Every step the Palaszczuk Government has taken throughout the integrity crisis that has blown up in Queensland has been an attempt to relieve pressure and avoid the genuine scrutiny of a Royal Commission. For weeks a chorus of Queenslanders – including current and former public servants who are speaking out – have been calling for a genuine inquiry into the government. For weeks, the Premier has stonewalled.

I support calls for a wide-ranging inquiry into the state of Government in Queensland. The findings made by the committee I chair in Parliament about the Crime and Corruption Commission – that it failed to always act independently and impartially, among others – were, to put it mildly, very serious, and diminished public confidence in that organisation. It is now subject to a Royal Commission, and the claims aired bravely by other public servants about the conduct of the QLD Government should be examined in a similar way.

Another “review” conducted by a person who donated to the Labor Party ahead of the last election (as announced by the Premier last week) is not the Royal Commission we need. 

THE STATE GOVERNMENT MUST LISTEN TO HEALTH SOLUTIONS
The LNP is urging the QLD Government to introduce immediate and genuine solutions to fix the Queensland Health crisis. For more than a year, we have been putting forward positive solutions to fix the Queensland Health Crisis, including real-time data in our hospitals, improving triaging, an investment in more beds, and empowering front line clinicians to make local decisions to ensure hospitals run smoothly. 
The health system has been in decline for the past seven years, and the QLD Government isn’t keeping up with population growth and demand. Under this Government, ambulance ramping has soared, ED department wait times are through the roof, and the surgery waiting lists have ballooned – all of this was happening before COVID. The Gold Coast – the region into which Tamborine Mountain fits from a hospital perspective – is short 420 beds, and this shortage will rise to 731 beds by 2031 unless action is taken. The LNP has been pressuring the Government about the need for a new hospital on the northern Gold Coast (in addition to my constant lobbying for better services at Beaudesert Hospital). This region only has 1.87 beds per 1000 population, which is well behind the national rate of 2.5 beds per 1000 people.

Our dedicated doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals are the ones holding our hospitals together while the State Government fails to properly resource them. The LNP will not stop fighting for better patient care and properly resourcing our hospitals.

If you have an issue that you think should be fixed, I encourage you to contact my office, toll-free on 1800 813 960, so I can lobby on your behalf in Brisbane.