Health Minister Tim Nicholls failed to answer these questions on women’s health

Tim Nicholls has failed to answer 10 questions on women’s health, branding it an “unreasonable” diversion of resources – despite being given a month to respond.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls Picture: David Clark

Tim Nicholls has failed to answer 10 questions on women’s health, branding it an “unreasonable” diversion of resources – despite being given a month to respond.

The Health Minister claimed answering the questions, which included when two integrated women’s health hubs in Caboolture and Cairns would commence, would place a “significant burden” on Queensland Health.

But when the The Sunday Mail asked Queensland Health the same question, it received a response within 48 hours.

On March 14, Mr Nicholls was asked nine questions by the Labor opposition about the Women’s and Girls Health Strategy Investment Plan, and one question about the number of termination-of-pregnancy nurses employed at each health service across the state.

The questions were put to him “on notice,” meaning he had four weeks to consult his department and collate any requested data before providing a written answer.

Questions included updates on the service model for pelvic pain and endometriosis, the Termination of Pregnancy Action Plan, and when the two women’s health hubs would begin operating.

Mr Nicholls’ response was a copy-paste statement that said an “unreasonable” diversion of resources would be required to provide an answer to all 10 questions.

“Providing the level of detail requested within the required time frame would create a significant burden on a single area of Queensland Health,” he said.

“Therefore, I have determined that it is an unreasonable diversion of resources to provide this detail at this time.”

The Sunday Mail asked Queensland Health the same question about the health hubs in Cairns and Caboolture and received a response – within 48 hours – stating that an evaluation of the hubs would be undertaken by October 2026.

“The evaluation of the hubs will be undertaken by October 2026, and will consist of a process and outcome evaluation, cost-benefits analysis, and a sustainability and scalability analysis,” a spokesman said.

“The Caboolture service (evaluation) opened in January 2025, whilst the Cairns service (evaluation) is expected to open in April 2025.”

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls. David Clark

The opposition branded Mr Nicholls as “lazy” for failing to answer the 10 questions on women’s health, despite being given a month to respond.

A spokeswoman for Mr Nicholls said the opposition had asked a disproportionate number of questions of the minister, who is assigned just one staff member to process the requests.

“In just the last 13 sitting days, Labor has asked 189 questions on notice to the Minister for Health and Ambulance Services,” she said.

“By contrast, they’ve asked only eight questions of the minister during question time.”

But the opposition’s spokeswoman for women, Shannon Fentiman, called Mr Nicholls “lazy” and accused him of putting petty politics ahead of women’s and girls’ health by deliberately choosing not to answer the questions.

“Almost 12,000 women and girls played a part in bringing this strategy together, and their voices secured $1bn in funding for the care they deserve,” she said.

“The questions asked are important ones, but not important enough for this lazy Health Minister, who is paid almost $400,000 a year.

“If they’re good enough for a department media unit to respond to, why isn’t the minister responsible for delivering this strategy interested in providing information?”

Of the total 523 questions put to ministers so far this term, 209 have been sent to Mr Nicholls.

Originally published as Health Minister Tim Nicholls failed to answer these questions on women’s health