Editorial: Aged care bed block crisis about people, not politicians
The aged care bed block crisis is about people, not politicians, and our leaders should start acting like it, writes the editor.
State health ministers have a point: the job of providing aged care beds is a federal government task – and so to merely offer more cash to the states to keep the sticky tape that’s in place is pretty rich.
As we report today – and have been covering under the banner of our Sick of Waiting series – the number of elderly Queenslanders stuck in hospital beds waiting for aged care support is rising, quickly.
In August there were 837. Last month there were 909. And Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s solution? To offer the states more cash to keep them there.
The politicians continued their name-calling and empty criticisms yesterday, with Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls saying the Prime Minister was the Christmas Grinch and Mr Albanese firing back that Mr Nicholls only has one job: to run public hospitals.
But as we have repeatedly said, this is about people – not about the politicians.
This is a heartbreaking situation not only for the people stuck in a hospital bed but for their families too. It should not be happening.
We urge all sides to negotiate in good faith and focus on a solution.
QLD LEADS THE WAY
NSW and Victoria have some cheek – they have spent years refusing to develop their own plentiful onshore gas reserves, but now that they are running short of the stuff, they want the federal government to rescue them.
Specifically, the southern states want the Australian Energy Market Operator to have emergency powers to intervene in the east coast gas market to direct investment to prevent supply shortfalls. It is a move that could hurt our state, which while the southerners were literally sitting on their assets, developed an $80bn LNG export industry from scratch in barely a decade.
Queensland Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki warned that such an intervention could “distort the market and undermine the investment case for domestic gas development” by subsidising uneconomic infrastructure, including LNG import terminals. He then defiantly declared: “I will not accept other jurisdictions trying to rush through heavy, candid market interventions that unfairly impact Queensland.”
Far more galling is that any gas shortfalls in the southern states are completely of their own making.
Victoria formally banned all onshore gas exploration and development in the state in 2012 “in response to community concerns”. It has since relaxed that position, but it could be too little too late.
In NSW, successive governments have spent 20 years failing to get Santos’s game-changing massive Narrabri gas project off the ground.
Meanwhile, this year marks Queensland’s 10th anniversary as an LNG exporter. By 2027, the state will account for nearly 90 per cent of all East Coast gas production.
To quote Mr Janetzki again: “Queensland will continue to do the heavy lifting on gas supply amid this growing southern shortfall driven entirely by southern states-owned policy decisions.”
And this is a pattern we have seen repeated elsewhere – Queensland getting on with the job while other states faff about.
Remember the decision made by former Victorian president Dan Andrews three years ago to simply pull out of his state’s hosting of the 2026 Commonwealth Games? All too much trouble apparently – and the state was left with a $589m bill for a cancellation fee, meaning they paid Scotland to put on the event.
Meanwhile, here in Queensland, we have an Olympic Games to deliver. Yes, there is a lot to do and there will be plenty of challenges along the way, but there will be no last-minute bailing out.
Victoria has been blighted with an increasingly rogue militant construction union in the CFMEU, forcing up construction costs and driving down productivity. We have had similar issues. But at least here we are doing something about it – a commission of inquiry, which has begun shining the light on some previously dark corners.
In Victoria, they just keep digging themselves into an ever-deeper hole, almost literally. Despite all sorts of vivid evidence of CFMEU-backed bad practice in the state’s $100bn Big Build program, current Premier Jacinta Allen has refused to establish any similar inquiry.
We all know that Queensland-bashing is an age-old sport for some southerners – deep north, rednecks, cane toads, all the usual cliches.
But if it weren’t for our get up and go, they would not have the gas that will be so necessary to see their states through the transition to a low-carbon economy.
And don’t forget our coal-fired power stations, which might be less reliable these days, but they are still the youngest in the country – and will be needed for years to come until renewables and storage can take over. Down south they’ve been far more interested in their green credentials. We would all be ruined if this nation was left to them.
Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here
