Hon. RM BATES (Mudgeeraba—LNP) (Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts):

I rise to speak on the Queensland Art Gallery Amendment Bill, a bill which will establish a foundation committee to raise funds to assist in the fulfilment of the Queensland Art Gallery board’s functions. The current Queensland Art Gallery Foundation has been in place since 1979 and has raised over $70 million in donations, bequests and gifts of artworks from both private and corporate donors. Work sourced through the foundation constitutes about one-third of the gallery’s collection and includes masterpieces by such renowned artists as Ian Fairweather, Sally Gabori and Tracey Moffatt.

Hon. RM BATES (Mudgeeraba—LNP) (Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts) (6.10 pm): I rise tonight to speak in support of the Criminal Law (False Evidence Before Parliament) Amendment Bill 2012. As members are aware, the foundation of any democracy is the public’s trust in their elected

representatives.

Without that trust the Queensland parliament cannot function effectively. Someone who knew this well was Sir Samuel Griffith. In Queensland, and indeed across Australia, he made sure elected members were held accountable, keeping them in high regard. I am sure members know that Sir Samuel was Premier of Queensland, the principal author of the federal Constitution, Chief Justice of the Queensland Supreme Court and, most relevantly for this debate, the author of the first successful codification of English criminal law.

Eight years ago at the 2006 Queensland election, after giving it my all and doorknocking on thousands of doors, I was defeated in Mudgeeraba by a narrow margin. Today, though, I am pleased to report that after two elections I now have a majority of almost 26 per cent.

As I look around the chamber I am struck by how common this story has become. The members for Burleigh, Ipswich West, Greenslopes, Stretton and Toowoomba North, amongst others, were all defeated in an election prior to taking their seat in this place.

Ms BATES (Mudgeeraba-LNP) (5.28 pm): I rise to make a contribution to the debate on the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Bill 2011. I support the passage of this long overdue bill because it is of paramount importance for us as legislators to maximise the safety and protection of those who experience domestic violence, especially vulnerable children.

I was brought up in a small country town where spousal and family abuse were all too common an occurrence. Sadly, whilst the whole town was well aware of which families were subjected to abuse, the norm at the time was to turn a blind eye.

I and many of my schoolfriends came to school with excuses for our black eyes. The
teachers and the nuns knew, but did nothing about it. To this day many of us jump when doors are slammed or we react badly when people get too close or yell in our faces.

The local constabulary also knew of these incidents. Sadly, it takes a lot of guts as a battered wife or a child to make a complaint in the first place. Generally it was first a visit to diffuse the situation and then the families knew that retribution would follow the next Friday night after the pub closed.

The option of leaving the relationship is often seen as an unrealistic option. Research indicates that persons who suffer violence may perceive a lack of alternatives. The option of leaving back then was easier said than done. Many of these relationships involved supposedly citizens of good standing-the local schoolteacher et cetera.

Divorce was also not an option previously, especially if you were a churchgoer.
It was seen as a failing by the women, not the abusive husband. Leaving when you had no income with little kids is also a reason many women still stay in abusive relationships even today. Coupled with the lack of safe houses for abused families-and we have that issue on the Gold Coast-many feel that they are trapped with no way out.

In relation to this bill I agree that there should be real deterrents in place to make sure that offenders are held responsible for their actions. I commend the minister for bringing this bill to the House. The fact that police will be given greater powers, including the capacity to issue a police protection notice, is a good development and one that was sorely needed. Significantly, if a police officer believes a person or their property is in danger of injury or damage they can take that person into
custody.

The police officer must then apply for a protection order as soon as practicable. The person can be held in custody until it is practicable to bring them before a court or until the issuing of an order, until an adjournment, until an application is prepared, until the safety of an aggrieved child can be arranged, until intoxication has worn off or until their behaviour is no longer threatening.

I agree wholeheartedly with the contribution from the member for Townsville that it is not the families that are fault it is the perpetrator.

Also for the first time there will be other real consequences in place for those who thumb their noses and flout the law by breaching orders and notices. It is also important to empower our frontline police, particularly those attached to the Domestic and Family Violence Unit. They need all the tools they can to do this job properly.

The worst thing for the police is that they spend so many hours in a shift
dealing with family violence to find only the next day that the wife has gone back to the home because she has nowhere else to go. The police must be properly resourced and trained if this legislation is to be truly effective at the coalface.

We also need to ensure that domestic violence intervention programs are properly funded and resourced. In the interests of natural uniformity and consistency across state and territory borders, it is important that the Family Court of Australia be invited to participate in the development of information sharing protocols with all relevant Queensland agencies dealing with family and domestic violence issues.

Domestic violence does not stop at state border lines so it is important to have a coordinated national approach. The committee unanimously supported the passage of this bill and I, along with every member in this House, also support this bill unanimously.

The bottom line is that the Treasurer's much hyped Building Boost program had failed to live up to expectations. The figures for the end of last year are insightful and speak plainly for themselves.

The reality is that only 5,481 applications were received instead of the 14,000 expected. Of these, only 3,511 have been approved as at 10 February 2012. In other terms, out of the allocated $140 million, just over $35 million has been approved since the program's inception in August. No wonder the Treasurer had to backflip and extend the grant's deadline beyond January, as the original deadline of 31 January was unobtainable and unrealistic.

Everyone knows that the building industry has its traditional shutdown period during December and January. Building activity is always slow during this time of year, as is easily demonstrated by the drop in applications from December to January, when the number of applications dropped by half. The stamp duty concession has wiped out many of the real, tangible benefits.

The real problem in the building industry is the $7,000 slug on the cost of a family home that was introduced in the last budget. This has had a bad effect on housing affordability, especially with aspiring homeowners already struggling to pay increased cost-of-living expenses such as high electricity, water and vehicle registration bills. Most people do not yet realise that the Building Boost program is directly funded by the axing of the stamp duty concession on people's principal place of residence. This was underhanded and sneaky.

Another reason the boost has been a dismal failure with homeowners is the widespread confusion about the basics of the program. Many aspiring homeowners mistakenly thought the Building Boost was the first home owner grant. Investors were also confused, thinking that the grant could only be used once.

The industry knew right from the start that this stimulus program was a dud, particularly given that the $600,000 house and land property cap is far too low for most areas in South-East Queensland. A QMBA survey conducted late last year revealed that 78 per cent of members had said that the boost had had nil effect in generating extra business. It is going to get much worse for the residential building industry with the impacts of the looming carbon tax, which industry experts say could impose further extra costs of up to $10,000 depending on compensatory agreements and arrangements.

Why has Labor decided to tax the building industry so heavily at such a difficult time? Should governments not try to ease the tax and regulatory burdens in tough times, not increase them?

The building industry is not looking for a handout; it wants a hand up in this difficult time, not a triple whammy of taxes. The truth is that this state government is so debt ridden that it has become hopelessly addicted to its over reliance on counterproductive and archaic taxes such as stamp duty.

Even the federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, a Queensland Labor man to his bootstraps, had warned, but they did not listen. Stamp duty has become the Bligh government's drug of choice. Not only have they put the great Australian dream of homeownership further out of reach; they are also sending record numbers of contractors to the wall, choked in taxes and red and green tape.

Contractors are doing it tough right around the state. I am from the Gold Coast and I can tell honourable members that things are grim down there. Yesterday's figures revealed that there has been only an eight per cent increase in approvals for the Gold Coast. That is further evidence that much more is needed to assist the construction industry than just this bill.

Today I take the opportunity to re-pledge the LNP's commitment to scrap Labor's $7,000 stamp duty tax on people's principal place of residence. The LNP will support this bill because the industry has asked for the boost to be extended. It must be remembered that it is just a short-term sugar hit and that that is no substitute for long-term stamp duty relief-unlike our policy, outlined earlier by the member for Clayfield, which will help the building industry. The building industry has certainly consulted widely with us and that is evidenced by their third-party endorsement of our policy. Our pledge is to work with the construction industry to recognise its importance as one of the four pillars of recovery for a better Queensland.

I rise to speak on the Bligh Government's NBN announcement, which is full of empty motherhood statements and is a classic case of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

With no robust business case to support the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history, and low levels of uptake, we again have the situation where the government is spending taxpayers' money like drunken sailors, and now according to the government, taxpayers should justify why this is being done.

We recall the ICT Minister's recent infamous statement to the media that "it is only government money" that is being spent -not real money. Was it Government money that was used on the Health payroll debacle which cost tax-payers a staggering $280M and counting!

And the debacle of IDES at $23,000 dollars per email, the cost of a small family car! And now the Minister has given us another one of his gems:

In a media release on February 8, 201, the Minister said:

"We cannot just wait and see how the NBN might improve our lives - for it to be truly successful and to make the most of the opportunities it presents, it is up to all of us to engage, collaborate and explore new ways to use it," Mr. Finn said.

In other words:

"We have no idea of what we are doing or why we are spending taxpayers' money, but taxpayers should get out there and find out why we are doing are."

The NBN announcement has been made without proper consultation with the ICT industry. Why did the minister ignore and make no reference to the Access Economic Report on Digital Economy in Queensland, or the Longhaus Report on the challenges of the Digital Economy in Queensland?

Overall the plan contains nothing new, it shows a glaring disconnect in Government agencies between DEEDI and the  QGCIO. It mixes up key issues and provides no clarity for small business owners in desperate need!  Of more concern is Labors threat of internally building a state wide wireless network for emergency services against their own policy.

Bespoke models are risky and should only be done as a last resort.

The truth is this government continues to fritter away tax-payer's money

Ms BATES (Mudgeeraba-LNP) (8.04 pm): Since last December, the state's beleaguered residential building industry has been hit by yet another Labor tax-this time with the Bligh government's new waste levy kicking in. What a swift kick it has been, especially to an industry that is already on its knees and doing it tough courtesy of a deep and protracted downturn in building activity.

This new waste tax, which will add up to $3,000 onto the cost of building a new home, represents another instalment in a triple whammy of Labor taxes. Firstly, we saw the Bligh government scrap the time-honoured stamp duty concession on the family home which was worth around $7,000.

Then came Labor's carbon tax- which no-one on that side of the parliament actually objected to-which will come into effect later this year. It is said that the carbon tax will add another $10,000 onto the cost of constructing a new home, depending on compensatory arrangements. Now, to top it off, we have the Bligh government's brand new waste tax.

The member for Waterford's comments are retrospective. Tonight we are actually debating the destruction of small business under a Labor government. Seven miniskip businesses have gone out of business, and local Mudgeeraba businesses say that there has been a 58 per cent increase in the cost of hiring skips.

Significantly, the combined value of these three new Labor taxes is estimated by industry to add up to $20,000 onto the cost of building a new home. This will put the great Australian dream of homeownership out of reach for many more struggling families.

I am talking about hard pressed families who are already hit hard by the cost-of-living increases in water and electricity charges as well as vehicle registration costs. I am talking about battling working families trying desperately to beat the rent
trap to own their own home.

These incremental increases in Labor's taxes, fees and charges are killing the great Australian dream in droves. This rubbish tax is the final chapter so far in Labor's terrible trilogy of new taxes.

Not only is it a business-destroying tax; it is also ill considered. It is irresponsible and reckless in the extreme for the Bligh government to rush ahead with this tax without first understanding the full ramifications of Labor's carbon tax.

The fact is that the Bligh government has failed to conduct any comprehensive analysis on the full effect of the combined carbon tax and industry waste levy on Queensland's beleaguered building industry.

The government should do the right thing in these economically challenging times and re-examine this latest tax. Not only does this waste tax represent another broken
election promise; it is yet another cynical cost-shifting exercise to local governments, who are being forced to pass along the extra cost to both consumers and contractors.

Let us not forget that this state government is known for reneging on green agreements with local governments-as it did in the very week that it foisted this expensive waste tax on Queenslanders.

The Bligh government was so cash-strapped and broke that it had to pull out of the Brisbane City Council's EzyGreen initiative. It was also politically motivated. It was no coincidence that the government had to withdraw its support because it did not want to support a successful environmental initiative established by whom?

Campbell Newman.

Further, this tax also has the potential to be a recycling disincentive and undo valuable investment in alternative waste technology initiatives. The fact that funds raised by this new tax will not be ploughed back into research and development or waste related programs is further evidence that this is just another greedy Labor tax grab and part of a grubby Greens preference deal.

While the government is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Queenslanders by calling this tax a waste levy, no-one really believes that it will actually help the environment. This is just another onerous tax that has been introduced by Labor to capture Greens preferences rather than truly achieve actual green outcomes.

The waste levy will also lead to massive increases in illegal dumping, as surely
as night follows day. Discarded building materials, including deadly asbestos-containing materials, may well end up in our state forests and our national parks, triggering a whole range of serious public health issues. It will be an unintended consequence resulting from this ill-considered legislation.

This waste tax will significantly affect the viability of many struggling contractors. For many it will be the final nail in the coffin, sending them to the wall. For so many, it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, especially with them also looking down the barrel of a looming carbon tax.

Why has Labor decided to tax the building industry so heavily at such a time-when building activity is at an all-time low? Is it not the role of responsible government to ease the tax and regulatory burdens in such tough economic times?

It is not only building contractors who will suffer as a direct result of this regulation; renovating homeowners are also getting hit hard by the new dump fees. This tax will hurt every Queenslander, because many local government and businesses will be forced to pass on the cost to ratepayers and customers.

For example, residential aged-care operators will have their waste charges hiked by at least 35 per cent.

The bottom line is that these taxes are impacting negatively on housing affordability.

This shortsighted Labor tax grab is all about raising revenue. This bankrupt Bligh government has lost the state's AAA credit rating. It has racked up a staggering debt of $85 billion, incurring interest payments of just under $600,000 per hour.

An LNP government will scrap Labor's waste tax.

This is an omnibus Bill which includes minor changes to the Building Act 1975, the Local Government Act 2009, and the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002.

As the Shadow Minister for the Building Industry I will direct my comments to those amendments pertaining to the construction industry.

Labor has had years in most cases to deliver these changes and have failed to do so until now.

It is five to midnight before an election, and yet Labor has failed to deliver on important changes on reducing red tape for plumbers.

The LNP has been successful in having a number of issues considered for amendment in the Committee Report including ensuring the DLGP monitor the number of audits undertaken under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002, levels of compliance and financial impact on local governments to ensure fees charged continue to be comparable to the cost of the audits.

The proposed amendments to the Building Act 1975 will align the terminology used in the Building Act 1975 more closely with the National Accreditation Framework for Building Surveyors while maintaining three levels of building certifiers in Queensland, and make other minor amendments to the Building Act 1975.

Evidence provided to the committee suggests that the relationship between land use and building matters is a long standing arrangement in Queensland that is widely accepted and ensures that there is consistency across the state.

The amendments are intended to provide further clarity about this relationship.

The stakeholders of the Building Industry Consultative group generally supported the proposal to align terminologies.
The Queensland Building Services Authority did indicate that some time would be needed to update their licensing systems to reflect the new terms.

The amendments to the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002 aim to achieve red tape reductions for plumbers by allowing more work to be self‐certified by expanding the existing Notifiable Minor Works regime to include other routine plumbing work and to amend the Plumbing Code of Australia terminology and enable recovery of disciplinary monetary penalties imposed as debts.

The amendments within the bill aim to ensure that businesses and the community are not burdened by unnecessary red tape or compliance costs related to routine plumbing work carried out under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002.

Ultimately, these amendments should result in lower fees for the plumbing industry and consumers.

There appears to be wide support for the amendments to the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002 from stakeholders, even if there are some concerns regarding the details.

Evidence also suggests that several key stakeholders have larger concerns regarding the amendments and the consultation process.

These concerns included the possible loss of information on underground services, the failure rate for self‐certified work performed since the inception of the modified Form 4 process, and the adequate, the quality of the plumbing and drainage work is at risk.

Additionally, the removal of renovation work from compliance assessment has the potential to create a dual standard.

There are a number of LNP policy commitments made under our Property and Construction Strategy that are related to the Bill which include:

• Work with Local Government and industry to fix the Sustainable Planning Act to ensure the best planning system for industry, Local Governments and communities.

• Reduce complexity and increase certainty by minimising the introduction of any new State Planning Policies and State Planning Regulatory Provisions (except where State Planning Regulatory Provisions are needed to implement Regional Plans)

• Ensure appropriate industry and Local Government consultation and a cost benefit analysis before the introduction of changes to the planning system.

• Restore certainty and efficiency to planning and development assessment processes.

• Ensure that any reform activities and subsequent changes to the planning framework consider the need for, and the impact on Queensland's economic growth.

• Develop a better model for funding infrastructure that provides alternatives to the imposition of upfront charges.

• Wind back the Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA), and identify appropriate powers and efficiencies with a view to mainstreaming them to Local Government.

The Liberal National Party will be supporting this legislation with amendments as recommended in the Committee's Report.

Significantly, in 2007 prior to the federal election, Labor promised to retain all existing private health insurance rebates, but they have reneged - just like they have reneged on other core election promises.

The move to cut the private health insurance rebate makes no sense at all, and it will have huge ramifications here in Queensland, especially at a time when people are doing it tough.

The cost of living pressures are getting much worse as water, electricity, public transport and vehicle registration charges continue to rise.

And even this week things have got awhole lot tougher with the major banks raising their interest rates, even though the Reserve Bank did not alter the cash rate.
The looming Labor Carbon Tax will also put further stress on people's hip pocket nerves in a big way.

Cutting the private health insurance rebate won't just be felt by those on higher incomes who will incur up to a 43 percent increase in their premiums, but it will adversely affect all Queenslanders who have private health insurance and those who do not.

Those currently with insurance will now have to make a decision whether they can afford the higher premiums. Some will downgrade to a lower level of cover with less options, but many others will have no choice but to drop out altogether, as they are already stretched to the limit - leveraged and mortgaged to the eyeballs.

Those who can't afford the increased premiums will now be forced to join the many thousands languishing on the waiting lists at Queensland's public hospitals.

Less people being treated in private hospitals means more people being treated in public hospitals. The stressed system will become more stressed, and waiting times for surgery and in emergency departments will blow-out even more.

Pressure on the Australian public hospital system will sharply increase as more than 845,000 additional treatments as people withdraw from costly private cover.

I am from the Gold Coast and let me give you some local examples:

• More than 2,000 Gold Coasters are waiting to see a neurosurgeon, while other specialists have patients waiting 3 years for an appointment
• The Gold Coast Health District is facing a $33M budget deficit this financial year
• Massive cut backs are being made across Gold Coast Health after the district last year went over budget to the tune of $16.4 million.

What happens to the over-stretched Gold Coast public system when some of the estimated 320,000 Gold Coasters with private health insurance either downgrade or drop their cover, particularly given we have an older average than the rest of the nation, and it is generally accepted that the elderly usually require more medical services?

I can almost see the ambulances ramping-up to the choked Emergency Departments already.

We have a higher rate of private health insurance on the coast than the rest of Queensland because our local public system is so run-down.

This move to cut the private health insurance rebate is a recipe for disaster, especially for Gold Coasters.

The Federal Labor Government and the Greens would have us believe that only a few high income earners will be impacted by the proposed means testing, but nothing can be further from the truth.

A means test means everyone suffers and pays in one form or another.

More than 2.4 million people with health fund memberships will face immediate premium increases.

Private Health cover is not just for rich people. Of the 11.6 million privately insured Australians - 5.6 million of them have an annual income less than $50,000.

Furthermore, when people drop their private health insurance coverage, the insurance pool shrinks with those that are left facing higher premiums. This has a profound knock-on effect.

Higher insurance premiums make insurance more unaffordable for more people, so they drop their coverage and premiums rise again.

It is a vicious circle.

The Federal Government has produced figures saying up to 30,000 may quit private health insurance, but independent analysis says it is likely to be hundreds of thousands, adding up to 2.8M over 5 years.

The situation in Queensland's overloaded hospital system is in crisis mode, and it simply can't handle the extra strain.

The LNP firmly believes that all Queenslanders should have a real choice when it comes to healthcare. Providing affordable private health insurance should be a priority of governments of all persuasions.

Queensland already has one of the lowest private hospital cover rates in Australia, and this will just makes things worse and put further pressure on front line health staff, who are trying to do their best under very difficult conditions.

The move to cut private health insurance is a classic and blatant case of cost-shifting from the Commonwealth to the States' over-stretched public systems and it should be condemned.

While I steadfastly believe the LNP water plan is much better, we note the SEQ Council of Mayors has requested the bill be passed to give them greater clarity. On that basis, the LNP will not be opposing the Bill, but I have some observations to make and some serious concerns to articulate.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Labor's failed water reforms have resulted in massive increases in the cost of water for taxpayers and ratepayers.

This comes at a time when consumers are also facing huge hikes in electricity and vehicle registration charges, but The Bligh Labor government could not care less about reducing cost of living pressures.

It's a big spend - high debt government.

The ill-fated Traveston Dam and the Gold Coast Desalination Plant are just two brazen examples of Labor's monumental waste and incompetence.

That's why the LNP has released a four point water plan to reduce water prices and hand councils back control of water distribution and retailing.

The decision by Gold Coast City Council, along with Logan and Redlands to withdraw from its distributor-retailer, Allconnex is not surprising, especially given the price hikes with the bulk water prices, which are set by this state government.

What is surprising is the timing of this Bill. It was referred to the Committee on the 11 October last year and the Committee was not required to report back until the 5 April this year.

However, a parliamentary committee last Friday tabled its report last Friday and recommended the Bill be passed - 2 months before it was due - without any debate in this chamber.

Have no doubts, this is rushed legislation, and it will not fix the root causes of this shambolic situation.

In 2006 the councils were systematically stripped of their existing water assets and rights to conduct their water businesses, and this was replaced with the current system which has given us a number of retail and bulk water entities, such as SEQ Water.

This Bill today represents a reversal of the Government's position and is a tacit admission that it got it wrong in the first place.

Councils should be empowered to conduct their own water business.

The state Labor government says water bills are capped to the Consumer Price Index, but consumers are paying much more than that because LABOR controls bulk water pricing.

The LNP's Four Point Plan for Water Prices includes:

• One bulk water entity to provide greater efficiencies;

• Hand back control of water distribution and retailing to councils who previously did a far better job of managing water resources than the Bligh government ever did;

• Write off some of the non-performing water grid assets to reduce sharp price rises;

• Immediately adopt a 40-year price path to repay the State Government's $7 billion water grid debt over the economic life of the assets, which will also reduce the price of water.

The LNP will not be opposing this legislation as councils affected such as the Gold Coast require certainty.