Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution in respect of the matter of public importance that has been raised by Senator Leyonhjelm today. I commence my contribution by referring to the tragic death of a young Brisbane athlete, Cole Miller. He died tragically, following the delivery of a single fatal blow. He was a talented water polo player. This terrible tragedy occurred as he was walking through the Brisbane entertainment precinct in the early hours of 3 January. He was set upon by another person in what can only be considered an unprovoked attack as they walked through the mall to catch a taxi. Mr Miller died as a result of a solitary punch to the head, which caused him to fall on the ground and rendered him unconscious. He died in hospital the next day, of massive head injuries, without ever regaining consciousness. This is a matter that has been before the courts, and the tragedy here is that the person who inflicted the solitary punch on Mr Miller is alleged to have said to a group of other people that he was with at the time, 'Do you want to see something funny?' before he picked a fight with the young person.

I refer to this death because, as I said, Mr Miller, a young athlete, was involved in water polo. My own children have been involved in the sport of water polo. On the many occasions that I have attended water polo games in Brisbane I probably came across this young fellow, who tragically died as the result of a senseless act of violence.

So this issue of the restriction of the sale of alcohol is something that I feel very strongly about. I am not standing here saying that I have all the answers as to how we address this issue, but it has been a vexed issue in my home state and there have been attempts to try to protect members of the community from this terrible tragedy. I know that this has been a problem in the state of New South Wales as well.

I want to point out that, on 12 November last year, the Hon. Yvette D'Ath, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Training and Skills in Queensland, introduced the Tackling Alcohol-Fuelled Violence Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 into the Queensland parliament. On 20 December last year, a committee visited Brisbane's Fortitude Valley precinct, the Roma Street police watch house and the emergency department of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital between midnight and 5 am.

Now, I understand and respect Senator Leyonhjelm's passion for campaigning for civil freedoms and liberty, and he has a right to his opinion. But I would say to him that, if he were to walk a day in the shoes of a surgeon, a paramedic, a nurse or a police officer, we would probably not be having this debate. We see newspaper articles and we see the cooked-up statistics from the various alcohol lobbying groups, and we are obliged to look at those. But I also note there has been inquiry by the Economics References Committee of this place, and Senator Leyonhjelm has been instrumental in that particular inquiry into this matter. I note that the Australian Medical Association made a submission to that particular inquiry. They have called on the government to do something about the effects of alcohol on our community, be they from alcohol fuelled violence or excessive alcohol consumption. It is time for something to be done.

Every single day we see kids walking through the emergency departments and being pushed into an operating theatre. I want to look at the medical specialty of my friend and Queensland Minister for State Development Dr Anthony Lynham. Before entering parliament as the member for the Brisbane seat of Stafford in 2014, Dr Lynham worked as a maxillofacial surgeon. Upon his election in July 2014, he served as shadow minister for education, innovation, science and information technology; shadow minister for primary industries and fisheries; and shadow spokesman for the public service, assisting the leader. Dr Lynham is an adjunct professor at QUT and an associate professor at the University of Queensland School of Medicine. He graduated in medicine from the University of Newcastle and completed his maxillofacial surgery training in Queensland. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He worked most of his medical career at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and is part of a research team at Prince Charles Hospital.

There is a very important lesson here, which he mentioned in his speech to parliament that resulted in tighter controls on the trading hours of venues serving alcohol. In the late 1990s, Queensland had one maxillofacial surgeon on the Gold Coast, two on the south side of Brisbane and four at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. We had one in Townsville and we had one in Toowoomba. Now the number of this type of surgeon has at least tripled all over Queensland and it is growing. Why? Because young people are being assaulted in our nightclub districts and our precincts, due to alcohol.

What is our solution to this problem? Do we have one? The Queensland solution is working. I would ask Senator Leyonhjelm: is his solution to simply throw ineffective measures at this problem or simply to ignore it? Do we need to throw more surgeons at the problem? Do we need more operating theatres? The new laws in Queensland are more important, more powerful than any operation that any doctor or surgeon could ever conduct. They are powerful because they prevent harm. By creating these types of laws and coupling them with the right types of education programs, we can prevent alcohol related death and injury.

I know you can speak of the economic damage these laws do to regions. But I would like to address that issue. In Newcastle, another place where these types of rules have been applied, there has been a doubling in the number of bars and restaurants, and increased employment. In Queensland, we have over 7,000 licensed venues; the new laws only affect 99 of them, or less than two per cent, and by only one to two hours—a couple of rounds of drinks. That is all these laws do, but they have the maximum effect of one-third fewer young people being harmed. The initial economic impact is small, but the gains are immense both in long-term economic growth and in a reduction in social harm. These measures are not a magic bullet. If we had a drug that could cure 30 per cent of cancers, we would use it every day. It works because of its simplicity. Reductions in trading hours give people less opportunity to preload, as they have to get to the club before it closes. These measures create a vibrant night-time economy that is safe and simply peaks earlier, and an environment that is more attractive for residents and tourists alike.

It is not about restricting our freedoms and our leisure. It is about keeping our kids and our young people safe. It is about ensuring that visitors to our great cities and regions feel safe. As a parent of four, I feel very strongly about this issue. If these small compromises in terms of our personal freedoms result in one less person being tragically killed, then I think that is a price to pay.