I rise this evening to support the Geothermal Energy Bill 2010. This bill amends a number of existing acts such as the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004, the Electricity Act 1994, the Mineral Resources Act 1989 and the Timber Utilisation and Marketing Act 1987. I will confine my remarks to the geothermal energy aspect of this bill. » more

It is my pleasure to rise this evening to speak to the appropriation bills and the state budget and its effect on members of the Pine Rivers community. » more

I rise tonight to mark the passing of a stalwart of the Dayboro community, Mr William Rowe, who was born on 16 June 1926 and passed away on 5 May 2010. His funeral was attended by hundreds of people in the community who wanted to pay their last respects to a man who was heavily involved in his community and the dairy industry and was a well-loved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. » more

I rise this morning to inform the House of vital community infrastructure being delivered by the Bligh government. Recently, I represented the Minister for Community Services, Karen Struthers, to officially open the new Maleny Neighbourhood Centre. The official plans to build this centre date back to August 2006 when then Treasurer Anna Bligh visited Maleny and announced an election commitment to fund this new centre. The Bligh government delivered on its promise with $2 million. » more

I rise today to speak on the sad passing of a leader in the Pine Rivers community, Mrs Betty Blake. While I did not have the honour of personally knowing Betty Blake, I would like to acknowledge the great legacy that she has left behind in Pine Rivers. Betty moved to the Pine Rivers area in 1987 to enjoy a quiet and peaceful retirement with her husband, Tom Blake. At this time, the Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Centre was being established and Betty offered her assistance to the project. A founding member of the centre, Betty also established the community information and referral service and used her skills as a former legal secretary in New South Wales to write funding submissions for the centre. Betty also oversaw many activities and was secretary to the management committee. » more

I support the motion to revoke the setting apart and declaration of land as state forest under section 26(2) of the Forestry Act 1959. This proposal involves the revocation of 114.6 hectares from part of Beerwah State Forest-SF561-located directly south of Australia Zoo. The area proposed for revocation is exotic pine plantation forest with little conservation value. It should be noted that native title over this land has been extinguished. » more

I rise to inform the House of the great service that the Pine Rivers Community Assisted Transport Service, CATS, provides to the people of Pine Rivers. CATS is a volunteer based community organisation funded by Home and Community Care and is delivered by Moreton Bay Regional Council. The volunteers at CATS provide a door-to-door transport service specifically for HACC funded eligible people who are unable to access other forms of public transport for health and accessibility reasons. » more

In rising to participate in the debate on the Valuation of Land and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 I would like to address the importance of the valuation system to Queensland. Every year State Valuation Services in the Department of Environment and Resource Management provides valuations to property owners across Queensland. These valuations are critical to local and state governments as the basis for determining rates, land tax and state land rental. How valuations are undertaken and their validity impacts every Queenslander in one way or another. This bill introduces amendments to give certainty to the way in which valuations have been prepared so that Queenslanders can have confidence that their valuations are assessed on a consistent and legislatively sound basis and so ensure equity for all landowners. Opposition members have spent the last hour trotting out every bit of scare tactic they could. Once again they have shown no concern for the running of the state of Queensland in a sensible and sound manner to ensure certainty in the valuation system. » more

I rise this afternoon to support the Child Care and Another Act Amendment Bill 2010. This piece of legislation is another step in meeting the Bligh government’s commitment to a quality and accountable education system in Queensland. It is about ensuring that parents have access to information that will enable them to make informed decisions about our most precious young Queenslanders. It is about ensuring that our teachers are fully equipped and tested to teach our kids every day. And it is about ensuring that our children get a flying start to education with quality checked early childhood teachers. This government prioritises the education of our children. » more

Please visit www.parliament.qld.gov.au to view this speech.

I rise this evening to speak on the sad passing of a leader in the Maleny community, Jill Jordan, who lost her battle with lung cancer in Bowen on 8 January this year. Jill was a great inspiration in the Maleny community due to her forward-thinking ideas on community spirit and of people cooperating for the benefit of the whole. I believe these ideas have made the Hinterland town of Maleny what it is today. » more

I rise to second the amendment moved by the Attorney-General. Members opposite have a single ambition that becomes more and more clear with every passing day in this House: they want the power to use the Crime and Misconduct Commission as their own personal star chamber to pursue and prosecute matters on political grounds. They want to turn the intelligent, vigilant watchdog into a mindless, rabid attack-dog. The CMC is designed as an independent commission tasked to pursue criminal activity and official misconduct where it may find it, triggered by complaints, investigated by experts and prosecuted by evidence. A misconduct investigation is not a political tool to be used capriciously by politicians as part of a baseless smear campaign. What faith could the people of Queensland have in such a body if that were the case? None, and yet that is what the opposition wants to do-to direct the CMC, in the absence of any specific current allegation, to go on a fantasy fishing excursion, trawling for problems in the vain hope that something exists where no complaint has been made. » more

I rise this evening to support the Integrity Bill 2009 introduced by this government which is the next step on from the Integrity and accountability in Queensland discussion paper, which we released just three months ago to seek input from members of the community on Queensland’s integrity and accountability framework. We wanted to hear the community’s suggestions about improvements to government policy and how our systems could be strengthened. » more

On Sunday it was my great pleasure to attend and assist in officially opening the new netball courts at the Pine Rivers United Sports Club, both as the member for Pine Rivers and representing the Minister for Sport, the Hon. Phil Reeves. The Bligh Labor government was delighted to provide just over $70,000 to the Pine Rivers United Sports Club to complete this important project in support of netball and futsal. The upgrade to the two courts will improve the club’s ability to deliver a range of sporting activities and competitions for the local community. I appreciated the opportunity to see the pictures of the two run-down bitumen courts, as they have been for the past six years, and to compare them with the bright blue rebound-ace covered courts, which are a dream to run on and look fabulous. » more

I rise in support of the two bills before the House and particularly to speak to the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2009. This bill introduces very important reforms to Queensland’s child-care sector. The key reforms will ensure more accountability across the child-care sector through enabling the publication of certain information about child-care services that do not comply with the act. The bill proposes that people will be able to check a website to find out whether their local child-care service is meeting its obligations. Any person will be able to check the website and find out whether their local child-care service has failed to meet the legislated standards for child care in any way that is serious or more than minor in nature. As a result, parents will be in a better position to make decisions about which child-care service they ultimately choose to provide care for their child. The types of child-care services that will be subject to this new publication framework are licensed centre based services, such as kindergartens, limited hours care and long day care; all home based child-care services, that is, family day care; and stand-alone care services, where care is provided to not more than six children of which not more than four children are schoolchildren. » more

Last week I invited the Minister for Community Services, the Hon. Karen Struthers MP, to visit my electorate of Pine Rivers to announce a Bligh government commitment of $2.8 million to fund the construction of the new Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Centre. The wonderful people who run the neighbourhood centre have lobbied in the past few years for a new centre, and this need was taken up by Linda Lavarch, Fiona McNamara and me. Its current facilities are too small for all of the services that it provides to the community, so the Bligh government has listened and delivered. » more

I rise in support of the Sustainable Planning Bill 2009. An overhauling of the current planning laws is long overdue. I am sure that all long-term members will agree with me that dealing with planning laws is often a frustrating process for the public and government agencies as well as members of parliament. It is a highly complex and specialised area, and therein lies half the problem. Very few people have a full understanding of how the current planning laws work, the history behind them and the roles of each government agency, especially local government. » more

This morning I rise to inform the House of the work being done by teachers and parents across Queensland to help improve the literacy and numeracy of our students. On Friday night I hosted a function for the Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations on the occasion of its 60th annual general meeting and conference. I appreciated the opportunity to speak with Margaret Black, President of the QCPCA, members of the QCPCA executive and delegates from P&Cs from across Queensland. It was lovely to see so many life members attending, and I managed to catch up with a couple of them as well. The QCPCA is an important stakeholder in the education system here in Queensland as it represents the views of parents across the state and guides the work done by the 1,258 individual P&Cs in partnership with schools across the state. Educating our students is a collaborative effort between schools, teachers and principals, and parents and communities. As we all know, if we work together we will get the best outcomes for our students, both academically and socially. » more

It is with much pleasure that I rise today as the new member for Pine Rivers to place on record my thanks for the support and trust that local residents have shown by voting for me and for the Bligh Labor government. » more

I rise this afternoon to talk about the very serious issue of alcohol misuse and the resultant escalation in violent incidents such as assaults and glassings. The Queensland government is continuing to take action to address this issue on two fronts: through our program of reforms to the liquor industry and the recently announced parliamentary inquiry. » more