2008 11 11 WEEKLY - documents.parliament.qld.gov.au

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGSHansard Home Page: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/hansard/

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FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-SECOND PARLIAMENT Page

PROOF ISSN 1322-0330

Subject

Tuesday, 11 November 2008ASSENT TO BILLS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3327

Tabled paper: Letter from Her Excellency the Governor to the Speaker, dated 5 November 2008, advising of bills assented to.................................................................................................................................... 3327

REPORT ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3327Members’ Daily Travelling Allowance Claims ..................................................................................................................... 3327

Tabled paper: Annual report of the daily travelling allowance claims by members of the Legislative Assembly for 2007-08, prepared pursuant to section 1.3.1 of the Members’ Entitlements Handbook................... 3327

SPEAKER’S STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 3327Queensland Parliament Employee of the Year .................................................................................................................. 3327

MOTION OF CONDOLENCE ......................................................................................................................................................... 3328Houston, Mr JW .................................................................................................................................................................. 3328

SPEAKER’S STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 3332Resumption of Question Time After Condolence Motion ................................................................................................... 3332

PETITIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 3332TABLED PAPERS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3333MINISTERIAL PAPER .................................................................................................................................................................... 3336

Electoral Commission of Queensland ................................................................................................................................ 3336Tabled paper: Electoral Commission of Queensland—Annual Report 2007-08. ................................................... 3336

MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 3336Queensland Economy ........................................................................................................................................................ 3336Remembrance Day ............................................................................................................................................................ 3337Road Safety; Fines and Penalties ...................................................................................................................................... 3337A1GP .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3338Queensland Economy ........................................................................................................................................................ 3338A1GP .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3339Recycled Water .................................................................................................................................................................. 3340

Tabled paper: Article in the Australian, dated 2 November 2008, titled ‘Don’t turn your nose up at purified recycled water: Treated effluent is cleaner than much of the run-off into dams, insists Paul Greenfield’. ............. 3340

Exports ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3340State Schools of Tomorrow ................................................................................................................................................ 3341Rockhampton Hospital ....................................................................................................................................................... 3341

M F REYNOLDS N J LAURIE L J OSMONDSPEAKER CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENT CHIEF HANSARD REPORTER

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/hansard/

Table of Contents — Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Print Management Unit .......................................................................................................................................................3342Coral Reef Fin Fish .............................................................................................................................................................3342Gateway Upgrade Project ...................................................................................................................................................3343Toward Q2; Coal Industry ...................................................................................................................................................3343Wine Labelling ....................................................................................................................................................................3344Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait Tourism Development Action Plan .......................................................................3344Rural Leasehold Land .........................................................................................................................................................3345

SCRUTINY OF LEGISLATION COMMITTEE ................................................................................................................................3345Report .................................................................................................................................................................................3345

Tabled paper: Scrutiny of Legislation Committee Alert Digest No. 12 of 2008. ......................................................3345Tabled paper: Submission to the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee on the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Bill 2008 by the Tenants’ Union of Queensland Inc. November 2008. ..................3345Tabled paper: Submission to the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee in relation to the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Bill 2008 from the Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service from Brisbane’s inner northern suburbs, dated 6 October 2008. ....................................................................................3345

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES ................................................................................................................................................3345Membership ........................................................................................................................................................................3345

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...................................................................................................................................................3345Fines and Penalties ............................................................................................................................................................3345

REMEMBRANCE DAY ...................................................................................................................................................................3346QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...................................................................................................................................................3346

Gold Coast Indy ..................................................................................................................................................................3346Light Bulb Giveaway ...........................................................................................................................................................3347Queensland Racing Ltd; Ludwig, Mr W ..............................................................................................................................3348Recycled Water ..................................................................................................................................................................3349Queensland Racing Ltd; Ludwig, Mr W ..............................................................................................................................3349Queensland Economy ........................................................................................................................................................3349Amberley State School .......................................................................................................................................................3350Recycled Water ..................................................................................................................................................................3351Police Resources ................................................................................................................................................................3351Road Safety ........................................................................................................................................................................3352Seafood Imports .................................................................................................................................................................3353Elective Surgery Waiting Lists ............................................................................................................................................3353Energy-Saving Light Bulbs .................................................................................................................................................3354Workplace Health and Safety .............................................................................................................................................3354Renewable Energy .............................................................................................................................................................3355Social Housing; Churches of Christ Care ...........................................................................................................................3355

MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST ................................................................................................................................................3356Remembrance Day .............................................................................................................................................................3356Elective Surgery Waiting Lists ............................................................................................................................................3357

PRIVILEGE .....................................................................................................................................................................................3358Alleged Misleading of the House ........................................................................................................................................3358

MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST ................................................................................................................................................3358Remembrance Day .............................................................................................................................................................3358Water Supply ......................................................................................................................................................................3358Queensland Ambulance Service ........................................................................................................................................3359Cape York, Alcohol Restrictions .........................................................................................................................................3360State Schools ......................................................................................................................................................................3361

Tabled paper: Correspondence relating to Kenilworth State Community College. .................................................3361Mudgeeraba Police Station .................................................................................................................................................3362Magnetic Island ...................................................................................................................................................................3363

Tabled paper: Bundle of correspondence relating to the release of a crocodile in the Magnetic Island region. .....3364MacGregor/Jubilee Terrace Planning Study .......................................................................................................................3364Renewable Energy .............................................................................................................................................................3365Redcliffe Small Business Forum .........................................................................................................................................3366Remembrance Day .............................................................................................................................................................3366

SUMMARY OFFENCES AND OTHER ACTS AMENDMENT BILL ...............................................................................................3367First Reading ......................................................................................................................................................................3367

Tabled paper: Summary Offences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2008. .............................................................3367Tabled paper: Summary Offences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2008, explanatory notes................................3367

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................................................3367ANIMAL MANAGEMENT (CATS AND DOGS) BILL .....................................................................................................................3369

Message from Governor .....................................................................................................................................................3369Tabled paper: Message, dated 10 November 2008, from Her Excellency the Governor to the Legislative Assembly recommending the introduction of the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill. ................................3369

First Reading ......................................................................................................................................................................3369Tabled paper: Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill. ......................................................................................3369Tabled paper: Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill, explanatory notes.........................................................3369

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................................................3370

Table of Contents — Tuesday, 11 November 2008

WATER (COMMONWEALTH POWERS) BILL ............................................................................................................................. 3373Second Reading ................................................................................................................................................................. 3373

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT .......................................................................................................................................................... 3390A1GP .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3390

Tabled paper: Letter, dated 7 April 2008, to the Hon. Judy Spence MP from Mr Greg Hooton, General Manager, Gold Coast Indy 300 and Memorandum of Understanding, dated 29 February 2008, between Indy Racing League and Gold Coast Motor Events Co.......................................................................................... 3390Tabled paper: Letter, dated 8 April 2008, to the Hon. Anna Bligh MP from the Hon. Judy Spence MP................. 3390Tabled paper: Letter, dated 15 May 2008, to the Hon. Judy Spence MP from the Hon. Anna Bligh MP regarding the 2008 Indianapolis 500 event. ........................................................................................................... 3390

WATER (COMMONWEALTH POWERS) BILL ............................................................................................................................. 3391Second Reading ................................................................................................................................................................. 3391

Tabled paper: Non-conforming petition against a macro plan area 4 Emu Park for industrial use. ....................... 3397Consideration in Detail ....................................................................................................................................................... 3408

Clauses 1 and 2, as read, agreed to. ..................................................................................................................... 3408Clause 3, as read, agreed to. ................................................................................................................................ 3410Clause 4, as read, agreed to. ................................................................................................................................. 3412Clauses 5 to 34, as read, agreed to. ...................................................................................................................... 3412

Third Reading ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3412Long Title ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3413

JUSTICE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL ........................................................................................................ 3413Second Reading ................................................................................................................................................................. 3413

ADJOURNMENT ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3428Gough, Mr J ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3428Gold Coast Titans Community Foundation ........................................................................................................................ 3429Lockyer Electorate .............................................................................................................................................................. 3430BP Education Grants .......................................................................................................................................................... 3430Octobeard ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3431BDS Logan City Sports Awards ......................................................................................................................................... 3431Ramsay State School ......................................................................................................................................................... 3432Autism ................................................................................................................................................................................ 3432

Tabled paper: Table of number of students with autism across Australia. ............................................................. 3432Tabled paper: Article titled ‘From Complexity to category: Responding to diagnostic uncertainties of autistic spectrum disorders’. ................................................................................................................................... 3433

Mazurkek, Mr T .................................................................................................................................................................. 3433Bulimba Electorate, Sporting Organisations ....................................................................................................................... 3434

ATTENDANCE ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3434

11 Nov 2008 Legislative Assembly 3327

TUESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2008

Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly met at 9.30 am.Mr Speaker (Hon. MF Reynolds, Townsville) read prayers and took the chair.Mr Speaker acknowledged the traditional owners of the land upon which this parliament is

assembled and the custodians of the sacred lands of our state.

ASSENT TO BILLS

Mr SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have to report that I have received from Her Excellencythe Governor a letter in respect of assent to certain bills, the contents of which will be incorporated in theRecord of Proceedings. I table the letter for the information of members.The Honourable M.F. Reynolds, AM, MPSpeaker of the Legislative AssemblyParliament HouseGeorge StreetBRISBANE QLD 4000

I hereby acquaint the Legislative Assembly that the following Bills, having been passed by the Legislative Assembly and havingbeen presented for the Royal Assent, were assented to in the name of Her Majesty The Queen on the date shown:

Date of Assent: 5 November 2008

“A Bill for An Act to amend the Public Health Act 2005, the Radiation Safety Act 1999, the Dental PractitionersRegistration Act 2001 and the Medical Practitioners Registration Act 2001 for particular purposes”

“A Bill for An Act to amend the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999, Electricity Act 1994, Energy Ombudsman Act2006, Mineral Resources Act 1989, Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999, Petroleum Act 1923 and thePetroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 for particular purposes”

These Bills are hereby transmitted to the Legislative Assembly, to be numbered and forwarded to the proper Officer for enrolment,in the manner required by law.

Yours sincerely

Governor

5 November 2008

Tabled paper: Letter from Her Excellency the Governor to the Speaker, dated 5 November 2008, advising of bills assented to.

REPORT

Members’ Daily Travelling Allowance Claims

Mr SPEAKER: Honourable members, I lay upon the table of the House the annual report of dailytravelling allowance claims by members of the Legislative Assembly for 2007-08.Tabled paper: Annual report of the daily travelling allowance claims by members of the Legislative Assembly for 2007-08,prepared pursuant to section 1.3.1 of the Members’ Entitlements Handbook.

SPEAKER’S STATEMENT

Queensland Parliament Employee of the Year

Mr SPEAKER: As per our procedure last year, in conjunction with the parliamentary mediagallery a parliamentary employee will be voted by members of parliament and members of the mediagallery the most outstanding Queensland Parliament employee of the year.

The winner will be announced at the ball on 14 November 2008. Forms will be distributed in thechamber for members to use in nominating the members’ and gallery’s choice for most outstandingQueensland Parliament employee for 2008. Please place the completed forms in the ballot box locatedbehind the chamber by 4 pm this Thursday, 13 November 2008.

3328 Motion of Condolence 11 Nov 2008

MOTION OF CONDOLENCE

Houston, Mr JWHon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Premier) (9.33 am): I move—

1. That this House desires to place on record its appreciation of the services rendered to this state by the late John WilliamHouston, a former member of the Parliament of Queensland.

2. That Mr Speaker be requested to convey to the family of the deceased gentleman the above resolution, together with anexpression of the sympathy and sorrow of the members of the Parliament of Queensland in the loss they have sustained.John William Houston, better know as Jack, was born on 30 December 1919 in Wick, Scotland.

Arriving in Australia in 1923, he was educated at Bulimba and Morningside state schools, BrisbaneState High School and the Brisbane Technical College. Mr Houston started his working career as anapprentice electrician with the Brisbane City Council, becoming a qualified electrical fitter and mechanicin 1941. From 1945 to 1957 he was a teacher of electrical trades at the Brisbane Technical College.

Mr Houston was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1957 by winning the seat ofBulimba for the Australian Labor Party. It was a seat he was to hold until his retirement in 1980. Duringhis parliamentary career, Mr Houston rose to be Leader of the Opposition from 1966 to 1974, DeputyLeader of the Opposition from 1976 to 1980 and undertook stints as shadow Treasurer and shadowminister for police. At various times during his time in this place Mr Houston was a member ofparliamentary delegations to South-East Asia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Japan andwas a delegate to the Australian constitutional conventions in 1973, 1976 and 1978.

In his maiden speech to this House on 5 September 1957, Mr Houston canvassed a range ofissues, including those relating to workforce changes being brought about as manual labour wasreplaced by the use of machines. He also was concerned by the need to consider extending the amountof leave available to workers, the technical trade teacher education and examination system, the needfor secondary schools to cover agricultural subjects and problems relating to rental housing allocation,themes that continued during his parliamentary career.

Mr Houston was vice-president of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party from1969 to 1974. Throughout his life he held many positions within the Labor Party, including on the statecouncil and the state executive, and was also on the federal council of the Electrical Trades Union. MrHouston was also an Electrical Trades Union delegate to the Australian Council of Trade Unions andprovided community service to many social and charitable bodies. When attending his funeral I waspleased to talk to members of the P&C of his local high school on which he served as not only thefounding president of the P&C but which he continued to serve on for 14 years. The school was veryappreciative of his contribution over that period. In 1981 Mr Houston received the honour of becoming amember of the Order of Australia for his parliamentary and community service and in 2001 he wasawarded the Centenary Medal, an award that recognised significant contributions to Australian societyor government.

A service for Jack Houston was held on 31 October 2008 at St Rita’s Catholic Church at VictoriaPoint. It is often said that one of the characteristics of a good leader is that they are able to bring peopletogether over previously entrenched divides. I think it was these characteristics that were most obviousabout Jack Houston at his funeral.

As the Catholic priest who presided over his funeral ceremony noted at the beginning of theservice, we had gathered together to mark the life of a Scottish Presbyterian in a Catholic church. Theeulogies were not only moving testaments from members of his family, including his grandchildren bywhom he is dearly loved, but also from a former National Party member of this parliament, Brian Cahill,who not only served with Jack Houston but also went on to become a life-long friend in the local area,and I think, most remarkably of all, the brethren from his local masonic lodge attended the funeral at theCatholic church and incorporated a masonic ritual during the service. For those of us who understandsomething of the times in which Jack Houston lived and worked, we understand the extraordinary natureof that event. It does say something. It was a true ecumenical event for a great man. Supporters onhand also included members of the Electrical Trades Union and the Redlands Scottish and CelticSociety. I am sure he would have been very pleased to have seen the bagpipes out on display on thatday. Such an event was great testament to his standing in his local community and to his broad appealas a thinker and as a member of the political family.

Mr Houston’s 23-year parliamentary career was served all in opposition—a 23-year career inopposition where Jack never got to sit on this side of the House. But his leadership was part of thepainful journey that restored electoral credibility to the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party.The opportunity for successive members of the Labor team to be electorally credible is due to many ofthe causes and fights within the Labor Party of which Jack Houston was a part.

Jack was a man of the people and he was respected for his preparedness to keep taking up thefight to what he saw as a corrupt Bjelke-Petersen regime. He led the Labor Party through some of itslongest and darkest years, and he played a healing role in battling its own internal clashes. When allwould have looked beyond hope, he stayed true to his own Labor values and beliefs.

11 Nov 2008 Motion of Condolence 3329

At his funeral people spoke of his many, many achievements, particularly those within his localcommunity. However, I think it was his grandson who most movingly said that if Jack could talk to theaudience about the achievement of which he was most proud in his life he would have recognised hismarriage of more than 60 years to his beloved wife, who is now in the care of a nursing home and wasunable to attend his funeral but whom Jack visited every single day of the past 10 years while she hasresided in that home. Again, that is a testament to a great family man.

I am very pleased that Jack’s daughter, Jenny, is able to join us in the gallery today. I take thisopportunity to extend my sympathy to Jenny and all members of Jack Houston’s family, as well as thesympathies of the whole House.

Mr SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—LNP) (Leader of the Opposition) (9.40 am): I rise to joinwith the Premier and speak on the passing of ALP stalwart and member for Bulimba Jack Houston AM.Jack Houston entered parliament in 1957 and, after 23 years of notable and distinguished service to thepeople of Queensland, he left in 1980. In 1966 he rose to the position of Leader of the Opposition. Heled his party until 1974 and was later deputy leader under then opposition leader Tom Burns. Aroundparliament he was affectionately known by the nickname of ‘Daddy’.

Jack Houston left school to train as an electrical fitter and mechanic. He worked as an electricaltrades teacher with state education and it was during this time that he became involved in trade unionmatters and joined the Labor Party in 1944. Outside parliament Jack Houston was a successfulgreyhound owner and board member of the TAB. At one time he was president of the World GreyhoundRacing Federation.

Jack Houston’s longstanding parliamentary service and his work in the community wererecognised in 1981 when he was made a member of the Order of Australia. The LNP notes with respectand acknowledgement his passing on 27 October, aged 87. Our condolences are passed on to hisfamily in this most difficult of personal times.

Hon. RE SCHWARTEN (Rockhampton—ALP) (Minister for Public Works, Housing andInformation and Communication Technology) (9.42 am): Firstly, I welcome Jenny to the parliament. If‘Daddy’ were here, he would be very proud to see her. I first met ‘Daddy’ Houston in 1966 when hecame to Rockhampton to what was then a very innovative practice, which he started, of regionalconferences. I remember my father saying to me, ‘That’s Jack Houston. Go over and bite him forsixpence.’ I went over to Jack and said, ‘Dad said to bite you for sixpence.’ He put his hand in his pocketand pulled out—guess what, Jenny—the purse! He carried his money in a purse. He fished around in itand said, ‘I haven’t got one’ and put it back in his pocket. He was well known for and quite proud of hisScottish ancestry in that regard.

Ms Bligh: Like a former Premier!Mr SCHWARTEN: He was very much like the former Premier. Jack was a man of great principle

in very torrid times. It should be remembered that he was elected just after the split and stuck to theLabor principles, which were so hard to find in those days. He kept that going. It is a matter of absolutetruth and record that in 1972 he came the closest to beating Joh. He subsequently lost the leadership.1974 saw the greatest disaster in Queensland Labor politics when we were reduced to the size of acricket team. That is a testament to the style of his leadership, which fell away subsequent to his demiseas the leader.

After he left parliament the greatest contribution he made across his life was in the racingindustry. When I became the racing minister—and Pat Purcell will remember this—the first bloke whocame to see me was Jack. At that time he owned a champion thoroughbred, which he spent a fair bit oftime on. Basically, Jack knew everything there was to know about dogs. He was a great breeder.

Ms Bligh: And a judge.Mr SCHWARTEN: He was a judge and not a biased one either, Jenny, although he was accused

of being so on a couple of occasions. I think he had a great fondness for collies at some stage in his life. He was a very good man, and testament to that is the fact that he is very well regarded in Labor

history. He passed on a great legacy of how to deal with one’s constituents. His advice to youngmembers of parliament was to always carry a dollar in your pocket. Why was it a dollar? Because inthose days that was the smallest note you could carry. If you did not have a dollar, you might have hadto put in a fiver. The story goes—and I do not know if Jenny will remember this—that prior to the openingof a church in his electorate he attended a fete where he spent the dollar. He asked ‘Mummy’, who wassitting next to him, if she had a dollar and she didn’t. Unfortunately, when he looked in his wallet thesmallest denomination he had was a $20 note, so in it went. As I say, he was a great man. I saw him afew years ago and I asked him whether that story was true. He said, ‘No, it’s absolutely not true. Ialways said a fiver, not a dollar!’

Old mate, rest in peace. You have done the Labor Party proud. You are one of our favourite sons.You have contributed greatly. These days in most cases it may not be unusual to spend most of one’spolitical life in government. That is something that he never enjoyed, although it was not through a lackof trying. His legacy was that he came the closest to ever beating Joh. Rest in peace, old mate.

3330 Motion of Condolence 11 Nov 2008

Mr HORAN (Toowoomba South—LNP) (9.46 am): From my life before this parliament, when Iwas involved with the Toowoomba Showgrounds, I remember very fondly Jack Houston as chairman ofthe Greyhound Racing Control Board. Hearing the stories today, it seems somewhat incongruous thatthe two people who most helped us establish the wonderful greyhound complex at the newshowgrounds were Jack Houston and Russ Hinze.

I remember Jack Houston as an absolute gentleman. He was a wonderful fellow to know and toseek advice from. It was difficult for us to establish the greyhound complex in partnership with theshowgrounds and greyhound racing. Jack was unstinting in the time that he gave to visit the oldToowoomba Showgrounds and eventually the new showgrounds where we built the complex. I am quitesure that without his learned advice and support, as well as the support of the Greyhound RacingControl Board, we would never have established that particular facility. I would like his family to know ofthe wonderful contribution that he made to our city and to greyhound racing in particular. He was awonderful gentleman to know.

Mr PURCELL (Bulimba—ALP) (9.47 am): I would also like to contribute to the condolence motionfor John William Houston, known as Jack. As the member for Bulimba, Jack was a local who was wellknown and loved. He undertook the role of local member with a great deal of dignity and caring from1957 to 1980. As well as being the member for Bulimba, he was leader of the opposition and shadowTreasurer. The workload would have been horrendous for Jack, particularly as for most of those yearshis entire staff consisted of one secretary/typist/clerk—that is, when he had any staff at all. As a memberof the opposition he had no staff at all.

Jack was leader of the opposition from 1966 to 1974. Those of us who remember back that farwill know that they were very turbulent times. There was the Vietnam War, high unemployment andwidespread industrial action. Queensland was changing from a rural based economy to a largeinternational mineral explorer. There were droughts, mice plagues and regular cyclones. We think weget a lot of cyclones now, but we had a lot back in those days also. On top of all that, Joh Bjelke-Petersen was Premier.

Jack’s beloved wife, Joan, worked tirelessly alongside him, supporting him, particularly with theworkload in his electorate. He had a very busy electorate. Jack was always the first to say that withouther he did not believe he could have coped.

My earliest memories of Jack are listening to him campaigning from the back of a truck in FifthAvenue with a megaphone. At that time Jack and I both lived off Fifth Avenue, Balmoral. Jack and Joanand their family lived in Kuranda Street just down the road next to friends of mine, Shirley and BillThornhill. So I regularly saw Jack whenever I went to visit Shirley and Bill.

Jack’s reputation of being a gentleman was very accurate. He was a a ‘gentle man’ in everysense of the word. So you can imagine how surprised his staff were to listen to a parliamentary debateon the budget—and this was not long after Jack became the shadow Treasurer as well as leader—between Jack and the then Treasurer, Sir Gordon Chalk, with raised voices in an extremely heateddebate. After about 20 minutes of this tirade the parliament suspended for lunch and Jack returned tohis office bright red in the face. If you know Jack, you will know that he got bright red in the face when hegot excited. He slammed the door behind him and sat down at his desk. Everyone was in shock and wasvery quiet. This was very out of character for Jack. Suddenly in the silence there was a tapping at thedoor and Sir Gordon Chalk appeared around the corner and said, ‘Right for lunch, mate?’ ‘Sure,’ he saidand off they went together to enjoy their lunch in direct defiance of then Premier Bjelke-Petersen’s edictthat government members were not to socialise with those despised Labor Party people. At the end oflunch parliament resumed and without missing a beat the pair of them took up their argument exactlywhere they had left off but with renewed energy, yelling and thumping, taking up their views on thebudget from their different sides of politics.

When asked later about how he was able to turn off, sit and enjoy a meal with someone he wasso angry with, he calmly explained that a difference of political opinion was one thing but it never shouldbe carried outside the chamber. ‘You should never choose your friends based solely on their politicalpersuasion,’ he said. What sound advice. I believe that typifies his personality and explains why he wasso highly regarded by both sides of the House.

Jack lived a very full life outside of politics. His love of animals and particularly dogs, as has beensaid here today by Robbie Schwarten, is well documented. To him, his home was never completeunless there was a four-legged companion in the house.

But nothing surpassed his love of family—his son, Graham, and daughter, Jenny, who is heretoday, and she and I spent some time with Jack just recently—and the love and pride he had not only forthem but also for his grandchildren and then in more recent years his great-grandchildren. They were alla great source of love and comfort to him.

11 Nov 2008 Motion of Condolence 3331

His greatest sadness was the forced separation from his lifelong love and his best mate, Joan,whose illness resulted in her having to move into a nursing home. Every day that he was physically ableJack would go to the home, feed Joan her breakfast, massage her back and feet and sit quietly and talkto her. She was the love of his life. To Jack’s children, Graham and Jenny, and their families, my deepestsympathy. He was a wonderful man who will be sadly missed by everyone who ever had the pleasure ofknowing him.

Mr ENGLISH (Redlands—ALP) (9.52 am): I first met Jack Houston back in 2000 following mypreselection for the seat of Redlands. As a new candidate running in a marginal National Party seat, itwas obvious that I needed all the advice I could get, and Jack Houston was ready and willing to offer it.I guess the fact that I won the seat in the 2001 election is proof of the quality of advice that I receivedfrom Jack. Given that Jack had been a member of parliament from 1957 until he retired in 1980,including being the Leader of the Opposition from 1966 until 1974, the quality of advice should neverhave been in doubt.

Over the intervening years Jack was always an important touchstone for me as I faced thechallenges involved in learning what it means to be a member of parliament. Don’t think, however, thatJack and I always agreed. A number of years ago the government decided to ban the tail docking ofdogs. As a long time dog enthusiast, member of the Canine Control Council, international dog judge andboard member and president of the Gabba Greyhound Racing Club, Jack disagreed with that decision.Jack and I had to agree to disagree on that issue, but it never affected our friendship.

Other members have spoken about Jack the politician. This morning I would like to try to do somejustice to Jack Houston the person. I intend to share some stories that I heard at his funeral along withsome observations from my friendship with Jack Houston.

Jack Houston was an electrician, a strong and proud unionist with the Electrical Trades Union, adelegate to the Australian Council of Trade Unions and a member of the Australian Labor Party. Thesefeatures could never have been in doubt when you hear this story about Jack’s father, James. Jackrecalled that one of his parents’ backyard parties became a bit of a dry affair after his father refused toaccept delivery of the beer keg because it was one of the new steel kegs and he refused to drink beerfrom steel kegs in support of the local coopers who relied on the demand for wooden beer kegs for theirlivelihood.

Jack had a passion for dog breeding and threw himself into it, and he eventually became aninternationally renowned All Breeds Championship judge officiating at shows around Australia and theworld. A story I heard about this aspect of Jack’s life gives a great insight into Jack the man. At onestage, Jack was president of the Cocker Spaniel Club. A young man from ‘south of the border’,Lieutenant Colonel Ray Underwood OAM (Retired), sought election to the board of the Canine ControlCouncil. Jack wrote a letter on behalf of the Cocker Spaniel Club criticising the appointment ofMr Underwood. After Lieutenant Colonel Underwood’s appointment, some 12 months later Jackapproached Mr Underwood and admitted that he was wrong in his assessment of Mr Underwood. Howmany politicians today would be big enough to admit they had been wrong? Jack was that kind of man.It is interesting to note that Mr Underwood and Jack later became partners in a number of racinggreyhounds.

Dee Byster-Graham, another dog judge of that era, has told me that she learnt more aboutjudging terriers in one day with Jack Houston than she learnt in a previous six-month course. In lateryears Jack expanded his love of animals and racing to investments in a number of racehorses. I wouldsit with Jack as he kept me informed about the exploits of his horses. One of his proudest days waswhen his horse Polar Success, which he part owned, won the Golden Slipper. To see the joy on his faceas he recounted her successful race was a pleasure to behold.

Jack was born in Wick, Scotland, and was extremely proud of his Scottish ancestry. Jack was afounding member of the Redlands Scottish and Celtic Society, and it was extremely moving whenmembers of the Redlands Scottish and Celtic Society Pipe Band played at his funeral and piped Jackfrom the church. I would like to thank Harry MacKenzie and the other members of the band for theirattendance.

It is impossible to talk about Jack without mentioning the love of his life: his wife, Joan. Jack oftensaid that Joan was his right arm whilst he was the member for Bulimba. In Jack’s days, members did nothave electorate staff and those duties fell on his wife, Joan. Jack often spoke about his love, respect andappreciation for the efforts and work, on Jack’s behalf, of his lovely wife, Joan. Whilst Joan has facedsome challenging health issues in recent years, Jack proudly declared that it was ‘his time’ to give backto Joan. Almost every day since I have known Jack he has visited his wife, Joan, in the nursing home inwhich she is being cared for. Jack’s love and commitment to his wife, Joan, can be without question.

3332 Petitions 11 Nov 2008

Jack was a gentleman. Jack had the respect of his peers on both sides of this House. The mostimportant thing I have learnt from Jack Houston is that, whilst politics is important, your personalreputation, your word, your honour is more important. Jack never forgot that.

I would like to acknowledge Jack’s daughter, Jenny, who is in the Speaker’s Gallery this morning.I hope I can in some small way live up to Jack Houston’s memory and legacy. On his passing the worldis a much poorer place. Rest in peace, Jack Houston.

Mr SPEAKER: Honourable members, as Speaker of the House I also want to say a few wordsabout the late Jack Houston. I first met Jack Houston in the late sixties in Townsville. Having been theLeader of the Opposition from 1966 to 1974, Jack regularly visited Townsville and campaigned not onlyin election years but also throughout that eight-year period when he was the Leader of the Opposition.

Listening to the different speakers today has brought back a few memories to me as well.Someone talked about the megaphones. Of course in those times megaphones was what it was allabout. If you did not have megaphones on a car or on a truck you did not campaign. It was a verydifferent campaign style.

Honourable members, I was selected as a young 25-year-old to contest the seat of Townsville asit was first formed in those days. For those who know the geography of Townsville, it went from Giru,right out to North Ward and the inner city and Pallarenda. Then it jumped from there to Giru and then itjumped from there to Rollingstone, from the boundary, and then it jumped from there to the boundary atStuart and went to Reid River. It was not a seat that could easily be won by the Australian Labor Party.

I can remember with a great deal of fondness Jack Houston as the leader when I was a young 25-year-old. I was very much encouraged by Jack in my campaign even though there was a small chanceof possibly winning that campaign. I remember driving around with Jack and having the doublemegaphones on my Holden Kingswood. We even went down to Giru. We were campaigning at Giru oneday and we had the car outside what is affectionately known as the ‘Giru International Hotel’, and whoshould come up to campaign near us but Sir Gordon Chalk and a local chap by the name of Orm Snell,who was a well-known Liberal supporter at that time.

I have also had a relationship with Jack as Speaker of the Parliament. Jack played a very strongrole in the former members group, which is still active in parliament. Indeed, in December they havetheir former members dinner. If I could say one thing today about this great gentleman, Jack Houston, itis this: he always revered and respected the ordinary bloke and the ordinary woman, and he was a greatLabor leader. I have been very pleased to interact with the late Jack Houston as a member of the formermembers group. I say to all honourable members on all sides: the work that Jack Houston did for 23years—that very difficult time from 1957 to 1980—is quite often forgotten by many honourable memberswho may not have known him. I think we really have to give our support to our former members in thatway, and Jack was the leader of the former members group. I would like to express my condolences toJack’s daughter, Jenny, who is in the gallery today, and to his wife, Joan. Our thoughts are very muchwith you at this sad time.

Question put—That the motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.

Whereupon honourable members stood in silence.

SPEAKER’S STATEMENT

Resumption of Question Time After Condolence MotionMr SPEAKER: Honourable members, in accordance with sessional order No. 4, the order of

business will now resume and question time will commence shortly before one hour from now, at10.58 am.

PETITIONSThe Clerk presented the following paper petitions, lodged by the honourable members indicated—

Compulsory Third Party InsuranceMr Moorhead, from 830 petitioners, requesting the House to amend the existing compulsory third party insurance system tointroduce a scheme like that existing in Tasmania and Victoria where, regardless of fault, every injured driver is insured for thecosts of medical treatment, rehabilitation services, disability services, income assistance, travel and household support servicesthat are required as a result of injuries from a transport accident and, in the case of drivers killed in a transport accident, funeralexpenses, family support and grief counselling.

11 Nov 2008 Tabled Papers 3333

Energex, PowerlinesMrs Stuckey, from 2,531 petitioners, requesting the House to direct Energex to put powerlines underground or construct themaway from a built up suburban area; and undertake to fully inform all members of the suburbs Mudgeeraba, Reedy Creek,Tallebudgera, Elanora, Palm Beach, Currumbin and Tugun of their proposal.

The Clerk presented the following e-petitions, sponsored by the honourable members indicated—

Baffle CreekMr Lee from 110 petitioners, requesting the House to protect the Baffle Creek’s pristine environment and flows from dams andweirs by placing it under permanent preservation legislation.

International Medical GraduatesMr Fenlon from 69 petitioners, requesting the House to request the House to address the crisis in the General Practice workforceby temporarily suspending the District of Workforce Shortage designation to allow the employment of International MedicalGraduates (IMG) in inner metropolitan areas; reduce to 3 years the period after which an IMG has access to an unrestrictedprovider number; give exemption from the provider number legislation to IMGs; and identify and support Australian trained GPs toreturn to the workforce by offering skilling and financial incentives.

Redland City Council, Rate IncreasesMr English from 12 petitioners, requesting the House to consider the exorbitant rates rise imposed on the land owners of theMoreton Bay Islands and the mainland of the Redlands area and to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

JurorsMr Springborg from 14 petitioners, requesting the House to consider making every Juror a ‘worker’ under the Workers’Compensation Act 2003.Petitions received.

TABLED PAPERSPAPERS TABLED DURING THE RECESSThe Clerk informed the House that the following papers, received during the recess, were tabled on the dates indicated—31 October 2008—4387 CS Energy Limited—Annual Report 2007-084388 CS Energy Limited—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084389 Energex Limited—Annual Report 2007-084390 Energex Limited—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084391 Ergon Energy Corporation Ltd—Annual Stakeholder Report 2007-084392 Ergon Energy Corporation Ltd—Annual Financial Report 2007-084393 Ergon Energy Corporation Ltd—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084394 Powerlink Queensland—Annual Report 2007-084395 Powerlink Queensland—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084396 Stanwell Corporation Limited—Annual Report 2007-084397 Stanwell Corporation Limited—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084398 Tarong Energy Corporation Ltd—Annual Report 2007-084399 Tarong Energy Corporation Ltd—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084400 Queensland Transport—Annual Report 2007-08 Volume 14401 Queensland Transport—Annual Report 2007-08 Volume 2: Financial Report4402 Port of Brisbane Corporation—Annual Report 2007-084403 Port of Brisbane Corporation—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084404 Ports Corporation of Queensland—Annual Report 2007-084405 Ports Corporation of Queensland—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084406 Gladstone Ports Corporation—Annual Report 2007-084407 Central Queensland Port Authority—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084408 Cairns Ports Limited—Annual Report 2007-084409 Cairns Port Authority—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084410 Port of Townsville Limited—Annual Report 2007-084411 Port of Townsville Limited—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084412 QR Limited—Annual Report 2007-084413 QR Limited—Financial Report 2007-084414 QR Limited—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084415 Letter (undated) from the Treasurer (Mr Fraser) to the Clerk of the Parliament in relation to the Access Economics Report

titled ‘The impacts of greenhouse gas abatement targets on the Queensland Economy’ and Technical Appendices to theGarnaut Report on Climate Change

3334 Tabled Papers 11 Nov 2008

4416 Report by Access Economics Pty Limited for Queensland Treasury titled ‘The impacts of greenhouse gas abatementtargets on the Queensland economy’

4417 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 1—Introduction and Overview of Approach toEconomic Modelling—October 2008

4418 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 2—Climate Data Methodology andAssumptions—October 2008

4419 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 3—Assumptions and Data Sources—October2008

4420 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 4—Methodology for Modelling the EconomicEffects of Climate Change—October 2008

4421 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 5—Modelling the Cost of Unmitigated ClimateChange—October 2008

4422 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 6—Global Climate Change Mitigation:Implications for Australia—October 2008

4423 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Economic Modelling Technical Paper 7—The Net Cost of Climate Change Mitigation forAustralia—October 2008

3 November 2008—4424 Department of Housing—Annual Report 2007-084425 Residential Tenancies Authority—Annual Report 2007-084426 Building Services Authority—Annual Report 2007-084427 Building and Construction Industry Payments Agency—Annual Report 2007-084428 Department of Public Works—Annual Report 2007-084429 Department of Public Works—Financial Report 2007-084430 Board of Professional Engineers—Annual Report 2007-084431 Board of Architects of Queensland—Annual Report 2007-084432 Queensland State Archives—Annual Report 2007-084433 Office of the Governor—Annual Report 2007-084434 Office of the Information Commissioner Queensland—Annual Report 2007-084435 Queensland Law Society—Annual Report 2007-084436 Electricity (Retail Billing Guaranteed Service Level Scheme) Code (First Edition: made 15 September 2008 effective 19

September 2008) made under the Electricity Act 19944437 Electricity Industry Code (Fourth Edition: made 31 July 2008 effective 4 August 2008) made under the Electricity Act 19944438 National Gas Rules 20084 November 2008—4439 Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board—Annual Report 2007-085 November 2008—4440 Response from the Minister for Main Roads and Local Government (Mr Pitt) to a paper petition (1125-08) presented by Mr

Messenger from 549 petitioners requesting that all reasonable steps be taken to halt all work on the Agnes Water Sewageand Desalination Scheme

4441 Queensland Parliamentary Service—Annual Report 2007-084442 Queensland Treasury—Annual Report 2007-084443 Queensland Future Growth Corporation—Annual Report 2007-084444 QSuper Board of Trustees—Annual Report 2007-084445 QIC Limited—Annual Report 2007-084446 QIC Limited—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-084447 Motor Accident Insurance Commission—Annual Report 2007-084448 Forestry Plantations Queensland and Forestry Plantations Queensland Office—Annual Report 2007-084449 Response from the Minister for Health (Mr Robertson) to a paper petition (1115-08) presented by Mr Foley from 1738

petitioners requesting the employment by Queensland Health of a dermatologist for the Fraser Coast area or for publicpatients to be treated by a private dermatologist through the Queensland health system

4450 Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Council—Annual Report 2007-084451 Mining Safety and Health Advisory Council—Annual Report 2007-084452 Boards of Examiners (Statutory certificates of competency for safe mine management)—Annual Report 2007-086 November 2008—4453 Response from the Minister for Education and Training Minister for the Arts (Mr Welford) to a paper petition (1133-08)

presented by Mrs Menkens from 69 petitioners regarding the possible closure of the Majors Creek State School4454 Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

11 Nov 2008 Tabled Papers 3335

4455 Gold Coast Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

4456 Ipswich Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

4457 Redcliffe Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

4458 Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

4459 Sunshine Coast Health Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

4460 The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

4461 The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation—Financial Statements 2007-08

4462 Toowoomba Hospital Foundation—Annual Report 2007-08

7 November 2008—

4463 Mackay Ports Limited—Annual Report 2007-08

4464 Mackay Port Authority—Statement of Corporate Intent 2007-08

4465 Response from the Minister for Health (Mr Robertson) to two paper petitions (1095-08 and 1105-08) presented by MrHobbs from 16 and 17 petitioners respectively, requesting that there be no reduction of services provided by the FlyingObstetrician and Gynaecologist (FOG) operating from Roma

10 November 2008—

4466 Response from the Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport (Ms Spence) to a paper petition (1122-08) presentedby Mr Reeves from 740 petitioners regarding police numbers allocated to Dysart

4467 Crime and Misconduct Commission—Annual Report 2007-08

4468 Energy Ombudsman Queensland—Annual Report 2007-08

STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

The following statutory instruments were tabled by the Clerk—

Integrated Planning Act 1997—

4477 Integrated Planning Amendment Regulation (No. 5) 2008, No. 358

Plant Protection Act 1989—

4478 Plant Protection Amendment Regulation (No. 6) 2008, No. 359

Rural and Regional Adjustment Act 1994—

4479 Rural and Regional Adjustment Amendment Regulation (No. 6) 2008, No. 360

Land Sales Act 1984—

4480 Land Sales Amendment Regulation (No. 2) 2008, No. 361

Water Act 2000—

4481 Water Resource (Moreton) Amendment Plan (No. 1) 2008, No. 362

Corrective Services and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2008—

4482 Proclamation commencing remaining provisions, No. 363

Liquor Act 1992—

4483 Liquor Amendment Regulation (No. 3) 2008, No. 364

4484 Explanatory Notes for No. 364

Transport Planning and Coordination Act 1994—

4485 Transport Planning and Coordination Amendment Regulation (No. 2) 2008, No. 365

Geothermal Exploration Act 2004, Mineral Resources Act 1989, Petroleum Act 1923, Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety)Act 2004—

4486 Mines and Energy Legislation Amendment Regulation (No. 5) 2008, No. 366

Mineral Resources Act 1989—

4487 Mineral Resources Amendment Regulation (No. 4) 2008, No. 367

Aboriginal Land Act 1991—

4488 Aboriginal Land Amendment Regulation (No. 4) 2008, No. 368

Fisheries Act 1994, River Improvement Trust Act 1940, Water Act 2000—

4489 Water and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation (No. 2) 2008, No. 369

Environmental Protection Act 1994—

4490 Environmental Protection Regulation 2008, No. 370

4491 Regulatory Impact Statement

4492 Explanatory Notes for No. 370

3336 Ministerial Statements 11 Nov 2008

Mr SPEAKER: Honourable members, I welcome to the public gallery today teachers andstudents from the Gladstone West State School, which is in the electorate of Gladstone, which isrepresented in this House by Mrs Liz Cunningham.

MINISTERIAL PAPER

Electoral Commission of QueenslandHon. KG SHINE (Toowoomba North—ALP) (Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and

Minister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland) (10.05 am): I lay upon the table of the House theElectoral Commission of Queensland’s annual report for 2007-08. I commend the report to the House.Tabled paper: Electoral Commission of Queensland—Annual Report 2007-08.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

Queensland EconomyHon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Premier) (10.05 am): No member of this House should

be in any doubt about the size or the significance of the global financial crisis or its impact on theworldwide economy. There is not a student of economics or the social sciences from here on who willnot be required to look back on 2008 and understand the impact of what has occurred. No country andno individual is immune. This is no exaggeration. The International Monetary Fund has described thecrisis as the worst since the Great Depression. Queenslanders are right to feel concerned. Retireeshave seen a large chunk of their superannuation disappear, while mums and dads are worried aboutwhether their savings are enough to support the family during this unprecedented time of economicupheaval.

I have no doubt that, as I speak, families around Queensland are sitting around the kitchen tablereassessing their spending priorities. The bottom line is that, when there is less money flowing into thetin, there needs to be less money flowing out. Our government is doing nothing different from that ofQueensland families. Whether you are sitting around a kitchen table, a boardroom table or a cabinettable, budgeting is all about picking priorities. It is no secret that revenues are down. The federalgovernment has revised its own figures and forecasts, leaving Queensland with $241 million less inGST funding in this financial year.

The Treasurer last week underlined the seriousness of the situation. In net terms, the downwardrevision of state government revenues yet to be confirmed in next month’s midyear review is likely to bemore than $700 million. But our government has a proven track record of economic management. It wasour government that lifted this state out of very difficult economic times during the last slump with ourclear focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. It is this government that has grown the economy each year that we havebeen in government at a faster rate than the national average. Our economic credentials are rock solid.

Now we face our biggest challenge: ensuring that we can balance the books at a time of the mostsignificant financial crisis the world has seen for more than almost 100 years. There is not a credibleeconomic commentator anywhere who would not acknowledge that the world is now a very differentplace from what it was at budget time this year. As responsible economic managers, we need to adjustand we need to adjust quickly to that change. We will be pouring over this year’s budget to ensure that,despite the downturn in revenues, we are still able to provide the essentials to those who need it.

As the government carefully considers the impacts on the state’s economy and budget, thepeople of Queensland can be assured of a number of things. The first is that front-line services—health,education, policing and similar areas—will remain our top priorities. The other is that we will do ourutmost to quarantine our job-creating capital program, particularly projects underway.

Queensland can still expect to face the enormous challenge of very large population growth. Asthe effects of this downturn are felt throughout the rest of Australia, there is even a prospect thatinterstate migration may increase as southern states find it harder to cope. In these times we willcontinue to look over the horizon and anticipate that growth. We will be building and rebuilding theinfrastructure needed to meet the challenge of that growing population. As we slip into unchartedeconomic waters, now is not the time to be cutting back on essential services and there will be nodisastrous capital works freeze of the kind that we have seen in the past under the last Liberal-Nationalgovernment.

My government will carefully consider the options. It is absolutely essential that we get this right. Itis a serious business that requires our most careful and rigorous attention. We will take the timenecessary between now and December to do that, without engaging in the premature speculation ofthose with a political motive.

11 Nov 2008 Ministerial Statements 3337

On Tuesday, 2 December the Treasurer will release a major economic statement which will be theproduct of this work. This government’s response is to global circumstances not of this state’s making.This statement will provide a full update of midyear forecasts on revenue and growth. Our government iscommitted to ensuring that the future Queensland economy remains strong. A strong economy is one ofour highest priorities and one that we have identified in our long-term vision for Queensland’s futurethrough Q2.

We are committed to getting the state ready for the inevitable consequences to come. We arecommitted to securing the jobs and financial future of all Queenslanders. Now is not the time to lie downand hope it will all go away. The global financial crisis is not of our making. We would not have chosen toface it, but face it we will. We are a government ready to make the tough decisions in the best interestsof Queensland.

Remembrance DayHon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Premier) (10.10 am): Ninety years ago today at the

11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month an armistice was signed to finally bring to an end the FirstWorld War. More than 60,000 young Australians died and countless others were wounded in the terribleslaughter of trench warfare. Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, as we now know it, was celebrated inthe hope that this great war would bring to an end all wars. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Today, more than 100,000 Australians have died in conflicts throughout the world. It is for thesebrave Australians that services will be held at 11 am at war memorials in suburbs and towns acrossQueensland today. It is a sad fact that young people continue to give their lives for our country. Thisyear, two young Australians died battling the Taliban in Afghanistan. As a society we should never takefor granted that sort of self-sacrifice. Just as they have for the last 90 years, the words ‘Lest we forget’are a poignant reminder to all Queenslanders of the great debt that we owe.

As we contemplate and honour this debt, I note an article in the print media today about avandalised memorial at the Cleveland cemetery. It serves as an important reminder of my government’sCommunity Memorials Restoration Program. The program, administered by the Department of PublicWorks, partners with local government and other organisations and community groups to restorememorials, monuments, graves and historical sites. Funding is given to local organisations on a dollar-for-dollar basis to undertake the projects.

Since its inception, more than 240 projects across the state have received funding totalling morethan $2.9 million. Last month Minister Schwarten approved funding of $700,000 for a further 51 projectsin 37 communities across Queensland. It is this program that allows our communities to restore thosemonuments that have either suffered disrepair because of the passage of time or quite shockingly arethe subject of vandalism.

Another important issue I note today is a desire to develop an official register of the warmemorials that are scattered across Queensland. I think this is a terrific idea. I am happy to advise theHouse that the minister for public works has asked his department to investigate the development ofsuch a register. It may be very possible that this can be funded out of the existing memorials programand would certainly add to the strength of that program.

Road Safety; Fines and PenaltiesHon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Premier) (10.13 am): In 2008 our road toll stands at

283. Some 283 Queenslanders have died on our roads. However, a figure alone cannot tell the full story.Behind every number is a person—a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a son or a daughter. For eachlife lost dozens more are affected by trauma, grief and devastation. The cost to us as a society isincalculable. One death on our roads is one death too many.

We need to keep reinforcing the message that dangerous and illegal activities like speeding, drinkand drug driving, hooning and careless behaviour too often lead to tragedy. That is why I am pleased toannounce today that an increase in the penalty unit for traffic and other offences in Queensland will fundone of the most significant new road safety packages that we have seen for many years.

The monetary value penalty in all infringement notices issued by the Queensland governmentand its agencies will increase from $75 to $100. This includes infringements when people have brokenthe law in relation to a raft of activities like road rules, boating safety, public nuisance and others. Thischange is expected to generate approximately $70 million in additional funds. The legislative changes tothe Penalties and Sentences Act will take effect from 1 January 2009. The bulk of the money will go toroad safety with the remainder to be considered in the midyear review.

Specific road safety initiatives to be funded will include: a significant increase of 106 policeofficers into our Traffic Branch; new hand-held laser speed detection devices, mobile radar speeddetection devices and speed cameras; new police motorcycles and Q-cars; and improvements to blackspots on our state’s roads. It will also be used for campaigns targeting specific behaviour, particularlyspeeding, and specific groups in the community such as young drivers.


This is the first increase in the penalty unit cost in Queensland for nine years—almost a decade.The majority of our fines will remain the lowest in Australia. Legislation has been reviewed to ensure thequantum of increase is not unfair or excessive. A sample of some of the fine increases include thefollowing. Where a driver fails to stop at a stop sign the fine will go from $225 to $300. Failing to stop ata stop sign is life-threatening behaviour. A driver failing to ensure that each passenger under 16 wears aseatbelt will go from $225 to $300. Failing to put children in seatbelts is life-threatening behaviour. A$300 fine certainly represents that.

The fine for smoking in a major sports facility will go from $150 to $200, reflecting the views of thebroad community on that issue. The fine for carrying out building work without a licence will go from$1,500 to $2,000, and so it should. There are many people in our community who have been veryalarmed by a spate of incidents involving cruelty to animals. The fines for killing or maiming an animalwill go from $34,500 to $50,000. I would suggest that there would be some people in our communitywho would believe that is not enough.

These increases will ensure the impact of the fines remain a strong deterrent to breaking the law,particularly in the area of road safety. We all know that $75 was a lot more valuable nine years ago thanit is now. On the subject of deterrents, I am happy to announce today that we will not be introducingdouble demerit points in holiday periods. This is based on an analysis of Queensland crash data whichshows that fewer road fatalities occur during holiday periods than non-holiday periods.

During 2007 and for the year to 24 March this year, the average daily holiday fatality rate duringlong weekends, public holidays and reporting periods was more than 50 per cent lower than the averagefor regular weekends. This reduction may be attributed to increased awareness of road safety throughmedia campaigns in holiday periods and increased police enforcement on the road during holidayperiods. It shows that what we are currently doing during holiday periods works without the need fordouble demerit points.

Bad behaviour and illegal behaviour on our roads leads to accidents and leads to a loss of life. Ifa driver knows that breaking the law will hit their hip pocket harder, it will hopefully lead to fewerpreventable accidents and deaths on our roads. I notice that already the opposition is carping aboutrevenue raising. Let me say two things. I would be very happy if we saw no increased revenue from thisincrease in fines because that would tell me that people are not breaking the law. For those who areunhappy about this increase, this is the easiest increase in government activity to avoid. It is simple. Ifpeople do not want to pay the fine then do not break the law. It is straightforward. If this extra money cansave just one life, it will be worth it.

A1GPHon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane—ALP) (Premier) (10.19 am): Australia’s premier sporting and

entertainment event on the Gold Coast is set to roar into action. Indy cars will no longer feature in thecarnival, but the exciting A1GP series will now join the V8s in October. We have reached in-principleagreement with the A1GP and expect to finalise contractual arrangements within the next week. TheA1GP is a world-class racing series with an action-packed race calendar that includes Great Britain,China, Mexico, Portugal, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa and the Netherlands. As aresult of this deal, Queensland’s Gold Coast will now be a permanent feature on the A1 calendar aswell. The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport features national teams, including Australia, competingagainst each other on a level playing field with identical cars. It is a true test of driver skill anddetermination, with the cars lapping three to four seconds quicker than Indy cars. Instead of racing for amanufacturer or a sponsor, they will be racing for their national flag. The cars use cutting-edgetechnology, with Ferrari signed up to a six-year deal to manufacture and supply all racing engines andconsult on design and manufacturing.

This decision will give a new lease of life to our event on the track, with all of the fun andexcitement off the track set to continue. We have seen Indy cars, CART, Champ Cars and the IndyRacing League in the 18-year history of this event. However, the A1GP series is one of the newest andmost exciting in the world. The audience for A1GP continues to grow each year, with the broadcastreaching more than 700 million households across the world during the year’s season. Televisionexposure equals tourism dollars, and more international tourists to our shores means jobs in the tourismsector and dollars into the local economy. The A1 is broadcast in more than 150 countries over 60television channels and has a broader reach into markets in Europe and Asia than the Indy had, whichhad a bigger focus on the US market. Today’s announcement is a terrific boost to the Gold Coast. It isgreat news for Gold Coast residents and tourism operators, and it is also great news for racing fans.

Queensland EconomyHon. AP FRASER (Mount Coot-tha—ALP) (Treasurer) (10.21 am): In the last week three key

sets of forecasts have been issued which are crucial to the finalisation of our forecast for theQueensland economy. At a national level, the federal Treasury and the Reserve Bank have both revisedtheir growth forecasts down and both have indicated that they see a likely increase to unemployment.


The International Monetary Fund has also moved to issue an update given the rapidly deterioratingoutlook for the global economy. The IMF only issued its statement five weeks ago but has moved toreissue such is the force and the pace of the deterioration being experienced. It has described the globalfinancial crisis as the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Forget the crash of ’87, the1970s and the Asian financial crisis; they are mere blips in comparison. Now the IMF has said that it isforecasting a contraction in the developed economies of the world. It forecasts a recession in the US,the UK, Japan and Europe. This is the first time a contraction has been forecast in the postwar period.We have not faced this before.

The challenges that confront the globe, in turn our nation and thus our state, are not to beunderestimated. The Reserve Bank yesterday in its statement on monetary policy made the case. It saidthat renewed financial turmoil which began in the second week of September materially altered thebalance of risks. The statement noted that the international environment has weakened considerablyand that next year’s growth in Australia’s trading partners is predicted to be almost half of the growth in2007. It forecasts economic growth of 1½ per cent—a figure that has not been seen for nearly ageneration. This new forecast suggests that the Australian economy will grow at less than one-third ofthe pace of Queensland’s growth last financial year.

I have consistently said that the fallout will hit Queensland. But let no-one peddle the untruth thatthey saw the size of this. Let no-one pretend that they knew or know precisely the full depths of how thefallout will affect the economy. The global financial crisis has been exported to Australia. It has not beencreated by Australia, but it falls to all of us to overcome the fallout. The challenge that confronts us is ahuge one. We need to deal with the challenge that arrived on our shores from the tidal wave ofdestruction that has washed over the globe from the global financial crisis. This government—Labor ingovernment—modernised the Queensland economy. This government delivered on the five per centunemployment target—not by accident but by a committed program of job creation for the future. Wemust confront these challenges but we must confront them, as we do, from a position of strength—witha strong economy and strong growth prospects, with the strength of our commitment to making thedifficult and necessary decisions. That is our track record and it remains our enduring commitment.

A1GP

Hon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport)(10.24 am): Today the government has announced an exciting new motor racing event for the GoldCoast. The Indy event was a great success, and I am sure our new event will also be just as big asuccess. We were pleased to welcome the IRL people who came and gave us a very good event thisyear, but at the end of the day commercial realities associated with coming to Australia were a crucialissue for them. As much as this is a sporting event, it is also a commercial event. The commercialrealities from the perspective of the Indy Racing League as the owners of the race series and from theperspective of the government are crucial in terms of negotiating the staging of the event. At the end ofthe day, we were not able to conclude those negotiations to the government’s satisfaction. In relation tofunding, the Indy Racing League’s commercial position bore down to additional money being required tocontinue to bring its event to the Gold Coast. The commercial arrangement—

Mr Stevens: Six years!Ms SPENCE: I saw what the Gold Coast Bulletin had to say about you today. I would encourage

all members to have a look at it. The commercial arrangement it put before us would have required thegovernment to outlay an extra $3 million to secure the event. The government already gives verysubstantial support to the event—$11.6 million a year. We were not prepared to outlay an additional$3 million on top of what we are already contributing.

On the issue of timing, the IRL was prepared to commit to an Indy event on the Gold Coast nextOctober but not beyond that. It has an expanded series of events and our Indy clashes with the earlypart of the American football season, so in subsequent years it wanted to schedule the event in eitherMarch or September. The March timing clashes with Easter and moving the race to March, as it hadrequested, was not an option due to the clash with the F1 grand prix in Melbourne and the Clipsal V8race in Adelaide. September also does not suit us as it is when sports fans are focused on the AFL andRugby League grand finals. At the end of the day we have to do what is best for the Gold Coast and weare prepared to invest this money into this event because it creates jobs and increases tourismopportunities for the Gold Coast, and that was a very important part of our negotiating position.

The government, though, was in a position where it did have an alternative, and the event that wewill see on the Gold Coast next year is a very strong alternative. It will feature faster cars, Ferrariengines, world-class drivers—this year’s winner Ryan Briscoe has raced in the A1 series, as has WillPower—and a bigger television audience. Some 22 countries are represented in the event, countriessuch as France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Brazil—the powerhouse countries of international motorracing. This new event will be a great event for motor racing enthusiasts, for tourism, for the Gold Coasteconomy and for Queensland.


Mr SPEAKER: Honourable members, I welcome to the gallery today teachers and students fromthe Northside Christian College in the electorate of Everton, which is represented in this House by theHon. Rod Welford.

Recycled WaterHon. PT LUCAS (Lytton—ALP) (Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning)

(10.28 am): Purified recycled water is much more than an emergency drought response; it is apermanent part of our water supplies that will put south-east Queensland on the front foot to deal withclimate change and population growth into the future. I have and will drink this water, as will my childrenand my parents. So I pay attention when credible independent experts tell me it is safe—experts such asthe Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland, Professor Paul Greenfield. As chair of theQueensland Water Commission’s independent scientific advisory panel, Professor Greenfield is bestplaced to comment on the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project. In a letter to the Australiannewspaper on 31 October, which I now table, he said—I have no doubt the design of the Queensland scheme and its proposed operation meet or exceed international best practice toprovide a safe, reliable source of water.

...Purified recycled water is far cleaner than much of the existing water that reaches the dam from run-off over land.Tabled paper: Article in the Australian, dated 2 November 2008, titled ‘Don’t turn your nose up at purified recycled water: Treatedeffluent is cleaner than much of the run-off into dams, insists Paul Greenfield’.

Professor Greenfield went on to debunk some recent misguided public comments, for example,that viruses might get through the treatment process. Viruses are actually 100 times bigger than thepores and reverse osmosis membranes used in the production of purified recycled water. The advancedtechnologies being used—microfiltration, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation—are all proven andin use around the world.

Similar schemes provide significant volumes in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Singapore, LosAngeles and Orange County in California. The most similar scheme has been operating for 30 years inUpper Occoquan, Virginia, which is a major water provider to Washington DC. In that case, purifiedrecycled water averages about nine per cent of the annual inflow to the reservoir and up to 80 per centduring droughts. Extensive studies have been done and show no evidence of negative health impacts.

Stringent testing reviewed by the independent scientific expert advisory panel will ensure that thesystem is consistently producing water that meets all of the drinking water standards before it becomespart of our supplies in late February-March next year. Online monitoring will ensure that if anything goeswrong with the plant it will be shut down immediately.

The Western Corridor Recycled Water Project will give south-east Queensland some of thecleanest drinking water in the world. It has the support of the Water Services Association of Australiaand the Australian Water Association. We should be proud of it.

ExportsHon. RJ MICKEL (Logan—ALP) (Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial

Relations) (10.30 am): As the Treasurer has outlined, Queensland is not immune and will not beimmune to world economic events. Slower global growth will affect the state’s economy. That is why weare looking to trade opportunities in the stronger markets.

Figures released by the ABS last week show that Queensland’s export of services grew by almost10 per cent last financial year. Queensland’s export profile is broadly diversified and balanced amongthe major global economies. Put simply, Queensland does not have all its eggs in one basket. Our top10 export destinations are balanced and diversified throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas.

I can report that in 2008-09 Trade Queensland is implementing some 29 strategic export projects.Export outcomes for Queensland companies for the first two months of the financial year are veryencouraging. In July and August alone, Trade Queensland assisted Queensland exporters to generatean estimated $45 million worth of exports. Our key markets continue to perform well, with export deals toChina worth some $23 million and the Middle East and India $7 million. Trade Queensland continues toopen up new markets for Queensland, including Latin America, with strong relations established withcommerce, mining, coal and energy decision makers in Colombia.

One in five Queensland jobs is linked to exports and this figure rises to one in four in regionalAustralia. Encouraging and assisting overseas trade and investment remains at the forefront of theQueensland government plans for the future. That is why this weekend I will lead a delegation of 40Queensland business people to the Big 5 conferences in the United Arab Emirates. This market hasseen Queensland’s export performance climb by $79.25 million in recent years—an increase of 21 percent year on year.


At this time I would also like to congratulate and thank the former Premier of Queensland, theHon. Mike Ahern, who has been so instrumental in forging strong relationships between Queenslandand the Middle East and who was recognised recently in the Premier’s Export Awards. The Premier hascommitted her government to developing new markets to help further diversity our export effort and toshore up the Queensland economy in these difficult times.

State Schools of TomorrowHon. RJ WELFORD (Everton—ALP) (Minister for Education and Training and Minister for the

Arts) (10.33 am): The Bligh government is building for the future of Queensland’s schoolchildren. Our$1 billion State Schools of Tomorrow package has so far focused on the renewal of older schoolsthroughout Queensland to provide modern learning facilities to teachers and students in schools builtbefore 1988.

This year we have concentrated on much-needed maintenance works to modernise olderschools, providing larger learning areas, improved library facilities and upgraded computer rooms.Round 1 of the State Schools of Tomorrow projects involves renewal works on clusters of schools atInnisfail, eastern Ipswich and the metropolitan Brisbane areas of Inala, Durack and Brisbane bayside.

Next year will be a year for construction when we will start building new classrooms and facilitiesfrom the ground up, both in these round 1 projects as well as in new projects. This five-year StateSchools of Tomorrow package is designed to ensure that all students in our state schools have accessto excellent learning environments and the opportunities to learn no matter where they live. Withconstruction also set to begin on three new schools on the northern Gold Coast and one at North Lakes,north of Brisbane, next year will be a year for building on our achievements.

We are addressing the challenges posed by Queensland’s growing population, putting these newschools in high-growth areas where they are most needed. It is part of our plan for the future to ensurethat we are not only giving today’s students the opportunities and facilities they deserve but we areanticipating the needs of tomorrow’s Queensland, a growing state.

The environment in which students learn can have a significant impact on the capacity ofteachers to deploy technologies and, therefore, on the learning outcomes of students themselves. Ourstudents in Queensland deserve the very best. That is why the Bligh government is delivering world-class education and training now and into the future. So we have a program in place to renew our olderschools with modern infrastructure, making over existing schools and building new high-tech schools toaccommodate our growing student population.

We are getting on with the job of building tomorrow’s Queensland: an education system that willserve the future of our state long into the decades ahead and planning for and managing the growth thatis placing stress on infrastructure across a range of areas, whether that be education, health, transportor other service areas.

On the other hand, the opposition has no plan: no policy vision and no idea how to meet thechallenges facing our state. Education is the key to the future of our state. It underpins the economicprosperity of our state. Now is not the time to put the future of our state in the hands of an unstable,untested and unled political party. They are simply not up to it. That is why we will continue to driveforward our program under State Schools of Tomorrow and through our new schools to ensure thateducation is the foundation of the future of the Smart State.

Rockhampton Hospital

Hon. S ROBERTSON (Stretton—ALP) (Minister for Health) (10.36 am): Three months ago Ivisited Rockhampton Hospital’s emergency department and discussed with staff the current $74 millionredevelopment and expansion. During these discussions doctors emphasised the significant increase inthe number of presentations to the emergency department. In the past three years presentations havejumped 13 per cent to nearly 10,000 central Queenslanders seeking treatment at their local hospital.That is over three times the population growth. During my visit, clinical staff expressed concern that theplanned redevelopment of the emergency department may not be large enough to handle the increasednumbers of patients they are now treating.

I am pleased to announce to the House today that I have listened to the staff on the ground andhave approved further expansions to the emergency department. The expansion will include a transitarea, a doubling of the number of beds in the observation bay and a fast-track paediatric area. Byincluding a fast-track area, children will be able to be seen more quickly and in a more suitableenvironment, therefore improving the efficiency of the emergency department. It is estimated that thisadditional infrastructure will cost an extra $1 million, but this will be money that will be well spent.


This is a significant redevelopment for central Queensland and we are committed to getting itright. It is interesting to note that almost half of the presentations to the Rockhampton emergencydepartment in 2007-08 were triaged as categories 4 and 5—the least urgent of all presentations. That iswhy we are working with the Rudd government to improve access to GPs. Compared to the nationalaverage, the GP to population ratio in central Queensland is nearly 20 per cent below the nationalaverage. That makes accessing a GP in central Queensland very difficult.

The Bligh government’s Q2 vision firmly commits this government to a target of having theshortest public hospital waiting times in Australia by 2020. This includes waiting times for emergencytreatment and the further expansion of emergency departments that will help us deliver on thiscommitment. That is why I and my colleague the member for Rockhampton and minister for publicworks, Robert Schwarten, are pleased to announce that the Rockhampton emergency departmentexpansion will take a significant step forward this week with the commencement of construction and thepouring of the first concrete tomorrow morning.

Print Management Unit

Hon. RE SCHWARTEN (Rockhampton—ALP) (Minister for Public Works, Housing andInformation and Communication Technology) (10.40 am): I thank the health minister for his contribution.I am pleased to announce today the development of the new Print Management Unit within theDepartment of Public Works. The new unit will enhance coordination of the more than $80 million inprinting done by government annually and, in doing so, will drive down the cost of printing through betterprices for agencies. These savings are estimated at more than $14 million a year.

The creation of this unit was recommended in the Service Delivery and PerformanceCommission’s review of Goprint, which I tabled in December last year. Private industry print supplierswanting government print work will need to meet minimum standards in a variety of areas includingsecurity, quality and environmentally friendly practices. The establishment of the Print Management Unitwill also provide the opportunity for more local private printers to supply the Queensland government.Under these arrangements the government printer, Goprint, will become an accredited supplier to thePrint Management Unit and will compete alongside all other accredited suppliers.

Those members opposite have criticised Goprint for many years. They have argued that it shouldbe shut down and its staff moved on. Goprint is well aware of what the opposition’s benign policy in thatregard is. It is the only policy it has, as far as I know. However, this government does not subscribe tothis view. We have put the hard yards in to develop a proper policy and to secure those people’s jobs.The reality is that Goprint has an unblemished record over more than 100 years in printing publicationsfor the Queensland government. There have been no delays and no security breaches. Copies ofHansard are always available on time. Goprint will continue to print Hansard and other importantpublications but it needs additional government work in order for its equipment to be fully utilised and itscosts recovered. There will be some adjustments to Goprint’s staffing levels over the coming months sothat it can improve its pricing through the Print Management Unit. Some staff will be moved to the newPrint Management Unit while some other staff will be relocated to other roles across government.

This new arrangement is a win-win: a win for the Queensland government through enhancedcoordination of print services, and therefore a win for the taxpayer, and a win for the private printingindustry wanting to work with the government.

Coral Reef Fin Fish

Hon. TS MULHERIN (Mackay—ALP) (Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries) (10.41 am): Ihave good news for the fishing industry. I am supporting a move that will allow people to fish for coralreef fin fish over their Christmas holidays. Following scientific advice, I am backing a recommendation toremove the coral reef fin fish closure that was planned for December—subject, of course, to theGovernor’s approval.

For the past four years there have been three, 9-day periods when fishing for coral reef fin fishhas been off limits. This year, the closures are from 22 to 30 October, 21 to 29 November, with the thirdplanned for 21 to 29 December. Through spring and summer large numbers of mature fish gather incertain locations in the Great Barrier Reef to spawn. Coral trout, the most valuable of the coral reef finfish species, generally spawn coinciding with the new moon. This may make them easier targets forconcentrated fishing and the closed seasons are used to protect them during these periods. We want toensure that there are plenty of reef fish out there for people to catch into the future. The closures applyto coral trout, cods and gropers, red emperors, parrotfish, sweetlips, tropical snappers and sea perches,among others. Fisheries officers police these closures and fines of up to $75,000 apply to those caughtfishing coral reef fin fish.


Recreational and commercial fishers, as well as charter boat operators, have been in favour ofremoving the December closure as it has a significant impact on these sectors. The December closurespans the Christmas period, effectively stopping many people from fishing through their Christmasholidays. The Reef Management Advisory Committee has now recommended the removal of theDecember 2008 spawning closure and I am supporting that recommendation. A recent independentscientific review of the closures has indicated that removing the closure in December will not impact onthe sustainability of these fish stocks. This review found that the biological effectiveness of closures washigher in October and November than in December. There will need to be further consideration of theclosure regime for 2009 onwards.

Gateway Upgrade ProjectHon. FW PITT (Mulgrave—ALP) (Minister for Main Roads and Local Government) (10.43 am):

The $1.88 billion Gateway Upgrade Project, which is rapidly taking shape through the city’s easternsuburbs, will help keep our economy moving and also reduce congestion on this major link. In the pasttwo weeks, the project has reached two significant milestones. On Saturday, 1 November the largestconcrete pour for the whole project, consisting of 2,100 cubic metres of concrete, was deliveredsuccessfully. This pour has formed one of the two overpass bridges located directly north of theGateway Bridges. This will link them to the seven kilometres of new motorway currently underconstruction on the northern end of the project through to Nudgee Road, and will include a new airportinterchange. The massive 15-hour pour took 350 truckloads to be delivered and involved enoughconcrete to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools. This pour included the placement of about 460tonnes of reinforcement steel. To ensure the continuous supply and delivery of 350 truckloads ofconcrete, the project team split the shifts for about 80 workers and various equipment and machinery,including four concrete pumps.

Another recent milestone was the commissioning of an 800-tonne launching gantry, which isbeing used for lifting pre-cast concrete segments into place for the new bridge’s northern approach. Ihad the opportunity to inspect this impressive piece of equipment this morning. The acceleration of thebridge construction that is capable with this gantry is obvious. The importance of the 165-metre longgantry, which consists of two massive steel trusses and two 200-tonne capacity hoists, is to constructthe remaining five spans nearest the river, which are too high for a crane to reach.

Works are also well advanced along the northern section of the project from Eagle Farm acrossairport land and through to Nudgee Road. Within the next few weeks, southbound traffic at the Nudgeeend of the project will be switched on to a new flyover to allow construction of the transition between theold and new sections of the Gateway. This important congestion-busting project is rapidly taking shapebefore our eyes and will deliver enormous benefits to the region when completed.

Toward Q2; Coal IndustryHon. GJ WILSON (Ferny Grove—ALP) (Minister for Mines and Energy) (10.45 am): The Bligh

government is taking Queenslanders into the future with Q2 and strong, smart, green solutions to meetone of the world’s greatest challenges facing not just the world but Queensland, and that is climatechange. Renewable energy solutions will be vital to the long-term sustainability of our economy and theenvironment, and coal will continue to play an important role in providing our power. Our key challengeis to use it in a responsible and environmentally sustainable way. As Sir Nicholas Stern said: clean coalcould be our gift to the world. To this end, the Bligh government is leading the charge. In just 12 monthsthe Premier’s high-powered Clean Coal Council has helped spearhead the drive to develop clean coaltechnologies.

This week marks an important milestone. I am delighted to announce that work is about to starton site at our groundbreaking oxyfuel project at Biloela. It has real potential to reduce greenhouse gasemissions at a typical coal-fired power station by a very large amount. It is Q2 at its very smartest andour brightest and best are working with international experts on this exciting demonstration project. Ifsuccessful, our technology could be applied to coal-fired power stations around the world.

The Bligh government is showing real leadership in tackling climate change. We are actingresponsibly and using our money wisely. We are investing $10 million, in conjunction with CS Energy’s$25 million, on a project that has real potential to make a difference, not just within Australia butworldwide. What our government owned corporation CS Energy is doing at Biloela is an Australian first.We have a conventional powered station and we are burning the coal in pure oxygen making it easier tocapture the carbon dioxide.

I will be joining my federal counterpart at Biloela later this week to launch this cutting-edgetechnology project. This is about tackling climate change with strong, smart, green solutions. It is aboutcombining our intellectual and policy firepower and working together with industry to tackle climatechange. It is Q2 at its very smartest. We take our responsibility seriously on this side of the House andwe are planning for the future, a cleaner, greener energy future for all Queenslanders.


Wine Labelling

Hon. KG SHINE (Toowoomba North—ALP) (Attorney-General and Minister for Justice andMinister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland) (10.48 am): The Bligh government isspearheading a change to the way in which our locally produced wines are labelled which could savethe wine industry up to $25 million a year. This new initiative, which is simple but significant, will result inthe harmonisation of wine labels nationwide and that is a move that is set to place Australianwinemakers at the cutting edge of the lucrative international export market.

Labelling costs represent a major hurdle for many local wine producers who are currentlyrequired to print different labels for export and domestic wine markets. This duplication is a waste ofmoney that could be invested in developing the international competitiveness of Australian wines. It isestimated that this move will save the Australian wine industry $25 million a year in labelling costs.

In 2007 Australia signed the World Wine Trade Groups Agreement to harmonise wine labelling tomeet international requirements. This agreement provides an international standard for labelling winewhich will cut exporting costs. Australia cannot ratify the agreement until all states and territories havemade their laws consistent with the new requirements. The Queensland government has alreadypassed the required amendments and we are encouraging other jurisdictions to do the same.

Moves like this are key to diversifying Queensland’s economic base. Australian wine producershold an eight per cent volume share of the export market and export to over 104 countries. Maintaininga strong focus on developing exports will be vital to the continued viability of the industry. The proposednew regulation will allow producers to state anywhere on the bottle, except on the top or base, thevolume of its contents as long as this labelling can be viewed together with the country of origin, alcoholcontent and product description. Progress on the new labelling regulations will be reported to theNovember Council of Australian Governments meeting.

Using a flexible, internationally recognised labelling standard will not only save the industrymoney but also lead to regional growth and help smaller wineries break into the export market. Thisrepresents a small change in the labelling laws, but it could make a significant difference to the bottomline of the wine industry.

Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait Tourism Development Action Plan

Hon. D BOYLE (Cairns—ALP) (Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry)(10.50 am): Tourism offers Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait Indigenous communities enormouspotential. Last Friday I had the pleasure of announcing a new $1 million Cape York Peninsula andTorres Strait Tourism Development Action Plan. This new plan will improve facilities to attract domesticand international tourists, and provide jobs and economic opportunities for local communities whileprotecting the amazing and diverse natural environment.

Cape York is bigger than the state of Victoria. It offers cultural, adventure and nature travellers awider range of tourism experiences than can be found in pretty much any other region of the world. Withonly 19 of the Torres Strait’s 100 islands inhabited and the bulk of Cape York accessible only to four-wheel drive vehicles, the region is unique. Nonetheless, in order to look after the environment, protectareas of cultural significance and ensure sustainability this plan was developed in partnership withIndigenous people as well as tourism industry experts. Future tourism developments will be small andlow key. They will respect and celebrate the culture, traditions and lifestyle of the people who inhabit theregion and create jobs and training opportunities for local workforces.

I am also pleased to announce that under the new plan the Bligh government will spend $200,000developing a camping ground at historic Somerset, a culturally sensitive location that was once amilitary and commercial trading outpost. The state government has entered into partnership with theApundthama Land Trust and associated traditional owners to develop the Somerset camping ground,which will include camp sites, an amenities block, a shelter and interpretative signage. Other camp sitesplanned for future action are Pajinka, Chilli Beach precinct, Overland Telegraph Track south of theJardine River, Heathlands and the Jardine River visitor hub. The Bligh government has already investedmore than $1.3 million in tourism infrastructure in the Cape York including accommodation, camp sites,facilities, signage and information centres. The Liberal National Party has no tourism policy and notourism plan for the cape and Torres Strait.

Opposition members: Oh!

Ms BOYLE: Well, you don’t, do you? None, zero, zilch is what the LNP is offering the people ofthe cape. The Bligh government, however, is building on the state’s 216,000 tourism jobs with an$18 billion economic contribution and is ensuring the cape and Torres Strait get their fair share ofemployment and economic opportunities.

11 Nov 2008 Questions Without Notice 3345

Rural Leasehold LandHon. CA WALLACE (Thuringowa—ALP) (Minister for Natural Resources and Water and Minister

Assisting the Premier in North Queensland) (10.53 am): Through Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queenslandthe Bligh government has set targets to further protect Queensland’s lifestyle and natural environmentfrom the pressures of a growing population and climate change. A key component of this green target isthe Delbessie Agreement, which benefits about 1,800 leases covering 86.6 million hectares, or abouthalf of Queensland. It was signed by Premier Bligh, AgForce and the Australian RainforestConservation Society in December 2007, fulfilling an important commitment made under the Blueprintfor the Bush.

The agreement introduces an incentives based land management system through which thegovernment, in partnership with rural lessees, will ensure the environmentally sustainable productivity ofrural leasehold land. The supporting legislation commenced on 1 January 2008, and work on thetechnical and policy framework for on-ground implementation is well advanced. Term leases of up to 30,40 or 50 years may now be issued over rural leasehold land. Previously, the standard term wasgenerally 30 years. Negotiated land management agreements will clearly outline lessees’ duty of care.They will also identify any land management issues that are threatening the sustainability of leaseholdland and include practical strategies for addressing them.

Leaseholders who voluntarily conserve critical natural land values and give Indigenous peopleaccess to rural leasehold land for traditional purposes may be rewarded with longer term leases or 10-year extensions. The State Rural Leasehold Land Ministerial Advisory Committee is currently reviewingdraft guidelines for assessing good land condition. These assessments are essential for establishingappropriate lease terms and conditions and for informing the land management agreement. By linkinglease terms with land condition, we will see improvements in the condition of land and thus achieve thelong-term protection of the environmental and productive values of rural leasehold land across half ofthe state of Queensland.

SCRUTINY OF LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

ReportMr WELLINGTON (Nicklin—Ind) (10.55 am): I table the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee’s Alert

Digest No. 12 of 2008. I also table copies of two submissions received by the committee regarding theResidential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Bill 2008. Tabled paper: Scrutiny of Legislation Committee Alert Digest No. 12 of 2008.Tabled paper: Submission to the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee on the Residential Tenancies and Rooming AccommodationBill 2008 by the Tenants’ Union of Queensland Inc. November 2008.Tabled paper: Submission to the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee in relation to the Residential Tenancies and RoomingAccommodation Bill 2008 from the Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service from Brisbane’s inner northern suburbs, dated 6 October2008.

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES

MembershipHon. RE SCHWARTEN (Rockhampton—ALP) (Leader of the House) (10.55 am), by leave,

without notice: I move—That—1. the member for Cunningham, Mr Copeland, be discharged as a member of the Standing Orders Committee and the

member for Surfers Paradise, Mr Langbroek, be appointed as a member of that committee; and 2. the member for Inala, Ms Palaszczuk, be discharged as chair but remain a member of the Members’ Ethics and

Parliamentary Privileges Committee and the member for Kurwongbah, Mrs Lavarch, be appointed as chair of thatcommittee.

Question put—That the motion be agreed to.Motion agreed to.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICEMr SPEAKER: I indicate that question time will run for an hour from this time.

Fines and PenaltiesMr SPRINGBORG (10.57 am): My question without notice is to the Premier. I refer to the

Premier’s announcement today that fines on everything are going to soar. I refer her to two otherstatements made in the past three weeks announcing dramatic increases in fees and charges forbusiness, farmers and industry. I also refer to the Premier’s budget papers that state that fines, fees and

3346 Questions Without Notice 11 Nov 2008

charges under the state’s Penalties Enforcement Registry alone were already expected to rise 20 percent, from $197 million to $236 million this year, and I ask: will the Premier now admit that today’s$70 million tax hike is nothing more than an effort to gouge money from Queenslanders to prop upfalling revenues?

Ms BLIGH: I thank the honourable member for the question. I preface my remarks by saying thatat last the Leader of the Opposition has found what it takes to ask the Premier of the day a question. Inote with interest that in the 34 sitting days until October 2007, the former opposition leader asked thePremier 49 questions; until October 2008 the current Leader of the Opposition has asked the Premier18 questions.

Honourable members interjected.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Mr Schwarten: He’s three times the man you are. Ms BLIGH: I take the interjection from the member for Rockhampton. People could be forgiven

for drawing the conclusion that the member for Callide is three times the leader that the member forSouthern Downs is, and I understand he is prepared to pay his way when there is a meal involved.

I thank the member for the question. This is a very serious issue. Queensland’s penalty unitshave not been increased for nine years—almost a decade. At $75 for a penalty unit, our rate is thelowest in the country. From the comments made today by the Leader of the Opposition and some of histeam, I take it that they want to be tough on crime and soft on penalties. That is what they want.Somehow they think that being soft on penalties is the best way to be tough on crime.

Mr Nicholls: You have been 10 years soft on crime. Mr Springborg: You don’t send them to jail because they’re members of the Labor Party. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition.Mr Lucas: They don’t like it, do they?Ms BLIGH: No, they do not appear to like it. What they have not realised in their rush to the radio

to call this a revenue grab is that what they are opposing is tougher penalties for people who break thelaw. There is a very easy way to avoid this increase: do not speed, do not break the law. What about thepenalty for killing and maiming an animal? Do they believe that the fine should remain one of the lowestin the country at $34,000? People who kill and maim animals should be getting a tougher penalty, and Imake no apology for that. I take it that the opposition is now formally approving a policy in relation toroad safety, and its policy is that we should have the lowest fines in the country and that people whospeed or people who break the law should get a soft penalty. That is what the Liberal National Partystands for.

Interruption.

REMEMBRANCE DAYMr SPEAKER: Order! Honourable members, I rise to ask honourable members to observe the

tradition of Remembrance Day. In 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns ofthe Great War fell silent. At this historic hour we pause to remember those who were lost and those whosuffered in all conflicts since. We also reflect that Australians continue to serve overseas in dangerouscircumstances. We therefore also hold high in our thoughts the Australian military personnel on dutythroughout the world. Honourable members will rise in their place for two minutes silence.

Honourable members stood in silence.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICEResumed.

Gold Coast IndyMr SPRINGBORG: My second question without notice is also to the Premier.Mr Robertson: It’s a big day. Mr Lucas: Big day out. Mr SPRINGBORG: Well, we will see if we are finally going to get a question answered out of the

20 asked. My question to the Premier is this. Premier, you put Labor mate Terry Mackenroth in charge ofthe Indy 300 and he failed to secure it. You sent your minister on a $50,000 trip to the US to secure theIndy, and all she did was wine, dine and fly around in police helicopters. Your government issued apress release on 5 March this year saying that Indy was secured for at least another six years and that


plans were ‘already underway for a massive 20th anniversary celebration in 2010’ for the Indy. Premier,can the people of Queensland have any confidence in your government’s ability to manage health ortraffic congestion when you cannot even manage something as simple as a car race?

Mr SPEAKER: Before calling the Premier, I recognise in the gallery today teachers and studentsfrom the Burnett Heads State School in the electorate of Burnett, which is represented in this House byMr Rob Messenger.

Ms BLIGH: I thank the honourable member for the question. I have to say that I am very pleasedthat the Gold Coast in 2009 will be home to a major international racing carnival. It will see one of themost exciting new emerging international races, the A1, come to the Gold Coast for the first time as partof their international circuit. I can tell the House that the organisers of the A1 are very excited abouthaving the Gold Coast on their international calendar, and why wouldn’t they be? The Gold Coast hasproven that it is capable of running some of the biggest international events in this country. It has verywell-established support for the V8 race. If you put the V8s with an open wheel championship like theA1, what you have is international excitement.

I note the doom and gloom from those opposite. Here we are in the middle of the greatest globalfinancial crisis that the world has ever seen—a time when we need to see strength in the economy,when we need to see sectors like tourism built up and local economies like the Gold Coast continue tobe maintained—and what do we get from members opposite? We get doom and gloom. We get themtalking down major events, talking down the Gold Coast. What have they got against the Gold Coast? Itdoes not matter what it is, when it goes to the Gold Coast they hate it.

Mr Lucas: No wonder they were picking on the member for Robina. They hate the Gold Coast. Ms BLIGH: That is probably why they did not pay the bills to the member for Robina. I want to

congratulate the minister for sport, Judy Spence, and all of those associated with the Indy for the workthat they have done to try to secure the Indy. Let us talk about it. If the Leader of the Opposition couldhave bothered to sit in this parliament this morning he would have heard the minister for sport outliningcarefully—

Mr Springborg: I did actually hear it. Ms Spence: I don’t think he’s even bothered to go to Indy.Ms BLIGH: Have you been to Indy? Mr Springborg interjected. Ms BLIGH: Have you ever been to Indy? The Leader of the Opposition has never been to Indy.

When was the last time you went to the Gold Coast? The minister for sport outlined clearly that the Indyrace could only come here if it came in March. That would have meant track construction in January—peak tourism season. It was an insurmountable hurdle after a lot of negotiation. But what have wedone? We have secured an international race.

Mr Springborg: Why did you say you were going to secure it for six years?Ms BLIGH: If it is here for another 18 years, the Leader of the Opposition probably will not go to

that one either. Here he is with his false piety. Mr Lucas: He’ll still be in parliament though.Ms BLIGH: He will probably still be in parliament and hopefully on the same side as now where

he belongs. Indy is an important economic event for the Gold Coast. We support a major international event.

We have secured one and the people of the Gold Coast can be very pleased that we are on this side ofthe chamber.

Light Bulb GiveawayMs PALASZCZUK: My question without notice is to the Premier. Premier, you recently launched

Australia’s largest energy-saving light bulb giveaway. This was extremely popular in my electorate. Canyou please inform the House how this received by all Queenslanders?

Ms BLIGH: I thank the member for the question. I am very pleased to inform the House that theresponse by Queenslanders to our big switch light bulb campaign was nothing short of astounding.When I visited my local newsagent on Sunday he advised me that when he arrived at 6 am there were anumber of people waiting on the footpath eager for him to open, holding their Sunday Mail coupons.Others have reported similar events in their local newsagents on Sunday.

We were very pleased to be joined in this giveaway program by the Australia Post organisation,which gave out bulbs through all of their outlets. I understand that in some Australia Post outletsyesterday there were what can only be described as wild scenes with people wanting an opportunity totake the bulbs home to install them in their homes, and why wouldn’t they? Not only did they have thechance to go into a draw for a hybrid car; they had the chance to save on their electricity bills, saveenergy at the household level and, ultimately, save the planet.


Mr Johnson: There are people in my electorate using hurricane lamps; they haven’t even gotpower. What are you going to do about that?

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Gregory. Ms BLIGH: For every light bulb that is changed—Mr Johnson interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Gregory!Mr Johnson: I am just reminding them. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Gregory, you will be warned in a moment. Ms BLIGH: Every household that changes one conventional light bulb to an energy-saving one

saves $11 every year on its bill and it saves 72 kilograms of greenhouse gas. Multiply that by a millionand we have $11 million worth of saving every year and 72,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Ifevery household changed most of its bulbs where able to, it would be saving $200 to $300 on its bill.These bulbs last for 10 years. So this is a very good investment by the state government to helphouseholders meet the challenges of climate change.

It is not that long ago that we stood in this House and listened to those opposite lampoon the ideaof a government setting targets for the state’s future. One of our targets for Q2 is that we want to helphouseholds reduce their carbon footprint by 30 per cent. What do you do? You set a target and then youfocus on meeting that target—step by step, bit by bit, inch by inch. This bulb giveaway was part of thatprogram. This is the largest energy-efficient light bulb giveaway ever in Australia. We are seeinghouseholders and individuals grab the opportunity. That tells us that Queenslanders want to be part ofchange. Queenslanders want to meet the challenge of climate change. Queenslanders are happy to dotheir bit if government puts out a hand and helps them. The next cab off the rank will be our climatesmart homes program in January, and I expect to see a very good uptake on that as well.

Queensland Racing Ltd; Ludwig, Mr WMr McARDLE: My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to the Treasurer’s comment to this House

on 28 October about alleged vote rorting at Queensland Racing in which he said, ‘I consider this matterto be closed,’ even though neither the CMC nor ASIC had actually investigated it. I also refer toMonday’s announcement that the Queensland police will investigate ALP kingmaker and theTreasurer’s personal friend Bill Ludwig for alleged fraud and vote rorting at Queensland Racing, and Iask: were the Treasurer’s comments merely incompetence on his part or corruption by his governmentto protect a Labor mate?

Mr FRASER: Both the content of that question and the person who delivered that question areextraordinary for the fact that they contain a number of untruths from probably the most untruthfulmember of this parliament. Point 1: when I was provided with allegations, they went straight to the CMCand to ASIC. The member just said that the CMC and ASIC didn’t investigate. In fact, ASIC consideredparts of the allegations within its jurisdiction and other parts not. Now, further allegations were providedto me on Friday and they have been provided to the police. But does anyone believe that, on the natureof the allegations provided to the CMC some weeks ago, if there was clearly a case of a crime beingcommitted that the CMC merely would have closed the case? The fact is that this has been brought tothe attention of both the CMC and ASIC.

Mr Horan: The CMC said it was outside their jurisdiction. They said it was constitutional, notoperational.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Toowoomba South!Mr FRASER: Ultimately, this relates to a process in substance which I rejected.Mr Hobbs interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Warrego! Members of the opposition, the Treasurer has been

asked an important question. Have some respect and let him answer it. Mr FRASER: Mr Speaker, the matter of substance has been rejected and it is therefore a plain

statement of fact that the matter was closed. In that context, at each and every point that a position hasbeen put to me it has been referred to the appropriate authorities. At each and every point, I acted withintegrity, as I am obliged to do under the Racing Act.

Mr Nicholls: You had all the allegations.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Clayfield!Mr FRASER: Finally, while I have always had respect for Mr Ludwig for his contribution to the

trade union movement, a simple review of Newstext would probably indicate to you that another part ofyour question was quite definitely wrong as well.

Mr McArdle interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Caloundra, you have heard the answer. I know you are a great

recidivist at this, but I ask you to desist in regard to the question that has just been answered.


Recycled WaterMs MALE: My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain the importance of recycled

water to securing south-east Queensland’s water supply and the support the scheme has received fromboth sides of politics?

Ms BLIGH: I thank the member for the question. But before going to the specifics of her question,can I give the House another piece of interesting information. In the 34 sitting days to October 2007under the leadership of the member for Callide, how many private member’s bills were introduced?Eleven. In the 34 days to October this year, how many were introduced? Six.

Mr McArdle interjected. Opposition members interjected.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I say to members of the opposition, you may be upset by what is being

said. The standing orders of this House give you an opportunity later to rebut those comments if you sowish. I call the Premier.

Ms BLIGH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is clear that, under the leadership of the member forSouthern Downs, the LNP believes that an RDO is a rostered day on.

Our goal is very clear and it is this: to get ahead of water demand. We should remember that ourdams remain 60 per cent empty. The challenges of population growth and climate change are not over.In fact, we need to cope with the reality that our catchments may change forever. Our purified recycledwater is part of our long-term plan, and our barrier filtration and purification process is now renownedaround the world. It has been backed by Queensland Health, the Office of the Water Supply Regulatorand the independent panel of experts chaired by Professor Paul Greenfield, the Vice-Chancellor of UQ.It is not just scientists who have backed our plan. What did John Howard say? John Howard said—The use of purified recycled water is a viable option to augment water supply. I’m very strongly in favour. Mr Beattie is right and Iagree with him completely. What did the current federal Leader of the Opposition, Mr Malcolm Turnbull, say? He said—Recycled water is an important part of Australia’s long-term water future.

Let us not forget that Malcolm Turnbull thought it was such a good solution that he spent$408 million of federal money on it. It was a Liberal federal government that put almost half a billiondollars into it. What did the member for Moggill say? He said—I think that recycled water is safe. I really don’t believe it changes the sex of fish, but you get on the internet and you find all theseexotic arguments.

What we see here is the open, scientific minds of true Liberals being dominated by the kooky,wacky, voodoo science of the National Party. They have capitulated on science to the QueenslandNational Party. Let there be no doubt about it. If the member for Southern Downs had been around 300or 400 years ago, he would have signed the paper to imprison Galileo.

Queensland Racing Ltd; Ludwig, Mr WMr HORAN: My question without notice is to the honourable Treasurer and minister for racing. Is

the minister aware that an experienced north Queensland journalist wrote an article in the NorthQueensland Register on 28 August exposing the allegations of vote rorting by Queensland Racing andother issues concerning stewards? Unfortunately for this journalist, he has been a licensed trainer formany years and he has now been rubbed out by Queensland Racing in retribution for his article. Will theminister refer this matter to the CMC for investigation as potential official misconduct by QueenslandRacing Ltd?

Mr FRASER: I think it is incumbent upon any member of this House if they believe that they haveevidence of any misconduct to forward that forthwith to the CMC rather than seek to use this parliamentto prosecute those arguments for other purposes. I am not aware of the article in question that hereferenced, but if he does believe that there is any aspect that needs to be referred to the appropriateauthorities then I suggest he does so forthwith.

Queensland EconomyMr FINN: My question without notice is to the Treasurer. Maintaining a strong handle on the

state’s finances has never been more important as we deal with the fallout from the global financialcrisis. Can the Treasurer advise the House of the government’s policy for managing the state’s financesin the face of the fallout?

Mr FRASER: I thank the member for the question. No-one should doubt the resolve of thisgovernment. No-one should doubt the unity of purpose of this government. No-one should doubt thecommitment of this government to managing the state’s finances as we deal with the fallout from theglobal financial crisis. This is a huge challenge before us. We have demonstrated in the past our abilityto manage the state’s finances and to grow the state’s economy ahead of the national average.


The real question before the people of Queensland now is this: what does the Liberal NationalParty propose? We know that it has no policies in this regard. But does the Liberal National Party havean idea? Does it have a clue? Is the Leader of the Opposition up to putting forward a plan about how hewould deal with the fallout from the global financial crisis? All he has said so far is that he has a newbrand. He has a new team and it is a unified team. But according to this morning’s press, that unifiedteam is having a little squabble at the moment. According to this morning’s press, there is a bit of a set-to with the member for Robina over a dinner bill. We do not know who he hopped into, but perhaps themember for Darling Downs would be able to tell us who was on the other side of the argument. After all,we know that there is a little bit of form between a couple of members in that regard. The member forDarling Downs has got form because he knocked the member for Cunningham right out of theparliament. These are the people who want to manage the state’s finances. They cannot even managewho is going to pay for dinner.

The Leader of the Opposition says he has a new team but he has the same old rabble, the sameold fights between the Libs and the Nats, the same old divisions between the Libs and the Nats, thesame old brawling between the Libs and the Nats. He says he has a plan for the future but he does nothave a clue. He says that he is ready to lead but he has not offered anything to the people ofQueensland.

The question here is this: what is the Leader of the Opposition going to do about the fact thatthese two members of his team have come to blows over this bill? We know, and the people ofQueensland are fast realising, that the Leader of the Opposition is not up to it.

Opposition members interjected.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Treasurer.Mr FRASER: He does not have what it takes. The question is: does he have a spine? Opposition members interjected.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Treasurer, sit down please. Opposition members interjected. Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am on my feet. Treasurer, do you wish to continue? Mr FRASER: I do. Mr SPEAKER: I call the Treasurer.Mr FRASER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is a question of leadership, therefore, for the Leader

of the Opposition. He has put forward the idea to the people of Queensland that he is providing a unifiedteam. He leads nothing but an unstable team at a time when the Queensland economy and the peopleof Queensland require stability, strength of purpose and unity of purpose. What is he going to do aboutit?

Mr SPEAKER: Order! Before calling the member for Surfers Paradise, can I welcome to thepublic gallery teachers and students from the Northside Christian College in the electorate of Everton,which is represented in this House by the Hon. Rod Welford. I call the member for the Surfers Paradise.

Amberley State SchoolMr LANGBROEK: My question without notice is to the honourable minister for education. I refer

to the minister’s plans to close Amberley State School and to build a new school some kilometres awayat Yamanto, next to a pub, on land not yet purchased and where traffic will endanger children. Given thatthe minister had $26 million authorised from the Commonwealth two years ago and still will not be ableto complete the school by June, is this mess due to incompetence or is it just a ploy to pocket themoney? To quote the minister, how is this anticipating the needs of tomorrow’s Queensland?

Mr WELFORD: I thank the honourable member for the question. The delay is directly the result ofthe prevarication and oscillation of the previous Howard government and the minister concerned. I havestood ready to build a new school for the good children of Everton—

Opposition members interjected.Mr WELFORD: Them too. I have stood ready to build a new school for the good schoolchildren of

Amberley State School for as long as we have known that the defence department want to take over theexisting site of the existing Amberley State School.

It took some time for the previous government to confirm that it would make money available. Wethen had the local federal MP Cameron Thompson running interference against Brendan Nelson, thethen defence minister, in relation to the conditions on which the funding would be allocated. There wasno way in the world I was going to commit our taxpayer funds to build a new school which the Howardgovernment had offered to fund when it had refused to confirm that the funding would be available. Untilthe funding was confirmed I was not able to move.


I am pleased to say that the Rudd government has now confirmed that the funding is available.We have identified the site. We have announced the site. I have committed to consult with thecommunity of the Amberley State School to ensure that the children can make a seamless transition to asparkling new facility. It will be state-of-the-art. It will have modern facilities. It will be as good as anyschool in Queensland. At the end of the day, those children will get a better education for it.

The opposition need to take a few lessons from people who actually pay attention to the facts. Ifthe honourable member was aware of the facts, he would not have asked that question. If he was awareof the consultation that is going on with that community, he would not have relied—

Mr Rickuss: They weren’t happy about it. Mr WELFORD: He would not have relied upon that dunce over there or the meandering articles

in the local newspaper.

Recycled WaterMs STRUTHERS: My question without notice is to the Deputy Premier. Can the Deputy Premier

please tell the House of the credible expert opinions he is aware of on the safety of purified recycledwater?

Mr LUCAS: Ray, I will shout you a glass water; it is not a problem. It is interesting that when themember for Surfers Paradise was the opposition health spokesperson he said in parliament inSeptember 2004—The fact that less than 5% of Queensland enjoy the benefits of water fluoridation is the greatest triumph of quackery over sciencethat I am aware of.

The opposition backs science on fluoride but plays politics and appeals to base cuckoo politicswhen it comes to purified recycled water.

This morning I tabled a letter from the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland, ProfessorPaul Greenfield. He is the chair of an independent, highly respected panel of experts watching over theWestern Corridor Recycled Water Project—the 2008 international water project of the year. He said—I have no doubt that the design of the Queensland scheme and its proposed operation meet or exceed international best practiceto provide a safe, reliable source of water.

That opinion is based on good, credible scientific studies. What does the Liberal Party have tosay? We know of the famous quote of 1 August 2006 where the Leader of the Opposition said thatpeople should not be forced to risk feminisation by drinking recycled water. I will tell members aboutfeminisation in this parliament. We have eight times the number of women than the members oppositehave. We get them by running them for preselection in good seats, not by scaring people about recycledwater.

Surely those opposite have done more than Google research on their water policy. Dr HeatherChapman, an ecotoxicologist with the CRC for quality and treatment, indicated—There is no strong scientific evidence that the low levels of hormones, such as may find their way into sources of water used fordrinking water supply, cause any harm to human health. We have demonstrated through our research that conventional wastewater treatment processes used in Australia remove 95-99%of hormones. Any remaining traces are removed by the advanced treatment processes, such as reverse osmosis, that are used in waterrecycling schemes.

We know that the state opposition has promised not to add recycled water to the drinking supplyof south-east Queensland if the dams are over 40 per cent full. Currently, they are at 41.2 per cent. Sothe Leader of the Opposition says he does not know if PRW is safe but he is happy to put it in unless thedams are over 40 per cent. He cannot have it both ways. If it is okay at 10 per cent, it is okay at 20 percent. If it is okay at 30 per cent, it is okay at 40 per cent. What it shows is that those opposite say onething and do the other.

The Premier indicated her support and Malcolm Turnbull clearly indicated his support for recycledwater. Of course, the member for Moggill belled the cat when he said, ‘I think recycled water is safe.’This government will build water security for south-east Queensland not only for now but for 50 to 100years into the future. What do the Leader of the Opposition and his team say? No Traveston Dam andno purified recycled water. That is 250 megalitres of water at Target 230. That is enough water fora million people a day out of the system.

Police ResourcesMr ELMES: My question without notice is to the minister for police and corrective services. The

minister continues to quote a police to population ratio in Queensland of one to 429, yet on the SunshineCoast her own figures show an operational police to population ratio of one to 866 people—that is,those police who are actually available to respond to crime. Will the minister now come clean, stopshort-changing the people of Noosa and the Sunshine Coast and give us the police numbers that wedeserve?


Mr Lucas: What western electorate do you want?Ms SPENCE: I know that the member for Noosa is pretty new to this place, but this is not a

revolution here today. We have talked in this place about the police to population ratios—Ms Bligh: Many times.Ms SPENCE:—and how they are unequal around the state—many times—and I am happy to do

it again for him. We have a police to population ratio that is better than the national average. Wecontinue to increase police numbers, but that does not mean that that average is consistent in every partof Queensland.

Ms Bligh: It’s an average!Ms SPENCE: It is an average. In my electorate it is way below the state average because,

frankly, my electorate is safer than many parts of Queensland. Palm Island has the highest police topopulation ratio of anywhere in Queensland. In fact, most Aboriginal communities have the highestpolice to population ratios. But police make those decisions on an operational basis. It is my job and thegovernment’s job to provide the police with the resources that they need, and we are committed to doingthat. But it is not my job to direct the police commissioner where he should station his officers around thestate.

Some of the other places with the best police to population ratios are in western Queensland. Ifwe started evening things up, we would have to look at closing police stations in western Queensland—some of those single-officer stations where, frankly, there is very little crime these days. I do not knowwhether or not that is the policy of the new LNP, but if those opposite want to start evening things up thatis one of the things they are going to have to do.

We believe that police numbers are very important, and that is why we have been increasingpolice numbers every year. But it is not just about police numbers; it is also about technology, andtechnology today is enabling police to solve crimes and catch criminals like never before. We are alsoinvesting in new accoutrements and new computer systems for the police and will continue to providepolice with those kinds of resources.

Road Safety

Mr GRAY: My question without notice is also directed to the Minister for Police, CorrectiveServices and Sport. Minister, I refer to the increases in fines for traffic offences announced by the stategovernment today and outlined by the Premier this morning. Can the minister outline how these will helppolice tackle our road toll and improve road safety?

Ms SPENCE: There have been 283 fatalities on our roads this year. While that is actually 32 lessthan on this day last year, 283 people have died on Queensland roads, and many of those deaths couldhave been avoided with safer driving practices—not all but many of them. That is why we are committedto getting Queenslanders to stop drink driving, to stop speeding and to obey our traffic rules, and that iswhy we make no apologies for putting up these fines. One of the good things that we are doing with thisincreased revenue is employing an additional 106 traffic police who will be employed and put on ourroads over the next two years. This will be on top of the 700 police that we recruit each year to cater forgrowth and attrition. So this is an additional 106 police that we are announcing today, and I know thatthat announcement is very welcomed by our Queensland Police Service.

As well as our extra police officers, we are also going to buy 30 additional hand-held laser speeddetection devices on top of the 234 replacement devices that I announced in October. We are also goingto buy 16 mobile radar detection devices, another 12 micro digicam tripod mounted speed detectors andeight more Qcars—that is, doubling the number of Qcars, and that will be an additional Qcar to everyregion in Queensland. So if a person is speaking on their mobile phone in the car, they should beprepared to be pulled over by the Honda Civic or the four-wheel drive next to them because it could bepolice in a Qcar. We will also buy an additional 12 motorcycles.

Besides that—and I am warning people about this—we are going to trial three unmarked speedcamera vans in three regions in the state, and those regions have been chosen because they have theworst road tolls. They are the South Eastern Region, the Southern Region and the North Coast Region.This means that police decals and logos will be removed from our existing speed camera vans. Peopleshould not expect to be warned. In the future, people should not expect to see that they are goingthrough a radar site. We are going to take those markings away.

All of these measures have been suggested to the government by our Queensland police officersas things that we should do to help them reduce our road toll. There is one message today to allQueenslanders: if you are going to continue to speed, then you are more likely than ever to be picked upby our police and be fined for that bad driving behaviour. As the Premier said, we have to makespeeding the most unacceptable thing that people can do on the road.


Seafood ImportsMr DEMPSEY: My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries. I refer the

minister to the latest figures from ABARE as quoted in the Queensland Fisherman September 2008edition which showed that in 2006-07 Australia increased its seafood imports by 16 per cent to$1.47 billion. Can the minister detail to this House the steps that his department has taken in conjunctionwith other state government departments and the federal government to ensure that the quality ofimported seafood is equal to fresh local seafood and does not threaten the health of Queenslandfamilies who are desperate enough to eat it?

Mr MULHERIN: I thank the honourable member for the question, because there are a number ofimportant initiatives that the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries is carrying out with theindustry. In relation to the issue of seafood quality, the department was very active in testing importedprawn products from countries such as Vietnam and we put a case to the Australian Quarantine andInspection Service to look at the possible impacts that imported green prawns could have on our prawnfishery, particularly the wild catch and the aquaculture. As a result of that, there are now restrictions onthe importation of fresh green prawns into Australia. They have to be treated—in other words, cooked—before they are imported into Australia. This of course upset the importers. We do not produce sufficientquantities of seafood, but we are committed to managing our fisheries in the most ecologicallysustainable manner. The Food and Agriculture Organisation web site talks about the dreadful state thatwild fisheries in the world are in. Australia is probably one of the best managed fisheries.

In addition to that, I recently got my department to work with the Queensland Seafood IndustryAssociation to look at the impact rising import costs have on the trawl sector. In partnership with theQueensland Seafood Industry Association, my department contracted Nick Ruello in May 2008. Nick iswell known within fishery circles for his detailed supply chain analysis. We have undertaken a supplychain analysis which identified a number of issues and we are currently considering how we can assistthe industry to further develop. One of the issues the industry raised in the supply chain study was theimpacts of overseas imports on our fishery in particular areas. One thing that came out was thatpromotion of a product will certainly improve the demand for the product. For example, the biggestthreat to prawns comes from aquaculture products from interstate and also within Queensland. Therewere issues about quality and consumer education—that is, that people understand the healthy benefitsof seafood. In addition, we are looking at ways we can work with the industry to further develop thesector.

Time expired.

Elective Surgery Waiting ListsMr PEARCE: My question is to the Minister for Health. Last week the minister released the

quarterly public hospitals performance report. Can the minister inform the House how the Blighgovernment is continuing to improve elective surgery waiting times for all Queenslanders?

Mr ROBERTSON: Based on the latest national comparisons for elective surgery, Queenslandcurrently has the best elective surgery waiting lists in Australia. In 2006-07, the median waiting time forelective surgery across all three clinical categories was 25 days in Queensland, with the nationalaverage being 32 days. During the September 2008 quarter, a record 32,030 Queenslanders receivedtheir elective surgery—an increase of 8.9 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Whilst the latest quarterly performance report shows more people are getting their surgerysooner, we note there is still a lot more to do. In addition to this government’s successful SurgeryConnect program, we have a number of strategies in place to further reduce elective surgery waitinglists. In particular, the commitment we made to address long waits at the Royal Children’s Hospital hasseen a 17.8 per cent increase in the number of children treated in the three months to Octobercompared to the same quarter last year. As a result, there has been a 27 per cent reduction in thenumber of long-wait children on the Royal Children’s Hospital waiting list. As announced a couple ofmonths ago, of the $5 million of identified savings from the Queensland Health restructure, $3.5 millionwill go to the Royal Children’s Hospital and $1.5 million will go to the Mater Children’s Hospital to furtherreduce children’s elective surgery waiting times.

Particularly pleasing is Townsville Hospital, which now has the second shortest long-wait electivesurgery list of Queensland’s nine major hospitals. The number of people waiting for their electivesurgery procedure decreased by 19 per cent, and the number of patients waiting longer than clinicallydesirable declined a massive eight per cent compared to the same quarter last year. Cairns Hospitalsaw a 14.8 per cent increase in patients receiving their elective surgery from the same period last year.

Despite growth on the Gold Coast, the district has seen a significant improvement in winterdemand management this year compared to last year. This is evidenced by a reduction in capacityalerts, the elimination of hospital bypass from the Gold Coast this winter, the reduction in cancellation ofelective surgery due to a lack of beds by a massive 78 per cent and an 18 per cent increase inadmissions.


The Bligh government continues to lead the way in delivering innovative health care that hasclearly demonstrated we are up to the challenges of planning for and managing Queensland’s growingand ageing population. When we released that hospital performance report for September 2008, whatwas the only comment uttered by the shadow minister for health? He said it was disappointing. The onlything disappointing about this report is that the Deputy Leader of the Liberal National Party could notutter the word ‘crisis’ in any description of the performance of our hospitals over the past three months.

Energy-Saving Light BulbsMr FOLEY: My question is to the Premier. This morning in parliament the Premier spoke about

the campaign for fluoro bulbs. The Premier championed the fact that they saved money, that they savedpower and that they lasted for 10 years. In my experience, I have had a lot of people come into my officecomplaining that these bulbs can cost three to four times what incandescent bulbs cost and fail at aboutthree times the rate of incandescent bulbs. Because these bulbs contain mercury, which is a very toxicchemical, they can only be safely disposed of at a recycling centre. I wonder how many people willbother to do that.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Maryborough, your question is far too long. Please ask the question. Mr FOLEY: What is the Premier doing to promote the safe handling of these bulbs? Is it not false

economics if they cost significantly more and fail more often? Ms BLIGH: I thank the member for the question. I certainly acknowledge that he is right when he

says that these bulbs cost more than ordinary bulbs. In fact, that is one of the reasons we weredetermined to be involved in a big giveaway—so that people could immediately see the benefits forthemselves through this sort of encouragement. We identified that a significant number of Queenslandhouseholders—I think off the top of my head it was close to 40 per cent—still had no energy-efficientlight bulbs in their homes. So clearly we needed to take a further step in encouraging people to use thistechnology.

I accept that it is harder for people to buy them up-front, often because of the increased price, butI do not accept that it is a false economy. These bulbs have a very long life and they save money. Youactually get a return. If you save $11—I think $8 to $9 is about the average for an ordinary sized bulb—then you are saving the cost of that bulb in the first year and then going on to save beyond that. So Iwould certainly encourage people to use these bulbs. But I would say to the member that as we seemore and more people around the country, and indeed around the world, using this technology then wecan reasonably expect to see the unit price drop over time with much larger manufacturing volumes.

As I understand it, in Australia we are looking to remove incandescent bulbs from the landscapeover time. We will see more and more people having access to this technology. I think they will find thatthe proof of the pudding is in the eating. When they start to see how long they last and therefore howmuch cheaper they are to use, they will think it is pretty clear that it is a good way to go.

The member may well have had people make complaints to his office about some of them failingfrom time to time. I have to say that I have had them in my home for a number of years—I think Iinstalled the first one about three years ago—and I have yet to see one of them fail. But I suppose theyare like anything from time to time. Even the best technology in the world will have faults. Certainly, Ihave bought plenty of incandescent bulbs in my time and when I have installed them they have notworked, because they are pretty fragile.

I am pleased to hear that the member has people talking about this issue in his electorate office. Iwant people talking about it. I want them out there trying this technology. I want them reducing ourenergy demands and I want that to mean lower greenhouse gas emissions over time. That is what Q2 isall about.

Workplace Health and SafetyMrs ATTWOOD: My question is to the Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial

Relations. Can the minister detail what the increases in on-the-spot fine penalties will mean for saferworkplaces in Queensland?

Mr MICKEL: I thank the honourable member for her question. Obviously, every Queenslanderdeserves to work in a safe and secure environment, whether that workplace be a building site wherethey may be handling asbestos, behind a shop counter, at the humble restaurant in Cairns, for example,where they might be serving the shadow ministry at some point, or behind the wheel of an excavator.Every Queenslander deserves to return home, whether that be after shiftwork or their workday at night,after a safe and fair day at work. That is why we have the Queensland Workplace Health and SafetyEnforcement Framework. That framework seeks to strike a balance between providing education andadvice and enforcement. That is why unashamedly we launched the Homecomings campaign—tohighlight to Queenslanders the real impact of an injury at work. Such has been the positive feedback it isour intention to ensure that that campaign runs again.


As I said, there also has to be compliance. That is why on-the-spot fines are issued for minorbreaches of workplace health and safety regulations. They are used in situations where, quite clearly,persons have not complied. For that reason we are pleased that at last the penalty points have beenraised. For example, failing to have a ladder secured to a building is the cause of a common workplaceinjury. Currently, the penalty for that is $1,200. Thankfully, that penalty will now increase to $1,600 toreflect the severity of that failure. Honourable members might be interested to know that working withasbestos unsafely currently attracts a $1,200 fine. The long-term implications of dealing with asbestosare currently being felt by WorkCover. Therefore, I am pleased that the safe use of asbestos in theworkplace will be protected further with a rise in the penalty for unsafe use of asbestos to $1,600. Weare about deterring unsafe practices, because our aim always is to further reduce the rates of workplacefatalities, injuries and disease.

As I said, it is not just about penalties and fines. I do want, and I am pleased that so many of thelarger building firms are embracing, safe workplace conditions. I also congratulate the numerousbuilding companies, along with the Builders Labourers Federation and the CFMEU, that recentlysponsored safer workplace health and safety on those great building sites. It is important that thePremier has acknowledged today that penalty rates will be increased for those who engage in unsafework practices.

Renewable EnergyMr LEE: My question without notice is to the Premier. It is accepted worldwide that to build a

strong, renewable energy sector governments need to embrace feed-in tariffs based on the grossrenewable energy produced. Instead, her government has decided to endorse a net tariff. Will thePremier allow the people of Queensland to make their own judgements about the soundness orotherwise of her decision by releasing publicly all the data, including economic modelling, that hergovernment relied upon to make its decision to not endorse a gross feed-in tariff for renewable energy?

Mr Johnson: What if you are not on the grid?Ms BLIGH: I thank the member for the question. The states of Australia, in the absence of any

leadership on this issue from the previous Howard government, have been individually tackling theissue of how to encourage more use of solar power and solar panels and a feed-in tariff is part of the mixof policy and legislative measures that we put together to encourage people.

This parliament has debated at length the feed-in tariff that has been designed here inQueensland. It is very similar to that which has been put in place by the other early movers in this field,including South Australia. I am on the public record acknowledging that the best way for us as a nationto deal with this issue is to actually have a national feed-in tariff process. We are in a national electricitymarket. This is one of the issues being discussed through the COAG working parties on climate change.If there is a move nationally or some different way of doing it that is better, we will have an open mind.This is the first time that Queensland has ever done this and I know that it is already making a differenceto people’s thinking about whether or not they take up a PV.

I draw to the member’s attention the light bulb switch that we have carried out this week. That willprobably make a bigger difference than the number of PVs that are out there in the longer term by amassive amount. All of these things have to come together. It is not only about encouraging people toput photovoltaic panels on their roofs; it is also about investing in new solar technology, as we are doingin Cloncurry where we are putting funds into developing Queensland’s first solar thermal power plant.

I note that the member for Gregory was calling out earlier about people who are not on the grid. Ithink that solar thermal power plants in remote parts of Queensland actually provide a remarkably good,cost-effective and energy-efficient solution rather than ever contemplating the sort of transmission costsof getting many of those places onto the grid. What it does is give us a chance to get these places offdiesel, which is a very environmentally unfriendly source of fuel. I thank the member for the question onthe net feed-in tariff and I note, for the benefit of the House, that he voted for it.

Social Housing; Churches of Christ CareMs GRACE: My question is to the Minister for Public Works, Housing and Information and

Communication Technology. Recently we turned the first sod at the Churches of Christ and Departmentof Housing public housing development at the corner of Gregory Terrace and Kinross Street in myelectorate. I was therefore very surprised to read criticism of this innovative project from the opposition,and I ask: will the minister advise the House of the facts in relation to this housing project?

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr English): Order! Before I call the honourable minister, I acknowledgein the public gallery ladies from the Nerang and Helensvale Red Cross in the electorate of Gavenrepresented by the honourable Phil Gray.

Mr SCHWARTEN: I thank the honourable member for giving up her morning to spend time withPeter Cranna from the Churches of Christ Care, me and a small group of people who gathered togetherin a similar fashion to what we did at Labrador some time ago with the Gold Coast Labor members. It

3356 Matters of Public Interest 11 Nov 2008

was a very good morning. Something that we as a department have been striving to do is build bridgeswith not-for-profit organisations which have land and with the government which has money—in thiscase $8.4 million to build 35 units of accommodation. It is a win-win situation. It is a traditional value thatchurches are involved in this type of project. I thought it was pretty good.

I was absolutely amazed to receive a media release from the hand of the shadow spokesmanwho said, amongst other things, that the Bligh Labor government had triumphantly announced this newproject without giving due recognition to the community and the religious group which have played asignificant role in this achievement. I thought, ‘How can this be? How can he say this?’ I got my mediarelease out. One only has to go to the third paragraph to find that I say—... on land owned by Churches of Christ.

Then I go on to say—Churches of Christ Care, through its service Care Housing, has a proven track record of managing housing. It currently managesmore than 400 tenancies across Queensland and they do it well.

Ms Bligh: That sounds like acclaim.Mr SCHWARTEN: That sounds to me like a bit of praise and a bit of recognition of what they are

doing. I am absolutely bewildered as to how the honourable member can form that view. I do not want tovisit it all upon his door because this is really about leadership. That media release came out of theoffice of the Leader of the Opposition and I suspect that my good friend the shadow minister had noteven put his eyes anywhere near it. It actually came out of Mr Springborg’s office. The Leader of theOpposition has gone to the people of Queensland twice without any housing policy and twice he hasbeen rejected. Now he wants to make it thrice, I think, by the way he is behaving.

Ms Spence: It did not do Mr Caltabiano any good to lie about it either.Mr SCHWARTEN: Exactly. In fact, in public housing all we have ever had is scaremongering.

What we see here is the twice-rejected leader on two occasions with no policy on housing now trying toattack us because we are out there being innovative in policy. He has said that we are not spendingenough on housing. We are spending $4.5 million every day on housing in Queensland and yet he sayswe are not doing enough. Let us see how much the opposition will spend. Where is the money going tocome from? Where is the leadership on this issue? Twice Mr Springborg has gone to an election with nohousing policy. He has been the leader twice with no housing policy. He has been rejected twice, yet hestill has not got crayon onto paper. He has not even got something in cartoon form.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr English): Order! That concludes question time.

MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST

Remembrance DayMr SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—LNP) (Leader of the Opposition) (11.56 am): Today is an

extremely significant day for all Australians. This is what we know as Armistice Day, or RemembranceDay. I thought it was somewhat passing strange that we paused in the middle of my two questions inorder to commemorate what is a most significant day for all Australians. I think that we owe the servicemen and women of Queensland and Australia and those people who have fallen previously far morethan what we have offered them here in this place this morning. In fact, it had been my intention to go tothe commemoration ceremony at the cenotaph this morning. Unfortunately, we have seen an extensionof the ministerial statements in this place.

I think that we need to look at this for the future operation of this parliament. In the time that I havebeen in this place I have seen a situation where the parliament has been suspended when we won theSheffield Shield. I have seen the situation where the sitting hours of the parliament were actuallyorchestrated around the running of the Melbourne Cup. When we go into the regions of Queensland wealso put question time on later so that the people of Queensland in that area are able to attend at a laterhour. I say to the members of this parliament that we should not go through this again. I have found itstrange for a long period of time that in this place we have tended to pause in the middle ofparliamentary jousting and debate to honour the fallen servicemen of this great country for two minutes.I feel that we owe them much more than that and that we should actually roster this parliament in such away that our question time can be held later so that members of parliament can attend that verysignificant commemoration.

Members might ask me why. If one looks at the statistics of World War I in relation to Australiathey are profound. In the First World War, Australia’s total enlisted forces equalled 416,809 men. Ofthese enlisted men, approximately 61,000 were killed and 156,000 were injured. The official populationof Australia, according to the census of 1911, was 4,573,786. In comparison with the total population, inthe theatre of World War I, 1.3 per cent of the population of Australia was killed and 3.4 per cent wasinjured. The casualty rate in proportion to embarkations was 65 per cent, which was the highest rate for

11 Nov 2008 Matters of Public Interest 3357

any country involved in World War I. That is why I make the case that this parliament should pause moresignificantly on this day so that members of this place can properly commemorate this most significantevent. That is what we should be doing.

I had intended to attend the services this morning. This matter has always concerned me and itparticularly concerns me today. In the future in this place we should more fully commemorate this day.This is a most significant year for me because my eldest daughter participated in a school trip to thebattle fields of World War I to significantly commemorate the contribution of fallen servicemen.

Elective Surgery Waiting ListsMr McARDLE (Caloundra—LNP) (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (12.00 pm): There were

34,514 sick Queenslanders waiting on the official elective surgery waiting list on 1 October 2008. Thehealth minister’s response was that this was one of the Beattie-Bligh government’s best reports. I amnot so sure that is the view shared by the parents of children who were waiting for essential surgery atboth the Mater Childrens Hospital and the Royal Childrens Hospital. Category 1 patients should betreated within 30 days, but many of those very sick children were forced to wait more than 32 days at theMater Childrens and 48 days at the Royal Childrens. That is an increase in the waits for the most sickchildren, which is totally unacceptable.

I do not believe that the data provided by the minister and Queensland Health is a true reflectionof the number of people waiting for required surgery. Like most information released by this sneakygovernment, the truth is hidden by the information and definitions provided by spin doctors and thecareful way that the data is constructed and collected by ministerial nursemaids. I think most peoplewere rightly suspicious when the minister’s office selectively leaked the last quarterly public hospitalperformance report and then held it back from general public release until late in the afternoon of thefollowing day. While the health minister claimed that it was one of the Beattie-Bligh government’s bestquarterly reports, fewer people who needed surgery received it in the last quarter than the one before.There also appears to be a major reversal in the number of people treated through the Surgery Connectprogram, with nearly 3,000 fewer operations in the September quarter than in the June quarter.

Of greatest concern, however, is not what information was presented but rather the number ofsick people who should be on an elective surgery waiting list but who are caught in limbo, waiting on theother, unofficial waiting list. For those who remember the public hospital system review, I refer to PeterForster’s discovery that there were thousands of sick people caught up in the public health system’sbureaucratic traffic jam. These were the countless thousands of people who should be on the officialwaiting list for surgery but who do not make it onto the official waiting list because they are somewherein the system waiting for an appointment. The review found that up to 25,000 of the 100,000 sick peoplewaiting to get an appointment with a surgical/medical specialist would have been placed on the surgicalwaiting list but, of course, no data was collected on how long these people had to wait. I guess it is safeto say, from Forster’s findings, that the latest quarterly report which showed that 35,000 people were stillwaiting for surgery last quarter represented about half the true number of people who were really waitingfor essential surgery somewhere in Queensland’s Health bureaucratic gridlock. This government hasthe most appropriate slogan for its record in public health, traffic and transport: the Beattie-Blighgovernment has delivered a queue to a queue to a queue.

Yesterday I received an answer to a question on notice about access block in emergencydepartments. It was very concerning, especially for sick and injured children and their parents. Twenty-six per cent of very sick children who were assessed as needing hospitalisation had to wait more thaneight hours for a hospital bed at the Mater Childrens emergency department, while the numberskyrocketed from five per cent to 25 per cent at the Royal Childrens Hospital in the past three months.This massive blow-out in ED access block occurred despite a 9.8 per cent decrease in the number ofchildren presenting at the Mater Childrens Hospital emergency department compared to this time lastyear and an 8.2 per cent decrease in the number of children presenting at the Royal Childrens Hospitalemergency department compared to last year.

A few months ago I called for a whole-of-hospital approach to deal with the increasing bottleneckbetween our busy public hospitals and the emergency departments. I note the government has nowborrowed some of our ideas and we will always be happy to help reduce the suffering of so many sickpeople in our overcrowded emergency departments, as well as helping the hardworking doctors, nursesand allied health professionals. However, when I raised this crisis in the ED, the health minister andPremier went into automatic political pilot and started blaming all and sundry, but especially the elderly,for ED overcrowding. It is shameful that a government that spent a decade talking about unprecedentedpopulation growth and an ageing population did not know that all those fluffy media statements aboutfuture plans were not just media props. Now the Beattie-Bligh government is blaming generation Y forsurgery waiting list blow-outs. At some stage this tired old government must take responsibility for itsfailures and its policy failings. Perhaps the massive amount of money spent on new glamour shots forthe same old government would be better spent on connecting young people with primary health careoptions rather than blaming them for the increasingly long queue to public surgery.

Interruption.


PRIVILEGE

Alleged Misleading of the HouseMr LEE (Indooroopilly—GRN) (12.05 pm): I rise on a matter of privilege suddenly arising. While

not answering my question about renewable energy during question time, the Premier stated that I hadvoted for the government’s legislation to endorse a net feed-in tariff. I have checked the record of theparliamentary debate from 14 May 2008. The House can be quite assured that I did vote in thatparticular—

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr English): Order! What is your point or order?

Mr LEE: My point is that I suggest the Premier has misled the House. I seek your guidance as tohow I should proceed. I believe her statement is not correct.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: If the honourable member could write to the Speaker with yourconcerns, Mr Speaker will examine the matter.

Mr LEE: Certainly. Thank you.

MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTERESTResumed from p. 3357.

Remembrance DayHon. RE SCHWARTEN (Rockhampton—ALP) (Minister for Public Works, Housing and

Information and Communication Technology) (12.06 pm): As pointed out by the Leader of theOpposition, today is Remembrance Day. An allegation has been made that it is unique for thisparliament to sit on a day of remembrance. That is not true. In 1998 and 2004 the parliament sat on thisday. The second point was the assumption by the Leader of the Opposition that this is somehowdisrespectful to the people who served in the First World War or, indeed, in other wars. I notice one ofour veterans, Jim Pearce, is in the parliament today. I am sure that he would not be sitting in thisparliament if he thought that somehow we were being disrespectful to the diggers of the First Word War,two of whom, I might add, were my great-uncles. My father served in the Second World War.

When we put sitting dates together, I am very consultative. It would have been of no surprise tome if the Leader of the Opposition had paid me the courtesy of saying, ‘I do not think we should sit thatday.’ Instead, in my view he has quite inappropriately and wrongly used this parliament and the essenceof this day. I think he should ponder what he has just done, which is to politicise this day. This daygathers over the divide. We should be proud of this day because of the armistice it brought—althoughtoo late for 60,000 young people, many of whose graves I have seen and who were much younger thanmy own children. Such a matter is far above politics.

Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition should ponder what those people were fighting for. Theywere fighting for our right, as democratically elected people, to gather in this parliament as agovernment that is answerable to the people. I think we could do them no greater service than to honourthem in that way. Despite the fact that the Premier was in the middle of answering a question, I think itwas very poignant that Mr Speaker should interrupt her to honour the Remembrance Day tradition ofpausing at 11 o’clock. That was not my doing as the Leader of the House; that was Mr Speaker’s call.

I say to the Leader of the Opposition that today he has plumbed new depths. I do not think heshould have gone down that path. When he gets a quieter moment, he might reflect on what he hasdone and give some thought to ameliorating the enormous hurt that he has created.

Water SupplyMr HINCHLIFFE (Stafford—ALP) (12.09 pm): I have referred in the House before to my support

for science. Having regard for science means having regard for truth, and I believe we have no greaterduty to our electors and the people of Queensland generally than to do so. That is why I wish to speakup in support of the Bligh government’s decisive position and commitment to future proof south-eastQueensland’s water needs.

Today we are on the verge of completing a combination of water assets that will not only protectour water needs but ensure the water needs of future generations. Through a combination ofdesalination, purified recycled water, 400 kilometres of pipelines, water storages and potentially newdams, this government will put in place water security for Queenslanders.


And, yes, the purified recycled water that will be added to Wivenhoe Dam and our drinkingsupplies will go through a seven-stage process and will be safe. As a starting point to ensure this, thegovernment introduced new legislation to introduce stringent water quality standards for recycled waterand require recycled water management plans from each entity involved in a recycled water scheme.

Recycled water management plans outline the risks associated with the scheme—risks that existwith all potable water supply schemes—and demonstrate how these risks are managed, as well asdemonstrate the quality of the water produced. These plans must be approved by the Office of theWater Supply Regulator prior to supplementing Wivenhoe Dam. Approval requires regular reviews andaudits to ensure standards are being maintained. This involves demonstrating that the treatmentprocesses at each barrier are operating effectively and verifying that the water produced by theadvanced water treatment plants—barrier 5 as it is known—is consistently meeting the water qualitystandards.

Online, real-time monitoring is critical to the control of the advanced water treatment plants. If analert limit is reached then an alarm sounds for the operator to investigate. If a critical limit is reachedthen the plant automatically shuts down until the cause is addressed. Monitoring equipment is regularlycalibrated to ensure accuracy. Barriers 1 and 2 are the existing and very effective source control andwaste water treatment plants operated by the councils.

Extensive verification that the product water is meeting the required water quality standardsinvolves testing for a broad range of contaminants that have been reviewed by Queensland Health. Thislist has been developed through a catchment risk assessment based on the monitoring of raw water,potential contaminants in the catchment, those that could affect the treatment process and compoundspreviously identified in testing carried out by the Queensland Health laboratories.

The verification process has a minimum requirement of 26 samples over 13 weeks for some 200parameters. Ongoing monitoring will continue to be conducted based on the significance of thecompound, frequency and level of detection. The list of contaminants tested for will vary based onongoing review of data collected. Regular broad screens for all contaminants will be conducted. Scienceis the basis of it. The Queensland Water Commission’s expert panel, made up of national andinternational experts, is reviewing the plans and the resulting water quality information to ensure theprocess is robust in producing water that meets the required standards and ensuring the safety of theproduction system.

It should be remembered that purified recycled water is produced at barrier 5 before entering thedam—barrier 6—where it will be diluted and detained for a further six months. The water is then re-treated through normal water treatment processes—barrier 7—which have produced safe water for theregion for many years.

Science needs to and must come first, not fear. The science argument was respected by themembers of the opposition when debating fluoridation. My honourable and learned friend the memberfor Surfers Paradise said in March this year that ‘the oral health of Queenslanders was too entrenchedin politics rather than in science’. It would now appear that purified recycled water has becomeentrenched in politics. The erstwhile leader of the member for Surfers Paradise, the member forCaloundra, also stood up in support of fluoridation saying—There is no credible scientific evidence to suggest that fluoride has any adverse effect on health.

There is no credible scientific evidence to suggest that purified recycled water has any adverseeffect on health, either. The member for Mirani took pleasure in supporting the Water Fluoridation Bill.He said—Finally the government has accepted the overwhelming body of medical and scientific evidence that fluoride is safe.

When will the opposition accept the overwhelming body of evidence that purified recycled water issafe? At this stage, members of the opposition are not being led by the science and are therefore justnot up to the mantle of government. In contrast, the Bligh government is committed to securing south-east Queensland’s water needs, and we would not be pursuing purified recycled water as a part of ourplan if the science did not stack up.

Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Kiernan): Order! Before I call the member for Noosa, Iacknowledge in the gallery staff and students from Northside Christian College in the electorate ofEverton, represented by the minister for education, the Hon. Rod Welford. I call the member for Noosa.

Queensland Ambulance ServiceMr ELMES (Noosa—LNP) (12.14 pm): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker Kiernan, and it is

nice to see you in the chair. I rise this afternoon to speak on the crisis which is the QueenslandAmbulance Service. The men and women of our Ambulance Service—our paramedics—have thehighest skill levels in Australia, yet the Bligh Labor government seems intent on short-changing ourparamedics and taking advantage of their goodwill and determination to do the job they love.


Early last week Queensland ambulance personnel held a day of action across this state. In mytravels around my electorate that day I firstly drove by the Tewantin Ambulance Station and noticedsignage highlighting the plight of our ambos. During the course of the next couple of hours I spoke withsome fantastic members of the QAS both at the Tewantin station and later as a follow-up at the NoosaHeads Ambulance Station. When you look at the circumstances under which these highly trainedprofessionals work, you have to feel the utmost sympathy for them. I was shocked to find that as a resultof my brief visit to two of the ambulance stations in my electorate the officers concerned received a‘please explain’ from higher authorities as to why they allowed a member of the opposition on toQueensland ambulance property.

It is precisely these ongoing actions by a government that has everything to hide and nothing ofsubstance to show that increasingly have Queenslanders ready to assign the Bligh Labor government tothe rubbish bin of history. How can it be that an ordinary Queensland citizen can walk into an ambulancestation but an ordinary Queensland citizen who just happens to be an opposition member of parliamentcannot?

I have asked two questions on notice about the age and state of repair of the Queenslandambulance fleet—one to this minister and one to the previous minister. Queenslanders I am sure wouldbe shocked to learn that we have ambulances in the north coast region—and I am sure throughout therest of the state—with in excess of 400,000 kilometres on the clock. I do not doubt for one moment thatthey are maintained correctly, but why is it that this Queensland government allows our ambulance fleetto degrade to this extent?

There should not be an ambulance on the road in Queensland that has done more than 350,000kilometres or is of an age greater than nine years. As an example, police vehicles in Queensland areturned over at around 40,000 kilometres. Our ambulance fleet is worn out. The same can be said of ourparamedics—men and women who in many cases complete 12-hour shifts without rest pauses or mealbreaks, who find that if they are sick, injured or under WorkCover they are paid only the flat award rate,who are increasingly seeing an expectation of skill levels going up and pay points being removed if theyhave difficulty in complying.

In this state we have two great universities—one is the University of Queensland and the other isthe University of the Sunshine Coast—that specialise in providing degrees in paramedic studies thatshould see at least an adequate number of trained paramedics becoming available for service to theQueensland community. In many cases, though, we train them in Queensland and the ambulanceservices in Victoria and New South Wales get the benefit because conditions in those states are farsuperior to those in Queensland.

A further drain on trained professionals is currently underway with the recruitment by a privatecompany of up to 80 paramedics for service on Queensland industrial sites, primarily coalmines. Theseare paramedics the Queensland Ambulance Service cannot afford to lose. Decent men and womenbecome paramedics because they want to save lives and help people, but working ridiculous hours andplugging the gaps left as other paramedics either move interstate or switch jobs is making it increasinglydifficult.

Queensland paramedics should not finish work so exhausted that they worry about their safetyand the safety of others as they drive home after long shifts and when they get home are far too tired tospend time with their families. Add to that the increased stress levels that come about because of theaggressiveness and antisocial behaviour of some individuals in our society and the pressure broughtabout by the almost daily ramping outside Queensland hospitals and it is no wonder the job of aQueensland ambo has become a pretty thankless task. Like the ambulance fleet, our paramedics areworn out and it is about time the Minister for Emergency Services started to treat these professionalswith the respect they deserve.

Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms van Litsenburg): Order! Before calling the member for Cook, Iacknowledge teachers and student leaders from Mabel Park State High School in the electorate ofWoodridge, represented by Mrs Desley Scott.

Cape York, Alcohol RestrictionsMr O’BRIEN (Cook—ALP) (12.19 pm): Last Thursday I had the great pleasure of attending the

house of Willie and Ella Lawrence, who are responsible for the third house in Coen to be declared dry.I am led to believe that this is the third house declared under the new legislation, and I want tocongratulate the Lawrences for their leadership and initiative. The dry house declaration means that it isnow an offence to bring alcohol into their property, with the penalty of $1,850 applying to those who try.The dry house declaration can be suspended for short periods of time so that the family can celebratebirthdays, weddings and the like. This gives the declaration a modicum of flexibility, making it moreattractive for residents to sign up and stick it out over the long term.

The declaration came the day before the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderPartnerships, Lindy Nelson-Carr, announced revised alcohol restrictions will apply in discreteIndigenous communities from next year. Tighter alcohol restrictions will commence on 2 January 2009


for the communities of Hope Vale, Yarrabah, Doomadgee and Pormpuraaw. The levels of alcoholrelated harm in Hope Vale remain too high. High-strength alcohol products, especially cask wine, havebeen identified as a particular problem and the government will regulate this via restrictions. Thisgovernment will ban cask wine from Hope Vale.

The reduced carriage limits for Pormpuraaw are a result of that community’s commitment toreduce alcohol related harm. I commend the community of Pormpuraaw for their leadership on thismatter. They have risen to the challenge proposed by this government. Over $100 million worth ofalcohol related services will now be available to support all communities reduce alcohol related harm.Alcohol related health treatment, sport and recreation and diversionary services are being implementedto coincide with tougher restrictions or the closure of canteens. Community leaders in Pormpuraaw andMapoon are demonstrating this and will be rewarded with funding for small-scale community activities.

The Queensland government will support communities to tackle alcohol misuse and reducealcohol related harm by providing the following: 29 new police officers to enforce new legislativeprovisions including preventing sly grog entering communities; four new wellbeing centres in Cape Yorkwelfare reform communities, providing integrated drug and alcohol counselling and support services aswell as general counselling services; three new community based integrated drug and alcohol centresincluding one at Weipa; three new drug and alcohol hubs including one at Weipa, providing flexible,professional support to remote communities; 12 new community based drug and alcohol supportworkers; four new community based drug and alcohol counsellors; 10 new detoxification services; fournew Police-Citizens Youth Club CAPE centres; 13 new men’s support programs and eight new women’ssupport programs to address alcohol related issues and improve confidence through activities includingsupport groups, training, recreational and cultural activities; and four new suicide prevention programsincluding one at Aurukun and Lockhart River.

Levels of alcohol related harm will be monitored and published in quarterly reports. The level ofharm will assist to inform whether restrictions are maintained or relaxed. If over a number of consecutivequarters a community can make a substantial and sustained reduction in harm, the minister haspromised a review of the alcohol restrictions could be undertaken. Nothing would be more pleasing tome than to see communities turn the corner, demonstrating a socially responsible approach to alcoholconsumption and a diminished need for government intervention.

State Schools

Mr LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—LNP) (12.23 pm): My matter of public importance thisafternoon is that of education policy and what the minister this morning spoke about in his ministerialstatement. This morning the minister spoke about renewing old schools. He does not talk about closingschools, which is what he is actually doing. He said that all Queensland students should have betterfacilities. He spoke about the Bligh government building on its achievements and anticipating the needsof tomorrow’s Queensland. So let us have a look at what is actually happening in education inQueensland in Labor electorates. We have Richlands and Inala West state schools in Inala and Durackbeing closed. We have Blackstone, Dinmore, Bremer High and Amberley being closed in Ipswich.Parents from Xavier special school have contacted me saying that students are now being moved toMount Gravatt West Special School instead of staying at Whites Hill State College, as they would like to.

Mrs Menkens interjected. Mr LANGBROEK: I take that interjection from the member for Burdekin.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr English): Order! If the member wishes to interject she should resume

her seat. Mr LANGBROEK: We have Kenilworth State Community College, which has been changed from

a prep to year 10 to a prep to year 7. I want to table more than 190 letters from the local community whodo not want their school changed, but this is under the State Schools of Tomorrow plan which thehonourable minister was talking about this morning. Tabled paper: Correspondence relating to Kenilworth State Community College.

In the Deputy Premier’s electorate, Wynnum North, Wynnum Central and Lindum state schoolsare all being merged or closed or put into bigger facilities because this government believes that biggeris better when the parents in these Labor electorates do not believe so.

This morning we heard that Upper Barron State School is on the chopping block. It is a tablelandsschool that has served the local community since 1910. It is a 98-year-old heart of the community that isgoing to be closed. As the member for Mirani pointed out to me this morning, Dows Creek State Schoolin Mackay opened in 1895 and it is going to close its doors for the last time at the end of the school year.This decision has already affected the school community, with parents outraged that their governmentcould make such a decision at a time when the town’s population is booming as a result of nearbymining towns.


A couple of weeks ago on a bleak October night I went to Blackstone State School, where I satamongst 50 parents and students living in a rolled-gold Labor electorate. They do not want their schoolclosed. It is a similar story for Dinmore State School. The schools to be closed in Ipswich under theshort-sighted State Schools of Tomorrow program are also being short-changed when it comes tomaintenance funding. While the Bligh government would close the schools down in a day if it had thechoice, Blackstone and Dinmore will not close until the end of 2009, yet neither of these schools willreceive any money for vital maintenance to keep their kids safe until the schools are closed in 12months time. It calls into question the commitment of the local member, Jo-Ann Miller, the member forBundamba, who has lamely suggested she might work to save some of the buildings on theseproperties.

It makes a joke of the minister for education’s claim in the House this morning that Queenslandstudents deserve the best. We agree with the minister. So why is he allowing school communities inIpswich to suffer and potentially putting students at risk by refusing to invest in vital schoolmaintenance? In Wynnum, Inala and Ipswich Labor is turning its back on its own supporters. How manymore of Queensland’s 1,251 state schools face the axe under this government?

Ms Palaszczuk interjected.Mr LANGBROEK: The Bligh government believes that small schools have no place in public

education and should have no future in Queensland. I want to contrast that with LNP policy. We believethat all schools play a vital role in the education of the next generation of Queenslanders. We do notbelieve bigger is better. On the contrary, the bigger the school, the bigger the risk that students will notget the personal attention they need to succeed at school and, as a result, they will get left behind. TheLNP is committed to keeping the school gates open and providing the support and resources ourschools need to thrive.

There are a number of regional schools that will close under the Bligh government. The Laborgovernment has a vendetta against small schools and a complete lack of understanding of regional andremote education. This is evident in the alarming differential in benchmark results between metropolitanstudents and provincial, rural and remote students.

Ms Palaszczuk interjected.Mr LANGBROEK: I take the interjections from the honourable member for Inala, who is sitting

here allowing her state schools to be closed. Under LNP policy, the State Schools of Tomorrow programwill end. We are going to support our teachers. We are going to give schools more teachers. We aregoing to have smaller classes. We are going to have more full-time teacher aides. We are going to dealwith behaviour management issues. We are going to expand air conditioning in schools. Under theResults Plus policy of the LNP, we accept that education is the best long-term economic policy. We aredetermined to make Queenslanders the top of the class again. In our policy we have committed$260 million over four years, which leaves a sizeable amount left out of the State Schools of Tomorrowbudget, which we will use to make sure that we focus on teachers, the support that they need, behaviourmanagement issues so that parents can be confident—

Time expired.

Mudgeeraba Police StationMrs REILLY (Mudgeeraba—ALP) (12.28 pm): On Wednesday last week, 5 November, I had the

pleasure of standing alongside the Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport, the Hon. JudySpence, and the police commissioner, Bob Atkinson, at the official opening of the newly refurbishedMudgeeraba Police Station. The $1.5 million refurbishment was an election commitment and I wasdelighted to—

Mr Stevens interjected.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Robina! Mrs REILLY: Thank you for your protection, Mr Deputy Speaker. The $1.5 million refurbishment

was an election commitment. I was delighted to see it delivered and to have the minister, the policecommissioner, senior police from the district and local community leaders on site to view the completedworks. I particularly want to thank the Hinterland Heritage Museum volunteers for their delicioushomemade morning tea.

This significant refurbishment will ensure that the station can give continued service to thecommunity now and into the future in a modern and technologically advanced setting. The MudgeerabaPolice Station services Mudgeeraba, Robina, Reedy Creek, Worongary, Bonogin, Tallai, Merrimac andSpringbrook 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The station is also the district’s police training andeducation facility and will cater for the training of all Queensland police staff within the southern district.The officers at Mudgeeraba station, under the guidance and steady hand of Senior Sergeant MarkAnderson, work very closely with the local community to fight and prevent crime in a large geographicarea.


Mudgeeraba has many challenges. It has long rural roads, remote communities and residentialareas, thriving business districts and a major shopping centre.

Mr Johnson interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr English): Order! Member for Gregory, if you wish to interject please

resume your seat. I call the member for Mudgeeraba. Mrs REILLY: One would think that the current member for Robina would be interested in the

Mudgeeraba Police Station’s servicing of the Robina shopping centre which is now in his electorate butwill be part of the Mudgeeraba electorate come the next election. We have urban residential centres.We have a caravan park that poses many problems. We have several schools, a hospital, a railwaystation and a transport hub. We have the influx of 20,000 patrons at the fantastic Skilled Park severaltimes a year.

Despite the large geographically diverse area, the Mudgeeraba police division enjoys very lowcrime statistics compared to other divisions in the whole south-east district. It is not to say we do nothave our problems. Like every community, we could do with fewer hoons, fewer local drivers speedingon our local streets and using winding mountain roads as racetracks and fewer motorbike crashes.

We could also do with less graffiti. It is a scourge on our beautiful village that local residents andcommunity groups have rallied to fight against. The Police Community Consultative Committee andNeighbourhood Watch groups have been working with the police Crime Prevention Unit and with localofficers to battle the graffiti vandals. By reporting graffiti, working with agencies and the Gold Coast CityCouncil’s clean-up team—which has done a fantastic job—we have made a significant dent in the graffitiproblem we had in Mudgeeraba at the start of the year.

PCCC members were instrumental in the government bringing legislation to the House recentlywhich gave council and other authorised officers permission to clean graffiti off buildings owned byabsentee landowners. The committee members had seen the legislation in Victoria and asked me tobring it to the attention of the minister. I want to thank committee members Robert Hitchon, EarleHinchen, Richard Lennon, John Down and the other many good people on that committee for their work.

The rapid clean-up of graffiti is vital but information leading to arrest is equally important. Toencourage young people to report what they know or suspect to police, I have funded Crimestopperssigns to go into every school in my electorate. Young people are reluctant to give information.Understandably, they may fear reprisal. But if they know that they can give that information to policeanonymously then they will do it because they hate crime and graffiti and they want to do the right thing.This is a first in Mudgeeraba. It is going to happen in other state and non-government schools. I havefunded the signs to go into my schools first. I recognise that the Palm Beach Rotary Club has done thesame thing around the Palm Beach district.

This is just the first of this government’s election commitments to the region. A brand new policestation is also going to be built to serve a new statistical division which will cover Burleigh, Reedy Creek,Varsity Lakes and parts of Robina. Construction is due to start any day.

Unlike claims by the misinformed LNP candidate, the Bligh government has not short-changedthe people of Mudgeeraba by cutting back on its $6 million election commitment to build a new policestation. In fact, we will spend every cent of that. We have already spent over $2 million in last year’sbudget to buy the land. Here is a revelation for everyone who was concerned, particularly the LNPcandidate who was a failed Liberal candidate—she never got it right before so is unlikely to get it rightthis time or next time—before you build a police station you have to buy the land. That is what we havedone. Every cent of that $6 million will be spent on the new police station to meet my electioncommitment.

Time expired.

Magnetic IslandMr MESSENGER (Burnett—LNP) (12.33 pm): Magnetic Island, its tourism operators and small

businesses have become the latest innocent victims of this government. They join a long list ofQueenslanders who have been bullied, forgotten and ignored—nurses, ambulance officers, fire officers,police, recreational and commercial fishermen, prison officers, roadworkers and the list goes on.

The Magnetic Island tourism industry suffered severe damage and was decimated after a bizarreexperiment, sanctioned by the member for Hervey Bay and minister responsible for the EPA, MinisterMcNamara, went horribly wrong. The beaches of Magnetic Island were closed for three weeks becausea 3.5 metre crocodile, which had been captured on the northern tip of Queensland, fitted with a trackingdevice and then relocated 1,000 kilometres away, had decided to hunt for food at this popular touristdestination. This meant that in very quick time Magnetic Island, because of a Labor minister’s ill-conceived and very silly actions, became an unpopular tourist destination. The Speaker of this placeand member for Townsville has rightly described his own government’s actions as criminal stupidity.


The bizarre Crocs in Space experiment, as it became known, meant that many operators lost tensof thousands of dollars at a time when they could least afford it. It meant that there was genuine hurt andpain for many people. I table a collection of letters from Magnetic Island businesses that have describedwhat happened to them.Tabled paper: Bundle of correspondence relating to the release of a crocodile in the Magnetic Island region.

I urge the Premier to show some compassion and reconsider her decision not to compensatethese hardworking Queenslanders. It is beyond doubt that this government is morally and legally liablefor the damage and the decrease in trade which occurred because of the dysfunctional management ofthe EPA and a lack of communication with the tourism minister.

At the very least, I urge the Premier to set aside extra funds to promote Townsville and MagneticIsland as a safe place to holiday. As a gesture of goodwill, I would ask the Premier to investigate thepossibility of subsidising the ferry trip to Magnetic Island from the mainland by at least 50 per cent untilafter the Christmas holidays. This would provide immediate and practical relief to tourism operators whohave lost tens of thousands of dollars and had to sack workers because of this government’sincompetence.

Minister McNamara has admitted that a credible sighting of a crocodile has also occurred on thewestern coast of Fraser Island. But he still refuses to say whether the crocodile is one of 20 crocodilesthat were captured, fitted with GPS tracking devices and then released onto Queensland beaches. It isimportant that the minister immediately release all the details, especially the location of theapproximately 20 crocodiles he used in the EPA experiment. This a life and death issue.Queenslanders’ lives, children’s lives are at risk. As we have seen by the experiment on MagneticIsland, jobs and business viability are also at risk.

To add insult to injury, Minister McNamara is on the public record as saying that he did not thinkthat a 3.5 metre crocodile was dangerous. The tourism minister, Minister Boyle, said that the crocodilewas a tourist attraction and therefore good for business. I suggest that they read the letters that I havetabled. If the minister continues to dodge the question and not take this issue seriously then it is up tothe Premier to show some leadership and replace him with a person who has the decency, compassionand common sense to do the job.

For the safety of Queenslanders, the Premier must ensure that the following questions regardingthe capture, fitting of GPSs, transportation and release of those crocodiles are answered immediately.Where are they? Have they been released near populated areas? How much has this whole fiasco costthe Queensland taxpayer?

According to the National Tourism Alliance, the brutal reality for our tourism industry is that thereis a 20 to 40 per cent reduction in forward bookings. Tourism is an industry that exists because peoplehave a discretionary budget. That is fast disappearing. Some people will lose their discretionary budgetand some will not. But there is another factor that will stop people from spending money on a tourismrelated activity—that is guilt.

The message from the NTA is that, in order to increase the public spend on tourism—that is, keepjobs and save businesses—we must help remove the guilt that people suffer when they spend moneyon holidays, especially when they holiday on Magnetic Island. Today, I urge Queenslanders wherepossible, with family commitments in mind, to take holidays on Magnetic Island, the Discovery Coast,the Coral Coast and the Wide-Bay Burnett during this Christmas period.

MacGregor/Jubilee Terrace Planning StudyMrs ATTWOOD (Mount Ommaney—ALP) (12.38 pm): Last week I had the privilege of presenting

certificates to geography students who studied the Main Roads MacGregor/Jubilee Terrace PlanningStudy. The Centenary State High School sport centre was an array of colour as students assembledthere, participating in their plain-clothes day to raise funds for charity. It is important to note that youngpeople recognise that there are many people out there who are less advantaged than themselves.

On behalf of the minister for main roads, the Hon. Warren Pitt, I visited the school to recogniseand praise the work of members of the local school community for their involvement in a recent MainRoads planning study across town. Two classes of geography students, along with teachers Ms DebraMansini and Mrs Leanne Nicholson, did a field trip to Bardon in August this year. The manager of theproject, David Wilson, said that the event was a win-win situation—a win for the development ofstudents and a win for Main Roads officers who valued the views of these young people. The studentswere able to ask David questions they felt would help them in writing their assessments.

The enthusiastic Centenary State High School students showed an understanding of the complexissues associated with road planning, and these were consistent with those that had been expressed bythe local community during the current options analysis and community feedback stage of the project. It


was particularly heartening for the Main Roads project team to see that the students recognised thebroad range of impacts that road planning must address and were sensitive to the effects that these mayhave on pedestrians, cyclists, businesses, homeowners, shoppers and passing traffic. The studentsalso learnt how the government engages with members of the public to have their say in the importantplanning phase of road projects. Main Roads is committed to working with the community to make roadsolutions fit the community and its needs. The students now have the knowledge, the skill and, aboveall, the confidence to make their valuable contributions to planning studies in the future. They have beenmore than just conscientious geography students; they have been advocates for a community. Thecalibre of the work was very high and should be a source of great pride to the Centenary State HighSchool.

Main Roads has been able to interact directly with the younger generation and identify whatissues are important to future road users and home and business owners—a rare and valuableexperience. Main Roads was at a career event at the school earlier this year and hopes some of thestudents will choose to work for Main Roads in the future as engineers, town-planners, communicationsofficers and myriad other professions.

Congratulations to the school, the teachers and the students. This project has demonstrated thatschool studies do relate to the real world, how valuable it is to contribute as an individual with a point ofview and how, by having a say in government’s planning processes, people can make a difference inhelping to shape our future. I congratulate geography teachers Ms Debra Mansini and Mrs LeanneNicholson for initiating the event with Main Roads for the benefit of all concerned and I congratulateprincipal John Brew for bringing this project forward.

Renewable EnergyMr LEE (Indooroopilly—GRN) (12.42 pm): In question time today the Premier would not answer

my questions which I believe the people of Queensland deserve to know the answers to. My questionsimply asked if the Premier would agree to release into the public domain all of the information,including economic modelling, that the government relied upon when it made its decision to endorse asolar feed-in tariff which pays generators of renewable energy based on the net renewable energy thatthey produce, not the gross.

Anywhere in the world that has a strong and growing renewable energy sector is based upon apolicy decision by government to pay generators of renewable energy on the gross renewable energythat they produce, not on the net. Using the net model is a model for disaster, and I believe that thegovernment must be in possession of information that indicates that the decision it made is not asensible one in terms of the economics and it is certainly not a sensible one in terms of its stated policygoals of building a renewable energy sector. I think the people of Queensland have a right to know whyit is that the Queensland government made decisions that are not consistent with policy decisions thathave been made in places like Germany and Spain that have remarkably strong and growing renewableenergy sectors.

Quite frankly, I am dumbfounded. I do not understand what the Premier would have to hide. Whatcould be wrong with releasing this information to the people of Queensland and letting the people ofQueensland make a judgement about the policy? In Germany, the difference between a policy decisionto pay producers of renewable energy based on the gross, which is a smart decision, and a decision topay them based on the net, which is not a real smart decision, was equivalent to the cost of one cup ofcoffee per household per year—one cup of coffee per household per year.

I believe that Queensland could have a strong and growing renewable energy sector.Queensland is the Sunshine State and we should be the world leaders in terms of solar energy andrenewable energy, and I believe that we could do that with a cost to consumers of no more than one cupof coffee per household per year. The outrageously stupid privatisation of the retail arm of the electricityindustry in Queensland cost consumers on average per household around $120 per year, yet that wasseen as an acceptable policy decision by government.

What I say to the Premier and what I say to the government is: have the courage of yourconvictions and release the information that you based your decision upon. I do not think anyone inQueensland could believe that they are being truthful and honest about saying that their decision wassensible if they will not release the financial modelling that they based their decision upon.

The Premier then said that giving out free light bulbs will have a much bigger impact uponQueensland’s carbon footprint than solar power generation in Queensland is currently having. That isbecause Queensland has got bad policy in terms of solar energy! Queensland is at the bottom of thepile of Australian states and territories in terms of policy for solar energy. I have to say to the Premierthat she should not justify a bad policy decision on the basis of, ‘Oh, well, we can do something else tomitigate it further on down the track.’ The government should not keep the people of Queensland in thedark on its decision on solar policy by explaining that it is simply going to give away some free lightbulbs instead. This is not a smart thing to do.


What we need in Australia are nationally consistent price guarantees for solar and renewableenergy. Greens Senator Christine Milne has a private member’s bill before the Senate today whichwould achieve precisely that. We need consistent legislation—and consistent good legislation—in everystate and every territory in Australia to give people some encouragement and some security in terms oftheir investment in solar energy. It is no good saying to the mums and dads of Queensland that theyshould be encouraged to put solar panels on their roof when the government is endorsing a policy that isjust not as good as it could be. I say to the government and I say to the Premier: have some courage,have some decency and release to the people of Queensland the figures upon which you based yourdecision.

Redcliffe Small Business Forum

Ms van LITSENBURG (Redcliffe—ALP) (12.47 pm): Last Monday week I had the privilege tohold a small business forum at my office. I called this meeting because of the concern local smallbusiness owners were expressing due to the decrease in business in the past few months and theuncertain times that have come upon us due to the fallout from the subprime mortgage issues in the US.Some 70 people attended the meeting including the President of Seaside Traders, Colin Springer,Secretary Debbie Grealey and many of its members, and Chris Elder from the Margate Business Groupand many of its members. There were also small business people from Clontarf and Kippa-Ring. Themanager of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry was also present and spoke about developingshopping precincts. I also invited two officers from the Moreton Bay Regional Council’s business unit, asit is vital for both levels of government to work together for us to achieve the optimum outcomes for theRedcliffe shopping precinct.

Small business owners expressed concern about the future of the Redcliffe CBD, which they feltwas in decline. They felt that not enough shoppers were being encouraged into the CBD and wantedresolution about the location of the Sunday markets and issues about leases. It was always my opinionthat there is not enough shopping density in the Redcliffe CBD. We do not have enough shops to enticeshoppers from all over the north side to ‘shop until they drop’ the way we do with our cafes andrestaurants on the waterfront.

Developing our cafe precinct along the waterfront of the Redcliffe CBD took some time and I amcertain we can be just as successful with our shopping precinct. That was the main thrust of ourdiscussion. At the end of two hours the meeting came up with a plan to develop the Redcliffe shoppingprecinct. A steering committee was appointed, comprising a cross-section of the people at the meeting,and was to begin by organising a visioning seminar in the new year. This steering committee will thenwork towards implementing the vision that the group comes up with at that seminar, with guidance fromthe Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry.

In the meantime, the seaside traders are working hard on a range of activities in the CBD leadingup to Christmas and the Christmas-new year period. This is a group of small-businesspeople who aretaking their future into their own hands and I believe they will be successful. I am committed to doingeverything I can to ensure that these businesspeople get all the support they need not only to improvetheir businesses’ profitability but also to ensure that the Redcliffe CBD becomes a vibrant shoppingprecinct that will entice people from across Brisbane to shop there.

This initiative is in line with the Bligh government’s Toward Q2 plan to develop a strong economy.This is a target that the Bligh government is committed to achieving. The Queensland Labor governmenthas a strong record of achieving its targets and a proud record of successful management of theeconomy. During a period of strong growth, the Queensland Labor government has developed broaddiversity within our economy so that we will have some resilience in the uncertain economic timesahead. I believe this diversity will enable the Queensland economy to stay more buoyant than othereconomies and that the traders in the Redcliffe CBD will be able to work towards a renewal of theirshopping precinct. Watch this space.

Remembrance Day

Mr REEVES (Mansfield—ALP) (12.51 pm): Today, the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, is a dayof worldwide significance. I had the pleasure of representing the Premier at the Remembrance Dayceremony at Anzac Square. I must say that that ceremony has been a bit tarnished by the words spokenby the Leader of the Opposition during his contribution to this matters of public interest debate. I shouldinform the House that, as question time was put back half an hour because of the motion of condolence,when I got back here at 20 past 11 I was able to be here for 40 minutes of question time. In fact, themember for Maroochydore, who represented the Leader of the Opposition at the ceremony, was herebefore me. So it was not the case that the Leader of the Opposition would have missed question time ifhe had attended the ceremony. I understand he was going to attend. I think the comments made by theLeader of the Opposition in his speech were very poor. They politicised the day and tarnished theimportance of this day.

11 Nov 2008 Summary Offences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 3367

To mark the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day a commemorative image, including the AustralianArmy hat badge and red poppy, will be projected onto the QPAC building each night this week. I amhappy that the Premier supported my proposal for that to occur. I ask members to go up to the 7th floorof the Annexe this evening as they should be able to see from there that image projected tocommemorate the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day and to remember the sacrifice of those who died orwho otherwise suffered for Australia in wars.

Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day as it is now known, originally commemorated the end of theFirst World War, when at 11 am on 11 November 1918 a ceasefire brought peace after more than fourlong years of war. The relief that this announcement must have brought to the families of the diggersand nurses who were serving overseas at that time would have been beyond belief. Very fewAustralians were left untouched by World War I. Most families had lost someone—a father, a son, abrother, a daughter, or a sister. Only yesterday the Courier-Mail reported a case of the Gilvear family—afather and six sons who enlisted in the Army. Of those men, three were killed and two were wounded,while the mother and four younger children at home attempted to run the family farm.

Last week saw the 2008 launch of Poppy Week. I am pleased to advise the House that the stategovernment contributed $25,000 towards this year’s Poppy Appeal. The money collected from the saleof the traditional red poppies, which I see members wearing today, helps to pay for the great work thatthe RSL does for the ex-service community throughout Queensland day in and day not, not just onRemembrance Day. It was great to see community involvement in the suburban launches of PoppyWeek as well. The Minister for Health and I attended the event last Monday at Sunnybank and we wereimpressed by the number of people at that shopping centre who gathered or stopped to listen to theyoung and the old. It is very clear that the public’s admiration for our veterans is as strong and enduringas ever.

Recently, I attended a 90th anniversary of Armistice Day lunch on the Gold Coast, which wasorganised by Mr Paul Findlay, the president of Gold Coast region of the Queensland TPI Association.This event was also a thankyou to the veterans of World War II. Many of those ex-servicemen are nowin their late eighties and mid-nineties. Today we will also remember their service. Many of the GoldCoast members made a contribution to the event and I congratulate them on that. I am pleased to saythat the state government contributed a very welcome $3,000 towards the cost of this worthy event.

The day 11 November 1918 marked the end of the bloodiest war the world had ever seen, knownthen as the Great War and the war to end all wars—a hope that, sadly, was not to be. Between 1914and 1918, Australia suffered the highest per capita death toll of any country in the British Empire. Froma total population of just five million, Australia sent 300,000 of its sons and daughters to the war. Morethan two-thirds of these young Australians became casualties: 61,508 Australians died and another156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. It is also worth remembering that every man andwoman in the 1st Australian Imperial Force was a volunteer. Australia was the only country on eitherside of the conflict that did not resort to conscription to fill the ranks of its army.

I wonder what those 61,508 young men and women would have made of their lives had they notdied during World War I. When we add to that number the 39,767 who paid the supreme sacrifice inWorld War II, we have to think about the huge difference the loss of their continued contribution musthave made to today’s Australia. Lest we forget.

SUMMARY OFFENCES AND OTHER ACTS AMENDMENT BILL

First ReadingHon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport)

(12.56 pm): I present a bill for an act to amend the Summary Offences Act 2005, the Police Powers andResponsibilities Act 2000 and the Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Act (No.2) 2008 for particular purposes. I present the explanatory notes, and I move—That the bill be now read a first time.

Question put—That the bill be now read a first time.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.

Tabled paper: Summary Offences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2008. Tabled paper: Summary Offences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2008, explanatory notes.

Second ReadingHon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport)

(12.56 pm): I move—That the bill be now read a second time.

3368 Summary Offences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 11 Nov 2008

I introduce a bill into the House today that is in direct response to the CMC’s recommendationsthat formed the Policing public order—a review of the public nuisance offence paper which was tabled inparliament on 23 May 2008. The Bligh government recognises the community benefit in the CMCrecommendations and is implementing all recommended reforms.

As the Premier and I announced on 10 August 2008, police officers will be given the power toissue on-the-spot fines for public nuisance offences. This new power will be trialled over a 12-monthperiod commencing from 1 January 2009. The trial will be conducted in the South Brisbane andTownsville policing districts.

The introduction of infringement notices for public nuisance offences will decrease the necessityfor offenders to be taken into police custody for relatively minor offences. Police officers will also spendless time on paperwork for nuisance offenders and be available to spend more time performing policeoperational tasks. Furthermore, I expect to see a decrease in the number of public nuisance offendersproceeding through the courts as the payment of a fine avoids the need to attend court.

The CMC report indicated that in the two-year period considered, 97 per cent of public nuisanceoffences were dealt with through a plea of guilty or by the defendant being dealt with through ex parteproceedings. The introduction of infringement notices will translate to improved efficiency and costsavings in the justice system. I seek leave to have the rest of my speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.In the two year period reviewed by the CMC, 23 percent of public nuisance offences included other offences and 89 percent ofthese other offences involved offences against police. That means, over 20 percent of all public nuisance offences considered bythe CMC included offences of resist police, obstruct police, disobey direction or assault police. Therefore, the Government hasincluded obstruct police and contravene direction as relevant ticketable offences for the trial. The contravene direction though, islimited to failing to state a correct name and/or address. Infringement notices will not be issued for assaultind police and anyperson who assaults a police officer should be taken before a court and have a conviction recorded on their criminal history.The CMC Report recommended that police officers include brief particulars of the behaviour that constituted the public nuisanceoffence. Increasingly, our Police Service is being scrutinised. This requirement allows the Police Service to offer the Queenslandcommunity greater transparency in the application of the public nuisance legislation. The Police Service has already establishedthe necessary crime codes to enable the identification of the limb of the public nuisance offence committed by a person. Theimplementation of this recommendation also accords with the recommendations from the Royal Commission into AboriginalDeaths in Custody.Additionally, a tiered system of financial penalty is attributed to public nuisance crime codes. These penalties will reflect theseverity of the public nuisance behaviour. That is, where the public nuisance offence involves a degree of aggravation, offensiveor threatening or disorderly behaviour, the offence will attract 3 penalty units and where the offence involves offensive, obscene,indecent or abusive language, the ticket penalty will be 1 penalty unit. The Bill also introduces a new stand alone offence for public urination. This offence will be included in the public nuisance ticketingtrial. with the maximum penalty of 2 penalty units. Where an infringement notice is issued for such an offence, that infringementnotice will carry a fine of 1 penalty unit. These penalties are consistent with those imposed by the courts so we as a Governmentare not lessening penalties. Rather, a person will be given the opportunity to pay an infringement notice and avoid a conviction foran offence. This is the same manner as a traffic ticket for speeding or failing to stop at a red light operates.Of course, Mr Speaker, this does not mean that all public urination offences will always be dealt with through a 1 penalty unit fine.It will still be possible to charge an offender who urinates in a public place with an offence of public nuisance, should thecircumstances warrant. For example an offender who urinates at a bus stop in view of members of the public as opposed to aperson who attempts to take himself away from public view would not get the benefit of an infringement notice for public urination.During the trial, an infringement notice issued under this legislation will not appear on the offender’s criminal history. Of course thisdoes not mean a public nuisance offender will receive ticket after ticket for repeat offending. The Police Service will record theticket’s issue on QPRIME. Every time a police officer decides whether or not to deal with a public nuisance offender through theissue of a ticket, the officer will be able to access the offender’s record. Obviously, if that record shows a myriad of dates wheresimilar behaviour was dealt with by infringement notice, the officer would consider other alternatives, such as placing the offenderbefore a magistrate. The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 has been amended to allow a watchhouse police officer to issue an infringementnotice to an offender on behalf of the arresting police officer. I recognise that there will be occasions during the trial when anoffender is taken into custody for public nuisance and related offences and conveyed to a watchhouse. Enabling watchhousepolice officers to issue the infringement notice on behalf of the arresting officer will enable the arresting officer to immediatelyreturn to operational duties once the arrested person is lodged in the watchhouse. This is instead of being required to remain orreturn to the watchhouse when the offender’s behaviour improves to a point where an infringement notice may be served on theperson. Watchhouse police officers already have the power to serve a notice to appear on a person in custody on behalf of an arrestingofficer. These powers are merely an extension of the existing powers in recognition that the alternative would have anunacceptable negative impact on the Queensland Police Service’s client service which is not beneficial to the Queenslandcommunity. Importantly, the provisions of this Bill allow the Police Service to continue offering diversion for minor offences to vulnerablepeople. The CMC Report identified that indigenous people were 12.6 times more likely than non-indigenous people to be publicnuisance offenders. The Police Service recognises that diversion from the justice system into support services provided by non-government organisations can be far more beneficial to vulnerable people who come to the attention of police officers. One of theelements a police officer considers when deciding to commence a proceeding is the public interest test. In supporting a policeofficer’s discretion in making such a decision, the Commissioner has indicated that he will develop written instructions reaffirmingthat a police officer should give initial consideration to diverting the offender from the justice system. Mr Speaker, at the completion of the trial the legislation will be reviewed by an independent body to evaluate the effectiveness ofthe issue of infringement notices to deal with public nuisance offences including public urination. I thank the Honourable Minister for Transport for offering the support and services of his department during the trial. The financialpenalty associated with the public nuisance infringement notices will be collected by the customer service officers of theQueensland Transport Customer Service Centres.

11 Nov 2008 Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill 3369

To support the Bill, the Department of Justice and Attorney-General will prepare amendments to the State Penalties EnforcementRegulation to allow infringement notices to be issued for a public nuisance offence, a public urination offence and a relevantoffence which is committed in conjunction with a public nuisance or public urination offence. These amendments will beprogressed as subordinate legislation.In conclusion Mr Speaker, this Bill is another initiative of the Bligh Government that reaffirms Queensland as the Safe State. Theamendments in this Bill are essential for a balance between public order enforcement and maintaining the delivery of policingservices the Queensland community has every right to demand from our Police Service. The Bill also includes a minor amendment to the Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2008 to ensurethat the existing noise levels for special events at Suncorp Stadium continue to apply from 1 January 2009. Currently the Environmental Protection Act 1994 provides for special noise levels for special events at Suncorp Stadium. From 1 January 2009 the Environmental Protection Act 1994 will provide a list of matters that are excluded from the environmentalnuisance provisions of that Act on the basis that these matters are more appropriately authorised under specific legislation. The Major Sports Facilities Act 2001 is a case in point, as it has its own mechanisms for prescribing noise conditions for specialevents at Suncorp Stadium. The amendment will recognise that noise levels for special events held at Suncorp Stadium will be regulated under the MajorSports Facilities Act 2001 and that they are not subject to the environmental nuisance provisions of the Environmental ProtectionAct 1994.Mr Speaker, I emphasise that the Bill does not change the current acoustic compliance levels for special events at SuncorpStadium. It will merely rearrange the legislative framework under which noise standards for Suncorp Stadium operate in relation to theEnvironmental Protection Act 1994. In effect the same provisions and noise compliance levels for special events at Suncorp Stadium will be in place after 1 January2009 as exist now. Mr Speaker, it is fair to say that Suncorp Stadium has proved to be an impressive host of many special events enjoyed bythousands of Queenslanders. This Bill provides the framework that is needed to support our commitments to these events into the future.I commend the Bill to the House.

Debate, on motion of Mr Gibson, adjourned.Sitting suspended from 12.58 pm to 2.30 pm. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr O’Brien): I recognise in the public gallery teachers and students from

the Feluga State School in the electorate of Hinchinbrook, represented in this parliament by Mr AndrewCripps. Welcome to the parliament.

ANIMAL MANAGEMENT (CATS AND DOGS) BILL

Message from GovernorHon. FW PITT (Mulgrave—ALP) (Minister for Main Roads and Local Government) (2.30 pm): I

present a message from Her Excellency the Governor.The Deputy Speaker read the following message—

MESSAGEANIMAL MANAGEMENT (CATS AND DOGS) BILL 2008Constitution of Queensland 2001, section 68I, PENELOPE ANNE WENSLEY, Governor, recommend to the Legislative Assembly a Bill intituled

A Bill for an Act for the identification, registration and management of cats and dogs and to amend the City of Brisbane Act1924 and the Local Government Act 1993 and for particular purposes.

(sgd)GOVERNOR10 November 2008Tabled paper: Message, dated 10 November 2008, from Her Excellency the Governor to the Legislative Assembly recommendingthe introduction of the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill.

First ReadingHon. FW PITT (Mulgrave—ALP) (Minister for Main Roads and Local Government) (2.31 pm): I

present a bill for an act for the identification, registration and management of cats and dogs and toamend the City of Brisbane Act 1924 and the Local Government Act 1993 for particular purposes. Ipresent the explanatory notes, and I move—That the bill be now read a first time.

Question put—That the bill be now read a first time.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.

Tabled paper: Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill. Tabled paper: Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill, explanatory notes.

3370 Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill 11 Nov 2008

Second ReadingHon. FW PITT (Mulgrave—ALP) (Minister for Main Roads and Local Government) (2.31 pm): I

move—That the bill be now read a second time.

As Queenslanders we love our pets—from the working dogs that help our primary industries tothe thousands of household cats and dogs that serve as much-loved companions in every corner of thestate. From giant Great Danes to the smallest moggie, every pet has a place in our society. However,the pleasure and service we get from our canine and feline friends needs to be balanced withresponsible and practical animal management, by both owners and local government.

At the outset I thank my cabinet colleague the Hon. Tim Mulherin, Minister for Primary Industriesand Fisheries, for the good work and assistance he and his department have provided in developing theunderlying policy for this bill on animal management. I also thank the member for Broadwater, Peta-Kaye Croft, who has been a passionate advocate on this important issue. Her dedication andpersistence in bringing it to the attention not only of the government but also of the wider community hasresulted in a number of positive initiatives designed to reduce the numbers of cats and dogs euthanasedeach year.

In developing this bill we have consulted extensively with local government, with animal welfaregroups and with other key stakeholders. I offer my thanks to all who have offered feedback on the billduring this consultation period. In particular, I thank both the RSPCA and the Animal Welfare League,whose support has been crucial in driving this policy initiative. To give you an indication of some of thesubmissions of support we have received, Professor Jacquie Rand, Director of the University ofQueensland’s Centre for Companion Animal Health, said in indicating her support for the bill, and thecompulsory identification provisions in particular—Early return of lost animals to owners decreases council costs for holding animals and provides better service to the public.Permanent identification with a microchip facilitates early return of animals to owners and will help reduce the number ofunclaimed animals being euthanised because the owner could not be found.

We have taken all comments offered during consultation into account and, as a result, havedeveloped what we believe is the highest quality and the most comprehensive framework in Australia forthe management of cats and dogs.

Stage 1 of the Queensland government’s approach to tackling the issue of unwanted cats anddogs will include the introduction of a voluntary code of practice for pet shops and the introduction of theCat Smart education campaign. A two-year pilot study has also commenced involving four councils thatwill implement a variety of strategies aimed at increasing the number of desexed cats and dogs andpromoting responsible pet ownership.

The Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill represents the next stage of this approach. Itprovides a single statewide framework to encourage responsible cat and dog ownership, promote theeffective management of domestic cats and dogs and protect the community by identifying andcontrolling dangerous, menacing and restricted dogs.

Available records from local government pounds and animal welfare shelters show that at thevery least more than 13,000 cats and more than 10,000 dogs are euthanased in Queensland each year.This problem is a major concern—both to this government and to the wider community. Our plan toaddress it is based on the principle of responsible ownership and it will ensure that all owners takeresponsibility for cats and dogs in their care.

The bill also addresses animal management issues currently contained in the Local GovernmentAct, creating a single reference point for provisions regarding authorised officers and their powers ofentry and seizure for dangerous and menacing dogs, as well as those regulating restricted dog breeds.With regard to the management of such dogs, this bill represents a dramatic step forward. Whereas theexisting Chapter 17A of the Local Government Act was designed to provide minimum standards for localgovernment to build on, this new bill represents the gold standard for the management of what we nowcall regulated dogs.

Chapter 4 of the bill, which deals with regulated dogs, provides a consistent statewide approachfor the management of both restricted breeds and dangerous and menacing dogs to protect thecommunity from damage or injury as a result of the actions of such animals. This bill will ensure thatthese dogs are not a risk to the general health and safety of the community and that they are kept andcontrolled in a way that is consistent with both community expectations and individual rights.

The bill will make it compulsory for all dogs and cats, unless specifically exempted, to beimplanted with an electronic identification device and registered. It will enable local governments tostructure their registration fees in a way that encourages the voluntary desexing of cats and dogs and itwill ensure that desexed animals are clearly identified through compulsory tattooing. Under thislegislation, all cats and dogs will need to be implanted with a permanent identification device before theyreach 12 weeks of age or when ownership is transferred from one owner to another. This is consistentwith similar legislation in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

11 Nov 2008 Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill 3371

At this stage, we envisage that the permanent identification device, or PID, will be in the form of amicrochip containing a unique identifying number for each animal. However, the bill provides sufficientscope to accommodate any technological advances that may occur in the future. Acceptable PIDs willbe prescribed under regulation and those that are not prescribed will not be permitted for use under theact. Not only will this ensure a clear and consistent standard for such devices; it will also provide a clearremedy to protect cat and dog owners from rogue operators who seek to exploit them by selling poorquality devices that do not meet such standards.

It is worth noting that the law is not retrospective. Animals that are 12 weeks old and over will notneed to be implanted with a PID unless they change owners or are a regulated dog. Pet shop owners,animal shelter operators and proprietors of other domestic animal businesses will be prevented fromtransferring ownership of a cat or dog unless it has been implanted with a PID. The cost of implantationwill be recoverable by such businesses at the point of sale. Other animals exempt from PID implantationinclude those to which implantation would pose a serious health risk, dogs used by governmententities—for example, police and customs dogs—working dogs used on rural properties to tend stockand other classes of animal prescribed by regulation.

Compulsory implantation of PIDs has been recognised by animal welfare groups as an effectivemeans of ensuring that lost cats and dogs are reunited with their owners. Implantation allows for theidentity and ownership of animals to be easily established, ensuring that lost and stray animals can bereturned to their homes and allowing for unwanted and ownerless cats and dogs to be readily identified.This compulsory identification will also serve to reduce the high euthanasia rates among such animalsby forcing all owners, including so-called casual owners, to accept responsibility for cats and dogs intheir care. PID implantation also represents a more permanent form of identification than traditionalcollars and tags. The PID system will be administered by dedicated, well-trained staff and extendsbeyond the boundaries of individual local government areas, allowing authorised officers to accessmicrochip information across the whole of Queensland.

I seek leave to incorporate the rest of my second reading speech in Hansard. Leave granted.

The Bill carries heavy penalties for removing or interfering with PIDs without a valid reason. This will prevent activities such as theremoval of PIDs to ‘clean’ the history of a particular dog to dodge the requirements of a dangerous dog declaration. A PID mayonly be removed or interfered with by a veterinary surgeon who has established that not undertaking such an action would likelypose a serious health risk to the cat or dog in question.Stringent requirements are provided to ensure that PIDs can only be implanted by an authorised person who has undertaken therequired training. This will ensure that the health and well-being of cats and dogs is protected from possible rogue operators. Heavy penalties willapply for implanters who do not comply with the provisions of this Bill.The Bill also empowers the chief executive of the Department of Local Government to suspend or prohibit a person fromimplanting PIDs in cats and dogs if there is a reasonable belief that grounds to do so exist. For example, an implanter whocontinually fails to comply with the provisions under this Bill may be issued with a show cause notice as a precursor to suspensionor prohibition.Information associated with the PID, including details of ownership and reproductive status, must be collected by the authorisedimplanter and given to a licence holder responsible for providing a PID registry service. To ensure an effective back-up exists should the PID registry be affected by a technical issue of some description, the implantermust also keep a record of the information for one year after the PID is implanted.Under the Bill, PID registry services must be licensed and are obliged to keep and maintain the PID information associated witheach cat and dog they provide a service for. In order to ensure a high standard of data integrity, severe penalties apply for failureto keep and maintain proper records. Provisions are also included to ensure that the information kept by these registry services can only be provided in certaincircumstances, thus ensuring that the privacy of individuals is protected. In the course of drafting this legislation, the issue of mandatory desexing has been passionately debated. While we understandthe arguments in favour of such an initiative, there is no conclusive evidence that it actually decreases animal numbers or reducesadmissions to animal shelters and consequential euthanasia rates. Until such evidence is available, this Bill will provide a legislative framework which will ensure that councils must provideincentives for owners to desex their animals. It will be mandatory for Councils to provide a fee incentive, such as a reduction inregistration fees if a cat or dog has been voluntarily desexed.The Bill will also provide for the easy identification of desexed animals by introducing mandatory tattooing at the time of desexing. All animals, with the exception of show animals and those that cannot be tattooed for health reasons, must be tattooed at the timeof desexing. As I said, this will allow vets, council animal control officers, animal shelter staff and other relevant persons to quickly and easilydetermine the reproductive status of a cat or dog. Offences are included for failing to tattoo a desexed animal without reasonableexcuse and for fraudulently tattooing an animal which has not been desexed.The Bill provides for the compulsory registration of all cats and dogs aged 12 weeks and older. As with PID implantation, workingand government entity dogs are exempt from registration, as well as further classes which may be prescribed under a regulation.Registered animals must carry some form of prescribed visual identification (for example, a collar tag) and the Bill clearly providesthe information which should be provided by both the owner and relevant local government during the registration process.The government recognises the different circumstances faced by individual councils and as such, the Bill provides the flexibility forlocal governments to determine the length of a registration period under a local law.

3372 Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Bill 11 Nov 2008

Councils will also be able to fix registration fees which best suit their individual circumstances in accordance with criteria set undera regulation. With regard to the issue of registration, it is also intended that councils maintain two separate registers: a general one for cats anddogs within the relevant local government area; and one solely for dogs of a restricted breed which have a permit in force for therelevant local government area. Dangerous dogs which are not of a restricted breed will be captured within the general register.Regarding regulated dogs, the Bill maintains control over existing restricted breeds prohibited from importation under theCommonwealth Customs Act: the dogo Argentino, fila Brasileiro, Japanese tosa, American pit bull terrier and the Perro de PresaCanario. Councils will retain the ability to prohibit restricted breeds under a local law or to utilise the permit-based system which remainsintact from the previous Chapter 17A. The power to declare a dog to be a restricted dog is also retained.Local governments will be able to seize and destroy restricted dogs where the owner has not met conditions imposed by arestricted dog permit or declaration.Significantly, the Bill provides for the declaration and management for dangerous and menacing dogs, regardless of breed.Menacing dogs are those which have exhibited behaviour which has not yet reached a level that could be defined as dangerous.By doing this, the Bill recognises that in addition to the reputation of the restricted breeds, all dogs can potentially cause injury ordeath. This will enhance community safety, rather than reduce it. Councils will be able to intervene earlier before an attack occurs and have a standard set of provisions which allow them to strictlyenforce keeping conditions on dogs that have exhibited dangerous or menacing behaviour.Under the Bill, there are significant penalties for the supply or abandonment of restricted, dangerous and menacing dogs without areasonable excuse. Breeding of both dangerous and restricted dogs is also prohibited, and such animals must also be desexedunless there is likely to be serious risk to the dog’s health.The Bill places significant restrictions on the keeping of such animals, such as identification tags; muzzling and effective control inpublic places; effective enclosures; public notices; and, in the case of a restricted dog, requirements that the dog may only be keptat a property with a detached house. These restrictions will be enforced through the restricted dog permit system (for which the procedure for obtaining and renewingremains unchanged from the existing provisions under Chapter 17A of the Local Government Act) and the expanded declarationprovisions, which now encompasses dangerous and menacing dogs.In acknowledging that there are differing levels of severity in aggressive dog behaviour, the Bill scales penalties for owners orpersons in immediate control of a dog according to the severity of the attack or menacing behaviour towards a person or animal. These include a maximum of 300 penalty units for an attack which causes death or grievous bodily harm to a person; 100 penaltyunits for the death of an animal; 50 penalty units for bodily harm; and 20 penalty units for an attack in general.The Bill features a robust set of provisions governing the powers and responsibilities of council officers, who may be appointed asan authorised person by their relevant CEO for the purposes of enforcing this Bill. Firstly, authorised council officers will be declared public officials under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, whichwill allow them to request police assistance in exercising powers of entry and seizure. Secondly, the Bill will allow authorised council officers to enter a place with the consent of an occupier; by issue of a warrant; orwithout either of these, provided that certain criteria are adhered to. Furthermore, additional entry powers will apply in the case of a restricted, dangerous or menacing dog, which will allow anauthorised person to enter and stay at a place if there is a restricted dog for which no permit has been issued; or if any delay inentry will cause a risk to community safety or the dog being moved or concealed to avoid fulfilling the requirements of this Bill.Upon entry, council officers will have the power to search and inspect a place in order to gather information. While searches willgenerally be restricted to a yard, an authorised person may be able to access other parts of a place under a warrant or with theoccupier’s consent. With regard to regulated dogs, officers will also be empowered to issue compliance notices to owners or responsible persons whoare suspected of having committed, are committing or are about to commit an offence under the regulated dog provisions of theBill. In certain cases, an authorised person may seize a regulated dog for destruction or other purposes.It should be noted that it will be an offence for a person to obstruct an authorised person from undertaking their duties under thisBill, thus further protecting and empowering local government officers in the course of their often-quite-difficult job. To counterbalance these extensive powers, the Bill also provides a comprehensive review and appeals process which is muchfairer than the existing system. Owners and/or responsible persons may make a review application to council within 14 days of being notified of the originaldecision. They may also apply to the Magistrates Court for a stay of the decision while the review process is conducted.The CEO of the relevant local government must, within 30 days of receiving the review application make a decision. In cases where no decision is made within this timeframe, council is deemed to have upheld the original decision. To preserve theprinciples of natural justice, review applications cannot be dealt with by either the person responsible for the original decision or anofficer in a less senior position. The initial review process is important, as it will allow questions of fact to be resolved withoutinstituting legal proceedings.Furthermore, by retaining the right to appeal to the Magistrates Court on either a question of law or fact and to the District Court onquestions of law, the Bill ensures that the rights of owners are protected and that they may contest decisions which may bepotentially or manifestly unfair.Mr Speaker, the Bill also includes an amendment to the Local Government Act 1993 to ensure that caretaker provisions do notapply during local government by-elections. This will serve to overcome an unintended situation where current caretaker provisions in the Local Government Act, inserted as aprotection during the last local government elections, now apply to council by-elections. Removing these provisions will ensurethat councils will not have to seek approval for major policy decisions during by-elections.

I commend the Bill to the House.

Debate, on motion of Mr Langbroek, adjourned.

11 Nov 2008 Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 3373

WATER (COMMONWEALTH POWERS) BILL

Second ReadingResumed from 7 October (see p. 2842) on motion of Mr Wallace—

That the bill be now read a second time.Mr CRIPPS (Hinchinbrook—LNP) (2.40 pm): Mr Deputy Speaker, with your indulgence, before I

commence my contribution I would like to pay my respects on this most important day, RemembranceDay, to all Australians throughout the history of our nation who have fought and died for our country inwars and conflicts across the globe. Their willingness to make such a significant sacrifice, in manycases the ultimate sacrifice, is one of the most admirable characteristics of the Australian people. I amproud that my grandfather, Sergeant John Cairns of the 31st/51st Battalion, who served in Papua NewGuinea and Bougainville in World War II, is amongst those who have loyally served their country.

I pay my respects also to the families of the fine Australians who made those sacrifices. Theyhave carried the burden of the loss of a loved one or supported a loved one who served with distinction,survived and returned home although understandably affected by their experiences. Those families alsodeserve our respect and appreciation for how those theatres of war have affected them. Lastly, Iacknowledge the ongoing contributions and diligence of the Returned and Services League and Legacyin terms of the care and attention they pay to the welfare and circumstances of our veterans and theirfamilies. Lest we forget.

I rise to make a contribution to the debate on the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008. Theprimary objective of this bill is to refer certain matters about water management relating to the Murray-Darling Basin in Queensland to the Commonwealth parliament, to enable the Commonwealthparliament to make laws about those matters. This process is facilitated by section 51 of theCommonwealth Constitution, which enables state parliaments to refer matters to the Commonwealthparliament. A schedule in the Commonwealth Water Amendment Bill 2008 will contain reference to thematters referred to the Commonwealth parliament by the Queensland parliament. This enables theenactment and future amendment of provisions set out in that schedule, which deal with certain mattersabout water management in Queensland that are proposed to be referred to the Commonwealthparliament by this bill. This bill proposes to repeal the Murray-Darling Basin Act 1996.

The bill also proposes a number of amendments not related to the referral of powers to theCommonwealth parliament including amendments to the Water Act 2000, the Land Act 1994 and theLand Title Act 1994. In respect to the amendments to the Land Act 1994 and the Land Title Act 1994,the bill proposes to extend by one year the current stay on the registration of title boundary plans due tolapse on 8 November 2008. The current stay operates only where the proposal is to change theboundary in a title area and only where the public interest is affected. This stay was put in place inNovember 2005 due to concerns about areas of public beach being taken into private ownershipbecause of ill-defined property boundaries in tidal areas, the potential for restricted public access tothose public beach areas and the potential for damage to fragile dune areas to occur as a result. Thestay will be extended by one year to allow for the finalisation of this policy to ensure that this does notoccur. The LNP opposition offers no objections or concerns in respect to these amendments.

The bill also proposes amendments to the Water Act 2000 that are considered to be necessaryfor the effective implementation of water resource planning instruments. The bill will amend existingprovisions of chapter 2, part 4 of the Water Act relating to the process for preparing a final draft resourceoperations plan. The intention of the amendment is to allow for a draft resource operations plan to befinalised in stages or sequences. The amendments would facilitate a process whereby the finalisation ofa resource operations plan could be staged by preparing a final draft resource operations plan over partof the area and deferring the finalisation of the remainder of the area until a later date. A notice aboutthe deferral will be published by the Department of Natural Resources and Water. The deferred part ofthe resource operations plan can then be finalised at a later date as an amendment to the plan.

These amendments are sensible enough and to a degree they have been inspired by some of thedifficulties experienced by the Department of Natural Resources and Water with the finalisation of aresource operations plan for the Condamine-Balonne, which has been delayed by legal proceedingsinitiated by a water user that is not satisfied by the proposed provisions of the plan. There has beenwidespread and extended consultation with water users in the Condamine-Balonne in respect of thisresource operations plan. I understand that most water users in the area are satisfied that they havenegotiated and arrived at proposed provisions in that particular resource operations plan that they canlive with and are somewhat frustrated that the legal proceedings have been able to hold up thefinalisation of this plan. They are seeking certainty after a very long period of negotiation by water users.I hope these amendments will be able to provide some certainty to water users in the Condamine-Balonne.

This bill also amends the Water Act to enable the minister to publish a moratorium notice for apart of the state under section 26 of the act for which there may be a water resource plan or resourceoperations plan in effect. The LNP opposition offers no objections or concerns in respect to these

3374 Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 11 Nov 2008

amendments. The bill also amends the water resource plans for several rivers in the Queenslandsection of the Murray-Darling Basin to implement the Queensland government’s decision to transfer anamount of unallocated water in each plan to the Commonwealth. The Queensland government hasannounced that it will transfer 8,000 megalitres from the Warrego River, 1,100 megalitres from theMoonie, 1,000 megalitres from the Nebine and 500 megalitres from the border rivers. This proposedamendment will avoid the requirement for each individual water resource plan for those rivers to beamended separately to achieve the Queensland government’s policy.

I turn now to the referral of certain matters about water management relating to the Murray-Darling Basin to the Commonwealth parliament. The bill really is a seminal change in the way thatAustralian governments will manage the Murray-Darling Basin, moving away from a long history ofcollaborative management in a federal sense between the states and the Commonwealth, most recentlythrough the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, to a more centralised approach driven byCommonwealth legislation.

I would like to commence my discussion of the matters contained in this section of the bill bycomplimenting the Minister for Natural Resources and Water for the way in which he conducted himselfon the Four Corners program ‘Buying Back the River’, televised on the ABC on 20 October 2008. Theminister’s remarks on that particular program displayed some strong support for water users within theMurray-Darling Basin in Queensland. As the minister himself said on that program, it is unfortunate thatill-informed southern commentators and ill-informed southern academics concentrate on Queensland inrespect of the significant difficulties facing the Murray-Darling. The minister rightly pointed out that theallegations that more water will be taken out of the Warrego River are untrue, given that a cap has beenset on that river and a moratorium declared over it for several years.

I would like to repeat some of what the minister said on the Four Corners program for the benefitof all members and those ill-informed southern commentators and ill-informed southern academics towhom the minister referred and who seem so intent on demonising Queensland in this debate, withoutjustification and without factual evidence. No more water can be taken than that which is currentlyallocated to entitlement holders on the Warrego River. Even in respect of what are known as sleeperlicences, which the minister estimated make up approximately seven per cent of licences on theWarrego, these are included in the cap on water allocations in that river and cannot be correctly arguedto represent an increased take of water from the Warrego River if they were revived. If they wereincluded they would be treated differently to sleeper licences for unused allocations in other basinstates. As the minister correctly pointed out, why should Queensland irrigators be treated differently?

Therefore, the LNP opposition and, more importantly, waters users in the Murray-Darling Basin inQueensland were pleased and encouraged to see the Minister for Natural Resources and Water stickingup for Queensland in the face of what is a persistent and relentless campaign by others in this debateconcerning the problems afflicting the Murray-Darling, including many who should know better, in anattempt to use Queensland as a political scapegoat to camouflage their own significant failings andresponsibilities in this respect. I certainly hope that the minister’s demonstration of support forQueensland water users in the Murray-Darling Basin will continue going forward.

The Murray-Darling system is one of Australia’s largest drainage basins and coversapproximately one-seventh of the nation’s surface. This is an important point to make. It is a drainagebasin and ought not to be considered a system that runs constantly and consistently. The Murray-Darling Basin covers an area of over one million square kilometres from southern inland Queenslandinto New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Victoria. The basinincludes Australia’s three largest rivers—the Murray, the Darling and the Murrumbidgee. The system isestimated to have an annual average rainfall of 480 millimetres, which equates roughly to 508,000gigalitres of water per year. However, the majority of rainfall in the basin evaporates or is transpired byplants. Indeed, potential evaporation is over three times the average annual rainfall in the basin if thatvolume of water fell on the catchment, such is the geography of the land in those catchment areasthrough which those rivers flow.

The health of the Menindee Lakes in outback New South Wales is often a focus in the debatesurrounding the Murray-Darling. They are also a case in point in terms of the significant part that naturalevaporation of water in the Murray-Darling Basin plays in the life of the system. The Menindee systemconsists of seven natural lakes covering more than 500 square kilometres. Water is trapped in the lakesafter making its way many thousands of kilometres down the Barwon-Darling River system.

The catchment area is more than 6.3 million hectares, and when full the lakes are able to hold anincredible two million megalitres of water. Large surface areas and relatively shallow storage depthsmean evaporation rates are high, up to 45 per cent. It is estimated that when the Menindee Lakes are at50 per cent capacity, or holding about one million megalitres, the evaporation in the Menindee Lakescan be as high as 700,000 megalitres a year. So much then for the irresponsible allegations of grandtheft of water from the Murray-Darling system by water users in Queensland.


Mother Nature has always dictated and always will dictate much of what occurs in our naturalenvironment. The variability and vagaries of nature have always been the principal obstacle whichfarmers have had to overcome to produce food and fibre—those staple commodities of our society thatwe require for our existence.

The latest statistical profile of water use in the Murray-Darling Basin released by the AustralianBureau of Statistics in August this year indicates that in the five-year period ending 2005-06 there were61,033 farms in the Murray-Darling Basin, accounting for 39 per cent of all farms in Australia. Thesefarms produce a significant proportion of Australia’s food, including 100 per cent of Australia’s rice,95 per cent of Australia’s oranges, 62 per cent of Australia’s pigs, 54 per cent of Australia’s apples and48 per cent of Australia’s wheat.

For the same period, of 1.65 million hectares of irrigated crops and pasture in the Murray-DarlingBasin, 43 per cent was pasture, 20 per cent was growing cereals other than rice, 15 per cent wasgrowing cotton, six per cent was growing rice, six per cent was growing grapes, five per cent wasgrowing fruits and nuts, and two per cent was growing vegetables.

In 2005-06, the gross value of agricultural production in the Murray-Darling Basin was worth$15 billion, or 39 per cent of the total Australian value of agricultural commodities. Careless changes toa critical input such as water to the operation of this significant agricultural production area would have amajor impact on the nation’s economy and would raise strategic food security issues which havebecome increasingly important in recent times.

In Queensland, the Murray-Darling Basin consists of the catchment of the Condamine-Balonne,the Warrego and the Paroo rivers. Of the basin states party to the memorandum of understanding, towhich this bill gives effect, Queensland’s average annual total usage of the Murray-Darling Basin isapproximately five per cent in comparison to New South Wales, which uses 54 per cent; Victoria, whichuses 34 per cent; and South Australia, which uses six per cent.

Some critical statistics that provide a much more accurate picture of the relative stake thatQueensland has in water use in the Murray-Darling Basin is the total annual average usage as apercentage of the run-off that occurs within the catchments in each basin state. In Queensland, theaverage annual run-off of the catchment areas listed above is approximately 3,104 gigalitres. Averageannual water use in Queensland from the Murray-Darling Basin is approximately 584 gigalitres. Thisequates to about 19 per cent of run-off in Queensland Murray-Darling catchments being consumed bylicensed water users in Queensland.

In New South Wales, the average annual run-off in the Murray-Darling catchment areas in thatstate is approximately 11,295 gigalitres. Average annual water use in New South Wales from theMurray-Darling Basin is approximately 6,265 gigalitres. This equates to about 55 per cent of run-off inNew South Wales Murray-Darling catchments being consumed by licensed water users in New SouthWales. This represents usage by licensed water users as a percentage of run-off in catchments in NewSouth Wales that is 36 per cent higher than in Queensland.

In Victoria, the average annual run-off in Murray-Darling catchment areas in that state isapproximately 9,319 gigalitres. Average annual water use in Victoria from the Murray-Darling Basin isapproximately 3,975 gigalitres. This equates to about 42 per cent of run-off in Victorian Murray-Darlingcatchments being consumed by licensed water users in Victoria. This represents usage by licensedwater users as a percentage of run-off in catchments in Victoria that is 23 per cent higher than that inQueensland.

Lastly, in South Australia, the average annual run-off in Murray-Darling catchment areas isapproximately 132 gigalitres. Average annual water use in South Australia from the Murray-DarlingBasin is approximately 720 gigalitres. This equates to a staggering 545 per cent of run-off in SouthAustralian Murray-Darling catchments being consumed by licensed water users in South Australia. Thisrepresents usage by licensed water users as a percentage of run-off in South Australia that is 526 percent greater than that in Queensland, and that really puts the situation in perspective.

The question is then what does Queensland get for having the smallest total usage of all basinstates, apart from the ACT, and the smallest usage as a percentage of run-off in Murray-Darling Basincatchment areas in our own state? For the relatively modest amount of water Queensland draws fromthe Murray-Darling Basin, southern inland Queensland is a vibrant and productive region, sustainingmany vibrant and productive communities. I would like to use one catchment area as an example.

The Condamine-Balonne basin is located primarily in southern inland Queensland. The keyindustry in this region is dependent upon water as an input into its primary economic activity, which isirrigated agriculture. The Balonne region is located close to the New South Wales border, over 500kilometres from Brisbane. Two of the main towns in this region are St George and Dirranbandi. TheLower Balonne is that part of the river between the Beardmore Dam at St George and the Queensland-New South Wales border.


Life in the region largely revolves around the river. Highly variable river flows mean theenvironment and the communities in this area are highly adaptable and responsive to changingconditions. In recent years the Dirranbandi and St George communities have seen a gradual increase ineconomic development which can be largely attributed to a greater dependency on commodities suchas cotton. Agricultural industries are overwhelmingly the most significant employment in the district. Theirrigated farming activities in the Lower Balonne account for around 74 per cent of total business activityin the region. The productive capacity, earnings potential and expenditure patterns of irrigated farms aredirectly related to the water supplies available to them.

Water harvesters currently pay an administration charge for the cost of administering the licence,which is charged on the first 500 megalitres of water harvested. Although irrigators do not pay thegovernment directly for the rest of the water they harvest, it is not true to say that irrigators pay nothingfor the water because irrigators have invested their own money in developing on-farm waterinfrastructure. Private water infrastructure investment in the Lower Balonne is valued at approximatelyhalf a billion dollars. As such, irrigators have paid a significant amount for the water that they havedrawn from the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Lower Balonne can produce up to 350,000 bales of cotton. Cotton contributes about half ofthe total agricultural production and almost 60 per cent of production values. Although grain, wool andhorticulture make significant contributions to the regional economy, irrigated cotton is the dominantagricultural activity. At the end of 2002, approximately 80 per cent of the cotton in the St George andDirranbandi districts was grown on farms that had completed a best practice compliance audit. Manyirrigation properties along the Lower Balonne have implemented progressive, new technology, on-farmwater efficiency programs in an attempt to increase irrigation efficiency.

Amongst these is Cubbie Station. It is a large station worthy of some comment. Cubbie Stationhas been the subject of ridiculous and unfounded attacks by many of the ill-informed southerncommentators and ill-informed southern academics mentioned by the Minister for Natural Resourcesand Water on the Four Corners program that I mentioned earlier. Regrettably, Cubbie Station has alsobeen the subject of some unfounded attacks by the state Labor government in Queensland. Theseattacks were politically motivated, but that was before the present minister came into this portfolio and Itrust that the present minister will be more responsible.

The Cubbie Group has properties located near Dirranbandi and St George. The total holding isabout 93,000 hectares. The Cubbie Group has around $475 million in assets invested in theseproperties, mostly in relation to water storage and management infrastructure. The Cubbie Groupdirectly employs about 50 people in these communities, with a further 120 employed as contractors and/or consultants. The Cubbie Group sets high standards with respect to environmental sustainability inirrigated agriculture.

The Cubbie Group’s diversion is regulated by the Queensland Department of Natural Resourcesand Water. These licences allow water harvesting into Cubbie’s storage system from the rivers of theLower Balonne. The water-harvesting activities of the group are regulated under the Water Act 2000.The Cubbie Group’s total capacity is 537,000 megalitres, made up of 462,000 megalitres at Dirranbandiand 75,000 megalitres at St George. The total storage capacity of Cubbie Group properties can only befilled in a major flood event in that river system. The Cubbie Group has been unfairly vilified during thedebate on the Murray-Darling system. It is a farming operation that has demonstrated very strongcommitment to the local community in which it is located.

From here, I turn to the specifics of the bill in relation to the referral of certain powers by theQueensland government to the Commonwealth concerning the Murray-Darling Basin. I have a numberof concerns with this part of the bill which I will now address. This bill is essentially the mechanism forfacilitating the provisions of the agreement on Murray-Darling Basin reform in Queensland, and so muchof my contribution will concentrate on the provisions of that agreement.

On 26 March 2008 the Commonwealth government, the state governments of Queensland, NewSouth Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and the government of the Australian Capital Territory—known as the basin states—agreed in principle to a memorandum of understanding for the reform of themanagement of the Murray-Darling Basin. The memorandum sets out the principles for the planningand management of the water and other natural resources in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Under the agreement on Murray-Darling Basin reform signed on 3 July 2008, the Commonwealthand the basin states agreed to pass legislation to provide for a limited text referral of state powers to theCommonwealth to achieve new Murray-Darling Basin governance arrangements. The memorandumoutlined how the agreement would enable the development of a basin plan to be facilitated by theamendments to the Commonwealth Water Act to provide for critical human water needs and to extendthe role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to the Murray-Darling Basin inrelation to the application of the water charge rules and water market rules under the CommonwealthWater Act.


The referral of powers is based on section 51 of the Commonwealth Constitution. The billoperates by reference to the text of schedule 1 of the Commonwealth water bill 2008 so as to enable theenactment and future amendment of provisions set out in that schedule that are to be included in theCommonwealth Water Act. Part 2 of the bill relates to the referral of these matters to the Commonwealthparliament by the Queensland parliament. Part 2 of the bill gives effect to part 3 of the agreement onMurray-Darling Basin reform signed on 3 July 2008 by the Commonwealth and the basin statesincluding Queensland. Section 3.2.2 of the agreement states—The parties recognise that the Basin Plan provided for in the Water Act, including each of its components, such as sustainablediversion limits, the environmental watering plan and the water quality and salinity management plan, will be a single, consistentand integrated plan for the Basin’s water resources.

Section 3.2.3 of the agreement states—The Basin Plan will contain a range of provisions that will enable it to manage the water resources of the Basin as a whole. Theseinclude:(a) sustainable diversion limits ... ;(b) the environmental watering plan;(c) the water quality and salinity management plan; and(d) provision of conveyance water to enable the provision of critical human water needs.

These sections make the case for referral of these powers from the Queensland parliament to theCommonwealth parliament. It tries to talk up the rationale of the basin plan as outlined in the agreementas being a new and holistic approach to the management of water resources in the Murray-DarlingBasin. I have had some trouble justifying in my own mind the need for the constitutional referral of thesematters to the Commonwealth parliament by the Queensland parliament. I have asked myself thequestion at a very basic level: why couldn’t the basin states simply strengthen collaborative agreementsto do something about the very serious circumstances facing our nation in the Murray-Darling Basin?Or, indeed, if a legislative basis were deemed to be required to implement certain initiatives in theagreement on Murray-Darling Basin reform in the interests of the iconic Murray-Darling, why wouldn’tnationally consistent legislation be sufficient to address those matters?

The Commonwealth and the Australian states already implement nationally consistent legislationin relation to a wide range of issues. I concede that I have been in this parliament for only a relativelyshort time, but even in that relatively short time I have participated in debates during which theQueensland parliament has agreed to nationally consistent legislation in relation to important issues, theResearch Involving Human Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Amendment Bill being one andthe Transport Legislation Amendment Bill being another. Why is this Murray-Darling Basin issue aspecial issue? Why does it require a constitutional referral of those powers from the Queenslandparliament to the Commonwealth parliament? One part of the agreement which really begs this questionin particular is part 7 of the agreement, which deals with critical human water needs. Section 7.1 of theagreement states—The parties recognise that critical human water needs are the highest priority water use for communities dependent on the waterof the Murray-Darling Basin.

The agreement goes on in section 7.4 to state—The parties agree that the provision of conveyance water to enable provision of critical human needs will be addressed in theBasin Plan together with the arrangements to support jurisdictions to accumulate and store critical human needs, however,responsibility for securing and providing the volume of water required for critical human needs rests with the respectivejurisdictions.

So the issue that has been described in the agreement as the highest priority use of water in theMurray-Darling Basin—the critical human water needs of communities dependent on water from theMurray-Darling Basin—will continue to be the responsibility of the respective state jurisdictions. Basinstates will continue to be responsible for securing and providing the volume of water required for criticalhuman needs in these circumstances. I found this section particularly interesting because I would haveassumed that, if you are going to go to the effort of referring a constitutional power from a stateparliament to a Commonwealth parliament, surely the matter of central importance to the success of theplan, the issue described by the agreement itself as the highest priority issue in the Murray-DarlingBasin—in this case, the provision of water for critical human needs—would be part of the requirementthat underpinned the referral of power. As it turns out, in respect of this agreement it is not the case.Queensland and, indeed, other basin states will continue to be responsible, subsequent to theenactment of the provisions of this bill, for securing and providing for the critical human water needs ofcommunities dependent on the Murray-Darling Basin system, seemingly in contrast to the new nationalapproach proposed by this bill.

I have searched the agreement on Murray-Darling Basin reform for some other robust foundationon which a referral of power could be justified. The environment is an issue which dominates the debateon the future of the Murray-Darling Basin. The part of the agreement in the Murray-Darling Basin reformthat canvasses how the allocated water purchased by the $350 million voluntary buyback will behandled is part 8 of the agreement.


The management of environmental water acquired through the $350 million buyback will see theCommonwealth, under the auspices of an entity known as the Environmental Water Holder, which isestablished under the Commonwealth Water Act, be the owner of these water allocations purchasedfrom willing sellers in the basin. The Environmental Water Holder will be the owner of these allocationsissued by the Department of Natural Resources and Water. Officially, those allocations will remain in theresource allocation plans of the rivers from which they are acquired, and the Environmental WaterHolder will then sit alongside other water users as water entitlement holders to the rivers in theQueensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin. However, while the Commonwealth entity will hold thewater allocation, the allocation, as it previously existed when it was held by a landowner, will continue.They will continue to exist in the river held by the federal Environmental Water Holder. As such, there isnot any radical change in terms of the status of that allocated water. Once again, if there is not anyradical change and the allocated water will continue to exist as an entitlement issued by the Departmentof Natural Resources and Water, why is there a need for the referral of power from the Queenslandparliament to the Commonwealth parliament? As I said earlier, I found it difficult to justify this action.

I have some real concerns that this bill is a poor excuse for a referral of power from theQueensland parliament to the Commonwealth parliament and that the objectives of the bill could havebeen achieved without the referral of constitutional power and a further unnecessary distortion of thebalance between the Commonwealth and the states in our Federation.

The second concern I have in relation to this bill is the impact that the proposed $350 millionbuyback of water allocation from water users in the Murray-Darling Basin in Queensland will have on theeconomic and social fabric of the communities in southern inland Queensland. As I said earlier whenspeaking about the communities in the Condamine-Balonne area, in towns like Dirranbandi and StGeorge, the lifeblood of these districts is the rivers that flow through them and the jobs they sustainthrough the principal economic activity, which is irrigated agriculture. I have studied part 4 of theAgreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform, which deals with the Commonwealth-state watermanagement partnerships, and I have several questions for the minister in this regard. Firstly, section4.2 of the agreement states—The parties agree that there is an urgent need to undertake water reforms in the Murray-Darling Basin to deliver a sustainable capon surface and groundwater diversions across the Basin to ensure the future of communities and industry, and enhancedenvironmental outcomes.

In addition to this, section 4.3 of the agreement states—The parties further agree that Basin State Priority Projects must make a substantial contribution to improving water use efficiencyand addressing over-allocation in the Murray-Darling Basin.

My question to the Minister for Natural Resources and Water in this regard is: has Queenslandalready applied the sustainable cap, referred to by the minister in relation to the Warrego River duringthe Four Corners program on 20 October 2008, or can water users in the Queensland section of theMurray-Darling Basin expect further restrictions and regulations under this agreement? Furthermore,section 4.6.1 of the agreement states—The Commonwealth is committed to furthering Basin water reform, through the legislative and other actions it has agreed toundertake in the Intergovernmental Agreement. The Commonwealth will develop the Commonwealth-State Water ManagementPartnerships co-operatively with each Basin State, and will expeditiously meet its obligations under these Partnerships.

I would be grateful if the minister could advise the House whether he is aware or whether theQueensland government is aware of the nature of the further basin water reform referred to in section4.6.1. What does the Commonwealth’s commitment to further basin reform mean for Queensland waterusers in the Murray-Darling Basin? Immediate commitments to the Murray-Darling Basin in Queenslandare a little clearer in terms of the immediate intentions of the Commonwealth to pursue priority projectsin each basin state. Section 4.9 of the agreement states—The objectives of Commonwealth investments in Priority Projects are to: (a) implement water saving infrastructure projects; (b) return water to the environment and restore river health; and (c) adapt to climate change in an environment of reduced water availability.

In addition, section 4.11.1 of the agreement states—The Commonwealth, based on information provided by the relevant Basin State, has undertaken an initial consideration of eachBasin State’s Priority Project.

In respect of Queensland, subsection (d) of section 4.11.2, which details the priority projects foreach basin state, advises that up to $510 million will be spent in Queensland on irrigation planning andinfrastructure investment and for water purchasing from willing sellers. Section 4.11.3 advises thatpriority projects will be managed by the relevant basin state. We know that $350 million has beenearmarked for the buyback of water allocation in the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin.So I am assuming the remaining $160 million in Queensland’s bucket, as outlined by the agreement, willbe spent on what has been described as irrigation planning and infrastructure investment.

I would certainly like to learn more from the Minister for Natural Resources and Water about how,in the first instance, the $350 million worth of allocation buybacks taken from water allocations in theQueensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin were developed as a priority project. I also ask the


minister how the $160 million will be spent on irrigation planning and infrastructure investment in theQueensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin, especially given that the agreement clearly states thatthe Commonwealth has undertaken an initial consideration of each basin state’s priority project basedon information provided by individual states. What consultation did the state government undertake toprovide that information to the Commonwealth? I ask the minister to advise the House in that regard.

These are important questions to put on the record during this debate because of the amount oftaxpayers’ money involved in these so-called priority projects. Indeed, even the agreement itself sets outsome standards for ensuring that taxpayers are getting value for money for their significant investmentin the Murray-Darling Basin.

Section 4.12 of the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform deals with the matter of duediligence on priority projects. Section 4.12.1 of the agreement states in part—The parties agree that the in-principle agreement recorded in clause 4.11 means that following in-principle agreement all PriorityProjects will be subject to robust due diligence assessment by the Commonwealth.

Section 4.12.2 of the agreement states—Due diligence will include an examination of information provided by the Basin State in support of their Priority Project. Inundertaking the due diligence assessment, the Commonwealth will consider the social, economic, environmental, financial andtechnical aspects of the Priority Project.

Importantly, the agreement states that the Commonwealth will consider the social and economicaspects of a priority project in addition to the environmental aspect of a priority project. As such, theCommonwealth should have due regard to the impact on the social and economic fabric of communitieslike Dirranbandi and St George that the $350 million worth of water allocation buybacks will have onthose townships in southern inland Queensland.

I would like to ask the Minister for Natural Resources and Water to provide a copy of the advicethat the Queensland government provided to the Commonwealth as per section 4.11.1. The LNPopposition and water users in Queensland and Australian taxpayers will certainly be interested to have alook at how the Queensland government resolved the $350 million buyback of water allocations in theQueensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin was to be recommended as a priority project forimplementation as part of the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform. I look forward to that advicebeing made available by the minister.

I turn now to part 6 of the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform dealing with theintroduction of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission water market rules and watercharge rules into the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin. This is a significant issue. I do notintend to canvass the full details of part 6 of the agreement. However, it is important for honourablemembers to understand that this matter is yet to be settled, even at the Commonwealth level which iswhere these rules will be introduced.

The ACCC published its position paper seeking submissions on the development of bulk chargewater charge rules on 29 September 2008. The paper represents the ACCC’s preliminary position onwater charge rules for irrigation infrastructure operators and bulk water operators within the Murray-Darling Basin. Consistent with part 4 of the Water Act 2007, the federal Minister for Climate Change andWater has written to the ACCC requesting advice on the water charge rules.

Water charge rules applied consistently across the Murray-Darling Basin are proposed tofacilitate the efficient functioning of water markets by removing distortions to trade and by sendingsignals to water users about efficient investment in water infrastructure assets. Water charges, based onthe full cost recovery of water services, are intended to contribute to achieving an economically efficientand sustainable use of water resources and water infrastructure assets.

To date, the ACCC’s development of advice on water charge rules has progressed throughseparate consultation processes relating to rules for charges payable to irrigation infrastructureoperators and rules relating to bulk water charges. The two consultation processes have been broughttogether as a result of changes that are to be made to the Water Act following the Agreement onMurray-Darling Basin Reform agreed to by basin states and the Commonwealth on 3 July 2008.

As a result of the proposed changes to the Water Act, the same regulatory options will beavailable for water charges payable to both bulk water service providers and to irrigation infrastructureoperators. The position paper brings together these two processes and is the next step in theconsultation process following the issues paper. Importantly, this indicates that the water market rulesand water charge rules to be implemented throughout the Murray-Darling Basin, including inQueensland, as a result of the passage of this bill, are yet to be finalised.

To a certain degree, I feel that honourable members may be flying blind in their consideration ofthis aspect of the bill and the agreement given that the details of the rules are not yet settled. I wouldexpect that Queensland water users are keen to know what effect, if any, the extension of these ruleswill have on the cost structures of their business. I am anxious to know whether the minister iscomfortable in the knowledge that this bill will extend those rules into the Queensland section of theMurray-Darling Basin without these rules having been set down prior to the adoption of this bill.


Out of respect for the work of the committees of the Queensland parliament, I refer to the Scrutinyof Legislation Committee’s Alert Digest No. 11 of 2008 which deals with certain aspects of the Water(Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008. I will highlight the committee’s remarks only in respect of clause 5 ofthe bill which proposes to allow for the termination on a day fixed by the Governor, by proclamation, ofboth of the references specified in clause 4.

The Scrutiny of Legislation Committee states that section 51 of the Commonwealth Constitutionprovides the parliament of the Commonwealth with power to make laws with respect to matters referredto the parliament of the Commonwealth by the parliament of any state or states, but so that the law shallextend only to states by whose parliaments the matter is referred or which afterwards adopt the law. Thereferral can be made on conditions, including a limitation on the period of the referral. In this respect, thecommittee noted an aspect of the reference power which is not entirely settled law. The uncertaintyrelates to whether the state can revoke its referral of power at any time by enactment irrespective of theperiod of referral, and the effect of the revocation on the Commonwealth enactment made pursuant tothe referral.

The Scrutiny of Legislation Committee notes that it is arguable that the states can revoke thereferral, given their incapacity to abdicate legislative power. Indeed, it has been argued that the effect ofa revocation is not only to terminate the referral of power to the Commonwealth but also to terminate theoperation of any Commonwealth law enacted in reliance of that referral. An alternative argument is thatstate legislation revoking the reference would be rendered ineffective by section 109 of theCommonwealth Constitution for being inconsistent with the Commonwealth legislation enacted pursuantto the original reference. Even where the executive is statutorily authorised to revoke the referral, anexecutive act is similarly liable to the implications of section 109 of the Commonwealth Constitution. Toavoid these difficulties, state referrals of power should usually be for a specified period of time, with theexecutive empowered to extend the referral by proclamation. I note that the bill does not propose tospecify a period of time for this referral to remain in force and draw that to the attention of the Minister forNatural Resources and Water and other honourable members who take an interest in the substance ofthe legislation that passes through this place.

While I am concerned about those things and will be looking for the minister to provide answers tothose things that I have asked during the course of my contribution and give explanations and advice inrelation to the questions that I have put to him during this debate, there are a number of matters in thebill which I support, and on that basis the LNP opposition will not be opposing the bill. In the firstinstance, it is important to note that the $350 million buyback of water allocations in the Queenslandsection of the Murray-Darling Basin is a voluntary buyback. The LNP opposition could certainly notsupport a buyback scheme that compelled water licence owners to sell their allocations, and I have nodoubt that when the Queensland government—which, I understand, will be managing the voluntarybuyback process in conjunction with the Commonwealth pursuant to section 4.11.3 of the Agreement onMurray-Darling Basin Reform—goes out into the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin it willfind some willing sellers.

Many Queenslanders have done it tough in Queensland during this long drought. If they havebeen seriously affected financially by these circumstances, they may be looking for a way to exit theindustry with some dignity. The LNP opposition takes property rights very seriously. We have a strongbelief in property rights, and the fundamental tenet of that philosophical approach is that there ought notbe any impediments between a genuinely willing seller and a buyer who is willing to pay for the transferof those property rights into their ownership—in this case, water allocations.

Secondly, the balance of the funds allocated to Queensland in addition to the $350 million for thebuyback of water allocations in the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin—some $160 milliondescribed in section 4.11.2(d) of the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform—has been earmarkedfor projects described as irrigation planning and infrastructure investment. This represents a goodopportunity for the state government to become a partner in the well-established endeavours of existingwaters users in many areas of the Murray-Darling Basin in Queensland to support, as I mentionedearlier, the implementation of progressive, new technology, on-farm water efficiency programs in anattempt to increase irrigation efficiency.

I say to the Minister for Natural Resources and Water that the minister and his department shouldtake the due diligence criteria in section 4.12 of the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reformseriously and really make an effort to speak to stakeholder groups, industry bodies and individual waterusers in the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin to determine priorities for the investment ofthese funds. It could prove to be a vital injection of support into these communities and may wellmaintain jobs and families going forward.

Lastly, there is absolutely no doubt that the great Murray-Darling system does face enormousproblems and difficulties for a range of reasons, some of which human beings have contributed to andsome of which human beings have had nothing to do with. I have outlined a range of concerns aboutthis bill because it is part of the opposition’s responsibility to scrutinise proposed legislation that comesbefore the parliament of Queensland, and I certainly stand by those concerns. Having said that, whilethe LNP opposition here in Queensland and the Bligh Labor government, and indeed the federal Rudd


Labor government, will disagree on a range of aspects in respect of the details of policy to try to addresssome of the very significant and concerning issues that face the Murray-Darling, there is a genuineunanimity that there needs to be a coordinated national effort. To that end, the LNP opposition will notoppose the manifestation of that effort as proposed in this bill, which gives effect to the memorandum ofunderstanding signed on 26 March 2008 and subsequently the formal Agreement on Murray-DarlingBasin Reform agreed to on 3 July 2008 by the Commonwealth and the basin states.

The future of the Murray-Darling Basin is vital to all Australians but particularly those who earntheir living from the production of agricultural commodities on the water drawn from the basin itself. Thewater provided by the Murray-Darling system is critical to their long-term viability. However, as I outlinedearlier, it is also a food bowl for the whole of Australia, and for that reason the eyes of the country are onthis reform process with a genuine hope that a balance can be achieved between securing the future ofthe Murray-Darling and the industries and communities that depend on it. The existing local catchmentmanagement groups need to be given recognition and ongoing support for the important role that theyplay in managing our river systems in a sustainable way.

I suppose in the course of digesting the content of the Agreement on Murray-Darling BasinReform my concerns have solidified around the intention for the Commonwealth to take control of asystem where the on-the-ground, institutional and corporate planning, knowledge and skills andcapacity in respect of water distribution and management have traditionally been with the states. I say tothe Minister for Natural Resources and Water that it could be a real possibility that, going through asignificant shift of skills from state based institutions to the next Murray-Darling Basin Authority, we thenfind that those skills are really needed back at the regional or even local level. The local knowledge fromthe catchment groups is absolutely vital in this respect.

I hope that the Commonwealth does not take on a technically based role but rather focuses onputting together an organisation—the Murray-Darling Basin Authority—that has the capacity to setstandards for practical work that could be better coordinated on the ground by basin states. As I havepreviously indicated, the LNP opposition will not be opposing this bill, but I look forward to the ministeraddressing the matters that I have raised in respect of the provisions of this bill.

Mr SEENEY (Callide—LNP) (3.26 pm): I rise to make a contribution to the consideration of theWater (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008, and at the outset I commend the shadow minister andmember for Hinchinbrook on the contribution he made. It was quite a detailed analysis of the variouscomponents of the bill. The point that the member for Hinchinbrook made that deserves reinforcement isthe concern about the referral of the powers that this bill encompasses—that is, the referral of thepowers that were traditionally exercised by the state government to the Commonwealth.

Those of us with any history in Queensland politics at all know that just about everyQueenslander is loath to hand over powers to the Commonwealth, and that has been something of atradition in Queensland politics for as long as I can remember. So naturally, when a bill is introduced intothis parliament that has as its title an indication that significant powers are going to be transferred fromthis parliament to the Commonwealth parliament, this is a bill that is approached with some caution andtrepidation—by members on this side of the House at least.

The member for Hinchinbrook has done a fine analysis of the situation with regard to the transferof those powers to the Commonwealth, and I endorse the comments that he made in that it is verydifficult to understand why there needs to be that transfer of powers to achieve the end that nobodydisagrees with, the outcome that everyone wants to see—that is, the adequate protection and theadequate management of a river system which crosses three state borders. But it is something that isdifficult to understand and, as the member for Hinchinbrook indicated, the outcome could have beenachieved using different mechanisms—that is, using the mechanisms that have been used withlegislation across the different states that we are all aware of and that he gave examples of. In thisinstance, as in so many other cases when we deal with the Murray-Darling Basin, Queensland has beendrawn into a situation that is more to do with managing the lower end of the Murray-Darling than it is withmanaging that part of the Murray-Darling that is within Queensland.

I think the referral of powers that the states agreed to in the memorandum of understanding, andwhich this bill gives effect to today, is more about managing the interface between New South Walesand Victoria than it is about managing Queensland’s section of the river. As I said, that is characteristicof management of the Murray-Darling as a whole. Every time we in Queensland get lumped withrestrictions, regulations and processes, they are all about managing that difficulty where Victoria andNew South Wales share opposite sides of the river. The river is the border between the two states. Sothe water resource that is in the river is obviously difficult to manage between two states that havedifferent processes, different regulations and different cultures in their water management regimes. Ibelieve that is at the core of the agreement that is contained in the memorandum that this bill giveseffect to to ensure that those powers are transferred to the Commonwealth.

For Queensland, transferring those management powers to the Commonwealth represents noadvantage at all. It produces no outcome that could not have been achieved by an agreement to dowhatever under the legislation in this state and to allow the other states to do the same thing under their


legislation. This is about ensuring that that age-old problem between New South Wales and Victoria isable to be addressed on the lower part of the river, and so it is with so many other problems that havebeset the Murray-Darling. Of late, the Murray-Darling has become a political football and a mediaopportunity for aspiring people.

A characteristic of the Murray-Darling is that the majority of the problems are in the lower sectionof the river, but all of us who have a responsibility, or all of us who have an involvement with the Murray-Darling, get involved in those issues. I guess that is characteristic of river management and watercoursemanagement generally. I have been an irrigator and I know that within the culture of people who livealong the river and who depend on water for their livelihoods, if anything goes wrong the first thing youdo is blame the bloke upstream. All the problems come downstream. Unluckily for Queensland, we areat the top of the river. So we get the blame from those people who live in Victoria and New South Walesfor all of their perceived ills. For all of their problems, the perceived solution is up in Queenslandsomewhere.

That is an attitude that overlays a lot of the public comment that I have heard about the Murray-Darling. It is certainly an attitude that overlays a lot of the debate that we have with our parliamentarycolleagues when we go to meetings or gatherings in Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide. It is always anattitude that is very clearly on display—that somehow or other it is Queensland’s fault.

I have to commend the current minister for natural resources in the state government, because onone or two occasions I have seen him stand up for Queensland irrigators and Queensland water usersin a way that, quite frankly, surprised me. I am not sure he understood what he was saying, but he wassaying almost the right thing. That surprised me because it stood in stark contrast to the attitude thatwas taken by the former Premier especially. He was going to compulsorily acquire Cubbie Station, forexample, because somehow or other Cubbie Station was responsible for the salinity that was rusting therailway line to St George and which was going to spread across the landscape and devour thecommunities of Dirranbandi and Goondiwindi. I ask members to remember the hysteria that he andMinister Robertson—who is now the health minister but who was the minister for natural resources atthe time—generated about the salinity issue. They came into this parliament with maps that wereprinted bright red, trying to whip up this hysteria about the management of that section of the Murray-Darling as a reason for justifying the compulsory acquisitions that they had in mind. But that was allbecause they saw an opportunity to get a cheque from Canberra. It was a good demonstration of howthe issues surrounding the management of this vast natural resource can easily be turned into a politicalfootball and can easily be misused for political purposes.

I think it is refreshing at least that under the current proposal we are not seeing that type ofresponse from the Queensland government, but I suspect that is more because it does not see anopportunity for a cheque that the previous Premier saw than for any real commitment to a creditablemanagement regime. There is still a tendency for this issue to be used as a political football. Protectingthe Murray-Darling or doing something about the Murray-Darling has become something of a politicalcraze. Everyone is in favour of protecting the Murray-Darling, or doing something about the Murray-Darling. The federal government is prepared to allocate huge amounts of money, but not very manypeople understand the reality of it. Not very many people understand what has to be done, or what canbe done, or the effect of what is being suggested in a lot of cases.

There is no more glaring example of that than the federal minister, Penny Wong, who went outinto the marketplace to save the world with a big lot of taxpayers’ money. She paid $23 million forToorale Station, which is just across the border. The federal government went home with a warm innerglow. It thought it had saved the Murray-Darling. But in reality, it had achieved next to nothing, becauseit simply did not understand the difference between a water allocation and physical water. It did notunderstand that if you buy a water allocation, it does not necessarily mean that there is extra water inthe river. It does not even necessarily mean that you get any water when you buy a water allocation.When I saw Penny Wong being interviewed on that Four Corners program, it became glaringly obviousthat she as the federal minister had no idea. She had an idea about winning the political battle, of gettinga headline in the Sydney Morning Herald about the government’s commitment of $23 million for theMurray-Darling. That is all she wanted at the time and that is what she got. But she did not get an extracupful of water into the river. She did not get an extra litre of water to address the water shortagesfurther down the river. The purchase of Toorale Station is a great example of what we should not do andwhat we do not have to do.

We need to address the reality. We need to use the local expertise that the member forHinchinbrook was talking about to make sure that the outcomes that can be achieved through theallocation of significant amounts of money are real outcomes that have a real effect and that are basedon decisions that are made by people who know and who understand the complexities of what isundoubtedly a very complex situation. It is a good thing for the federal government to allocate significantamounts of money to address the issue. But let us make sure that those significant amounts of moneyare used in a way that produce an outcome that has a greater value than a fleeting headline in themedia in Sydney and Melbourne.


The $350 million that has been allocated for the buyback in the Queensland section of the river isundoubtedly a significant amount of money and it can undoubtedly produce some significant outcomes.But there has been a degree of concern expressed about the effect that that will have on communities inQueensland. Those concerns are very valid and should not be dismissed lightly. I echo the words of themember for Hinchinbrook when he said that our support for this buyback is conditional on it being avoluntary buyback. Our support for the buyback of allocation is conditional on that buyback beingconducted between willing sellers and willing buyers. Any compulsory acquisition of those waterallocations is not something that we will support, it is not something that our colleagues at a federal levelwill support and, I suggest, it is not something that will produce the outcomes that everyone wants tosee in regard to a better operation and a better management of the Murray-Darling system.

When we rely on a voluntary buyback between a willing buyer and a willing seller we allow themarket forces to influence where that water is bought from and the impact that it will have on particularcommunities. I have some confidence that it will allow allocation holders to sell a portion of theirallocation rather than all of it and be able to reinvest the capital that they generate from selling thatportion of their allocation into their businesses and therefore strengthen and enhance the business thatis the economic base of those communities. I hope that that will be the eventual outcome and it willensure the future of those communities and make a contribution in the long term to the health of theriver. In addition, the $160 million that has been talked about for infrastructure projects also needs to beproperly targeted and appropriately planned to ensure that it, too, contributes to the long-term health ofthe river and the viability of those irrigation communities.

It is obvious that there is an enormous amount of political and community support for the conceptof doing something about the Murray-Darling river system. Fortunately for Queensland, the biggestproblems that need to be addressed occur at the bottom end of the Murray-Darling Basin. We have towin the public relations battle. We have to ensure that our message is heard loud and clear that it is notthe Queensland irrigators who are causing the problems between the Victorian and New South Waleswater authorities in the southern section of the river. Too often the Murray-Darling river system isthought of as some sort of a pipeline where a bucketful is put in at the top end here in Queensland,somewhere near Toowoomba, and if nothing is done it comes out at the bottom in Adelaide. Of course,those of us who understand the river system know that is absolutely ridiculous. There is aninfinitesimally small chance of water that originates here on the Darling Downs, for example, everreaching Adelaide even in the river’s natural state. It is a river system; it is not a pipeline. The idea that ifthe irrigation community was closed down right across south-west Queensland it would somehow fix theproblems in Adelaide and Mildura and places like that is absurd. Yet that is a simple, emotive messagethat I think too many politicians especially and southern commentators tend to run more often than theyshould; it has no credibility.

There is a challenge for successive Queensland governments to ensure that our irrigationindustry and our irrigators are given the credit that they deserve. They do deserve some credit. Thepeople that make up organisations like Smart Rivers in south-western Queensland have been at thevery forefront of proving their case, of standing firm against the political and emotive nonsense that wasgenerated by previous Labor governments and led by the previous Premier, Peter Beattie, and MinisterRobertson when he was minister for natural resources. They have stood firm against that sort ofemotive nonsense. They have commissioned their own scientists and have proven a facts based casethat their influence and effect on the river is not one that is detrimental to sustainable river health in thelong term and is not the cause of the problems that are experienced in the lower reaches of the Murray-Darling. It will be a constant challenge for us in Queensland to ensure that we can continue to do that.

The bill before the House gives effect to the memorandum of understanding that was signedbetween the basin states and the Commonwealth. There is no doubt in my mind that Queensland has tobe part of that agreement. But we have to be careful that the differences between the situation here insouth-west Queensland and the lower end of the Murray-Darling are always considered in implementingthat agreement. In implementing that memorandum of understanding we have to make sure that it doesnot become a blame-shifting exercise in which blame is shifted to the irrigation industry in Queenslandsimply because we are at the head of the river, at the top of the system. There is a natural inclination foreveryone involved with a particular issue to blame the person further up the river.

I commend again the member for Hinchinbrook on the contribution that he made to the debate. Isay to the minister who has carriage of this legislation and who will have responsibility for itsimplementation that he should heed well the concern that has been expressed about the transference ofpowers from this parliament to the big house in Canberra. It is not something that Queenslanders dolightly and it is not something that we take lightly. It is recognised in this instance that as part of themanagement regime of the Murray-Darling it is perhaps justified, but it needs to be addressed withcaution.

There is an ongoing challenge for the minister or whoever sits in his position to ensure that theinterests of Queensland irrigators are not subjugated in the arguments that rage between the irrigatorsin Victoria and New South Wales and the demands of water users in Adelaide at the bottom end of the


river. We have to be able to have a science and logic based argument to validate the irrigation industryin south-west Queensland, to give those communities that depend on that industry a future and to givethe people who are involved in those industries the credit that they deserve for the professionalism thatthey have applied to the management of what is a great natural resource.

Hon. KW HAYWARD (Kallangur—ALP) (3.46 pm): In rising to participate in debate on the Water(Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008 I would like to address how this referral bill will continue to progressthe water reform outcomes that Queensland is committed to achieving. With Toward Q2 the Blighgovernment is committed to tackling climate change head-on. A large part of that commitment isnational water reform.

In the face of a drying climate and rising demand for water, Australia is confronting majorchallenges in ensuring sustainable water supply. The present extreme drought has exacerbatedenvironmental stress in the Murray-Darling Basin. The opportunity exists now, because of therelationship between the Labor government in Queensland and the Rudd Commonwealth government,to demonstrate a level of cooperation and environmental credentials. Cooperative partnerships betweenthe Commonwealth and all states and territories are the key to addressing water challenges across thecountry.

To meet these challenges, in March 2008 a memorandum of understanding was agreed betweenthe Commonwealth and the basin states which includes Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, SouthAustralia and the Australian Capital Territory. At the Council of Australian Governments meeting on 3July 2008 the Commonwealth and the Murray-Darling Basin states signed an historic intergovernmentalagreement to establish new institutional and regulatory arrangements for the future sustainablemanagement of the water and related resources of the Murray-Darling Basin. This intergovernmentalagreement was signed by the basin states and the Commonwealth in order to implement the reformsnecessary to meet the current needs of the Murray-Darling Basin so that in the long term its social,economic and environmental assets would be protected.

The legislative changes being sought in this referral bill are necessary to assist in theachievement of the overall water reform outcomes. The issues are threefold. Firstly, I would like toacknowledge the very difficult operating environment which many Queensland farmers are currentlyexperiencing and which is also being felt across the Murray-Darling Basin. I would like to stateemphatically that the state government understands the climatic and business situation confrontingmany farmers in Queensland. Those farmers face variable climatic conditions and fluctuating worldprices and consequently their incomes are unpredictable. However, Australia is the driest inhabitedcontinent with highly variable rainfall. Predicted climate changes could see even lower rainfall andhigher temperatures. In this environment, the reality is that water resources must be managed in asustainable way to provide for the current and future needs of the whole community.

The state government is committed to planning for the future. The Murray-Darling Basin is ahugely important social, economic and environmental resource in Australia. Its importance cannot beoverstated, as almost three million people depend upon it for their water needs. It makes a contributionof $9 billion to Australia’s agricultural production and environmentally it has 16 internationallyrecognised wetland areas. Queensland recognises that the extreme drought has exacerbated thebasin’s environmental stress. Queensland also recognises the benefits that additional cooperativeaction will deliver over and above that which was taking place within the framework of the existingMurray-Darling Basin agreement. The new approach as outlined in the memorandum of understandingin the July intergovernmental agreement on Murray-Darling Basin reform has a central principle ofimproved planning and management by addressing the basin’s water and other natural resources as awhole in the context of federal-state partnerships.

The second issue is the need to build on the National Water Initiative. The water reforms beingsought in the Murray-Darling Basin under the intergovernmental agreement which have led to thisreferral bill build on the principles sought under this initiative. The principles of the National WaterInitiative are: firstly, to increase the productivity and efficiency of Australia’s water use; secondly, toservice rural and urban communities; and, thirdly, to ensure the health of the river and groundwatersystems.

I would like to add that Queensland is significantly advanced in its water reform program, and thisis helping to ensure there is sufficient water for the environment as well as water users. This has beenachieved through the rollout of the water planning process. To date, water resource planning has beenundertaken in more than 90 per cent of major catchment areas. In addition, water resource planning isunderpinning thousands of newly created tradable water allocations with an estimated total valuerunning into the billions of dollars. This provides water allocation holders with a tradable asset, andwater trading is improving the efficiency of water markets by directing water use to areas of highervalue.

The third issue is recognising that greater cooperation is necessary. That is why Queenslandwelcomes this new breakthrough agreement, which signals a new cooperative approach between theCommonwealth and all basin states. That is also why Queensland signed the agreement at the Councilof Australian Governments meeting on 3 July 2008. The need for cooperation was recognised as far


back as 1901, when what is now described as the ‘federation drought’ made evident the need forcooperation and water sharing for the Murray River. Those pressures are far stronger today. Thatagreement builds on 90 years of state and Commonwealth cooperation on the management of theMurray-Darling Basin.

Governments now recognise the benefits of past arrangements but agree that a new approach isrequired to deal with the pressures of climate change, economic development and environmentaldegradation. This historic intergovernmental agreement establishes new institutional and regulatoryarrangements for the future sustainable management of the water and related resources of the Murray-Darling Basin. The main features of this new culture and practice of basin-wide management andplanning will be: the preparation of a basin-wide plan by the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority; a newministerial council for the Murray-Darling Basin and its advisory and consultative committees; priorityproject status for Commonwealth investment; a new advisory role for the Australian Competition andConsumer Commission in respect of water charges and water market rules within the basin; andrecognition of critical human needs as the highest priority water use for communities depending on theMurray-Darling Basin.

In order to set up these new governance and regulatory structures and arrangements it isnecessary for states to refer certain powers to the Commonwealth. In doing so, Queensland will bemaking a significant contribution to water reform in this state for this and future generations. Queenslandwill be continuing a 90-year tradition of cooperation over the Murray-Darling Basin and will also build onthe National Water Initiative. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr LAWLOR (Southport—ALP) (3.54 pm): In supporting the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill2008, I would like to address the amendments to a number of acts included in this referral bill. Theseamendments are unrelated to the referral of state powers to the Commonwealth for Murray-DarlingBasin reform. First, I would like to address amendments to the Queensland Water Act 2000 and anumber of water resource plans that will facilitate the implementation of the state’s water resourceplanning. The Bligh government is committed to tackling climate change, and our water reforms are apart of our plans to secure the future for all Queenslanders. The Water Act establishes the framework forthe sustainable allocation and management of the state’s water resources. Amendments to the WaterAct will improve the process for finalising draft resource operations plans, which are the operationalplans that implement the strategic water resource plan. The amendment will allow a draft resourceoperations plan to be finalised in stages.

In addition, the amendments will clarify that a moratorium can be made over water resource andresource operations plan areas. Amendments to each of the relevant Queensland Murray-Darling Basinwater resource plans will facilitate the recent Queensland government decision to grant 10.6 billion litresof water to the Commonwealth. This is more evidence of the Bligh government’s Toward Q2commitment to being a strong leader on green issues. This water will come from the strategic reserve ofunallocated water within the Queensland Murray-Darling catchments.

The Department of Natural Resources and Water has continued to deliver its water planningactivities. The Water Act requires the preparation of water resource plans and, where necessary,resource operations plans. Water resource plans aim to provide secure water allocations and allow forfuture sustainable development while ensuring environmental flows are considered to protect the healthof Queensland’s rivers.

The Bligh government knows that planning for the future is vital if we are to tackle climate change.Resource operations plans are the day-to-day operational plans used to implement water resourceplans. The first Water Act amendment will improve the process for finalising a resource operations plan.The process includes initially preparing a draft resource operations plan which is released for publicconsultation prior to preparing the final draft resource operations plan for approval. This amendmentallows for a draft resource operations plan to be finalised in stages and details how this alternativeinterim step can be progressed. This will allow for the timely finalisation of part of a draft resourceoperations plan where circumstances may have arisen that may otherwise delay the finalisation of thewhole plan.

The second Water Act amendment clarifies that a moratorium can be made over water dealt withunder both a water resource plan and a resource operations plan, consistent with the intent of themoratorium provisions under the Water Act. The amendment does not in any way change the criteria onwhich a moratorium can be made. There may be a need for a moratorium, which would preserve thestatus quo of water taken. For example, a moratorium may be needed in a situation where a waterresource plan, and its associated resource operations plan, requires an amendment in relation to howparticular water is to be regulated in the future. The extent of a moratorium in these circumstanceswould limit the future taking of water to what is currently allowed under the plans—in other words, tomaintain the status quo.

The third related Water Act amendment will facilitate the Queensland government’s decision togrant to the Commonwealth 10.6 billion litres of water from the strategic reserve of unallocated waterfrom the Warrego, Moonie, Nebine and border rivers Queensland Murray-Darling catchments. Each of


the relevant Murray-Darling Basin water resource plans is amended through this referral bill to facilitatethis decision. Despite the fact that our Queensland water resource planning already provides water forthe environment and the recent Murray-Darling Basin Commission sustainable river audit clearly showsthe health of the Queensland rivers are the best in the basin, this state recognises its responsibilities tothe whole basin, and the Murray-Darling Basin water reform agenda has been discussed extensively byprevious speakers. Therefore, we must also acknowledge that Queensland has been a leading agencyaround the country in terms of water resource planning.

To date, more than 91 per cent of the state is covered by water resource plans that provide for thesocial and economic wellbeing of our communities while delivering secure water entitlements andenshrining environmental flows for the health of our rivers and ecosystems. The separation of waterfrom land through resource operations plans has allowed water to move to its most valuable uses, withpermanent trades in the 2007-08 financial year totalling more than 22 billion litres.

I would also like to address an amendment to the Land Title Act 1994 and Land Act 1994 thatwould extend the stay on the registration of certain tidal boundary plans. Amendments to the Land TitleAct and the Land Act are required to extend the current stay on the registration of certain tidal boundaryplans by one year. These tidal boundary plans were due to lapse on 8 November 2008.

In November 2005, it became known that some freehold lots in coastal areas were beingresurveyed and the resultant plans were showing boundaries located on what was previouslyconsidered to be public beaches. This situation had obvious implications for public ownership ofQueensland beaches and access to those beaches. Consequently, the Land Title Act and the Land Actwere amended to introduce a three-year stay until November 2008 on the registration of certain tidalland survey plans to protect the public interest in these lands. The stay was put in place to allow time fordevelopment of a solution to this issue.

Developing a solution has required careful balancing of the public interest in public ownership andaccess to beaches against private interests. This balancing process has involved extensive research,identification of affected lots along the coast and tidal rivers, consideration of factors such as the natureof subdivisions and improvements, the volatility of river and coastal real estate markets, changes inownership of land, and the material impacts of any proposed solution.

The amendments to the Land Act and the Land Title Act to extend the stay on the registration oftidal boundary plans will allow for the finalisation of a policy position which takes into account theexceptionally complex issues involved. These amendments will also strike an appropriate balancebetween the public interest in public ownership of Queensland beaches and access to those beachesand the rights of waterfront landholders. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr COPELAND (Cunningham—LNP) (4.02 pm): I rise to make a short contribution to the debateon the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008. At the outset I congratulate the new shadow ministerfor natural resources on the contribution he made on behalf of the opposition. It was a very wellresearched and measured contribution as he always makes, and in fact the Deputy Premier has evenacknowledged that in this parliament. I think it is the first bill that he has had carriage of since hisappointment to shadow cabinet. I congratulate him on that appointment. It is well deserved and hedeserves to have a very long career in front of him. Likewise, the member for Callide made a verycomprehensive contribution, as he does on water issues. So I will restrict my contribution to the areas ofthe bill covering the referral of powers for the management of the Murray-Darling Basin to theCommonwealth parliament.

My electorate of Cunningham largely covers the headwaters of the Condamine River. There is avery vibrant and thriving agricultural industry in my electorate. It covers a lot of very intensiveagriculture, a lot of broadscale farming and also a lot of horticulture. In a lot of those areas theagricultural sector is underpinned by the ability to irrigate. The farmers who use irrigation draw theirwater from a variety of sources—from the river, from overland flow and from the underground aquifers.Each of those are inextricably linked. The research shows the very strong links between the flows in theriver and the replenishment of the underground aquifers. The health of the irrigation sector relies on thehealth of all of those sources of water.

Unfortunately, in recent years there has not been the ability for irrigation farmers to use a lot ofwater because there simply has not been the rain. That is what dictates whether there is any water inthe river and in the Murray-Darling Basin—if there is rain. Unfortunately, in recent years we simply havenot had those rain events to see the flows that we would like to see for the health of the river, for thehealth of the agricultural industry and for the health of those communities who rely upon those industriesfrom the sources of the Condamine in my electorate right through to Adelaide and the communities inbetween.

Both the shadow minister and the member for Callide put on record that the only reason we cansupport the buyback of allocations contained within this bill is that they are voluntary. There will be nocompulsory acquisition of water allocation, and that is the way it should be. Like the member for Callide,I think there will be willing sellers out there who hold allocations who may not be able to use those


allocations or believe that the capital that they have invested in those allocations may be better investedin other ways, whether that is on the farm, whether it is developing the capital asset of their farm orwhether it is in fact investing elsewhere.

But we need to make sure that whatever changes are made do not affect the health of thosecommunities that really do depend on a thriving agricultural industry. Not only is agriculture important tofeeding our nation and in fact feeding the world; it is also important to sustaining the health of thosecommunities, in many cases very small communities, right throughout the basin. Without agriculture andthe employment it supports, those communities would struggle to survive, and I think we as a nation willbe worse off should that happen.

It is not only irrigation farmers who operate within this basin. A lot of people have made theconscious decision to remain as dryland farmers. In my electorate there are many people who had thecapital, expertise and ability to develop their farms as irrigation farms but made the conscious decisionnot do that because they believed that for the cost of the inputs involved in irrigation farming the returnssimply were not there. So it is possible to have a very successful farming enterprise within these areasremaining as a dryland farmer. The two certainly do coexist and coexist well.

The water security that is available through irrigation—if we were able to have a more regularsupply of water—means that the investment decisions that could be made for the future by thosefarmers would enable the further development of the agricultural industry. That is why the organisationDarling Downs Vision 2000 worked so hard for so many years to get a recycled water pipeline from thesouth-east corner up to the Darling Downs so that they would have water 365 days of the year to havesome certainty in their investment. The value of that water would have been so much greater because ofthe reliability of it.

There are very many challenges within the Murray-Darling Basin. Most of them, if not all of them,are not of the making of Queensland. Queensland and Queensland farmers have been demonised timeand time again by politicians, by media, by academics, by commentators. We have even seen thatdemonisation happen from time to time in this chamber from some members of the government, and Ithink that is disappointing. As the member for Callide and the member for Hinchinbrook have bothnoted, the comments by the minister on the Four Corners report some weeks ago illustrated that heseemed to be prepared to stand up for the rights of Queensland farmers. I think that is something weshould all be doing.

Farmers deserve to be respected and congratulated for the work they have done. Theimprovements in water efficiency and irrigation practices in my electorate have been absolutelyenormous in recent years. Those farmers who have been involved should be congratulated for that. Infact, the efficiencies of water use in the irrigation sector in my electorate would be amongst the best inthe country. I know in the cotton industry, for example, the yields that are obtained per unit of water in myelectorate on the Darling Downs are among the best and most productive anywhere in the country. Ithink that is something we should be congratulating them on.

That does not mean that it is the end of the process. There is no doubt that there are stillefficiencies to be gained. I note that part of the package that we are debating will be directed towardsimproving water efficiency. That is something that we should continue to do. We should continue to do ituntil we get the best production out of the very last drop that we possibly can. It is not just about theimprovements in irrigation practices but also about improvements in farming practices themselves.Things like zero-till farming have made such an improvement to yields and efficiencies with acommensurate increase in environmental outcomes. I think that is something we will continue to seehappen.

Our Queensland farmers and our Australian farmers are world leaders. We should becongratulating them for the work they do. We should be very proud of the work they do and the fact thatthey produce so much food that feeds the world in these troubled times. I am very proud to represent anarea that covers such a rich and diverse farming sector, that has such a rich and diverse agriculturalsector and that has so many innovative and forward-thinking farming families and farmers who maketheir living off the land. It is something that we should be congratulating them for and be very proud of.

Mr HOBBS (Warrego—LNP) (4.09 pm): I am pleased to speak today to the Water(Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008. The primary objective of this bill is to refer certain matters aboutwater management relating to the Murray-Darling Basin to the Commonwealth parliament so as toenable the Commonwealth parliament to make laws about those matters. It is a very important bill. It isone that is emotionally charged. There are a lot of misguided people out there who think that they canbuy Queensland water and it will fix the Murray-Darling Basin system, but it simply will not. I want to gothrough some issues today.

I also want to congratulate the shadow minister on his first bill. I think he did a fantastic job. Hemade an excellent contribution in his speech in the second reading debate summing up the variousangles and situations across-the-board. It was my great privilege to shoehorn him into my Mooney andfly him around the south-west of Queensland. It was wonderful to be able to take him out and show himthose areas. We went to Cubbie Station, as he mentioned, and we also had a good fly over it so we


could see the lay of the land to see what development has been done. It is really wonderful to see theenormous development that has happened down there and the sustainable way in which it has beendone. If there were more work done as has been done at Cubbie Station, the whole irrigation industry inAustralia would be much more efficient. People need to understand that it is not just about taking waterand wasting it; the water is used very efficiently.

People often mention that a lot of water is taken by Cubbie Station. The reality is that over the lastfive years they have had very little water and they have had to make do with what they have had. Thescience is particularly important in this instance. There has never been more science put into a riversystem and the management of it than there has been on the Condamine-Balonne. There was so muchemotion about it. The member for Callide spoke about the fact that the previous Premier went downthere and he was going to try to buy Cubbie Station and take it over. I will not go into all the details, butwe know the history of the two disastrous trips he made there to try to do that.

The reality is that out of that exercise we ended up with an independent science group headed byProfessor Peter Cullen, who has since passed away. He was an eminent scientist in the WentworthGroup. He was asked to look at the raw data. In many cases, science starts from a certain point—aftersomebody else has reviewed it and had a look at it, and they go from there. The independent panel wasasked to have a look at the raw data right from the very beginning—before development started. Theyfound that what the landholders and the irrigators were saying was correct. Since then, even the waterquality tests that have been carried out have come up with very good results. In fact, the water quality inthe Condamine-Balonne is very similar to that of the Paroo and the Warrego. There is no irrigation ofthose areas, particularly on the Paroo. There is a bit on the Warrego. So the water quality systems aredifferent.

It is also a river system that runs and it stops and it dries up. Then it runs and it stops and it driesup. That is its process, whereas if you go south into the Murray-Darling Basin system there are dams,locks and weirs, and so there is more constant water going through. So you have a different system—anunnatural system, in fact. What we have in Queensland is a more natural system reflecting what ourcountry was always like.

We have the very best science in the world to say that our systems in Queensland are good. Ourintervalley flow into New South Wales is about 50 per cent, and that is as good as you are going to get.If you go over the border, you will find intervalley flows of 25 per cent to 40 per cent. So they are theones who are using the water—the ones over the border. Luckily, we did not develop our water systemsearly and we were able to put in place checks and balances. If other states had done what we havedone here in Queensland, they would not have the crisis they have now. By the same token, I will saythat we are a very arid country and many times we go for long periods when it just does not damn wellrain, and that is a problem that we have in many instances. The shadow minister saw this for himself.

We also went to St George to have a look at the irrigation systems and talk to some of theirrigators and to the Smart Rivers people. Smart Rivers is a group of people who were forced by thebullying of government to fund their own science and scientists. They did their own work. They took thegovernment on in court and won. They destroyed the government court case because there was blatantdisregard for the science. It was all political. In the end we have ended up with a pretty good system. Ithink there is a pretty good relationship between the farmers down that way and the department. That isparticularly important, because people can try to hoodwink the people for a certain time but they cannotdo it forever, and that is exactly what the situation was.

In the package that has been put together by the federal government at the present moment,$350 million has been allocated to Queensland for the purchase of water. This is high-reliability waterthat they are looking for. They are going to try to fix the Murray-Darling Basin system, or Queensland’sportion, with that contribution of money. The reality is that if you take away the high-reliability water,which is water from the farms, it will destroy the economies of towns such as St George, Dalby,Goondiwindi and so forth. Luckily, it is a voluntary buyback scheme. Therefore, people do not have tosell but they do have this opportunity. We are not opposed to buying back water, provided it is used forthe best purpose, but people need to understand the reality that we can buy all the water we want inQueensland and it will not fix the problem down the river, because water simply soaks in andevaporates.

Mr Johnson interjected. Mr HOBBS: That’s right. For instance, this year Cubbie extracted about 200,000 megalitres,

which is about double the size of St George’s Beardmore Dam—or a bit more than that. If all that waterwere released, it would have gone about 200 kilometres down the river. It might have made Bourke atbest. There is about 5,000 kilometres of river system in the Murray-Darling. To put it into someperspective, if the government bought Cubbie, all of its water would have gone 200 kilometres.

The reality is that we are not going to fix the problem down there. However, there are some verypositive things that we can do. For instance, I am referring to the Menindee Lakes. They are about thebiggest evaporation pond that we have in the whole Murray-Darling system. It is four lakes which


combine into one. The water goes in and fills up; then it drains out the same way—unless it is very full,in which case it will go out the other end. It holds about 1.6 million megalitres in that system. To givemembers some idea, that is bigger than Wivenhoe and is about the same size as the Burdekin River, Iwould guess—maybe just a whisker smaller. But it is very shallow.

Mr Johnson: It’s another Lake Eyre.

Mr HOBBS: As the member for Gregory says, it is a bit like Lake Eyre. So it is a very shallowsystem. What we could do for not a great deal of money is put a lock within that system—some man-made levies—to manage the water. That is what irrigators do to keep their water. If they have three orfour ring tanks they do not leave the water to evaporate; they pile the water so there is less evaporation.We can have a system where the water is still available for the environment and the birds and the beesand whatever else. The reality is that we only need a few million dollars to do the job I am talking aboutand we would save hundreds of thousands of megalitres of water year after year. That would also bemuch closer to the bottom of the river system.

A lot can be done that has not been done. A lot of work has already been done in the MenindeeLakes area over the years. They started doing some work back in the early 1900s. But one of the thingsthat people need to understand is that we have a dry river system. In 1883 it took three years for apaddle steamer to go from Morgan in South Australia to Bourke in New South Wales because the riverwas so dry. These things happen.

We cannot have the kind of population explosion that we have had and then expect in dry times tohave water. In Brisbane we are very short of water because our dams are very low. There are otherissues that we need to consider. Years ago, at the bottom end of the system at the mouth of the Murray,salt water used to come 250 kilometres up the river. This happened until they put the barrage in towardsthe bottom end of the system. That made an artificial dam. Maybe we could pipe water from the lakedown there into the system. That would help with evaporation. There are a lot of things that could bedone that would make the system work so much better.

The draft ROPs are being done at present. Queensland is very advanced with its ROPs. If NewSouth Wales and Victoria were as advanced as we are with ours then they would not have the problemsthey are having. The ROP for the Condamine-Balonne is ready to go. We are just waiting for a courtcase to be resolved. Let us hope that that happens fairly soon so we can sign off on that.

The Premier recently gave away as a contribution to the Murray-Darling Basin system about10,000 megalitres of water. People talk about billions of litres of water. Why do we not talk about howmany handfuls of water are given away or how many hundreds of millions of handfuls of water are givenaway? The reality is that we are talking about megalitres or gigalitres of water.

I want to talk about the Warrego River. I am sure the member for Gregory will also make somecomments about it as it is in his area. The Premier has given away 8,000 megalitres of water to help fixthe Murray-Darling Basin system. That 8,000 megalitres is quite valuable to the local farmers andgraziers but it really only amounts to one big ring tank worth of water. It is not a great deal of water.

The Warrego River virtually never runs into the Darling. It only ever does if we have a huge flood.Earlier this year we had a pretty significant flood. Some 8,000 megalitres of water was flowing pastWyandra every minute and a half. So we are not talking about a lot of water. But the reality is that it issignificant for the local landholders. I think it is pretty unreasonable that the government of the daywould want to give away something that really does not belong to it.

We also need to look at the Moonie and Nebine rivers where the situation is very similar. In theMoonie there is 1,000 megalitres and in the Nebine there is 500 megalitres. That is not going to fix theMurray-Darling Basin system problems. The reality is that the amount of water that is being held backfrom, say, the Warrego would be lucky to get over the border. It is a farcical situation if we think we aregoing to solve the problems way down south.

It is also important to consider how much water is used. I heard the shadow minister talk aboutthe amount of water from that system that Queensland uses. We only use five per cent of the water inthe Murray-Darling Basin system. Do members know who the biggest consumers are and which statesare the growth states in terms of water usage from the Murray-Darling Basin system? The biggest useris still New South Wales. That state is increasing its use of water from the Murray-Darling Basin. By2010 it is estimated that New South Wales will be drawing nearly 6½ thousand gigalitres of water a yearfrom the system. The next biggest consumer in terms of growth is Victoria, which will be usingsomething like 5,000 gigalitres. The next biggest growth state is South Australia. These are people whoare whingeing about the fact that they want more water but they are using more. By 2010 they will bedrawing nearly 1,000 gigalitres from the system. Guess which state’s usage has not really gone up?Queensland’s. Our usage has been pretty level since about the 1970s. That is what we are entitled to.However, the other states have continued to increase their usage. It is very important that weunderstand exactly what the situation is.

3390 Ministerial Statement 11 Nov 2008

I understand that this legislation has been passed in two states—New South Wales and SouthAustralia. Victoria and Queensland are yet to pass the bill. It is interesting that, in the first instance,Victoria was not interested in being part of the original package. There were some problems with theprevious federal government’s package but there were some good parts, particularly in relation to theefficiencies that would have been, could have been and should have been gained if that money wasmade available by the present Commonwealth government to improve the irrigation channels, toimprove the monitoring, to improve the extraction of water and to look for new ways of extracting water.

When people go out to places like Cubbie they will see that they have water monitoring points andthey have bigger dams to hold the water and reduce the evaporation. It is much more efficient. About$5.8 billion was spent on that by the federal government.

Smart Rivers is the group based at St George and Dirranbandi. The president of that group, ChadPrescott, maintains that Queensland water cannot fix the problem at the lower end and that most of ourwater goes into terminal lakes on the flood plain. That is exactly what happens. It is very important tounderstand that. It is not as if there is a pipeline from St George to Victoria or South Australia to fix thatproblem. We certainly have a major issue. It is a big river system. Many people do not understand it,which is a shame, but I certainly do.

I heard the minister on the radio and saw him on the TV a couple of times saying the right thingsin relation to Queensland’s position. I congratulate him on that. It is very important that he continues tokeep on saying that, because those are simply the facts. Even when I was the minister for naturalresources on the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council, the reality was that all that they could think ofwas trying to get our water to fix their problem. The reality is that it is their problem. They should fix it.

Debate, on motion of Mr Hobbs, adjourned.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

A1GPHon. JC SPENCE (Mount Gravatt—ALP) (Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport)

(4.29 pm), by leave: I rise to make a ministerial statement about the chronology of the Indy negotiationsand to add to comments I made earlier in the day on this important event. Let me start at the beginning.The Gold Coast race was a Champ Car World Series event. Earlier this year Champ Car World Seriesmerged with the Indy Racing League. The merged IRL series committed to racing at the Gold Coast in2008 and an MOU was signed by event chairman, Terry Mackenroth, and event manager, Greg Hooton,at this time for the future of the Indy race in the USA in February this year. A public statement was madeto that effect. I table the MOU with the sensitive commercial-in-confidence provisions deleted.Tabled paper: Letter, dated 7 April 2008, to the Hon. Judy Spence MP from Mr Greg Hooton, General Manager, Gold Coast Indy300 and Memorandum of Understanding, dated 29 February 2008, between Indy Racing League and Gold Coast Motor EventsCo.

Mr Mackenroth and his general manager, Mr Hooton, wrote to me and advised me at the time thatan agreement would be ready to sign and they requested that I attend meetings at the headquarters ofthe IRL in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, in the month of May with IndyCar President Tony George and hissenior representatives. They informed me that the purpose of the trip to the US would be to reinforce tothe IRL the strong commitment of the Queensland government to the event, and I quote—Your attendance ... and support will allow finalisation and signing of the new IRL Sanction Agreement, thereby securing the eventfor Queensland and the Gold Coast for the next six year period (2008 to 2013 inclusive).

I then wrote to the Premier in similar terms, and I table these letters.Tabled paper: Letter, dated 8 April 2008, to the Hon. Anna Bligh MP from the Hon. Judy Spence MP.Tabled paper: Letter, dated 15 May 2008, to the Hon. Judy Spence MP from the Hon. Anna Bligh MP regarding the 2008Indianapolis 500 event.

Unfortunately, even after several meetings with the IRL, including three face-to-face meetingswith the IRL and the former Champ Car owners during my trip to the USA in May this year, the sanctionagreement that we had a reasonable expectation would be signed by the IRL was not. Still, I wasadvised by the Gold Coast Indy chairman that he believed it could be resolved quickly. In August thisyear the Trade Commissioner for the Americas, Peter Beattie, and Craig Gore had a further meetingwith the IRL to progress the initial meetings I had undertaken. Despite the goodwill of both parties—thestate government and the IRL—the original MOU was not honoured for two reasons: the date for thestaging of the event and the sanctioning amount were not able to be resolved. The sanctioningagreement for this year’s event was signed on 26 July 2008. Negotiations then continued for twomonths until it was clear that any resolution was going to be made face to face on the Gold Coast otherthan by email and fax. This year’s Nikon Gold Coast Indy was a huge success and we continued tomeet with the IRL, and I had several official and many unofficial meetings and conversations. At the endof the day, with all of the elements of what is a deal worth $55 million to the state of Queensland and


$300 million over five years to the Gold Coast and the Queensland economy, we came down to twounresolved issues: the date and the amount that we as a government would put into the event as thesanction agreement to the IRL. We could not agree on either point.

As such, we have now struck an in-principle agreement with the A1s and I look forward to thesubstantive contract being signed in the coming weeks. The government was in a position where it didhave an alternative—the A1s—and the event that we will see on the Gold Coast next year is an equallystrong alternative. It will feature faster cars, Ferrari engines, world-class drivers and a bigger televisionaudience. In fact, some of the drivers are former and current IndyCar drivers such as Katherine Leggeand Marco Andretti. Some 22 countries are represented in the event—countries that are motor racingpowerhouses such as France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Brazil. I see today as well that the Miss Indyorganisers are already casting the net for a name change and they have said that they will be backbigger and better than ever, too. This new event will be one of the greatest motor racing events inAustralia and in these times of economic uncertainty will provide the Gold Coast and Queensland with aworld-class event. I will also declare open today a competition to name this great new world-class motorracing event which I believe should encompass both the international glamour of the A1s and thestrength of our own mighty V8 Supercars Australia series. I would like to hear any and all suggestionsthat members of the public and motoring enthusiasts may have.

WATER (COMMONWEALTH POWERS) BILL

Second ReadingResumed from p. 3390, on motion of Mr Wallace—

That the bill be now read a second time.

Mr JOHNSON (Gregory—LNP) (4.33 pm): It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak to theWater (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008. In doing so, I want to congratulate the member forHinchinbrook, the shadow spokesman for the opposition, for his contribution to this debate thisafternoon. I have to say that it is very inspirational to see a young man of his calibre take on this veryimportant portfolio responsibility and do it in such a professional way. It is also very gratifying when wesee young people from both sides of the House who are able to impress on the House their qualities asthey go about their professional duties of being a parliamentarian. I congratulate the member forHinchinbrook.

I believe that this legislation has been created somewhat by hysteria in many parts, and I do notsay that lightly. We hear about climate change every day of the week. In my estimations climate changeis nothing but a good old drought, and by God this one has been raging for a while. Sitting across fromme is the minister for education, who was the former minister for the environment at one stage and theminister for natural resources. What is being encountered today by the current minister is no different towhat the former minister for natural resources encountered—that is, a shortage of rainfall. There is nodoubt that this continent is the driest continent on earth followed closely by parts of Africa.

As members who have contributed to this debate before me have said in terms of watermanagement, Queensland has 25 per cent of the Murray-Darling catchment but uses about five percent of the water. We have used that water very professionally, very ably and very responsibly. TheMurray River was settled long before other areas of the Warrego, the Balonne and the upper reaches ofthe Darling, and larger scale irrigation was a part of the practice of that operation. The Murray goes intoareas of South Australia which has magnificent horticultural groves around Renmark and Mildura. Thereal issue is that a factor has crept up on the Darling over a period of time, and that factor is greedwhere the resource has not been managed properly. Would you believe that today in areas of theMurray River they are mining salt around Coorong because of poor practices of the past. Regardless ofwhat administration was in power in Queensland, I believe that we have managed our resource inQueensland very responsibly. At the same time, I am saddened that the government has seen fit thatthe eight megalitres of water that was supposed to be auctioned off on the Warrego River system insouth-west Queensland will now be a part of this buyback process or go into that process of the federalgovernment. This is the question that I want to ask the minister today, and I hope he might be able togive some appraisal of it in his summary: when we do return to somewhat normal seasons and there isan abundance of heavy rains and continual flooding in this system, are we going to see some sort of areversal, or is there a trigger that will allow producers along the Warrego to be able to take advantage ofthis water again?

I thank the shadow minister for the invitation to be at the ministerial briefing this morning and Ithank the minister’s departmental officers for giving that briefing, but it is important to remember that thateight megalitres could have created a lot of employment in a very disenfranchised area of south-westQueensland, especially along the southern reaches and the northern reaches of the Warrego Riveradjacent to Cunnamulla. There is certainly some magnificent land along that watercourse, which isbetter known in the southern reaches going back to the New South Wales border some 80-odd miles as


‘the salad bowl’. The one thing that this place is always short on is rain. My old dad always used to saythat it was too far south for summer rain and too far north for winter rain. If we could get water alongthere from the northern catchment of the Warrego River, we could see those people along that riversystem—those ones fortunate enough to be on that river system—take advantage of it.

I hope in time that either this government or some other government may be able to see its wayclear to make certain that those boutique type of irrigation industries are able to enhance theiroperations or further increase their operations by way of getting extra water. I have spoken withpersonnel from the Central Darling Shire Council, which is based in Bourke, in relation to a lot of theproblems. They said that the problems have crept up that river system over many years. I think in yearsgone by the environmental issues and other issues relating to this river have not been managedproperly. These people tell me there has not been a decent flow into some of those rivers down there forseven or eight years. The Darling River had a good flow into it back in January of this year. I saw thatflow, because I crossed the river at Wilcannia back in January. I know that water went a fair way south. Ihappened to be down at the mouth of the Murray River in January of this year and witnessed myself thesandbar across the mouth of the Murray River where it runs out of Lake Alexandrina into the ocean. Iunderstand that twice since European settlement water has not run through that area of the sandbar.

A moment ago the member for Warrego said that the Menindee Lakes are very important to thissystem. The Menindee Lakes are virtually a drying-up area for that river. It is not a lot different from LakeEyre, which is a shallow mass of water in a very dry, hot part of arid inland Australia. Most times theMenindee Lakes become an evaporative pond. That water is evaporated into the atmosphere and is ofno value whatsoever. I think scientific studies and expertise to responsibly manage this resource in theMenindee Lakes have to be done. I hope that the Hon. Penny Wong, the Minister for Climate Changeand Water, will see fit to look beyond the parameters of her areas of responsibility and make certain thatsome of this technology that is available to us can be utilised so that man-made enhancements can bemade to some of these areas so that we can utilise the water better and maybe get it through to SouthAustralia and through to the Murray system.

There is no doubt that Cubbie Station is a big operation and it has a very big expanse of water.I am not going to dwell on that. I think over a long period in Queensland some water practices bothabove and below Cubbie Station could have been advantaged more by different strategies. But thatstrategy is there now. I know the federal government has some $300-odd million on the table to buyback some of these operations. As I was told today, Toorale Station, south of Bourke, was purchased for$23 million. I said to the people today, ‘How far will that water go if you let it go?’ I said, ‘It will be flat outgoing 100 kilometres.’ That is exactly right. I know that river system very well. I heard the member forWarrego talk a while ago about those dry holes. I have a photo in my office in Longreach—and I wouldlove people to see it; they could probably get copies of it—of paddle-steamers on the Darling River thathad been loaded with wool at Bourke. In that photo there are two or three paddle-steamers lined up withhundreds of bales of wool on them. That photo was taken when that river was navigable by boat all theway from Bourke and right down.

Times have changed because of the harsh environment in which we live and the dry times thatwe have been subjected to over the past few years. When you look back through the annals of historyyou see that those droughts have been ongoing. They have been there for generations. No doubt, futuregenerations will also be subjected to droughts. I was born in Bourke and I know a bit about that country.My old man used to run mails—

Mr Stevens: Lovely oranges from there.

Mr JOHNSON: Beautiful oranges. I had a cousin who used to have a station a Bourke—Gundabooka Station—which was right on the banks of the Darling River. I take that interjection from thehonourable member for Robina. In those days, the water was not available. In dry times they had to letthose orange trees die—2,000 of them. In years gone by my uncle and aunty sold their property atBourke to a fellow called Jack Buster, who went on to be one of the first growers of cotton on that riversystem.

Whilst I am talking about growing things, I have to say that we have to look very closely at why thewater has been swallowed up. Something that I have never, ever supported—and I will probably getshot for saying this—is the wide-scale growing of cotton in those arid areas and also the growing of ricein places like the Colleambly system in the south. A lot of these issues have been governed by greed—by the dollars that everybody thought they would get a big handful of.

If we are going to be realistic about these irrigation projects in one of the driest continents onearth, we have to manage water more professionally and more ably. That goes for not only ourgeneration but also future generations. I say to the minister today that I believe this is a time when weshould forget about what side of politics we support and what we are about as such, because we haveto think about the communities along those rivers in question. We have to think about how we are goingto enhance the environment in those regions in question.


The fact that was driven home to me today is that Toorale Station is now going to become anational park. It will become a haven for the wide-scale breeding of feral pigs and other vermin that willbe absolutely destructive to agricultural industries regardless of where they are. The same situation willbe applicable to the upper reaches of the Darling River and the Balonne River system in Queensland ifthis voluntary buyback system is undertaken on a large scale, such as the buyback of Toorale Station inNew South Wales. That worries me greatly.

I have also had reliable information from a deputy director-general of the department of naturalresources in New South Wales who has studied what has happened in this western river system overthe past 100 years. I know for a fact that the Warrego River, which runs into the Darling River south ofBourke, does not always run into the Darling River as there is a system further north. It takes a pretty fairflood and pretty fair rainfall to get through there. It did so in January this year with the good rain that wehad in the northern catchments of the Warrego River.

At the same time, we have to see some leadership from Victoria and New South Wales in relationto how this resource is managed. I do not say that lightly when you see the rice-growing operations ofWater Wheel and—he is certainly no friend of mine—John Elliott and the greed factor involved there.These are some of the reasons we have the problems in the lower reaches of the Murray-Darlingsystem now.

Mr Moorhead: Wasn’t John Elliott the president of the Liberal Party for a while? Mr JOHNSON: He was. I take that interjection from the member for Waterford. Mr Moorhead: And the Carlton Football Club.Mr JOHNSON: Yes. He was also the chairman of the Carlton Football Club. I do not care what

people’s politics are or what their area of responsibility is. When it comes to looking after your own hippocket at the expense of somebody else, I do not believe that is the true Australian way. I have seenfirsthand what has happened in that area. On numerous occasions I have seen this wonderful systemturned dry. Those beautiful red river gums along that river are dying. That is not because of a lack of rainin Queensland; it is because the water has been sucked out of the system in New South Wales andVictoria. I know there are huge pumps on the Murray River at Morgan in South Australia. Water ispumped from there across to places like Whyalla and Port Pirie. The coalmining and steel industries inthose areas rely very heavily on the Murray River, as does Adelaide.

We all have responsibility for this situation. We have to be very careful that we do not getswallowed up in the emotion of it. One of the reasons that we are currently in this situation is that it hasnot rained. The system in Queensland is certainly a difficult one. Over a long period of time we haveseen growth in our agricultural industries. In the House earlier today the member for Cunningham spokeabout the quality products that are grown in his electorate on the headwaters of the Condamine River,which is also the headwaters of the Darling River. In a big flood that water goes on to the south. Therehas not been enough water along the upper reaches of the Condamine River to grow a beetroot, whichis pretty easy to grow, let alone grow a wheat or corn crop.

As the member for Cunningham said, we have the best farmers in the world. There is no doubtabout that. That is undisputed. We grow the best quality fruit and vegetables and we produce first-classagricultural products, including top quality livestock and everything associated with our farmingenterprises. I always like to quote former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, who said that we growenough food in this country to feed a population of 90 million people—that is a pretty good effort in acontinent like this—because of our innovation and the lifestyle that we have been accustomed to. Thegreat thing is that we can certainly feed a lot more people than we currently have.

The real issue is making certain that the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill is not a knee-jerkreaction to something that happens generation after generation. Drought will always be a way of life inthis country. It will be for my lifetime, your lifetime, Mr Deputy Speaker, and everybody else’s lifetime. Ithas been going on since European settlement and we will continue to witness it. There is no doubt in theworld that this resource has not been managed properly in the past. This is a wake-up call that we haveto manage it better. I hope we do not manage it better to the detriment of those good farmers along thesystem to the north who are trying to be the best irrigation farmers in the world and are making certainthat the resource goes further.

The Israelis are right up there as far as irrigating farmers go. They use less water with theirirrigation system. Maybe there is a lot that can be derived from their technologies. The Pressler family of2PH Farms in Emerald, after the citrus canker debacle and the famine that they have been through, runthe most sophisticated horticultural orchard in the world. The amount of water that goes on to each treeis registered. Fertiliser goes on to each tree through the water. This is done by utilising Israelitechnology. There is no doubt that we are amongst the smartest farmers in the world. I hope that ourfarmers in the northern reaches of the Murray-Darling system in the southern part of Queensland arestill able to operate through responsible farm management practices by way of utilising their licences forirrigation.


I hope that the federal government can see that this drought is definitely not a man-made drought;it is a natural disaster. We have had them before, as I said. It is a bit like wet seasons. We will havethose again. I hope there is one this summer. That will certainly alleviate some of the problems. We allhope and pray that the water reservoirs around Brisbane will be full come Christmas or by the end of thesummer season. This legislation is about making certain that we see good things come out of bad. As aresult of this drought, even the people of south-east Queensland have been taught how to look after ourwater resources.

Time expired.

Ms LEE LONG (Tablelands—ONP) (4.54 pm): I rise in this debate on the Water (CommonwealthPowers) Bill 2008. This bill has as its stated objective the referral of some state powers to theCommonwealth in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin and also some other operational amendments tothe Water Act, the Land Act and the Land Title Act. The understanding given is very much that theamendments are concerned with the Murray-Darling crisis and the joint effort of Canberra andQueensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia to begin addressing that crisis. They flowfrom a memorandum of understanding to which these governments agreed on 26 March this year whichset out the principles for cooperative management of the Murray-Darling Basin water and other naturalresource issues.

There is a clear understanding across the community of the Murray-Darling crisis. Some ofAustralia’s most productive food-growing areas are without water due to drought. Drought is a naturaldisaster which occurs from time to time, just as do floods, cyclones and so on. Drought is something thatwe can proof ourselves against to a certain extent because we know that droughts are a recurring event.That is why in the past governments have built dams. Where would we be today without them?

A coordinated response is one way to address issues that cross so many borders. However, thereare aspects of this bill which do not appear to be so clear. The first of these are the amendments to theMurray-Darling water resource plans to give effect to the Bligh government’s decision to grant10.6 billion litres of water from this state’s catchments to the Commonwealth. Assuming it is allunsupplemented water and using the per megalitre price from the Barker-Barambah area of the BurnettRiver ROP, that has an annual value of something over half a billion dollars. If it was supplementedwater the value would be phenomenal. Using the per megalitre price paid for high-security water inBundaberg, this government has given away water with a potential value of $2.27 billion.

I have used the figures from the DNRW snapshot available on its web site. They are the highestprices I could find. We are constantly being told that water will become scarcer and more expensive so Ibelieve that is appropriate for indicative purposes. I have many constituents who have been told foryears now that water is a precious resource, that they have to pay high prices to use it, that full costrecovery is the way to go and so on. I do not think they would begrudge helping out the Murray-Darlingin an emergency but I think they would have a major issue with such a huge amount of water beinggiven away for nix at the same time as they have to pay for every litre they put into their crops.

Irrigators in my area keep getting told that their water resource is overallocated and that no morewater will be made available. Even so, the crisis in the Murray-Darling is clearly far, far worse and yetthere is more than 10 billion litres available to be given away. What about making it available for thesouth-east corner of Queensland and its droughted areas and growing population? The south-east hasnearly empty dams and nearly 2,000 people are immigrating here every week. We are constantly beingtold that we do not have enough water and there are too many people coming into the state. So whygive it away for free? It certainly makes it hard to believe that in an area like the Barron River catchmentthere is any real excuse for cutting irrigators off at the knees in the fashion this government has done.

There are concerns also about amendments included in the referral bill which relate to theresource operations plans to be finalised in stages or sequences where certain circumstances areholding up the finalisation of the ROP. Where there is a problem in a certain area these amendments willdefer the finalisation of the problem area while enabling finalisation of the rest. In these circumstancesthere must be a public notice published of the deferred part of the ROP. That section can then befinalised at a later date and an amendment can be made.

In the Barron River catchment, area B, irrigators were given the go-ahead to drill for water. Theyhad spent from $3,000 to $300,000 and were midway through the process when the governmentsuddenly slapped on a moratorium, leaving many irrigators high and dry and out of pocket. Where is thefairness and the reasonableness in this? Our farmers are the best, smartest and most efficient inAustralia. The cost of water is high and farmers are always conscious of every drop they use.

I am also concerned about the strengthening role of the Australian Competition and ConsumerCommission. The explanatory notes begin by referring to the ACCC having an extended role ‘within theMurray-Darling Basin’ in relation to water charge rules and water pricing under the CommonwealthWater Act. This appears appropriate as the entire bill is presented as relating to the Murray-Darling


crisis. However, later on it becomes clear that the ACCC could eventually have control of all watercharging and market rules right across Queensland. It is described in this way—Strengthening the role of the ACCC by extending the application of water market rules and water charge rules to cover,respectively, all bodies that charge regulated water charges and all irrigation infrastructure operators, and by providing for anyState to ‘opt in’ such that the water charge rules and water market rules apply to water resources outside the Murray-DarlingBasin.

It appears clear that this bill opens the door for the ACCC to gain power over all bodies that chargeregulated water charges and all irrigation infrastructure operators. For example, if the state governmentopted in, bodies such as SunWater could face the possibility of losing control over water charging to thefederal government. Irrigators on the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme, the Burdekin and elsewherecould find their water charges under the control of the ACCC. This is the organisation that apparentlybelieves that the disgraceful mark-ups between farmgate price and supermarket prices are quiteacceptable. This organisation has little credibility in the bush. The thought of it playing a role at any levelin something as important as water prices is nightmarish stuff. No explanation is provided as to why theamendments that make this possible have been included. As I have said, the bill is presented very muchas a Murray-Darling specific matter, but clearly in this instance it is not. These amendments could haveserious ramifications for every irrigator in Queensland.

The ACCC appears to support the get-big-or-get-out mantra that has been around for too longnow. At least partly it is a mechanism by which any federal government can take more and more controlof our state’s resources. All it needs is for the state to choose to opt in. The question needs to be asked:how quickly is this government planning to sell out its irrigators and hand over control of Queensland’swater, and especially its pricing, to one of the most discredited agencies of the federal government? Ifthe ACCC believes that grocery pricing chains are working just fine, then heaven forbid if we ever haveto find out what it thinks about how water should be priced. This could be another nail in the coffin of thefood and fibre producers of the state of Queensland. It is this issue that makes it impossible for me tosupport the bill.

Mr HOPPER (Darling Downs—LNP) (5.03 pm): In rising to speak to the Water (CommonwealthPowers) Bill 2008 I would like to touch on a few points relating to the Murray-Darling system. Firstly, Icongratulate our shadow minister on the great job he did covering this legislation. I hope not to be toorepetitive, but there are some points that I would like to make.

As the member for Warrego touched on, Queensland takes less than five per cent of the totalwater extracted from the catchment, which leaves 95 per cent. Fifty per cent of the water used is usedby New South Wales. As the minister said in one of his recent interviews, New South Wales is verymuch overallocated and that is where the problem exists. However, we have to look at what thegovernment buyback is all about. In December 2007 more than one million megalitres of water flowedover the New South Wales border from the Warrego, Nebine/Mungalla, Lower Balonne and Paroosystems. Last year Queensland took around 3.5 per cent, which is not a lot in the big picture. It is a farcry from what is taken by southern states such as New South Wales, which took around 50 per cent ofthe Murray-Darling flow. That information comes from the minister’s Department of Natural Resourcesand Water.

The Queensland water harvesting system is vastly different from that of the southern states.Hopefully members have had the opportunity to see how it is done. An environmental flow goes downthe river systems at all times. Intake pipes are set at different heights and, as the water gets to thosepipes, the pumps are started and the water is extracted from the system. It is a very well implementedsystem and it has been accepted for a very long time. Quite often our leader speaks about the Murray-Darling and how it is a drainage system. The Murray-Darling is a flood-relief system. Much of the wateris there only because of the weirs, the barrages and the dams that have been put in place by mankind.

The member for Gregory talked about the paddle-steamers that carted wool from Bourke. After adrought, one of those paddle-steamers stayed at Bourke and was eaten by white ants. We havecertainly had droughts in the past. At this very moment we are going through the end of a 15-yeardrought—hopefully it is the end of that drought. I lived in Dalby for many years and every summer theCondamine would flood and the roads to Moonie and from Chinchilla West would be cut. That has nothappened for years and years. In the 1800s people said that the Burdekin stopped running for 20 years.What would we blame for that if it happened now? Would it be climate change? What would the story bethere? We are faced with one of the most horrific droughts in history, but we will get back to normalseasons. There will be floods again and history does repeat itself. When that happens we have to makesure that we still have in place the protection mechanisms to safeguard the great job done by ourfarmers.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Water announced the gifting of 10.6 gigalitres into theMurray-Darling system. I think that is the biggest gimmick and the biggest heap of spin I have everheard in my political career. That water was never to be allocated anyway. The minister has to tell uswhether he ever had plans to allocate that water. The CSIRO talked about the 10,000 megs that could


have been sold out of the Warrego system because it was sustainable, but that plan was squashed bythe Premier late last year. We have a policy coming into place that will have massive impacts on ourirrigators and our great food producers.

I am pleased that the buyback will be voluntary, which is one of the reasons that we support thebill. Everyone has the right to participate in something of this nature. The buyback has its good parts, butit also has its bad. The member for Warrego talked about some of the rural towns in his electorate andthe social impacts that they are suffering. The media has highlighted Toorale Station—which the Bourkelocals pronounce Too-rale—being sold for over $20 million. Darling Farms is another big farm justoutside Bourke which may also hook into the buyback scheme. What will we lose? With the sale ofToorale, Bourke will lose 100 jobs and the $400 million that is pumped into the economy every year. Ifthe government suddenly buys another couple of those big irrigations just outside Bourke, the town willcease to exist. And what of the impact on St George and Dirranbandi? Let us hope that the farmers inthat area take advantage of the $150 million that is going to be available for efficiency management onthose properties. Let us hope that the government distributes that money, without any charges such aswe saw with Q-Rail. About two or three years ago, $1.5 million was distributed by Q-Rail and thegovernment took $2 million in administration costs. We will be faced with the distribution of this againand that point very much worries me.

Greg Hunt touched on the sale of properties at Bourke the other day. He said—Farmers want to stay on the land. They want to help to secure our food future. And they want to help to deliver water efficiencysavings to share with the farms and the river system.

He said—Indeed, the problem of just focusing on buy-outs was brought home to me when I recently visited Toorale Station near Bourke.Amid the international financial crisis and drought, the last thing local residents need is to lose 100 jobs and $4 million from thetown’s economy.

That summed it up extremely well. If a lot of farmers are moving on in age a bit and they say, ‘I willtake advantage of this buyback. It is more money than ever offered before. I will sell my allocation andretire to the coast or move into town and retire,’ the social impact that will have on these towns will beimmense. This mechanism has the ability to cause hurt in these areas. I am very, very worried aboutwhat might take place. We will see how this whole thing goes. As I said before, I would like to see whatadministration charges will be put in place by the minister and how these things will be distributed.

Mr HOOLIHAN (Keppel—ALP) (5.10 pm): In speaking to the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill2008, I must acknowledge the minister and the way that the government has been dealing with theCommonwealth in relation to the needs of the Murray-Darling Basin. Most of the people speaking on thisbill may not be aware that under the Commonwealth Constitution there was no provision whatsoever forthe Commonwealth to make any laws in relation to water. Section 100 is the only section which dealswith water and it requires reference to the Commonwealth from the state. That is effected under this actand under section 51(xxxvii) of the Commonwealth Constitution. This does not give the Commonwealthor any other authority any rights over the actual physical rivers. It gives powers over the water that flows.I am rather mystified by some of the arguments that I have heard in relation to the restriction of ourirrigators and the restriction of our farmers when most of the water we are talking about does not flow inthe areas that were being referred to. I do not know that the Condamine River flows through northQueensland.

This is part of a consolidated plan by the Murray-Darling states, of which Queensland is one, toendeavour to rectify the excesses that have been practised in the Murray-Darling system over manyyears. That is no support for those people who have done that, but certainly there are states and thereare people in the Commonwealth of Australia who are getting very close to not having any waterbecause of the state of the Murray-Darling.

One of the things that gave me great heart to support the bill is that the Queensland referral billmakes provision for Queensland to terminate the initial reference and also the amendment reference.That is dealt with in clause 5. Once the termination by the state of Queensland takes place, anythingthat had been done prior is still effective but that would be the end of it in terms of any agreement inrelation to water. So Queensland is not giving away any of its constitutional rights or any of its rights overthe water that flows through the many rivers in the south of Queensland.

One of the things that people should pay attention to relates to why this bill was necessary—sothat all of the states that proposed any action can speak with one voice. I refer to the second readingspeech. The original referral package came from the South Australian parliament. Our bill does reflectexactly what was agreed through COAG. Ultimately it may be necessary for the Murray-Darling BasinAuthority to have control over the water or some of the flow of water from Queensland on a permanentbasis to ensure that those excesses of which I spoke do not happen again. We did hear from themember for Gregory about some of the excesses that have occurred within the Murray-Darlingarrangement.


One concern was that any of this water should not be traded heavily or used by people to makemassive profits. Consequently, the ACCC will have some oversight in relation to the water market andhow that water is regulated. Once again, there should be no concerns in relation to that. The member forTablelands mentioned the failure of the ACCC in other areas. That may well be her point, but I do notbelieve that the ACCC would be in any way a problem in regulating the water market. People are awareof what is trying to be done and they will act accordingly.

In relation to the overall bill, I support its thrust. There is one other small point to which I wouldrefer and that is the amendment to the Land Title Act and the Land Act. In 2005 this parliament passeda law which imposed a moratorium on people who lived on coastal land from applying to add accretionsof land to their own properties. That moratorium was to run until November this year. The amendment tothe Land Title Act is for a further 12-month moratorium to allow a full appreciation of whether or notpeople should be allowed to apply for that land to become part of their own property, particularly where itis mostly beaches which affects the right of the general community. That will be decided permanently atthe end of that 12-month period.

As I said, I support the bill. I thank the minister and his staff for all of the briefings that wereprovided on the bill. I also take this opportunity to table a non-conforming petition by 401 people on theCapricorn Coast in relation to a certain industrial proposal. I commend the bill to the House. Tabled paper: Non-conforming petition against a macro plan area 4 Emu Park for industrial use.

Mr PURCELL (Bulimba—ALP) (5.17 pm): The opposition leader will get a chop shortly; I will nothold him up for too long. I want to say a few things on the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008.First of all, I congratulate the minister for getting the bill here. This minister is a go-getter. I think even theopposition agrees that this minister makes things happen and his department is making things happenin regard to water. Since he became the minister he has had to bring in a lot of reforms. I also thank hisstaff. The minister has marvellous staff and public servants who have worked on this bill to bring itbefore the House today. They really do need to be thanked for the work that they do.

This government’s commitment to the national agenda builds on our own hard work here inQueensland, implementing the water policy that is at the forefront of water reform here in Queensland. Ido not always agree with everything people on the other side say, but from time to time I agree withsome things they say. I have to agree with some of the things that the member for Gregory said today—not all of them but some of them. I think he has grasped the nettle regarding the fact that this is thedriest continent on earth and we need to look after our precious resources. He made it quite plain,without spelling it out, that those people who flood irrigate and misuse the water allocations they get arebeing wasteful. In his words, they are greedy and looking only at the money they can make. They arenot looking after the environment or thinking about the best way to use water to get the best outcomesnot only for their districts and for employment but also for the country as a whole.

I will probably start a riot if I start talking about sugar cane and how much water we waste on that.It is a very important part of our community. In a lot of places throughout Queensland whole towns andcommunities are based on and work around sugar cane, but we cannot in the future continue to baseeconomies on that type of use of water. I think we need to start looking at how we use that water in thenot-too-distant future.

The member for Gregory spoke about Israel and how they use their water. They make the desertbloom; they grow eucalyptus trees; and they are really showing our Australian producers how we shoulduse water—drip by drip by drip—so that we keep it and think of it as a precious resource. We need toreplace industries that are wasteful of water with industries that use water and that get a very goodreturn for the producer. I agree 100 per cent with those on the other side that primary industry is a largeemployer of people, and we need to get people employed and get a good return for the people who putthe effort in.

The Leader of the Opposition’s area is a case in point. A lot of olives are grown in that part of theworld. You get a very good return for not a large outlay of water—and I am talking about water only atthis stage. Ninety-two per cent of olive products in Australia are imported. We are not competing withBrazil or Chile or countries which are tearing down their forests to grow sugar cane. We are competingon a world market where sugar prices have not been good and it has been very tough for sugarcanefarmers to survive. If we start growing products that are needed in this country and we use the waterwisely, we are going to get a better result.

Mr Cripps interjected. Mr PURCELL: I do not think ethanol is a very good idea. If you work out the ratio for ethanol and

what the return is after pumping in that water, you are not getting a good return per litre. You cancertainly get a better return for your dollar per litre or per megalitre of water—however you want to countit. You get a better return by using it on better-returning crops.

I think most people are aware that a licence in Queensland is not an open licence to take waterfrom a river. All licences in Queensland are issued with conditions. I know that for a fact. We had waterlicences in New South Wales. There are different conditions in Queensland. We were allowed to pump


until they told us to stop. If they couldn’t find you, then they couldn’t tell you to stop. But here inQueensland once water flows change you get conditions put on your licence. If certain water flows arenot there, you will not be allowed to pump at all. Human needs come first, of course. You can alwayspump for those and you can always pump for stock, but for crops and so forth there will be conditionsput on your pumping licence.

Some years ago I did some work in and around Gympie where dairy farmers in that valley wereput under a lot of pressure. Their water rights were wound back from 100 per cent to about 25 per cent.I had a talk with SunWater and a talk with the minister. The water flows there were better than wereestimated, and they were allowed to have their pumping restrictions lifted. They were very smallholdings in those dairies. They had spent a fortune drought-proofing their properties, putting irrigationsystems in and going into debt—which we, through the DPI, encouraged them to do—and then we tookaway their right to pump water. So we need to balance that. I am very conscious of how much weinterfere with the free market, but conditions can be put on licences over a period of time to preparepeople. I think we should start looking at that.

One of the main parts of this bill concerns amendments to the Murray-Darling Basin. I think it is10-point-something million litres of water that will be allocated to that system out of about four rivers.How much of that gets over the border I do not know, but I know it will go a long way to helping ourenvironmental flows in those rivers here in Queensland. I must also agree with the member for Gregorywhen he said that we did not use up our resource like they did in the other states. They are much moreheavily reliant on irrigation. They have been doing it for a lot longer and, therefore, we have had a lotmore latent water allocation that we did not make. Therefore, we got more water and it is not allocatedas heavily. Therefore, our systems are not as badly depleted as they are in some areas, particularlyalong the Murrumbidgee between New South Wales and Victoria. That river is overallocated by nearly100 per cent. That is one of the problems between New South Wales and Victoria, and it is still a point ofargument that they do not have enough water in the system to meet the demands that they have alreadyallocated.

This bill will confer certain powers on the Commonwealth, but it will give the state the bottom linein relation to what happens with water in Queensland. No other state will be able to dictate to us or to theCommonwealth what we do with our water. We will still have control of our water. The bill will conferrights on the Commonwealth. There will be new governance arrangements. There will be water-charging rules and a role for the ACCC with regard to the pricing of water. The bill will also provide formeeting critical human needs with regard to water. There will be amendments to the Land Act 1994 andthe Land Title Act 1994. There will also be amendments the Queensland Water Act 2000 and the waterresources plan. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—LNP) (Leader of the Opposition) (5.28 pm): I rise to makea contribution to this bill, which seeks to refer certain aspects of water decision-making policy to theCommonwealth. I must admit that I have had some concerns with regard to this strategy, not just inrecent times but as far back as when the previous Commonwealth government made the decision to godown this particular path.

I am heartened and relieved by the fact that I heard the minister say that we are going to lookafter the interests of Queensland while assuming our responsibilities at a national level. However, I wantto say that we do need to be very careful about where we go with regard to national water policy andwhat the expectation is for Queensland. I am very worried about the overall strategy and overall visionfor water from the Murray-Darling system. I am also concerned about the understanding that a lot ofpeople have with regard to the issue of water.

The area that I represent covers almost 600 kilometres of the border rivers region running fromaround Mungindi right up to the head waters near Killarney. So the communities that I represent arevitally interested and vitally concerned that this piece of legislation that has been introduced into theparliament passes during the course of today’s sitting.

When we go south of the border it is essential to reflect on the fact that in New South Wales,Victoria and South Australia there is probably little understanding of what Queensland has actually doneto cap its water use and water development. We have done that probably more robustly and in a betterway than other states. The reason for that is that Queensland is relatively underdeveloped compared tostates south of us. However, it is very easy for those in the southern states, for southern irrigators andfor southern water consumptive users in urban centres to blame Queensland as though we are somesort of bogeyman.

If we look at what water actually flows out of Queensland, almost half if not more than half thewater that originates in Queensland flows out of the end of valley at Mungindi in the catchment area thatI represent. That is quite significant. As I understand it, Queensland takes around one per cent of thewater that actually flows out of the Murray River mouth and about six per cent of the water that actuallyoriginates in the system. We have to be very careful where we go in this regard.


I want to reflect on the fact that a couple of years ago I went to a meeting of the Murray-DarlingAssociation in Renmark in South Australia to give my perception of how I saw water politics and wateruse in Queensland. There were a number of people from South Australia, Victoria and New SouthWales who presented their own views. I looked on the wall of the Renmark Hotel where the meeting wasbeing held. There was an historic photograph on that wall from 1901. It was a photograph of a woman inall of her best regalia actually preparing Christmas lunch for her family in the bed of the Murray River outthe front of where the Renmark Hotel stood. One could not do it when I was there four years agobecause of all the locks that are up the river system. It was some 400 metres wide.

I started my presentation by saying, ‘Who actually believes in putting the Murray River back to thestate it was before white settlement?’ All the hands went up around the room. I said, ‘How about we teardown all the locks, dams and weirs and put the river back to that state?’ The room fell very silentbecause people realised the reality of what we are actually dealing with.

The level of development in the Murray-Darling system is the reason we can actually sustainpopulation and sustain an amount of regulated flow for communities along that system. We shouldnever lose sight of that fact. I am not saying for one moment that there has not been an overallocation,but what I am saying is that if the Murray-Darling system were left in its natural state it would be largelyas we know it today because it is a highly variable river system based on the climatic variances of thecountry we live in. We might have years of extraordinary flows and then nothing for the next three or fouryears.

In the 1890s the paddle-steamers were crucial for commerce along that system. They actuallytook the wool from places like Bourke right down the Murray system and out for export. Prior to anydevelopment they were stranded at Bourke for a period of three years and the termites ate the bottomsout of the paddle-steamers because they were sitting in the riverbed. No-one should lose sight of thatfact.

Having said that, there is a broader obligation on us to actually do something about this becausethere are issues related to river health and salinity. Salinity is not necessarily a new issue. The earlyexplorers—and their logs are in the archives—talked about saline water and water that wascontaminated by blue-green algae so they could not water their horses. This was back in the middle ofthe 1800s.

When we have a debate on this issue we need to reflect on the history of the system. It is a highlyvariable river system—one of the most variable river systems in the world. If we draw a trend linethrough its variability and compare it to the Rhine, the Nile, the Amazon or any of the other major riversystems throughout the world we find that it is a highly variable river system. Most of the other systemshave a reliable flow, whether it is based on reliable rainfall or what comes off snow-capped mountains. Ithink we have to reflect on those points.

I do not believe there is a good understanding of the river system and how the development alongthat river system has sustained communities because there is a reliable water source where we may nothave had a reliable river source before. The object of this legislation is try to give downstream waterusers and the environment a better deal. It is attempting to ensure there is water for urban consumptiveusers and the environment on a more regular basis. I would be very interested if this bill meets theaspirations of the Commonwealth government and the former Commonwealth government based onthe concerns of the states and the need to do something. I will come to that issue in a moment.

We have been through a very tumultuous process in terms of water assessment and regulation inQueensland. The water allocation management planning process started in the early 1990s. Theoperational plans have grown out of that process. After 11 or 12 years we are starting to get water titlesand allocations coming out of that and people are getting some clarity. There is an element of concernabout where we may be heading with this bill, particularly from people who are somewhat reformfatigued from water allocation management throughout Queensland.

I will outline one of the real concerns I have. Let us just say that the Commonwealth buys back anamount of water. Let us say that there is an amount of money put into water use efficiency along theMurray-Darling system. That is fine. We need to break the Murray-Darling system down into twocomponents. One is the Darling system and the other is the Murray system. This is where a lot of theemotion is for those in the southern parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Let us just say that the amount of water which can be put back into the system out of this movedoes not fulfil the political objective or the expectation of the electorate at large? What do we do afterthat? Where do we go? Do we come back and do it all again? Does it mean that we will have to haveanother buyback further down the track?

Every time a media helicopter flies down one of those rivers and it is on the news people have aview that it is in a state of degradation. In actual fact, if we flew a helicopter down it 100 years ago wewould find no water in some parts of the Murray-Darling system. This happens because there is not afundamental understanding of the way the system operates—where the water has come from andwhere it is going to.


What is the expectation? Are we trying to create a hybrid of the Rhine, the Amazon or the Nilerivers where people believe the water will flow regularly and reliably out of the Murray River mouth 365days of the year, which it never has done? Unless we achieve that objective, are people going tocontinue to demand more and more?

The honourable member for Bulimba said in his contribution that Queensland has probablymanaged better because we are relatively underdeveloped and lot of the issues are south of the border.That is something I believe in very much. I have already mentioned that Queensland takes a relativelysmall amount of water out of the system in comparison to our southern counterparts. As I understand it,New South Wales extracts almost 100 per cent of what actually originates in its part of the Murray-Darling system. In South Australia it is about 6,500 per cent of what originates in its part of the system.That is 65 times more water than actually originates in its catchment in the Murray-Darling system. Thatis what we are actually dealing with here. By Queensland being generous we will probably help fix someof the problem that is due to overallocation of the resource south of the border.

I have some particular concerns in my electorate about the buyback and gifting. I understand thatwe are going to be standing in the market and buying from willing sellers. I accept that that is the freemarket system and the private enterprise system. I do not have any philosophical problem with that.

It will be interesting to see where that $350 million is going to be expended, where those willingsellers are going to be, how much of it is going to be along the border rivers system, how much of it isgoing to be along the Condamine-Balonne system and the ongoing economic impact that that is goingto have on the productive sector in that part of the world. It is important to understand that broadacreagriculture and irrigated agriculture is vitally important to not only our state’s economy but also to foodsecurity and the quality and the safety of the food and the fibre that we take for granted in our great stateand in our great nation.

There is no doubt that there will be an impact from this. However, it is also fair to say that somepeople will be selling allocations which are highly variable as well—that is, for a lot of the year, maybeeven a compounding number of years, they may not have been able to access any water from thatallocation because the water was not available there and the regulatory environment did not allow themto pump. In many ways they might be able to realise a commercial return for something which they havenot been able to use, so it is a nominal allocation which has been taken out of the system which thencan be applied in the best case scenario when we do have water to help enhance the overall health ofthe Murray-Darling river system, and that is what the objective is about. But there will be an economicimpact.

We have also heard a lot today from members about the inefficiency of agriculture—that is, it is apity that agriculture uses so much water. It does take water to grow food. It is not like people picking upa glass of water and if they have eight glasses of water a day they are going to be sustained. When weput water on the land, there will always be an issue of soakage and there will always be an issue ofevaporation from the soil through heat or plant transpiration. Farmers try to minimise their water usebecause there are economies that come from minimising water use, because if they put too much wateron they do not get the efficiencies. Rather, they are actually wasting that water and it costs them a lotmore with regard to pumping costs. There has been extraordinarily good work done in recent decadeswith regard to water use efficiency. I understand that there are always going to be more gains made inthat area, but I think the big gains in a quantum sense have already come. However, there is no doubtthat incremental gains will come and it is important that we consider that with regard to the $160 millionwhich will be allocated in Queensland for infrastructure improvements and water use efficiency.

In actual fact, I was speaking to somebody the other day in my electorate who is in the agriculturesupplies business. I was looking at the little ripper that they had in their yard. I said, ‘What do youactually lay down with the pipeline from that small ripper?’ He said that it is a subterranean dripper thatthey are actually now laying under the irrigated lucerne in my part of the world along the border riverswhich is giving an increased efficiency of another 20 per cent because they are putting the water right atthe root levels of the lucerne. Will we ever go beyond that extra 20 per cent? But if a farmer is using 100megalitres, they will save about 20 megalitres. That is quite a significant saving for the environment orfor extra production somewhere down the track, notwithstanding the fact that it is also going to create asituation where there is less outlay for that person who is irrigating.

A moment ago the honourable member for Bulimba mentioned how well the Israelis do it, andthere is no doubt that the Israelis do do it reasonably well. No-one is going to argue against that. Thehonourable member is very familiar with my electorate, having spent a fair bit of his early adult lifearound Texas. Just downstream of Yelarbon, which is downstream of Texas towards Goondiwindi, thereis a major irrigation farm which was bought by the Israelis back in the 1990s. They were going to comeout and show the local farmers how to produce cotton using a dripper system. They lasted all of abouttwo years. They packed up and then it was sold off to other irrigators locally who knew what it was allabout. So we just cannot necessarily transpose on to our environment circumstances and technologiesfrom other places around the world. I am not saying that they do not do it well; all I am saying is thatmembers should not think that everything that comes from there naturally applies and applies very wellto the circumstances that we have here in our own state in our own country.


Another electorate specific issue that worries me very much is the gifting of this 10,000 megalitresby the state government to the Murray-Darling. This sounds wonderful. This sounds absolutelywonderful—that is, 10,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. When you say it like that, it sounds reallyeasy. Once that is put into the river system, you have to start looking at how far it goes down, what is lostin soakage and what is lost in a range of other things. It sounds good, but in reality how far is it going togo? The government has decided on a policy perspective to gift it, but the thing that worries me most isthat 500 megalitres of it comes out of my electorate in an amount which was allocated through the watermanagement planning process and the ROPs process to the irrigators in the upper border rivers systembased in the Granite Belt.

When the WAMP was designed a number of years ago for the border rivers, 5,000 megalitreswas allocated specially to the Granite Belt—1,500 megalitres for urban use and 3,500 megalitres for theirrigation community. We need to keep in mind that we are dealing with an irrigation community that onlyuses about 20,000 megalitres and produces probably $100 million-odd if not more of produce directlyalong with all of the flow-on effects. They had had this earmarked. They were looking forward to thepossibility of being able to develop. It is a relatively small amount of water, but the difficulty that theyhave at the moment is trying to get some coherence with the water supply options which are going to beavailable for the capturing of that water, the storage of that water and the reticulation of that water, andthat is another story.

It does not sound very much, but 500 megalitres is very important when dealing with the high-value horticultural and tree crop industry in my electorate of the Granite Belt. Those people are involvedin growing not only lettuces but cabbage, capsicums, tomatoes, apples, pears and stone fruit—thosethings that people take for granted. Starting with the stone fruit, which is starting to come on board at thistime of the year, it does have an impact. If we are not growing it locally, we have to grow it somewhereelse. That is one of the other big problems that we have—that is, the further and further that people getaway directly from being involved in food and fibre production, the more we take it for granted and theless people want to be involved in the active policy considerations. They believe that if we do not grow ithere we can import it from some other place around the world. I can tell members that some of thoseother places around the world that we import this food stuff from do not regulate their river systems likewe do and ensure an environmental flow. They do not regulate their land clearing like we do; theyactually knock it down, clear-fell it and the water runs away in a torrential downpour into the rivers or intothe oceans. They also do not have the same standards for food production as we do. Often thephytosanitary standards that we have for export are greater than we have for imports. I just say this topeople: consider all of that when making these decisions about where we are heading long term interms of policy.

I support the concept of this bill. I understand that it is a part of the commitment that we need tomake, but I do have some concerns when the expectations which are being laid down by this legislativeframework and national policy do not meet the expectations of the electorate. Where do we go to next?I do not hold this government to blame for this. As I said, I have some concerns which I expressed to myformer federal colleagues on this. I will be interested to see where we are going to be heading long termwith regard to our vision on water strategy for the Murray-Darling river system.

Mr HORAN (Toowoomba South—LNP) (5.48 pm): In addressing the Water (CommonwealthPowers) Bill, it gives us a chance to bring some reality and realism to the whole debate about the inlandrivers of Australia. Every time we have an issue like this where we look at ways of conserving water,ways of trying to look after the environment and ways to try and balance that with safe food productionand food security for not only Australia but also other people in the world, it gives us an opportunity toput these issues forward. For those people who may read Hansard and take notice of these things,hopefully this debate will bring more truth into some of the arguments and issues that are put beforeunsuspecting people who live in some of the major cities of Australia about the inland river system,about the availability of water and about what particular buyback schemes will actually achieve—that is,whether in fact they are buying fresh air or whether in fact they are buying an amount of water that willmake a difference to parts of the river, particularly the far end of the Coorong, which is one of thenational icons of Australia, and the water supply to places like Adelaide and the irrigators along theMurray, the Darling and all of the other river systems that are involved.

The Murray-Darling system is the second longest river in the world after the Nile River. Unlikemany other rivers in the world that have a real source, this river starts in a little spring up at the head atthe back of Killarney. I have camped beside the creek up there—or the river as it is called—and it isnothing more than a tiny little stream. It is a small area of reasonably little, modest rainfall. On other sideof the border there is good rainfall in an area called White Swamp, which starts off Koreelah Creek,which is the headwaters of the great Clarence River, which is one of the big and great rivers of Australia.So the Clarence River itself has a better headwater system. It catches all the rainfall off the eastern fallto the east of Tenterfield and Stanthorpe where there is good, strong rainfall.

The Condamine River starts at the head, which is just on the western side of the range. The otherside of that range is Teviot Brook, which runs down to the Logan River and those other three streamsthere north of the Gold Coast. So on the western side starts the longest river in Australia—the second


longest in the world. It traverses country of relatively very low rainfall. Once it gets to Killarney, fromthere it goes through Warwick, to the west of Warwick to the western Darling Downs around Brookstead,Cecil Plains and out to Dalby where probably you can say the average rainfall is around about 22, 23inches. So it covers areas of low rainfall. There is very little run-off, because the rain in the areagenerally falls on parched ground or onto major agricultural areas where it is soaked up. So there is notoften the opportunity for irrigators to catch water from that river for their irrigation purposes.

As the river wends its way down through western Queensland, particularly out through the Suratarea, there is not so much irrigation there. Further out around the Balonne—around St George andDirranbandi—there are some major irrigation schemes. But despite all of that, as many other speakershave said, only about five per cent of the water of the entire system comes from Queensland.

All good, big rivers have two requirements. One is to have a very large catchment area. You couldsay that this river has a massive catchment area. But, unfortunately, it has a very low rainfall. It is notlike rivers that start in the snow-clad mountains in America, or from heavy rainfall, such as in SouthAmerica. This river does not have a consistent, heavy, driving source of water. As a result, it is a veryslow-flowing river, a very languid river. Most of the time it is just simply a number of waterholes.

Other speakers have spoken about the history of the river and how it has so often dried up in theperiods before irrigation was ever contemplated. Irrigation catches the surplus. When it rains, I haveseen the massive amount of water that lies around the western downs. If you get a heavy rainfall eventwhere there is heavy rain for days and days, that is extremely rare. When that happens, the regulatedtake from the river is allowed. That means that once the river reaches a certain height and a certain levelof flow, the big flood-lifter pumps start up and people are able to suck out the water. They are not able totouch the water until it reaches that level and intensity of flow. Then the water is sucked up intothe amazing technology of ring tanks.

On the western downs just behind Toowoomba there are well over 300 ring tanks with an averagecapacity each of probably 1,000 to 1,500 megalitres. All of those ring tanks were built by local farmersusing Caterpillars. Most of them have an island built on the middle. Those ring tanks are constructed onflat land that has been dug up like a giant turkey’s nest. The ring tanks cover 60 to 80 acres with anisland in the middle to stop the waves. Those ring tanks can catch the water when the river flows at acertain level. That means that the food production in this area can be better than what it would be if thefarmers just relied on dryland farming.

Without a doubt, this river flows through areas that have some of the best soil in the world barnone. The Waco black soils around Norwin to the west of Toowoomba are some 65 to 80 feet deep.That soil is unsurpassed in the world. It has a heavy clay content and the ability to hold moisture. As aresult, they are very high-producing areas with some of the best farmers in the world. The yields ofsorghum, cotton, corn, barley and wheat out there are of world-record proportions. Those farmers havedeveloped technology and they share their knowledge among themselves. They do not hide it. Theyhave open field days and so forth. The technology is amazing.

When that country was first farmed, it was used for sheep. As people say, when the black soil gotwet it could bog a duck. The sheep could hardly move. When the farmers gradually got rid of the fencesand moved into agriculture, they made the mistake of using English systems, such as using discploughs. Once that black soil was turned over, if you got rain that was it; you could not get back on it foranother year or two. Eventually, the farmers learned to cultivate with chisel ploughs and tinedimplements. Now, the technology has moved on to trash farming with long implements where the trashcan flow to zero till, minimum till and all other methods of retaining moisture.

The technology of these farming areas along this huge river system, but particularly west of myelectorate, is absolutely amazing and it is world class. They use moisture probes. Not one drop of wateris wasted. They can make those ring tanks last for a year and a half to two years. They are looking atsystems of preventing absorption into the air—all sorts of filaments and mechanical and chemical waysof preventing that. All the tail water is collected. The properties are levelled one in 1,000 right across byusing a laser in the middle of the field tracking to elevating scrapers so that the flow of water is just theright flow. Any excess water that comes out of the furrows is caught in tail drains and goes back into thering tanks. In any storm, because of the one in 1,000, the water is caught in a sump beside the ringtanks and sucked back in. The technology along the river is unbelievable.

In the early 1990s the irrigation farmers voluntarily gave back into the river system 10 per cent oftheir allocations. They were able to do that and still maintain farming at a level that they desired becausethey had achieved such efficiencies in water use, such efficiencies in tillage—minimum till and zero till—and trash farming to hold the moisture in the black soil. No doubt that technology has been replicated allthe way down the river through all the different communities that exist along the river.

I well remember going to the hall at Dirranbandi when Premier Peter Beattie came up with ascatterbrained idea—which was not about good government; it was about perception politics—ofshifting water to some lakes and other environmentally sensitive areas. The water would have had to betaken across 50 kilometres of sandy country, two river streams and riverbeds. That night I wasimpressed because the hall was packed and there were people with loud speakers out on the street. As


well, young families were there, because Dirranbandi is a revitalised town. Years ago Dirranbandi wasdead. With the advent of irrigation, a couple of motels sprang up as well as shops. There are now youngpeople in the town. Cubbie Station had share-farming contractual arrangements where 1,250 hectaresper family were allotted. So each share-farming family had one good tractor of their own and two littlekids going to school. These were typical families who were able to make a reasonable living off thatparticular property.

I mentioned before the words ‘perception politics’. One of the most disgraceful things I ever sawwas the 60 Minutes episode about Cubbie Station. It was easy to belt Cubbie Station and say to thepeople of Sydney, ‘This holds one and a half times the water in Sydney Harbour,’ or whatever it was. ButCubbie Station only held that amount of water in 1991. Since then I do not think it has ever been full.During most years, most of the dams have been dry.

Regardless of all the arguments about whether Cubbie Station should have been built and theflood plains below where there had been low-intensity grazing over the years and so forth, CubbieStation saved Dirranbandi. It provided jobs for young families. It provided businesses with work. Itprovided domestic and export sales. It is typical of all the other farms along that entire river system thatwe are talking about where water is the lifeblood.

Most importantly, the water that a place like Cubbie Station is able to take can only be taken whenthe water is flooding a certain number of metres above a barrage upstream. They can only take what istermed as ‘excess floodwater’. For 60 Minutes at the time to say such trite things as that those inSydney pay so much a litre for their water but Cubbie Station pays only this little pittance for its waterwas dishonest and sensational reporting. It did not take into account that Cubbie and other propertiesalong the river had built their own infrastructure, they had to suck up the water, they could not turn on atap and take chlorinated, high-pressure water that came from government and council owned reservoirsand dams through reticulated pipes and so forth. That was the difference in the price and I do not think itwas properly articulated at the time.

Nevertheless, there is a great national debate about this entire system—one of the great systemsof the world with, as our leader Lawrence Springborg said, the border river systems running into it.There is the Lachlan and Macquarie rivers with massive irrigation systems; the Hume and theMurrumbidgee rivers; and the Murray River, which does have a source in snow-capped mountains. Ithas a far better source than the Condamine-Balonne-Darling system. Then down in South Australiamassive barrages have been put in place. If anything has brought about the demise of the Coorong ithas been those barrages that have been built to provide for irrigation and horticulture, which obviouslythey need, and for the provision of water which gets pumped by a pipeline to Adelaide.

This particular bill is about a transfer of powers to the Commonwealth to enable certain things tohappen with this system with the buyback of about $350 million of allocation. I would hope that thepeople of Australia understand the truth of the buyback. In February every year I used to run an annualirrigator crops tour through that area and in the late eighties we could not run it one year because of themassive floods. In some of those years it might mean that some more water might get further down theDarling down to South Australia, but people of Australia have to be aware that the vast bulk of water thatcomes from Queensland in this system is lucky to get to the border. If it gets over the border it is notgoing to get far down the Darling. What makes the system work is the border river systems: the Lachlan,Macquarie, Murrumbidgee, Hume and Murray. That is where the vast bulk of all of the water comesfrom. Queensland is often used as the whipping boy. People of Australia, particularly those living incapital cities, should understand this. I think we need good feature articles in capital cities of Australiathat explain those things.

The $350 million that buys these allocations will give certain irrigators the opportunity to make adecision about whether they want to sell off part or all of their allocation. That $350 million is most of thetime going to buy fresh air. That reality has to be faced. We have to understand whether this is reallyabout perception or reality. Could $350 million be spent elsewhere in other parts of Australia buying upallocations where there might be a more reliable supply of water closer to where the problem is ratherthan right at the top of this second longest river in the world which rarely flows and is mostly a system ofstagnant waterholes and only has some water for limited periods of time when there is a flow in heavyrainfall?

I hope that this debate and entering into this process of referral of powers and new governance ofthe Murray-Darling Basin system might bring some real truth, realism and common sense into thedebate. It is probably time for politicians to stop saying in the capital cities that they have bought all ofthis water and the problem is fixed. The reality will hit back. In 10 years time I do not know how manymillions of dollars would have been spent and how much more water will be in the system.

It has to be balanced, as I said at the outset, with the whole issue of food security and feeding ourown people and the rest of the world. There are some frightening figures about the amount of food thatis required in the next 50 years with the massive boom that is continuing to occur in the world’spopulation. There are astronomical amounts of food required in the future. Areas are being populated bybig cities and mining is taking over these very special and fertile areas of agriculture. Catching and


storing excess water from areas that are on the banks of streams in times of plenty for times of need isthe sort of thing that we need to do to provide good food security for our nation and for the rest of theworld, and particularly quality food for our own growing families.

In the couple of minutes left to me I want to say that Toowoomba is almost on the headwaters ofthis massive river system. Toowoomba, with springs to the east and west of our plateau, feeds into EastCreek and West Creek, which feeds into Gowrie Creek, becomes Oakey Creek and then feeds into theCondamine. One of the desperate needs of Toowoomba is more water. In the immediate future there isto be a water pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam to our city, meaning that instead of vertically lifting our water480 metres from the Cressbrook Dam we will now have to vertically lift it some 620 metres. So it doesprovide for some costly expense in pumping.

I believe that one of the things that could be done in the future is to have a system of a weir inToowoomba. Just a bit west of our railway yards there is an excellent site for a weir that could beregulated to hold water for short times and then let it go for environmental flow and irrigation furtherdown. All the rain that falls on our city flows out this one creek. We could catch 300 to 500 megalitresevery rain event and pump it 17 kilometres to Cooby Dam, which is on about the same altitude. It issomething we should think about for the future.

One of the problems is that all of the water in the entire system is allocated. For us to be able tocatch 3,000 to 5,000 megalitres a year to try to get to the 15,000 megalitres a year that we need wouldmean that we would have to purchase water further down. Gowrie Creek is fully allocated. There aresome 74 irrigators there. There is no trade in that creek. The water would have to be bought far furtherdown around the Dalby area and it is not a very simple issue to ever do that. That is something for themedium to longer term. We are one of the only major cities—there are others close by this system likeDalby—on this entire river system, which has meant special things have to be done in Toowoomba withregard to treatment of sewage because we are the major source of nitrogen with the sewage plant inToowoomba.

I stress, as we support this bill, the wonderful technology and developments by irrigation farmersof Australia, more importantly of Queensland, and what they have been able to do with a limitedresource and use it so efficiently and carefully. I stress the need for common sense, truth and reality inthis whole debate about this big inland river system and to be careful in spending hundreds of millions, ifnot billions, of taxpayers’ dollars in buying water that simply is not there.

Mr LEE (Indooroopilly—GRN) (6.08 pm): The Greens support this bill. We support the referral ofthese water powers to the Commonwealth. Australia is an incredibly dry continent. I believe thatexceptionally poor water management practices have in many ways characterised European settlementin Australia. The speeches that various members have given in this House today, as well intentionedand positive as they were, summed up what has been a characteristic of water policy in Australia formany years which is simply that competing water interests have been locked in a sort of tug-of-warbattle and that has been going on for a long, long time. This bill has the opportunity to provide us with aunified government framework that will allow for adaptive and flexible management of water into thefuture.

In supporting the bill I want to make two very quick points. The first point is that the bad watermanagement practices that we have seen throughout Australia simply are not ending. There are stilloutrageously bad water practices in Australia. I have spoken in the House before, as have othermembers, about the policy of building dams to provide drinking water for populations. The TravestonDam is a classic example of a policy proposition that, in terms of water policy, is just not sensible. It isimportant that the Water Act provides explicit support to protect environmental flows. It is important thatwe provide this referral to the Commonwealth, but it is also incredibly important that the Commonwealthacknowledges the requirement for environmental flows in our river systems. With those few words, I willhappily support the bill.

Mr WENDT (Ipswich West—ALP) (6.10 pm): In rising to participate in the debate on the Water(Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008, I would like to particularly address how this referral bill will continueto progress the ongoing water reform outcomes in the Murray-Darling Basin. As we all know, theCommonwealth government enacted the Commonwealth Water Act 2007 in response to the severedrought in the Murray-Darling Basin and the water reform agenda of the National Water Initiative. Thisact commenced in March this year and established the Murray-Darling Basin Authority with the view topreparing a basin plan for adoption by the Commonwealth minister. This requires that the state’s waterresource plans should be consistent with the basin plan, which establishes a basin role for theAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission, that is, the ACCC, as a pricing regulator and,further, establishes a national role for the Bureau of Meteorology for water accounting.

In December 2007 the incoming Commonwealth government also committed itself to extensiveinvestment in water management program measures, and in March 2008 a memorandum ofunderstanding was signed between the Commonwealth and the basin states of Queensland, New SouthWales, Victoria, South Australia and, of course, the Australian Capital Territory. One of the key aspects


of this memorandum of understanding was a commitment by the basin states for the cooperative,efficient and effective planning and management of the basin water resources, and as can be imaginedthe Bligh government is a strong advocate of measures that plan for a green and sustainable future.

At the Council of Australian Governments meeting in July this year the Commonwealth and theMurray-Darling Basin states signed an historic Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling BasinReform to establish new institutional and regulatory arrangements for the future sustainablemanagement of the water and related resources of the basin. I am quite certain that all Queenslanderswould welcome this breakthrough agreement which signals a new, cooperative approach between theCommonwealth and all basin states and, in particular, Queenslanders can be proud that the strongrelationship between the Bligh government and the Rudd government has ensured our strongleadership on this issue.

Under the Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform, the basin statesagreed to use their best endeavours to pass legislation to provide for a limited text referral of statepowers to the Commonwealth. As such, the Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling BasinReform provides for a number of issues: (1) the limited referral of powers with respect to newgovernance arrangements in the basin; (2) the limited referral of powers with respect to the role of theACCC in applying water charges and water market rules, and determining water charges for all entitiesconsistently within the basin; (3) the further development and assessment of the Queensland priorityproject; (4) the further development of the water reform work program; and, finally, (5) the signing of abilateral agreement with the Commonwealth about a schedule of water reforms, the implementation ofthe priority project and Commonwealth payments. I think these issues are important, and as such Iwould like to briefly mention each of these aspects in turn.

In relation to point 1, under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement there will be oneinstitution established under the Commonwealth Water Act named the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.This organisation will take responsibility for developing and implementing the basin plan, as well asundertaking the current functions of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which will cease to exist.This requires a referral of state powers to the Commonwealth as proposed in this referral bill. While theCommonwealth minister will be the decision maker on the basin plan, a new ministerial council has animportant advisory role in developing the basin plan, including the sustainable cap, and monitoring theplan’s performance. The ministerial council will also decide state water shares, River Murray operations,the Living Murray Initiative, and natural resource management programs. I am advised that current statewater shares will be preserved unless otherwise agreed by all basin jurisdictions, while individual stateswill remain responsible for managing water in their catchments. Importantly, the integrity ofQueensland’s water resource plans for the Condamine-Balonne, border rivers, Moonie River andWarrego-Paroo systems will be preserved for the life of these plans.

On the second point, the Commonwealth Water Act provides for the Commonwealth Minister forClimate Change and Water to make water market and water charge rules relating to regulated watercharges. To do this the Commonwealth minister must ask the ACCC for advice about the rules theminister proposes to make. The Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform seeksto strengthen the role of the ACCC by expanding the application of the water market and water chargerules consistently to all relevant entities within the basin. This requires a referral of state powers to theCommonwealth as proposed in this referral bill. The ACCC’s role could also be strengthened byexpanding the water market and water charge rules across the basin states. This is a matter for eachbasin state to choose to opt in.

On the third matter, the Commonwealth will provide funding of up to $510 million to a Queenslandstate priority project for the basin, Healthy Headwaters, from its $12.9 billion Water for the Futurepackage, subject of course to a due diligence assessment. These funds include up to $145 million forirrigation infrastructure improvements and $350 million for the buyback of water entitlements from willingsellers. It is expected that this plan will result in a return of 240 gigalitres of water to the environment anda sustainable future for irrigation communities in the Queensland section of the basin in the face ofclimate change and reduced water availability.

On the fourth matter, the Commonwealth will look at the basin states’ progress towards keyreform outcomes for rural water in the basin states in order to determine the allocation of investmentfunding to priority projects within each basin state. These key reform outcomes include competitiveneutrality and independently regulated water market and trading arrangements, water charging regimesthat reflect the full cost of supply to end users, and publicly accessible and compatible electronic waterregisters across all basin jurisdictions.

Finally, on the matter of the Commonwealth-state water management partnership, it is anticipatedthat this will take the form of a bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth and Queensland tocover water reform outcomes and to establish the state’s priority projects. I am convinced that the strongworking relationship between the Bligh government and the Rudd government will ensure that thispartnership provides fair and green outcomes for all Queenslanders. These new governancearrangements, including the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority, are expected to be in place by


November 2008 and it is expected that this will result in more cooperative basin-wide planning andmanagement. I believe that through this legislation we will be better able to tackle climate change, andas such I congratulate the minister and commend the bill to the House.

Hon. CA WALLACE (Thuringowa—ALP) (Minister for Natural Resources and Water and MinisterAssisting the Premier in North Queensland) (6.16 pm), in reply: First of all, I compliment the member forHinchinbrook on his first dig at the wicket as spokesperson for natural resources and water. However, inthe spirit of advancing his education I would like to point out that almost the entire content of his speechwas incorrectly targeting the Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform instead ofthe water bill before the House. Almost every issue that he raised and every question that he posedlives within that agreement on the basin water reform and has nothing to do with this bill. I would like toadvise the member that I have no intention of answering questions in relation to aspects of theIntergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform that do not directly relate to the referralof powers contained in this bill. There will, of course, be further negotiations with the Commonwealthabout those other water reform matters covered by the intergovernmental agreement.

I should clarify for the member that the priority projects he seeks details about are not part of thisbill. However, I can assure the House that, through continuous consultation on the intergovernmentalagreement, our stakeholders keep us well informed of their issues and priorities, and those were at theforefront of our negotiations with the Commonwealth. Foremost in the development of the priorityprojects is consideration of their impact on communities. There is a consultative process underway withstakeholders for the development of the priority projects. The due diligence for the priority projects isunderway and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

The member for Hinchinbrook specifically referred to parts 3.22 and 3.23 of the agreement,dealing with the elements of the basin plan. These are already part of the current Commonwealth WaterAct 2007. This is a strategic basin-wide plan to be prepared by the newly established Murray-DarlingBasin Authority in accordance with the Commonwealth act. So the referral of powers, the subject of thebill today, does not cover matters relating to the basin plan, except for providing for the meeting ofcritical human water needs. This is part of the referral to allow the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority toinclude critical human water needs as an integral part of the basin plan. However, each of the basinstates, including Queensland, remains responsible for delivering that water for critical human waterneeds as part of the sustainable management and allocation of water within its state boundary,consistent with the objective of the strategic basin-wide water plan.

The honourable member also mentioned part 4 of the intergovernmental agreement detailingCommonwealth-state water management partnerships. Again, this is not part of the referral of powersand not part of this bill. Furthermore, that part of the agreement dealing with complementarymanagement of environmental water and indeed the Commonwealth’s program to purchase waterentitlements is not part of this referral of powers and is not part of this bill. However, Queensland has asignificant facilitative role in assisting the Commonwealth to implement its program by ensuring theCommonwealth understands the nature of Queensland’s Murray-Darling Basin water system. I am hereto deal with this referral bill—those are the questions that I will deal with.

Turning back to the bill itself, the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2008 has three mainobjectives. The first objective is to reflect the cooperative approach between the Commonwealth andthe basin states that will best achieve the historic and meaningful reforms of the governancearrangements in the Murray-Darling Basin through a referral of powers by the basin states to theCommonwealth. In relation to this, this referral bill provides for the referral of Queensland’s powers tothe Commonwealth to introduce the following elements of the Murray-Darling Basin reforms.

The first element of the referral provides for new governance arrangements by establishing thenew Murray-Darling Basin Authority and Basin Community Committee, a new Murray-Darling BasinMinisterial Council and Basin Officials Committee. Secondly, the referral of powers will ensureconsistent application of water charging arrangements within the Murray-Darling Basin. Finally, thereferral of powers allows the basin plan for the Murray-Darling to provide for critical human water needs.

The member for Hinchinbrook asked why these powers are being referred, rather than the goalbeing achieved by cooperation between the states. Constitutional referral was originally put forwardunder the Howard government’s national plan for water security in January 2007. It was seen as theonly viable way to ensure that the basin could be managed as a single entity. Measures have beenincluded in the basin reforms to ensure that Queensland is party to any decisions that may affect itthrough the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council.

The second objective of this referral bill is to amend the Queensland Water Act 2000 andparticular Murray-Darling Basin water resource plans to facilitate the implementation of the state’s waterresource planning. An amendment to the Queensland Water Act is necessary to enable the finalisationof a draft resource operations plan in stages. A further amendment to the Queensland Water Act willclarify that a moratorium may be published for a part of the state for which there may be a waterresource plan and resource operations plans in effect. The amendments to particular Murray-Darling


Basin water resource plans included in this referral bill will facilitate the Queensland government’sdecision to grant 10.6 billion litres of unallocated water to the Commonwealth. I should highlight thatpoint—unallocated water to the Commonwealth.

The third and final objective of this referral bill is to amend the Land Title Act 1994 and the LandAct 1994 to provide a one-year extension to the current stay on the registration of tidal boundary plans.The current stay is due to lapse in November 2008 and operates only where a boundary is to changeand where the public interest is affected.

The long-term productivity and sustainability of the Murray-Darling Basin is under threat fromoverallocated water resources, salinity and climate change. Cooperative partnerships between theCommonwealth and all states and territories are the key to addressing the water challenges across thecountry. As a result, Queensland welcomes these legislative changes, which signal a new, cooperativeapproach between the Commonwealth and basin states. It is an agreement which builds on 90 years ofstate and Commonwealth cooperation on the management of the Murray-Darling Basin. While thesegovernments recognise the benefits of past arrangements, it is agreed that a new approach is nowrequired to deal with the pressures of climate change, economic development and environmentaldegradation.

I can also make an assurance that Queensland’s future interests in the Murray-Darling Basin areprotected because agreement of the referring states is needed before any future changes can be madeto the part of the Commonwealth Water Act 2007 that relies on basin states’ referral of powers. This willensure that the scope of the referral is not expanded without prior agreement of referring states. Thiscollaborative approach will lead to more sustainable water management and planning outcomes to thebenefit of all basin catchments including Queensland’s Murray-Darling catchments. Consequently, thiswill improve water security for rural and urban use and improve the health of our groundwater andsurface water.

I would now like to turn to the provisions for critical human water needs in this referral bill. Thereferral of powers enables the basin plan, developed by the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority, toprovide for critical human water needs. This referral bill will allow the Commonwealth to expand themandatory content of the basin plan that has not yet been developed to date to include arrangementsfor critical human water needs. In the first instance, the basin plan will specifically provide for thosecommunities dependent on the waters of the River Murray system and will therefore not impact onQueensland. However, Queensland, through its role in the ministerial council, will be involved in anyfuture decisions that may involve or impact Queensland in this regard.

The referral bill maintains the basic water charging framework put in place by the former federalgovernment and set out in the Commonwealth Water Act 2007. This act was an outcome of the formergovernment’s 2007 National Plan for Water Security. The water charging framework applies to basinwater resources, excluding the Great Artesian Basin groundwater.

Under this framework, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and theCommonwealth minister have a role with respect to water charges in the Murray-Darling Basin. TheCommonwealth anticipates water charging rules may be in place for the basin for the second half of2009. The referral bill provides for the strengthening of the ACCC’s role to ensure greater consistencyand uniformity throughout the basin. The water charging framework, as it currently stands under theCommonwealth Water Act, does not apply consistently to all entities and transactions. Consistency isonly fair. This will help to ensure water markets are able to operate freely across state boundaries andreduce adverse outcomes resulting from inconsistent water charging arrangements.

The member for Hinchinbrook has asked why we are referring powers if we do not know thedetails of the rules yet. I can tell him that the overarching water charging framework is already set out inthe Commonwealth Water Act, which fully details the water charging objectives and principles to beachieved by these rules. Everyone will have a chance to have a say on the development of the rules, asthere will be a full public consultation process. Senator Wong, the Commonwealth Minister for ClimateChange and Water, has assured me that the SunWater price paths in the Queensland Murray-DarlingBasin will remain unaltered until their expiry on 30 June 2011.

Turning to other amendments in the bill, the Queensland Water Act establishes the framework forthe sustainable allocation and management of the state’s water resources. Despite the fact thatQueensland water resource planning already provides for the environment, and to combat the lowrainfall patterns, I announced that the Queensland government would gift the Commonwealthgovernment with 10.6 billion litres of unallocated water from the Queensland Murray-Darling Basincatchments. This includes eight billion litres from the Warrego catchment.

The member for Warrego says that this is a token amount, the member for Gregory says that thewater could have created lots of employment, and the member for Tablelands says that it is worthbillions of dollars. I suppose you cannot win. However, the grant of the 10.6 billion litres will allow theCommonwealth Environmental Water Holder to manage it in a way to best benefit the environment ofthe Murray-Darling Basin, including environmental assets in Queensland and downstream states.


I can advise the member for Southern Downs that this gift will benefit the border riversenvironmental assets such as the Sundown National Park, Severn River waterholes, riparian vegetationand iconic fish species like the silver perch and golden perch. The gift will also further enhanceenvironmental assets such as the Warrego River waterholes, Yantabulla Swamp and the wetlands andflood plains of the Moonie and Nebine system. In addition, the flows at the end of the catchments will beenhanced through the judicious shepherding of this water through the system.

The member for Darling Downs claims this gift is spin. Well I can tell him that we do not make thatsort of promise lightly. We stand by our word and, after this legislation is passed, the Queenslandgovernment will initiate steps to progress the grant to the Commonwealth. Queensland is proud that it isone of the first states to gift water to the Commonwealth and hopes that other states will follow ourexample. I commend the bill to the House.

Question put—That the bill be now read a second time.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time. Sitting suspended from 6.28 pm to 7.30 pm.

Consideration in DetailClauses 1 and 2, as read, agreed to.Clause 3—Mr CRIPPS (7.31 pm): Before I ask my question, can I say how profoundly disappointed I am with

the attitude of the Minister for Natural Resources and Water in respect of his remarks during hissumming-up that the bill before the House is unrelated to the intergovernmental agreement to which theCommonwealth government and the basin states, including Queensland, are party and, indeed, that hehas no intention of answering any questions that I may have during the consideration of the clauses ofthis bill in relation to the intergovernmental agreement on that basis. I appreciate the minister’s kind offerto advance my education in respect of the content of the bill and what the bill is and is not related to. Inthat respect, I ask the minister why, if the intergovernmental agreement is unrelated to the provisions ofthe bill, in his second reading speech the minister actually refers to the intergovernmental agreement onnine separate occasions, although I concede that in one part of his contribution he does mention theintergovernmental agreement twice in one sentence, and so it may be unkind of me to count that as twoseparate occasions.

Let me read back to the minister, in the interests of assisting him to recall his contribution on thatoccasion, his repeated references to the intergovernmental agreement during his second readingspeech. The minister said—Since 1994 the Council of Australian Governments’ water reforms have progressed to the ongoing National Water Initiative andnow the historic Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.

The minister said elsewhere in his second reading speech—The governments of these basin states, together with the Commonwealth, are now moving forward with an all-inclusive approachto management of the Murray-Darling Basin with a suite of instruments that include the July 2008 Intergovernmental Agreementon Murray-Darling Basin Reform ...

The minister also said—... a new Murray-Darling Basin Agreement, delivered by amendments to the existing agreement, that includes new governancearrangements for the Murray-Darling Basin as agreed to in July ...

He also said—This referral bill is a significant outcome of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform ...

For the sake of completeness, the minister continued—The new Murray-Darling Basin Agreement follows extensive negotiations and resolution of individual basin states’ issues.

He also said—To ensure that there is only one version of the new Murray-Darling Basin Agreement and the referral bill, this reform package wasformally tabled in one state parliament.

This is the instance in which he mentioned the intergovernmental agreement twice in one sentence. Hesaid—This referral bill I speak to now, supported by the amended Murray-Darling Basin Agreement and amendments proposed to theCommonwealth Water Act, will bring an end to the current Murray-Darling Basin Commission, transferring its role and functions tothe new Murray-Darling Basin Authority and Basin Community Committee established under the Commonwealth Water Act andalso to a new ministerial council and Basin Officials Committee to be established under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.

Lastly, he stated—This referral bill, which repeals the Queensland Murray-Darling Basin Act 1996, is a limited text referral of state powerscomprising, first, the initial referral based on the amendments proposed for the Commonwealth Water Act and supported by theamended Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.


It would appear that the minister in his summing-up, rather than repudiating my interest in theprovisions of the intergovernmental agreement during my speech on the second reading stage asunrelated to the bill before the House, is contradicting his own preoccupation with the provisions of theintergovernmental agreement as they relate to the provisions of this bill. Furthermore, the explanatorynotes accompanying the bill which the minister himself introduced into the parliament clearly state onpage 4—The Bill is underpinned by an intergovernmental agreement ... to which the Commonwealth and the Basin States are parties.

It appears to me that, contrary to the suggestion by the minister that the provisions of theintergovernmental agreement are unrelated to the provisions of this bill, they are indeed relevant. Tosupport my position, I am pleased to refer the minister to his own second reading speech which theminister delivered in the parliament on 7 October 2008 and the explanatory notes of the bill we arepresently considering which the minister introduced himself in this parliament on the same day, if theminister has forgotten.

Once again, can I say how profoundly disappointed I am with the attitude of the minister. Almostevery speaker during the debate this afternoon, including members of the opposition, includingmembers of the government and crossbench members, made contributions to the debate thatrecognised that the intergovernmental agreement was not only relevant to the provisions of the billbefore the House but, indeed, ‘underpins’ the bill, to once again quote the adjective utilised by theexplanatory notes accompanying the bill to describe the relationship between the bill and theintergovernmental agreement.

In respect of the minister’s very kind offer to assist with the advancement of my education, I wouldlike to say a big friendly ‘thanks but no thanks’. This bill is a mechanism to facilitate the implementationof the intergovernmental agreement in Queensland. I certainly believe that I am entitled to ask questionsin respect of the intergovernmental agreement and intend on doing so, notwithstanding the minister’sobvious discomfort with the prospect of answering them. My first question in relation to clause 3—

Ms Grace: Move on; we know it’s your first.

Mr CRIPPS: I will. My first question in relation to clause 3 of the bill is as follows: minister, what isthe justification for the referral of these matters to the Commonwealth parliament by the Queenslandparliament? Why couldn’t the matters be achieved by the strengthening of cooperative agreementsbetween basin states and the Commonwealth, or the implementation of nationally consistentlegislation?

Mr WALLACE: I am terribly sorry that the member for Hinchinbrook was offended by mycomments but, quite frankly, the rules of this place dictate that we need to debate the bills before theHouse. For the honourable member’s information, the explanatory notes are referring to a different IGA.The explanatory notes talk about a referral IGA, which is not the Murray-Darling Basin IGA that themember was referring to.

Notwithstanding that, I am happy to take the honourable member’s question. Since I have beenthe water minister in this place, one issue has certainly made its impact on the national stage and that isthe situation in the Murray-Darling Basin. Just before Australia Day last year, the then Prime Ministerand your then party leader, Prime Minister Howard, and now your current party leader, Mr Turnbull,called on the state premiers to attend a meeting in Canberra—and the then Premier, Peter Beattie, wasthe first to say, ‘Yes, we will be involved’—to talk about the situation of the Murray-Darling. Since thattime, we have come some way to getting an agreement across the basin on what has been quite rightlydescribed in this House this afternoon as a situation which is not the cause of Queensland but which isthe cause of several factors, one being overallocation by other jurisdictions, a drought and also somepretty poor planning in other jurisdictions over the last hundred or so years. But notwithstanding that,Queensland is playing its role in the Murray-Darling. Some 25 per cent of that basin is within our state.We take on average just under five per cent of the water so we are going to play a role in what happensin the Murray-Darling.

In July 2008, under the historic agreement on the Murray-Darling Basin, Queensland agreed,together with the basin states—New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT—to refernecessary powers to the Commonwealth in relation to Murray-Darling Basin reform. Queenslandwelcomed this breakthrough, and quite rightly so. This agreement and the referral legislation signal arefreshed, cooperative approach between the Commonwealth and all basin states.

Reform of Murray-Darling Basin water management originated in 2007 when the then federalgovernment proposed new Commonwealth legislation based on the referral of state powers as part ofthe January 2007 National Plan for Water Security. This is not a new idea. This was an idea first hatchedby the then Prime Minister and party leader of those opposite and the then water minister and nowcurrent opposition party leader that we undertake this course of action.


We have not taken this step lightly. We are referring the Commonwealth constitutional powersonly. The federal government enacted the Commonwealth Water Act in 2007 and it commenced inMarch this year. Amongst other matters, the Commonwealth Water Act established the newindependent Murray-Darling Basin Authority which is to prepare a strategic, whole-of-basin plan foradoption by the Commonwealth. That is a very important point. It will be a whole-of-basin plan.

As I have said before in this place and as I have said publicly, Queensland is not the cause of theproblems in the Murray-Darling but Queensland will play its role in helping to rescue that system, whichundeniably is under so much stress. We have not taken this step lightly. We have done this inconsultation with the Commonwealth. We have done this in consultation with the other states.

Importantly, Queensland will not be disadvantaged as the Commonwealth can only amend theCommonwealth Water Act in relation to referred matters with the unanimous consent of all affectedbasin states. The new functions and powers are as unanimously agreed by the ministerial council andthrough an amendment to the Murray-Darling Basin agreement.

We will not be disadvantaged. We have not taken this step lightly. One only has to look at some ofthe stories relating to that system to realise that we have to play our role. We have to play our roleconstructively. That was what we agreed to with the former party leader of those opposite and currentparty leader and that is what we agreed to with the Prime Minister and the current federal government.

Mr CRIPPS: My second question is in relation to clause 3, reference of matters. It includes theCommonwealth Water Act instrument, which means any instrument that is made or issued under theCommonwealth Water Act. In relation to the Agreement on Murray-Darling Reform, which deals with theCommonwealth-state water management partnerships, I ask the minister a question in relation tosection 4.2 of the agreement which states—The parties agree that there is an urgent need to undertake water reforms in the Murray-Darling Basin to deliver a sustainable capon surface and groundwater diversions across the Basin to ensure the future of communities and industry, and enhancedenvironmental outcomes.

Has Queensland already applied the sustainable cap, referred to by the minister in relation to theWarrego River during the Four Corners program on 20 October 2008, or can water users in Queenslandin the Murray-Darling Basin expect further restrictions and regulations under this agreement?

Mr WALLACE: Again, it is not part of the bill but we have set a cap and the Commonwealth hasagreed to accept the cap, especially where we have got those resource operations plans in place.

Mr CRIPPS: In relation to the same issue, section 4.6.1 of the agreement that I referred topreviously states—The Commonwealth is committed to furthering Basin water reform, through the legislative and other actions it has agreed toundertake in the Intergovernmental Agreement. The Commonwealth will develop the Commonwealth-State Water ManagementPartnerships co-operatively with each Basin State, and will expeditiously meet its obligations under these Partnerships.

Could the minister please advise whether he is aware of the nature of the further basin waterreform referred to in section 4.6.1? What does the Commonwealth’s commitment to further basin waterreform mean for Queensland water users in the Murray-Darling Basin?

Mr WALLACE: Again, it is not part of the bill. But Queensland will work constructively with waterusers, the Commonwealth and other states in ensuring that the allocations of our water holders areprotected.

Clause 3, as read, agreed to. Clause 4—Mr CRIPPS (7.44 pm): Clause 4 also deals with the reference of matters from the Queensland

parliament to the Commonwealth parliament. The reference of matters allows the Commonwealthparliament to make laws in respect of the regulation of water in the Murray-Darling Basin in Queensland.One of the priority projects that will be undertaken as a result of that referral of power is the acquisitionof $350 million worth of allocation buybacks from willing sellers in the basin. How was the $350 millionworth of allocation buybacks to be taken from water allocations in the Queensland section of theMurray-Darling Basin from willing sellers deemed to be a priority project? How will the $160 million bespent on irrigation planning and infrastructure investment in the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin, which is the balance of the $510 million provided for in the priority projects listed in theintergovernmental agreement?

Mr WALLACE: Again, it is not part of this bill. That $350 million is a federal program. Themember may wish to direct his questions to the Commonwealth minister in that regard. In terms of otherassistance that we are getting from the Commonwealth, we are in discussions with the Commonwealthat this stage.

Mr CRIPPS: I note the minister’s insistence that these matters are not relevant to the provisionsof the bill. I have already explained my disagreement with him on that point. I turn to the issue of thefederal government being responsible for the allocation of the $510 million in priority projects toQueensland. I note that it is the responsibility of the Commonwealth to consult with the stategovernment in relation to these priority projects and that planning for those priorities projects is notundertaken until consultation with the states has occurred. One would think, on that basis, that the


minister would have an understanding of what consultation has occurred between the state and thefederal government to ascertain what type of infrastructure investment and irrigation planning and whatprocess will be involved in the voluntary buyback of allocations from the Murray-Darling Basin inQueensland. I invite the minister to return to answer that question.

I am not going to waste a question on his refusal to answer my previous question. Section 4.12 ofthe Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform deals with the matter of due diligence on priorityprojects. I suppose this second question is somewhat related. Section 4.12.1 of the agreement states inpart—The parties agree that the in-principle agreement recorded in clause 4.11 means that following in-principle agreement all PriorityProjects will be subject to robust due diligence assessment by the Commonwealth.

Section 4.12.2 of the agreement states—Due diligence will include an examination of information provided by the Basin State in support of their Priority Project. Inundertaking the due diligence assessment, the Commonwealth will consider the social, economic, environmental, financial andtechnical aspects of the Priority Project.

I would like to ask the minister to provide a copy of the advice that the Queensland governmentprovided to the Commonwealth as per section 4.11.1 of the intergovernmental agreement.

Mr WALLACE: Again, I refer to the issues raised in my speech that the intergovernmentalagreement that the member keeps referring to is not a matter that is before the House for debatetonight. But let me explain a few matters to the House and to the honourable member for Hinchinbrook,because he seems fixated on the assistance that the Commonwealth has offered to the Murray-Darlingin Queensland. It is a project called Healthy Headwaters, and the Healthy Headwaters project isQueensland’s priority project under the Commonwealth government’s Water for the Future program. Itwill deliver to Queenslanders up to $510 million in Commonwealth government funding provided over 10years. That will help improve water use efficiency in the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basinand also for the purchase of water entitlements. The project will provide around $115 million forassisting irrigators to further improve water efficiency. This new funding will enable community levelirrigation planning and subsequent infrastructure investment. It will greatly improve the work irrigatorsand industry groups can do to lower their on-farm water use. It will also provide environmental benefits.

Through the Healthy Headwaters project, $40 million will be provided for the upgrading andmodernising of SunWater’s delivery system infrastructure. This will benefit Queenslanders throughefficiencies in stream flows, reductions in energy consumption, improvements in the measurement ofwater releases and provide savings through reducing evaporation losses. Importantly, $5 million willalso be provided for a detailed feasibility study to examine the use of coal seam gas water, including ananalysis of impacts on surface and groundwater systems. More benefits will flow to Queenslanders fromthe commitment by the Commonwealth government to provide $350 million for the purchase of waterentitlements from willing sellers within the Queensland Murray-Darling catchments.

I heard earlier in the debate tonight from the member for Darling Downs that he suggested thatsomehow I was responsible or my department or the state was responsible for the $350 million buybackand what percentage was going to administration et cetera. I have to get it across to the oppositiontonight that this is a Commonwealth program and something which the Commonwealth is running. It is avoluntary buyback of water from the Queensland Murray-Darling Basin and it will help irrigationcommunities right across the basin deal with climate change and reduce consumptive water use andensure the long-term viability of ecological assets by making more water available for the environment.

Mr CRIPPS: I refer to the introduction of ACCC water market rules and water market charges intothe Murray-Darling Basin in the Queensland section of that basin. Part 6 of the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform deals with the introduction of Australian Competition and Consumer Commissionwater market rules and water charge rules into the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin. Icanvassed earlier in my speech on the second reading that the finalisation of these rules has not yetoccurred, yet we are passing legislation tonight in the Queensland parliament to allow for the extensionof these rules into the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling Basin. I am anxious to know if theminister is comfortable in the knowledge that his bill will extend these rules into the Queensland sectionof the Murray-Darling Basin without these rules having been settled prior to the adoption of the bill.

Finally, I once again put on the record how profoundly disappointed I am that the minister hascompletely refused to offer credible answers to the questions that I have been asking in relation to theintergovernmental agreement which is a critical part of this bill. Indeed, I refer the minister to his ownsecond reading speech once again where he said—This referral bill is a significant outcome of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform ...

The explanatory notes that the minister himself introduced into the parliament state—The Bill is underpinned by an intergovernmental agreement ... to which the Commonwealth and the Basin States are parties.

This is the Agreement on Murray-Darling Basin Reform signed on 3 July 2008 by theCommonwealth and all of the basin states, including Queensland. This bill is a mechanism to facilitatethe introduction of this intergovernmental agreement. They are undoubtedly one and the same


intergovernmental agreement. It is disturbing that the minister continues to insist that theintergovernmental agreement to which I have referred consistently throughout the second readingdebate and consistently throughout the consideration in detail stage of the bill is not relevant to theprovisions of this bill. I fundamentally disagree with the minister’s point of view, but I invite him to clarifywith regard to ACCC water charges and rules if he continues to insist that the intergovernmentalagreement to which I have referred consistently is not relevant to the bill.

Mr WALLACE: I must say that I am disappointed in the member for Hinchinbrook tonight. Theopposition was saying that he was a man of talent and he was a man of the future. I suggest that in thefuture before he comes into this place to debate a bill he actually debates the bill that is before theHouse and not something else. That is a fundamental lesson that I was taught when I came—

Opposition members interjected.Mr WALLACE: Excuse me. I am on my feet. That is a fundamental lesson that I was taught when

I came to this place.Mr Horan interjected.Mr WALLACE: Excuse me. Do not be rude.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wettenhall): Order! The minister has the call.Mr WALLACE: It was a fundamental lesson that I was taught when I came to this place and I

suggest the member for Hinchinbrook takes a quick lesson in that.Mr Horan: You’ll do anything you can to dodge any difficult questions.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!A government member: If they’re relevant we don’t mind.Mr WALLACE: Yes. Relevance in this place from the other side is something that they seem to

hold at arm’s length.Mr Rickuss interjected.Mr WALLACE: You are very rude tonight, member for Lockyer, and you are continuing to be very

rude. In terms of the question asked by the member for Hinchinbrook, the referral bill maintains thebasic water charging framework put in place by the former federal government in March 2007 as set outin the Water Act 2007. The Commonwealth Water Act 2007—

Mr Cripps: The federal bill facilitates the agreement—the intergovernmental agreement.Mr WALLACE: The Commonwealth Water Act 2007 was an outcome of the former government’s

2007 National Plan for Water Security. The water charging framework applies to basin water resourcesexcluding Great Artesian Basin groundwater. This framework gives a role to the Australian Competitionand Consumer Commission, the ACCC, and the Commonwealth minister with respect to water chargesin the Murray-Darling Basin. Importantly, the referral bill provides for the strengthening of the ACCC’srole so as to ensure greater consistency and uniformity across the basin—something which has nothappened in the last 100-odd years. The water charging framework as it currently stands under theCommonwealth Water Act does not apply consistently to all entities and transactions. So we have haddifferent approaches across the states in terms of this one system, the Murray-Darling.

The Commonwealth anticipates water charging rules may be in place by the second half of 2009.What I can say now is that the water charging rules as required by the Commonwealth Water Act haveto give effect to the water charging objectives and principles as set out in that act. The Commonwealthhas given Queensland a commitment that it will honour SunWater’s existing price paths in the Murray-Darling Basin until they expire on 30 June 2011. I am comfortable with that referral and, as I said in mysecond reading speech, there will be public consultation in terms of those arrangements once theycome around.

Clause 4, as read, agreed to.Clauses 5 to 34, as read, agreed to.

Third ReadingHon. CA WALLACE (Thuringowa—ALP) (Minister for Natural Resources and Water and Minister

Assisting the Premier in North Queensland) (7.58 pm): I move—That the bill be now read a third time.

Question put—That the bill be now read a third time.Motion agreed to.Bill read a third time.

11 Nov 2008 Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 3413

Long TitleHon. CA WALLACE (Thuringowa—ALP) (Minister for Natural Resources and Water and Minister

Assisting the Premier in North Queensland) (7.59 pm): I move—That the long title of the bill be agreed to.

Question put—That the long title of the bill be agreed to.Motion agreed to.

JUSTICE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL

Second ReadingResumed from 9 September (see p. 2527), on motion of Mr Shine—

That the bill be now read a second time.

Mr HORAN (Toowoomba South—LNP) (7.59 pm): The Justice and Other Legislation Bill has anumber of objectives. It makes minor or technical amendments to acts administered by the Attorney-General, but upon closer examination of these amendments it can be seen that they make some rathermajor changes to a particular part of each act and that these all require some very careful consideration.

First of all, I will deal with the amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991. Theseamendments make major changes to the immunity status of a member of the Anti-DiscriminationTribunal, which brings them into line with Supreme Court judges and/or registrars. In examining thisparticular amendment, I ask the Attorney-General: does every member of every tribunal have the sameimmunity as the ones that are proposed in this bill? I know a lot of tribunals have immunities, but youhave to wonder why this particular tribunal did not have those immunities. Will the immunities that weare granting in this bill mean that all tribunals will now be covered by such immunities, or are there stillsome tribunals that are without such immunity or cover?

The amendments to the Childrens Court Act 1992 put in place time limits in which a magistratecan act in the role of a Childrens Court magistrate. Initially, the time in which a magistrate can act in thatrole is limited to no more than five years but they can be appointed for an additional term of no morethan five years.

The Childrens Court at the magistrate or summary level is a specialist court that hears youthcrime matters as well as child protection matters. It is a court that requires the magistrate to have a verysound understanding of youth justice matters. Beyond that, the decisions that magistrates make in theChildrens Court can direct the future outcome of young people who enter the justice system. We knowfor a fact that 80 per cent of young people who end up in youth detention centres will go on to be adultcriminals. So it is important that our Childrens Court magistrates have the research and knowledge baseto make sound decisions that will break the cycle of crime for many of these young offenders.

The LNP strongly believes in early intervention strategies for young offenders. Although bootcamps have been mooted as one such option, there are many others, with the key focus on breakingthe cycle of crime, instilling personal responsibility and holding young offenders to account. Ensuringthat magistrates working in the Childrens Court are supported and trained to make decisions in line withearly intervention strategies is equally important. I have some concerns that limiting the time in whichmagistrates can act in the Childrens Court would limit the ability or willingness of magistrates to fullyimmerse themselves in the court and to develop that long-term corporate knowledge and experience. Itwould be interesting to hear whether the Chief Magistrate had any feedback with regard to this particularamendment.

The bill contains two amendments to the Childrens Services Tribunal Act 2000. Theseamendments give two additional powers to the tribunal. One amendment relates to the tribunal’s abilityto dismiss matters where no reasonable basis for the application is disclosed. The second amendmentgives power for the tribunal to release information that is deemed to be in the public interest and doesnot conflict with the best interests of the child.

There are some other very important amendments in this bill. There are amendments to the CivilLiability Act 2003. Clauses 12 to 17 of the bill deal with entities that donate food. I note that amendmentsto some of these clauses were circulated just as debate on this bill commenced. I will look at those whenI finish my speech. These amendments afford a level of protection to those persons or organisations,many of whom are not for profit, who donate food to those less fortunate as an act of kindness.

Clause 17 inserts a new section 84(2), which makes a declaration that seeks to retrospectivelybackdate any protections afforded to entities. Although we have to be practical and pragmatic about theprovision of food to those who are in need, I want to make the point that we have to be careful that wedo not have double standards. We have an enormous amount of legislation that covers the production,

3414 Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 11 Nov 2008

processing and serving of food. We have to be careful that we are not saying, ‘If this group of people areprovided with food that happens to be substandard, or that happens to be off and causes problems, thenthere is no real protection.’ This clause provides protection for those who are donating the food.

I agree with this clause, because I believe in the principle of people being able to donate food tothose who are less fortunate as an act of kindness. But I make the point quite strongly that we have verystrong legislation, regulations and rules to ensure that people do not get food poisoning and that theentire chain of food production and processing is absolutely spot-on to the point where people can besubject to massive fines, all sorts of inspections and checks and legal action if something untowardhappens with food.

As an example, I want to talk a little bit about Safe Food Production Queensland, which replacedthe Queensland Livestock and Meat Authority. It was created by the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000.Its role is to ensure that Queensland’s food production systems meet national safety standards tomaintain public confidence in Queensland. The act intends to ensure that our food production andprocesses are such that primary produce is fit for consumption. That act relates to the production offood. Probably what we are talking about in relation to these amendments are those who pick up thefood—whether that be bread, or older produce, or canned food or processed food—and pass it on asdonations not being subject to liability. It is almost like good Samaritan type legislation because of thekindness and the good intent of their actions.

I just gave the example of the Food Production (Safety) Act as one of the enormous onuses thatare on businesses and farmers to ensure that food is safe and that processing and distribution are safe.As I said, these people and organisations are subject to very strict inspections, fines and so forth—andperhaps no more so than in processes such as egg and meat production and dairy products. I make thatpoint quite strongly. I think it is important to be sure that every endeavour is made, in the process ofdistributing donated goods, that those people who receive them are receiving food that is in safe and faircondition.

The bill contains amendments to the Classification of Films Act 1991. It is strange that we aredebating amendments to that act as contained in this bill, because just two sessions of parliament agowe debated the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill, which made amendments to the Classification ofFilms Act. It seems quite strange that these amendments were not contained in that bill. From memory,the amendments in that bill referred to the advertising of unclassified films and computer games.

What we are looking at now is the actual showing of films that are unclassified. The bills shouldhave been together. I expressed serious concern last time and I express it again. We are just not happywith some of this. We have some serious reservations about the overexposure of violent andinappropriate content to young people—teenagers, those under 18—and we continue to have theconcerns that we had before. Where we were concerned about the unclassified advertising, we nowhave concerns about the exemptions that are being provided for unclassified films with Commonwealthapprovals to be shown in Queensland. We believe that in Queensland we should stand up and ensurewe have a system that does protect our young people from films that depict violence, drugs or crime—those sorts of films which could be of real risk to the standards of the children, to their behaviour andperhaps to what they might do out in the community.

There are amendments to the Crime and Misconduct Act. The amendment changes the wordingfor appointment from ‘a lawyer in actual practice’ to ‘having practised for at least five years’. The changemeans that a person who may have practised for five years but is no longer practising can still beappointed as a part-time commissioner. I have noted that this is in response to a Parliamentary Crimeand Misconduct Committee recommendation.

This bill deals with amendments to the Criminal Code that allow a court to issue a warrant forwitnesses to be brought before a court. It is a sad day when our system of justice has to arrest peoplejust to give evidence. It is a sign of a justice system that is overworked and suffering massive delays.One of the key reasons that witnesses do not want to get involved is the length of time for matters to befinalised. It would be interesting if the Attorney-General could give the House some figures as to thenumber of adjournments or mistrials where witnesses have failed to attend court so that we know ifthere is a real need for this particular amendment to be put before the parliament. It would also beinteresting to see what amount of money within the budget for the DPP is used to support and assistwitnesses through and in the court process.

The amendment to the District Court of Queensland Act 1967 allows for the Governor in Councilto appoint a person to act as a judge for a period of one year. This gives those of us on this side of theHouse some real concern. We have to wonder why this provision is needed and how much money hasbeen allocated for the appointing of these acting judges. This amendment shows a real lack ofconfidence by the government in the senior counsel and barristers of the Queensland bar. For the firsttime in history we will be going interstate and elsewhere to bring in acting judges. We have been able touse acting judges in the past. I believe there have been some 28 or 30 times when highly experiencedbarristers have been sourced to be acting judges. In some cases senior experienced magistrates couldbe supported to act as a judge.


I think it is a real indictment that this government is looking outside the ranks of Queenslanders tofind acting judges and will bring them in from interstate. This amendment, as I understand it, allowsjudges from the Family Court to act in our courts. It would be interesting to know how well the FamilyCourt is managed. I have heard that there are some serious court backlogs within the Family Court. Theminister might be able to give us some detail about the extent of the serious backlogs in the FamilyCourt.

There are amendments to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 1989. Theseamendments clarify the standard conditions provision of the act when an order is made. There are alsoamendments to the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1992. These amendments extend the power ofthe police and the CMC to request certain documents without judicial warrant. I ask the Attorney-General if he could explain in his summing-up who will monitor the safeguards and use of theseamendments that come with this increasing power and how he can assure that it will not be abused.

The amendments to the Justices Act 1886 deal with the issue of disclosure by the prosecution insummary trials. The amendments also make it allowable for higher courts to issue warrants forwitnesses who evade service of a subpoena. There is also an amendment for all applications fordepositions to be made direct to the State Reporting Bureau and not the Clerk of the Court.

The amendments that are before us tonight to the Ombudsman Act 2002 do give us someconcern in that they may open the way for possible disclosure of whistleblowers. To allow the disclosureto a department while an investigation is ongoing could be open to misuse to track and identifywhistleblowers who may have approached the Ombudsman. The reasoning for this amendment wasexplained as for training and protection of other persons should the Ombudsman come into informationthat he feels would be valuable to departments for their processes. Regardless of that, I think theconcern remains whether this provides any opportunity whatsoever for whistleblowers to be trackeddown. I would like to hear the minister provide some detail of that in his summing-up. The protection ofwhistleblowers must be absolute. If there are loopholes like this then, through fear of disclosure, peoplewill simply not go to the Ombudsman and matters that should be dealt with in confidence bywhistleblowers will certainly not be addressed.

There are some amendments to the Magistrates Act 1991. They deal with the appointment of anacting magistrate and allow the minister to appoint unqualified magistrates in exceptionalcircumstances. The minister might again be able to explain why such a provision would be required andwhy we would be appointing unqualified persons. Given there has been concern in years past about theappointment of magistrates in general, why would the Attorney-General be allowing such a rule here foracting magistrates who are not qualified?

The amendments to the Recording of Evidence Act 1962 have come about after the formershadow Attorney-General and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition brought matters to the attention ofthe Attorney-General. It was revealed that such a system had been operating without the knowledge ofany person who may have been present. This recording breached many rules and was open to abuse.The fact that such a system could function while we still do not have an effective recording of evidencesystem does provide us with concern. These amendments seek to fix up the mess this government hadallowed to exist and, sadly, would more than likely have been ignored had we not brought it to theattention of the government.

In concluding I want to say that, despite the bill making claims that its primary objective is to makeminor or technical amendments to a large number of acts, this is, in fact, far from accurate. There are awide range of significant changes across a number of acts that will have an impact on how they operatein practice, none more so than the recording of evidence provisions, changes to liability for the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal and the functions of the Ombudsman. Despite some of these reservations andmatters that we will be looking at closely during consideration in detail, we will be supporting this bill withthe reservations that I have outlined.

Mr JOHNSON (Gregory—LNP) (8.18 pm): I join my colleague the member for Toowoomba Southin speaking in support of the legislation. There are aspects of this legislation that I want to mention thisevening. I believe the most important factor is the amendments to the classification of obscene materialunder the Classification of Films Act 1991. As the Attorney-General said, this amendment will bringQueensland into line with other states and territories by allowing the director of the CommonwealthClassification Board, in addition to the Queensland films classification office, to approve the screening ofunclassified films in Queensland.

I really believe that we are a long way towards having to do something drastic about some of thematerial that our young people are able to witness, not only on prime time television but also in themovie theatres. I am in no way a prude, but I will stand up for the innocence of our kids to makeabsolutely certain our young people are not exploited as they could be by some of the material that isshown on TV and movie screens around this country. At the regional sitting of parliament in Cairnsrecently, the member for Bundamba said that we have become too Americanised. In view of some of the


filth and obscenities that we see on our TV screens, it is about time that we stood up and becameAustralianised. We need to stand up for what the family unit represents and, more importantly, standagainst the exploitation of the female body.

We live in a time where enough is enough. If we do not stand up to this rubbish, we are not beingfair dinkum in our role as leaders, either within this parliament or within our communities. I do not knowabout the other members of parliament, but some nights when I turn on the news what I see makes methink that some of the media outlets should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for what they show,even prior to nine o’clock at night. Some of the material that we are talking about can be governed. I sayto the Attorney-General that we have to get serious about stopping some of this stuff.

As the Attorney-General said in his second reading speech, we must ensure that Queensland, ifrequired, can offer adequate consumer protection in relation to high-impact unclassified films that havebeen approved for screening in Queensland by the director of the Commonwealth Classification Board.I would go so far as to ask the Attorney-General to speak with his federal counterpart about showingleadership in relation to a national agenda. If we are going to clean up our act, they also have to be fairdinkum about it in the place where the legislation is implemented. In that way, the people ofQueensland, and the people of Australia for that matter, can see that we are genuine about gettingoutcomes.

I am the father of two daughters and a son, and I am also the proud grandfather of four little girls.It is not only because I have little granddaughters and daughters that I believe in doing things right. Ibelieve that we need to stand up and make absolutely certain that our people—regardless of whether itis my family, your family or any other family—receive the protection that they deserve from the filth thatthey can be subjected to on TV and movie screens around the country. I know that the Attorney-Generalis a very honourable and decent man. He can show leadership by standing up and being counted onthis subject. I know he will do that, because I know the man quite well. I really think that it is up toAustralian governments as a whole to stand united on this issue.

When we think about some of the stuff that comes out of places like the United States andelsewhere around the world, we can link it to some of the evil stuff that happens in those societies. Withthat in mind I do not believe that our laws in this regard are tough enough. A couple of days ago on thenews we heard about the execution of the three blokes in Indonesia. The next item of news showedsomething else that was horrible. It is all crime, crime, crime on prime time TV. I am not in favour ofcapital punishment. I do not condone it in any way, shape or form, and it is disturbing when that sort ofthing is constantly in the faces of our young people and also ourselves. It disturbs me to think about it,and to know that young people are saying to their mums and dads, ‘What is this all about?’ In thismodern day and age we have to take a tougher line.

As the shadow Attorney-General said, the real crux of this legislation amends the existingJustices Act. One thing that I want to bring to the attention of the Attorney-General is the issue ofdomestic violence orders. There are many different forms of domestic violence. One related issue thatcomes to my mind is gun ownership and weapons licensing. In western Queensland, in my electorateand those of some of my colleagues from rural Queensland—I notice the member for Mount Isa and themember for Fitzroy are here—macropod harvesting is a very important industry. From time to timepeople working in that industry have been adversely affected by weapons licensing laws. While thesituation may not necessarily relate to domestic violence, they may find themselves on the wrong side ofthe law. As the result of a biff on the ear in a pub or whatever, they may find themselves losing theirweapons licence because somebody takes out a domestic violence order against them or they aresubjected to some sort of a restriction and cannot hold that weapons licence. I have maderepresentations on behalf of many of those people—

Mr Moorhead interjected. Mr JOHNSON: Hang on a second; I am not talking about the real domestic violence orders that

the member may be thinking of. I am talking about a situation where somebody might have analtercation in a pub—something as minor as that—and find themselves before the court and losing theirweapons licence.

Mr Moorhead interjected.Mr JOHNSON: Absolutely. I take that very valid interjection. However, many times when it comes

to a court of law it is thrown out and those people lose their licences. One bloke from my electorate hadto wait for five years to get it back. In one case, a man’s spouse committed perjury in court and won thecourt case, and he lost his licence. I say to the Attorney that we need to look more closely at those sortsof situations. Those issues are detrimental to people who are genuinely trying to earn an honest living.Back in my time I have had a few altercations with different people.

Mr Shine: I don’t believe it. Mr JOHNSON: Sometimes I cannot believe it either when I look back on the past, but we are not

going to go back there. Mate, we have lived, haven’t we? We have really lived! I stand up for thosepeople who lose their livelihoods because of this law. On numerous occasions I have made


representations to the weapons licensing people on behalf of people who have lost their licences insuch situations. They have always come back to me and said, ‘You’ve got to make representations tothe Attorney or through the justice system to get this revised.’ I believe this point has merit. Nobodycondones domestic violence. I certainly do not condone it. But a problem exists in a situation wherethere is an altercation, and the courts take umbrage and say, ‘Sorry mate, you’re going to lose yourlicence,’ and that person finds himself out of a job. In Longreach one bloke with a wife and five childrenfound himself in this situation after somebody got a tap on the ear in the local pub. Those situations areridiculous. I think it is over the top. I say to the Attorney-General that we have to take a long, hard look atsome aspects of this legislation.

In closing, I reiterate my absolute disgust at some of the material we are witnessing in the news,in the media and also in films. I say to the Attorney tonight that I really think it is time that Queenslandled the rest of Australia and showed that we are fair dinkum about cleaning up our act, making goodmaterial accessible to our young children in prime time and at the same time trying to protect our kids.Here we are trying to protect them from the scum of society like paedophiles and all those sorts ofundesirables, yet when we see this material on prime time TV or in the movies that children can accesssometimes it makes me wonder what I am doing standing here. I will certainly stand up for them. Ibelieve that each and every one of us should be doing the same.

Ms PALASZCZUK (Inala—ALP) (8.30 pm): I rise to support the Justice and Other LegislationAmendment Bill 2008 and to make a few brief comments. Before going into the detail of the bill, I thankthe opposition for supporting this bill but I do want to raise two issues with the member for ToowoombaSouth—one point on which I agree with you and one point on which I disagree with you. The first point isthat you mentioned the amendment of the Childrens Court Act, which is basically an extension of theirperiod. Then you went on to talk about the fact that the opposition supports boot camps as part of yourpolicy to stop juveniles reoffending.

Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms Darling): Order! Member for Inala, can you address yourcomments through the chair, please.

Ms PALASZCZUK: Sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker. This is typical of opposition policy. It just goesto show that the opposition has no understanding of the issues that are facing these young people whodo end up in detention centres. I know from personal representations by parents to my office that a lot ofyoung people in my area who end up in detention centres come from broken homes where they havewitnessed horrendous examples of domestic violence or they may have been the victims of child sexualabuse. And the opposition’s answer is to put them in a boot camp! This is the last thing on earth youwant to—

Mr Johnson: Not a boot camp as such.

Ms PALASZCZUK: Well, explain your policy. You get up here and you talk about boot camps andthere is no explanation of your policy at all. The people of Queensland deserve something better.

Mr Johnson interjected.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wendt): Order! Member for Inala. Member for Gregory. Member forInala, please direct your comments through the chair.

Ms PALASZCZUK: The people of Queensland deserve better. They need an explanation of thispolicy. As a government we provide these young people with education, we provide them with trainingand we provide them with counselling so that when they come out of these detention centres they willget a job. With a job they will then not reoffend and go back into the detention centres. So it might be anidea for the opposition to rethink its policy.

The point on which I do agree with the member for Toowoomba South is in relation to the CivilLiability Act. He mentioned that the safety of the food needs to be guaranteed in relation to theprotection from liability provided to food donors. I agree with the member wholeheartedly in this respect,and I am quite sure that the Attorney-General would also agree. I have a number of organisations in myelectorate, in Inala and Carole Park, that provide food sheds where people line up on a daily basis. It ismuch needed for the disadvantaged members of my community.

I now turn to the bill before the House to make a couple of brief comments. Firstly, I would like totalk about the amendments to the justices of the peace act. No-one can deny the extremely importantwork that JPs and the commissioners for declarations do in our electorates and throughout Queensland.I would like to place on the public record my thanks to all the people who serve as JPs andcommissioners for declarations and give up their time to do so. I also acknowledge that they are at timescalled on at all hours of the night to perform various duties. I congratulate my electorate officerJacqueline Hughes, who has recently been recognised as a commissioner for declarations and providesa very worthwhile service in my electorate office.


This bill before the House amends the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for DeclarationsAct 1991, which will make the qualification and disqualification provisions easier to locate. Part 18 of theexplanatory notes states—New subsections 17(1) lists the circumstances which disqualify a person from being appointed, or continuing as, a justice of thepeace or commissioner for declarations.

Examples include, but are not limited to, ‘is or has been convicted of an indictable offence’, ‘is aninsolvent under administration within the meaning of the Corporations Act (for example, a bankrupt)’—and the list goes on. These circumstances listed are very reasonable and I believe that these would bereasonable expectations that the community would want to be met. In effect, some of the requirementsfor justices of the peace were contained in the act and some in the regulations. These amendments justmove the provisions from the regulations into the act so they are located together.

The second area I would like to address is the amendment to the Domestic and Family ViolenceProtection Act. I am proud that the minister for community services, the Hon. Lindy Nelson-Carr,recently came out to my electorate to open the new $500,000 Inala domestic violence service. For yearspeople have been campaigning for this service, and I thank Karen Walsh, the President of QCOSS, forlistening to the needs of women in my local area.

Over the past two years I have dealt with numerous housing issues. In fact, I deal with housingissues on a daily basis. But also during this time I have listened to women and their children escapingdomestic violence. Some of these women have had to turn to caravan parks in an attempt to escapehorrendous abuse. Now I am proud that we have a dedicated service for local residents in Inala andCarole Park that they can turn to for counselling and advice. I have watched women break down in tearsas they tell me about the years of abuse they have gone through, and they have often come into myoffice with black eyes and other bruising that goes with it. I thank the minister for providing this service.It is a clear sign that our government is very committed to listening to our community and delivering forcommunities throughout Queensland.

The amendment to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act is only a clarifyingamendment. The section provides that a court, when imposing a domestic violence order, must imposea condition that the respondent be of good behaviour to the aggrieved and not commit domesticviolence and also that they must be of good behaviour towards a named person and not commit any actof associated domestic violence against the person.

With those few words, I thank the Attorney-General for bringing this bill before the House. Icommend the bill to the House.

Mr MOORHEAD (Waterford—ALP) (8.37 pm): I rise to support the Justice and Other LegislationAmendment Bill 2008. This bill amends numerous acts within the portfolio of the Attorney-General andMinister for Justice, from the Judges (Pensions and Long Leave) Act through to legislation dealing withthe classification of films. I think this legislation shows the broad role and the many functions containedwithin the Attorney’s portfolio. Bills like this I think are important to ensure that our legislation is alwaysbeing reviewed to make sure it is modern and relevant.

First, I would like to deal with the amendments to the Civil Liability Act 2003. This amendment billreviews and updates those provisions which protect volunteers and food donors from liability for foodthat is donated for charity, benevolent, sporting and recreation purposes. This bill ensures there is abalance between protecting volunteers who donate food from liability while at the same time ensuringthere are common-sense obligations to ensure safety. I think one thing we should be clear about interms of the donation of food is that just because people are in need of assistance does not mean theyshould be put at risk of unsafe food. This provision ensures that those people who do take appropriatemeasures to donate food safely are protected and supports those people who do need food at no cost.

The bill proposes new section 38A, which requires protection for donors who have ensured thatthe food was safe to consume at the time it left the entity’s possession; if the food required a particularform of handling and the community organisation that received it was informed of that; and if the foodwas only safe for a particular period of time—for example, if there is a use-by date—the entity informedthe community organisation of that use-by date or the time for which that food would remain safe forconsumption.

This bill will mean that, if the Army cadet unit in my electorate at Logan puts on a barbecue andtakes these steps, or if the Waterford Rugby League club puts on a barbecue and takes these steps, orif the Logan City Marsden Lions Club puts on a barbecue to give away free food to locals, they areprotected from liability under these provisions. This bill will ensure that unreasonable insurance costsare not thrust upon local groups which are trying to undertake these activities.

Some of the food providers through the Foodbank process and other charities in my electoratehave raised with me concerns about the food safety standards as they apply to them. In particular,Loaves and Fishes Street Meet Care and Pastor Jock Bamford have taken up petitions for me which Ihave tabled in this House about food safety standards. I have worked with Queensland Health to ensure


that we are both providing every opportunity for good food to be given out and ensuring that the foodthat is given out is not putting those people who are in need at risk of consuming food that is just notsafe.

The bill also amends the Dispute Resolution Centres Act 1990 by clarifying the appointment andpayment of mediators who provide important services in the state’s dispute resolution centres. Thedispute resolution centres are an opportunity for people who are unable to resolve their disputesbetween themselves to seek assistance to settle disputes without having to go to court. These centresoperate throughout Queensland and they allow trained mediators to bring together the disputing partiesto talk over their differences and, if at all possible, reach an agreement. Often this mediation will dealwith neighbourhood disputes, family disputes, sometimes commercial disputes and sometimes theresolution of workplace issues.

I know from my work in my electorate that one of the biggest issues that comes forward is oftenneighbourhood disputes, whether it is barking dogs, trees, noise, people calling the police on eachother, people making complaints about children yelling in the backyard, or people making complaintsabout neighbours yelling at their children. All these sorts of disputes are ongoing and no-one ever wantsto take it to court. Often these dispute resolution centres have provided a cheap, quick and easy way forparties to sit down, to look at what has been going on and to try to rebuild that relationship so they canget on with life. These mediation services are generally provided free to the public, though I understandthat facilitations and workplace mediations are provided on a fee-for-service basis.

These amendments will ensure that there is an appropriate appointment of skilled mediators tofulfil this role, but they will also ensure that included in the criteria for appointment is that mediatorsreflect the diversity of our community. I think it is important that people do have that diversity ofunderstanding when trying to understand where the parties who have sought mediation are comingfrom. I hope that these amendments will continue to promote the resolution of disputes, particularlyneighbourhood disputes, without the need to resort to law enforcement agencies or the courts.

Part 18 of the bill also amends the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act1991 and clarifies the requirements of who can be a JP or commissioner for declarations and, inparticular, what would disqualify a person from becoming or continuing to be a justice of the peace orcommissioner for declarations. Traditionally, these requirements have been spread across both primarylegislation and subordinate legislation. These reforms will provide a consolidated list of criteria in thelegislation. Examples of some of the disqualifying factors include bankruptcy, conviction of an indictableoffence, and offences against the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act 1991. Ithink this is important to uphold the high regard in which justices of the peace and commissioners fordeclarations are held in our community and ensure that the position of trust they hold within ourcommunity will continue.

The act also includes the disqualification for traffic offences where people have offences againstthe Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act. It allows JPs and commissioners fordeclarations to have two traffic offences in two years or six traffic offences in four years before they aredisqualified. I do not think anyone would expect that a commissioner for declarations or JP would bedisqualified for one or two speeding fines over a significant period, but there is a point at which aperson’s driving record shows that they no longer are abiding by the community’s standards of what werequire to be abiding by the law.

It is important that we continue to support justices of the peace and commissioners fordeclarations because of the valued contribution they make to our community. It is a service that I providein my electorate office, and I must say that more people probably visit my electorate office for that ratherthan anything else. Most people volunteer many hours a week for these functions, whether it is at thelocal shopping centre, whether it is at the local chemist, or whether it is responding to police requests inthe middle of the night for a warrant. It is a very difficult job and sometimes they are called upon to makeparticularly hard decisions.

Ms Palaszczuk: At all hours. Mr MOORHEAD: I take that interjection from the member for Inala. It is often at all hours of the

night when their assistance is sought. My thanks go to the JPs and commissioners for declarations whoserve the Waterford electorate well.

Mr Bombolas interjected.Mr MOORHEAD: The member for Chatsworth has asked that I thank the commissioners for

declarations and JPs in his electorate. I am sure they do just as good a job as those in my electorate.In turning to the Recording of Evidence Act 1962, this bill in part 26 amends the Recording of

Evidence Act 1962 to resolve concerns about the continuous recording that is part of the digital audiorecording system now operating in Queensland courts. This new system provides high-qualityrecordings that are more easily transcribed by staff of the State Reporting Bureau. I know in my timeworking in tribunals the State Reporting Bureau staff did a great job in providing accurate and timelytranscripts that were important to the resolution of issues. Anything that makes their job a bit easier I amhappy to support.


Essentially, the new digital system had a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week recording system thatoperated on a continuous loop. There were some concerns raised, particularly by the legal profession,including criminal defence lawyers, about this system allowing for the recording of conversations thatwere held in courtrooms but were not part of court proceedings. There were concerns that this mightlead to lawyers’ conversations with their clients being made available to prosecution authorities. This billputs that question beyond doubt. Clause 123 inserts a new section 11B into the Recording of EvidenceAct, prohibiting access to out-of-session recordings and transcripts other than for transcribing staff.Clause 125 inserts a new section 16, ensuring that the requests that have been made prior to this act forthose out-of-session recordings are also covered by that prohibition and are not available. This is asensible resolution that allows for the provision of better court-recording services while protecting theconfidentiality of privileged conversations.

Before I conclude, I would like to respond to some of the views put forward by the member forGregory in relation to domestic violence orders. I think we should be very careful before we go down thetrack of providing exceptions to the rule that people who have domestic violence orders out againstthem lose their right to hold a firearms licence. I think that—

Mr Johnson: What did you say; to lose them? Mr MOORHEAD: Yes, to lose them. Mr Johnson: No, I don’t want them to lose them.Mr MOORHEAD: That is what I am saying. I think we should be very careful about removing that

provision which says that if a person gets a DV order they lose their firearms licence. DV orders areactually made by courts and people who have—

Mr Johnson interjected. Mr MOORHEAD: Member for Gregory—Ms Struthers: Well he should not bash his wife. Mr Johnson: No, you got it wrong. You don’t understand what I am saying. Ms Struthers: No, Vaughan. Do not tell me about it.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wendt): Order! Member for Gregory, you have had your chance. Mr JOHNSON: Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I take offence at what the member

for Algester—Ms Struthers: So you should, too.Mr JOHNSON: I think she—Ms Struthers: I take offence at what you said. Mr JOHNSON: I have great respect for you, ma’am. But at the same time, you do not understand

what I am saying here.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Gregory, that is not a point of order. Mr Johnson interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! If you are seeking a retraction, that is a different matter. Mr JOHNSON: I have been misrepresented and I would ask that it be put on the record. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Are you asking for it to be withdrawn? Mr JOHNSON: Yes.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! It was an interjection. Mr Johnson interjected. Ms Struthers interjected. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Waterford has the call.Mr MOORHEAD: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I do not think that the fact that a person has a

firearm for a work reason should militate against the protection of people who are seeking the protectionof the courts through the domestic order process. These people are so concerned that they have gonedown to the Magistrate’s Court and put their case to a magistrate. The person the member for Gregoryis talking about has had a chance to put their case. This domestic order has then come about. Justbecause a person has a firearm for a work purpose does not mean that it is not going to be used for anon-work purpose.

If a person gets caught for a high-level drink-driving offence—that is, over 0.149—they lose theirdrivers licence. If they are a professional driver they still lose their licence. That is because if they havedone that it has shown that they cannot be trusted to drive safely on the roads. That is what ourpenalties are for.


Mr Johnson: If you drive at 0.15 you can have a work licence. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Gregory, please. Mr Johnson: This is serious stuff. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! It is serious and you have had your chance. The member for

Waterford has the call. Mr MOORHEAD: When it comes to domestic violence and people with firearms who pose a risk

to our community, I do not think we should be taking such a high risk for people in such vulnerablesituations. I would be concerned if the member for Gregory’s submissions were to be accepted. It is ofgreat concern to me that we would be weakening these provisions which protect people who havesought the assistance of the court in the form of a domestic violence order.

In conclusion, while the changes in this bill are numerous, these are important changes in termsof keeping our system of justice operating. These changes keep the wheels of our justice systemmoving. I applaud the Attorney-General for bringing this bill before the House and for his stewardship ofthese matters. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr PURCELL (Bulimba—ALP) (8.53 pm): I did not think I was going to get there. My colleaguefinished about three times, I thought. I would say that he was under extreme pressure from those in theopposition interfering. I will speak briefly to the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2008. Theobjects of the bill are numerous. They are to provide minor or technical amendments to a range ofstatutes within the minister’s portfolio as well as two statutes within the portfolio of the honourableminister for communications and one statute within the portfolio of the honourable Minister for Transport,Trade, Employment and Industrial Relations.

The Minister for Justice is responsible for the administration of approximately 190 statutes. WhatI say is, ‘God bless you, Kerry.’ He has that many balls in the air and he can also make someamendments for other ministers. I think he is doing a marvellous job.

The amendments fall into a few categories. There are those which will deliver operationalefficiencies to different areas of the justice system, including the courts. I think we are always looking formore efficient ways for the courts to deal with matters. I think that is important. The provisions will allowacting magistrates to be engaged on a needs basis within the period of their appointment. That willcertainly result in efficiency in the justice area. Justice delayed can be justice denied. The quicker weget the system to act on matters and see them through to fruition the better.

The bill also contains amendments to the Queensland Police Service, the Ombudsman, theCrime and Misconduct Commission and the Children Services Tribunal. These amendments will clarifythe existing law in some cases to overcome unintended consequences of court decisions.

One such issue has been brought to my attention recently. It is not within this minister’s portfoliobut within the industrial relations minister’s portfolio because the matter was heard in an industrial court.There is no appeal against the decision. The decision is contrary to the legislation in the statutes at themoment. It is a play on words. A worker has been denied a payout by not defining him as a workerbecause the judge has shifted the goalposts in relation to what the minister’s second reading speechsaid and what the legislation was intended to do.

I can understand why we have to go back sometimes and sort out the unintended consequencesof legislation. We cannot let those provisions stay there because they would be used in the future. Sothis does not happen in the future we could make these decisions appealable.

The bill will also remove obsolete or redundant provisions in the statutes. We know that they cansit there for years and years. We did a lot of that recently. We dealt with witches and a whole heap ofthings that really have no relevance in the justice system these days. We tidied up acts so they arerelevant to today’s society.

I would like to comment on what my colleague spoke about earlier concerning the waste of food.The health act does not allow food to be given to charitable institutions. The consequences of doing thatcan be dire. I will give members my experience. Before the act was changed I used to be with anorganisation called the Builders Labourers Federation. We had functions from time to time. Sometimeswe would overcater and have food left over. I would gather up all the food. A lot of it would still have thecovers on it and had not been touched. It was still in the fridge. I would pick it up and take it over toVinnies at South Brisbane. People would eat it. That would save them money. It was good wholesomefood.

Not long after coming into this place I went to a seminar that the DPI put on. It did that everyWednesday morning. It was a bit like the prayer breakfasts. They were held across the road at the oldBellevue. Various people from primary industries talked about their businesses and processes. On thisday the CEO from Woolies gave a talk. It was at the start of the ‘Fresh food people’ campaign. That isprobably one of the most successful campaigns run by any retailer anywhere in Australia.


Woolies took off from that point in time in my opinion because of how meticulous it was in how itdealt with fresh food. I was fortunate enough to be sitting next to the CEO and one of his troops. Theysaid that the food was fresh and then it got to a point where it was put on special. After two days it wastaken off special and if any of the staff wanted it it was given to them and then it went to AJ Bush in myelectorate, which has since moved to Beaudesert—I know the member for Beaudesert is very pleasedto have it—and turned into blood and bone. This food had been in fridges and people would be cookingit and eating it the day before, yet Woolies could not give it away. It was not allowed to give it away.Under these amendments, that food will be put to good use.

Mr Bombolas interjected.Mr PURCELL: Member for Chatsworth, did you want to add something to that?Mr Bombolas: You’ve got Foodbank.Mr PURCELL: Very good point. I take that interjection because he is being very helpful.

Foodbank is in my electorate, and that is a good point. It does not carry meats and so forth because ofthe Health Act.

Mr Moorhead interjected.Mr PURCELL: Exactly. It has to be done before then. All of those bushies on the other side would

know that if you lived out in the bush you never had electricity and you never had places to cool thingsdown artificially. Probably the coldest place was a wet bag underneath the tank stand or the meat wouldbe hanging in a meat safe. It might get a little bit aged and probably go off a little bit, but you would washthe green off it.

Mr Bombolas: Salt.Mr PURCELL: You would salt it. That is when curry would come into its own; you would put plenty

of curry on it. There are a lot of ways you can eat meat and foods that are probably past their use-bydate. We should protect those people who give away food because that will lead to an increase in theamount of food available to charitable organisations. I commend the minister for the bill and the otheramendments that have been made. Keep up the good work! The minister has great staff who work sovery hard to ensure that people and workers are looked after. The minister’s department will be workingwell under his direction to ensure that legislation such as this continues to come to the House. I supportthe bill.

Mrs STUCKEY (Currumbin—LNP) (9.02 pm): I rise to contribute to the Justice and OtherLegislation Amendment Bill 2008. As members have already heard from the honourable member forToowoomba South and the shadow Attorney, the LNP will be supporting this bill but does have somereservations regarding a couple of the amendments. The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice andMinister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland introduced this omnibus bill, which containssome 29 acts and codes, into the Queensland parliament on 9 September this year. The explanatorynotes state that the primary objective of this bill is to make minor or technical amendments to actsadministered by his department. In effect, some of these amendments make significant changes andhave been well highlighted by the honourable member for Toowoomba South. My comments pertain tothree sections of the amendment bill which relate to my role as the shadow minister for child safety aswell as the member for Currumbin.

I turn first to the amendments to the Children Services Tribunal Act 2000. The amendments tothis act are a welcome move, as the tribunal plays a vital role in cases of child safety. In simple terms,the proposed amendments will give additional powers to the tribunal. One of the amendments relates tothe tribunal’s ability to dismiss matters where no reasonable basis for the application is disclosed. Thisdoes, however, raise the question that if the tribunal is able to dismiss such cases where else is the caseto go? The tribunal act has provisions to allow for assessment of individual cases in a fair and justmanner. This amendment makes the recommendation that should cases presented to the tribunal befrivolous or vexatious then dismissal is allowed.

I ask the Attorney if he would be able to inform the House what happens to aggrieved parties aftersuch a decision. Moreover, what right of appeal do they have should the tribunal dismiss a matter that itdeems to be either frivolous or vexatious, or perhaps both? Honourable members are well aware of thehighly sensitive and emotionally charged atmosphere that accompanies the majority of child protectionissues and there is little doubt that tempers will flare further between affected parties with the enactmentof these provisions. As I have already stated, the LNP supports amendments to the Children ServicesTribunal Act 2000. However, we are keen to hear from the Attorney what processes will be in place inthese situations.

The second amendment concerning this act gives power to the tribunal to release information thatis deemed to be in the public interest and does not conflict with the best interests of the child. I ask theAttorney to address in his summation just how this information will be released, particularly if theinformation is critical of the actions and the practices of the Department of Child Safety. It is the opinionof the LNP that the amendment is a positive move and one heading towards a more open and


accountable system—something that has been sadly lacking from this government lately. We only haveto look at the number of reports and findings from within the Department of Child Safety itself and thePremier’s department to learn that a growing number of these documents that are very important havebeen withheld due to their damning revelations. For example, the inaugural ICPP—Indigenous childplacement principle—report, which I am told has been in the Premier’s clutches for most of this year, isone such document. The copy I tabled in the parliament heavily criticised the department’s failure inevery one of the 101 selected files chosen to comply with section 86 of the Child Protection Act. I trulyhope that the information approved by this tribunal is not stifled in the same manner and would seeksome assurance from the Attorney in this regard.

I move now to concerns relating to the amendments to the Civil Liability Act 2003 in relation toprotection from liability provided to food donors. The Minister for Justice and Attorney referred to theseamendments as assurance that intermediary organisations that collect food from donors andredistribute it to charitable organisations will be protected under the act. Charitable organisationsinclude food distribution organisations, refuges and similar community organisations that dedicate theirtime to help hungry, needy or homeless people. I want to place on the parliamentary record myadmiration to these organisations and individuals who operate as not-for-profit entities, often relying onunpaid help from volunteers. They should be commended for their contribution to helping people withsuch basic provisions that many of us take for granted. Without them, the situation for a great number ofindividuals and families would be dire.

Driving around the electorate of Currumbin, where I have lived for over 20 years, I am frequentlyreminded of the fruits of philanthropy and hard work by innumerable community groups—park shelters,picnic facilities, playgrounds, community halls, vehicles and sporting grounds that abound. Thesewonderful, lasting contributions that provide invaluable benefit to thousands of local citizens as well asvisitors were invariably made possible by donations of food that ended up on one of the countlesssausage sizzles cooked by our Lions, Rotarians and other community-minded groups. I recognise thatthese organisations do not necessarily fall under the provisions contained herein. However, they aremore than worthy of mention here.

Whilst these amendments protect food donors, I must point out that the Bligh government couldbe accused of promoting double standards when one looks at small business providers struggling withcopious regulations and bureaucratic red tape just to get approval for food sales—regulations that donot have to be followed by charitable organisations. I am aware of several cases where smallbusinesses are stopped short by red tape involved in the checks and standards of food sales. They askwhy there are such protections for donors of leftover food when small business food outlets have tocomply with a host of reporting mechanisms just to get approval. I am not for a moment suggesting thatwe lower standards for the handling of food in businesses. Safe hygienic standards for food handling,preparation and storage are essential, particularly in Queensland’s tropical climate.

When speaking to this amendment, episodes of food tampering come to mind—the most recentcase, of course, being the alleged faecal matter in the desserts served at the Coogee Bay Hotel in NewSouth Wales. The family involved in the food tampering at that hotel is supposedly set to receive$50,000. However this waste came to be in the dessert, it will cost the premises dearly.

Over the past couple of years in Queensland, Sizzler and Top Taste Cakes have also sufferednegative public attention over their food-tampering scares. During the debate on the Food AmendmentBill on 7 June 2006 I spoke about my concerns regarding these two scenarios. On 2 March 2006 theMinister for Health stated that the situation involving Sizzler restaurants could have been handled betterhad Sizzler been required to inform authorities immediately after the first incident on 20 January. Again,in relation to the Top Taste Cakes incidents, Top Taste knew of the objects in its cakes five monthsbefore a customer bit into a sewing needle, but it took Top Taste another week to tell officials. Badpublicity on this scale is bad business, costing millions in lost revenue. The legislation that wasintroduced in 2006 addressed these issues, but in this bill before us today there is still no guarantee thatfood tampering will be eradicated completely and some donated food may still contain contaminants.

It is very interesting to note the Bligh government’s wishes to double the number of volunteersthroughout Queensland—volunteers whom I have already commended in this speech. Clause 15provides protection and immunity from civil liability to an entity that donates or distributes food. I askwhether that immunity extends to individual volunteers. It is interesting to note that the Bligh governmentemphasises the need to double the number of volunteers but is not willing to provide protection to them.I also remind the parliament of the comments of the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee as to whether theimmunity provided by clause 15 is justified in this case, which would pose a fairly hypocritical questionabout this amendment.

In my role as shadow minister for child safety, I feel strongly compelled to raise concerns aboutthe amendments to the Classification of Films Act 1991. I agree wholeheartedly with the member forToowoomba South and the honourable member for Gregory in noting that this move sounds genuinewarning bells. The purpose of the amendments is to allow for unclassified films to be shown inQueensland if they have Commonwealth approval. Screening of an unclassified film will be approved by


the director of the Commonwealth Classification Board and the Queensland classification officer.Perhaps the Attorney-General will be able to allay some of the opposition’s concerns by explaining howyou put a classification on an unclassified film.

Given what is already on view on television and via the internet, which present highlyinappropriate behaviours unfit for a child’s inquisitive and vulnerable mind, there is indeed cause forgreat concern. Much debate on the filtering of internet sites has taken place these past few weeks andas I speak the jury of public debate is undecided. Not only am I disturbed about the violent and explicitlanguage that may be in the screening of these unclassified films, my main fear is the early sexualisationof our vulnerable children. This amendment could be seen as encouraging this behaviour which, asnotably dominant in local newspaper articles throughout Queensland, leads to the acting out of sexualacts by children upon other children. It is a deeply alarming issue that deserves immediate attention andquantifiable research. Inappropriate activities that may be portrayed in these unclassified films are notfor the impressionable eyes of children.

I take a moment to acknowledge the controversy of the Bill Henson photographs of a naked child.Although photography is a different medium, the exhibition not only raised my concern; thousands ofpeople responded to the photos as being too explicit. Parents have every right to be concerned aboutwhat their child is exposed to, especially as Mr Henson had a school principal scouting his students forpotential models. The acting out of sexual inappropriateness in schools has been on the increaserecently. The fact is that these children are under the age of 10, at a very impressionable stage of theirlives and would have had to see these acts somewhere for them to have knowledge of them. I holdgrave fears that these unclassified films may be viewed by children, further corrupting the innocence ofchildhood and spreading unacceptable behaviours to a larger audience of children. Of course, parentsmust accept the main responsibility for their children’s viewing and also for their general wellbeing, butmembers of parliament, those on the other side in particular, have a responsibility to protect children.

I ask the Attorney-General to detail what safeguards his government is implementing to ensurechildren will not be susceptible to these films and their content. Will they include strict guidelinesaccording to the advertising restrictions and age barriers? I further raise my concerns as to the long-term effects on children who view these unclassified films, which may have a permanent damagingresult. As members of parliament and as members of society, we should ensure children remainuppermost in our minds as a priority whenever we consider new legislation. I commend the bill to theHouse.

Mr HOOLIHAN (Keppel—ALP) (9.15 pm): The Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill isan endeavour by the Attorney-General to bring many acts into modern usage. In actual fact, the billmakes amendments to 26 acts. Some of the acts have already been mentioned. I had some worriesabout following the member for Bulimba, because part of what I had to say he has said already, but hetook what I intended to say a bit further.

I say to some of the speakers on the other side, particularly the member for Currumbin whopreceded me, that sometimes it helps to read the bill before they stand up to speak—particularly inrelation to this bill and the amendments it makes to the Classification of Films Act. But that is really amatter for her.

The amendments to the acts that the Attorney-General deals with in this bill fall into three broadcategories: to improve operational efficiencies; to clarify existing law and in some cases to overcome theunintended consequences of court decisions; and to remove obsolete or redundant provisions instatutes. Surprisingly, some of the statutes that are amended are quite old, although they have beenamended over time. As a lawyer, I was rather amazed that it had become necessary to once againamend the Oaths Act 1867. I do not know if anyone has ever had dealings with some governmentdepartments, but if they had they would know that when you produce an affidavit which you have hadsigned in an overseas country you are told that it is not acceptable because the person witnessing it isnot qualified in Queensland as a justice of the peace or as a notary public. It is very pleasing to see thatthe amendment provided in this bill will allow affidavits taken outside Australia to be taken by a personwho is authorised to administer an oath under the law of the place where the affidavit is taken so that itwill then be able to be used in Australian jurisdictions.

In relation to the amendments to the Crime and Misconduct Act, in his second reading speech theminister said that they would widen the pool of persons eligible to be appointed as a part-timecommissioner. That amendment appears in clause 24, which inserts into the definitions of ‘eligibleperson’ an Australian lawyer with five years experience and a demonstrated interest in civil liberties. Thedefinition of ‘Australian lawyer’ has the same definition as that which appears in the Legal ProfessionAct 2007.

Some of the amendments deal with operational efficiencies in the courts, such as allowing judgesfrom the Federal Court or Supreme or District courts in another state or territory to be appointed as anacting judge. One of those amendments allows acting magistrates to be engaged, having regard to thelist of trials and matters that await hearing in the Magistrates Court. Being able to engage actingmagistrates on a needs basis will really cut down that list. The other amendment limits the term ofappointment for magistrates to the Childrens Court to five years.


All in all, the overall effect of this bill will be to bring many of these acts that are amended into the21st century as it does away with some of the restrictions that exist within them. I commend theAttorney-General and his staff for the work that they have done on the bill. I commend the bill to theHouse.

Mrs SCOTT (Woodridge—ALP) (9.19 pm): While there are many facets to the Justice and OtherLegislation Amendment Bill 2008, many of them minor in nature, I wish to address just one issue, that ofprotection from liability for food donors. This is somewhat of a difficult issue for me. Within my electoratethere are many, many people who are proudly raising their family, or for those without children, be theyyoung and independent or more senior members of the community who may have successfully raisedtheir family, many may be stretched financially but budget carefully and live within their means. Theseare my proud constituents who refuse to live under the banner of ‘disadvantaged’ and are happy living intheir community. However, there are a considerable and ever-increasing number of families andindividuals for whom the rise in costs has simply stretched their finances beyond all limits. Rental costs,the escalation in food prices, petrol and other essentials have simply placed many in an untenableposition and there is no relief on the horizon.

I hate to think Australia has become a nation of two classes. We are the land of the fair go for all,but in recent years there are many who have not shared in our years of so-called prosperity. There aremany on high incomes with a high level of discretionary income and sometimes we see what can onlybe described as indulgent living. I applaud those with the means who have a philanthropic outlook andgive of their time and funds to alleviate the suffering of others and also to those who simply make ourcommunities happier and safer places in which to live. In many ways we are a very wasteful society,which brings me back to the protection of donors.

As my colleague the member for Waterford, Evan Moorhead, has intimated, in our electoratesthere is a high level of support for many who are doing it tough. There has been a great deal ofdiscussion over recent years around the issue of foods that are donated, either as parcels of groceriesor the simple sausage sizzle or free meals that many of our charitable organisations provide on aregular basis. We hear stories of our major supermarkets throwing out goods long before their use-bydate. It is a crime for there to be food destroyed while others go hungry so I am very happy to see thismeasure in this bill.

It is important that those handling food ensure the safety of the recipients. However, they do needto know that they are protected by law. I would like to pay tribute to our wonderful Clem Jones. Onelasting legacy of his great generous spirit is our Foodbank. Those in need within our city have gainedgreatly from this. Many of my schools have breakfast clubs through the YMCA. Some of our churchgroups, including the Gospel Lighthouse, are there to give our students a healthy start to the day as wellas friendship. Other organisations such as Tribe of Judah, Loaves and Fishes, Family and Kids-Care,the Baptist Church at Marsden and so many others are out there with fresh fruit and vegies and groceryitems given with a word of encouragement and care.

This legislation will protect our charitable organisations as long as every care is taken and clearrules are followed. I thank our workers and volunteers in many organisations for their selfless efforts tocare for the needs of those less fortunate in our communities and I commend the bill to the House.

Mr GRAY (Gaven—ALP) (9.23 pm): I rise to make a brief contribution to the Justice and OtherLegislation Amendment Bill before the House in a number of areas which are of interest and affect someactivities within the electorate of Gaven. They are part 6 amendments to the Classification of Films Act1991, part 18 amendments to the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act 1991and, finally, part 5 of the bill dealing with the Civil Liability Act 2003.

The first of these matters deals with the classification of films and the current act which makes itan offence to screen an unclassified film in Queensland unless the Queensland Films ClassificationOfficer approves an organisation to be an approved organisation. The organisation is then granted anexemption to screen an unclassified film. Exceptions apply to film festivals. Having just witnessed lastSaturday the second Nerang Youth Film Festival, I am pleased this exemption applies. I might add thatit is a great event in which the youth of Nerang show a considerable amount of creative talent. With theMovie World film studios near the electorate I am ever vigilant with the changes in the law and economiccircumstances which affect the industry on which a large number of workers in the electorate depend.The loss of value of the Australian dollar has assisted the industry greatly. We do not all lose when thedollar drops.

Clause 20 amends section 56 to allow both the Queensland Films Classification Officer and adirector of the Commonwealth Classification Board to approve an organisation to be such an approvedorganisation. Clauses 21 and 22 of the bill amend section 57 and 58(1) to allow application fromapproved organisations to screen unclassified films in Queensland to be made at both the Queenslandand Commonwealth levels. Section 58 is amended to allow both classification levels to approve thescreening of unclassified films in Queensland. The Commonwealth may, of course, attach conditions onthe approvals.


I turn now to the amendment of the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for DeclarationsAct 1991. These amendments make the qualification and disqualification provisions easier to locate.Under the new subsection 16(1)(d) a person must be an Australian citizen in order to qualify to be ajustice of the peace or commissioner for declarations. This is not a new provision. It previously residedin the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Regulation 2007. This just tidies upthese provisions. New subsection 17(1) lists the circumstances which disqualify a person from beingappointed or continuing as a justice of the peace or commissioner for declarations. These are listed inthe bill and do not require a reading here.

It is essential that those who qualify for these important public positions maintain their public rolewithout fear or favour. JPs and commissioners for declarations perform a wide range of publicresponsibilities and must do so in an open and transparent way. I have a large number of such people inthe Gaven electorate and they are well organised to offer their free services at various shopping centresaround the electorate. I am pleased about this. Being a justice of the peace and commissioner fordeclarations myself for the last 23 years, people continue to come to my home and office to obtain theseservices. I continue to be surprised by the demand for such services.

The last section of the bill I wish to make a few brief remarks about is the amendments to the CivilLiabilities Act 2003. These amendments deal with the provisions relating to protection for food donorsfrom liability. I have within the electorate a number of organisations that collect food donations frombusinesses for distribution through food banks. I am pleased these amendments protect theseorganisations under the act. I concur with the desire of the minister that these changes may encouragea greater supply of food to charitable organisations for the disadvantaged in Queensland. I commendthe bill to the House.

Hon. KG SHINE (Toowoomba North—ALP) (Attorney-General and Minister for Justice andMinister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland) (9.27 pm), in reply: I thank all honourablemembers for their contributions to the debate on the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill. Inparticular I thank my colleagues on the government side of the House for their positive contributions. Ithink I am also correct in noting the opposition’s support for the bill.

An opposition member: That’s a bit harsh, Kerry.

Mr SHINE: You made one of your better contributions of the night. At the outset I note that therehave been many occasions in the past when miscellaneous bills have covered a wide range of issues.Given that the opposition appears intent on criticising the government for including amendments whichare not strictly minor or technical in nature, I recently took the time to find out what the Justice and OtherLegislation Bill looked like when the opposition was last in government. Needless to say, the Justice andOther Legislation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1997 included major changes across a wide range ofdepartments with many of the amendments contained in that bill far more controversial than those thatI am being criticised for progressing tonight.

The Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2008, which amends 28 of the 190 pieces ofstatutes in my portfolio as well as a number of other statutes administered by my ministerial colleagues,is the end product of a comprehensive legislative maintenance exercise conducted by my department. Iplace on record my appreciation for the work of my departmental officers in this regard. Whilst themajority of the amendments are minor, technical or miscellaneous in nature, I conclude this debate byagain highlighting the more significant reforms being progressed in the bill.

The amendments to the Civil Liability Act 2003 will ensure that organisations that collect foodfrom donors and distribute it to other organisations, which in turn provide it to needy and disadvantagedpeople, can benefit from existing food donor protections. This will open the door for organisations suchas OzHarvest to expand their operations into Queensland.

The amendments to the Recording of Evidence Act 1962 will specifically authorise continuouscourt recording and prohibit access to and allow the destruction of records and transcripts while court isnot in session. The amendments to the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1992 will ensure that lawenforcement agencies in Queensland can request further information and documents about financialtransactions reported to AUSTRAC under new Commonwealth legislation.

Other amendments are designed to remove obsolete or redundant provisions and statutes, clarifythe existing law or improve the effectiveness and efficiency of vital justice services to the community.The amendments that fall into the last category include the amendments to the Children ServicesTribunal Act 2000, the Dispute Resolution Centres Act 1990, and the Justices of the Peace andCommissioners for Declarations Act 1991 to name just a few.

I would like to take this opportunity to foreshadow a number of amendments that have beencirculated in my name and that I shall move during the consideration in detail stage of the bill. Oneamendment to new section 38A of the Civil Liability Act 2003 clarifies the protection from liabilityprovided to food donor redistributors. I will also be moving an amendment to clause 57 to ensure that


long leave by the Queensland Workplace Rights Ombudsman is approved in the same manner as longleave by the president and vice-president of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission. Finally, Iwill be moving an amendment to clause 73 to delete subsection (1). This amendment is no longerrequired.

I will now address some of the matters raised by honourable members during the course of thisdebate, principally the shadow Attorney-General and member for Toowoomba South. The member forToowoomba South asked whether there are any other tribunals that do not have the immunity beingintroduced for the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal. The amendments in the bill will provide the same level ofprotection and immunity to the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal that other tribunals have, such as theChildren Services Tribunal, the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal and the Commercial andConsumer Tribunal. These other tribunals have both an immunity provision similar to new section 266A,and another provision that is similar to section 265, providing for immunity or protection from civil liabilityfor honest and non-negligible actions. This new section refers primarily to immunity from criminalprosecutions, while the existing section 265 is limited to civil actions. Section 265 is also broader in itsapplication, applying to the Anti-Discrimination Commission and not just to the tribunal.

The member for Toowoomba South also asked whether the Chief Magistrate had any feedbackon the amendments to the Childrens Court Act in the bill. I can confirm that the previous ChiefMagistrate wrote to me suggesting that provisions relating to the appointment and position of ChildrensCourt magistrates under the Childrens Court Act be repealed or amended, given concerns he had inrelation to the indefinite nature of the appointment of a Childrens Court magistrate and lack of operationof provisions in the Magistrates Act 1991. I thank the member for Currumbin for her support toamendments to the Children Services Tribunal.

In relation to the member’s question about the release of information, I note that the tribunalalready has the power to consent to the publication of information. The amendment will have the effectof limiting the power by requiring the president or tribunal to be satisfied that the publication is in thepublic interest and does not conflict with the best interests of the child. An example of information that isreleased under this section is de-identified decisions and reasons for decisions that are included in legaldatabases. This information assists persons and practitioners appearing before the tribunal.

A question was also asked about the protections in place for the provision of food by food donors.The provisions in relation to food donors do not deal at all with the production or processing of food.They relate to donations of food and, in order to benefit from the protections, food donors must complywith a number of conditions, including, for example, that the food was safe to consume at the time it leftthe entity’s possession; that if the food was of a nature that required it to be handled in a particular wayto remain safe to consume, the food donor informed the recipient of the handling requirements; and ifthe food only remained safe to consume for a particular period after it left the food donor’s possession,that the food donor informed the recipient of the time limit.

The member for Currumbin asked a specific question about whether the immunity providedextends to volunteers. I can confirm that volunteers are already protected under the existing section 39of the act.

The opposition asked why the amendments to the Classification of Films Act had been includedin this bill so close to the last bill. The answer to this is that there was simply not sufficient time for theseamendments to be included in the previous bill. In the interim, consultation has been undertaken withinthe Commonwealth Classification Board and other stakeholders.

In relation to concerns that have been raised about whether the amendments will lowerstandards, I note that the amendments will reserve the power of the Queensland Films ClassificationOfficer to continue to approve exemption applications and attach additional conditions on approvalsgiven by the Commonwealth. Such restrictions could include age restrictions. I confirm that the criteriafor publicly screening unclassified films in Queensland will not be changed. However, theseamendments will reduce the regulatory burden by no longer making it necessary for multipleapplications to be submitted for national events that wish to screen in Queensland.

In relation to the specific query by the member for Gregory about TV, I can confirm that theCommonwealth regulates the classification of programs on television. The amendments will not affecttelevision classifications; they relate only to films shown in Queensland theatres.

I note that the opposition has queried why a new warrant power is required in the Criminal Code.This new power will be required only in exceptional circumstances and is actually required in order toaddress a gap caused by clause 65 of the bill in relation to the abolition of notices to witnesses.

In relation to the amendment of the District Court Act which will allow acting judges to beappointed, I note that this section merely brings the District Court into line with the Supreme Court andthe Magistrates Court. Rather than being due to an inability to attract Queensland lawyers to thebench—I can assure the House that is not the case—this amendment is about facilitating an exchangeof experience and knowledge between the states.

3428 Adjournment 11 Nov 2008

The member for Toowoomba South has raised concerns about the safeguards that apply inrelation to the Financial Transaction Reports Act amendments. I note that the safeguards are the sameas those that currently apply. The ability of the CMC and the QPS to obtain further information anddocuments about a transaction from reporting entities under the amendments will be subject to theentities first being required to report the transaction to the Australian Transaction Reports and AnalysisCentre under the Commonwealth Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.Also, the further information or documents requested by the QPS and the CMC must be information ordocuments that may be relevant to the investigation or prosecution of a person for an offence againstthe law of the state or may be of assistance in the enforcement of Queensland’s confiscation legislation.This is the same as the existing requirement.

The member for Toowoomba South also raised concerns with the amendments to theOmbudsman Act in relation to exposure of whistleblowers. In this regard I note that the information to beprovided under the proposed section will be de-identified. As a result, the identity of a whistleblower willnot be disclosed.

The opposition also asked why the bill allows for the appointment of unqualified persons who donot have five years experience as a barrister or solicitor. I would like to clarify that the bill does theopposite: it seeks to ensure persons appointed to act as magistrates have five years experience as abarrister or solicitor, except in exceptional circumstances. An example of this occurred in Cloncurrywhere the current clerk of the court is a qualified solicitor but has less than five years experience. Thisamendment will allow the clerk to continue to act as a magistrate in that remote area of Queensland. Inote that the amendments contained in this bill actually improve standards by requiring clerks of thecourt to have the same qualifications as are required for other persons to be appointed as a magistrate.

The member for Toowoomba South also raised concerns about the court-recording system. Thedigital recording software used by Queensland courts was chosen given its enhanced features,particularly the capacity to remotely monitor and record courts and distribute workflow across the state,which were expected to enable greater efficiencies in terms of State Reporting Bureau resources. Sincethe rollout of digital recording, serious issues have been experienced with the performance andreliability of system software. Some of these issues have impacted court hearings.

A number of strategies have been put in place by the courts to deal with the issues currentlybeing experienced with the system including: the courts are working closely with the software serviceprovider to resolve system defects as quickly as possible; the courts are engaging in ongoingcommunications with the judiciary in relation to system performance issues and the impacts ontimeliness of transcript delivery; and the courts have employed the use of alternative recording optionswhere necessary, including CAT recorders.

Digital audio recordings provide superior quality recordings to the cassette tapes previously usedand also allow easier transcription. While there have been some problems experienced with the system,it has delivered benefits to the judiciary and legal profession, including faster and more efficient accessto audio recordings.

In conclusion, I again thank all honourable members for their contributions during the debate onthis legislation. I also thank all stakeholders for their invaluable input during the development of thispiece of legislation.

Debate, on motion of Mr Shine, adjourned.

ADJOURNMENTHon. KG SHINE (Toowoomba North—ALP) (Acting Leader of the House) (9.41 pm): I move—

That the House do now adjourn.

Gough, Mr JMr SEENEY (Callide—LNP) (9.41 pm): I want to make the people of Queensland aware of a

conman and a crook called Jacob Gough, who is currently touting a company called Good Sports HomeServices. Jacob Gough ripped off some of my constituents who invested in his former company. He setout to make his employees responsible for the debts of his failing company.

Jacob Gough previously ran a company called Proactive Therapy with a number of physiotherapypractices on the southern side of Brisbane—all of which ceased to operate earlier this year leaving astring of bad debts. Constituents of mine from Monto who were private equity investors in the Proactivecompany are still trying to recover the $200,000 they invested with Jacob Gough. In addition, a numberof former employees of the company are being pursued for impossibly large debts that rightfully belongto their former employer.

11 Nov 2008 Adjournment 3429

In an appalling breach of trust and a gross abuse of his position as an employer, Jacob Goughattempted to shift the debts of his company to his employees and then stripped the company of cash tofund his other investments. He did this by using his position as an employer to arrange finance companyloans for the young physiotherapists who were his employees. The loans he arranged for his employeeswere for them to buy shares in a company that he, as their employer, set up to supposedly own anindividual practice in the group with the promise that the loan repayments would be guaranteed from theparent company. He arranged these loans in a thinly disguised charade to get access to money for hisown benefit at the expense of his employees.

In one example he arranged loans totalling $200,000 for three young physiotherapists working inhis Springwood practice to buy shares in a worthless company that he created to own what they weretold was a similar practice at New Farm. Under the scheme of arrangement, he received the $200,000borrowed from the finance company and retained control of the practice with the promise that he wouldpay the loan repayments through his employees’ personal accounts. He used his influence as anemployer to convince his young employees to sign the loan documents and agree to have repaymentsdeducted from their personal accounts. The New Farm practice turned out to be a small room on theside of a fitness centre, the shares turned out to be worthless and the loan repayments Jacob Goughpromised were not made to his employees’ personal accounts. Those former employees are now beingpursued by the finance company for the $200,000 that Jacob Gough had promised the parent companywould repay and that, of course, as individuals they cannot possibly repay.

Jacob Gough has left his former employees being pursued for huge debts that should be hisresponsibility and he has abandoned the investors who invested in his company and who have lost theirentire investment. He is currently touting a new company called Good Sports Home Services in theMorningside area, where he recently held a promotional function at the Morningside Football Club in anattempt to attract new investors. Anyone considering becoming associated with Good Sports HomeServices either as an investor or an employee should be aware that Jacob Gough is a liar and aconman. He is a low-life that would ruin the lives of his employees to enrich himself, and he has acallous disregard for anyone who invests money in any of his companies. He should be avoided by allhonest Queenslanders.

Gold Coast Titans Community Foundation

Ms CROFT (Broadwater—ALP) (9.44 pm): I love watching Rugby League and I love the GoldCoast Titans. What a great team, and behind the great team is a great committee that I am proud to bea member of—the Gold Coast Titans Community Foundation. I am really proud to be a member of thisfoundation with my colleagues who include Geoff Smith, the chair of the foundation; Rob Molhoek;Margaret May, the federal member for McPherson; Jim Raptis; Roy Miller; Chris Wheeldon; and we areall led by the legendary Paul Broughton.

The Gold Coast Titans Community Foundation’s mission is to foster a growing source of fundingto enable grant-making activities that will build community capacity in the Gold Coast region, to give afocus to health, social and community service issues and also to provide encouragement and financialsupport to the underprivileged and disadvantaged. Individuals or community groups on the Gold Coastmay apply for funding from the Titans Community Foundation by following the procedure outlined on ourweb site, www.titans.com.au.

Recently, the committee was very pleased to make two significant donations. Last Friday it wasmy pleasure to join Bree Andrews, the business manager of the Gold Coast Titans CommunityFoundation, in formally presenting a cheque for $20,000 to the Gold Coast Project for Homeless Youthand another cheque for $20,000 to the Gold Coast Domestic Violence Prevention Centre. Gold Coastmembers would know of the work done by both these organisations and I am sure will agree are twovery worthy recipients of this funding. The funding was raised from the Titans annual gala ball. The ballis a great night on the Gold Coast’s social calendar whose success each year is indicative of how theteam is supported by the corporate Gold Coast and the team’s many fans.

In addition to the funding that was raised from the ball, the Titans Community Foundation hasraised over $75,000 through the donation of signed jerseys and footballs just this year. Most items aredonated to local community groups, schools and for fundraisers to raise much-needed funds for sickand underprivileged children, with 95 per cent of all donated items sent out to groups in the Gold Coastcatchment area—south to Grafton and north-west to Ipswich. In the past year the foundation hasreceived 391 requests for support and we have donated 111 items, including 41 signed footballs and 48signed jerseys.

The Gold Coast Titans Community Foundation works closely with the Titans team management. Iwould like to thank CEO Michael Searle and his team for their ongoing support. The Gold Coast TitansCommunity Foundation looks forward to helping more community groups on the Gold Coast over thecoming year.


Lockyer ElectorateMr RICKUSS (Lockyer—LNP) (9.47 pm): I rise to speak about some of the concerns affecting my

electorate of Lockyer. One of the real concerns in my area would have to be the terrible state of theWarrego Highway, particularly around the Minden and Marburg ranges. People from my electoratetravel these roads every day. It is absolutely atrocious that this government continues to be lax with theway it maintains this highway. It is a federal highway represented by Shayne Neumann, a Labormember. This highway really needs some money spent on it. The Toowoomba range crossing alsoneeds some money spent on it.

Ms Male interjected. Mr RICKUSS: I take the interjection from the member for Glass House. Yes, this Labor

government is atrociously slow at funding these roads. In the 12 months under the Rudd governmentthe maintenance on this highway has turned into a farce. It is an absolute joke, particularly in Laborelectorates. I cannot believe how this government has actually let things slip in 12 months. The roadwas at least being maintained to a safe standard. Now we put up signs to indicate how dangerous theroad is. We do not fix potholes; we put up signs to indicate how dangerous the road is.

On the weekend I had David Gibson, the shadow environment spokesman, looking at theBrisbane River and the atrocious condition in which this government has left it near Mr Shine’s familyhome in the direction of Fernvale. The Brisbane River is in an atrocious condition over there, coveredwith hyacinths that evaporate three times the amount of water the sun does. I just cannot believe thatthis government has let this state slip to this standard, particularly in this glorious south-east cornerwhere I come from. It really is atrocious.

While the member for Toowoomba North is sitting there, I will mention the Toowoomba rangecrossing. He should be out there with a pick and shovel every night doing a little bit to help thegovernment out. It is absolutely atrocious. The only way that we will get it built is if you get into it, Kerry.It really is atrocious the way this government has let the ball slip on the second range crossing. It reallyis time. The pilot tunnel is through. The land is acquired. A lot of it is in my electorate from before we gotthere. What is this government doing? It is sitting on its hands. It cannot manage. It has been sowasteful in spending the government surplus left by Mr Costello. It cannot manage the economy. Itcannot manage itself. I just cannot believe how this government has let the ball slip in only 12 months.Imagine what it will be like in three years.

BP Education GrantsMs BARRY (Aspley—ALP) (9.50 pm): The only thing atrocious is the member for Lockyer’s

overacting, frankly. Mr Rickuss: I find that offensive, Mr Deputy Speaker. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Moorhead): Order! There is no personal reflection. I call the member

for Aspley. Ms BARRY: But I notice he did not say it was untrue. For the second year in a row I recently

represented the Minister for Education and Training and Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Rod Welford, atthe BP Education Grants awards. Once again, I had the opportunity to gain a firsthand view of some oftheir amazing and inspiring projects that are underway in our schools.

For the last 16 years, BP has sponsored the BP Education Grants for schools. It is a program thatpromotes innovation and collaboration in schools. It is a program that addresses the themes of scienceand technology and environmental issues and energy, which of course are amongst the most importantchallenges facing our next generation. The grants made available by BP provide $2,000—

Mr Copeland interjected.Ms BARRY: I cannot quite hear what the member for Cunningham is saying, but I am sure he will

get his chance at overacting straight after me. The grants made available by BP provide $2,000 to school projects in which schools work with

industries to make a meaningful contribution to their community and at the same time enhance theirlearning experiences. Such projects include ones from Lowood State High School. I wish the memberfor Lockyer had stayed. Lowood State High School has been a successful applicant for the past threeconsecutive years. Students at Lowood State High School produced ‘save the planet’ kits forhouseholds that make simple changes—in particular, key rings that remind you to take your green bagswith you when you go shopping. I am forever guilty of forgetting mine.

There are also programs that have community permaculture gardens with mud-brick classrooms,wind-powered composting toilets and solar-powered weather stations. They also include thedevelopment of a prototype terrarium to reduce power usage at a wildlife sanctuary. I am particularlypleased at the one from my own electorate, which is Pine Rivers Special School. Under the guidinghand of Bill Jenkins, the school conducted a motor mechanics and car maintenance program which is a


hands-on approach to learning in which students have the opportunity to disassemble, repair andreassemble parts on an early model Toyota Corolla and then sell the vehicle to raise funds to continuethe program.

Once again, I would like to say thank you to all of those schools. Twelve schools were selectedout of 56 applications to receive the grants. I would particularly like to thank the schools and theteachers who devised the projects, the businesses and communities who worked to help the studentsrealise their visions and BP.

OctobeardMr FOLEY (Maryborough—Ind) (9.53 pm): I rise to bring to the attention of the House a

wonderful night we had last week for Octobeard. For those members who do not know what Octobeardis, you can see that a hirsute man like myself has a little bit of experience with beards. Octobeard iscalled ‘the fundraiser that grows on you’ and it is to raise funds for chaplaincy in high schools. The ideais that people grow beards over a couple of months and then we have competitions for different types ofbeards. Chaplaincy provides an incredibly important link in our community, especially in the high schoolsetting—

Mr Johnson: Hear, hear! Mr FOLEY: I take the interjection of the member for Gregory. For students suffering from low self-

esteem with the breakdown in the traditional family unit, self-harming behaviours, substance abuseissues, chaplains provide a listening ear for kids who are really doing it tough. Funds are raised withOctobeard throughout the month of October to support school chaplains. As I said, they are greatlyneeded and are a wonderful and worthy asset besides the students.

Participation in Octobeard includes people growing facial hair for the month of October andseeking sponsorship for the month, with all funds going to chaplaincy. It was launched in Maryboroughby Maryborough State High School chaplain Glen Wilson in October 2006. Octobeard is now carriedunder the banner of Scripture Union. This year participants’ funds raised just over $7,000, with somefunds still to come in. We had a brilliant night at the Powerhouse in Maryborough. It was compared byPaul Truscott. We had a jazz band from Brisbane, the Chris Poulsen Trio. The judges this year on theOctobeard were me, Stuart Fern and Marissa from Radio Rhema.

Some of the categories members might find very interesting include the best and worst beard, thelongest beard, the patchiest beard, the purest and neatest beard, the most creative beard—and thisyear we saw the inclusion of best costumes and categories that females were free to enter. We hadquite a few female interlopers there with fake beards on.

Ms Darling interjected.Mr FOLEY: No, not real bearded ladies. Winners of each category received an Olympic style

medal and the runner-up a can of shaving cream, for obvious reasons. Winner of the best overall beardhad their name engraved on a perpetual shield that I have donated for this particular fundraiser and theyalso got a take-home trophy. The participant who raised the most funds for the month won a $500 giftvoucher which was generously donated by Dick Smith Electronics. I encourage all members to tune uptheir whiskers in October for anyone involved in this event. Take your chequebooks out and sponsor thisvery worthy cause for hairy participants.

BDS Logan City Sports AwardsMr BOMBOLAS (Chatsworth—ALP) (9.57 pm): Recently I had the pleasure of not only attending

but emceeing the BDS Logan City Sports Awards for 2008. Our host for the gala evening attended by400 people was Logan Mayor Pam Parker, with the major sponsor being David Kemp, whose companyBDS also sponsors, among many other things, the BDS Logan Thunder WNBL team. There were 13keenly contested categories, with Logan sports stars, administrators, volunteers, officials, coaches,organisations and events honoured. The special guest speaker was Michael Groom, a former mountainclimber based in Brisbane. His story about conquering the world’s highest peaks was inspirational, mindblowing and enthralling.

As far as the awards were concerned, rhythmic gymnast Keziah Oliver and John Paul Collegetriathlete Bryce McMaster were named young sportspersons of the year. The Administrator of the Yearwas Richard Brinkley from the Brisbane South Mountain Bike Club, while the sports veteran was MarionHermitage from the AMS Triathlon Club. Logan’s Event of the Year was deemed to be the SpringMountain Challenge Endurance Ride. Hosted by the Big Country Endurance Riders, the challengefeatured 160 horses and riders aged between five and 75.

The Sports Official went to Ray Stanley from UCI BMX. The Sports Organisation was CarbrookGolf Club. Rochedale Rovers’ senior coach, Kieran Cooper, was named Coach of the Year, while theclub’s premier league side was named Sports Team of the Year. The Elite Athlete with a Disability wasJessica Watt Hine from the Down Syndrome Down Under Swimming Association, while figure skaterKaren Clough became Sportswoman of the Year. But the big winner on the night was former Storm star


and now Broncos recruit Israel Folau. After being named Sportsman of the Year earlier in the night, theKangaroos back picked up the major award when Mayor Pam Parker named him Logan CitySportsperson of the Year.

Mrs Miller: He’s a Goodna boy. Mr BOMBOLAS: He is, too. An honourable member interjected. Mr BOMBOLAS: No, he’s a Logan boy through and through. While Israel could not attend

because he was in camp with the Kangaroos preparing for the World Cup—and at this stage I would liketo wish the Kangaroos all the best in their semifinal against Fiji on the weekend—Israel’s parents andbrother David were there and proudly accepted his awards.

I would also like to praise the teachers and students involved in the Carindale learning communitysports cluster. On Friday, 7 November I was honoured to take part in the ceremony handing outcertificates and trophies to the students. After 10 weeks of interschool sports between Carina, Mayfield,Belmont, Whites Hill and Camp Hill we celebrated champions in sports such as AFL, softball, touchfooty, basketball, flipper ball, T-ball and volleyball.

Finally, I am proud to announce that Kosta Bombolas has celebrated a family first by becoming aprefect at Mansfield State High School. I was fortunate enough to attend the leadership inductionceremony. I am very proud of my eldest son. I would like to wish him and his fellow prefects all the bestin 2009.

Ramsay State SchoolMr COPELAND (Cunningham—LNP) (10.00 pm): I have been very critical of this government,

particularly in my former role as shadow minister for education, in relation to the State Schools ofTomorrow program. The State Schools of Tomorrow program has been all about the rationalisation ofschools within Queensland and the closure of schools in those clusters that have been designated toreceive money.

I was very happy to welcome the huge injection of funding that the government put into the StateSchools of Tomorrow program when I thought that it was going to be about upgrading schools. But whatwe discovered was that it was more about the closure and rationalisation of schools in Queensland.That is what we have seen in a whole number of clusters. The Innisfail cluster is slightly different due toCyclone Larry. The communities around those schools that will be disappearing are very disappointed.

There have been a number of small schools in Queensland that sit outside those clusters thathave also been targeted for closure. One of the schools that was listed for potential closure next year,for mothballing, was the Ramsay State School in my electorate. Ramsay is a small school—one of themost beautiful schools—in my electorate. It has the most wonderful atmosphere. That was one of theschools that was listed for potential mothballing for the 2009 school year.

I am very pleased that the minister has decided not to close the Ramsay State School next year.Ramsay has fought a lot of battles over the years. It is a small school but it is a wonderful school. I havespoken about it before in this parliament. I am sure that I will speak about it again in the future.

This past week the minister advised that Ramsay would not be closing even though it was onwatch for mothballing. The school community was celebrating that decision this week. There is hugepotential for increases in enrolments at Ramsay State School. Those parents have decided that RamsayState School, being a smaller school and a warm school, is the best learning environment for theirchildren.

When it comes to education and the future of our state schools we must remember that a range ofschools need to exist because students perform better in different school environments. From what Ihave seen of the students at Ramsay State School, the parents would be very pleased with theoutcomes that their children have achieved.

I congratulate the minister on that decision. I still have very many concerns about the StateSchools of Tomorrow program. I know that there are other small schools around the state that are not asfortunate as Ramsay that have been closed. The decision has been made that they will not continue forthe 2009 school year and that is very concerning. But for Ramsay, congratulations!

AutismHon. DM WELLS (Murrumba—ALP) (10.03 pm): Queensland children in state schools are being

diagnosed with autism at more than twice the rate of such children in the other states. I table statisticsfrom the Parliamentary Library which show that one in 50 Queensland state school children have beengiven a diagnosis of autism.Tabled paper: Table of number of students with autism across Australia.

The figures are two per cent in Queensland compared with, for example, 0.56 of one per cent inVictoria.


Obviously, this staggeringly high rate of diagnosis is not due to the genetic attributes ofQueenslanders, but to the willingness of certain medical practitioners, sometimes urged on by parentsand teachers, to diagnose autism in order to attract additional resources from Education Queensland forthe child. This practice is known as ‘alternate coding’, and was exposed in the Journal of Paediatricsand Child Health by Brisbane paediatrician Dr Catherine Skellern. Her article reveals that 58 per cent ofdoctors and child psychologists responding to her survey admitted that they had at some time falselydiagnosed autism or diagnosed autism where there was some doubt in order to attract additionalresources for the child. I table Dr Skellern’s paper.Tabled paper: Article titled ‘From Complexity to category: Responding to diagnostic uncertainties of autistic spectrum disorders’.

Autism is, of course, a real condition, and those who suffer from it are entitled to a diagnosis andto our understanding and support. But the statistics suggest that a large proportion of the children whoare diagnosed with it in Queensland do not have it. False diagnoses lead to wrong treatment regimens.If, for example, a child is actually suffering from post traumatic stress, the symptoms of which overlapwith autism, treating the child as if he or she is autistic is exactly the wrong thing to do. The right thing todo is to remove the stresser. The truth of it is that there are a thousand reasons why a child may be hardto teach and autism is only one possibility.

Labelling a child autistic when they are not has enormously damaging, long-term effects. Thelabel alters the child’s self-concept, affects the attitude of their friends and those who would otherwisehave chosen to be their friends, and leads parents and teachers to expect certain behaviours and levelsof achievement.

Many of these expectations will be self-fulfilling prophesies. A false diagnosis of autism is a life-changing misfortune for the child who receives it. In Queensland, one in every 50 state system childrenreceive this diagnosis, whereas in Victoria and Western Australia it is less than one in every 150.

The practice of alternate coding is not universal. The epidemic of false diagnosis of autism isconcentrated in the suburbs around the surgeries of a limited number of practitioners, whose names andaddresses Education Queensland has. It is high time Education Queensland changed the basis onwhich it allocates resources to children who are difficult to teach. Having a requirement for a medicaldiagnosis as a precondition for additional teaching support is as absurd as requiring a dictation test as aprecondition for surgery, and merely encourages those who are prepared to do so to fit a child with alabel that does not belong to them.

I invite honourable members to consider whether they would be here today if they had beenfalsely diagnosed with autism at a young age. The culture of alternate coding is a soul-destroying formof emotional abuse, as well as a rort, and needs to be stopped.

Mazurkek, Mr TMr JOHNSON (Gregory—LNP) (10.06 pm): I want to address an issue that arose in my

electorate last week. On Monday of this week, two people made a representation to me about the plightof their 82-year-old stepfather who was transported from Quilpie to Charleville by way of the railconnection coach. That coach carries passengers between Quilpie and Charleville because there is norail access there now. They then go by train to Brisbane.

Mr Ted Mazurkek, an 82-year-old gentleman from Quilpie, and his wife, Heather, had to go toBrisbane for Mr Mazurkek’s medical treatment last week. Because it had not been arranged for him togo in the ambulance to Charleville he had to go on the rail connection coach. As a result, he laid on thefloor of the coach to Charleville and was in great stress during the 2½-hour trip of some 210 kilometres.

There are budgets for patient transfers. Whilst we always know that we cannot put a price onbudgeting for patient transfer this is a despicable situation and one that should never have arisen. Whenhis two stepchildren made their representation to me I immediately made representations to the districtoffice of the Charleville Hospital. To her credit, the director of nursing for the south-west district at theCharleville Hospital, Judy De La Cruz, immediately put in place arrangements so that Mr Mazurkekcould be transported from Charleville back to Quilpie on his return last Friday.

At the 11th hour things were not going right so I rang the office of the Minister for EmergencyServices, the Hon. Neil Roberts. I spoke with a lady named Corrine Mulholland. I pay tribute to these twowomen. At that point in time, both those ladies made absolutely certain that Mr Mazurkek and his wifewould be transported back to Quilpie by the Queensland Ambulance Service.

Both of these ladies—Ms Mulholland and Ms De La Cruz—rang me after the event to ensure thatI and my office in Longreach were alerted. I cannot help but think that there are good people still in theworld who care, and I pay tribute to both of these women. I commend them for their compassion andunderstanding for this 82-year-old man’s safe return home. At this point in time it would be inappropriateif I did not make mention of the need for the people in these outlying areas to be given notification ofwhat their entitlements are. Many people think that budget restraints are an excuse, but when it comesto transferring patients—whether it is elderly patients or any other patient for that matter—it is absolutelyparamount that we treat them with the respect and the courtesy that they deserve.

3434 Attendance 11 Nov 2008

Bulimba Electorate, Sporting Organisations

Mr PURCELL (Bulimba—ALP) (10.10 pm): With today’s modern times our lives are increasinglybusy and complicated, and the residents of the Bulimba electorate are no different. However, it is veryevident in this area that sport is still very much alive and kicking not only for the young but for everybody.Our sporting fields are now being used to their maximum, with a great number of clubs sharing facilitiesand/or working together to ensure the best possible avenues for our residents to access sport. Morechildren have been born per head of population in Bulimba than anywhere else in Australia.

Over the past few years the Bulimba electorate has seen substantial growth in junior competitionsat our sporting clubs. Southside Eagles Football Club based at Bulimba Memorial Park just off OxfordStreet is enjoying a junior base in its competition of about 50-odd teams. It also boasts a very strongcontingent of senior players including my son-in-law Joseph Ellul and his wife, my daughter Gabby. Ienjoy going down there to watch Joseph play and Jasmine, who is three, can kick a football into theback of a net with either foot. She is going to make a great soccer player.

Another large growth area is the clubhouse and sporting fields at Bulimba Park located in BulimbaStreet, Bulimba. This park was initially home of the Brisbane Valleys Junior Rugby League—and it stillis—but in recent years its facilities have been shared with other sports such as baseball, touch football,Rugby Union and, most recently, junior football. The Bulimba Junior Cricket Club had its inaugural trialseason last year for under 8s and under 9s, both boys and girls. It was a very successful trial season.

I must also talk about Riverside Junior Rugby Union Club, which has come over from EastsRugby Union because it could not get fields to play on there. Its junior members have continued toincrease. I think it has about 14 sides there now which has encouraged the committee to be very activein improving facilities and the clubhouse on site.

I want to pause here if I can to quickly thank John Moran and Keith Dudgeon of Dudgeon sports,which is a sponsor of that little cricket club which started last year. Without those two people the clubprobably would not have flown. They have put a lot of effort into it. Some of the other sponsors wereMetroplex, Seymour, Australian Country Choice, Barry Kelly of Downtown Toyota, Bruce Mathiesonfrom the ALH group at 152 Oxford Street, where his office is, and Tony Currie’s Tyres, which is also verykeen to get behind the cricket club and sponsor it this year. I thank all of those sponsors.

Another field that is going gang busters is the Cannon Hill Rugby League Club. It is opposite myoffice. It has a resurgence there. I know that the member for Chatsworth comes from there and playedhis football there along with Wally Lewis, Bobby Lindner and a lot of other greats who played theirinaugural football there. Those grounds are being used to their maximum. The Wynnum Manly LeaguesClub is giving it assistance. Also on those grounds are the Cannon Hill District Netball Association, andits numbers are growing every year. We need more courts to help it facilitate all of the girls who want toplay netball.

Our area is well looked after with the 16-footer and 18-footer sailing club and an Aussie Rulesclub which really is very successful and punches well above its weight. It is where ‘Vossey’ comes from.There is cycling at the Murarrie Reserve and men’s and women’s hockey at the hockey centre, withsome of the most successful hockey players probably anywhere in Queensland. They punch well abovetheir weight because there are more Australian men and women players from there than any other clubin the country. I want to thank the Bulimba electorate. It is certainly most alive with sport.

Time expired.

Question put—That the House do now adjourn.

Motion agreed to.

The House adjourned at 10.14 pm.

ATTENDANCE

Attwood, Barry, Bligh, Bombolas, Boyle, Choi, Copeland, Cripps, Croft, Cunningham, Darling,Dempsey, Dickson, Elmes, English, Fenlon, Finn, Flegg, Foley, Fraser, Gibson, Grace, Gray, Hayward,Hinchliffe, Hobbs, Hoolihan, Hopper, Horan, Jarratt, Johnson, Jones, Keech, Kiernan, Knuth,Langbroek, Lavarch, Lawlor, Lee Long, Lee, Lingard, Lucas, McArdle, McNamara, Male, Malone,Menkens, Messenger, Mickel, Miller, Moorhead, Mulherin, Nelson-Carr, Nicholls, Nolan, O’Brien,Palaszczuk, Pearce, Pitt, Purcell, Reeves, Reilly, Reynolds, Rickuss, Roberts, Robertson, Schwarten,Scott, Seeney, Shine, Simpson, Smith, Spence, Springborg, Stevens, Stone, Struthers, Stuckey,Sullivan, van Litsenburg, Wallace, Weightman, Welford, Wellington, Wells, Wendt, Wettenhall, Wilson

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