Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to highlight some good news for the people of Moncrieff and the people of the Gold Coast, but particularly for the people who are in the Gaven electorate. The good news is the backflip that the Labor state Premier, Peter Beattie, performed recently. In fact, it was announced yesterday. The introduction of copayments and means testing for public hospitals in Queensland has been Queensland Labor government policy, and Peter Beattie and his supporter in Mudgeeraba Diane Reilly have both indicated their support. It has been a concern of mine and of the Liberal Party, and in particular of the Liberal candidate in Mudgeeraba, Ros Bates, that the Beattie Labor state government would look at trying to do what it could to extract additional money out of patients who need critical care in public hospitals, to make up for the fact that the Beattie state government has blundered so badly when it comes to the Queensland public health system. So I welcome the decision that was taken—the backflip that the Beattie Labor government made yesterday—to announce that it would not introduce further copayments or means testing for public patients. I welcome that because it is in the best interests of those who need to use the public health system, particularly in the state seat of Gaven but, more broadly, in the state seat of Mudgeeraba as well as broadly across the Gold Coast.

I would also like to highlight some additional backflips that I would welcome the Beattie government making. Most importantly for the people of Mudgeeraba and Gaven, a welcome backflip that Premier Beattie could make would be to finally fund and build the Nielsens Road interchange. Recently I had the opportunity to speak on my beloved ABC about the fact that the Nielsens Road interchange was not being built by the Queensland state Labor government. Despite this fact, the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Paul Lucas, denied that the Queensland state government had responsibility for a state road and said that, because the Nielsens Road interchange was in the vicinity of the M1, that in some way meant the federal government should pay, at the very least, half of the cost of this work on state controlled and state owned roads.

The great problem with this is that the Howard government has already pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the M1 and hundreds of millions of dollars into the Gold Coast City Council and Queensland state government coffers to do exactly this—to construct the Nielsens Road interchange. I am very disappointed that the Queensland Labor government seems to be completely unprovoked by the state Labor member for Mudgeeraba and the former state Labor member for Gaven being advocates for the constituents in their electorates and highlighting the crucial importance of the completion of the Nielsens Road interchange.

It is simply not good enough that the state government washes its hands of the need to complete this vital piece of infrastructure. It is simply not good enough that the state government runs once again to Canberra and says, ‘We need you to fund this in order to solve this problem.’ I will continue to speak and be an advocate for the people of that region, the people of Moncrieff, who rely on this major arterial road to service the suburbs in Mudgeeraba and Gaven.

The fact remains that the hundreds of millions of dollars that the state government has received from the Howard government are in the coffers of the state government and are able to be utilised by the state government to build the Nielsens Road interchange. I welcome recent moves by the state Liberal candidate for Mudgeeraba, Rosalind Bates, who has highlighted the appalling state of congestion on Nielsens Road and Alexander Drive. I welcome the fact that you can readily find Rosalind Bates standing on the side of the road handing out petitions to passing vehicles, many of which are barely moving, as they queue up in the long line of cars slowly making their way into the Gold Coast City for work.

It is very important that we continue to apply the pressure that is required and necessary to prod this state Labor government into action. The fact remains that, without this prodding by the state Liberal candidate and by me at a federal government level, the Brisbane based, Brisbane focused and Brisbane biased Beattie Labor government would simply refuse to do what the people of the Gold Coast need and would refuse to acknowledge that the Gold Coast has unique demands, by virtue of the fact that it is the fastest growing region in Australia and that the people of the Gold Coast continue to experience significant upsurges in population. I urge them to do more and I call on them to complete this road. (Time expired)