Ms Palaszczuk, in parliament, confirmed the laws would draw from the Coaldrake report into the public sector titled Let The Sun Shine In, Peter Bridgman’s 2019 report A Fair and Responsive Public Service for All and Kevin Yearbury’s 2021 Strategic Review of the Integrity Commissioner’s Functions.
“The Integrity and Other Legislation Amendment Bill is the first legislation in our reform plan,” she said.
“To further strengthen the independence and authority of the Auditor-General and the Integrity Commissioner.”
She said there would be “more legislation as we go on” signalling changes to allow cabinet documents to be released after 30 days instead of 30 years would not be introduced today.
Ms Palaszczuk also revealed Linda Waugh had been appointed as Queensland’s Integrity Commissioner.
Ms Waugh is currently the Merit Protection Commissioner for the Australian Public Service.
Updates
Question Time has ended but it's set to be a bumper Friday for state politics.
Here's what you can expect:
- Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman is introducing (as we speak) legislation amendments designed to lay the groundwork before coercive control is criminalised before the end of 2023.
- Two pieces of legislation will be introduced to act on integrity, accountability and strengthening the public sector.
- The government put forward a bunch of changes to the casino control bill they had been debating, and we'll be getting you across what that all means
- The long-awaited report into the Office of the Independent Assessor and how the councillor conduct complaints system has just been released.
Parliament will sit again on October 25, which is also the day of the Federal Budget. What a time to be alive.
Your team for today: Madura McCormack, Stephanie Bennett, Jack McKay, Shaye Windsor
Question Time means Dorothy Dixers, with the government getting to ask questions of itself and everyone can slap each other on the back for how wonderful they are.
It's used mainly for self-agrandising.
Today the government has also decided to use it to take swipes at the Opposition. Mainly for existing.
The Dixers have also touched on topics including:
– Energy
– Soon-to-be introduced laws to strengthen laws and protect domestic violence victims.
– Domestic tourism rebound
LNP frontbencher Fiona Simpson has continued the line of questioning on health.
Ms Simpson kicked off her question by pointing out Health Minister Yvette D'Ath had told a media conference in September that the Queensland Ambulance Service was meeting all of their response time targets.
But Ms Simpson claimed new data that was recently released showed this was not the case, as she asked Ms D'Ath to explain the discrepancy.
Ms D'Ath responded by essentially spending the next three minutes reading out media articles and headlines about ramping and hospital pressures under the former LNP government.
To no-one's surprise it's another health question from the LNP, with Member for Warrego Ann Leahy asking when ambulance ramping levels will fall back to 15 per cent, as they were when Labor came to power in 2015.
For reference, ambulance ramping levels currently sit at about 70 per cent.
"I know those opposite have short memories but there were plenty of ramping stories when they were in power," Ms D'Ath says, adding "there was no Covid to explain that".
She cites a number of factors putting pressure on the health system, along with Covid, including a lack of people taking up private health insurance and population growth.
"For those opposite to compare the start of 2015 to now, shows their absolute ignorance," she says.
– Stephanie Bennett
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has used a dixer from Cook MP Cynthia Lui to give an update on the government's promise to hold a cost-of-living summit in the Torres Strait.
Here's what you need to know:
- The cost-of-living summit will be held on Thursday Island on December 7
- It will be headed by Education Minister Grace Grace
- Transport Minister Mark Bailey, Energy Minister Mick de Brenni, Attorney-General (and Community Champion) Shannon Fentiman will also attend.
- Dealing with skyrocketing freight costs will be a major focus
In case you missed why this is happening, the state government headed to Thursday Island at the beginning of September to hold a cabinet meeting– a trip delayed a few times by Covid-19.
The community raised significant concerns about the cost-of-living crunch, which due to the tyranny of distance was hitting much harder up there than for the mainland.
A housing shortage and skyrocketing freight costs were among the main concerns.
Here is our coverage from the time:
September 6: Cost of living summit to be held in Torres Strait as Premier announces freight charges review
September 5: Strait community ‘shouldn’t be living like this’, Premier told
September 4: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and cabinet head to Thursday Island for first time
The short answer is no, and the Health Minister Yvette D'Ath finds this question offensive.
The context to this question and Ms D'Ath's response is from an article in the Courier-Mail in September, which involved taking a comprehensive look at QAS “Significant Incident Reviews”, obtained by the state LNP through right-to-information.
It revealed at least 20 people died and seven had to be revived with most cases referring to “extreme hospital delays” for why paramedics were delayed.
You can read the story here.
The sticking point for Ms D'Ath is that at no stage has someone's cause of death been linked to ambulance delays, so saying 20 Queenslanders died directly because paramedics couldn't get there in time is incorrect.
Another one for the Health Minister, with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition Jarrod Bleijie asking whether waiting 68 hours was "acceptable in Queensland".
The Opposition has got hold of a Question on Notice which details the longest ambulance waiting times, which is what they are hammering Yvette D'Ath on this morning.
She now attempts to clarify the stats – including those put forward by David Crisafulli's previous questions on the matter – saying every case in which a patient waited more than 20 hours was a transfer to another hospital.
"While waiting to be transferred they were in the care of Queensland Health staff," she said.
– Stephanie Bennett
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is asked to explain to Queenslanders why some people were being made to wait more than 24 hours for an ambulance.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s question is based on data obtained through a Question on Notice.
According to the data, in the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay area in June this year there were patients that waited 68.4 hours, 48.8 hours and 28.2 hours for an ambulance.
It's an unusual occurrence – a Friday Question Time – but the first question off the bat is far from unusual this week, with David Crisafulli going straight for Health Minister Yvette D'Ath, as the Opposition has done for most of the week.
Off the back of reports VC winner Daniel Keighran had to wait 7 hours for an ambulance, he asks whether that "shocks the Minister?".
Ms D'Ath says she is "happy to hear he is making a speedy recovery" and happy for the positive feedback he gave on QAS and health staff who looked after him.
She says QAS is the busiest in the country, and she has been advised by QAS that while Mr Keighran was waiting, a senior paramedic was in contact with him.
"There were no coding or dispatch issues," she says, to jeers from those opposite.
Victoria Cross recipient Daniel Keighran calls for more hospital resources after seven-hour ambulance wait in Brisbane
– Stephanie Bennett
