SPEND MONEY ON CURRENT NEEDS NOT PIE IN THE SKY FLUFF 20YRS AWAY

The proposed education trust proposed by the government just proves they can not even see the problems right in front of their face. A few days ago the AMAQ called for a greater focus on health. the next day the govt announces this education strategy. Why on earth would we look up this money for 20years before we see any benefit from it? We have a severe shortage of doctors and nurses in our state. Instead of this pie in the sky fluff, why not divert that same amount of money into the rural doctors and nurses scheme? Imagine how many doctors and nurses we could put through and employ with an additional $1.47Billion. We also have a severe skills shortage of tradesman. Again why lock up this money when we could apply it to training apprentices now? more tradesman, less drain from mines, more competiton, lower prices. Which part of this doesn't appeal to the government?

here is the press release put out by me-

The Katter’s Australian Party candidate for Cairns has condemned the government’s proposed education trust fund a pointless stunt and called for alternative measures.

“Why does the Qld education system have to suffer for 20years before we see any benefit from this concept? We have real needs, right now. There is a huge shortage of doctors and nurses in our state. Instead of waiting for 20 years for Queensland to see any benefit as the government wants, we are calling for this money to be diverted to the rural nurse and doctor scholarships so we can address the critical shortages there.”

“We also have a major shortage of tradesman and skilled workers. Business owners in Cairns have told me they were willing to put on new apprentices. However, because they can’t do their training locally and the costs involved in sending staff to Townsville or Brisbane, combined with a lack of support generally, means they are no longer willing to employ apprentices.”

Instead of pie in the sky stuff 20years down the track, I’m calling for this money to be diverted to helping train FNQ apprentices now. We have a TAFE college right here that can be used for this purpose to better effect. The money can be used in a similar scheme as the rural scholarships for doctors/nurses meaning they do their time in Queensland or repay the money provided.

The question also has to be asked why are they discriminating against our kids that need assistance now? Why can only children born after a certain date be entitled to help and others not? Has Labor written off all those other kids?It is also very contradictory when they say they will hold the money in trust for the future education, but then they say it will be used in the first ten years to fund education and training programs. So which is it? We have seen from the government when they have raided the gambling fund they can’t be trusted to leave money alone.

With one mining company indicating they are going to bring in workers from Poland, we need to address our shortages with our own best and brightest. The savings for this option compared to the government’s proposal will come from having tradesman employed now, producing wealth for Queensland and spending their money locally. The savings will come from having the doctors and nurses we need so we do not need to rely on overseas staff or to pay overtime to fill staff gaps and improving the health of Queenslanders by reducing waiting lists which improves productivity and the overall economy.