ROSA LEE LONG ONE NATION MEMBER BUT IN REALITY INDEPENDENT FOR TABLELANDS Rosa Lee Long MP

Rosa Lee Long MP

Member for Tablelands

Electorate Office

210 Byrnes St, Mareeba, Far North Queensland 4880

Phone 07 4092 3654. Fax 07 4092 3193

 

23/02/07

 

TIGHT NEW LAWS FOR YOUNG DRIVERS

 

 

TIGHT new laws will mean major changes to how young drivers earn their licences, and what and how they drive for years afterward, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said yesterday.

 

“The learner licence age is to be reduced to 16, while the minimum period someone will have to be on their learners licence will be extended to 12 months,” she said.

 

“Learner drivers will have to record 100 hours of certified supervised on-road driving experience. Learner licences will be valid for three years and those wanting a motorbike licence will now be required to have held a provisional car licence for 12 months before being able to gain a motorcycle learners licence.

 

“There will also be changes to the provisional licencing system, A two-stage process is to be put in place with much tighter restrictions in the first stage, particularly for those under 25. These restrictions include compulsory P-plates, passenger restrictions between 11pm and 5am and only being able to carry one non-family member passenger aged under 21 during these times.

 

“High-powered vehicle restrictions for first and second stage provisional drivers will apply. Other restrictions will affect all mobile phone use and mobile loud speaker functions for supervisors and passengers of learner-drivers.

 

“Late night restrictions will apply for young drivers returning from a licence suspension or disqualification or for driving under a good behaviour licence, and they will have to pass a 12-month hazard perception test to progress to a second stage provisional licence.

 

“Provisional and open licence holders under 25 who have been disqualified will be required to recommence at the first stage provisional licence.”

 

Ms Lee Long said these changes were very wide ranging and would have a major impact on young drivers.

 

ENDS

23/02/07

 

TRUCK DRIVERS TRAPPED BETWEEN

RULES AND REALITY

 

TRUCK drivers were being trapped between harsher and harsher laws, tighter and tighter schedules and a growing lack of vital infrastructure, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long has told Parliament.

 

Speaking during debate on the Transport Legislation and Another Act Amendment Bill at the last sittings of parliament – which introduced drug-driver testing - Ms Lee Long said  government needed to do more to improve safety in the heavy transport industry.

 

Drivers in the long-distance trucking industry had been identified as among those most likely to be affected by drugs while driving, because stimulants were used to help them stay awake.

 

“While impaired driving is unacceptable, here is a clear example of how only part of the problem is being addressed,” she said.

 

“We expect our transport needs to be met on demand. This means that drivers are often forced to cover long distances on extremely strict schedules.

 

“Government laws deem that they are also expected to stop at designated times, to rest for designated times, and to keep log books showing this.

 

“Clearly all these things clash with the commercial imperative and the fatigue management requirements.

 

“Add to that the fact that there are very limited rest areas – let alone rest areas with even basic toilet facilities – suitable for heavy transport to park in and drivers wind up in an unenviable position. Surely this government has a duty of care in meeting its obligations in making it possible for those drivers to meet their conflicting goals.

 

“Increasing penalties – for example demerit points now accumulate on log book offences, with maximum penalties which can go as high as $4500 all applying to the driver. Those hard-working drivers can ill-afford to lose $300 or $600 per week, or nearly a week’s pay, let alone anything higher.

 

“The drivers believe it is high time that this government faced up to its workplace health and safety obligations and provided them with suitable truck stops. As yet, there is no help for the driver to resist the pressure of delivery times and no provision of more rest stops with basic things like toilets, let alone a covered table and bench to sit on”.

 

Ms Lee Long said she supported action against drug-impaired driving in the heavy transport sector but believed one of the first things that should be done was to reduce the need for so many drivers to feel as if they have to take such substances.

ENDS

23/02/07

 

WIDER FOCUS NEEDED ON ROAD SAFETY

 

 

GOVERNMENT attention needed to be directed to all areas of road safety, and not solely on enforcement, State Parliament has been told.

 

Speaking during debate on laws introducing drug-driving testing provisions to Queensland, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said that while the Government was creating harder and tougher laws governing drivers, it also had a duty of care to do much better in meeting its own responsibilities.

 

Those responsibilities, she said, included: “the level of maintenance on our Queensland road networks, including the roadside environment, road cambers, the grip or glasslike smoothness of some asphalt, the sealing of shoulders, widening and so on.

 

“Road users are already paying far more in fuel taxes excise, registration and so on than is being spent on our roads.”

 

 

 

 

The new drug-driving laws will operate similarly to the existing drink-driving laws and will allow police to stop drivers at random for testing.

 

That testing will involve a roadside saliva testing process that could take up to 10 minutes or more. For a first offence, penalties of up to $2,100 and or up to nine months jail would apply.

 

However, unlike drink-drive testing where a blood alcohol concentration of .05 or above must be detected before an offence is committed, drug-drivers face a 0.0 limit on a drug-saliva test.

 

“That is, if ANY concentration no matter at what level, is detected of a relevant drug, then an offence will be considered to have been committed,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

 

ENDS                                                                                                  22/2/07

 

NO NUKES FOR NORTH

 

GLOW-IN-THE-DARK nuclear solutions to power supply issues were an insanity, especially when the Far North was rich in hydro-electric generation options, State Parliament has been told.

 

Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long, speaking in debate on the Nuclear Facilities Prohibition Bill in the last sittings of Parliament revealed that the Far North had been slated for two massive hydro-electric schemes as far back as the 1950s.

 

“These hydro-options need to be brought back to the table as a clean, green viable alternative to Howard’s mad nuclear plan, and they are a better answer than more dirty coal-fired power stations,” Ms Lee Long said after parliament.

 

While one of the schemes, the Tully Millstream, was widely recognised as having the potential to generate 500 megawatts of power, an even bigger scheme on the Herbert River had been left to languish on the shelf for almost 50 years, she said.

 

 

 

“In a follow-on to Koombooloomba Dam and the Kareeya hydro scheme, a dam and seven weirs were planned for the Herbert River in a project that would have created a truly enormous water storage area, provided flood mitigation for the coastal lowlands around Ingham and, importantly, provided even more hydro-electric generation capacity than Tully-Millstream.

 

“I understand that all the engineering and other works had been completed, and that the dam was to have been built south-west of Mount Garnet.

 

“It was ready to go when the conservatives took power in Queensland in the late 1950s and killed it off.

 

“This project, and the Tully Millstream, are both far better answers to our future power needs and deserve to receive commitments from this government to go ahead as soon as practicable.

 

 

ENDS

 

 

BEATTIE POWER GRAB ATTACKED

 

THE Beattie Labor Government’s latest moves granting itself new powers to override local council planning decisions showed its complete contempt for the people of Queensland.

 

Speaking during debate on the State Development and Other Legislation Amendment Bill during the last sittings of Parliament for 2006, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said it was: "about the Beattie Government’s power grab".

 

"The bill grants government bureaucrats the ability to put time limits on decision making process such as council considerations and agency reviews and even, through "step-in powers" goes as far as letting them over-ride decisions that have already been made," she said.

 

However, processes were already in place to ensure essential projects could go ahead as quickly as possible.

 

"The standard approvals and appeals processes, while not perfect, are tried and proven and those existing processes already include call-in powers under the Integrated Planning Act," she said.

 

Ms Lee Long said the existing call-in powers at least required Ministerial involvement, while the new ones had been taken down stream to the bureaucracy.

 

"What we need to keep in mind is that the decision maker is often likely to be a local government, which is a group of elected people working in the best interests of their constituents. It is grassroots politics and councils that put their constituents’ wishes first should be recognised for doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

 

"They should not be considered an obstacle to the desires of the Beattie cabinet."

4/12/06

 

PATIENTS SUFFER AS HEALTH CRISIS CONTINUES

 

TABLELANDS hospitals urgently need more funding and resources so patients are not left without beds or on the side of the road, Member for Tablelands said yesterday.

 

Ms Lee Long was speaking after an address to Parliament in which she highlighted two recent incidents that left an elderly woman facing a 20 kilometre walk home from hospital in searing heat, and a 99 year old man who had collapsed being told there were no beds available.

 

She said that regardless of "record" budgets: "at the grass roots level nurses are still overworked, doctors are in short supply, specialists are difficult to find and even harder to access, there are not enough beds and people are still going untreated for longer than the recommended waiting times."

 

"The logjam needs to be broken, and that needs to happen urgently."

 

Ms Lee Long also questioned the guidelines under which staff were forced to work.

 

Ms Lee Long said she was shocked the learn of an elderly lady being discharged from hospital: "and left no choice but to walk more than 20 kilometres to her home in another town with no public transport available. She was found by a passer-by who noticed her distressed condition, clutching her chest and struggling to make it up a hill in the searing, mid-afternoon sun.

 

"This event, and others, cry out for an urgent roll-out of the promised extra funding, not in four or five years or even longer, but immediately."

 

Ms Lee Long said hospital staff were still being forced to make impossible decisions because of the lack of resourcing and funding of the entire public health system.

 

"One of the worst example of how overstressed the entire system is, is when ambulances are forced to ramp-up outside emergency departments at major hospitals, including Cairns. Not only is it a clear sign that emergency departments are failing to give people the basic care they need when they need it; ramping up is a terrible waste of scarce ambulance resources.

 

"We have been forced to pay an unfair ambulance tax on electricity accounts specifically to give this government the resources to provide the world’s best ambulance service.

 

"What it seems we are getting more and more often is not the world’s best ambulance service, but the world’s best mobile hospital waiting rooms."

"It is a lethal cocktail of problems."



  

 

And the beat goes on

Ten years after her maiden speech, Pauline Hanson is gone and One Nation is spent. But many of her policies have been absorbed by John Howard, writes Mike Steketee

September 08, 2006

Dancing queen: Pauline Hanson appeared on the television series Dancing With the Stars in 2004

ROSA Lee Long is Australia's last remaining MP representing One Nation but the party label hardly matters to her. While other members of the Queensland Parliament elected under Pauline Hanson's banner have long since become independents, former grazier Lee Long says: "I really could see no reason to change. If I changed to become an independent, I would not be doing anything different."

Hanson has not been up to her far north Queensland electorate of Tablelands to lend support. "I'm not using Pauline at all," says Lee Long. "No reason in particular, but she is not involved in the party any more. I am just campaigning on local issues."

Three other One Nation candidates are running in tomorrow's state election but Lee Long is the only one with a serious chance of winning. If she does, it will be mainly because of the reputation she has carved out as a local member, rather than the party she represents. It is a world away from the 1998 election, when 11 of the party's 79 candidates won seats, marking the sudden arrival of Hanson as a politician with clout.

Lee Long argues bravely that One Nation has a future "because the issues are still there. We need people like myself to keep the bastards honest." That may be effective campaign rhetoric, even if borrowed from the recently departed Democrats leader Don Chipp. But it does not quite match reality.

28/07/06

 

 

 

MASSIVE FUNDING STREAM OPENS

 

Local councils and community organisations have a chance to snare a share of $100 million in State funds, set aside to help celebrate Queensland’s 150th birthday in 2009.

 

 

Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long MP said the money was divided in to two strands.

 

 

“There is $80 million set aside for partnership projects with local government, for capital works that leave an enduring legacy of the 150th anniversary,” she said.

 

 

That money was available as a 50 per cent subsidy, with projects required to address the celebration’s vision “Reflect on our past, imagine our future.”

 

 

“The other $20 million is for projects that have demonstrated significance to all Queenslanders, are accessible to the public and benefit the broader community.” 

 

 

Applications for the funding are open with anyone interested needing to submit Registration Forms by August 11.

 

Ms Lee Long said guidelines and registration forms were available on the internet at www.dlgpsr.qld.gov.au or by contacting her office.

 

 

23/06/06

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WASHES HANDS ON DIESEL PRICE

 

THE Federal Government, which collects 38 cents per litre in fuel excise, has washed its hands of any responsibility for the high price of diesel fuel, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said yesterday.

 

Ms Lee Long said she had put mounting community concern on the issue before the Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, who had admitted high fuel prices were bad for consumers and the economy and were causing immense difficulty for drivers.

 

“However he has insisted that the prices are caused by factors outside the Government’s control,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

“In fact, he has written to me and tried to argue that instead of being responsible for the high price of fuel, the Federal Government is responsible for SAVING drivers around 15.4 cents per litre.

 

“It is a bizarre argument that a government already taxing road users via a fuel excise wants credit for not taxing us even more than they do now.

 

“And even the present level of fuel excise is not all spent back on roads.

 

“It is classic Liberal/National arrogance to try and tell us we should be grateful we only have a crippling tax burden, because they could easily be slugging us for even more.”

 

Ms Lee Long said that even for users able to claim tax breaks on their diesel, it was Federal Government policy to peg the price to an international benchmark in Singapore.

 

“We have our own reserves, our own oil rigs and our own refineries and that should be taken into account. By the Treasurer’s own admission these high prices are bad for everyone.”

 

22/06/06

CAIRNS MENTAL HEALTH UNIT DENIED NEW INQUIRY

 

CALLS for an independent inquiry into resourcing, funding and staffing of Cairns Base Hospital’s Mental Health Unit have been rejected by the Health Minister.

 

The calls were contained in a petition put before Parliament by member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long late last month, following the tragic death of local teacher Patricia Van Putten.

 

“In his response the minister spoke about recognising the value of external reviews, he spoke about action plans, he spoke about updated policy and procedures but he said nothing about an independent inquiry,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

“What he did say was that as of last month, a Patient Safety Officer had started work at the Cairns Base Mental Health unit as part of a national safety priority trial for six months.

 

“This is welcome, but only a full investigation will ever get right to the bottom of the issue.”

 

Ms Lee Long said she would continue to push for adequate services not only at Cairns Base, but in Mareeba and Atherton hospitals as well.

 

22/06/06

HERBERTON HOSPITAL TO GET NEW GENERATOR

 

THE Herberton Hospital is to finally get a back-up power generator, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said yesterday.

 

“Cyclone Larry highlighted the lack of back-up power at the Herberton Hospital,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

“The facility, with 42 beds, was left without any power at all for some 36 hours.

 

“The staff coped magnificently due to their dedication and professionalism and we all know Ergon worked wonders in restoring electricity supply, but the hospital and patients deserve better.

 

“I questioned the Health Minister about this situation and am delighted to see that funding has now been made available for an appropriately sized generator, and that options are being explored for its installation.”

 

Ms Lee Long said when fitted, the generator would protect the Hospital from any future power supply problems.

 

 Hansard Thursday, 8 June 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

APPROPRIATION (PARLIAMENT) BILL; APPROPRIATION BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (10.58 pm): Mr Deputy Speaker—

A government member: This will be good!

Ms LEE LONG: It will. Out of the $29 billion budget, there is welcome news for my electorate.

Government members: Hear, hear!

Mr Cummins: Are you going to merge with the Liberals?

Ms LEE LONG: Not on your life! But of course there is always more that needs to be done, and I willcontinue to lobby on behalf of my constituents to ensure that their needs are met. A new justice precincthas been announced in this budget which is to be established in Mareeba.

Government members: Hear, hear!

Ms LEE LONG: Yes, very good news. It will consist of a new police station, watch-house andcourthouse which will be built at a cost of $15.7 million. I believe this to be the largest state governmentinvestment on the tablelands since the construction of the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre

Mrs Pratt: And they said that Independents and One Nation get nothing.

Ms LEE LONG: I take that interjection. This investment is to be coupled with an increase in policenumbers at Mareeba Police Station from just under 30 at present to 50 officers once it is completed. Alsocoming to my electorate is a new $1.08 million police station and watch-house at Ravenshoe, which is onthe southern end of my electorate. It will replace the present old wooden structure that is not onlybecoming run-down but also is unable to cope with the recent increase in staff from two to four officers,
which was made in recognition of the increasing population and workload in this area. These police officersare looking after a growing population. Ravenshoe has the only major sawmill north of Mackay. It is alsofostering a burgeoning tourist industry. It is home to a wind farm power generation facility, which attractsmany tourists, and, perhaps most importantly, enjoys a strong community spirit.

Community safety is a major responsibility of government. There have been ongoing issues relatingto understaffing of police stations across the electorate. That understaffing has resulted in police stationsbeing left unmanned and the police officers who are there having to cope with a crippling workload.
Community confidence needs to be rejuvenated so that when constituents call the police for help, it isavailable. I have had constituents struggle to get thefts investigated. In some cases, they have done theirown detective work and presented the evidence to the police only to still get no response. Because of thelack of detectives, fraud complaints took so long to investigate that constituents were almost forced to thewall financially. It is vital that when officers go on leave that they are replaced. We also need more officerswho are able to concentrate on police matters rather than working for the transport department. There isalso an allocation of $153,000 in continued funding for the school based police officer at Mareeba HighSchool.

This budget contains many important announcements addressing a raft of needs in terms ofinfrastructure programs and staffing across a range of locations in the Tablelands electorate. Education is

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 8 June 2006

another core responsibility of this government. In that regard, the Tablelands electorate received fundingfor some significant projects. The $1.5 million multipurpose learning centre at Mareeba High School is wellunder construction. It has been allocated $200,000, including $28,000 for its fit-out. There is also $20,000for car parking and a drop-off point at the school. The school community has been fighting for thismultipurpose centre since the late 1960s. I am pleased that, in my time as member, the centre was finallyapproved and is now nearing completion.

At Atherton High School a $1.06 million classroom upgrade continues with $38,000 for the 2006-07period along with $24,000 towards air-conditioning classrooms and $30,000 for repainting. Additionally,
Atherton State School has been allocated $284,000 for the continued upgrade of the administration areawhile Malanda High School has received $114,000 out of $333,000 required for additional amenities. KairiState School has an $88,000 electrical upgrade underway. This year, there is $34,000 available towardsthat work. Ravenshoe State School has been given $40,000 and Millaa Millaa State School has been given$20,000 under the Cool Schools program for air conditioning. Millaa Millaa State School is also in line for$4,000 worth of targeted maintenance. Mount Molloy State School is on the receiving end of $6,000towards air-conditioning classrooms and will share $13,000 with Dimbulah State School for high-prioritymaintenance.

This funding is all welcome but we must remember that even more important than the bricks andmortar are the teachers and other staff at our schools. The Tablelands electorate has a team of dedicated
professionals who provide outstanding educational results for our children.

I am pleased to say that work is now underway on the new $1.55 million ambulance station forAtherton, which has attracted an allocation of $550,000 from this budget. This project is expected to becompleted in a few months time. It is the third of three new ambulance facilities that were promised to myelectorate and which have been delivered while I have been the local member. I thank the government forthat. I especially appreciate the fact that this minister listened to the community and me when we lobbied tohave this project reinstated.

I would like to recognise the ambulance officers in the Tablelands electorate who are highly valuedmembers of the community. Their manner and the way in which they perform their duties and their ability toprovide outstanding service have earned them a great deal of appreciation and respect. The staff atAtherton deserve particular mention because of the tolerance that they have displayed whilst enduring thetruly abysmal facilities at the existing station. Fortunately, they will not have to put up with that for muchlonger.

Yungaburra residents will be pleased to receive a new fire station, which received $335,000 of itstotal cost of $375,000 from this budget. These new facilities are also much appreciated.

The Tablelands electorate is about the size of Tasmania. It ranges from the Wet Tropics through tothe irrigation farming areas of the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Scheme, the golden triangle around Kairi,
Tolga and Atherton, and the dairying districts of Malanda, Millaa Millaa and Ravenshoe out to the grazingproperties of the west and into the base of the cape. This mix makes for a very pleasant and interestingdestination for tourism. Additionally its size, its variety of industry and its scattered towns all make thetransport networks essential items of infrastructure.

This year’s budget has allocated some significant funding for a number of roads in my electorate. Allof the major highways in my electorate have attracted funding, with the Kennedy Highway drawing thelargest slice of the roads funding cake with more than $11 million allocated to widening and sealing theroad between Mount Garnet and The Lynd, including $2.04 million between Middle Creek and GraniteRocks, $1.5 million between Smiths Creek and Sundown, $1.27 million between the grid and theracecourse, $1.2 million at Granite Rocks and $1.2 million for similar work at Pinarindi. Additional fundingof $60,000 has also been made available for work on the Return Creek Bridge pedestrian crossing atMount Garnet. This funding is in addition to funding that was made available last year.

Chillagoe residents will be happy to know that another section of the road between Chillagoe andFortunata Road is earmarked to be sealed with an allocation of $946,000 out of a total of $1.09 million. For
Irvinebank residents $325,000 has been earmarked for shoulder sealing on the Herberton to Petford road,
with $104,000 to be spent in this budget. This road is in such poor condition that the school bus operatorhad fears for the safety of the children. Thankfully, last year $100,000 was allocated to upgrade a sectionof that road. Now with further funding promised, some more resurfacing can be done. But it is clearlyapparent that more is needed to address the accumulated results of a long period of neglect. Culverts andpipes have to be cleaned out and good road drainage put in place as a basis to ongoing maintenance untila bitumen seal can be put down. Irvinebank parents have held their children back from making the trip toschool because, in their view, the road has been too dangerous to travel on. It urgently needs attention.

The long-awaited Kuranda Range Road upgrade has been allocated $808,000 to complete planningfor this project. Most Tablelanders believe that the sooner this project gets underway the better as the needfor it is becoming more pressing. The Tablelands population is increasing and there is no doubt that theTablelands will see a massive increase in the number of people living there in coming years. This road will

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 8 June 2006

become an even more vital link with Cairns and the coast. I recognise the minister’s commitment toensuring that roads in the Tablelands electorate continue to improve.

 The budget also contains funding to the tune of $650,000 for the completion and fitting out of thenew Child Safety office in Atherton, which is due to open in September. Atherton is the main office forthese services on the Tablelands and in recent years has attracted a significant increase in staff. This newfacility will ensure that the staff of that office is able to operate as efficiently as possible.

 Under the banner of the communities portfolio there is an allocation of $1.3 million for a transitioncentre in Mareeba. I thank the minister for this funding. This project is expected to grow into a majorresource to meet the needs of troubled youth from areas across the far north.

A vital injection of $1.99 million to community organisations throughout the Tablelands electorateunder the Home and Community Care—or HACC—program is also very welcome. This funding will beused to provide support and maintenance services for eligible people still living at home to prevent theirearly admission to residential care. As we know, both state and federal governments are encouragingelderly people to stay at home for as long as possible before going into an aged-care facility. There aregenerally long waiting lists to get into aged-care facilities and, of course, the elderly are discouraged fromgoing into the hospital system. Generally, most elderly people simply want to stay in their own homes.
Often they can do so through some reasonable adjustments being made to their homes and with servicesprovided by HACC. This funding is welcome as more and more baby boomers come on line and retireesmove to the Tablelands.

This budget also contains additional support for mental health services of some $202,000 to employextra specialist staff in the Tablelands Health Service District. The Innisfail Health Service District, whichservices the southern end of my electorate, also has an allocation of $231,000 for similar purposes.

Indigenous health programs have attracted $147,000. There is $87,000 for transcultural mentalhealth services in the Innisfail district. Mental health is an area that can be particularly tragic in its impacts.
There have been recent incidents in my electorate involving mental health services received byconstituents which have highlighted this unfortunate fact. So any increase in funding in this area isappreciated.

The people on the tablelands will benefit from improvements to Cairns Base Hospital, which is toreceive 25 new beds. Whilst a step in the right direction, it is nowhere near enough when people arewaiting hours for beds and ambulances are ramping up outside the emergency department. However,
there are major opportunities within my electorate for vastly improved health services.

Mareeba has a large hospital with excellent staff and, after some effort, has now got a fullcomplement of doctors. It is home to the trial of a midwifery based model of maternity care. It has the
strong support of its community and has proved to be very successful. Mareeba Hospital has the
foundations to be an outstanding facility and, with its increasing population and industry, could easilybecome an ideal back-up for the already overloaded Cairns Base Hospital. The minister would be wellaware of both the level of community backing for Mareeba Hospital and the quality of the staff there.

The other major opportunity is at the Atherton Hospital. The minister, during a recent visit, saw howold and tired it is, even following the injection of millions of dollars in upgrades in recent years. There is apressing need for this government to bite the bullet and to build a modern, efficient hospital better able tomeet the growing needs of the southern end of the tablelands.

Atherton Hospital is also in a very fortunate position of being able to offer a level of medical care wellabove what is normally expected from hospitals of its size. That is due to the availability of someexceptional specialists who live in the area and who provide an outstanding level of service and who are atthe core of Atherton Hospital’s ability to punch above its weight, in a healthcare sense. I believe that it isvital this level of service is also preserved, and I call on this government to work closely with thoseclinicians to ensure that these medical options continue to be available at Atherton. Not only would thisbenefit the people of the tablelands; but it would also ease the load on already stressed major hospitals byallowing patients in these areas to be treated locally instead of adding to the burdens at Cairns BaseHospital, or Townsville or Brisbane hospitals.

Having mentioned Cairns Base Hospital, I want to make clear that this government’s continualconcentration of medical services out of local hospitals and into major centres is a proven recipe fordisaster. Cairns Base Hospital struggles to cope now. As I mentioned earlier, patients are forced to rampup in ambulances because at times they can not even get into the emergency unit let alone find a bed inthe hospital itself. Cairns itself is a growing area, continually adding to the demands on its facility. It isunreasonable to think that Cairns Base Hospital can keep taking on more and more of the regional healthburden whilst the population over the region as a whole continues to boom.

There are other health needs that have not been addressed in this budget. Tablelanders who needto access public dental health facilities are still facing waits of up to six years. This is far too long and is anunacceptable situation. We are finding that more and more people are being forced to travel to Townsvilleor Brisbane to access specialist services. Surely it is past time for services to be spreading out to meet the

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needs of the people, rather than the people having to literally risk their lives—at times travelling to the oneor two places in the entire state where services have been centralised. The future of health care seems tobe going backwards into the past.

Under the environment banner, there is funding in this budget for a large range of works includingroad culverts, bridges, viewing sites and other projects in the Danbulla Forest Reserve, Wet Tropics,
Koombooloomba Dam, Dinden Forest Reserve, Kauri Creek Road and the Herberton Range ForestReserve area to a total of $652,000. The Lake Eacham day-use area will see $355,000 spent as part of its$1.05 million development.

Recreation projects that will be welcome include $99,145 for an undercover training and competitionequestrian pavilion at Herberton and $82,697 for a new amenities block for the Mareeba District RodeoAssociation, which organises a fantastic annual event.

Stage 2 of the walking and cycle path at the Lake Tinaroo foreshore development has been fundedto the tune of $49,000. And of course the Ma:Mu Canopy Walk on the Palmerston Highway, which is in myelectorate, has been allocated $3.8 million for its continued development. This project will have particularsignificance as it will help draw the travelling tourist trade up over the tablelands—the most beautiful part ofQueensland.

While I recognise these gains, I must also spell out where this government has missed the mark.
The main flaw is its fixation on the concentrated population of the south east. The new pedestrianfootbridge across the Brisbane River is a glaring example. While taking nothing away from the allocation ofmore than $16 million for police and justice facilities on the tablelands in this budget, that pales beside the$63 million for this bridge. What is its justification? Apparently, the existing footbridge is getting a bitcrowded at peak times. That is more important to this government than a new fire station at Mareeba,
where the existing one is so small that crews cannot even properly open the doors of their fire engines andthis is in an area which has a climate similar to Townsville. It is the drier end of my electorate. Thatfootbridge is apparently more important than a new hospital for Atherton.

Queensland has the good fortune, which it does not seem to recognise, to include the wettest part ofAustralia—that is, the far north, including my electorate. Yet while dams in other parts of Queensland aredrying up, while water restrictions bite, while more and more ‘management plans’ are put in place, we infar-north Queensland are forced to sit by and watch uncountable millions of megalitres of fresh water runout to sea each year. Not only that; there is not even a hint of a plan to harvest any of this surplus water.

It gets worse. Here we have heard debate about nuclear power. We have heard about plans to make‘clean’ coal. Yet there is a stubborn refusal to consider the clean, green energy available fromhydrogeneration. The much maligned and misunderstood Tully-Millstream project could produce 500kilowatts of very green and truly renewable energy into the power grid. Instead, we are supposed to getexcited about a gas pipeline from Papua New Guinea, or yet more coalmines or maybe even nuclearpower—total madness.

The area of public housing is one of the pressing needs in my electorate. My office has recentlybeen monitoring, on a weekly basis, the availability of rental properties advertised on the internet in majortablelands centres. For the past two months there has been no more than eight properties listed at any onetime in an area with a population of some 52,000. That includes properties of any kind, of any number ofbedrooms and at any price. As an indication, it is blindingly clear that the private rental market is stretchedto capacity. There are waiting lists for public housing stretching to some five years or more. This is an areawhich needs a massive injection of funds. It is not too much to expect that, at a time when nationally weare sending billions overseas in aid and when at a state level we can apparently fund pedestrian bridgesand cycleways, we should be able to find enough to help put a roof over the heads of less fortunateQueenslanders.

As I have said, I take nothing away from this budget’s contributions to my electorate, but equally Iwill not hesitate to also shine a light on where it fails and why. In this case, the focus on the crowdedBrisbane region misses the fact that rural Queensland, with just 16 per cent of the population, produces80 per cent of this state’s export revenue. The disappointment here is that the department of primaryindustries, the support agency for this entire sector, is funded for a paltry $308 million. I say that is paltrywhen compared to the value primary production brings to this state.

The Beattie government’s own figures are that our producers earn an estimated $11 billion inrevenue and employ more than 125,000 workers. In dollar terms this government is getting $35 in value forevery dollar it spends on primary production. That is a very hefty return on investment indeed, but then itjust keeps hitting up farmers with more and more rules, regulations, limitations, fees, charges and taxes.
Any half-decent farmer can tell you that you do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg. But to manyfarmers this government does not appear to understand that at all and, instead, is too intent on makingomelettes.

Country Queenslanders are the wealth makers. That is blindingly apparent from those figurescontained in this government’s own Blueprint for the Bush. Yet when it comes to spending on the wealth

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 8 June 2006

takers in the south east, Brisbane’s pedestrians are worth more to this Beattie ALP government than theclean, green efficient producers in the bush. That is why it is vital for the needs of the bush to behighlighted, to be placed before government, and to be clearly and loudly stated. And that is exactly what Iplan to keep on doing.

Hansard Friday, 26 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.48 am): I rise to speak to this amendment to the CriminalCode. We simply cannot allow people to deliberately tell untruths and escape scot-free, and that is whatthis bill will allow. If these amendments go through, they will give a free pass to anyone to deliberately telluntruths with impunity. Under these amendments, the only control over deliberate untruths will be thethreat of being held in contempt of parliament. And is that a real threat? Is that a risk that would troubleanyone?

Let us have a look at how it would work. Perhaps the minister might deliberately speak falsely to anestimates committee, for example. Section 38 of the Parliament of Queensland Act spells out that whetherany particular conduct is contempt of the assembly or not, as defined under section 37, is ‘a matter for theAssembly to decide’. It is very clear that under this proposal the minister would have his actions broughtbefore the Legislative Assembly where his own side of politics would have the numbers. It would be up tohis mates to decide if he has committed contempt. What might their decision be, one wonders? Could theypossibly vote along party lines to save their colleague?

If, by some quirk of circumstance, the vote went against the minister and he was actually found to bein contempt, what penalty would apply? At present, under the Criminal Code, deliberately giving falseevidence can attract a seven-year jail term. That is a hefty penalty indeed. However, when this amendmentbill is passed, the maximum penalty will be the same as for any other offence of contempt. A fine might beimposed and no jail time will be served, except if there is a default on the fine. How long would that jail timebe? Section 40(3) spells it out—

The Assembly may order the person to be imprisoned, as directed by it:

(a) until the fine is paid;
(b) until the end of the session of the Assembly, or a part of the session.
We are all familiar with the length of a session. At most, it is four days. That is a long, long way short of theseven years under the existing Criminal Code provisions.

I turn to the argument of members opposite and, indeed, as outlined in the explanatory notes, thatsection 57 of the Criminal Code threatens the freedom of speech in debates or proceedings in parliament.
What does section 57 state? It states—

Any person who, in the course of an examination before the Legislative Assembly or before a committee of the Legislative Assembly,
knowingly gives a false answer to any lawful and relevant questions put to the person in the course of the examination, is guilty of acrime and is liable to imprisonment of seven years.

It does not refer to debates or any other functions of parliament. It specifically applies only when a personis being examined by parliament or a committee. As it stands, it poses no risk to the freedoms andprotections that apply here.

Finally, I turn to the existing section 47 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001. It specificallyprovides for the times when conduct is both a contempt and an offence against another act. The
circumstances that these amendments attempt to circumvent are already covered in existing legislation.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Friday, 26 May 2006

Indeed, under that section, the matters which triggered this bill were brought before parliament for adecision as to whether they were dealt with as contempt or prosecuted.

In fact, this is a done deal because, today, Labor has the numbers. As a result, it will walk withimpugnity down a very ugly path. However, the nature of things is such that sooner or later they will be onthe opposition benches, and no doubt they will take a different view then. I oppose this bill.

 Hansard Thursday, 25 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

CYCLONE MONICA

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.20 pm): This morning we heard from General Cosgroveabout the efficiency of the Cyclone Larry disaster relief effort. I must say that the swiftness of the Premierand Prime Minister in visiting our area within a few days of the disaster is to be applauded. A month later,
and further up north, another cyclone, Cyclone Monica, crossed the coastline with less intensity but with farmore rain attached.

This caused major flooding throughout the cape. It caused much more damage than has been seenin living memory. Grazing homesteads were flooded, hundreds of kilometres of fence lines were destroyedand hundreds of cattle have been washed away and drowned. There is just one major bitumen road in thecape and it goes only as far as Cooktown. The rest are dirt and gravel, including the other major route toWeipa. Every one of these roads has suffered major damage and for the past month none have beentrafficable. They are only now starting to dry out and road repairs are just beginning.

The cape is the size of Victoria. One can only imagine the huge problem the Cook Shire Council hason its hands. I am sure this council will need some special bridging funds to help its cash flow as it waits fornatural disaster funding to come through. Tourism has been badly affected due to the state of the roads,
and that will continue for some time yet.

A transport company based in Mareeba which conducts 100 per cent of its business in the cape hashad its business affected due to the road conditions. It employs 12 people but has not been able to move asingle truck for over a month.

Mr O’Brien interjected.

Ms LEE LONG: Thank you very much, member for Cook. It is unlikely to be able to conduct its
normal business for some months to come. However, the desperate circumstances facing capebusinesses and operators do not appear to have been recognised yet by this state government. Thepackages available to Cyclone Larry’s victims would go a long way to helping those affected by CycloneMonica, from grants and concessional loans to Newstart assistance and Centrelink payments. They are alldesperately needed.

Mr O’Brien interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Cook, allow the member to make her address to the parliament without
these interruptions.

Ms LEE LONG: I will quote from a letter I have received from a grazier. He describes the situation
this way—
Fence lines have been destroyed by the fast moving flood waters. This involves many kilometres of fencing, used to control stock andprotect ecologically sensitive areas. A huge physical effort and cost will be involved in rebuilding these fences. It will take a long timeto complete and rebuild and I doubt that many people will be able to meet this unexpected huge cost for fencing materials and labour.
Cattle herds have been thrown into chaos, the cattle were either swept away and drowned in the floodwaters or swam to the availablehigh ground. The flood waters enabled crocodiles to move away from their normal habitats and attack cattle, particularly calves andsmaller or weakened stock. It will take many months to find the remainder of these herds, sort out branded cattle and get back to abreeding cycle.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 25 May 2006

He summed it up this way—
Without government assistance, recovery will be impossible.
It is important that the hardship now facing those in the cape is not forgotten or brushed aside as being a
normal event. I call on the Beattie government to help all those in the cape affected by the devastation.

 

Hansard Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

HEALTH QUALITY AND COMPLAINTS COMMISSION BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.06 pm): I rise to speak to the Health Quality and ComplaintsCommission Bill 2006. This bill is a major plank in the Beattie government’s desperate efforts to repair thehorrendous damage it has inflicted on the public hospital system in Queensland for the nearly two decadesthe ALP has been in government.

This bill has a simple objective: to provide for oversight and review of and improvement in the qualityof health services and to also provide independent review and management of health complaints. Why isthis bill before us? Because of the unjustifiable deaths in the Queensland public health system of peoplewho should have lived because of the unforgivably long waiting list public hospital patients face; becauseof patients being forced to ramp up in ambulances unable to even get into emergency departments; andbecause of years of misery and pain inflicted by this government on the people of Queensland whileignoring each and every warning sign put before it. Time after time the various health ministers amongthose opposite stood up in this place and in response to concerns put before them told us all was well.
They told us that the attacks were unjustified, that the existing systems were working well and that we hadthe best health systems in the universe—and on it went while Queenslanders were dying unnecessarily.
Thank God for that one brave nurse.

Part of that system killing Queenslanders was the Health Rights Commission. It was one of a rangeof checks and balances and professional and review organisations that completely failed to work. Yet hereit is being taken holus-bolus, staff and powers both, and being used as a basis for this new Health Qualityand Complaints Commission. On what basis are we supposed to think it will be any more effective now?
The argument will no doubt be that it has new powers and will have a new head in terms of a newcommissioner and up to seven assistant commissioners. These new powers are a result of the
recommendations of the Forster review. It is a pity that for years this government chose to ignore exampleafter example of failures in Queensland Health in favour of cheap political point-scoring.

I make no apology for viewing this bill and this new body with a very cynical eye. The bill imposes aduty on all health service providers to establish, maintain and implement processes to improve the qualityof services. Year after year, minister after minister, we were told these processes were already in place.
This bill will introduce processes to monitor the quality of health services and protect the health andwellbeing of consumers—again something the ALP spent years vowing and declaring were already inplace. It must have been pretty happy with the way things were being done pre Patel because here wehave all the existing Health Rights Commission powers just transferred straight over with a bit of a tune-upfor appearance’s sake.

The explanatory notes tell us that this new commission will be able to make standards for howproviders comply with their duties, including standards about safety and clinical effectiveness. Myrecollection is that one of the clearest messages from both the Bundaberg and the Forster reviews was theneed for bureaucracy and administration to get out of the way of doctors when it came to clinical matters.
However, we have yet another commission or authority or quango being empowered to stick its oar rightback into that issue.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 24 May 2006

Another very clear message was that Queensland Health had an abysmal corporate culture ofintimidation, ignoring complaints and punishing those who were brave enough to speak up. I would thinkthat the searing experience of Patel, by itself, would have brought about a culture shift in QueenslandHealth. However, as has become clear, even post Patel, any medical professional within the public systemwho speaks up is still risking their career, as seen by the harsh treatment dealt out to Dr Chris Davis, thehead of rehabilitation and aged care at the Prince Charles Hospital here in Brisbane. The minister hassince apologised for how this doctor was treated. However, that does not change the fact that even postPatel, Queensland Health has not learnt and it has not changed. It seems that basically the same peopleand the same organisation will police it. This is the stuff of Fawlty Towers.

Let us look at who will run this new commission. The explanatory notes state that the commissionerand his assistants must, first of all, have experience at governance—not medicine, not allied health, nothospital management, but governance. So much for putting doctors back in the loop. In fact, all that isrequired medically is that at least one assistant has expertise in medicine, one in nursing and one in alliedhealth. Three out of a possible eight. Amazing.

I note that the new body will be able to hold public inquiries into the quality of health services. Iwould hope that if it did this, its terms of reference would not be artificially limited.

I want to address another issue relating to complaints about health care in public hospitals—thedesperate need for a one-stop shop. Someone who has had a bad experience wants their concernsaddressed. They do not need to be told, ‘No, it is a matter for the AMA,’ or ‘No, it is a matter for the nurses’registration board,’ or whatever. I have had constituents approach me who are as frustrated by their effortsto make their complaint as they are angry about the treatment they want to complain about.

I take this opportunity to make it clear that I believe that the vast majority of Queensland Health staff,
both clinical and administrative, are dedicated and hard working. It is to the eternal shame of this
government that its unwillingness, year after year, to do anything to fix the problems that existed has led tothe present situation. I fervently hope that the new commission will make a difference. However, based onthe Beattie government’s long track record of failure, I cannot shake the fear that my hope may be badlymisplaced.

Hansard Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, PUBLIC INVESTIGATION

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (5.56 pm): I rise to support the motion moved by the member forGladstone for the appointment of a special prosecutor to examine both the Heiner affair and, importantly,
the alleged pack rape of a 14-year-old girl. Critically important to this debate are these words in the March1990 cabinet submission relevant to the Goss cabinet’s decision to shred the Heiner inquiry documents.
The submission states—

Representations have been received from a solicitor representing certain staff members at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre.
These representations have sought production of the material referred to in this submission. However, to date, no formal legal actionseeking production of the material has been instigated.

Clearly, at the time the Goss cabinet took the decision to destroy those records it unquestionablyknew that it was destroying evidence that may be required in foreshadowed court proceedings and wasgetting in quickly before the expected writ arrived. That was the cabinet submission that Premier Beattierefused to provide to Mr Tony Morris QC in 1996—the same person who as Premier in 2000 said on thefloor of this parliament that he believed anyone who breaks the law in his party should go to jail.

I will read what the CJC chief complaints officer, Mr Michael Barnes, stated at page 4 of a highlyconfidential internal memorandum dated 11 November 1996 to his bosses at the time, Messrs Mark Le
Grand and Frank Clair, about Mr Morris’s interpretation of section 129 of the Criminal Code, which dealswith the destruction of evidence. He states—

While the authors refrain from making any findings of guilt in relation to Cabinet on the basis that they are unaware of the state ofknowledge of these ministers concerned, memoranda from Matchett to Warner strongly suggest that the knowledge which MessrsMorris and Howard deem sufficient to inculpate the departmental officers involved was shared by the politicians who gave the order toshred the Heiner documents.

The Queensland Court of Appeal ruled in R v Ensbey that the relevant judicial proceedings did nothave to be on foot before section 129 could be triggered. The question needs to be put: was section 129 ofthe Criminal Code so difficult to understand? It states—

Any person who, knowing that any book, document or other thing of any kind, is or may be required in evidence in a judicialproceeding, wilfully destroys it or renders it illegible or indecipherable or incapable of identification, with intent thereby to prevent itfrom being used in evidence, is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment with hard labour for three years.

In R v Ensbey, Pastor Ensbey was found guilty just on a reasonable suspicion. In other words, hehad to reasonably know that the diary in which a girl recounted being abused and which he guillotined intostrips would be required for any future police investigation.

In Heiner, all those involved unquestionably knew that the records were required when they orderedtheir destruction to prevent their use in those anticipated court proceedings. Given that they also knew orsuspected that the records included evidence about the worst kinds of abuse of children, they ought tohave sent the evidence to the police or the CJC. If this had happened, those records would be availablenow, in 2006, for the police to use as contemporaneous probative evidence for Ms Annette Harding, thethen 14-year-old pack rape victim, as she seeks to bring her alleged assailants to justice.

In fact, now that a police investigation is underway into Ms Harding’s rape allegations, we have anEnsbey scenario repeating itself. The police ought to act consistently in respect of those who destroyed

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 24 May 2006

relevant evidence all those years ago. In short, what is good for a minister of religion is good for theminister of the Crown, even an entire cabinet.

A matter as potentially as serious as this very seldom comes before parliament. It is an unavoidabletest for us all as to whether we are prepared to put the rule of law before party political allegiances. Todayas a parliament we have an opportunity to unite to remove the foul stain left by what is now known as theHeiner affair.

Finally, we must not forget where all this began. It began with the pack rape of a 14-year-old-girl.
That case was compounded by alleged subsequent brutal assaults on other child victims. It became a stainon the government of this state when decisions were taken to shred the evidence.

Members must do the right thing. We must let justice be done and remove this taint. I urge membersto vote to appoint a special prosecutor to let the administration of justice take its unhindered course andsupport this motion.

Hansard Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, PUBLIC INVESTIGATION

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (5.56 pm): I rise to support the motion moved by the member forGladstone for the appointment of a special prosecutor to examine both the Heiner affair and, importantly,
the alleged pack rape of a 14-year-old girl. Critically important to this debate are these words in the March1990 cabinet submission relevant to the Goss cabinet’s decision to shred the Heiner inquiry documents.
The submission states—

Representations have been received from a solicitor representing certain staff members at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre.
These representations have sought production of the material referred to in this submission. However, to date, no formal legal actionseeking production of the material has been instigated.

Clearly, at the time the Goss cabinet took the decision to destroy those records it unquestionablyknew that it was destroying evidence that may be required in foreshadowed court proceedings and wasgetting in quickly before the expected writ arrived. That was the cabinet submission that Premier Beattierefused to provide to Mr Tony Morris QC in 1996—the same person who as Premier in 2000 said on thefloor of this parliament that he believed anyone who breaks the law in his party should go to jail.

I will read what the CJC chief complaints officer, Mr Michael Barnes, stated at page 4 of a highlyconfidential internal memorandum dated 11 November 1996 to his bosses at the time, Messrs Mark Le
Grand and Frank Clair, about Mr Morris’s interpretation of section 129 of the Criminal Code, which dealswith the destruction of evidence. He states—

While the authors refrain from making any findings of guilt in relation to Cabinet on the basis that they are unaware of the state ofknowledge of these ministers concerned, memoranda from Matchett to Warner strongly suggest that the knowledge which MessrsMorris and Howard deem sufficient to inculpate the departmental officers involved was shared by the politicians who gave the order toshred the Heiner documents.

The Queensland Court of Appeal ruled in R v Ensbey that the relevant judicial proceedings did nothave to be on foot before section 129 could be triggered. The question needs to be put: was section 129 ofthe Criminal Code so difficult to understand? It states—

Any person who, knowing that any book, document or other thing of any kind, is or may be required in evidence in a judicialproceeding, wilfully destroys it or renders it illegible or indecipherable or incapable of identification, with intent thereby to prevent itfrom being used in evidence, is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment with hard labour for three years.

In R v Ensbey, Pastor Ensbey was found guilty just on a reasonable suspicion. In other words, hehad to reasonably know that the diary in which a girl recounted being abused and which he guillotined intostrips would be required for any future police investigation.

In Heiner, all those involved unquestionably knew that the records were required when they orderedtheir destruction to prevent their use in those anticipated court proceedings. Given that they also knew orsuspected that the records included evidence about the worst kinds of abuse of children, they ought tohave sent the evidence to the police or the CJC. If this had happened, those records would be availablenow, in 2006, for the police to use as contemporaneous probative evidence for Ms Annette Harding, thethen 14-year-old pack rape victim, as she seeks to bring her alleged assailants to justice.

In fact, now that a police investigation is underway into Ms Harding’s rape allegations, we have anEnsbey scenario repeating itself. The police ought to act consistently in respect of those who destroyed

File name: leel2006_05_24_74.fm Page : 1 of 2


Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 24 May 2006

relevant evidence all those years ago. In short, what is good for a minister of religion is good for theminister of the Crown, even an entire cabinet.

A matter as potentially as serious as this very seldom comes before parliament. It is an unavoidabletest for us all as to whether we are prepared to put the rule of law before party political allegiances. Todayas a parliament we have an opportunity to unite to remove the foul stain left by what is now known as theHeiner affair.

Finally, we must not forget where all this began. It began with the pack rape of a 14-year-old-girl.
That case was compounded by alleged subsequent brutal assaults on other child victims. It became a stainon the government of this state when decisions were taken to shred the evidence.

Members must do the right thing. We must let justice be done and remove this taint. I urge membersto vote to appoint a special prosecutor to let the administration of justice take its unhindered course andsupport this motion.

Hansard Thursday, 11 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


Hansard Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

FISHERIES AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (12.52 pm): I rise to speak to the Fisheries Amendment Bill2006. While my electorate of Tablelands is landlocked, this bill is still important as there are some 4,000registered boats in my electorate, with very many of them used for fishing in one form or another. There aresix objectives to this bill. They are to bring the existing shark control program under legislative control, toprovide a compensation scheme for authority holders whose rights have been diminished or lost, althoughthat compensation will be limited to consolidate various powers to make centralised less complex statutoryregimes. A mechanism will be provided where authorities that have been issued can be automaticallysuspended or cancelled where there are outstanding fees. Certain restrictions on temporary quotatransfers will be lifted and, finally, the chief executive will be given the power to sell seized live fish.

I note that there are several areas of this bill which are noted in the explanatory notes as challengingfundamental legislative principles. Eight points were raised. That is of significant concern to me,
particularly the first area raised, that involving dealing with the procedures for making a new managementplan. What is being proposed is the scrapping of any obligation for draft legislation to be releasedwhen amendments are proposed for a management plan that would involve a regulatory impact statement.
The reasons, as spelt out in the notes, are that an RIS would already contain detailed information aboutpolicy options and the objectives of the proposed amendments. The argument goes on and claims—

... the concurrent release of a draft plan is counterproductive to effective consultation, creating an expectation that the draft legislationwill always be the end result, diluting the effectiveness of other policy options canvassed in the RIS.

That is chilling stuff. What that argument boils down to is that the general public does not need tosee what is being proposed, let alone have a say on it because the experts will have covered all possibleoptions. We are supposed to live in a democracy of the people, not a fascist state. The definition of fascismis typified by totalitarian attempts to impose state control over all aspects of life—political, social, culturaland economic. And what do we have here?

There is a basic obligation on this government to involve the people. We hear words like
‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ from this government, yet here is the dirty reality. This governmentthinks it is a waste of time to talk to people. The last thing it seems it wants to do is let Queenslanders havea say on the laws that might affect them. The explanatory notes make it even clearer. They go on to state—

The additional time it takes to prepare the draft and engage in consultation can also result in delays where there is a need to progressimportant amendments that have often already been under discussion between government and stakeholders for some time.

Clearly, this government does not want to hear from anyone but its own spin doctors, and these notes spellit out. The Beattie government thinks hearing from the people of Queensland is nothing more than a wasteof time.

I turn now to the proposed amendments dealing with compensation which insert a new part 5,
division 1A. This new part 5 provides for compensation to be payable in certain circumstances relating to aregulation or management plan. There are a number of areas of concern in this new part 5. Firstly, section42A(1) excludes temporary transferees from the compensation because they do not have an enduringinterest in the authority that may be affected. While I understand the argument, it leaves such temporary

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 24 May 2006

transferees wide open to risk. For example, a temporary transferee may have paid a significant fee tooperate under someone else’s authority. A change to the regulatory environment which could happen withany chance for comment on a draft document could leave this temporary transferee without a viableoperation, yet they would be excluded from any compensation. That is a highly unjust situation. Even ifsomeone is the authority holder, their access to compensation is still limited under section 42B.

The example given raises concerns of its own. If someone was a commercial fisher and some or allof their allocation was, via a management plan, given to a recreational fishery, they may receive
composition. However, if it was reallocated to another commercial fishery there would be no right tocompensation. This is bizarre. A commercial fisher with an authority to operate in a certain place may haveestablished moorings, storage, transport and accommodation facilities nearby. To shift their authority toanother fishery could easily impose massive expense, whether that authority was also reduced at thesame time or not. There is no natural justice in this proposal at all.

It goes on to spell out how changes may be imposed on an authority to protect things other than fish,
such as dugong. If a change like that restricted or prohibited the activity of commercial fishing,
compensation might apply. However, if it did not limit the activity but instead simply made it less effectivethen no compensation will be available. The examples such as imposing the use of bycatch reductiondevices or turtle excluder devices are recognised as reducing the level of catch, but the government’sattitude is spelt out—

... if it does not actually restrict the exercise of an entitlement to undertake fishing activity, it will not give rise to an entitlement to claimcompensation ...

If this government stops someone fishing for a living, they may get compensation, but if it simplysends them broke by the limitations it is imposing then that is just their tough luck. There is nothing leftunder the ALP government for honest, hardworking, average Queenslanders any more. Section 42Cspecifically excludes any general right to compensation by making amendment or repeal of a regulation ormanagement plan outside the provisions of 42A. We had all better get used to eating catfish from pollutedAsian rivers because we will not have an industry of our own left after this. Why should this be the case?
The truth is that it should not be the case.

The United Nations figures show that for Australia our catch peaked more than a decade ago, andsince then it has trended downwards. There is nothing to suggest that it has been caused by any collapseof the resource. In fact, global figures show a sustained take of around 90 million tonnes per annum, whichhas been essentially unchanged for almost 20 years. I am not arguing for unlimited fishing. I am sayingthere is strong evidence that we already have more than enough controls in place, especially in Australiaand in Queensland.

Highly experienced fishers have brought a number of other factors to my attention as well, the first ofwhich is perspective. We must remember that Australia has the third largest economic exclusion zone inthe world. The size of our catch, when seen in that context, leaves a massive amount of room for growth.
So why has our catch fallen in the past decade or so? Not because there are too few fish in the ocean.
Instead, I am advised, it is the skyrocketing burden of regulatory control and other government enforcedlimits. Underpinning that has been a change in how fisheries are managed at the most basic level.
Historically, the maximum sustainable yield as measured in the fishery itself was seen as the basis uponwhich all other decisions were made.

Sitting suspended from 1.00 pm to 2.30 pm.

Ms LEE LONG: I will continue on with the Fisheries Amendment Bill. I am advised that the new
generation of ‘theoretical’ experts, wedded to computer models and assumptions with no ‘real world’ ideaof what is going on, are drawing up plans and schemes that fit their academic beliefs and it is just too badif they destroy lives, families and industries along the way. It is the same bitter pill that so many of ourprimary producers are forced to swallow. Here we impose restrictions, environmental standards, healthand safety regulations, water fees, environmental flows and so on until it is unsustainable. Then we all trotoff to the multinational supermarket and buy the cheap, unregulated, uncontrolled foreign imports andcongratulate ourselves on saving a few cents on the grocery bill. It is a very bitter irony indeed that there isa chance that the cheap imports we buy will wind up being our fish caught in our waters by foreign invaderswho seem to be able to plunder at will before heading back home to sell their catch. Would these peoplecome so far at such risk to try their luck in a fishery that is short of fish? Of course not! They run that riskbecause they make big catches quickly from the rich resources we are busy telling our own fishermen notto touch—a very sick joke indeed.

I turn now to the question of protecting some of our endangered marine creatures. I have alreadymentioned turtle exclusion devices, and we are all familiar with the arguments about protecting dugongfrom trawlers and even boat strikes. However, I have come across figures from a national recreationalangling survey from 2003 and was surprised to see the numbers for the take of dugong and turtles.
According to the information I have, 1,600 dugong and 6,000 saltwater turtles were taken, along with anestimated 40,000 turtle eggs. Given the publicity and the outcry when the death of even a single dugong is

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 24 May 2006

attributed to commercial fishers, these figures are cause for great concern. If this level of take issustainable—and that may well be the case—then the additional few casualties from other causes canhardly be cause for concern. Alternatively, if one or two deaths annually caused by fishing and boating areof major concern, then 1,600 must be a catastrophe. I am not taking sides on this issue, simply pointing outthat one or the other situation must be the case. They simply cannot both apply at the same time.

This is the kind of woolly science that plagues not just fisheries management but all of primaryproduction. We have the cleanest, greenest, most responsible farmers, producers and fishers on theplanet giving us the best meat, produce and seafood in the world. We should stop inflicting the death of1,000 theories on them and let them get on with what they do and know best.

MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

CYCLONE LARRY, RECOVERY ASSISTANCE

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (10.23 am): In the seven weeks since Cyclone Larry wreakedhavoc, the power, phone and road corridors have mostly been fixed in my electorate but other concernsare beginning to appear. I wish to raise them so they can be addressed. The first is the number of ex-gratiapayments of $1,000 which are being refused. I understand that thousands of families are now receivingletters advising them that they are being refused for claims which are similar to others made earlier andalready paid out.

Also, the small business grant of $10,000 is becoming harder to access, with many applicants eitherbeing refused or asked to supply significantly more information to qualify than those who first received theirgrants. This is causing a great deal of angst to the thousands affected. They have genuinely suffered lossin this disaster and they have seen those around them receiving these same payments while in similarcircumstances.

One example is that of a person who lost power for five days. He lost all his food in the fridge andfreezer and had no hot water for a month. This person is a sole parent with a four-year-old child, yet the$1,000 ex-gratia payment was refused because he did not fit neatly within the criteria. Another residentwas without power for 15 days. The neighbours around him received the $1,000 payment but he wasrefused. I believe there should be some consistency and compassion for these people who have justendured a natural disaster which was bigger than any other seen in the area for nearly a century.

As well, many people covered by insurance are becoming very frustrated because they cannot getthe okay from insurers to make repairs, even when they can find a tradesman to do the job. One ladywhose roof is still leaking through tarps has had a builder available for weeks but cannot get attentionregarding insurance.

On a happier note, Tinaroo Falls Dam has been overflowing for some weeks now and it is awonderful sight to see. The comparison with the dire situation here in the south-east is very stark. There isa blanket refusal to build new dams in the north, where massive quantities of water are simply running outto sea. Yet the lesson from the south-east is clear: if you do not build more dams in time, you wind uprunning out of water. We have to do better, both with the short-term issues like Cyclone Larry relief andwith the long-term issues like building dams before we run dry.

Time expired.

Hansard Tuesday, 9 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

WATER AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.13 pm): I wish to contribute to this debate on the WaterAmendment Bill 2006, which is about one of the essentials of life itself. This bill discusses the creation of a
new commission, a new bureaucracy, with the explanatory notes referring to cost sharing, pricing,
transparent decision-making processes and a host of other bureaucratic and policy related issues. But wemust not lose sight of the simple fact that water, essential to life and industry, is what we are reallydiscussing here. We also need to remember that each and every decision we make here is made underthe umbrella—indeed, under the rigid direction—of the National Water Initiative.

It is well worth outlining the background to the water policy in Queensland. That background was setdown in 1994 under Labor in Canberra and Labor in Queensland when the Council of Australian
Governments, COAG, set down an agreement on the future direction of water reforms. This led to the 1995agreement to implement the national competition policy and related reforms which included water. Nationalcompetition policy payments were made contingent on the implementation of these reforms. That, in turn,
grew into the 2004 Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative. It is this process that isdriving the new water charges that are crippling Queensland and crippling the bush. We need to rememberthat this is all being done under the COAG process headed up by the federal Liberal-National governmenttoday. The Howard-Vaile endorsement of this initiative means those in the official opposition in
Queensland, the Nationals and the Liberals, are already signed-up believers in the same process as muchas those members on my left, the Labor Party.

The people of Queensland, including the people of the bush, will get the same rough deal from theLiberals and their akubra-wearing mates as they are getting from the ALP, and that is a shameful state ofaffairs. We have had a long litany of papers, discussions, proposals and so on regarding water
management in Queensland. A discussion paper on future rural water pricing for SunWater schemes wasreleased in November 2003. There was a review of the value of water announced in January 2004. Awater resource charges discussion paper was released in July 2004. In August last year the Premierreleased the Queensland Water Plan 2005-10. But, even while all these discussions and reviews were
going on, my electorate was battling through the Barron water resource planning process. What we gotafter nearly 10 years of so-called expert work was a document that claimed there was less water undersome farms than they were in fact already successfully extracting—a document that said there was noneed for any new dam in the area for at least the next decade; a document that said extra water wasavailable below Tinaroo Dam but that it was all set aside for the urbanised centre of Cairns; a document
that said, while there was extra water available above the dam, no-one knew how to allocate it to irrigators.
We got a document which said that area based licences were to be converted to volumetric licences at arate insufficient for viable farming. I ask: are there any friends of the farmers left anymore?

It is important to mention these things in the context of this bill to highlight the severely flawedtheories behind the way water is being managed in Queensland and the very poor results these policiesare delivering to Queenslanders. In terms of the allocation of above-dam water and the area based tovolumetric based conversion ratio, a local group of irrigators has been meeting for some years now withthe department of natural resources and mines. It sounds like a nice idea, but all it has done is give the

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Tuesday, 9 May 2006

impression that the DNRMW is listening to stakeholders and trying to find solutions. In reality, thedepartment is committed to its own ideas and just will not budge. The result: no solutions; just stagnation.

For this bill to talk about transparent decision making and implementation frameworks for themanagement of water supply and demand in Queensland is, on past records, just a joke. It is fascinatingand horrifying in a way to see the growing disparity between how rural Queensland is dealt with comparedto the crowded south-east. We are told that we have to pay for the full cost of our water. No more
subsidies, no more support; it is all going to be user pays for water, which is such an essential to life itself.
Yet here in the south-east there are subsidised theatres, subsidised museums, subsidised sportingstadiums, free pedestrian bridges and subsidised public transport to name just a few. But in the bush it is‘pay up and pay up some more’ for the full cost recovery.

This bill before us today is based on a call in the South East Queensland Regional Plan for review ofinstitutional arrangements for water supply in the south-east. That review is examining planning for watersecurity, water sharing and entitlements; cost sharing, pricing and economic regulation; and assetownership and integration. I note in the explanatory notes the statement that one of the problems with thecurrent planning model is in fact that there is no entity clearly responsible for ensuring regional watersupply security. But there is. It is called the government of the day, more specifically the minister for naturalresources and his department. If there is a failure in this area, the responsibility still rests with him. This isjust ducking and weaving. This is an ALP government faced with the parched results of its own water policyfailures looking for an easy way out.

This bill will establish the Water Commission, described as an independent, expert based body of atleast three members with backgrounds in relevant areas. It will have four main roles: to undertake regionalassessment of options for water supply sources and demand management measures; to facilitate andimplement regional water security programs approved and published by the minister; to ensure relevantparties comply with the regional water security program; and to set restrictions on usage andcircumstances where it considers them necessary to ensure security of water supply. It may also deal withother matters referred to it by the minister.

It is an enormously broad range of functions, and its ability to ensure compliance brings it into theenforcement arena as well. It is not confined to the south-east. This commission will be able to address
water security issues in other parts of Queensland if the minister wishes. I have to say, it begs thequestion: what will the minister and his department be left to do, and what value does any of its existingwork have, especially when it is the inadequacies of that work which prompted the creation of this newbody?

In my electorate we have a water resource planning process underway. The Barron River catchmenthas gone through this process, as have some other river systems. It was eventually to apply to all and itwas to address the kinds of things this commission is now going to do. What is happening here has little todo with water planning and everything to do with the Beattie government putting itself at arm’s length fromits own repeated failures in this area. It will not be the Beattie government that makes the harsh decisions.
It will not be the Beattie government that slams down draconian restrictions. It will not be the Beattiegovernment that sends water rates soaring. It will be the Beattie government standing, hand on heart, andclaiming, ‘It is not our fault. We are only doing what the commission tells us is necessary.’ The Beattiegovernment has been in power for almost a decade and the ALP for most of the past 18 years. So it is,
shamefully, its fault.

There is also a very valid issue in the way this commission is to be handed a role in relation to theentire state. It comes out of a planning process confined to the south-east which is in response tospecifically south-east issues. Yet out of nowhere this bill may stretch its powers over the entire state.

I now turn to the provisions of this bill. Clause 3 amends section 25M relating to appointing a personto carry out measures or achieve outcomes. It notes that the bill creates in section 360ZD(2) a separatepower for the commission to impose its own water restrictions on top of those that may be imposed by thewater service provider. This is of great concern. We could now have two sets of restrictions, two sets ofoffences if breached and more confusion—another sign of how badly this essential resource has beenmanaged and will continue to be managed by the Beattie government.

Clause 9 inserts a new chapter 2A, which provides that the main purpose of this chapter is to ensurethe delivery of sustainable and secure water supply and demand management in south-east Queenslandand other designated regions. This will be achieved mainly by making and implementing regional watersecurity programs and the establishment of this new commission. It is section 360D which provides thatthe minister may publish a notice in the gazette designating a region for which the commission is toperform its functions. The explanatory notes indicate that the south-east Queensland region will not requiredesignation and that the commission can begin work there immediately after the commencement of thisbill. For the rest of the state, however, all it will take is a listing in the gazette and this commission will beable to look at any aspect of water supply and demand management.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Tuesday, 9 May 2006

How will the commission be funded? Section 360F provides for an annual levy on each waterprovider for the purpose of funding the commission’s activities. The amount is to be set by regulation. Theprovider will, ultimately, pass on those costs to irrigators, the people on town water, families watering theirlawns and industry. They will all be hit up to help pay for this new commission, this new body, that is nowbeing set up. Transparency? Equity? What a joke! When it comes to good government, when it comes togood resource management, it has been a long time between drinks for Team Beattie.

 Hansard Tuesday, 9 May 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

WATER AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.13 pm): I wish to contribute to this debate on the WaterAmendment Bill 2006, which is about one of the essentials of life itself. This bill discusses the creation of a
new commission, a new bureaucracy, with the explanatory notes referring to cost sharing, pricing,
transparent decision-making processes and a host of other bureaucratic and policy related issues. But wemust not lose sight of the simple fact that water, essential to life and industry, is what we are reallydiscussing here. We also need to remember that each and every decision we make here is made underthe umbrella—indeed, under the rigid direction—of the National Water Initiative.

It is well worth outlining the background to the water policy in Queensland. That background was setdown in 1994 under Labor in Canberra and Labor in Queensland when the Council of Australian
Governments, COAG, set down an agreement on the future direction of water reforms. This led to the 1995agreement to implement the national competition policy and related reforms which included water. Nationalcompetition policy payments were made contingent on the implementation of these reforms. That, in turn,
grew into the 2004 Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative. It is this process that isdriving the new water charges that are crippling Queensland and crippling the bush. We need to rememberthat this is all being done under the COAG process headed up by the federal Liberal-National governmenttoday. The Howard-Vaile endorsement of this initiative means those in the official opposition in
Queensland, the Nationals and the Liberals, are already signed-up believers in the same process as muchas those members on my left, the Labor Party.

The people of Queensland, including the people of the bush, will get the same rough deal from theLiberals and their akubra-wearing mates as they are getting from the ALP, and that is a shameful state ofaffairs. We have had a long litany of papers, discussions, proposals and so on regarding water
management in Queensland. A discussion paper on future rural water pricing for SunWater schemes wasreleased in November 2003. There was a review of the value of water announced in January 2004. Awater resource charges discussion paper was released in July 2004. In August last year the Premierreleased the Queensland Water Plan 2005-10. But, even while all these discussions and reviews were
going on, my electorate was battling through the Barron water resource planning process. What we gotafter nearly 10 years of so-called expert work was a document that claimed there was less water undersome farms than they were in fact already successfully extracting—a document that said there was noneed for any new dam in the area for at least the next decade; a document that said extra water wasavailable below Tinaroo Dam but that it was all set aside for the urbanised centre of Cairns; a document
that said, while there was extra water available above the dam, no-one knew how to allocate it to irrigators.
We got a document which said that area based licences were to be converted to volumetric licences at arate insufficient for viable farming. I ask: are there any friends of the farmers left anymore?

It is important to mention these things in the context of this bill to highlight the severely flawedtheories behind the way water is being managed in Queensland and the very poor results these policiesare delivering to Queenslanders. In terms of the allocation of above-dam water and the area based tovolumetric based conversion ratio, a local group of irrigators has been meeting for some years now withthe department of natural resources and mines. It sounds like a nice idea, but all it has done is give the

File name: leel2006_05_09_77.fm Page : 1 of 3


Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Tuesday, 9 May 2006

impression that the DNRMW is listening to stakeholders and trying to find solutions. In reality, thedepartment is committed to its own ideas and just will not budge. The result: no solutions; just stagnation.

For this bill to talk about transparent decision making and implementation frameworks for themanagement of water supply and demand in Queensland is, on past records, just a joke. It is fascinatingand horrifying in a way to see the growing disparity between how rural Queensland is dealt with comparedto the crowded south-east. We are told that we have to pay for the full cost of our water. No more
subsidies, no more support; it is all going to be user pays for water, which is such an essential to life itself.
Yet here in the south-east there are subsidised theatres, subsidised museums, subsidised sportingstadiums, free pedestrian bridges and subsidised public transport to name just a few. But in the bush it is‘pay up and pay up some more’ for the full cost recovery.

This bill before us today is based on a call in the South East Queensland Regional Plan for review ofinstitutional arrangements for water supply in the south-east. That review is examining planning for watersecurity, water sharing and entitlements; cost sharing, pricing and economic regulation; and assetownership and integration. I note in the explanatory notes the statement that one of the problems with thecurrent planning model is in fact that there is no entity clearly responsible for ensuring regional watersupply security. But there is. It is called the government of the day, more specifically the minister for naturalresources and his department. If there is a failure in this area, the responsibility still rests with him. This isjust ducking and weaving. This is an ALP government faced with the parched results of its own water policyfailures looking for an easy way out.

This bill will establish the Water Commission, described as an independent, expert based body of atleast three members with backgrounds in relevant areas. It will have four main roles: to undertake regionalassessment of options for water supply sources and demand management measures; to facilitate andimplement regional water security programs approved and published by the minister; to ensure relevantparties comply with the regional water security program; and to set restrictions on usage andcircumstances where it considers them necessary to ensure security of water supply. It may also deal withother matters referred to it by the minister.

It is an enormously broad range of functions, and its ability to ensure compliance brings it into theenforcement arena as well. It is not confined to the south-east. This commission will be able to address
water security issues in other parts of Queensland if the minister wishes. I have to say, it begs thequestion: what will the minister and his department be left to do, and what value does any of its existingwork have, especially when it is the inadequacies of that work which prompted the creation of this newbody?

In my electorate we have a water resource planning process underway. The Barron River catchmenthas gone through this process, as have some other river systems. It was eventually to apply to all and itwas to address the kinds of things this commission is now going to do. What is happening here has little todo with water planning and everything to do with the Beattie government putting itself at arm’s length fromits own repeated failures in this area. It will not be the Beattie government that makes the harsh decisions.
It will not be the Beattie government that slams down draconian restrictions. It will not be the Beattiegovernment that sends water rates soaring. It will be the Beattie government standing, hand on heart, andclaiming, ‘It is not our fault. We are only doing what the commission tells us is necessary.’ The Beattiegovernment has been in power for almost a decade and the ALP for most of the past 18 years. So it is,
shamefully, its fault.

There is also a very valid issue in the way this commission is to be handed a role in relation to theentire state. It comes out of a planning process confined to the south-east which is in response tospecifically south-east issues. Yet out of nowhere this bill may stretch its powers over the entire state.

I now turn to the provisions of this bill. Clause 3 amends section 25M relating to appointing a personto carry out measures or achieve outcomes. It notes that the bill creates in section 360ZD(2) a separatepower for the commission to impose its own water restrictions on top of those that may be imposed by thewater service provider. This is of great concern. We could now have two sets of restrictions, two sets ofoffences if breached and more confusion—another sign of how badly this essential resource has beenmanaged and will continue to be managed by the Beattie government.

Clause 9 inserts a new chapter 2A, which provides that the main purpose of this chapter is to ensurethe delivery of sustainable and secure water supply and demand management in south-east Queenslandand other designated regions. This will be achieved mainly by making and implementing regional watersecurity programs and the establishment of this new commission. It is section 360D which provides thatthe minister may publish a notice in the gazette designating a region for which the commission is toperform its functions. The explanatory notes indicate that the south-east Queensland region will not requiredesignation and that the commission can begin work there immediately after the commencement of thisbill. For the rest of the state, however, all it will take is a listing in the gazette and this commission will beable to look at any aspect of water supply and demand management.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Tuesday, 9 May 2006

How will the commission be funded? Section 360F provides for an annual levy on each waterprovider for the purpose of funding the commission’s activities. The amount is to be set by regulation. Theprovider will, ultimately, pass on those costs to irrigators, the people on town water, families watering theirlawns and industry. They will all be hit up to help pay for this new commission, this new body, that is nowbeing set up. Transparency? Equity? What a joke! When it comes to good government, when it comes togood resource management, it has been a long time between drinks for Team Beattie.

Hansard Friday, 21 April 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

KURANDA RANGE ROAD

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (8.17 pm): The long-awaited upgrade of the Kuranda RangeRoad, linking Cairns and the coast to the Atherton Tableland, has been delayed yet again. The Wet TropicsManagement Authority has put its rezoning decision back a month. It might be only a month, but it is yetanother delay in this vital road link to such a large area. It will be a massive project, with estimates of costsrunning at around $500 million. With each delay, it will cost even more. Every hiccup at the beginning willstretch the entire process out longer.

I mention this because, yet again, the Kuranda Range Road has been closed due to wet weather. Itwas cut just a month ago by Cyclone Larry and in the last few days it has been cut yet again. It is not goodenough.

This government has recognised the present and future needs by committing to the upgrade.
However, the 10 years that it is expected to take is far too long. The existing road demonstrates year afteryear that it cannot cope with normal tropical weather. It also struggles to cope with growing traffic loads,
increasing numbers of tourist buses and heavy transport which services the growing economy of thetablelands, the cape and the vast western regions.

I urge the government to remain committed to this project and I call on it to step up to the plate andfast-track this necessary project. There has already been a very long-running public consultation process.
It has stretched out over many years of debate and consultation. It is reaching the stage of being beyondthe ridiculous to see this project held up yet again for the sake of yet more public consultation.

The arguments are well established and are essentially quite clear. There are always those who willdisagree with any change or anything that might possibly have any impact at all on the natural
environment. There are those who believe a tunnel is the only real option and there are those who supportthe government’s option of a major upgrade to the existing road. I shudder to think of this project falling foulof the same kind of endless legal challenges that have plagued other developments. As I have said, it hasalready been the focus of long public scrutiny, and it is past time to simply get on with the job and build it asquickly as is humanly possible.

Hansard Friday, 21 April 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

RACING AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (4.20 pm): I rise to speak to the Racing Amendment Bill 2006,
which aims to facilitate the transfer of employees, assets and liabilities and the responsibilities of thepresent Queensland Thoroughbred Racing Board to a new corporate control body called QueenslandRacing Ltd. This transfer will take effect from 1 July, just six weeks or so from now, even thoughQueensland Racing Ltd has been registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commissionsince 2005. As the minister has said, this is the final phase of reform of the thoroughbred code inQueensland.

Also contained in this bill are amendments allowing for the continued operation of the QueenslandHarness Racing Board and Greyhound Racing Authority through to 30 June 2008. These provisionsrecognise the fact, as indicated in the explanatory notes, that these two bodies are much smaller, withmuch less in the way of resources and assets, compared with thoroughbred racing and therefore moretime is needed to figure out how their operations can best be moved on to a corporate footing. For
thoroughbreds, however, corporatisation is less than two months away.

It is important to keep in mind the industry which is at the heart of this bill today, the racing industry.
It is a major employer. It generates significant revenue. If fills very important social and sporting rolesacross Queensland, especially so in regional and rural areas such as my electorate. The Tablelandselectorate is serviced by tracks at Atherton, Mareeba and Mount Garnet and they also race on tracks atInnisfail, Gordonvale and Cairns.

The recent passage of Cyclone Larry wreaked havoc on two of our northern tracks—the one atInnisfail and the one at Mount Garnet. The weeks of rain which have followed have resulted in the
cancellation of meetings at Cairns and Innisfail. Thankfully, Atherton and Mareeba have not yet had tocancel as, luckily, they enjoy far better weather and have good tracks.

The Mount Garnet facility was badly struck by Cyclone Larry with day stalls, stables, the running railand buildings all damaged. But thanks to the dedication of supporters and the valued help of volunteers allis on track for another fantastic event over the May Day weekend. We thank Minister Barton for his offer ofassistance yesterday in restoring these facilities.

This event always draws thousands of supporters and visitors alike from all parts of the state whoenjoy the racing, camping and social events. I can highly recommend the Mount Garnet race meeting tomembers who want to enjoy the very best of country racing and country hospitality.

Mr O’Brien: It’s a great day.

Ms LEE LONG: Fantastic. I hope the member for Cook is coming. We cannot lose sight of eventslike this and of the regular meetings at Atherton and Mareeba and other places around Queensland for avery important reason. While horse racing is sometimes called the king of sports, it is, in reality, a sport ofthe people. Corporatising its control body is a very significant step. Under corporate control what certaintyis there that the voices of the people, the ordinary Queenslanders, the mums and dads, the trainers, thejockeys, the bookies, the club stalwarts and everyone else who give this sport its heart will continue to beheard.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Friday, 21 April 2006

The minister worked hard to bring the new system, with new areas and direct representation forregions, into meetings of the Queensland Country Racing Committee. There have been some teethingproblems, but with determination and goodwill on all sides we hope it will bring a sense of ownership backto country racing. How far that will fit with corporate management and with corporate attitudes towardsaccountability remains to be seen.

We have not long come out of a period when country racing felt, very keenly, that it was consideredthe poor cousin of the industry. The minister’s restructuring was aimed at overcoming that, among otherthings. I think corporatising the control body threatens to take us right back to that sorry situation.

This bill is almost entirely of a technical nature, ensuring various powers, employee status,
entitlements and so on transition smoothly between the old control body and the new. It is important that alllevels of this industry feel involved and play a constructive part in taking it into the future. The concern isthat corporatising the control body will prove to be a hurdle in achieving that goal.

Hansard Thursday, 20 April 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

FORESTRY PLANTATIONS QUEENSLAND BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (4.10 pm): I rise to contribute to the Forestry PlantationsQueensland Bill 2006. Forestry has long been an issue close to my heart and the heart of the people of theTablelands electorate. We well remember the external powers used by Bob Hawke to declare WorldHeritage to override the Tasmanian government over the Gordon-below-Franklin Dam issue in the earlyeighties. Then he declared World Heritage over large sections of native forest in my Tablelands electorateand other parts of far-north Queensland in 1987. This caused a huge amount of anger which persists todayand which has resulted in the closure of most sawmills in the north and the loss of thousands of jobsdirectly and indirectly. There is now only one major mill north of Mackay. To make themselves look better atthe time the government created temporary, dead-end schemes such as the CRAP scheme to blur theunemployment figures, but the public saw this for what it was: a wicked waste of taxpayers’ money.

This bill comes about after the recent split of the native forest section of Forestry from the plantationsection which became effective from 1 April 2006. The native forest section is no longer part of Forestryand is now owned and controlled by DNRMW. This action reduces the original mighty forestry departmentto just plantations. Of course, we see the continued whittling away of the importance of the primaryindustries portfolio.

Atherton was once the proud centre for a large and efficient forestry department which employedhundreds of workers. Over a period of nearly 20 years it has been continually hacked back until todaythere are only about nine people presently employed there—enough, as they say, to make an old man cry.

The plantations are a state owned asset presently managed by DPI Forestry under a
commercialised business unit. This bill is all about corporatising the commercial utilisation of these stateplantations by establishing the position of chief plantation forestry officer and creating a corporation solewith supporting amendments to allow this new structure to come into effect.

We already have many corporatised structures in place for the operation of many of the state’sassets, from energy and water supply to the operation of rail services and the management of ports. Theseare controlled under Corporations Law. But this will not be the case with this new structure of ForestryPlantations Queensland, which will be a corporation sole and will have the corporation vested in a singleperson, being the chief plantation officer—a very powerful position one would have to say. Being acorporation sole will exempt it not only from Corporations Law but also from the Ombudsman’s Act 2001which will mean that not even the Ombudsman can look into its commercial operations. Transparency willbe a thing of the past.

Corporatisation of government departments is becoming very commonplace these days, withgovernments putting themselves at arm’s length from departments that they were traditionally responsiblefor. We are well on the way to being looked after from the cradle to the grave by corporations, and if wefollow the federal government’s example it will not be long before they are all sold off to the highest bidder,
most probably foreigners.

The claim that the current forestry commercialised business unit is too restrictive to compete in thecurrent marketplace has opened the way to create the corporation sole to be known as Forestry

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 20 April 2006

Plantations Queensland. It will be headed by a single person in the position of chief plantation forestryofficer who will be appointed by the Governor in Council and will be answerable to the two shareholdingministers, the Treasurer and the minister for DPIF. The new board comprising five members will beappointed by the minister and the members will serve three-year terms.

With the splitting of the two identities, that is native forests and plantations, so also have the assetsand liabilities been split and divided up. It is interesting to note that 50 per cent of any profits that ForestryPlantations Queensland makes will have to be paid to Queensland Treasury each year as is the currentpractice. The argument for all of this is to make the operation commercially more competitive, but it comeswith a built-in money grab by Treasury. However, one of the positives to come out of all of this is thatForestry Plantations Queensland will continue to provide access to other users of state plantation forests,
including horse riders.

Forestry has been on the receiving end of too much uncertainty for too long. It has been run down toa disgraceful degree because of a lack of direction and leadership. It is now staring down the barrel ofcorporatisation without even the protection of Corporations Law or any public transparency.

As I said earlier, in my region we had nearly a century of extremely successful forestry, mostly underthe very skilled direction of government public servants in the forestry department. The managementmethods used were very sophisticated and enormously efficient. Under the old methods timber mills andtheir support industries such as loggers, transport operators and so on were a mainstay of many centressuch as Mareeba, Millaa Millaa, Herberton, Kairi, Ravenshoe and so on. At the same time, the forests
being logged were so carefully looked after by the department that come the introduction of World Heritagelisting in 1987 large areas of timber that had been harvested for more than 100 years were considered tobe in pristine condition.

I spoke about this in my maiden speech in 2001, just a year after we celebrated the Century ofForestry in Queensland. For most of that first 100 years forestry made significant contributions to theeconomy and development of Queensland and was a major source of employment in regional areas. Apractical management system for state forests recognised the diversity of public demand and provided abalance of environmental conservation, production and public recreation.

Queensland built up a core of highly skilled forest managers and developed sustainable nativeforests and harvesting practices that were internationally recognised as world’s best practice. But all thatcounted for nought in 1987 when they were determined to close it down and we can see that will happen inthe southern part of this state and has already begun.

In a way, the old forestry hands did too good a job of looking after the resource because it is nowlocked up and locked away in northern Queensland. As I said, it will not be long before the same thing willbe happening in the southern part of this state. This locking up has led to the almost total destruction ofone of the north’s most important traditional industries and many of the pristine native forests are nowhavens for vermin and considered to be among the worst of neighbours. We will be seeing more and moreof the same happening in southern Queensland, as I said, in particular in the south-western regions. As weheard this morning, it is planned to close about 25 per cent of existing timber mills in the near future.

Recently Cyclone Larry tore down a massive number of trees in our native forests which brings avery strong argument to reintroduce sustainable selective logging to these areas once again, especiallywith new methods including helicopter transport which is already used in countries such as Canada.
Methods like this would make no impact on the forest while returning an important industry to Queenslandand eliminating the need to import timber from other countries which brings with it new pests and diseases.
Borers are now found in a lot of imported furniture. Such purchases from Brisbane stores have beenreported to DPIF yet nothing has been done about it. I have been told personally about furniture bought inBrisbane stores that has been returned to the place of purchase where they were told the item wouldsimply be sprayed with a pressure pack and put back on the floor for sale. A number of items, I have beentold, have been returned to the stores by this particular person.

This bill is all about corporatising yet another public utility. This government wants us to believe thatit is to make our plantation operations more commercially efficient, but the requirement for half of all theprofits to go straight to Treasury tells us where the real interest lies. While we all know that money does notgrow on trees, it seems that this government believes it only grows on plantation trees.

Hansard Thursday, 20 April 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION REPORT ON HEALTH SYSTEM

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (12.27 pm): I rise to contribute to this debate on the Premier’smotion. The crisis now crippling the provision of health services has been coming for decades. In Hansard
there are warnings in debates in this House going back almost 20 years, especially in relation to the lack ofdoctors and other medical specialists in rural and regional areas. There is no doubt that the ProductivityCommission was correct in finding that the federal government is responsible for funding university basededucation and training places for health workers. Instead of funding additional training places, it hasdeliberately chosen to sit back and let health services collapse.

As we all know, it takes many years to train a doctor. It takes upwards of a decade to train a doctorto a level where they are able to work in a hospital. With warnings stretching back into the 1980s, there hasbeen more than enough time to get extra places into our universities. There has been more than enoughtime to train young Australians and Queenslanders to meet this need.

Senior COAG officials have identified that nationally we need 955 extra medical places and some6,430 extra nurse training places. What do we get from those in the pampered halls of federal power? Apromise of less than half the necessary number of doctor places and less than one-sixth the necessarynurse numbers. That is a total betrayal of every Australian and Queenslander on hospital waiting lists anda total betrayal of every Australian and Queenslander in a regional or rural area who has to travelhundreds or even thousands of kilometres for medical attention. It is a total betrayal of mothers who areforced to give birth on the side of the road as they struggle to reach a distant maternity ward in time. Theystand condemned for their arrogant disregard of the people of this nation in failing to ensure enoughdoctors and nurses are trained right here in Queensland.

However, the health crisis is a complex issue. While the federal government has failed to trainenough health workers, there is also a large measure of fault at the state level. After all, the stategovernment is responsible for our public hospital system. It is the state government—and for most of thepast two decades in Queensland that has meant an ALP government—that manages that vital service. It isthe state that is solely responsible for having created a work environment so bad that hundreds andhundreds of doctors and nurses have left year after year. Surely, as obvious as the need to train moredoctors might have been, so, too, was it blindingly obviously that we needed to keep those doctors andnurses that we were lucky enough to already have.

It was entirely the responsibility of this state government. We all heard ad nauseam, after the Pateldebacle, about how this government would inject a massive amount of funding into Queensland Health.
Over and over again, we heard how this ALP government would fund an extra 236 training places fordoctors over five years—off its own bat. Over and over again, we heard how Queensland Health would besignificantly restructured. Over and over again, we have heard how doctors’ wages have been increased.

We did not hear how all of this became necessary only because of decades of neglect by this samegovernment. We did not hear how, under the stewardship of this government, in only 10 years half thematernity wards across Queensland have closed down. We did not hear any explanation for the years ofempty promises that were shovelled out to us that everything was okay in Queensland Health. We have

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 20 April 2006

heard nothing to convince us that we should suddenly trust the assurances of the same government thatinsisted for years that our public hospital system was just fine, thank you very much.

Much more needs to be done. This motion recognises that responsibility for creating universityplaces lies with an uncaring federal coalition but that, significantly, the other part lies with this ALP stategovernment. They all need to get real.

In Queensland, doctors’ wages have recently increased. However, we need to consider the signingof contracts that are longer than 12 months. That is simply not long enough.

The university trained nurse program is not giving us nurses who stay in the system. We need torevisit the hands-on, practical training that gave us generations of dedicated and skilled carers. We need toensure that nurses in areas such as aged care facilities, prisons and so on are not left behind. We need torealise that the health of our constituents is the first and primary responsibility of every level of government.

When it comes to health, both federal and state governments desperately need to do only onething—stop the politics and just get real.

 Hansard Tuesday, 28 March 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

CYCLONE LARRY

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.58 pm): Most members have seen more of the devastationcaused by Cyclone Larry on television than I have. When I left home yesterday I still had no electric power,
as is the case for people living in many other parts of my electorate, so most of us have not seen the TVcoverage since Cyclone Larry hit over a week ago. I experienced the event firsthand and watched as 200kilometre-per-hour-plus ferocious winds, coupled with rain, blew first one way and then viciously turnedaround and blew in another direction. Luckily, my property suffered no structural damage, just the loss ofsome very large gums, bloodwoods and pines that fortunately fell between buildings.

When the cyclone had passed I ventured out to see how others had fared. Many streets and localcouncil controlled roads were strewn with a tangled mess of trees and powerlines. Houses and shedssustained tree damage while others had their roofs blown off and were destroyed.

The damage to industry has been enormous. I saw corn and cane crops lying flat on the ground.
The older corn will be unredeemable. Mature banana plants were snapped in half, so there will be noincome this year for those farmers.

Avocado growers found their crops on the ground and many trees damaged or uprooted. This issimilar for other tree crops such as macadamias. Avocado and macadamia trees take five to 10 years tobecome productive, so it will be a very long wait for that income to return. Others affected include pawpaw,
citrus and other tropical fruit growers. Flower farms, hydroponics, fish farms and tourism have also hadtheir incomes abruptly halted due to extensive damage.

But one of the hardest hit industries on the tablelands is the dairy industry. Due to power blackouts,
most are still unable to send their produce to the factory at Malanda. This is a major industry in the Eachamshire—and there are farmers in Atherton and Herberton shires as well—and a loss such as this is a hugeblow. It is hoped that the milk factory will stay open and jobs will be saved. Some farmers were unable tomilk their cows for many days until generators could be obtained from elsewhere in the state. A cow
produces milk continuously and you cannot just say, ‘Stop’, as any female who has had children wouldknow. The poor animals were becoming severely distressed and vulnerable to mastitis and milk fever,
which can be fatal.

Over the past week there has been a huge clean-up operation, and thanks must go out to all thoseinvolved from the SES, police, council workers, volunteers, Ergon crews and the list goes on. Most roadsare now open, telephones are being reconnected and the electricity is gradually being restored. As PeterCosgrove stated in his first report, and which small business representatives raised with the Premier andministers when they visited the tablelands several days after Larry, ‘tiding over’ programs in relation to
industry workforces should be a very high priority. In the long term this will be critical to the wholecommunity’s wellbeing. What we most need to do is to be unstinting in our efforts to restore to our fellowQueenslanders the homes, the livelihoods and the futures that Cyclone Larry tore away from them onMonday morning just over one week ago.

 Hansard Tuesday, 28 March 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

DISABILITY SERVICES BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.08 pm): I rise to speak to the Disability Services Bill 2005. AsI was looking into this bill I came across some of the history associated with disability services in this stateand its evolution, which I found very interesting. Through most of the 20th century disabilities wereconsidered to be part of the state health system and, therefore, a state government responsibility. Until theend of the Second World War, most people with disabilities were cared for by their families with none orvery little government help. It was in the latter half of the 1940s that the Commonwealth took over the fieldof personal taxation from the states and introduced allowances for dependants and invalid pensioners andsickness benefits for incapacitated workers, giving those with disabilities some kind of financial security.
Many were then placed in institutions or homes for the deaf or blind which were often built and run bycharitable and voluntary organisations.

I remember well the Cootharinga Home that was operated by the North Queensland Society forCrippled Children and located in Townsville. It was well known and it catered for the whole of the north andthe far-north of Queensland. There was another facility in Charters Towers which I believe is still operatingtoday.

In the latter decades of the last century, nursing homes or hospices also took in people withdisabilities. By the late 1970s, the Commonwealth and state governments focused on the education ofchildren with disabilities and took over many charity run institutions. They established a range of specialschools, with the states paying special attention to those with intellectual disabilities. Many members here,
I think, would remember when the special ed. units combined with the state schools. The people who workin special units do a sterling job of trying to give special children the best possible chance of livingindependent lives when they grow older.

I would like to mention Elaine Cahill and Dianne Cantoni. Elaine is back in mainstream teachingnow, but I know what a wonderful job she did while working with disabled children. Dianne, who worked inthat field in Atherton for many years, also did a wonderful job. These women were two of a team thatbrought children with disabilities to my property in the 1990s. For approximately seven years we hostedthem and provided ponies for them to experience the joy of riding. It is well recognised that this kind ofactivity offers great benefits to the disabled. However, the environment of public liability these days wouldbe a severe deterrent for someone like myself, even with access to exceptionally quiet horses, a suitableenvironment, and willing and experienced hands.

I take this opportunity to especially recognise Peter Parry for his exceptional input into making all ofthat possible as well. That experience and my involvement with these children greatly helped me tounderstand, at least to some extent, the variations covered by the term ‘disabilities’ and the vital need totreat each person on an individual basis.

The first Commonwealth Disability Act was passed in 1986. It included abundant support programs
for accommodation, employment, independent living and training. The Home and Community Careprogram was introduced to provide support services to older persons, people with disabilities and theircarers to allow them to live independently in their own homes by accessing home help, domiciliary nursing

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Tuesday, 28 March 2006

and respite care. This program is now administered by both federal and state governments. HACC hashelped and still helps many people in my electorate. However, there are never enough hours andresources to go around. These workers do a wonderful job of enabling people to remain at home for farlonger than they otherwise would without this vital help.

In the early 1990s an agreement was reached with the Commonwealth and, subsequently, theQueensland Disability Services Act was passed in 1992. This provided funding from the Commonwealthand delivery by the state of a range of disability services. The Commonwealth kept administrativeresponsibility for employment services, while the state was responsible for accommodation, respiteservices, community access and support. Advocacy, research and development were shared
responsibilities. The third Commonwealth-State/Territory Disability Agreement, a five-year agreementwhich covers the years 2002 to 2007, was signed in Queensland in 2003.

Disability services in Queensland have evolved over the last 50 years or so, some might say all tooslowly. However, they are now well up on the radar, and so they should be when they represent such alarge proportion of our population. The biggest shifts have come with the recognition and introduction offinancial support for those with disabilities, and the opening and, more recently, the subsequent closing ofmany institutions and the movement of many people with disabilities into mainstream society. Between1995 and 2003, some 700 people moved from larger residential settings to community basedaccommodation. Most of us would have heard in the media recently that people with disabilities who areunder 50 years of age are no longer wanted in state hospitals or nursing homes in the long term.

The Disability Act covers a wide range of people with impairments, including intellectual, psychiatric,
cognitive, neurological, sensory or physical, or a combination of any of them, if they are permanent or likelyto be permanent. In 2004-05 the largest group was people with an intellectual disability, at approximately43 per cent, followed by people with a physical disability, at around 18 per cent. Of course, there are somany variations of disability, which makes it very difficult to manage, as one size does not fit all. That iswhy individual funding arrangements, such as the adult lifestyle support packages, have been so popularand successful.

A constituent of mine has a physical disability and he is in a wheelchair. He works as an assistant ata Tablelands school. He is about 40 years of age. His mother died about four years ago and he is nowcared for by his ageing father, who finds it increasingly difficult to care for his son. An adult lifestyle supportpackage would allow the son to remain at home for many years to come. It would assist not only him butalso his father to remain at home for longer.

A lot of interest has been shown in these amendments by people with disabilities, their families,
carers and so on. They tell me that even though it is touted that there has been widespread consultationover a long period of time—years, in fact—they feel that their concerns have not been taken on board.
Meetings were held across the state. I know because I attended one in Atherton a few years ago, whichwas well attended. Questionnaires were also put out. The same people state that they dealt inadequatelywith their concerns.

These concerns about consultation and input do not apply only to the proposals in this bill. I havebeen advised that some of the existing mechanisms, especially regional disability councils, are oftenalmost invisible and not seen to have any real value at all for people with a disability. A feeling exists, whichverges on anger, at the number of highly paid administrators, who are able-bodied people on high salaries,
who are seen as sucking up too much of the scarce resources. Clearly, these resources should go insteadto those with disabilities to enable them to remain in their own homes, leading independent lives for as longas possible. One letter that I received explained the consultation process in this way—

This review process has been lengthy and may have created the impression within government of comprehensiveness and thoroughinclusion of the community.

The author went on to state that his group shared common ground with various other interest groupswithin the disabilities sector and he wished to ‘express our disillusionment with the resulting bill whichappears to have taken little of the community feedback on board’. His group is fearful that
these amendments will result in the diminution of rights and the quality of life for people with disabilities. Hefeels that a five-year hiatus until the next review is far too long to wait. If something does not work, it shouldbe fixed well before five years is up. While there are some positives in these amendments—for example,
legislatively empowering the disability sector quality system—there seems to be some unnecessaryduplication which could lead to inflexibility and possibly a waste of already scarce resources.

With regard to the disability services plans, there are concerns about the mechanisms available foraccountability, monitoring, approvals and checking to take place and their potential to do great damage toexisting community partnerships. While considerable new legislative powers are given to thoseinvestigating breaches of the act, there seem to be relatively few offence provisions aside from thoserelating to criminal history screening—that is, a service provider failing to have appropriate insurance or forimpersonation of a departmental investigator.

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The concern is that, while these amendments may improve financial accountability and compliance,
they will have little direct effect in safeguarding the welfare of vulnerable people with a disability. Also ofconcern is that the preapproval of service providers and criminal history screenings will lead to nothingmore than greater bureaucratisation in delivery of services and increase the level of risk by reducing thechoice of service providers, thereby limiting integration by people with a disability.

These amendments may discourage perfectly eligible, smaller organisations and individuals frombecoming involved in the sector at all. This group clearly believes that criminal history screening, whileimportant, needs some changes. The effort required to gain a clearance could be off-putting for some whowish to provide a limited service to one person with a disability but who may not do so even though they donot have a criminal record. Again, this could lead to further isolation.

Scepticism exists about the effectiveness of the prosecution process, as successful prosecutions ofabusers of people with a disability are rare. In fact, criminal history screening may even create a falsesense of security and heightened vulnerability. They would like legislative protections extended to boardinghouses, hostels and the like, subsequent to the public benefit test process presently being carried out.

In shared housing environments, careful consideration should be made when matching up people tolive together. We all know that living in close proximity can bring out the worst in people, whether they areable-bodied or disabled. A constituent of mine has a son who lives in supported communityaccommodation in Brisbane. When the son was told that he would have to share with another disabled
person, it was found that they were entirely unsuited. Luckily—but only after great persistence—he wasmatched with someone more suitable, with a much better outcome. As I said earlier, one size does not fit
all.

One very great concern with these amendments is the apparent removal of an individual’s ability tomake an application for individual funding packages, such as the adult lifestyle support packages, in favourof applications being preapproved by service providers. I ask the minister to clarify this part of the bill asthere are serious fears that this will lead to the return of block funding and that service providers will haveall the power, leaving the disabled beholden to their economically based decisions, which could includewhere they live and what services they may receive. They also urgently seek the reinstatement of a sectionequivalent to section 25 of the present act, allowing for funding applications from individuals and
assurances that there will be no retreat from the government’s once strong commitment to individualisedfunding for people with disabilities.

Another letter I have received also raises many concerns about these amendments and lists anumber of relevant questions. The letter states—

1. Why are the human rights principles being weakened, when what people said was they wanted them strengthened?
2. Why was Section 25 removed from the Act, denying citizens with disabilities and their families the ability to apply directly forfunds?
3. Will services find it more difficult to recruit staff if screening becomes compulsory? Will people be made more vulnerable if ittakes a longer time to recruit staff? Will volunteer screening be extended to family and friends? Will family and communitymembers be disempowered to form relationships and provide natural supports as a result of screening?
4. How will quality be enhanced if the increased tougher and punitive controls over community services result in the loss offlexibility and creativity in services, and vastly reduced options for people with disabilities? How many people with disabilitiesand their families will be harmed because services will be no longer able to respond to them as individuals?
5. Why can’t people with disabilities and families access the Reviews and Appeals section of this legislation?
6. Is Section 222(5)(a) in breach of the National Privacy Principles?
I also note that the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee has commented that the term ‘criminal history’is broadly defined and the possession of a criminal history can and will disqualify persons from working inrelevant areas and could have an impact in terms of the privacy of potential employees. Even oldconvictions will be taken into account, as well as charges where no conviction resulted. Broad-rangingpowers of entry and post-entry are also conferred on authorised officers which extend beyond situationswhere occupier consent or a warrant is obtained.
Many of those with disabilities have been caught up in the trauma associated with Cyclone Larry. Inthe southern half of the Tablelands electorate, most people were without electricity and phones for manydays. Some still have not been restored due to fallen power lines and batteries that went flat in exchangesright across the vast area affected. Many of the roads were impassable. Those most vulnerable in oursociety were left to cope as best they could, and many of them were alone. They did not have power,
phone, food or medical supplies and in some cases they did not have water either. Many people have saidthat if vegetation had been cleared within a chain—in the old measurements—either side of the powerlines as used to happen, the vastness of this devastation would not have been so great.
In conclusion, many people with disabilities or those who are connected in any way believe that thisbill, if it is passed in its present form, will leave them disillusioned and feeling that it may lead to bigmultinational companies, who only have interests in dollar signs, gaining too much control over their lives
and will not allow them to have the freedom of choice that they desire and are entitled to. It is difficult toimagine the courage with which many families confront the challenges of having a person with a disability

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as a member. It is even more difficult to imagine the courage that the people with disabilities demonstratein the simple pursuit of their day-to-day lives.

It is a very vexed sector with some very complex problems to be dealt with as DSQ tries to meet theneeds of fellow Queenslanders in, at times, heartbreaking circumstances. However, it is very troubling tosee a bill before us that has left significant proportions of the most important stakeholders of all, that is,
people with a disability, fearful for their future. As one writer said, those with a disability are looking for acommitment from both state and federal levels of government to adequately fund grassroots services thatwill provide assistance for many individuals and families currently struggling to gain help. This would be aninvestment in Queensland’s future, but will only be effective if the resources are directed to the individualsand families, and not spent on the bureaucracy of the government sector.

Hansard Tuesday, 7 March 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

CHILDREN LEAVING HOME

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (12.20 pm): We often hear debate about protecting the safety ofchildren at risk and about whether or not the foster care system is working properly. We hear about thelevel of resources devoted to protecting children, about case loads and restructuring and so on. There is,
however, another issue impacting directly on a number of families in my electorate—and I am sure thereare similar cases across Queensland—that I will talk about today, and that is the devastating impact onfamilies when their children decide to run away from home for what appears to be no good reason. Thishas happened in my electorate to three separate families over the last few months. In all cases the familieshave been confronted by bureaucracy—bureaucrats who all say that their hands are tied and that there isnothing within the law that they can do to help these distraught parents. These particular children are aged14, 15 and 13. They have each left home to live at the homes of their friends.

When their parents sought help from the police, the education department, child protection andcommunity services, they were advised there was no way to force any of the children to go home. Thepolice could do nothing for fear of being accused of assaulting the child if the child were forced into a policecar. The education department could not help them either, even though it is the parent’s responsibility tosee that the child attends school until the age of 16, and on one count I am advised that a guidance officereven told the child of her rights on leaving home.

Community Services said that it would not have an interest unless the child had turned 16. Childprotection was not interested in two of these cases as it did not believe that the children were in anydanger. To give the local child protection department credit, it did step in in the case of the 13-year-old buteven then it did not return her home. Instead, the child has been temporarily placed in foster care pendingfurther developments.

However, nothing has been done in the case of the 14-year-old, who, I am advised, has moved intoher boyfriend’s parents’ home. Her family has been extremely worried about her welfare and has contactedall government departments from police to child protection, education and communities for help but to noavail. Each service has said there is no law that can force this vulnerable child to go back home to thefamily that loves her and where she has been supported in a normal family situation. These are all childrenwho have been housed, fed, clothed and supported as normal family participants. They are under the ageof consent, yet they are falling through the cracks because the Beattie government has no laws in place tosupport parents who are doing the right thing in bringing up their children.

All of us have gone through teenage years and know what it is like to go through those growingpains. Those of us who have been parents of teenagers know full well the intricacies of guiding our childrenthrough those difficult years. Sometimes as parents we have to make rules and show our children wherethe boundaries lie for their own good. I have been advised by all of the parents involved that their childrenhave left home not because of any abuse or any kind of mistreatment but they have simply decided thatthe grass is greener on the other side of the fence and other families have decided to keep them.

These children belong to their own families, not the state and not these other families. They are andshould be the responsibility of their parents and only in exceptional circumstances should child protection

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have to use its powers and step in. Children should not simply be allowed to leave the safe environment oftheir homes and they should not have the right to apply for financial assistance from society’s financialcoffers without good reason.

These parents want their children back. They want to rear their children as they see fit and they wantto discipline their children as they see fit within reason. More and more of our caring families are seeingthis government white-anting parents who do act responsibly, who do try to keep track of their children andwho do care, by telling these children that their parents have no authority nor power over them.
Governments should not interfere in the normal course of family life. There are already too many childrenin real need with too few resources to go around. To waste time and money protecting the so-called rightsof these children for no good reason is robbing resources from children in real need and along the way it isdestroying families, and that is totally unacceptable.

Hansard Thursday, 2 March 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

WATER AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT REGULATION (NO.
1) 2005

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (5.00 pm): I rise to make a contribution to this disallowancemotion. Everyone knows that the state is screaming out for more water. It is desperate for more dams,
more irrigation systems and enough water to farm, to develop industries, even to drink and perhaps evento water a lawn, but all we get is more and more regulation with higher and higher fees and charges,
especially with this particular regulation.

This government does not give us more water; it slugs us harder for the water that we do have. Thatis what this short-sighted government calls good water planning. Our scientists are telling us that we aregoing to get much higher maximum rainfalls but what we do not see are dams and storage facilities andother infrastructure going in to harvest those intense events.

We have new legislation in place, such as the Wild Rivers Act, which will lock up hundreds ofthousands of square kilometres of land supposedly to protect waterways. We have plant and pest controlrequirements, riparian zones, catchment-specific resource plans, water trading and separate water titles—
and on and on it goes, but we do not have new dams.

This state is growing. It is becoming ever more populated. New industries appear and new crops goin, but the state is now being strangled by a lack of water and the cost of water. It will make no realdifference how much this government charges for water if the water is simply not there. This regulation,
which runs to 29 pages, deals with the nitty-gritty of introducing the new water charges. They will come inunder three categories. Category 1, at $15 a megalitre, is water taken or supplied for urban purposes orthe generation and distribution of electricity and gas other than hydro-electricity generation. It also includesmost local government water. Category 2, at $10 per megalitre, is essentially water used for industrialpurposes, including mining and the petroleum industry. Category 3, at $4 a megalitre, is water used inagriculture, including irrigation. This also includes domestic supplies not connected to a reticulated waterservice but does not include intensive animal production such as feedlots. Interestingly, this category alsoincludes water taken by SunWater for distribution channel loss.

What we will have is farmers being charged $4 a megalitre for their water and then an additional feefrom SunWater to cover the charge that will be levied against it for channel loss. Farmers will have to payfor the water they get and the water they do not get. If only we had a racketeering act, I think this wouldqualify.

It also needs to be remembered that farmers are price takers, not price makers. That means thatmore and more and higher and higher fees, levies, taxes and charges simply drive them closer and closerto the wall. Producers cannot go to the major chains and say, ‘Pay us more because we now face a newwater charge.’ They will be told by the Woolworths and Coles Myers of the world that they have a pricepoint that they will not move from. It is always the farmer’s problem, not theirs. The multinationals are justas happy to buy Brazilian oranges or Philippine bananas because they are cheaper.

The underpinning logic is that those magical market forces will see water go to its best use. Theproblem is that ‘best’ is defined solely on a monetary basis. Those who want to argue that anything less is

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Thursday, 2 March 2006

subsidising farmers should think again. Farmers and other primary producers built this country. They stillprovide the foundations on which everything else is based. We have the most efficient producers in theworld. They achieve this whilst meeting higher and higher environmental goals and while deliveringcleaner and greener produce, but they are reaching breaking point. The price we pay for produce—andthat is much, much more than the price the farmer gets—provides a reasonable wage for the farmer andworkers, provides for the environmental standards society demands and so on.

There will not be one drop more water in a dam or available to anybody as a result of this regulation.
No matter how the resource is managed, without new storages, without harvesting more of the rain thatfalls, these charges will be seen as nothing more than a rip-off. I support the disallowance motion.

 Hansard Wednesday, 1 March 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

RACING (RACE FIELDS) AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (9.15 pm): I rise to make a contribution to the Racing (RaceFields) Amendment Bill 2006. This bill is aimed at protecting the integrity of the racing industry. It alsoseeks to protect the racing industry from unauthorised betting exchanges which make no financial
contribution to the racing industry or to the state. Into the bargain, some unauthorised betting exchangescould also allow people to back horses or other animals such as dogs to actually lose a race, and thatcould mean that punters might have to wait until the cows come home for the last horse to cross the line.
There is great concern that this type of activity could attract undesirable activities of many kinds.

There is already a lot of pressure on country racing. The amendments which were brought in justlast year were introduced because the old system was not working. So the new system was introduced,
which is local clubs feeding information to an overarching committee and a separate delegate representingthem at quarterly meetings in Brisbane. I have it on good authority that the new system is not working aswell as expected and that some delegates are toying with the idea of resigning. They would very much liketo meet with the minister to discuss their concerns but do not know if that is possible. So it is not justunauthorised betting and betting on the last horse that is threatening racing, and country racing inparticular. There are other matters which need to be cleared up. I believe some delegates feel that theirinput in Brisbane is not valued and that their time in attending these meetings is largely wasted.

This bill raises serious questions about the possibility of organisations such as the unauthorisedbetting exchanges, which have their bases interstate or overseas, conducting businesses that have thepotential to raise significant revenue which is lost to this state’s racing industry. This has the potential tocripple the industry, particularly in country areas. The turnover of the TAB directly affects the amount ofmoney that is passed on to country racing as country racing is now allocated seven per cent of TAB’sturnover. If the turnover goes up, we get more. If the turnover goes down, we get less. It is as simple asthat. So if unauthorised betting is permitted, taking revenue away from the TAB, then it could seriouslyimpact on an industry which is so popular in this state.

My electorate of Tablelands has race clubs at Atherton, Mareeba and Mount Garnet—all of whichhave good tracks and have raced successfully for years. Atherton in particular has the highest number ofhorses being trained in the far north. We are part of the far northern region which covers basically fromCardwell to the tip. A number of clubs in this region closed in recent years when the huge culling of racedates took place. Most people and clubs still involved in the industry are very precious about keeping theircurrent race dates. They are acutely aware that there are barely enough dates to keep their horses race fitand the trips to Townsville are too expensive for the battlers and too physically draining for themselves andtheir horses.

Another concern of clubs in my electorate is that they cannot obtain a list of the coming year’s racedates from Townsville prior to having to put in their own dates at the end of each year. It would be helpful toknow Townsville’s dates as they race some 45 to 47 times a year and, as they run TAB meetings,
Townsville gets preference. Because their prize money is always better, the jockeys tend to gravitate thereas well, leaving potential shortages at other venues.

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 1 March 2006

This is an industry vital to many country Queenslanders, and loved by many more. It should be andmust be protected from the threats of unauthorised betting exchanges who will take away vital resourceswhich could bring one of this nation’s most popular sports and industries into disrepute and bring about itsdestruction. I support the bill.

 Hansard Tuesday, 28 February 2006
Speech by

Rosa Lee Long


MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

CAIRNS BASE HOSPITAL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (8.46 pm): I speak again tonight about the failure of QueenslandHealth, and in particular mental health and the Cairns Base Hospital, to protect the life of one of myconstituents. The woman in question suicided just six days after being released from the Cairns BaseHospital and the circumstances surrounding that tragedy are simply horrific. She had tried to suicide seventimes over the last few months and on three occasions had to be hospitalised. On the seventh attempt shecut her throat from ear to ear and was rushed to Cairns Base Hospital. One might have assumed that shewould have been kept in hospital until her mental health was assured and stabilised at the very least.

Instead her sister learnt she was going to be released after only a few days and without having seena doctor. She was terrified her sister would try to take her life again and sought to stop her release. Iintervened and the patient was seen by a professional but the result was still the same. The professionaldeemed she was fit enough to go home. Just six days later, on her eight attempt, she succeeded in doingexactly as her family and friends feared—this time, I am advised, with a handful of pills and a dose ofRoundup.

Cairns Base Hospital is in meltdown. Staff members are dedicated and hardworking but they arecrippled by a lack of beds, funding, resources and staff. That is more reason for the Atherton and Mareebahospitals to be more fully utilised.

The warning bells have been ringing loud and clear but have been ignored by the Beattiegovernment for years. There have been a number of other recent suicides reported in the media where thevictims attended or have tried to attend the Cairns Base Hospital, including a man sent home without anytreatment even though he had begged for help. He took his life only hours later. A teenager considered ahigh suicide risk and for whom follow-up care was arranged was sent home without her parents beingadvised. She, sadly, too took her own life.

This penny-pinching government must commit unreservedly to improving the facilities available,
increasing staff and properly resourcing the Cairns Base Hospital to ensure that people in their hour ofneed get appropriate help. This is what people across Queensland pay their taxes, fees, levies andcharges for—that is, for decent services, for services that keep people alive. They do not want privatecorporations looking after them from the cradle to the grave at costs which they cannot afford.

There is a high focus on road deaths these days, and rightly so, but I think equal attention should begiven to our increasingly depressed society and methods to fix their problems as well. There are timeswhen an institutional answer is the best for all involved, but there has been a deliberate move away fromthis. The closing of most institutions has brought significant savings for this government. Yet underresourcing continues to be a major issue in dealing with mental health.

It is not too much to expect that in a crisis help should be available. It is not too much to think thatsomeone who has tried seven times to kill themselves will not just be sent home to try again. There are
times when people need to be protected from themselves until they are well again. The alternative onlyleaves more blood on this government’s hands.

 Speech by

Rosa Lee Long

MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

Hansard Wednesday, 15 February 2006

RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES (OBJECTIONABLE BEHAVIOUR)
AMENDMENT BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (8.09 pm): I rise to make a brief contribution to the ResidentialTenancies (Objectionable Behaviour) Amendment Bill 2005. Whilst I sympathise with the member forNicklin’s intention in this bill I cannot support it. I have been a landlady for some 25 years myself and I thinkthat I have had some of the best and also some of the worst tenants, but mostly they have been averagetenants. There is no way that I could support someone else evicting my tenants. We are all aware of thetenants from hell, but the current laws which are enforced by the RTA stipulate the steps which have to betaken by the landlord or landlady if they break their contract. I think there would be many landlords orlandladies who would say that the law is more on the side of the tenant and that the tenant can do a lot ofdamage and get a long way behind in their rent before they can be evicted. Nevertheless, the process is inplace and both sides sign the contract at the beginning of the tenancy. Neighbours affected by the tenantsshould contact the owner or the manager of the property and then the processes can commence.

The owner cannot evict a tenant without good reason and, if there is good reason, the tenant isgiven a notice to rectify and given a chance to do just that. If they do not then there are steps which can betaken to end a tenancy. This can take up to three months and I know that there are some tenants who havelearnt the system and become serial tenants from hell. However, as I said earlier, most are good oraverage tenants who pay their rent and do not do any serious damage.

Along with the member for Gympie I, too, have received a number of complaints about bad tenantsfrom constituents. We find that once again the RTA steps have to be taken and sometimes it is difficult toget satisfactory results for all.

In my younger days I, too, was a renter and learnt that one has to respect somebody else’s propertyand other people’s space. It is all about respect and responsibility. Nevertheless, I do not think that this billis the answer and, as I said earlier, having members of the public interfering with a business deal betweensomeone else and myself is not on and I cannot support the bill.

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Speech by

Rosa Lee Long

MEMBER FOR TABLELANDS

Hansard Wednesday, 15 February 2006

FOOD BILL

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (3.27 pm): I rise to contribute to the debate on the Food Bill2006. This bill replaces a number of acts which currently regulate hygiene and safety in foodmanufacturing services and retail sectors. In 1991 under the Goss Labor government it was agreed that allstates and territories would adopt the Food Standards Code developed by the federal Australia NewZealand Food Authority, ANZFA, and it became law. ANZFA was replaced in 2003 with FSANZ’s FoodStandards Code for Australia and New Zealand which enabled food businesses to comply with either theexisting code or a new joint code.

The Queensland Food Production (Safety) Act 2000 covers Queensland’s primary industries sectorfood production up to the point of manufacture. It is interesting to note that its regulatory body Safe FoodProduction Queensland has since established schemes for Queensland meat and dairy industries and,
more recently, eggs. This resulted in a fiasco last year when there was a huge outcry over the giving awayof a few eggs from backyard henhouses and even involved school tuckshops. This resulted in a backflip bythe Beattie government.

Prior to that we would all remember when people were stopped from giving away a few pints of milkfrom the house cow, even if it were only for dog use or as a skin application. At the time I remember askingthe minister what would be next and he replied that fish would be. Here I see in the explanatory notes thatseafood will follow soon. Heaven forbid! Those wanting to throw a line into the backyard stream will soonnot even be able to give away a fish. We may as well become tin soldiers or mindless robots.

This bill will replace the dual system of registration of premises and licensing of persons with asingle licensing system, and it leaves enforcement with local government. However, it will introduce threelevels of performance on food businesses. The simplest level will apply to all food businesses apart fromthose exempted from the bill and will require them to meet the national Food Standards Code, whichincludes the food safety standard.

The first thing to clarify is: what is a food business? According to the explanatory notes, it is anactivity or business involving the handling of food for sale or the sale of food and includes one-off activitiesand commercial, charitable and community activities—a very inclusive description. Let us look at whatkinds of activities are exempt. It is a pretty short list. School tuckshops operated by P&C associations areexempt. The giving away of food to non-profit organisations, apart from business promotions, is exempt.
Food businesses operated by the state are also exempt. As I understand it, this is essentially very similarto the situation under the Food Act 1981, which this bill replaces.

The second branch of the new framework introduces the Food Bill 2006, which will require certainbusinesses, primarily for-profit food businesses that handle and sell unpackaged food, to be licensed.
Essentially, this means restaurants and cafes, although those posing low or negligible risk to the public willnot have to do so. While non-profit organisations may fall under this category, it will only be if they sellmeals on at least 12 days each financial year. Some other activities are also exempt if carried out by nonprofit organisations, such as the sale of low-risk meals such as breakfast cereals and toast; the sale of

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Speech by Rosa Lee Long extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 15 February 2006

meals where the consumer helps in its preparation; and the sale of prepackaged meals stored andprepared according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Also included in this list is delivered meals services, such as Meals on Wheels. According to theexplanatory notes, these will only require licensing if they also prepare the meals. That is the case for thehighly valued Meals on Wheels services operated at both Mareeba and Atherton in my electorate. In fact,
as all volunteer organisations are hard-pressed to meet the demands placed upon them, these laws willimpose additional difficulties and costs for them. They are quite concerned about these additional impostson them. This level of licensing is to be carried out by local government, no doubt in a manner similar tothat already in place.

The highest level, categorised as high-risk food businesses, will have to draw up and implementfood safety programs. This requirement applies if the food business conducts off-site catering, it conductson-site catering under certain circumstances, it is done by a private hospital or it is prescribed by regulationas being a food business that handles potentially hazardous food reasonably likely to pose a risk to publichealth or safety. This level will be monitored by approved safety auditors.

I have some concerns about how the off-site catering provisions may affect small coffee shops andcafes that might receive an occasional order for light refreshments. Will this provision mean that thesesmall businesses, often family owned and operated, will have to draw up and implement the same kinds ofplans as major catering firms serving large commercial contracts?

I note here that the new licensing arrangements will commence on 1 July 2006 and also that thereare very heavy penalties resulting from food offences such as a maximum of 1,350 penalty units, whichequates to $101,250 for a person, or two years imprisonment. This is serious stuff, indeed.

The food industry on the Tablelands has, I believe, an enviable record not only for the safety andcare taken in preparation but also for the delicious taste and wonderful meals and snacks based aroundthe premium quality produce of the region. I trust this bill will be seen as a positive by those people andbusinesses it affects.

 


Tablelands (Key Seat)

North Queensland - Very Safe One Nation 13.8% vs ALP

New Margin: ONP 12.4% v NAT

MP Rosa Lee Long (ONP) since 2001.

Profile Covers the Atherton Tablelands district to the west of Cairns. Main centres include Mareeba, Mount Molloy, Atherton, Malanda, Herberton, Ravenshoe and Chillagoe.

History/Trivia Australia's largest tobacco growing region, a huge increase in the tobacco tax just before the 1992 election has seen Labor's vote nosedive since. From 1986 until 1998, Tablelands was held for the National Party by Tom Gilmore, who served as Minister for Mines and Energy in the Borbidge government. He saw his vote more than halve at the 1998 election, and in a sign of the success of Pauline Hanson's One Nation as a party label, Shaun Nelson was elected with 42% of the primary vote despite being almost unknown before the election. Considered something of a buffoon in the Brisbane press gallery, Nelson was smart enough to be one of the first MPs to leave One Nation and he contested the 2001 election as an Independent, finishing fourth with 15.3% of the vote. One Nation's Rosa Lee Long polled strongly with 36% of the vote and won easily on preferences.

2-Party Booth Result Labor's primary vote did not pass 40% in any booth. The National Party's only reached 30% in two booths.

Main Candidates Rosa Lee Long was a surprise winner for One Nation in 2001. She had to overcome both Labor and National Party candidates, as well as Independent Shaun Nelson, who had won the seat for One Nation in 1998 before leaving the Party. Like her leader Bill Flynn, Lee Long will break the mold for One Nation by actually re-contesting election while still a member of the party. Her National Party opponent Cheryl Tonkin also has a minor One Nation link, as she previously worked on the staff of One Nation Senator Len Harris. Labor's candidate is citrus farmer Arthur Yates, who also contested the seat in 2001.

Assessment Will depend how Lee Long has performed as local MP.

2004 BALLOT PAPER (3 Candidates)
Candidate NameParty
*Rosa LEE LONGOne Nation
Arthur YATESAustralian Labor Party
Cheryl TONKINThe Nationals

 

2001 RESULT
CandidatePartyVotes%Swing
NelsonIND3,28415.3+15.3
MoroNAT3,52216.4-16.6
CondonIND1,0985.1+5.1
Lee LongONP7,72236.0-6.0
IsherwoodIND5072.4+2.4
YatesALP5,32524.8-0.2
....OTH00.0..
2 Candidate Result
MoroNAT00.0-49.8
Lee LongONP10,99463.8+13.6
YatesALP6,23536.2+36.2

 

2004 RESULT
Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Lee LongONP10,14047.0+11.0
YatesALP5,72126.5+1.7
TonkinNAT5,73026.5+10.1
....OTH00.0-22.8
2 Candidate Result
Lee LongONP10,95562.4-1.4
YatesALP00.0-36.2
TonkinNAT6,59837.6+37.6

Information compiled by ABC Election Analyst Antony Green

 

Rosa Lee Long MP

Member for Tablelands ElectorateOffice

210 Byrnes St, Mareeba, Far North Queensland 4880

Phone 07 4092 3654. Fax 07 4092 3193

 

23/06/06

 

 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WASHES

 

 

HANDS ON DIESEL PRICE

 

 

THE Federal Government, which collects 38 cents per litre in fuel excise, has washed its hands of any responsibility for the high price of diesel fuel, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said yesterday.

 

 

 

Ms Lee Long said she had put mounting community concern on the issue before the Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, who had admitted high fuel prices were bad for consumers and the economy and were causing immense difficulty for drivers.

 

 

“However he has insisted that the prices are caused by factors outside the Government’s control,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

“In fact, he has written to me and tried to argue that instead of being responsible for the high price of fuel, the Federal Government is responsible for SAVING drivers around 15.4 cents per litre.

 

 

“It is a bizarre argument that a government already taxing road users via a fuel excise wants credit for not taxing us even more than they do now.

 

And even the present level of fuel excise is not all spent back on roads".

 

 

“It is classic Liberal/National arrogance to try and tell us we should be grateful we only have a crippling tax burden, because they could easily be slugging us for even more.”

 

 

 

Ms Lee Long said that even for users able to claim tax breaks on their diesel, it was Federal Government policy to peg the price to an international benchmark in Singapore.

 

 

“We have our own reserves, our own oil rigs and our own refineries and that should be taken into account. By the Treasurer’s own admission these high prices are bad for everyone.”

 

 

 

ENDS

 

                                                             22/06/06

 

 

CAIRNS MENTAL HEALTH UNIT

 

 

DENIED NEW INQUIRY

 

 

 

CALLS for an independent inquiry into resourcing, funding and staffing of Cairns Base Hospital’s Mental Health Unit have been rejected by the Health Minister.

 

 

 

The calls were contained in a petition put before Parliament by member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long late last month, following the tragic death of local teacher Patricia Van Putten.

 

 

“In his response the minister spoke about recognising the value of external reviews, he spoke about action plans, he spoke about updated policy and procedures but he said nothing about an independent inquiry,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

“What he did say was that as of last month, a Patient Safety Officer had started work at the Cairns Base Mental Health unit as part of a national safety priority trial for six months".

 

 

 

“This is welcome, but only a full investigation will ever get right to the bottom of the issue.”

 

 

Ms Lee Long said she would continue to push for adequate services not only at Cairns Base, but in Mareeba and Atherton hospitals as well.

 

 

ENDS

 

01/03/06

 

 

GOVT' MUST IMPROVE CAIRNS BASE OR FACE HEALTH MELTDOWN

 

 

 

THE STATE GOVERNMENT must “unreservedly” commit to better facilities, staffing and resources to head off a meltdown at Cairns Base Hospital, Parliament has been told.

 

 

 

Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long MP, speaking on the floor of Parliament about the traumatic circumstances behind the suicide of a local former schoolteacher, also called for a higher priority on mental health.

 

 

 

“There is a high focus on road deaths these days, and rightly so but I think equal attention should be given to our increasingly depressed society and methods to fix their problems as well,” she said.

 

 

 

Earlier on the same day Ms Lee Long put the Health Minister under the microscope over the issue of a woman with seven previous suicide attempts succeeding on her eighth, only a few days after being released from Cairns Base.

 

 

 

“On the seventh attempt she cut her throat and was rushed to Cairns Base Hospital,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

 

 

Speaking outside Parliament Ms Lee Long said the woman was originally going to be released without even having been seen by a doctor.

 

 

 

“I intervened and the patient was seen by a professional, but the result was still the same. She was deemed fit enough to go home and was released. Just six days later, on her eighth attempt, she succeeded in doing exactly as her family and friends feared.

 

 

 

“Cairns Base Hospital is in melt down. Staff members are dedicated and hard working but they are crippled by a lack of beds, funding, resources and staff. That is more reason for the Atherton and Mareeba hospitals to be more fully utilised.”

 

 

 

Ms Lee Long said the Beattie Government had been ignoring warning bells for years.

 

 

 

“This penny-pinching government must commit unreservedly to improving the facilities available, increasing staff and properly resourcing the Cairns Base Hospital to ensure that people in their hour of need get appropriate help.

 

 

 

“This is what people across Queensland pay their taxes, fees, levies and charges for – that is, for decent services that keep people alive.

 

“It is not too much to expect that in a crisis, help will be available. It is not too much to think that someone who has tried seven times to kill themselves will not just be sent home to try again.

 

“There are times when people do need to be protected from themselves until they are well again. If we fail these people, we run the risk of repeating this kind of tragedy over and over again.”

 

 

ENDS

 

 

21-04-06.    HEALTH CRISIS A COMPLEX ISSUE

 

 

 

THE FEDERAL government’s abysmal failure to provide enough doctor training places did not let the Beattie Government off the hook for its part in the collapse of public health services, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long has told Parliament.

 

 

She was speaking during debate on a motion attacking the Federal Government for not training enough doctors and nurses, as identified in a recent Productivity Commission report.

 

 

Ms Lee Long said the crisis crippling the provision of health services has been coming for decades, with warning stretching back 20 years.

 

 

“There is no doubt that the Productivity Commission was correct in finding that the federal government is responsible for funding university based education and training places for health workers,” she said.

 

 

 

“Instead of funding additional training places, it has deliberately chosen to sit back and let health services collapse.

 

 

There had been more than enough time to train young Australians and Queenslanders to meet the need, spelt out in the Commissions report as being 955 extra medical places and 6,430 extra nurse training places nationally.

 

 

“What do we get from those in the pampered halls of federal power? A promise of less than half the necessary number of doctor places and less than one-sixth the necessary nurse numbers,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

 

 

“That is a total betrayal of every Australian and Queenslander on hospital waiting lists and a total betrayal of every Australian and Queenslander in a regional or rural area who has to travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres for medical attention. “It is a total betrayal of mothers who are forced to give birth on the side of the road as they struggle to reach a distant maternity ward in time.”

 

 

 

Ms Lee Long condemned the Federal coalition: “for their arrogant disregard of the people of this nation in failing to ensure enough doctors and nurses are trained right here in Queensland.”

 

 

 

However a large measure of fault lay with the State government which is responsible for the public hospital system.

 

 

“It is the state government--and for most of the past two decades in Queensland that has meant an ALP government--that manages that vital service,” she said.

 

 

“It is the state that is solely responsible for having created a work environment so bad that hundreds and hundreds of doctors and nurses have left year after year.

 

 

 

“Surely, as obvious as the need to train more doctors might have been, so, too, was it blindingly obviously that we needed to keep those doctors and nurses that we were lucky enough to already have.

 

 

 “We have heard nothing to convince us that we should suddenly trust the assurances of the same government that insisted for years that our public hospital system was just fine, thank you very much.

 

 

 

“Much more needs to be done. This motion recognises that responsibility for creating university places lies with an uncaring federal coalition but, significantly, the other part lies with this ALP state government. They all need to get real.

 

 

 

 

“We need to realise that the health of our constituents is the first and primary responsibility of every level of government,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

 

ENDS

 

18/11/05

 

DAMS THE ONLY ANSWER

 

 

 

NEW dams were the only answer to Queensland’s worsening water crisis, State Parliament has been told.

 

 

   Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long spelt out this argument during recent debate on water legislation aimed at addressing that crisis

 

. While the legislation included provisions allowing service providers to pass on costs of any necessary works to users, and increased their powers to make restrictions, Ms Lee Long said it missed the point.

 

 

 

                    “I think a most telling comment in documents accompanying this bill says that: “The current water supply shortage being experienced in south east Queensland raises immediate and longer-term issues about the actions necessary to protect the security of the State’s essential water supply needs,” she said

 

 

 

                “There is only one way to ensure we have enough water, and that is to store it in dams.

 

“Desalination, recycling, rainwater tanks, they all have their place and all serve useful functions. But none provide the same large-scale, long term answers as do dams.

 

 

 

                “We simply need to build more dams. It is not complicated. It is the policy which has worked for decades, that has watered our towns and cities, and opened up vast stretches of country. And it is the dumping of that policy which has led us directly into this crisis.”

 

 

 

                        Speaking after parliament Ms Lee Long said she would continue to push for Nullinga Dam on the Walsh, and to have the Tully Millsteam hydro electricity generating scheme put back on the drawing board.

 

 

 

                          “These two projects would transform the entire north while, in the case of Tully-Millstream, providing clean, green power in massive quantities.

 

 

 

                         “We live in the wettest part of the driest inhabited continent on the planet, surely we can do better.”

 

 

ENDS

18/11/05     GOVERNMENT AGREEMENTS

 

BEHIND WATER WOES

 

 

WATER woes now plaguing Queensland had their genesis in a joint Federal-State agreement made in the mid-1990s, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said yesterday.

 

 

Ms Lee Long said the current no-dams, charge-for-everything attitude to water was based firmly on a 1994 Council of Australian Government agreement which claimed not enough was being charging for water in rural areas.

 

 

“Those COAG participants then agreed that full cost pricing for water must be implemented across Australia,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

 

 The Member for Tablelands outlined the background to the existing water regime in debate on the Water Amendment Bill at a recent sittings of Parliament.

 

 

“In 1994 we had a federal Labor government under Keating, a Labor government in Queensland and a variety of Liberal and Labor governments in all the other states and territories,” she said.

 

 

“Since then, the federal government has changed hands to the Liberal-National coalition under Howard and Anderson and then Vaile which currently has the Nationals holding the balance of power.

 

 

“In Queensland, we had a term of a National-Liberal coalition in conjunction with the federal coalition before the state returned to Labor in 1998. Yet nothing was turned around during these terms in favour of the rural conservative voters.

 

 

 

“The changed control of the water in this country and this state is now through bipartisan or converged political agreement and control.”

 

 

Things were not likely to get better anytime soon, she said.

 

 

“The Queensland Water Plan 2005-2010 will bring in new charges next year, and they will be reviewed again just two years after that.

 

 

 

“Where have all our taxes, fees, levies and charges gone?” Ms Lee Long asked.

 

 

“Not into health, not into our water supply and not on our roads. We do not even seem to have enough for anything. But we can afford to fly the Premier around the world and, more recently, to the Melbourne Cup.

 

 

“I hope his cup runneth over, because for the rest of us it is a damned dry drink indeed.”

 

 

 

ENDS

27/10/05

 

 

 

LABOR MISMANAGEMENT CAUSES HEALTH CRISIS

 

 

 

 

THE Beattie Government should hand its head in shame at being responsible for the crisis in public health, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long has told Parliament.

 

 

Ms Lee Long, speaking after the Government announced it would be raising taxes to pay for vital repairs to the public hospital system, said Queenslanders already paid for a free public health service.

 

 

“We already pay more than enough to have first world facilities and a full complement of top-flight medical professionals--but what do we get? We get hundreds of millions of dollars of public money spent on football fields and pedestrian bridges and cultural precincts while our hospitals are running down, our few remaining doctors are overworked and our nurses are nailed to the wall,” she said.

 

 

“For nearly 16 years, health in this state has reflected the priorities of Labor governments.

 

 

“Who caused it--who sat on top of the heap and directed money into high-profile vote- buying projects, instead of looking after the health of Queenslanders? None other than Premiers Goss and Beattie--that is who,” she said.

 

 

“Who stood up in this place year after year and said everything was fine in Queensland Health? ALP premiers and ALP health ministers.

 

 

 

“Who told us just months ago, while Queenslanders were dying under the knife, that it was all okay and that our waiting lists were the shortest in the country? This ALP government--that is who.”

 

 

Ms Lee Long said the Beattie Government did not own up to anything until they were caught out by “one gutsy nurse.”

 

 

“And what is the best they can do now? Bring in higher fees and charges and consider means testing for surgery, specialist outpatient services, spectacle subsidies, pharmaceutical safety nets and dental health services,” Ms Lee Long said.

 

 

Speaking after parliament she said it was “disgraceful” that the people of Queensland were being asked to fork out to fix the under-funding of health which had gone on for most of the past two decades.

 

 

“Now that they have been caught out, the best they can come up with is to betray the very basis of a free public hospital system.”

 

 

 

“‘Sorry’ is not good enough. Everyone in this so-called Team Beattie should hang their heads in shame, shame and more shame.”

 

 

 

 

ENDS

 

Ms Rosa Lee Long

One Nation MP. for Tablelands

 

 

Hansard Tuesday, 8 March 2005

On Primary Industry

Most primary industries in my electorate are still doing it tough for one reason or another. Even though weather wise last year was a reasonable one and Tinaroo Dam filled to 76 per cent, we found that many potato growers had good crops but could not sell their products because of a glut on the market. After that, the mango growers, with a record high quality and quantity of produce, also found it difficult to sell because of another glut on the market as well as a scarcity of workers and trucking crates in which to send the mangoes away. The price was so low that most growers were advised to send their mangoes off for juicing. This was on top of problems for our citrus growers, who were affected by the citrus canker outbreak in the middle of last year. December and January brought good rains, further filling Tinaroo to 87 per cent and leaving the tablelands looking like a picture postcard. But February has been exceptionally dry, with only about a quarter of our usual rainfall. Today in March there is a cyclone bearing down on the coastline and we are hopeful that it will bring a deluge to fill the underground aquifer but do as little damage as possible to infrastructure. For our hardworking dairy farmers, their problems are more deep seated than how much rain they received last month. About another eight dairy farmers have just left or are about to leave the industry on the tablelands.

There has been a massive exodus since deregulation, and now there are only about 100 dairy farmers left in an area that only recently had about twice that number. Deregulation has shown no benefit for our dairy farmers nor for the consumers of milk. Deregulation has brought a massive slump in the farm gate price of milk without any benefit for the consumer, as the retail price of milk just keeps going up. It is true that recently our farmers who trade under the banner of the Dairyfarmers organisation have had a price rise of some 2c per litre, but it means little when they are still going backwards- that is, when the price that they get is still less than it costs them to produce the milk. I understand that in the southern part of the state some farmers are being paid about 10c per litre more from a different company, but we do not have access to those kinds of payments in the north.

The amount our farmers are being paid is just not enough, and it is not about efficiency. Our farms are tremendously efficient. They have weathered the slashing of around a third off their milk prices and have hung on, hoping that in the wake of deregulation some sanity would come back into their industry. But that, it seems, is nothing more than wishful thinking. The bottom line is that our farmers are still being gutted, their businesses are still closing and the consumer does not get cheaper milk. In fact, the price continues to go up- exactly the opposite of what is supposed to happen. On a brighter note, the factory at Malanda has just won a Commonwealth grant of some $1.6 million to research and develop whey, a waste product of milk, into medicinal and beauty products. This follows state government support a few years ago for the industry. These grants are well and good and appreciated, but they are not putting the vital extra cents into the pockets of the producer. The producer is still being asked to continually be more and more efficient and work longer hours without any appropriate remuneration. As they tighten their belts, the council rates keep going up, the telephone bills go up, the electricity bills go up, the cost of fuel goes up, the price of machinery goes up and the price of food, including milk, goes up while Woolworths and Coles continue to make their profits.

The primary producer can continue for only so long, and already many have lost their livelihoods and have seen generations of effort in building up their farms, herds and knowledge collapse. They are the ones who know the real impact of national competition policy, of free trade agreements, of deregulation and all of the rest that makes up this so-called economic rationalism. They are suffering this immense pain because of an economic theory that is supposed to bring benefits if not to them then at least to their city cousins, but it has not and the pain is for nothing at all. Families and communities are in agony and nobody is better off- and all for a theory that has not produced a single positive result