New ministry must hit ground running

AMA Queensland congratulates Ros Bates on her new role in the Crisafulli government’s first ministry and looks forward to working with new Health Minister Tim Nicholls.

“AMA Queensland has worked well with Ros Bates over the past two parliaments,” AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim said.

“She has shown a willingness to engage and an understanding of the challenges facing the Queensland health system and we wish her well in her new role as Finance, Trade, Employment and Training Minister.

“We congratulate Tim Nicholls on his appointment as Health Minister and will seek to meet with him as soon as possible to discuss our Election Priorities and Surgical Wait List Roundtable Action Plan.

“These are blueprints for how to help fix our healthcare workforce shortages, ambulance ramping and elective surgery wait lists.

“We enjoyed a close working relationship with both Ms Bates and the former Health Minister Shannon Fentiman. We look forward to maintaining that relationship with Ms Fentiman in Opposition, and to developing an equally productive relationship with Minister Nicholls.

“We also congratulate David Janetzki on his appointment as Treasurer. His first act must be to instruct Treasury to begin the process of exempting general practice from payroll tax. Premier David Crisafulli promised to begin this in the first week following the swearing-in of his new ministry.

“We urge Premier Crisafulli and Minister Nicholls to retain initiatives put in place by the former government, including workforce attraction incentives for regional doctors, grants to assist junior doctors to train as GPs, and assistance for regional GPs to upskill in obstetrics and anaesthetics – skills that are critically needed in regional Queensland.

“We look forward to seeing more detail on the LNP’s promises to cut ambulance ramping and elective surgery wait lists. AMA Queensland has given clear recommendations to all political parties on how to address these issues through our Roundtable Action Plans.

“We will also hold the LNP to the commitment to no change to existing termination of pregnancy laws.

“We are heartened that Premier Crisafulli has indicated he will seek expert advice on his proposal to scrap pill testing at Schoolies and encourage him to also seek advice on his plan to repeal drug diversion laws.

“These would be dangerous moves that go against the advice of medical, legal and police experts.

“We will also encourage the LNP to abandon unproven and costly services that fragment care and instead invest these resources in our existing hospitals and general practices.”