Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

With respect to the provisions of infrastructure and government facilities, I must say that I hold a fairly old-fashioned view. I believe that Australians, regardless of what state or town they live in, are entitled to a reasonable level of infrastructure and facilities and that just because an area at a certain level of government may well have voted for, say, as in our case, the Liberal-National Party as opposed to Labor that area ought not be treated as an area not worthy of government support.

I was extremely disturbed at the announcement by the Queensland Labor government in its budget recently that the desperately needed hospital that had been promised by the Labor government in 2005 for Kawana Waters in my electorate has become the victim of yet another delay, with the government announcing a further two-year wait for this vital infrastructure. The hospital was originally due to be opened in 2012. That was changed to 2014. Now the government has announced that it will be delayed until 2016, which is seven years away.

The Sunshine Coast is one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia. In fact, it is the most desirable area of our country in which to live, and people move from the rust belt areas of southern Australia like South Australia, Tasmania and other places to come to the Sunshine Coast. In fact, those who do not move there go there to holiday because it is a wonderful area. It has a tremendous environment, a welcoming people and warm and welcoming weather. But we do as a consequence have increasing infrastructure needs. The Sunshine Coast is one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia and our population will double over the next 10 to 15 years. We are desperately short of hospital beds, and the provision of those beds to meet what is essentially everyday demand has slipped well down the state Labor government priority list. This is unacceptable for the residents of the area, those of the Kawana Waters area and the former city of Caloundra in particular, who, like other Australians, deserve the provision of appropriate health services.

A report entitled Sunshine Coast-Wide Bay southern cluster projected inpatient bed requirements 2009 also strongly suggests that the region needs more hospital beds. The report goes so far as to predict that if current growth trends continue, by 2016 more than 300 local patients daily will be spending nights in Brisbane hospitals due to massive local bed shortages. The news of the delay for the new hospital was accompanied by the state government’s announcement that it is now seeking an investor to build a private hospital, with the government to rent beds in the new facility for public patients. However, this remains a stopgap measure that will not satisfy local needs and will also not address the real likelihood that more and more local patients and their families will be forced to travel to Brisbane for treatments that require hospital stays.

This hospital fiasco is one of a mounting list of problems that have festered under the leadership of Anna Bligh and the state Labor government and are now conveniently blamed on the challenging economic times. Queensland has been the engine room of the Australian economy. We have had a successive governments, both National-Liberal and Labor, which in recent times have been able to recognise the fact that this is a part of Australia which is uniquely blessed. From the time of the Bjelke-Petersen government, we have had sound economic management. Whatever comments you might make in relation to other aspects of that government—and there would be a range of views on the performance of that government generally—with respect to economics what the former National government in Queensland did was outline the philosophy that governments, like private households, cannot spend more than they earn. The concept of constant deficit budgeting became extremely unpopular in the community because if you have zero debt it means you are not paying interest and it means that as a government you are able to meet the infrastructure costs of a growing community.

But, unfortunately, the legacy of the former Liberal National government in Queensland and also former Labor governments has been squandered by the Bligh Labor government—

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