Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to inform the House about two examples—two of many in the electorate of Longman—where local infrastructure has been overlooked by the state government in Queensland. The first relates to the Caboolture hospital. During the election campaign, the critical situation facing local hospital services in Caboolture was probably the local issue most often raised with me. The adequacy of local health services is the most important issue in Longman, without question. It is raised with me on a daily basis by locals, whether they are people using the hospital or doctors and nurses working there. Issues include the lack of provision for rehabilitation, the constant requirement of ambulances to ramp at the local hospital and the lack of beds and essential services.

In addition to the chronic health conditions I have mentioned, mental health needs are simply not being addressed. The coalition had a well-supported policy for an early intervention psychosis centre to be built at Caboolture, and I urge the current government to put partisan politics aside and support that initiative, which was warmly welcomed by local medical professionals. We have all heard the phrases such as ‘ramping’, ‘bedlock’ and so on, but what they all boil down to is a lack of essential planning for local health services in growing regions. Successive Labor governments in the state have simply not planned ahead for clear and identifiable need.

Speaking of infrastructure needs, I take this opportunity to also highlight the need for either a new bridge to Bribie Island or expansion of the existing bridge. The current bridge has two lanes and was constructed almost 50 years ago, in 1963. The population of Bribie Island was then a handful of the around 20,000 who live there today. Recently, there was a serious accident on the bridge which cut residents off from the mainland for several hours. Many of the residents are older and, if they need to travel into Caboolture or down to Brisbane for urgent medical attention, it is just not possible to do so when the bridge is blocked like this. This problem is underlined by the fact that there is no after-hours emergency medical clinic on Bribie Island, in spite of the large number of permanent and older residents and the huge influx of tourists coming on to the island in the summer months. The state member for Pumicestone has been asking for studies to see whether a new bridge is warranted. My feedback is that the people do not want studies. Anyone who crosses the bridge in the morning or evening peak hour knows that a new crossing is needed. It is just a matter of the state government committing to it and putting it on the state infrastructure plan.

It is this lack of planning by the state government that has let down the people of Longman. Everyone knows that major new infrastructure cannot be provided overnight, and the key is to assess and identify the need early and then give it the necessary priority and allocate the necessary funding to fulfil the local need. Unfortunately, the state government does not appear to understand that. Mismanagement and waste have resulted in a situation where the provision of basic infrastructure appears to have become out of reach of the Queensland Labor government. These are just two critical areas where the Bligh Labor government has been sitting on its hands—it needs to act now. (Time expired)