Let’s talk about the faith that Queenslanders have in the public health system, because it has dissipated under Labor’s decade in office. We have had record ambulance ramping; we have had a record number of Queenslanders waiting for elective surgery— over 60,000 of them; and we have had over 280,000 Queenslanders waiting to see specialists.
Too many Queenslander families and vulnerable people are waiting too long to receive the health services they need and too many healthcare workers are stretched beyond their limits. Our population is growing and aging and our health system must keep up.
Last week we actually did speak up very proudly. We shared the great news that our government is making the biggest investment in health infrastructure Queensland has ever seen, and Far North Queensland is front and centre. After years of delays, broken promises and total inefficiency from the former government, Cairns is finally going to get the hospital upgrades that we deserve. This is not just construction; it is real outcomes for local patients, families and health workers. Our Hospital Rescue Plan will build new hospital beds and upgrade and expand existing ones to deliver 2,600 beds for our communities across Queensland alongside more investment in a bigger health workforce. This is the largest investment in hospital infrastructure. We are going to have 64 new overnight beds by 2027. The Cairns adolescent acute mental health project will also invest in eight new beds, because he forgot those in his mental health ward. These will be critical to help with mental health issues with our youth and there will be a new plan and a design for the surgical centre developed in collaboration with the hospital, because they were not consulted. It is really important that they are consulted so that we deliver the best results. They were saying that it was so discombobulated with one wing over here and one wing over there and it was going to be totally inefficient. There will be at least 40 new overnight beds in the surgical centre.
We are also going to collaborate with local tertiary education providers for a future health and innovation precinct.
Last but not least, we will be investing in a new multistorey car park because car parking is important. I know those opposite forgot it in the Wangetti Trail and with their plan for the hospital, but we will not forget parking because parking is really important. It is essential for people who are already in a stressed state at a hospital who need to find a park. Something that is even more mind-blowing than that is the fact that there has not been a new and safe location for the Cairns Hospital helipad, which is not operating to safe standards. The fact that the former government did not address one of the highest clinical and public safety risks for Cairns, which is the reconstruction of a new helipad away from the Esplanade site, is an accident waiting to happen.
Under the former government the Cairns Hospital was on track for a $378 million cost blowout.
This is what I will call Labor’s ‘no plan’. There was no plan to deliver the surgical centre. There was no plan for funding or a site for a car park. There was no plan to stick to costs. There was no plan for a helipad relocation.
There was no plan to consult with the health and hospital service on the surgical centre. There was no plan to reduce hospital waitlists. There was no plan to reduce ambulance ramping.
There was no plan to reduce elective surgery waitlists and there was no plan to deliver what Far North Queensland needs.
Our plan is clear and we will deliver easier access to health services for Queenslanders across our state. We will deliver the largest investment in hospital infrastructure that Queensland has ever seen and we will deliver 64 new overnight beds. We will deliver eight new adolescent beds in the acute mental health precinct. We will deliver at least 40 new overnight beds at the surgical centre and we will deliver a surgical centre in consultation with the experts on the ground.
We will deliver a new multistorey car park.
Right across Queensland we are committed to delivering easier access to health services and after years of delays and broken promises under Labor, Cairns will finally get the hospital upgrades we deserve. This is not just construction; it is real outcomes for local patients, families and our health workers.
