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Labor's botched planning laws prove Labor has no plan

16th April 2024

Second humiliating back-down in two days

Labor is an embarrassment. 

For the second time in just two days, legislation proposed by Labor has utterly collapsed under scrutiny.

It’s more chaos and crisis from a government with the wrong priorities and no plan.

Today, the Palaszczuk-Miles Government has been forced to cancel its own controversial planning laws on the floor of Parliament.

The laws, opposed by the LNP, would have given the State Government the overriding powers to create “Urban Investigation Zones”, without community consultation.

Labor never listened to the community nor properly consulted on these laws and has now been forced into another embarrassing back-down. 

Yesterday, Labor was also forced to scrap its controversial education bill, also opposed by the LNP. 

Labor hasn’t been listening to Queenslanders, this is a government with the wrong priorities which has completely lost the ability to perform basic functions of governance. 

Under Steven Miles Labor just isn't up to it and Queenslanders no longer trust the Labor Party. 

Only the LNP has the Right Priorities for Queensland's Future. 

This latest legislative fail adds to the growing list of reasons Queenslanders should Show Labor the Door in '24. 

Labor's schooling chaos - Queenslanders give Labor a lesson

15th April 2024

Labor has been delivered a brutal lesson today, Queenslanders do not trust this Government with their children’s education.

In an extraordinary development, Labor has been forced to withdraw its controversial education legislation.

This is an embarrassing debacle for Labor.

Labor has descended into a government in chaos and crisis which utterly failed to consult and listen to Queenslanders on this issue and now has been forced to abandon its reckless plans.

Labor failed to listen to parents, principals, teachers and key sector organisations including the Queensland Teachers Union and the Teachers Professional Association of Queensland.

The lack of consultation with families and stakeholders prior to these proposed changes is just another example of a government that has stopped listening after a decade in power.

In stark contrast to Labor, the LNP actively engaged with all stakeholders and stared down Labor’s plans.

This is another extraordinary embarrassment for Minister Di Farmer who has mismanaged every portfolio she has ever had.   

Labor is just not up to it and Queenslanders no longer trust them.

Mismanaging the futures of Queensland kids can now be added to the chaotic list of reasons Queenslanders should show Labor the door in ’24.

​Only the LNP has the Right Priorities for Queensland's Future.

QUEENSLAND YOUTH CRIME CRISIS CONTINUES TO GROW

15th April 2024

Break-ins, theft and assaults on the rise in 2024

New Queensland Police Service statistics reveal crime continues to rise in Queensland, leaving more victims in its wake.

For the first quarter of 2024, crime is even higher than in the first quarter of 2023, including:

  • Stolen cars up 3%
  • Theft up 1%
  • Assaults up 4%


QPS numbers also reveal the number of victims of crime is 3% higher than the first quarter of last year. 

Labor can’t fix the Youth Crime Crisis they created with weak laws and fewer police.

So instead, they decided to re-write the definition of hardcore youth offenders to make it look like the numbers were going down.

With Labor, it’s always about how things look, not how things are.

They don’t take crime seriously and they can’t be trusted to fix the Youth Crime Crisis.

Half of all stolen car crimes aren’t solved and therefore those offenders aren’t counted in official stats.

Three-quarters of all break-ins aren’t solved and therefore those offenders aren’t counted in official stats.

This isn’t the fault of our hardworking police on the beat, there simply isn’t enough of them. 

This is the result of Labor’s failure to give our police the tools and resources they need to do their job.

The only way to end the Queensland Youth Crime Crisis is to change the Government.

Only the LNP has the Right Priorities for Queensland’s Future, including making our community safer.

If elected in October, the LNP will roll-out the Making Queensland Safer laws before the end of the year, including removing Detention as a Last Resort and putting victims’ rights front and centre.

How much will Labor’s Pioneer Burdekin pumped-hydro plan cost?

15th April 2024

Again, I ask how much will Labor’s Pioneer Burdekin pumped-hydro plan cost Queenslanders?

How much more will Queenslanders pay on their power bills to cover the cost of the multi-billion-dollar blowouts on this project under Labor? 

Labor expects Queenslanders to sign up for one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in the State’s history, without knowing how much it will cost and how much more they will pay on their power bills.

Labor can’t be trusted, and is clearly trying to hide the cost ahead of an election.

Last year alone Queenslanders paid nearly 20% more in their power bills, triple the national average increase, because of Labor’s failures at Callide.

Now Labor wants to add even more onto Queenslanders’ power bills but won’t reveal the blowout costs for the Pioneer Burdekin project.

It’s more Labor chaos and crisis, from a government with the wrong priorities.

RAMPING CRISIS LAID BARE

15th April 2024

Queensland patients and paramedics wait nearly eight hours

Patients at some of Queensland’s biggest hospitals were forced to wait nearly eight hours before being offloaded, in another sign the Queensland Health Crisis has failed to improve under Labor Minister Shannon Fentiman.

Labor’s chaos and crisis saw patients and paramedics stuck on the ramp for extraordinary amounts of time during the last quarter of 2023.

New health data released by the State Government to the LNP via a Parliamentary Question on Notice revealed the longest wait times for patients included:

  • 7 hours 57 minutes at Princess Alexandra Hospital
  • 7 hours 35 minutes at Logan Hospital
  • 7 hours 27 minutes at Mater Public Hospital
  • 7 hours 05 minutes at Ipswich Hospital
  • 6 hours 09 minutes at Queen Elizabeth Hospital
  • 5 hours 18 minutes at Caboolture Hospital
     

Shadow Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Ros Bates said Queenslanders can’t trust the Palaszczuk-Miles Labor Government to fix the Queensland Health Crisis.

“As a nurse and former hospital administrator, I know how stressful it is for patients who are forced to wait in the back of an ambulance or a hospital corridor for hours,” said Ms Bates. 

“This is a sign of a broken system and a Labor Government in chaos and crisis.

“Shannon Fentiman lies about the state of our hospitals. She has created a culture of fear and cover-ups.

“Whistle-blowers are coming to the LNP because the Labor Government is no longer listening.

“The Queensland Health Crisis is real and Queensland has the worst ambulance ramping in the country.

“The Palaszczuk-Miles Government inherited an ambulance ramping rate of 15% in 2015, but since then it has blown out to 43%.

“I want to thank our hard working doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals who are working around the clock to keep the health system on the rails.

“Frontline staff are exhausted and feel disrespected and undervalued by Labor.

“My message to them is simple, things will change and improve under a future LNP Government.

“Patient care must always be the top priority, but Shannon Fentiman is more interested in trying to fix her shattered reputation as the worst Health Minister in Queensland’s history.

“The LNP has put solutions on the table to help heal the Queensland Health Crisis, including better resources, better triaging, sharing data in real-time and putting doctors and nurses back in charge to improve patient care.

“Queenslanders shouldn’t have to wait months to find out how their hospitals are performing and that’s why the LNP has committed to releasing data in real-time, within the first 100 days of government.

“Only the LNP has the right priorities for Queensland’s future.”

Labor’s veil of secrecy on pumped-hydro cost

11th April 2024

Statement from Deb Frecklington, Shadow Minister for Energy

Labor must lift the veil of secrecy over the Pioneer Burdekin pumped-hydro project.

How much will Queenslanders pay for the Pioneer Burdekin pumped-hydro project?

How much more will Queenslanders pay on their power bills to cover the cost?

Labor is asking Queenslanders to “trust us” instead of telling us the truth.

Labor can’t be trusted.

Their veil of secrecy on pumped-hydro is more Labor chaos and crisis.

Labor refuses to fess-up on Pioneer Burdekin cost

9th April 2024

Statement by Deb Frecklington, Shadow Minsiter for Energy and the Cost of Living

Labor is keeping a dirty secret.

Labor has refused to say just how much more Queenslanders will pay on their power bills to cover the cost of Labor’s blowouts on the Pioneer Burdekin pumped-hydro project.

Labor shouts at Queenslanders to trust them, but they refuse to say what the full cost of the controversial project will be.

Last year alone Queenslanders paid nearly 20% more in their energy bills, because of Labor’s failures at Callide.

The increase was TRIPLE the national average.

Now Labor wants to add even more onto Queenslanders’ energy bills but will not reveal the blowout costs for the Pioneer Burdekin project.

Ahead of an election, they’re desperate to keep the cost a secret. 

Labor is prioritising trying to save their own political future instead of saving Queenslanders’ money in a Cost of Living Crisis.

Labor must fess-up about how much more they want Queenslanders to fork-out for the Pioneer Burdekin pumped-hydro project in the middle of Queensland’s Cost of Living Crisis.

Queenslanders deserve better than a Labor government with the wrong priorities, in a constant state of chaos and crisis.

Queenslanders deserve a government that can deliver projects on-time and on-budget.

Only the LNP has the Right Priorities for Queensland’s Future, including saving you paying for Labor’s failures.

In 200 days, Queenslanders can Show Labor the Door in ’24.

Timber Action Plan still MIA

8th April 2024

In the middle of the Queensland Housing Crisis, Queensland is facing a critical shortage of timber because of Labor’s failure to deliver a Timber Action Plan.

More than four years ago, Labor announced a Timber Action Plan to secure timber supply for Queensland’s housing and construction needs.

Labor promised a “comprehensive two-year study to identify sustainable future options for timber supply”.

More than four years on, Queenslanders are still waiting for this two-year study to begin, let alone be finalised.

Now, timber costs continue to skyrocket as supply dwindles.

In the middle of the Queensland Housing Crisis, Labor’s failure to secure a timber supply is costing Queenslanders.

Lack of timber availability is directly impacting the supply and cost of house frames, flooring, decking beams, and trusses.

The Palaszczuk-Miles Government simply cannot be trusted to deliver on their promises.

It’s more Labor chaos and crisis.

This plan could already have been putting downward pressure on building costs in the middle of the Queensland Housing Crisis, but instead, the housing crisis continues to worsen.

According to Timber Queensland, Australia faces a timber deficit of 250,000 house frames by 2035.

Labor’s failing grade on teacher numbers

8th April 2024

While teachers march out the door, Labor backpedals on promise

Shocking revelations Queensland is losing more teachers than it recruits is a damning indictment on the Palaszczuk-Miles Labor Government.

At the last election, Labor promised to deliver 6,190 new teachers and 1,139 new teacher aides over the next four years.

That promise was on top of attrition, not simply to replace those numbers.

Now it’s clear they will barely replace the teachers they lose through attrition.

So far, they have delivered just 8% of the teachers they promised.

Teachers are leaving because they are over-worked, under-resourced and not respected by the Palaszczuk-Miles Government.

What’s worse, Labor is attempting to cover-up what’s happening with our teacher workforce.

Labor has refused to release the last year’s September Workforce Profile Report and the March one is now also due. 

Why would Labor want to hide teacher numbers from Queenslanders? 

Last year, on this Government’s watch, Queensland missed every single one of the literacy and numeracy targets.

Labor has had the wrong priorities and failed to deliver long-term planning for our schools.

Their chaos and crisis is costing Queensland students. 

Only the LNP has the Right Priorities for Queensland’s Future, including boosting student-to-teacher ratios in schools.

Record-breaking lost hours

8th April 2024

The shocking ambulance data Labor didn’t want Queenslanders to see

Ambulance ramping “lost hours” soared to the worst year on record in 2023, new analysis has exposed.

Queensland already has the worst ambulance ramping in the nation and now we have experienced the worst ambulance “lost hours” in history, these are the numbers Labor tried to hide.

The LNP can reveal October to December was the worst fourth-quarter in the State’s history for ambulance “lost hours” and 2023 was the worst year on record. 

Shannon Fentiman’s desperate and deceitful campaign to cover-up lost hours data has backfired spectacularly, after she told Queenslanders “it was improving”, when in fact the numbers are much worse than previous years.

Never before have paramedics spent so much time in a year ramped at hospitals, with hours skyrocketing 10 per cent in the past year:

  • 2023 - 161,909 total lost hours
  • 2022 - 147,001 total lost hours
  • 2021 - 131,461 total lost hours
  • 2020 - 66,700 total lost hours


Shadow Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Ros Bates said Shannon Fentiman’s lies and cover-up exposed her wrong priorities.

“These shocking statistics are the worst ambulance lost hours on record, never before have ambulances waited so long on ramps in October, November and December,” Ms Bates said.

“Shannon Fentiman has deliberately lied to Queenslanders, claiming the numbers were going down when in fact they were getting much worse.

“Shannon Fentiman can’t be trusted with her deceitful character and the wrong priorities.

“In an attempt to conceal her failures and the truth from Queenslanders, Shannon Fentiman changed the way the data was collated and reported.

“Queenslanders were looking for leadership from Labor, instead they got lies and cover-ups at the hands of a Minister more worried about political future instead of Queensland’s future.

“Queenslanders deserve to know this information but Shannon Fentiman was more worried about how it would make her look.

“When patients are losing lives on ambulance ramps, Queenslanders deserve transparency and accountability, not more Labor chaos and crisis.

“The Health Minister chose to provide the average time each ambulance loses when ramped – instead of providing a total for the actual hours lost.

“As a nurse and former hospital administrator, I feel for my frontline colleagues who are working double shifts to keep the health system on the rails.

“Paramedics didn’t sign up to this vocation to spend an entire shift in the back of a ramped ambulance.

“Only the LNP has the right priorities for Queensland's future, including easier access to health services.

“The LNP’s plan to heal the Queensland Health Crisis includes better resources, better triaging, sharing data in real-time and putting doctors and nurses back in charge to improve patient care.”

 

SOURCE DOCUMENTS:

Jan 2020 - Dec 2021 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2022/53-2022.pdf
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Jan 2022 - Mar 2022 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2022/427-2022.pdf
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Apr 2022 - Jun 2022 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2022/946-2022.pdf

​Jul 2022 - Oct 2022 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2022/1220-2022.pdf

​Nov 2022 - Jan 2023 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2023/125-2023.pdf

​Jan 2023 - Mar 2023 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2023/659-2023.pdf

​Apr 2023 - Jun 2023 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2023/889-2023.pdf

​Jul 2023 - Sep 2023 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2023/1402-2023.pdf

​Oct 2023 - Dec 2023 Source: https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2024/44-2024.pdf