Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about the Queensland Labor government's plan to relocate overseas Australians to quarantine places in my electorate of Flynn. I must agree with the member for Kennedy, Mr Katter, who just made a 90-second statement, on his proposal to move these repatriated Australians to an island off the Queensland coast. That would be far better than moving them to Gladstone. Gladstone's rural communities, such as Calliope, are very vulnerable. They lack hospital infrastructure if there is an outbreak. Gladstone has a level 3 hospital. As it is, my constituents find it very difficult to access health services now, without a pandemic. We currently have to wait three weeks to see a GP. The resources and mining sector has scheduled maintenance for this year. The Calliope mining camp is used to accommodate these workers. We can't have a mix of repatriated Australians and workers in the same camp. Going on the Queensland government's past performances, if there were a positive case, they would soon lock down the whole town of Gladstone, which would cripple industries like the cement industry, the aluminium industry and the gas industry as well as the power station and the port. It can't happen, which is why I say, 'No, no, no.'