I rise this morning to draw the House’s attention to the upcoming diamond jubilee, the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as head of the Commonwealth. The sixth of January 2012 will mark the diamond jubilee of Her Majesty. The only other British monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee was Queen Victoria in 1897. It is a significant moment in our history and a notable occasion for our young country, being the first such event of this magnitude since we became a Federation on 1 January 1901. The Queen’s diamond jubilee will see large-scale events and celebrations organised in celebration of this historic occasion in many British Commonwealth countries, including the issuing of the diamond jubilee medal in Canada to honour significant contributions and achievements. I was recently contacted by the Australian Monarchist League Queensland branch chairman, Tristan Rogers, regarding the diamond jubilee celebrations in Australia. In his letter he implored me to raise this matter with the Gillard government to ensure that the diamond jubilee is recognised even in a small way in Queensland.

The Australian Monarchist League was established by a group of hardworking volunteers for the encouragement of literature and to uphold the educational and cultural aspects of our constitutional monarchy. They have been working tirelessly to ensure that Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee is a page of our history that is not forgotten, and they believe that we, as Australians, should not let discussions of constitutional change halt celebrations of Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee. Many Australian organisations have already been contacted by the AML and are subsequently choosing to mark this significant event with individual celebrations. I think it is important to remind the House that under the Constitution the reigning British monarch is also the Australian monarch, and therefore Australia’s head of state. As a nation, we should recognise our monarch’s many decades of service and pay tribute to Her Majesty’s longevity in 2012. This is not about whether you are a monarchist or a republican; it is about respect. I call on the Gillard government to ensure that the appropriate recognition by this great country is given to Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee, so that we may all celebrate this momentous occasion in our nation’s young history. I would like to congratulate the Australian Monarchist League for their steadfast efforts in ensuring that the Australia public are aware of her Majesty’s upcoming diamond jubilee.

I rise tonight to inform the House of my office’s idea to raise extra funds for the victims of the flood in Brisbane. As I have stated before, after the flood that so devastated the great city of Brisbane, my office and I wanted to do something special to raise money for the victims of the flood and to support the city of Brisbane. Like many fellow Brisbane residents, I was so impressed with how the Brisbane City Council under Campbell Newman rose to the challenge, mobilising thousands of volunteers to put Brisbane back together. As such the Lord Mayor’s Community Disaster Relief Appeal Fund was the obvious benefactor for this great initiative.Knowing that so many people across Brisbane, particularly on the bayside, have an appreciation for and an affinity with fishing, my electorate of Bonner is also the proud home of Wilson Fishing Rods, Australia’s premier fishing rod manufacturer. As such, I decided to contact Wilson to see if they would like to donate five very special fishing rods, rods that are unique, specially made for this special purpose, and which would also fetch a premium price to aid in the flood relief.
The Alvey fishing reel company is a historic, Brisbane based reel manufacturer
that has been in business for more than 90 years. It was a victim of the 1974 Brisbane flood. I felt very confident that they would also do all they could to help, so I contacted Mr Bruce Alvey to see whether he would join with me and Wilson rods in a special partnership to manufacture five distinctive fishing reels and create a limited edition fishing rod and reel combination, the proceeds of which would be donated to the flood recovery fund. I was delighted that both these Brisbane based companies were enthusiastic in producing a unique fishing rod and reel combination, one that we all knew would appeal to a collector, regardless of whether or not they liked fishing. The final specification of the Alvey fishing reel is made of Huon pine that is over 1,000 years old. It is turned by a master craftsman and features a unique laser-cut design on the stainless steel face of the reel. The reels are then adorned with original 1950s Alvey badges that were salvaged from the 1974 floods from where the original Alvey fishing factory was situated in St Lucia, Brisbane. These fishing rods are proudly Brisbane made and are engraved by Brisbane’s premier engravers, John Hammond and his 2IC Duncan Vickers, who have very generously donated their master engraving on these exclusive numbered fishing reels. I sold three of these unique pieces but, given that the flood had been and gone and so many people had given so generously to other appeals, I wondered if the last two reels
would fetch such a premium price. Any doubts were truly unfounded. While I spoke
at one of my local Rotary meetings, I informed the audience of this great
opportunity to give back and receive simultaneously. To my surprise, after the
speech a local businessman came to me and said that he would immediately write out a $2,500 cheque to secure one. I was in a quandary about what to do with the last rod and reel and decided to leave it with Toni, the lovely businesswoman who runs the Water Tower Bait and Tackle Shop in Manly. Toni happened to mention the rod and reel to her electrician, who immediately wanted to buy the last combination, sight unseen, for another $2,500. The only thing I regret is that we did not have more to sell. Campbell Newman said that the flood recovery would be a marathon, not a sprint; I am happy to have completed our leg of this marathon and at the end donate just over $10,000 towards the Brisbane flood recovery. The Bonner office could not have done this alone. I would like to thank Toni, Doug Barton, a man who gives so much to the bayside community, Greg Willems, Paul Vincent, Steve Taylor and Mark Chapman- a man with a big heart for his community- for their outstanding generosity and support in doing their bit to help rebuild our wonderful city and get our fellow Brisbanites back on their feet. The great news is that you are all now the proud owners of a unique heirloom.

I rise tonight to speak about an extraordinary network-or perhaps better described as a ‘craze’-supporting our young people: the Red Frogs Australia Chaplaincy Network. Red Frogs founder and director Andy Gourley describes Red Frogs as:
… not just another program but an experience! At its core is the heartbeat of 2000 volunteers with a mission to serve young people and assist them through some of the most important years of their lives.
I could not agree more. Red Frogs started out as a small outreach initiative of Citipointe Church in my electorate of Bonner but has since been adopted by a network of churches across the globe in countries such as South Africa, New Zealand, the UK and Canada. I believe that the reason for Red Frogs’ success lies in the uniqueness of its approach-for example, seeking to change the attitude that alcohol is necessary to have a good time. It is the mission of Red Frogs to create a fun yet safe lifestyle alternative for young people. Quite literally the Allen’s red frogs that we all grew up with and loved have been the icebreaker for the Red Frogs Crew since 1997. Starting with only 80 kilograms in its first year, the Red Frogs chaplaincy now distributes over 11 tonnes of Allen’s red frogs all around Australia. Many parents of students leaving school take comfort in the Party Safe and Stay Safe at Schoolies seminar and its message that goes out each year to over 40,000 high school students in years 10, 11 and 12. The proactive and preventative seminars grab the attention of students and provide insight into how to make positive partying decisions so as to avoid negative and often life altering behaviours such as violence, sexual assault, drug taking, depression and suicide. Red Frogs education seminars have been a large part of the reason for the reduction in alcohol fuelled violence and other negative behaviours once common to Schoolies Week.
Red Frogs Australia have received local and national awards for the outstanding service they have provided at schoolies, including the Local Hero: Metropolitan Australian of the Year award-truly well deserved. Again, thankfully for many parents, Red Frogs does not end at schoolies. In residential colleges and university dorms, at parties, at O-Week events and market days, universities have endorsed the Red Frogs chaplaincy as a vital support for their students. The Red Frogs crew are also known for their non-alcoholic events such as Monday, coffee crawls, random acts of pancakes, camping trips, surfing safaris, sporting events and other activities that encourage a lifestyle where alcohol is not the only means of having a ‘fun night’.
In my electorate of Bonner, the God Bowl and the Red Frog Boardriders Tuesday night skate sessions are well known throughout the local skating community and we see skaters coming from near and far to skate at the God Bowl, the indoor ramp and the new addition to the facilities, the Stoke Bowl. The Stoke Bowl was generously donated to the Red Frog Boardriders recently by Brisbane City Council’s Museum of Brisbane after their exhibition showing the history of skating in Brisbane concluded. I know that the com-munity are extremely appreciative towards Brisbane City Council and in particular to local councillor Adrian Schrinner for this donation. This is a great example of the government working with local community groups to get positive outcomes.
This really is an extraordinary network whose sole purpose is the safety and protection of our young people. It is run by extraordinary people and acknowledgement really needs to go to Andy Gourley, Craig Hepplewhite, the general manager, Brendan Hannah, Elicia Pretorius, Chris George, Justin Vickers and Andrea Vickers as well as to the thousands of dedicated volunteers. All should be commended for their unique approach and incredibly valuable work to the community.

I rise today to speak about heroes-not typical heroes like sporting identities or celebrities, but everyday heroes we can all learn so much from. Graham Kerr is the hero I speak of today. Graham is a man who has surmounted a monumental setback in his life. He has risen above it, integrated into our society and given so much back to our community. Graham is a quadriplegic with no movement from his neck down and has been so since a tragic sporting accident at the age of 24 in 1980.
I came to know Graham through his thoughtful and measured correspondence with me when I was elected to office. I was immensely impressed by his unending passion for the welfare of others. Today I pay tribute to his fighting spirit and amazing reservoir of strength. He is an example to all of us to never give up and never give in, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Graham, you never stop championing the welfare of others. You give so much and you have taught me so much. I thank you and salute you. You are a true hero.

I rise today to highlight the risk this government is taking with its proposed carbon tax on jobs in my electorate of Bonner. Recently the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, the shadow minister for innovation industry and science, Sophie Mirabella, and I visited the Visy recycling centre in Murarrie, Brisbane. Visy is one of Australia’s largest recycling companies, collecting more than 1.6 million tonnes of paper and cardboard, more than 450,000 tonnes of glass, over 58,000 tonnes of plastics and more than 26,000 tonnes of metals. The Brisbane Visy plant undertakes very important work and for every tonne of carbon emissions this plant produces it saves 1.6 tonnes. Although this planet does emit carbon, net emissions are reduced because of its work, but Visy gets no recognition for the highly significant contribution it makes to landfill methane avoidance.
Despite its highly significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions, the Brisbane Visy plant will become one of the many victims of this government’s perverse environmental policy. By taxing this plant, emissions will not decrease, but will severely strain this company financially. In doing so, this tax will no doubt place jobs in my electorate in jeopardy and Visy Brisbane employs around 200 people. Visy is of the view that there is the opportunity to increase paper waste recycling even further beyond the current levels attained. In order to do so, the right carbon incentives need to exist to drive further investment. At the moment, energy and other costs are rising rapidly and even with energy efficiency and reductions in energy footprint, margins in paper remanufacture do not currently justify new investment. Government policy should be to encourage the expansion of recycling operations and not hinder the good work that plants like this do in reducing emissions. There is no doubt this carbon tax is bad policy.
I remind the House that even the government thinks that the carbon tax is a bad policy. As Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, said, ‘A carbon tax does not guarantee emissions reductions.’ This carbon tax will not clean the environment but it will harm jobs and it will clean up the wallets of everyday Australians.

I rise to speak about the recent opening of the Gateway Counselling and Wholeness Centre in my electorate of Bonner. The Gateway Counselling and Wholeness Centre at the Gateway Baptist Church in Mackenzie recently opened to provide accessible, professional counselling and a range of support that assists people as they seek growth, transformation and healing. Those at the centre are passionate about assisting the community to do the journey of life well. Gateway staff understand that sometimes that journey will include challenges and they seek to provide a safe place where anyone in the community is welcome.
The Gateway Counselling and Wholeness Centre works on the principle that counselling and support can empower people in their life journey and allow for personal growth through those challenges. I congratulate Gateway senior pastor Jason Elsmore and his team, including Paul Cavanagh, Marcia Watts, Sue Sharp, Ashley Withers and Sarah Henderson. Together these people form the team that provides professional and supportive counselling to their community. I am confident that this valuable initiative will serve Bonner and the broader community well, now and into the future.

I rise this evening to highlight the government’s incompetence and lack of real oversight for its solar panels program because it has once again enabled unscrupulous providers to rip off unsuspecting people and, potentially, taxpayers’ money. As was detailed in the Courier Mail recently, shonky dealers have been able to operate in the solar panel industry and have ripped off people trying to be environmentally conscientious. Many of the people affected are pensioners and people who can least afford to have money stolen from them. I know this all too well from the people in my electorate of Bonner who have been ripped off.
The particular shonky dealer exposed in the Courier Mail is a business called Solar Powered Products. It used a cold-calling method and people were then visited by a man calling himself ‘Steve Williams.’ The scam was the promise of solar products following a deposit of $900. In addition, Steve Williams offered to reduce the overall cost of $6,600 if people signed over their federal government solar credits and acted as a display home; however, once the deposit was taken there was only an SMS communication from the company and no products materialised.
It has now been revealed that Solar Powered Products is owned by Julie Anne Jones, founder of Australia’s Revival, a fake church based on the Gold Coast, and the person calling himself Steve Williams is known to locals as ‘Pastor Steve’. ‘Pastor Steve’ and ‘Steve Williams’ is, in fact, Stephen John Jones, who is married to Julie Anne Jones. Both are former bankrupts who have now claimed an estimated 400 victims with this latest scam. Investigations by the Courier Mail have also found that Australia’s Revival enjoys tax exemptions as a religious institution, yet there is no evidence of any services, worship or other religious activity. On top of that, the address in Burleigh Heads that Solar Powered Products provided to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is occupied by a surf accessories import business that has never heard of Solar Powered Products. Julie Anne Jones has now also registered another company-Premium Solar Systems.
The reason all these facts are important is that Stephen John Jones, aka Steve Williams, and Solar Powered Products have ripped off people in my electorate of Bonner. One couple contacted my office concerned about the fact that they had paid their $900 deposit, had received nothing and all attempts to contact the company had failed. This couple were judicious and, alongside my office, tried a number of means to check on the legitimacy of Solar Powered Products, including following ASIC processes, but, as was highlighted by the Courier Mail, this company provides bogus addresses and has apparently closed a number of its bank facilities following other complaints.
The attempt to verify the legitimacy of this company included trying to contact the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator which holds a list of accredited providers; however, the phone number listed on the government’s own publications for the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator rang out and there was not even an answering machine to leave a message on. How are people supposed to safeguard themselves against scams like this when the government cannot even provide an information phone line that is answered or, at the very least, has an answering machine? My constituent and I only found out the true identity of this company and its owners from the Courier Mail.
This is a gross failure on the part of the government, particularly when the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee was warned last month about shonky solar operators. The government’s Home Insulation Program cost taxpayers $2.45 billion and from its incep–tion it was an outrageous failure of policy and implementation. As we all now know, this government rejected all attempts to warn them of the issues associated with this program and all attempts to shed light on what was really going with fraudulent claims.
This is another failure of the government to prevent fraudulent activity. I hold grave fears for the implementation of the entertainment revolution and the set-top boxes. I certainly support the shadow minister for climate action- (Time expired)

I rise today to speak on behalf of people from my electorate of Bonner who have a mental illness and who are suffering under the inadequate arrangements in place to support people with mental illness in our community. As I mentioned in my speech on the appropriation bills recently, the government has announced a package of measures in its 2011 budget for funding mental health but, despite the headline figure of $2.2 billion, the government will spend only $583 million over the next four years. In the 2011-12 financial year, the total amount to be spent is only $47 million. The government is in fact cutting mental health by ripping $580.5 million from GP mental health services and allied health treatment sessions from the Better Access initiative. Like all things, the devil is in the detail. On this, the government has been exposed as a sham. I have had numerous constituents and health professionals contact me, concerned about whether this will affect existing patients and when the new measures will begin, none of which has been made clear by the government. This is detail we still need to know more about.
The coalition has led the way on mental health funding, with the announcement in 2006, when Tony Abbott was minister for health, of a $1.9 billion investment over five years in mental health. The coalition’s 2010 election policy was $1.5 million for mental health. This commitment would establish 20 early psychosis intervention centres in major metropolitan and regional areas, providing health care aimed at recovery and prevention of relapse; provide 800 beds for acute and subacute care, specifically to support the early psychosis intervention centres; and fund an additional 60 headspace sites, providing one-stop shops for young people with information and services relating to general health and wellbeing, mental health and alcohol and drug services. In April this year the coalition announced a further investment of $430 million for mental health. So it is incredibly disappointing to my constituents in Bonner that the government has ignored the will of both houses of parliament, which passed motions in October and November last year calling on the government to implement this policy.

I am pleased to rise today to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2011-2012 and its cognate bills. I am pleased to give my electorate of Bonner a voice on this budget. This is a government that expects everyone else to pay for its mistakes, and that message is clear in this budget. The first budget of the Gillard government is no different to any other Labor budget-more borrowing, more taxes and yet another big deficit. On behalf of the overwhelming number of families in my electorate, I can tell you that they summarise this Labor budget in one word: disappointing. They summarise this budget as disappointing because, despite all of the pre-budget talk about this being a tough budget, this government has been tough on no-one but families. These are families who are working hard to meet the increasing cost of living. Many of them are struggling, and this budget seems to have ignored that fact.
The response from my constituents in Bonner since the delivery of this budget, only a couple of weeks ago, is that the government is out of touch with everyday people. My constituents tell me that they are struggling to tighten the family purse strings and that it is especially disheartening that the government is clearly not tightening the budget purse strings, because it is continuing with its wasteful spending. Families are paying for Labor’s failed border protection policies through cuts to family payments. My office has been inundated by families who are desperate to understand what the freezing of the indexation of family tax payment supplements will mean for them. It is incomprehensible that the government would gouge $2 billion from families at this time. Not only that-this budget has revealed that Labor has not been able to keep control of the deficit and debt, and both of these have increased even further. The government continues to borrow $135 million a day, and interest on Labor’s debt will be an incredible $7 billion a year. The government’s reckless spending and borrowing have seen interest rates rise higher than they would otherwise be, and this just compounds the pressure on the overall cost of living.
As I mentioned in my first speech to this parliament, Bonner is, not surprisingly, attractive to a higher than average number of retired or semiretired people, given the relaxed and tranquil paradise along our beautiful bay side. Just as this budget is out of touch with the realities for families, this budget is out of control with the reality faced by many seniors and the semiretired. This government does not understand the cost-of-living pressures that pensioners, the semiretired and self-funded retirees are facing. It is not about the need for set-top boxes; it is about being able to manage the increasing costs of petrol, electricity, groceries, health and home repayments. A post-budget survey revealed that 60 per cent of pensioners do not even want set-top boxes, and we know that Gerry Harvey said that he could provide and install them for $168, compared to Labor’s budgeted cost of $350. This government’s record of delivery is certainly not one to be proud of, given the debacle seen with the Home Insulation Program, computers in schools and Building the Education Revolution. Australians should be genuinely outraged that the government has not learned any lessons and is again proposing another incredible waste of taxpayers’ money.
I also want to talk about another group of Australians that this government is out of touch with. A number of my constituents have highlighted to me the situation of self-funded retirees. They have reminded me that self-funded retirees have been the hardest hit by the global financial crisis but have never received anything from this government. Most self-funded retirees have been able to be self-funded because they have been extremely conscientious in investing for their old age. However, the income for self-funded retirees has been hit in several ways. Their superannuation funds went into a downward spiral, dividend income went down, the value of their share portfolios went down and interest on their savings went down. At the same time as their income went down, the cost of living has soared in the opposite direction.
They are faced not only with another budget that will put further pressure on the cost of living but also with another tax-a carbon tax. There is no doubt the carbon tax will push the cost of living even higher. While this is true, the government has made no mention of the carbon tax and its implications in this budget. This is another tax that Labor should be ashamed of. Worse than that, this is a budget they should be ashamed of for the financial negligence of not including the carbon tax revenue and associated spending, estimated to be in the order of $11.5 billion, in this budget.
The carbon tax will destroy jobs and increase the cost of virtually everything. Overwhelmingly, residents of Bonner do not support it. What they do support is access to fast, affordable broadband now. I note that Labor plans to borrow $18.2 billion for the NBN over the forward estimates. Given that my constituents in Bonner will not have access to the NBN for at least another eight years, the potential for waste in this project is frightening. Again, the government’s financial negligence is astounding when the borrowings for the NBN are shown in this budget but the money does not hit the bottom line because Labor says it is an investment. When I was running my own small business, and as any business in my electorate would agree, I would never make such a huge investment without a cost-benefit analysis. But, astoundingly, this is exactly what this government has done. The coalition has a clear alternative plan for the delivery of high-speed broadband that will be much cheaper than the government’s monopoly that it tenuously hopes will one day be an investment.
Finally, I acknowledge the disappointment of many in my electorate about the government’s mental health package in this budget. While creating the illusion that the government was outspending the coalition’s election promise in this most important area, the detail reveals that there is only $1.5 million in new money over five years. The coalition remains committed to its mental health policy that will deliver $2 billion over four years. Again, we have seen a typical old-fashioned Labor budget that is big on taxes and big on spending but fails to help households battling a high cost of living with petrol, electricity, gas, grocery and health costs and home repayments. It is a budget balancing on a knife edge.
The most salient point about Labor’s budgets was made by my colleague the member for Longman, Wyatt Roy. In his lifetime Labor has not delivered a budget surplus and, unfortunately for my electorate of Bonner and for all Australians, I am certain that when we are celebrating the member for Longman’s 30th birthday this statistic will remain unchanged.