May 10, 2015
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington took the opportunity of Parliament sitting last week to call on the State Government to support key projects in the South Burnett.
Mrs Frecklington says she has put a focus on the need for better access in the South Burnett to mental health services and also a commitment to a new hospital for Kingaroy.
“I want to make sure the Electorate of Nanango is top-of-mind and that previously committed projects are honoured by the new Labor Government,” she said.
“I want to gain a commitment for the ‘South Burnett Clubhouse’, which was a fully funded and budgeted local commitment I made during the election (campaign).
“One of my major goals has always been to secure better mental health services for people in regional areas.
“The proposed ‘South Burnett Clubhouse’ offers a model of care which has a proven track record, providing an intervention service that assists people who experience mental health problems’.
“This project will be similar to the current, and very successful, Toowoomba Clubhouse which provides people with mental illness vocational training and work experiences, helping them connect with treatment, rehabilitation and re-establishment in the working community.
“I also highlighted the need for a brand new Hospital for Kingaroy.
“Our former government identified that several rural and regional hospitals, previously neglected by the Labor Government, desperately needed replacement – at the top of the list was Kingaroy Hospital.
“It has been my goal since being elected to achieve a brand new hospital for my Nanango Electorate.
“I welcome the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Board Chairman, Mr Mike Horan’s announcement that it is also the Health Board’s continued priority to advocate for a new public hospital in Kingaroy.
“I urge the new Health Minister to not forget the regions, and put Kingaroy Hospital at the top of the capital works list.
“You can be assured that I’ll be fighting for ongoing commitments for the Electorate of Nanango to make sure our region is not overlooked by this Labor Government.”
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Hansard, May 5, 2015
Excerpt from Mrs Frecklington’s reply to the Governor’s opening speech:
I am disappointed that the government used a significant occasion such as the opening of parliament to politicise what should have been the clear direction of this current government.
I speak on behalf of the constituents of the Nanango electorate, a vast electorate that covers some 13,800sq km and has 31 towns and many more communities. The region is blessed with some of the finest prime agricultural lands, tourism opportunities, natural resources and industry.
I listened with keen interest to the Governor’s speech on March 25 of this year. I listened on behalf of the people of my electorate and I asked myself if what was being said was good enough for them; would this new government support them over the next three years like our LNP government had done over the previous three years? I came to the conclusion that what was said certainly was not good enough for the people of my electorate and I can explain why.
Firstly, in relation to agriculture, the backbone of my electorate is primary production: farming families who produce our food and fibres. They work so hard, mostly against the odds, every day to keep food on our tables and clothes on our backs. They are supported by hundreds of small businesses: business people who sell seed and fertiliser, service their equipment and order their parts. There are contractors who build fences and spray crops, truck drivers who transport the livestock, agronomists who work alongside the farmer and meatworkers who process the meat.
Our towns rely heavily on agriculture and not once during this government’s speech was agriculture mentioned; neither was the word “farmer'”or ‘”primary producer”. This means that not once were the majority of the people who reside in my electorate acknowledged; not once were these people who have suffered through droughts and floods highlighted in this important address. It is like they did not even exist …
Secondly, in relation to the regions, this government talks on the one hand about its new Building our Regions program yet on the other it scrapped our hugely successful Royalties for the Regions program. It has single-handedly reduced the amount that we pledged to the regions, almost $500 million over four years, to just $390 million and is trying to make out that that is a good thing.
This shows absolute disregard for rural and regional areas. We created the Royalties for the Regions program to fund roads, bridges, water infrastructure and flood mitigation works that our regional communities desperately needed after 20 years of Labor neglect. There was no clearer demonstration of our LNP’s pledge to Queensland’s regions than this vitally important money that was flowing back through our local councils and providing jobs for our locals.
In my electorate of Nanango, the community saw many great benefits from this project, with more than $25 million injected into the region for projects such as new overtaking lanes and upgrades of wooden bridges and dangerous intersections. We also saw a major commitment of $10 million, which was much-needed money for the upgrade of the Kingaroy wastewater treatment plant.
That was a project that simply had to be done … if it was not for that $10 million from the Royalties for the Regions program, the council would have had no funding and would have had to raise rates again.
Our LNP government understood that regional Queensland is the engine room of our state economy and that resource-rich regions such as the Nanango electorate deserve to see the benefits of that industry.
I wish to talk about access to mental health services. For some time it has been one of my passions to improve access to mental health services in our regional areas. Whilst Labor does talk about expanding services for adolescents, there is no talk whatsoever about helping the people in my region.
At the last sitting when they talked about “region”, they paired it with Townsville. It is very difficult for the people who live in the Nanango electorate to travel to Brisbane, let alone Townsville, for mental health services.
People are suffering from extreme drought conditions. In the past couple of months, I have visited some of those wonderful families and they are simply at the end of their tether. Farming families of my electorate, as well as those of Callide and further afield, have faced disasters such as floods and cyclones, and seen their farms and livelihoods destroyed.
I am committed to securing funding for a South Burnett Clubhouse, which was a fully funded and budgeted local commitment that I made during the previous election.
The proposed South Burnett Clubhouse will offer a model of care that has a proven track record, providing intervention services that assist people from the region who experience mental health problems. It would be similar to the current and very successful Toowoomba Clubhouse which provides vocational training and work experiences to people with mental illness, helping them connect with treatment and rehabilitation, and re-establishment with the working community.
As I said, this was a fully budgeted local commitment. Therefore, I will again be calling on the minister to follow through with this vital commitment for my area.
I also call on the Minister for Health to continue the funding for the vital Mates Who Open Gates counselling support service for farmers.
That innovative program provides on-farm counselling support for farming families, but is at risk of folding due to a lack of support from this government.
As I said before, with more than 70 per cent of our state still in the grip of terrible drought and others still suffering from the effects of the cyclone, our farmers need all the support they can get. However, it seems that this government does not even realise that our primary producers are in real trouble.
Mates Who Open Gates was created and co-ordinated by a Toowoomba group called Ag Assist, led by Mr Rod Saal. At a social meeting, Mr Saal met the then-Health Minister and now Leader of the Opposition, Lawrence Springborg, and we assisted Mr Saal with a pilot training project.
The program trains volunteers who, at the invitation of a producer, visit the farm and lend an ear. That may lead to a referral for further support, or it may just open up a good opportunity for the producer to speak with someone else about their situation.
Our former government recognised the value of the program and funded the pilot project. More than 80 volunteers went through the program and received training, which was more than double the number we predicted when Mr Saal first talked to us.
The program needs to be extended for a further two years at least, because I know there is a need in my community and there is also a need further west, in Warrego and in Gregory. The project supported many people throughout my electorate, as the South Burnett was involved in one of the pilot programs.
Finally, there is a desperate need for a new hospital in Kingaroy.
I was always very pleased that our minister put the Kingaroy Hospital at the top of the list of most needed projects. Our former government identified that several rural and regional hospitals, neglected by the previous Labor government, desperately needed replacing and, as I just said, at the top of the list was the Kingaroy Hospital.
I welcome yesterday’s announcement by the Chairman of the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Board, Mr Mike Horan, that it is the Health Board’s continued priority to advocate for a new public hospital in Kingaroy.
The Kingaroy Hospital was built in 1938 and some extensions were completed in the eighties. The rest of the hospital is made up of demountable buildings that the staff try to make work.
I congratulate all staff at the Kingaroy Hospital who helped my husband when he broke his arm recently. He started treatment in the Cherbourg Hospital where he was greatly helped and then the cast was put on his arm at the Kingaroy Hospital. I put on record my gratitude and my thanks to all of the lovely nursing staff, the doctors and the administrative staff at the Kingaroy Hospital, who all work so hard…
Our government identified the Kingaroy Hospital as one of the 12 ageing rural hospitals in need of critical maintenance. That was also acknowledged in a 2010 report prepared by the former Labor government, yet nothing was done during its term in office. Our former government made the decision to invest some $2 million to conduct vital upgrades, particularly around fire and staff safety, to ensure whilst they were waiting for a new hospital to be built.
The maternity ward is one of the busiest non-specialist birthing centres in the state, with over 400 babies born each year. I could be corrected, but I understand that ours is the second highest birthing hospital regionally outside the south-east corner … Unfortunately, the facilities that those mums and the hospital staff have to work in do not match the high level of need.
There are only two birthing suites and it is quite disjointed, yet the staff do an amazing job.
Until last year, our dental hospital waiting time was up to nine years. Under our LNP government, that was reduced to two years. I know all of the dentists of the South Burnett, the Somerset and the Toowoomba regions really appreciated having the load taken off them because of that amazing initiative of our government.“
Interesting that a cast was placed on a broken arm at Kingaroy hospital and not at a fracture clinic at Toowoomba or Gympie.I understand that the usual practice is to apply a half cast and then an appointment is made at a fracture clinic to apply the full cast or do we now have a fracture clinic at Kingaroy?
The Kingaroy hospital has been on the top of the list since July 2014, 6 months of that under the LNP, it’s all just finger pointing from both sides and meanwhile there is no progress. Maybe the Member could tell us at what point Queensland Health were at with regard to the hospital prior to the LNP losing government?