Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deb Frecklington campaign in southeast Queensland
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she would be happy to help Jackie Trad campaign in the knife-edge seat of South Brisbane but would not say if her former deputy would return to Cabinet if Labor won the October 31 election. VOTE IN OUR POLL AND FOLLOW THE LIVE ELECTION BLOG
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk won’t say if her former deputy premier Jackie Trad will be returned to Cabinet if Labor wins on October 31.
As she confirmed that she was “happy” with the team she currently has, the Premier also would not confirm if she would campaign with Ms Trad in her knife-edge South Brisbane electorate.
Asked if she believed Ms Trad would win her seat – where she is fighting a massive campaign from the Greens – Ms Palaszczuk said it was “up to the people of South Brisbane”.
“There’s an election on at the moment, and people have to work hard to win their seats,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
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“I’m very confident and happy with the team I have.
“Steven Miles is the deputy premier and Cameron Dick is the treasurer.”
Quizzed if she would campaign with Ms Trad and if she thought the former treasurer needed her help, Ms Palaszczuk said she was happy to go wherever she was “needed”.
“Happy to campaign right across the state,” the Premier said.
Ms Trad holds the inner-city electorate with a slim margin of about 3.5 per cent.
The Greens’ candidate Amy MacMahon could be buoyed as well by a decision from the LNP to preference Ms Trad last on their how to vote cards.
Premier’s ‘record’ boost to health
Almost 10,000 new frontline health staff would be employed in Queensland under a re-elected Palaszczuk Government.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today announced plans to hire a “record” 9,475 frontline health staff over the next four years, including 5,800 new nurses.
Ms Palaszczuk said her government was making the commitment because “Queenslanders deserve the very best”.
“We need to make sure that we continue to grow our health staff to give Queensland families the best possible care they can get,” she said.
“Our record is clear – Labor hires frontline staff, builds hospitals and invests in better health services.
“Unless we have a strong health response, we cannot open up our economic recovery.”
Asked how much the commitment would cost and if it would be funded through borrowings, Ms Palaszczuk said her understanding was that it was “fully funded as part of the health budget”.
“And the health budget at the moment is $19 billion,” she said.
Under the plan, an extra 5,800 nurses, 1,500 doctors, 475 paramedics and 1,700 health professions will be hired over the next term of government.
LNP’s car rego rebate ‘poorly designed’: Steven Miles
Steven Miles has hit out at the LNP’s plan to give a $300 rebate to every car owner, slamming it as “poorly designed”.
Mr Miles said because the policy would only affect registered car owners, some Queenslanders would miss out on the rebate.
“The more cars you own, the more money you will get from Deb Frecklington,” he said.
“How you design these policies speaks to your values.
“That is why this government chose to give every Queenslander a rebate on their electricity bill, because just about every household has an electricity bill.
“They say this commitment will cost $1.15 billion, but they won’t tell Queenslanders how they will pay for it,” Mr Miles said.
“But I don’t think that really matters, because we know they probably won’t do it.”
LNP depends $300 cash for vehicle owners
Deb Frecklington has defended her policy to gift $300 to all Queensland vehicle owners, including high income earners, saying the equitable stimulus would boost the state’s lagging economy.
The Liberal National Party Leader visited a family home in the suburban Brisbane electorate of Mansfield (Labor, 1.6 per cent) on Sunday morning to announce the registration rebate policy, which will give car owners $300 for each registered car they own.
The LNP estimated the rebate scheme would apply to about 3.8 million vehicles, injecting $1.15bn into the state’s economy.
The money would arrive in the accounts of car owners by December, paid through the Federal Government’s Services Australia online portal.
Ms Frecklington hoped vehicle owners would spend the money on holidays and Christmas presents to stimulate economic growth.
Asked why the distribution of taxpayer money would apply equally to high-income earners and low-income earners, instead of a higher rate to those with less money, Ms Frecklington said the cashback scheme was a refund for drivers who have not used their cars as frequently as usual during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Let’s remember more, money into our economy means the economy is growing and that’s what we need right now in Queensland,” Ms Frecklington said.
“Queenslanders deserve to get their money back into their bank accounts and they deserve to be able to spend it in our local economy.
“Not everyone who owns a car is a high income earner.
“It’s a $300 rebate back into their account. They pay their rego, they can get it back into their account.”
Ms Frecklington refused to reveal whether there would be a freeze on registration prices under an LNP government.
Frecklington calls for more border compassion
Ms Frecklington repeated her calls to the government to be compassionate when granting border exemptions for people crossing into Queensland from coronavirus hotspots in NSW and Victoria.
She said that if she is elected on October 31, she would ask chief health officer Jeannette Young to ensure people’s circumstances were given proper consideration when evaluating whether they were entitled to quarantine at home, rather than in a hotel.
The Palaszczuk government has been criticised for her government’s application of exemptions, which have resulted in numerous cases of people being unable to visit sick or dying family members or to quarantine at home after interstate medical treatment, while others, including Jetstar boss Jayne Hrdlickahave been granted exemptions from the state’s strict quarantine rules.
“What we need to have in relation to the exemptions around the confusion and chaos that is on the borders is we need compassion, we need consistency in decision making and we need some common sense,” she said.
“I would be asking the chief health officer to have a good hard look at what is going on in that space.
“We can’t have a rule for high flyers and another rule for other Queenslanders, it just doesn’t cut the mustard.”
Campaign enters second week
The Queensland election campaign has entered its second week with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington campaign in the state’s southeast.
Yesterday, Ms Palaszczuk pledged $30 million to Surf Live Saving Queensland over the next four years.
Ms Frecklington was joined by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the Gold Coast where she visited Neumann Steel to promote the LNP’s jobs plan.
Today, the LNP will announce that Queensland car owners will get a $300 cash refund in time for Christmas under a car registration rebate worth $1.15bn.
Originally published as Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deb Frecklington campaign in southeast Queensland