Hervey Bay Gossip

It seems that the state government has finally decided that it really does need to focus on driver fatigue in the trucking industry - and not before time too.

For too long this country has survived by imposing impossible workloads on the drivers of long-distance trucks while governments have turned a blind-eye to the companies who insist that their drivers continually break the law.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Paul Lucas has told the Australian Trucking Association’s annual convention that the State Government had turned the spotlight on rogue transport companies who forced drivers to cut corners and break the law.

The Minister said the State Government would make no apology for taking a tough stand on the issue.

“We already pursue all breaches of driving hours and other chain of responsibility offences with the full force of the law and we will continue to do so,” Mr Lucas said.

Since the introduction of chain of responsibility legislation in 1998, Queensland Transport has led the field with 324 successful prosecutions for driving hours offences.

“Queensland was the first state to do so and we will stay at the forefront to make sure our roads are safer for everyone.

“I want to send out a loud message that these rogues of industry who push their drivers to work excessive hours will not be tolerated,” Mr Lucas said.

The Minister said that anyone who played a role in road transport - from consignors such as supermarkets, through to drivers and customers - would be held accountable for their actions.

“The majority of drivers do the right thing. They behave responsibly, and I want those drivers who feel pressured to breach driving hours regulations, or who know of companies that are doing the wrong thing to come forward,” Mr Lucas said.

Crashes involving heavy vehicles on Queensland roads in 2005 resulted in 49 deaths, almost 15% of all fatalities.

“This does not mean that in all cases heavy vehicles were at fault, but we’re serious about tackling the issue and want to look at workable ways to turn these statistics around.

“I want to introduce even tougher penalties to target unsafe heavy vehicle drivers and operators.”

“I have reports of rogue transport companies paying the fines of drivers involved in logbook offences and that means the driver is under no penalty for what is a significant safety issue.

“I make no apology in ensuring our chain of responsibility legislation targets the operators rather than the drivers and the truckies.

“But drivers must also bear responsibility and introducing demerit points for logbook offences is worth a very serious look.

“This is only a small minority of the industry who put safety at risk and undercut the earnings of decent truckies and trucking companies.

There are around 75,000 trucks registered in Queensland. There are on average around 45 log book offences for breaches of driving hours each year in Queensland.

“Queensland is at the forefront of heavy vehicle reforms being developed at a national level by the National Transport Commission. Demerit points will be considered as part of this reform process.

“However, with a spate of crashes involving heavy vehicles, particularly on major highways, I will be introducing demerit points for heavy vehicle log book offences in Queensland. Ideally I’d like other states to follow suit,” Mr Lucas said.

“This will be part of the road safety package arising from the recent Queensland Road Safety Summit,” Mr Lucas said.

Perhaps he means what he says; only time will tell but it could be more hot air blowing out of an exhaust pipe.

Today is the day that we remember all those who have fought to keep this great country free. Not only do we remember those that have served but we should also remember those who are now serving in hotspots around the world.

It’s sobering to think that today there are members of the Australian Military serving in more parts of the world than at any other time since the end of World War II.

Even if you don’t agree that Australians should be involved in some of those conflicts we can still support our men and women as they follow the orders of our elected government.

What would today’s scene in Hervey Bay have been like if our people were not prepared to defend our way of life?

Over the next few weeks car number plates from the southern states will become more noticeable here in Hervey Bay as the low temperatures in the southern states encourage people to come north for the winter.

Despite the influx of people from the south the State Government wants even more. Now Queensland’s legendary winter warmth will be the focus of a new events campaign designed to lure tourists from colder climes.

Premier Peter Beattie said the $500,000 campaign would tempt freezing southerners and New Zealanders to head to Queensland for a warm winter welcome.

Margaret Keech the Tourism Minister annouced today that the campaign will comprise inserts in major daily newspapers in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand. It will also leverage off Brisbane Marketing activity in the southern capitals around the same time.

“The campaign will commence in late May which signifies the beginning of our beautiful winter months and many key events such as the Brisbane Festival, The Dreaming Indigenous Festival and the Noosa Long Weekend are programmed during that time,” she said.

Premier Peter Beattie today confirmed that Queensland’s electricity generation and transmission services would not be sold off.

Mr Beattie said he would not allow the supply of electricity to Queenslanders to be jeopardised.

“We have the fastest growing electricity market in Australia,” Mr Beattie said.

“Our Government has a key role to play in ensuring low cost and reliable generation and transmission underpins these growing domestic and business energy needs.”

Mr Beattie said the Government would retain ownership of its generator government owned corporations and their core assets.

“We have been very successful in relation to power generation in Queensland,” he said.

“So much so, that we are actually a net exporter of power to other States and Territories which are not in such a strong position.

“This has been achieved through targeted and carefully considered investment in new power plants and capacity, as and when it has been needed, to keep pace with our population growth.

“The current system of private and public investment in generation within the framework of the current GOC ownership environment works well and we won’t be changing it. The private sector has invested significantly in power generation in Queensland in recent years and we expect that to continue.”

Mr Beattie said the distribution arms of Energex and Ergon Energy would also continue to build, operate and maintain power lines and poles in Queensland.

“I want Queensland to have the safest and most reliable electricity supply network in Australia,” Mr Beattie said.

“The Somerville Report exposed some problems in relation to transmission and our Government has invested record amounts to help build a stronger system.

“I want to make sure we finish the job.”

Mr Beattie said as part of the impending introduction of full retail competition in Queensland the Government was reviewing the future of retail activities within the energy government owned corporations.

“The introduction of full retail competition in the middle of next year will give Queenslanders greater choice than they have ever had before,” Mr Beattie said.

“New retail electricity companies will be allowed to enter the domestic market and compete.

“Customers will be able to shop around for the best deal that suits their lifestyle and family and household needs.

“Even though retail is a only a small part of the business of some of our electricity GOCs it makes sense that we review them to make sure they will still be able to offer a competitive alternative.

“We need to look at whether they are structured so they are able to compete in the face of competition of large national vertically integrated companies and to ensure that the Queensland taxpayers shareholding is not exposed to unacceptable risk as a result.

“No decision has been made yet and we will continue to consider our options within the context of the impending market reforms.”

Expert advice to help Queenslanders deal with non-life threatening medical situations is just a phone call away, Premier Peter Beattie and Health Minister Stephen Robertson announced today.

Mr Beattie said the State Government’s new 24 hour health hotline - 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) - became available to all Queenslanders on Monday at 8.30am.

“13 HEALTH has proved to be a great success in North Queensland and taken well over 16,000 calls since we launched it there in February,” said Mr Beattie.

“Now the service is available to all Queenslanders, wherever they live, for the cost of a local call.”

“Experienced registered nurses staffing the hotline will provide callers with clinically-based triage advice, health information and referral services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“The hotline is designed to provide people with quick, reliable advice over the phone if they or a family member suddenly get sick and they are unsure what to do.

“Instead of rushing off in the middle of the night with a child to a hospital emergency department and having to wait for advice on something that turns out to be no more than a tummy ache, help is at the end of a phone line.

“With only 2,600 of the 16,600 callers to the North Queensland service being advised to attend an emergency department, many of the 14,000 other callers would have been saved a trip to hospital - and the queues at emergency departments would have been reduced.

“For example, a child may wake in the middle of the night with a fever or stomach pains and mum is unsure whether to rush off to hospital.

“By calling 13 HEALTH, mum will receive clinically-based advice on the best course of action to take; including whether to attend a hospital emergency department, see a local GP, or administer home care.

“I stress this service is for non-life threatening situations only and not meant to replace medical consultations.

“People with life-threatening emergencies should always call Triple O for urgent assistance from the Queensland Ambulance Service,” Mr Beattie said.

Mr Robertson said 13 HEALTH honours a government election commitment and will cost $25 million to operate over three years.

“Queensland Health has 34 clinical and registered nurses staffing the hotline at a Brisbane call centre.

“They are all highly experienced nurses recruited from both Queensland Health and the private sector.

“None have been recruited at the expense of public hospital emergency departments.

“13 HEALTH represents an extra level of health care we are providing to Queenslanders and will also help ease pressure on busy hospital emergency departments.

“The public response proves there is a community need and demand for the hotline service.”

Mr Robertson said 13 HEALTH attracted 16,604 calls during its first two months of operation in North Queensland.

A breakdown of triage calls include:

·2,587 or 18.6% of calls were advised to attend a hospital emergency department.

·1,721 or 12.4% of calls were advised to see their GP in 1-4 hours.

·1,456 or 10.5% were advised to see their GP within 12 hours.

·1,127 or 8.1% of calls were transferred to the Queensland Ambulance Service.

·969 or of 7% of calls were advised to see a GP within 1-3 days.

·511 or 3.7% of calls were provided with self-management advice.

A further 32% of callers indicating they needed triage advice actually had no symptoms but needed information clarified, such as preparation for day surgery, understanding medication and post-operative care.

The most common symptoms raised by callers include: infant or toddler fever, adult abdominal pain, vomiting, unwell or irritable infant, headache, chest pain, insect bite, dizziness or vertigo, rash, back pain and lumps.

A Maryborough company that specialises in the manufacture of earthmoving accessories hopes to further expand its export markets with help from the Beattie Government.

Small Business Minister Chris Cummins today announced Danmac Fabrication and Welding Pty Ltd would receive more than $3,000 funding through the Small Business Accelerator (SBA) program to help develop a growth plan.

Mr Cummins said the company made earthmoving attachments including hydraulic grapples, stick rakes, quick hitches, compaction wheels, tilt hitches, buckets, rippers, batter buckets and digging buckets.

“Danmac Fabrication and Welding has recently diversified with the development of a new prototype of luxury horse transport trailer that has export potential,” he said.

“The company is currently enjoying significant growth with its earthmoving supplies in high demand in civil construction project throughout Australia.

“This grant will help Danmac Fabrications and Welding to develop a detailed plan to manage this growth and provide new job opportunities for the region.”

Danmac Fabrication and Welding’s CEO Roy Gimson said he hoped the new growth plan would enable him to identify new systems and processes to increase production and reduce overheads.

“We want to focus more on our current distribution network, as well as look at ways to market our new range of luxury horse transportation,” he said.

“We hope the development of our horse trailers will open up new domestic and international markets as we can now provide affordable solutions for the equine industry.”

Mr Cummins said the Beattie Government introduced the Small Business Accelerator Program in 2004 to help well managed, fast growing, small companies and since that time, 11 companies in the Wide Bay region had received more than $41,000.

Anzac Day Services here in Hervey Bay will commence with the Dawn Service. The assembly point is outside the RSL at 4.15am with a march on the Cenotaph at 4.30am.

The assembly point for the main march is the Woolworth’s car park at 9.30am with the parade commencing at 10.00am.

The RACQ warns that further increases in the price of petrol could be on the way towards the middle of the coming week and one analyst quoted in the Sunday Mail suggests that the price of crude could rise to $US100 a barrel.

Well it had to come as hoons spoil it for everyone else.

At the moment it seems to be something is more of a problem further south but a ban on jet skis certainly could come to Hervey Bay.

The local jet ski hire operators are to be commended for the efforts they put in to making sure that people who use their equipment do the right thing. But it’s the private owners who ignore the speed limits near the shore that could see a ban introduced here.

You can read the full story here

The Queensland Premier announced today that the state government has just launched a campaign to return mnore than $2.5 million in unclaimed rental bonds to their rightful owners.

A new website has been launched that lists the names of people entitled to a refund of their bond payments and you can find that site at http://www.rta.qld.gov.au

At the same time landlords and tenants in Hervey Bay are entering an interesting period. The cost of buying and maintaining a house is increasing and so landlords want to continue to get a reasonable return on their investments. To do that they see the need to increase rents.

At the same time the general cost of living is rising for tenants too and many can not affort to pay increased rents.

And just to complicate matters the pool of good tenants is limited but the pool of houses available for rent is increasing and will increase even more in the coming months as various town house and unit developments come on the market.

At least one major real estate agent in town is trying to encourage landlords to look beyond their desire for increased returns and just be happy that they actually have tenants in their houses. Increased rents might look very attractive to landlords but empty rental properties can very quickly bring a landlord back to the harsh realities of life.