May 29, 2015
Queensland Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg came to Kingaroy on Wednesday to explain the recent Federal Budget to local businesspeople … southburnett.com.au took the opportunity to speak to him for the first time since the change of State Government.
Q. Will the Labor Government serve its full term?
I’ve learnt enough over the years to not speculate about those things and not jump to any conclusions. The reality is most governments, even Minority governments, go their full term. It would be extraordinary if this one didn’t. But that’s not to say there could not be some sort of political cataclysmic event following its own incompetence.
The Opposition has no intention to move motions of incompetence for the sake of doing that. This government has been elected as the government in Queensland. It’s a Minority government in a hung Parliament. It was elected without any real plan. Queenslanders will want to give it a go but I think sometime into next year people will probably start to make up their minds whether they have really achieved anything.
If the government loses the confidence of Queenslanders and if there are any major issues, who knows what happens, but we’re not going to be moving motions of no confidence for the sake of it.
We’ll test the government in the Parliament, we’ll keep them accountable and we’ll roll out alternative plans.
Q. The Wait Time Guarantee vote, with former Labor and now Independent MP Billy Gordon voting with you, is that a sign of things to come?
That’s a sign of interesting possibilities. But we shouldn’t get overly carried away because Billy Gordon is locked onto Labor. Blood’s thicker than water. Really all they’ve done is separate him from the Labor Party by name. The amount of affection they’re displaying towards him is quite extraordinary around the Parliament so it’s really a false estrangement …
He may vote against them occasionally to prove a point but that’s all it will be. He’s said he’ll support them through confidence (votes) and Supply and the LNP has no plans to interrupt the Supply of government… they are the government and they have to prove it.
The other day when Billy Gordon voted with us we won that vote by two votes, not just Billy Gordon’s vote because KAP voted with us.
Q. Does the vote mean the Wait Time Guarantee is now back?
The Wait Time Guarantee is the first time in Australia, or the southern hemisphere, where a government is prepared to say that when you have been listed for your surgery you will receive your surgery within the specified time or your local hospital and health service will pay for you to have your surgery done privately. It makes sure that people will get their surgery on time and it makes sure that the public hospital system performs.
When we came to government there were 6485 people waiting longer than recommended for their surgery. They had been listed for surgery, not just an appointment to see a specialist. In February this year, when we went out of government, there were only 73 … We fixed up the public system, so the public system could treat them. This is before the Wait Time Guarantee came in.
So for those 73 that were there when the Wait Time Guarantee came in, what it would have meant is that they would have just then got their surgery on time. We had so fixed the system that anyone who waited longer than recommended after that time would have had all their surgeries done on time.
Since the government abolished it in the last couple of months, the number now in Queensland is well over 200 people so it’s snuck back up.
The bigger concern for me is that I don’t think Queenslanders voted for this government to get rid of the Wait Time Guarantee. They never had a mandate to do it, they never told Queenslanders that they were going to do it. I think this is an offence to the people of Queensland.
And it’s a bigger offence to thumb your nose at Parliament. The Premier says she wants to listen to Queenslanders and she’s going to bring in a new style of government. You can’t say that and then the first time you lose a vote in Parliament, say you’re not going to listen to it. She says she’s not bound by the vote.
The vote was a very, very strong direction from the majority of Members of Parliament who represent the majority of Queenslanders that they like the Wait Time Guarantee. The Premier should listen.
Q. A new Kingaroy Hospital was the number one priority of the local Health Board. Will the Opposition continue to be pushing for it?
Absolutely. That hospital has served this community well. It is a grand old hospital. You’ve got great clinical staff providing good services to this community. The hospital, frankly, needs replacement to meet the current and future needs of patients and staff. And that’s why it was listed as a priority and continues to be a priority. It’s up to the new government to tell us what their plans are.
Q. Has Labor spoken about abolishing the LNP system of Hospital Boards?
I think it would be a very courageous government to abolish hospital boards because hospital boards work. Hospital boards transformed the health system in this State because it was about local control. It was getting rid of a burdensome centralised bureaucracy which placed a dead hand of inefficient influence over local doctors and nurses. When we broke down that … and gave it to boards, they made a big difference.
We gave them the ability to manage their own budgets and not only that, we incentivised them so if they’re able to do more with their money and make some savings they got to keep it. It didn’t get taken back to Treasury.
(The Darling Downs and District Hospital and Health Board) is an outstanding Hospital Board, one of the best in the State, and they were able to re-invest their own savings back in a community dividend.
What I think this Labor government is going to do is to highly unionise the workforce again. It will try to neuter the effect of hospital boards. It’s not game enough to abolish them but they will more centrally control them. They will interfere in the day-to-day running and I’m concerned they’ll strip the power and authority so they’ll leave them as a shell of their former self.
But that’s the difference between our side of politics and their’s. Labor is very much into central control; we’re very much into letting go and letting local communities run things, take responsibility, take a few risks.
Q. Is their a future Cabinet role for Deb Frecklington?
Deb’s doing a great job (as Shadow Agriculture Minister). I recognise Deb’s capabilities, she’s a great local Member. I’ve always admired her capability from the first time I met her. She’s been given a very, very significant portfolio … Every role in Cabinet is important. Deb holds a very important one, she’s doing a very good job and based on her performance she’s not going anywhere out of the Shadow Ministry.
Q. What about our other local Member, Jeff Seeney, who put himself on the Backbench after the election, does he have any future?
Absolutely. Jeff is a very, very competent and capable person. I asked Jeff to take on what was a critically important role, that we have never really focused well enough on before, and it’s with our new committee system. We have got a range of Parliamentary policy committees in critical areas and it needed someone with a very, very significant political intellect and a lot of experience to co-ordinate that. The role of those committees in scrutinising government decisions and legislation is going to be critical in a Minority hung Parliament. Jeff is doing a great job there and it’s a very significant role. I can guarantee you that Jeff’s future is very, very strong within our team.
Q. A lot of the blame for your loss at the last election has been laid at the feet of Campbell Newman and maybe his style of government. The public had the impression that perhaps no one else could get much of a say?
I am not into individualising fault and blame, and I’m not going to start now. We have to share collective responsibility because Cabinet and Government is collective. It’s a collective failing and a collective responsibility.
I don’t think our government lost because of its competence. I think we ran the State (well) – health improved, education improved, finances improved, so many things improved with our government administration.
It was our collective style and attitude that people didn’t like. and we accept that. And I’m not going to individualise that to anyone.
We all accept responsibility for that but we left Queensland in a far better place than we inherited it three years before. No one that I’ve come across argues against that, they just didn’t like our style and attitude.
