The Opposition has taken on the state government on youth crime, with Minister Leanne Linard grilled over the rate of child safety reports, as the Premier introduces legislation to make way for a treaty.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called for Queenslanders to find the “courage to finish this unfinished business” as the government prepares to introduce laws to cement the state’s path to a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on Wednesday.
The legislation will also put in place a structure to set up a five-member truth-telling and healing inquiry, which will hold hearings and compel government to front up and provide evidence similar to a normal inquiry but customised to have a “culturally appropriate” approach.
Queensland’s path to treaty began in 2019, and includes a $300m fund with at least $10m a year going to the First Nations Treaty Institute.
There is no deadline on when the treaties between First Nations communities and the government must be in place.
The state government’s focus on its Treaty legislation comes a day after it introduced new youth justice measures.
The government also pledged to publish key performance indicators experts say are crucial to driving down youth crime.
This commitment came after every daily newspaper in Queensland joined forces for the Enough is Enough campaign, calling on the government and the Opposition to transparently publish the rate of youth reoffending, Indigenous young people in detention, and the proportion of serious repeat offenders – with the goal of driving these numbers down.
Question Time is over.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is now introducing treaty legislation.
The public gallery is full of people here to watch this.
Speaker Curtis Pitt has allowed, as a rare treat, photographers and TV camera operators to remain in the chamber after Question Time.
KAP leader Robbie Katter has a question for Health Minister Yvette D'Ath on the issue of blood cancers and a shortfall in bone marrow transplants.
"With reference to shortages of blood stem cell donors in Australia, forcing thousands of blood cancer patients to receive life saving bone marrow transplants from overseas, is the Minister committed to seeking agreement from all state and federal health ministers at the upcoming ministerial meeting to address this?
He also asks whether the government would commit to release $12.8m of existing funding for immediate, large-scale rollout cheek swab registration for blood stem cell donors.
Ms D'Ath commends Mr Katter for his "passionate advocacy" on improving access for stem cell donations with serious health issues.
"Improving Australian blood stem cell and bone marrow donation capacity is a priority for Queensland Health and I do encourage all people who are eligible to consider being a donor," she said.
'All Australian governments are working closely on the form activities to make improvements … particularly relating to boosting Australia's capacity of providing domestically sourced stem cells."
"Queensland will offer its in principle support – I support what is being sought here, pending the clinical advisory groups advice.
"I can also advise that I expect this matter to be discussed later this week. I am hosting the health Ministers Meeting of the Commonwealth and all state and territory health ministers, and this is intended to be discussed."
Shadow attorney-general Tim Nicholls has asked Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman if she will be referring the Deputy Premier for contempt of court following comments he made about a Townsville Magistrate.
Earlier this month, Steven Miles hit out at Magistrate Viviana Keegan’s decision to release 13 alleged youth offenders on bail in a single day, labelling the move a “media stunt”.
In response to Mr Nicholls’ question, Ms Fentiman said the matters were still before the court. She said any decision to grant bail was a matter for the Magistrate.
She also pointed out appeals were still before the courts. But she insisted everyone had a role to play in keeping Queenslanders safe, including the courts.
Ms Fentiman turned the tables on the LNP, as she read out a list of articles about comments Jarrod Bliejie made during his three years as attorney-general during the Newman government.
The articles were laminated, which she said she could give to Mr Bleijie as a memento.
Ms Fentiman ultimately did not answer Mr Nicholls’ question.
Another one for Youth and Children Minister Leanne Linard.
This time the Minister is asked directly if she told the Premier she should have attended the heated town hall forum in Toowoomba last week, which was left for Ms Linard and Police Minister Mark Ryan to face angry locals fed up with the youth crime wave.
In response, Ms Linard braced the parliament for a more than two minute spiel on why she backs Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“The fact that this premier listens to all Queenslanders – this Premier is a Premier for all Queenslanders,” Ms Linard said.
We’ll spare you the rest, but let’s just say the Premier is rising to the challenge of youth crime and making the big decisions, according to the Minister.
Education Minister Grace Grace was just on her feet answering a dixer (a pre-planned question asked of her by a Labor MP).
She said the word "school" about 15 times in the space of three minutes and powered through fiery cross-chamber bickering.
Speaker Curtis Pitt admonished the MP for Everton (Tim Mander) and the MP for Sandgate (Stirling Hinchliffe) for "arguing across the chamber".
But what Mr Pitt missed was Greens MP for South Brisbane Amy MacMahon absolutely going for it on the government's plans to relocate East Brisbane State School.
"Sigh," Mr Pitt said, in a bid to note this for the official record.
Minister Linard remains in the hot seat, with LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates running through a longlist of child safety stats.
She says dozens of children known to child safety have died, the attrition rate is at 13 per cent, hundreds of kids aged 9 and under are in residential care – "and it appears the Minister has not called a media conference this year".
"Can the minister explain how this is keeping Queensland children safe?" she asks.
The Minister seizes on the last point, saying that's the problem – claiming standing in front of the cameras doesn't change lives.
(This may be true – but media scrutiny is generally regarded as an integral part of ensuring government accountability).
"I think part of the question is part of the problem. Those opposite think just calling a press conference, getting in front of a camera is the answer to everything," she said.
"They stand in front of cameras and doing press conferences – that does not change the lives of vulnerable children in care. It does not change the lives of anyone in Queensland for the better.
"We have not only improved risk assessments for Queensland families, we have not only ensured better and faster information sharing, we have not only ensured our child safety centers undergo continuous quality improvement, but we have most importantly invested in the frontline and made sure that those Child Safety Service Centers have the staff they need
– Stephanie Bennett
Questions asked by the Opposition so far: 6
Questions directed at Child Safety Minister Leanne Linard so far: 6
MPs punted from the chamber by Speaker Curtis Pitt: 2 (Gregory MP Lachlan Millar, Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm)
Deputy LNP leader Jarrod Bleijie has asked Minister for Children Leanne Linard about reports of her exiting this week's Labor caucus meeting to avoid questions from the media.
He asked Ms Linard how many times she had called a media conference this year to assure the people of Queensland she was up to the job of keeping Queensland children safe.
Leader of the House Yvette D’Ath raised a point of order, saying there was an imputation in Mr Bleijie’s question. She also seemed to question the accuracy of the statement made by the deputy LNP leader.
Speaker Curtis Pitt did not rule the question out of order.
“It’s true. I did exit caucus because I entered caucus,” Ms Linard said in a tongue-in-cheek response to Mr Bleiijie’s question – sparking a rowdy response of support from the government benches.
Ms Linard insisted she always responded to questions put to her by the media. And she also said she did an interview on radio this morning.
She did not directly answer the question as to how many press conferences she has held.
– Jack McKay
The presence of Liam and Josephine O’Brien in the parliament’s public gallery has just been acknowledged by Speaker Curtis Pitt.
Mr O’Brien has blood cancer and is facing a grim life expectancy of two to five years unless he receives a stem cell transplant.
The problem is Australia’s bone marrow donor registry has severely lagged behind other countries, so the O’Brien family has started a campaign called the Lifesaving List.
It’s already begun moving the bureaucratic wheels needed to fix the issue, with federal health minister Mark Butler acknowledging the issue in parliament last week and committing to write to his jurisdiction counterparts to figure out a solution.
Mr O’Brien is the nephew of federal MP for Kennedy Bob Katter, as a fun fact. (How often do Mr Katter's nieces and nephews get told that "Bob's your uncle"?)
Children Minister Leanne Linard insists Queensland’s high rate of kids interacting with child safety was a reflection of the system being proactive and effective.
The Minister was asked why there was such a high rate compared to other states over the past five years, which Ms Linard revealed was more than 1000,000 a year with reports to child safety made every four minutes.
But she said this was based on the department's policy that investigates every notification received.
“That's not the policy everywhere,” Ms Linard told parliament.
“But the really key thing here is, that in Queensland, when there's an interaction with our system whether that's a phone call … whether that's a referral to our services, our support services, whether that's touching the system, or actually coming in contact with the NGOs, that's an interaction.
“And the positive thing about that is that these families in trouble can have an interaction because we fund services.
“This government funds the services that are required to assist families.”
– James Hall
Brisbane man Rory Esler’s diagnosis of bowel cancer was uncovered by accident, but experts say the diagnosis in people his age is terrifyingly common.
Specialist police and negotiators were in a stand-off with an armed person and part of a suburb was shut down south of Brisbane late on Friday night after shots were fired at officers tracking an allegedly stolen car.