Qld budget reply speech: Opposition’s vow to fix crime and health

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has pledged that should the LNP be elected in just under 500 days time, his focus would be on “restoring hope” for the people of the state. Here’s how he plans to do it.

• Editor’s view: Budget reply a missed opportunity

An LNP state government would release real-time health data, waive the cost of replacement driver’s licences for victims of crime and redirect the housing fund to focus on new homes, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has declared.

In an almost hour-long budget reply speech on Thursday, Mr Crisafulli pledged that should the LNP be elected in just under 500 days time, his focus would be on “restoring hope” for the people of the state.

“Queenslanders hoped the Palaszczuk government’s ninth budget would chart a way through the chaos and crisis. This government has dashed that hope,” he said.

“Queenslanders deserve better. It is time for a new way.

“Queenslanders cannot afford the cost overruns this government says are inevitable. I say, they are not.”

Among Mr Crisafulli’s key promises was to place the rights of crime victims at the centre of tackling the state’s teen crime crisis, accusing the government of not listening to people on the ground.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“An LNP government will tip the scales back in favour of Queensland crime victims who have been abandoned by this government,” he said.

“This government has unashamedly put the rights of hardcore criminals above the rights of victims and … crime-impacted communities.”

Mr Crisafulli declared that while the government had agreed to appoint a Victims Commissioner as part of the response to the Hear Her Voice Report, he would commit within one month of the LNP being elected, to “appoint a Victims Commissioner to help build a criminal justice system that Queenslanders deserve”.

Other measures included appointing a victim of crime to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council. “For the first time, victims’ views will be represented in sentencing of criminals,” he said.

Mr Crisafulli also revealed “two key planks” of the LNP’s health policy – a commitment to release real-time health data within 100 days, and a new workforce plan.

“It’s time to restore faith in the Queensland health system by ending the sickness of secrecy that has strangled the delivery of health services in this state,” he said. “We will shine a light on critical performance data already being captured through Queensland Health’s information technology systems so Queenslanders can see how our hospital system is performing hour by hour, day by day.

“We will do this because openness and transparency will be at the core of every decision we make for Queenslanders. With an ageing and growing population, we will ensure that our health system is adequately and sustainably staffed with a highly skilled workforce well into the future.

“A thorough assessment of the current gaps will be undertaken so we can structure and grow our health workforce to deliver modern models of multidisciplinary care and deliver the best outcomes for patients.”

On the Housing Investment Fund, Mr Crisafulli pledged an LNP government would only use it to deliver new housing stock. “Purchasing existing homes, the modus operandi of this government, does not increase supply,” he said.

“That strategy takes potential homes away from the private rental market, a market which has never had such few homes available.

“If you’re going to deliver a signature housing investment fund, every dollar it generates must deliver increased housing supply. That’s what an LNP government commits to delivering today. ”