|
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Last week in Parliament (Budget week) seemed to drag
on forever. We finally finished at 4:30am on
Saturday morning. A very angry opposition dragged
out the debate after the Premier combined a number
of bills (which really should have been debated
separately) into what is called a Cognate Debate and
then ruthlessly used their numbers to guillotine the
debate. Bills dealing with axing the fuel rebate,
and selling off Queensland assets really deserved
separate debates. I believe that if the Premier had
made her intention clear before she went to the
polls she would have been turfed out on her ear.
I have pursued the Government relentlessly over EDI
rail contracts as I believe they are being
inconsistent with their buy local policy. It is not
in the interest of Queenslanders to be selling off
contracts overseas when we are in the midst of a
worldwide financial crisis. We need the jobs here
and now. I challenged the Premier to follow the lead
of Nathan Rees, the NSW Premier, who has directed
his government to buy everything locally from
uniforms to trains. I also raised a number of
questions such as the location of the car park at
the Maryborough West Train Station, how the
government will assist in keeping the fuel price low
after the subsidy is scrapped, and the increase in
the annual permit fee for businesses operating their
own sewerage treatment from $500 to $5,400.
I also challenged the government again to scrap the
Traveston Dam and use the money saved to not sell
off so many Queensland assets.
Amnesty International held a briefing on Human
Rights issues in the United Arab Emirates which I
attended. We had a young Aussie girl tell her story
of how she went to Dubai to work in a Western Hotel
chain and after work one evening had her drink
spiked and was violently gang raped. She complained
to her employer who fobbed her off. Then she went to
hospital, the Doctors referred her to the Police who
then charged HER with drug taking and illicit sex,
jailed her for 8 months (including 5 months of being
held without charge) and then deported her. I did a
speech on this in Parliament because I am very angry
about the way women are treated in these countries.
Why are we so gutless and afraid to speak out
publicly on this subject? It is not a religious
issue, it’s a values issue and it is completely
un-Australian to treat women like this. Imagine if
it was your mother, daughter or sister.
My staff and I did a walkthrough of the Maryborough
Hospital which seemed very busy, with lots of hard
working and dedicated staff. There is improvement
from the bad old days of a couple of years ago, but
there are still a number of issues we are following
up.
Till next time
Kind Regards,
Chris….
Thank you to The Maryborough
Herald for this picture and
Illustrator Jason Ball
j.ball@ozemail.com.au
|
