Senate debates

Monday, 18 October 2021

Matters of Public Importance

COVID-19: Morrison Government

5:47 pm

Photo of Paul ScarrPaul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let's look at the actual facts. The facts are these: when Campbell Newman and his government lost power, ambulance ramping in Queensland was at 15 per cent. Those are the facts. A month before the COVID pandemic broke out in Queensland, it had gone up to 29 per cent. It had doubled, I say through you, Madam Acting Deputy President, to Senator Green. It had gotten twice as bad. I have dear, dear friends who are paramedics and ambos, and they tell me about the shambles the Queensland ambulance system has come to from a management perspective. That is entirely the fault of the Queensland Labor government. Right now, ambulance ramping sits at 41 per cent. It was 15 per cent when Campbell Newman left office. It is now at 41 per cent. In the Metro South health district in Brisbane, an area with which I'm intimately familiar, it's in excess of 60 per cent. Six out of 10 ambulances that present themselves to the emergency departments are ramped—60 per cent. It was 15 per cent when the LNP left government. It has gone from 15 per cent to 60 per cent. That's the state of the Queensland health department and our Queensland ambulance system. It's an absolute disgrace under the Labor government.

Let me quote from an ABC News story posted on Friday 15 October 2021 at 8 am:

In the early hours of April 24, QAS headquarters was advised of "multiple pending Code 1 cases in excess of 1 to 2 hours" in and around Brisbane.

For code 1 cases, the most serious cases, it took one to two hours to get an ambulance. The article continues:

Code 1 patients refer to those requiring urgent care for potentially life-threatening situations. Ambulances are sent to them under lights and sirens.

This is what the brief said, Senator Green, under Queensland Labor:

"Nil available resources to respond," the brief said. "Nil divertable [sic] resources. Multiple units ramped and hospital for several hours."

That's nil available resources to respond to Queenslanders needing urgent aid from their health system. Just as is the case in Western Australia, Queensland has a handful of COVID cases. This is the situation today in Queensland under a Labor government that has been in power for 25 out of the last 31 years. Hospital ramping under Campbell Newman was 15 per cent and up to 60 per cent in the metro south region. You want to blame the federal government? The federal government has increased funding to Queensland hospitals by 100 per cent. In the same period, Senator Watt, the Queensland government has increased it by 51 per cent. You want to blame the coalition government? Look internally at what is happening to Queensland's health system. We now know what's happening at Caboolture Hospital—the horror stories coming out of the Caboolture public hospital. They're reminiscent of what came out of Hervey Bay. Again, under a Labor government, there is this managerial incompetence. Hospital ramping at the end of Campbell Newman's tenure was 15 per cent. In metro south—south of the Brisbane River, an area I'm intimately involved in—it was 60 per cent. In six out of 10 hospitals, ambulances attending our emergency departments were ramped. It's an absolute disgrace and our public health workers are at the end of their tether. Let me quote from an AMA Queensland announcement from 27 April 2021:

Queensland doctors say public hospitals are at crisis point, with clogged emergency departments, too few beds and an exodus of burnt-out staff.

This is what Dr Kim Hanson, from the Australian College for Emergency Medicine, says:

Emergency departments are the canary in the coalmine. They bear the burden when other parts of the health system are over capacity … It's awful, like putting a Band Aid on a stab wound.

That's how she describes the Queensland government's response: it's like putting a bandaid on a stab wound. Whoever was involved in putting forward this MPI for discussion this afternoon obviously wasn't aware of the current situation in the WA public health system and the Queensland health system.

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