Paul Weston: State government, Opposition should lead by example after Magic Millions trainwreck

Magic Millions regarding Covid imaging was a trainwreck for the State Government and the Opposition, writes Paul Weston.

MAGIC Millions regarding Covid imaging was a trainwreck for the State Government and the Opposition. Photos without face masks. How do you do serious health messaging after that?

Now Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Racing Minister Grace Grace would have copped criticism for “boycotting the Coast” if they failed to drive down the M1 to the event.

Opposition racing spokesperson Tim Mander and Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek accused of snubbing the tourism and racing industry if they turned down corporate invites.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, Grace Grace and John-Paul Langbroek seen at Magic Millions without masks.

The event generated almost $39 million, providing 31,500 bednights. Our politicians need to talk it up — it’s just how you package those media moments.

Most of us are isolating, working from home. Some parents also caring for children because child care centres are closed.

Our teachers are back at work trying to plan curriculum timelines which change weekly. Our police are working back-to-back shifts. Some nurses don’t even have enough protective gear.

Our GPs and specialists grateful when we agree to video conferencing. They apologise about not being able to get Covid tests or more booster vaccines. This is our reality.

Meanwhile...Covid-19 testing clinics on the Gold Coast stretch kilometres.

Liberal Democrats leader Campbell Newman was quick to seize upon Premier’s messaging saying she told Queenslanders on January 7 to “stay at home for the next six weeks”.

He maintains that was “ridiculous scaremongering”. He argued that clearly the Premier’s attendance at Magic Millions showed “she didn’t believe it either”.

On his Facebook page, the personal attacks on the Premier — some were bruising.

But one bloke got the tone right. “The whole thing’s a mess now totally, no-one knows what to believe,” he wrote.

Coast business operator Paula Brand on her Facebook page talked up “double standards”.

Restaurant operators were being “arrested for not following Covid rules”. “Why is there one rule for some and not for others,” she wrote.

Your columnist asked around contacts. Some pollies decided not to attend Magic Millions.

The invites to Mayor Tom Tate and Deputy Mayor Donna Gates were left on their desks. Councillor Gates loves racing but has not ventured out much out from her home.

On her Facebook page this week she reminded residents entering the Upper Coomera Centre including the coffee shop and pool to wear a mask. Many were arriving without them.

Only one staffer was behind the front desk, which had to be closed for breaks and lunch.

“We have today had to limit the Customer Service hours due to staff shortages and we want to be sure the remaining staff are safe in the workplace,” Cr Gates wrote.

Councillor Donna Gates. Picture: Jerad Williams

So here is the real challenge for our political leaders. They have to promote big bubbly ticket sporting events, then next day deliver a sobering public health message for us to stay home or if going to a community centre wear a mask.

A champagne flute in hand one day and briefing note the next day on Covid deaths and new list of restrictions — you can bet it doesn’t work with most punters.

Video released earlier this week showed Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon wearing a hard hat and mask checking work construction work on the M1.

It’s a strong hard labour message, the sort of imaging Labor needs to embrace to be any chance of short odds to win the next election.

‘Abuse for months’: Brutal reality of border debacle

THE Palaszczuk Government’s handling of policing on the Queensland-New South Wales border will haunt Labor. Two political storms are ahead once the borders come down at 1am on Saturday. Here is what happens next.

The first dark clouds will be about how coppers are being protected on the beat.

Bulletin reporting has detailed how 80 police are off sick on some shifts, and those working were “health support aid workers” babysitting six medical transports on a shift.

Licensed venue owners are calling them to move on anti-vaxxers. The police response is “hire your own security”. Imagine having those conversations each night?

Police on patrol in Surfers Paradise. Picture Glenn Hampson

Health workers have dealt with this sort of abuse for months. Same as teachers who again when kids go back to school will face parents demanding to enter the school gate.

The bigger political picture is coppers are voters — same as teachers, nurses and doctors.

A government cannot afford to lose the support of its public service. Anyone remember Campbell Newman?

The second series of political dark clouds will be about financial controls — again the border will feature in future debate.

An estimate back in May 2020 was police border patrols cost about $1.5 million a month. This accounts for overtime, travel expenses and free meals for more than 100 plainclothes officers being pulled from regular duties to fill border and quarantine hotel patrols.

Now police sources aware of budgeting suggest the actual amount when added up would “buy you a new (smaller) hospital at Tugun”.

Police check the passes of people crossing the border in to Qld on the Pacific Highway at Coolangatta. Picture Glenn Hampson

The State Opposition has been largely silent during the Christmas-New Year break but the return of Parliament in late February or at least Estimates hearings later in the year will see questions on sensible use of funding.

Until now Labor has had strong consistent positive political messaging on the border which amounted to “we will keep you safe” by shutting the virus out from the south.

The ALP could still campaign on that same theme, saying “we ticked all of the health boxes by delaying the border reopening until vaccines were created and the rates were high enough”.

But we have all moved on, haven’t we?

The messaging is about all doors being opened and allowing the virus to spread. Most of the reader comments this week are saying “why do we still have so many police on the border”.

So how will Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pivot on this? What if the decision to re-open was quicker?

A police source says: “What will happen is she will come up with a sweetener on pay before the next election.”

In July 2020, police received a one-off $1250 payment and extra two weeks of leave as part of a deal struck up for what the government then said was recognition for “going above and beyond” during the coronavirus epidemic.

The cost was estimated to be between $14m to $15m. In March of that year about 107,000 government workers got a similar bonus costing taxpayers about $130m.

Consider some other statistics. Labor lost the seat of Currumbin by about 310 votes in the 2020 election to the LNP’s Laura Gerber despite standing Kaylee Campradt, an excellent candidate.

They really need the seat and to retain Gaven, their only Coast electorate, held by their Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon to ensure a return in government.

One day all the stories will be exhausted about the human cost of Covid, then someone will start writing about the financial cost and finally, the political cost. That will be about your vote on how your money and you were treated during the pandemic.

Opposition slam Labor’s control over state’s health

THE opposition says the government is losing control of Queensland Health as stressed police are being forced to transport paramedic cases, with patients waiting eight hours.

Police are being required to undertake up to six medical transports in a shift to babysit injured patients because paramedics could not get to jobs, an investigation has revealed.

Opposition health spokeswoman and Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates told the Bulletin: “The true extent of the crisis engulfing Queensland’s ambulances has been exposed, with data showing patients on the Gold Coast are routinely waiting eight hours in their time of need.

Opposition health spokeswoman and Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“It’s shocking how bad things have become on the Gold Coast, and these figures are before Covid-19 came across our borders,” she said.

Data provided by the government to Ms Bates through Questions on Notice in Parliament track how the system on the Coast was progressively failing.

QAS response times for triple-0 calls for code 1 and 2 cases – showing the worst delays – have increased from 4.6 hours in June 2020 to 8.1 hours in November 2021.

Patients off stretcher times, between July and September last year, ranged from a low of 51 per cent to about 56 per cent at Gold Coast University and Robina hospitals.

“Worst of all, ambulance delays and ramping aren’t new problems,” Ms Bates said.

“The shocking extent of these numbers show that the state government is losing control of Queensland Health. Ambulance ramping on the Gold Coast has been steadily increasing since 2016.

“For the Health Minister to say that it’s acceptable for Queenslanders to be waiting hours for an ambulance to turn up is a failure of leadership.

Queensland Auditor-General Brendan Worrall. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jono Searle

Queensland Auditor-General Brendan Worrall, in his Health 2021 report released last month, questioned whether the workload of the state’s public hospital employees was “unsustainably high” as they braced for an influx of Covid-19 cases.

During 2020-21, Queensland’s paramedics spent more than 111,000 hours ramped outside the state’s top public hospitals – a 76 per cent increase on the previous financial year

His report referred to high leave balances, indicating staff workloads “may be unsustainably high”.

“Increasing leave balance have increased by about 7.8 per cent in 2020-21 in comparison to 2019-20,” the Worrall report said.

Since 2016-17, the number of code 1 incidents (emergency) attended by QAS had increased by 18 per cent and code 2 incidents (urgent) have increased by 19 per cent.