerouting the 310 service through the airport link will improve travel times. Extending the P341 to service Fitzgibbon and Rogan roads will provide direct access to Chermside, the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the CBD for the very first time. There will be better access to the Royal Brisbane Hospital on the 363 by altering the route via Butterfield Street. These are some of the positive changes that have come about for my constituents from the bus network review.

Following the review being handed down I received a representation from a young constituent regarding bus services from the inner west suburbs. She raised the issue of bus routes from Ashgrove, Paddington and Bardon and the fact that there is no direct link between these suburbs and the University of Queensland. How crazy is that? All of these people living in the western suburbs cannot go directly to the University of Queensland. They have to travel into the city and then they have to travel out to UQ. I bet there are a lot of UQ students who would welcome that.

A huge number of students reside in these areas and attend UQ at St Lucia. Currently there are students living in these suburbs who are required to catch a bus to the CBD and transfer to a bus that goes back to the University of Queensland.

That is despite the fact that there are many major roads and many links towards the University of Queensland from these suburbs without travelling back through the city and adding more travel time and more congestion for students wishing to travel directly to university to attend their classes. I have been encouraged by the particular student that contacted me and I encouraged her to make a submission to the review. I hope this issue will be addressed in future and I know that the member for Ryan will have many students in her electorate with similar issues.

I would like to draw the attention of the chamber to the fact that despite the desperate politicking of the member for Moreton and many others, the Newman government actually halved the public transport fare increases of the former Bligh government—and he did not mention that today—and before losing office the Bligh Labor government announced an annual increase to public transport fares of 15 per cent. The Newman government has halved that increase to 7.5 per cent for this year and next year. That is a very positive outcome for many of the constituents that use public transport. I challenge the ALP members who follow me in this debate to say whether they agree with the fact that public transport fares were going to increase by 15 per cent had their party been re-elected in the state government in Queensland. The second positive initiative the Newman government introduced is free public transport after nine journeys, and that is very welcome thing for many people in my electorate. (Time expired)

Ms Gambaro interjecting—

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note that last intervention from the member for Brisbane. It fails to address one core fact in the debate in the last week in Brisbane on the provision of public transport services. She raises the question of fares. In fact, what has been floated by the Liberal National Party government through the pages of The Courier Mail in the last week is the proposal to increase train fares during peak times in order to deal with the impending crisis in Brisbane's passenger rail network.

Secondly, the way of dealing with such a crisis is in fact to proceed with a project which the member has herself locally backed but which her national leader has publicly repudiated, and that is the Cross River Rail. The Cross River Rail was proposed initially with a feasibility study when I was Prime Minister of the country, with $20 million. It was put to Infrastructure Australia and subsequently with the support of the state Liberal National Party government—and prior to that, the state Labor government—it was approved as a priority Infrastructure Australia project. The state government asked for $715 million from the federal government. It wrote a letter through state transport minister, Minister Emerson. Each of the conditions was met by the federal transport minister, Anthony Albanese.

Then on budget night, they walked away from the project. Therefore, we have had the member for Brisbane jumping up and down locally saying that she sort of supports this project, but her federal leader has now repudiated it. State transport minister Emerson has gone around the place saying, 'Well, we kind of like this thing. I know that I have written to the minister about it. I know that I have asked for $715 million. I know that I have promised to actually match it but, whoops, the national leader, Mr Abbott, has said that they cannot do that because they cannot be seen to be politically cooperating with the federal Labor government.'

This is just part of a broader picture. It goes to the provision of public transport services across all of Brisbane. No. 1, we have been talking about the Cross River Rail, which until budget night had bipartisan support. No. 2, we are talking about local bus services, which the Liberal National Party government took a meat axe to in their statement as a government some months ago. Members such as those supporting this motion rose up as one in support of their local communities and, as a result, the state Liberal National Party government ran a million miles, passed a $20 million hospital pass to the Liberal National Party Brisbane City Council and said, 'You find the savings but, please, don't find those savings until after the federal election.' There is absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that these bus routes will be preserved in the future once a certain electoral event occurs.

This is part and parcel of a broader phenomenon that we see unfolding from the Liberal National Party in Brisbane in particular. We have had them rip the guts out of health services at our hospitals because of the cut by the state government of 4,000-plus health workers.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I seek to intervene. I ask you to direct the member to the motion. We are not debating health services here today.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Griffith has the call.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, bus services are public services, and one fully understands how the member for Brisbane—and, for that matter, the member for Ryan—would be intensely sensitive about the slashing of bus services across their side of Brisbane, given the enormous number of university students who rely on those services about whom ultimately, given the posture taken by the Liberal National Party government in Brisbane, they actually do not give a flying fig.

On the question of broader public services, we have the Cross River Rail; on top of that, the attack on public health services; on top of that, the privatisation of school playing fields by the Liberal National Party government, at my local school of Balmoral High and also at—

Ms Gambaro interjecting—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Member for Brisbane, I will handle this. Member for Griffith, this is a motion moved by the member for Moreton. I bring you back to the motion before the chamber.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member for Brisbane is a little desperate to prevent the debate from proceeding on the slashing of public services, including bus services, by the Liberal National Party, once they actually had their hands on the reins of government. They also proposed school mergers or closures, and ripping up and disconnecting the National Broadband Network—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Member for Griffith, I bring you back to the motion before the chamber—

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and, therefore, bus services, including those in my electorate—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Griffith!

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

are deserving of— (Time expired)

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a day we are having. Labor members have finally discovered public transport! Where were they for the last 20 years when the Labor state government in Queensland neglected and ignored public transport completely? Where were they? Did they speak up for their residents then? No, they did not. The member for Moreton has two new bus depots on the south side; did we get recognition of that? No. What about Willawong, or Sherwood, in the member for Moreton's own electorate? They did not want a bus depot because they do not want the increased services that go with a new bus depot because they are not in favour of public transport. Indeed, a senior Queensland Labor figure to whom I was speaking this morning said, 'My God, what are the federal members of Labor doing down there? Challenge them: when was the last time they were on a bus?' The bottom line is that the Labor members in this place have neglected public transport for years, as did their colleagues in the state government and their colleagues on the Brisbane City Council. It was a Campbell Newman led city council that delivered for public transport. It was a Campbell Newman led city council that delivered over 800 new buses, without the support, without the help—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

No, no; you were against it, remember? What did you do?

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member on my right will remain silent.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we heard from the member for Brisbane, what did the Labor state government do? They hiked up the prices. They took all the fares. Don't believe for a second the propaganda out there. Who gets the fares? The state government get the fares. Yet the Brisbane City Council put new buses on the road and put in new community services.

I note with fascination the point in the motion that says:

… changes are geared towards cutting ‘community’ bus services …

It was the Brisbane City Council that introduced the Spring Hill Loop, in the member for Brisbane's area—a free service for the community, because they knew that elderly people had trouble getting up the hill to Wickham Terrace and the hospitals. We went to the Labor state government and said, 'Will you please contribute,' and their answer was a resounding no. In fact, to support the community, they even went one better! They used to have a government bus that supported their public servants travelling from Boundary Road down to the government precinct. When the council put on this free community bus service, not only did they not help us; they cancelled their own government bus and told the public servants to use the free community bus. That is the sort of support that we get from Labor when it comes to public transport.

For the record, when we talk about the increase in buses, we mean the Brisbane City Council built two new depots, with a third on its way, and they built a new bus-building factory that is churning out one new bus every three days. We compare that record of over 800 buses in eight years with that of the Labor council. How many would you think they delivered in 13 years—maybe a couple of hundred at least? They averaged just 30 a year. They promised loads, just like this Federal Labor government. They promised the world. They delivered a yearly average of 30 buses in 13 years of government in the Brisbane City Council. That is the track record of Labor when it comes to public transport. They might try and talk about it—never let it be said that you would ever see a member on a bus—but the bottom line is that they never deliver.

Indeed, if we are talking about patronage, despite a 24 per cent increase in population in those 13 years, patronage on the buses only increased by 10 per cent. Yet, under the LNP council, patronage increased by 66 per cent to a record 80 million patrons in 2011-12. That is because the Brisbane City Council pensioned off the old Labor buses. Every single bus is now air conditioned. Buses have disability access.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mr Deputy Speaker, I tell you that all the Labor state government did was take the fares and increase them. It is a disgrace. That is the sort of interest. They helped finance it—

Honourable members interjecting—

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The track record for Labor is an embarrassment. They do not support buses. You would never see them riding on one themselves. And yet they stand here today and try to lecture us on what to do.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I seek an intervention.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is that agreed to?

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, he has already had 10 minutes. Indeed, within minutes of starting he moved on to rail because he knows that, when it comes to bus services, the Labor Party in Queensland have an appalling track record. They have no idea. They have failed the people of Brisbane and South-East Queensland time and time again, and it is a great embarrassment to them.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the motion of the member for Moreton and thank him for it. It goes way beyond simply bus services in Brisbane. It talks about public transport in Queensland. It talks about the LNP state government's privatisation plans regarding state assets and government services. It condemns their sell-off of Queensland's public transport network, road, rail and ports. To confine this to simply bus services in Brisbane is a nonsense, because that is not the intention or the wording of the motion by the member for Moreton.

The LNP Queensland government is an object lesson in what conservative governments do: slash, cut and demoralise the Public Service; reduce services, including bus services; and refuse to invest in the future. They abandon those most in need and let them fend for themselves. Every Queensland state LNP candidate campaigned for improved bus services, yet they are utterly silent as the LNP state government cuts, slashes and burns public transport in Queensland. How disingenuous and deceptive they were.

Assets were sold to assist in funding investments in infrastructure made more urgent during the devastation of the 2011 flood. That is what the previous government did: selling assets in Queensland to make sure that we could invest in infrastructure, jobs and growth. But this LNP state government is simply slashing and burning. The LNP state members and the federal members opposite, my opponents opposite, take the blowtorch to the Public Service and would do so if they got onto the treasury bench federally.

Front-line services, including bus services, are under threat in Queensland, all in the name of the right-wing ideology of economic rationalism. They claim that it is because they cannot afford them. They quoted a $100 billion debt level, a figure made up by former Treasurer Peter Costello. After campaigning in the last election against asset sales and then using rubbery figures, the LNP state government in Queensland set about slashing 2,000 full-time jobs from Transport and Main Roads, including closing down the Main Roads office in the Ipswich and West Moreton region, in the heart of Ipswich Central. They closed it down. At the time, we had major road infrastructure and public transport taking place in Ipswich.

The LNP state government have abdicated their responsibilities for services not just in rail and not just in bus services but also in education and health, slashing bus services in South-East Queensland and asking councils to pick up the cost. Now there are 111 bus services in South-East Queensland that are on the chopping block.

It was only strong community protest in the Somerset region, led by fearless Somerset regional councillor, Jim Madden, and community groups which saved route 529 from Toogoolawah to Ipswich. This is a service that makes the people in the Brisbane Valley able to get to health, education, recreational and other services and pursuits in Ipswich. This is the only viable public transport option for the people in the Somerset region who require access for medical services in Ipswich and Brisbane.

But those opposite have been silent as Campbell Newman has slashed and burned services—not just bus services. So those opposite have some things to explain. We saw the member for Ryan talking about bus services and buses provided by her former colleagues in the Brisbane City Council, failing to recognise the huge capital infrastructure spend by the former Queensland Labor government, which invested money to purchase those buses. That is what she fails to do. She does not seriously believe that the ratepayers of Brisbane paid for those buses? They were purchased by funding from the state Labor government.

So I wonder how people in Queensland are meant to get to work if the bus services are slashed across Brisbane and the rest of South-East Queensland? To hospitals and to universities? This is the heartlessness of those opposite. This is the heartlessness and the silence; the inaction and inertia from the LNP state members opposite from Queensland. Campbell Newman claims that he wants change, but Campbell Newman wants change in Queensland for the worse. He deceived the people of Queensland; he deceived them on bus services, he deceived them on rail services and on road infrastructure.

What about the rail crossing in Brisbane? The member for Brisbane, my political opponent over there, claims she supported it. Now she opposes it; she is topsy-turvy, Arthur or Martha! Guess what? The road infrastructure in Queensland will be slashed under a Tony Abbott government. Even the Ipswich Motorway— (Time expired)

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to be able to jump in on the back of this debate, where we speak today about public transport cuts in Queensland.

Can I share with the room and the parliament that public transport cuts have had little or no effect in the great seat of Wright, my electorate—

An honourable member: Because they have a good local member!

Because I can tell you we do not have any! There are a number of towns—small towns under 500—that have no bus service. Twenty-five years of Labor rule. But Queenslanders are very loyal—very, very loyal. We had 25 years of Labor in state rule and then we had 25 years, roughly, of the Joh Bjelke-Petersen-led government and then we have just come out of roughly a quarter of a century of Labor rule again under a—

An honourable member: How was that?

We had Beattie, Goss and Anna Bligh.

An honourable member: Some of those Joh Bjelke—

Can I tell you that it was interesting today to be able to stand here before the House and to contribute to the debate. Why is it that we are debating state issues in this House? I would suggest that there is one reason. There is one reason why we are debating state issues in here. It is because here we have a Labor government federally that have run out of things to say when it comes to selling the benefits of Labor federally because they cannot talk about boats. We have to talk about public transport; we cannot talk about the 40,000 illegal immigrants who have reached our shores.

We cannot talk about health; in fact, the Labor member spoke about the blowtorch to Queensland Health. Can I tell you what Queensland Health is dealing with at the moment? There is currently court action for a Queensland Health worker who embezzled $16 million out from underneath the nose of Queensland Health officials—

An honourable member: $16 million?

$16 million.

An honourable member: Half your campaign budget!

Hah, yes! And not a word to be said about the management of Queensland Health. Not a word. Why are we talking about this?

Can I also make the point, while we are talking about the blowtorch to the public service: in the last Bligh-led term of Labor's last legacy, there was an increase of 23,000 public servants. There was a mandate that was set upon by this government. Twenty-three thousand public servants: we have made a commitment that when we get in I think we will make rational cuts to the tune of around 11 or 14,000 personnel by not renewing contracts. No-one should ever dance on the grave of someone losing their job, and it is an area that I do feel uncomfortable with and would like to speak on in another debate in a different forum.

Could I also remind this House as to why we would be speaking about the public service when we have been talking about cuts to public transport services in Queensland? It is because they cannot talk about the blowout of the economy up there when it comes to putting in a water grid when not a litre has gone through?

We have a desalination plant up there which has not had one litre of water—

Honourable members interjecting—

I do not know what the cost of it was, but not one litre has gone through. I thank the honourable members for their assistance in highlighting the devastating inefficiencies of the Labor government in Queensland.

Democracy is a beautiful thing. Guess what it shows—people have had enough in Queensland. It is widespread. I do not think there is a state anywhere in Australia which saw such a widespread shift away from the inefficient, dysfunctional Labor government, which we saw up in Queensland under the direction of Campbell Newman. A recent poll, in the newspapers this weekend, has Campbell Newman at the same level of popularity as on the day he was elected to the parliament of Queensland. That is a rousing endorsement for what Campbell Newman and his government are doing up there! That is waste and mismanagement which we as the LNP will have to preside over for many years. Getting the credit rating back for Queensland is one of our priorities in doing that so that we can secure funds to build the infrastructure needed for the future.

In closing, Acting Deputy Speaker, I can assure you that, when this Labor government come to this house and speak on state issues, the only reason is that they have simply run out of things to say from a federal perspective. It is an embarrassment. Hopefully democracy will rule and show the true way on 14 September in Queensland. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.