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Record of Proceedings, 30 October 2025
: I want to place on record concerns that have arisen in parts of my electorate in relation to the damage caused by last Sunday’s storm, especially around the Mount Walker and Rosevale areas in Scenic Rim and also some of the south-western suburbs of Ipswich. When that storm raged through it caused a lot of damage to council assets and farm assets. It also very nearly caused serious injury to some local residents.
In particular, I table some articles from local media telling the story about a fellow called Norm Kerle, who had to crawl underneath his header in a farm shed to escape damage from the storm. He was putting the header away to try and avoid damage, and in the process of doing so the storm hit and he had to crawl underneath the header to get away from the sheets of metal and other debris being blown around him while that storm raged through.
Tabled paper: Article from the Fassifern Guardian, Scenic Rim, dated 29 October 2025, titled ‘Saved by a header as storm savages shed’ 1709.
I know that the Scenic Rim council is out there on the job today assessing damage to see if there is any avenue for state or federal government disaster support assistance as a result of the terrific storm that went through. I also want to mention some of the comments that were made by people in the media. One of the landholders commented that they have not seen a storm like that in 80 years they have lived there. Also, some of the iron from the shed that blew away from Norm Kerle’s header was found about three-quarters of a kilometre down the road, such was the intensity of the winds blowing through there. It is good that Scenic Rim is on the job. I look forward to seeing the submissions to state and federal authorities.
I also want to make mention of the terrific investment made by our government in CT and MRI scanners across Queensland, but in particular for Beaudesert Hospital. Beaudesert Hospital has been waiting for the commitment to be made by Metro South and Queensland Health for almost a decade. I know for a fact that it was on Metro South’s agenda back in 2014 and early 2015, but for 10 long years of decay under Labor it was never brought to the fore to be funded and made a priority. I am proud to say that a commitment has been made to the Beaudesert Hospital for a CT scanner. That is a massive improvement in services. We have been waiting a long time.
The other thing that needs to happen in the near future is an upgrade to the emergency department at Beaudesert Hospital. It is something I am going to keep working on with Metro South to ensure they get the right cases put forward to Queensland Health and the minister for funding to be made available for an emergency department improvement. Ideally we would do both things at the same time, but that commitment for a CT scanner in Beaudesert is a long time coming after nearly 10 years of a Labor government that simply was not listening even to their own health authorities when they were calling out for that infrastructure investment. It is great that our minister has done that.