View the recording of this speech here.
Record of Proceedings, 21 August 2024
The Christmas Day storms which impacted Tamborine Mountain, Cedar Grove, Cedar Vale, parts of Logan City and also parts of Scenic Rim were devastating for so many households.
An opposition member: And Wongawallan.
Wongawallan as well. I should say that the Gold Coast as well really copped a lot of damage from that storm. I understand that some $1.3 billion worth of insurance claims were made arising from that, with 100,000 claims. We are now eight months on from that storm and there are $523 million of those claims outstanding. I have engaged with the Insurance Council of Australia over the last several months in relation to a number of people’s claims. I urge all insurers, and the Insurance Council as the peak body, to do whatever they can to hasten those claims along and to get people’s houses into the reconstruction phase as quickly as possible. We know there are labour shortages and contractor shortages as well, but time is getting on and it is really urgent that we get on with those rebuilds as soon as possible.
When it comes to insurance, an issue that is raised with me around Tamborine Mountain and other parts of the electorate is the increase in break-ins we are seeing and the increase in vehicle thefts. We have seen the crime stats from last year where Queensland had 18,000 vehicle thefts compared to only 11,000 in New South Wales, despite their much larger population. There is no doubt that people are feeling the pinch on their insurance bills as a result of the crime crisis that this Labor government has overseen over the last few years, especially starting with the watering down of the Youth Justice Act back in 2015 and 2016. That is a big cause of the cost-of-living crisis not only for households but also for small businesses in my electorate and across the entire state.
There are plenty of reasons to show Labor the door in October 2024. We have the crime crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, the housing crisis and also the health crisis. No-one should forget the GP tax that this government was going to put on general practitioners’ practices, and a lot of very concerned GPs from the Scenic Rim electorate approached me. We should not forget that the Treasurer, Cameron Dick, has just put that on the backburner. If Labor is re-elected, the GP tax will be resurrected. That is a tax on bulk-billing; it is a tax on doctor services which are vital to Tamborine Mountain and the parts of Logan City that I represent and the parts of Scenic Rim that I represent. Bulk-billing will be at threat if the Labor government is re-elected here in Queensland because the GP tax is just another tax on primary health care. The Treasurer has refused to rule it out if the Labor government is re-elected. He can do that. He can walk in here tomorrow and rule out the GP tax being brought back. I want to see that on behalf of all the GPs in my electorate.