Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Brandis; it is very generous of you to say that, but there have been a lot of other people joining with me in trying to highlight this cutback in services.

I asked the minister today what had the Queensland government done, what had Premier Bligh done, to lobby Mr Rudd over the slashing of services by this vital institution. I wanted to know what Premier Bligh and the current Queensland government had done to demand of Mr Rudd that North Queensland continue to be protected with a 24-hour a day weather service in Townsville and adequate services everywhere else in North Queensland. Mr Acting Deputy President Hutchins, do you know what the answer was? There was absolute silence, which means that Premier Bligh did not lift a finger to tell her mate Kevin Rudd—and they are mates—that those services need to be saved in North Queensland. I am absolutely disgusted that Premier Bligh could have so little interest in or concern for the safety of all of us people who live up there, all of those businesses and indeed all of those people who come to North Queensland for tourism activities. They are not going to be protected by these very, very professional—