THE COMPLACENCY OF INCUMBENCY

ANYONE in doubt about the danger of wall-to-wall safe LNP seats needs to look no further than the cynical federal campaign budget handed down by the Morrison government last month.

As reported in the Gold Coast Bulletin (March 31), angry city leaders said the region had again been snubbed, while columnist Andrew Potts described it as being aimed squarely at winning wavering or lapsed Coalition voters.

The Gold Coast has five federal seats all held by the LNP for more than a decade.

Due to the complacency of those LNP members and their failure to lobby for a fair share for their constituents, the federal government has repeatedly ignored the needs of this growing city.

Nowhere is this more evident than in its responses to recent crises in aged care, housing and flooding.

In 2019, inaction and negligence over the dysfunctional management of the Earle Haven Retirement Village, in Nerang, resulted in the emergency evacuation of 69 vulnerable residents when services suddenly collapsed.

The Morrison government and its local MPS, wholly responsible for the regulation of aged care, had not only failed to properly police privatised aged-care homes, but they also underfunded critical services.

In fact, Scott Morrison, when treasurer, actually cut billions of dollars from agedcare services which also put additional pressure on our hospitals.

Instead of being shamed by their own inaction, the local state and federal LNP MPS responded by attacking the Queensland Labor government for stepping in and taking charge of this devastating failure.

Tragically, the Morrison government’s appalling response to the pandemic and negligence for our elderly has seen a devastating toll in aged-care facilities.

Aged-care advocates (GC Bulletin, March 2) have repeatedly warned the Morrison government that its response to a damning royal commission report was inadequate.

Meanwhile, the pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented surge in interstate migration and demand for housing and health services on the Gold Coast. Yet the Morrison government is still ceasing funding to the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) and turning its back on vulnerable Queenslanders experiencing housing stress.

The Queensland government is spending $111m on new and improved health facilities on the Gold Coast including a mental health rehabilitation unit and a hybrid theatre at the Gold Coast University Hospital, as well as the $40m Tugun satellite hospital which will all help free up beds.

That is in addition to the mental health crisis stabilisation unit recently completed at Robina.

All we asked from this last budget was for our fair share – a 50:50 partnership with the federal government to meet the health needs of our rapidly growing population.

What we got was a $21m cut from Queensland public hospitals next financial year with another $176m cut in the following two years.

If the Morrison government was not so blindly ideologically opposed to supporting the most vulnerable, it would have increased investment in aged care and social housing construction and outlined a plan to fill the gap after the end of the NRAS.

What every Gold Coast resident should be asking before they vote is what exactly are the LNP MPS doing for them?

When was the last time any of them (besides Morrison crony Stuart Robert) have had a one-onone chat with the Prime Minister or Treasurer Josh Frydenberg about the issues facing the Gold Coast?

Morrison’s marketing machine will be in overdrive, but remember when you get to the ballot box that they promise the world but never deliver.