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

It is outrageous, as the Second Deputy Speaker points out. All this could have been avoided. The Maple Street Co-operative has always cooperated with all regulatory bodies and often invited officers to bring their staff up to date on current compliance and regulations. Therefore, had the opportunity been given, they would have been open to discussing the problems relating to unpasteurised milk instead of being dragged to court. The Queensland Health department must have spent tens of thousands of dollars in court appearances. There were 12 Queensland Health officers there to persecute the Maple Street Co-operative. It would have been much more sensible for them not to sell the milk or to put it in a separate fridge. It is disappointing that Queensland Health sought to be so vindictive at a time when they simply were not able to pay their own health workers. Queensland has lots of health problems as a state. The hospital system, of course, needs infusions of money, and we find a situation where Queensland Health is prosecuting in a Nazi-like way a local co-op. That is entirely unacceptable to the local community. It is unacceptable to the health workers who were not being paid. Frankly, it is government gone mad. It is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars It is a criminal misuse of the public money to persecute and prosecute a small local co-op that does such a wonderful job of producing wholesome food and other healthy products for use by the local community.

Frankly, if someone wants to buy Cleopatra’s Bath Milk, or for that matter any sort of raw milk for cosmetic purposes, that should be a matter for the purchaser. If that person chooses to use it in another way then that is a matter, of course, for that person as well. I think it was wrong for Queensland Health to act in the absolutely disgraceful way it did in this situation. I call on the Queensland health minister to resign over this persecution of the local co-op.

Still referring to milk, I would like to draw to the attention of the House the plight of local Sunshine Coast milk producers, who have been disadvantaged by the decision by Coles and Woolworths to cut the price of milk to an unsustainable level, which will make it very difficult for dairy farmers to continue to produce in the long term the wonderful product that is so healthy and good for people to consume. I can understand that consumers are pleased to be able to walk into Coles and Woolworths and buy cheap milk—and, in fact, I understand that, in a country town not far from the Sunshine Coast hinterland, two litres of milk is now being sold for $1.87, as a loss leader as well—but it is unfortunate when producers are disadvantaged.

It will be only a matter of time, despite what Coles and Woolworths are saying, until dairy farmers are asked to subsidise this price war. It is important to recognise that dairy farmers are very important members of our community. They contribute to their local community. It is unfortunate when they are the victims of this kind of pricing, because, ultimately, our health as a community will be much reduced if we do not have a viable dairy industry. My concern is that the artificial price of milk in Coles and Woolworths will in the longer term, despite what Coles and Woolworths say, ultimately push down the price being received by milk producers to an unsustainable level and many milk producers will be unable to remain in that industry and our community as a whole will be poorer for the fact that we will not have local producers producing milk for their communities.

On the Sunshine Coast we have a number of local milk producers and obviously there are many dairy farmers. Ross Hopper and Maleny Dairies do a wonderful job of producing very high-quality milk. People are prepared to pay a good price because of the very high quality that Maleny Dairies produce. So, while I can understand that consumers enjoy being able to buy milk at the prices currently offered by Coles and Woolworths, I have a concern that in the long term dairy farmers will be made to pay the price for this price war. If we are going to lose dairy farmers from the industry, then I do not believe this is an appropriate way to go.

I now turn to the need for major infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast, particularly the need to accelerate the building of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, which has been delayed by the Queensland Labor government. There is growth in this community. The state Labor government has now taken out of the hands of the Sunshine Coast Council planning authority for the Caloundra South development, which will have more than 40,000 new people, and the Palmview development, which will have something like 16,000 new people. Clearly, if we are going to have this dramatically increased population on the Sunshine Coast, we need vital infrastructure, including the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and an upgrade of the Bruce Highway to six lanes all the way from Caboolture to the Sunshine Coast.

When we were in government we were able to obtain funding from the Howard government to upgrade the Bruce Highway to six lanes from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast, and that removed the worst bottleneck at the time between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, given that you regularly visit the Sunshine Coast, you would be aware that over the years the volume of traffic on the Bruce Highway has continued to grow and the amount of time it takes to get from the capital city to the Sunshine Coast has become increasingly unacceptable.

We need to make sure that construction of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital is accelerated. Given that many people move from southern parts of Australia to the Sunshine Coast at a stage in their lives when they have increasing health needs, it is important to make sure that the Sunshine Coast University Hospital is built as quickly as possible so that people who do need medical and hospital services are able to access those services on the Sunshine Coast rather than travelling to Brisbane to the large hospitals there. The Nambour Hospital is a wonderful hospital. The Caloundra hospital is very good. But, ultimately, with the growth in our population, the facilities we have are simply not enough to meet the needs of a growing population.

It is important that a medical precinct and a technology precinct be located in the area around where the Sunshine Coast University Hospital is to be constructed. Those precincts will add to the presence of the university hospital as well as creating employment. Employment is one of the major problems we have on the Sunshine Coast. While we have lots of young families in addition to lots of retirees, unfortunately when young people leave school or tertiary education there are not anywhere near enough jobs on the Sunshine Coast. The university hospital, a technology precinct and a medical precinct—all high-tech industries, in much the same way as can be seen in some parts of Taiwan—would greatly advantage the local community and local young people, and would benefit the state of Queensland as a whole.

I think it is really important that the federal government look at supporting the Queensland government with respect to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. People are sick and tired of the blame game and the buck being passed back and forth. The sooner we have the Sunshine Coast University Hospital constructed, the better our community will be. That will also remove the pressure on people who have to travel from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane. It will reduce pressure on facilities in Brisbane because people on the Sunshine Coast will be able to be treated locally rather than having to travel to the capital city.

The final point I make is that I would like to see the government accelerate the upgrading of the Bruce Highway from four lanes to six lanes all the way from Caboolture to the Sunshine Coast. I was very concerned when I read that the government intended to cut funding from the Bruce Highway upgrade to enable the government to make part of its contribution towards flood reconstruction. While everyone supports flood reconstruction, it ought not to be at the cost of upgrading the Bruce Highway. If the government were a sound economic manager, it would not need the levy. It would have the money for the restoration after the floods and, also, it would have the money to upgrade the Bruce Highway to six lanes. So I call on the government to urgently upgrade the highway to six lanes from Caboolture to the Sunshine Coast.

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