Queenslanders urged to help end elder abuse

Brisbane, 15 June: More older Queenslanders are seeking support for elder abuse as community awareness grows about a statefunded helpline.

Research shows nearly one in six Australian seniors are mistreated, and elder abuse is still vastly underreported in Queensland.

On World Elder Abuse Awareness

Day (15 June), the Palaszczuk Government has partnered with lead agencies to call for an end to elder abuse in Queensland communities.

It has launched a six-week statewide campaign urging Queenslanders who experience, witness or suspect elder abuse to call the Elder Abuse Helpline on

1300 651 192 or visit qld.gov.au/ stopelderabuse.

The most common forms of elder abuse are psychological abuse, neglect and financial abuse. Services supporting older Queenslanders report that these forms of abuse are often linked. Sadly, perpetrators of elder abuse are frequently the adult children

Brisbane, 13 June: The ongoing transformation of Queensland’s rebounding visitor economy is again a key focus of the 2023-24 State Budget.

The Palaszczuk Government has committed to increasing Tourism and Events Queensland’s base funding to $125 million-a-year for the next four years as it works towards ambitious goals for the state’s tourism and events industry.

An aspirational industry goal of achieving $44 billion in overnight visitor expenditure was set in November and the Palaszczuk Government is backing its lead marketing agency to drive demand.

Other Tourism highlights in the 2023-24 Budget include:

• $20 million in 2023-24 to progress Towards Tourism 2032, including the Tourism Experience and Infrastructure Grants program, designed to support tourism experience development in priority areas over two rounds.

It will focus on First Nations, sustainability, eco/nature, accessibility and paleo.

• $12 million over 2 years to support the 2023 Year of Accessible Tourism activities, increasing awareness and capability and for visitor experience development.

The Budget includes tourism business development and continues to support tourism infrastructure and attraction investment.

Meanwhile, the Palaszczuk Government will continue to lead Queensland’s sport and active recreation industry and support pathways to assist Queenslanders to reach their full sporting potential. The Budget will deliver $10 million for female facilities and inclusive infrastructure for clubs, sporting organisations and councils including wider pathways, ramps, upgraded toilets and change rooms.

A $2 million investment over 2 years will produce a state-wide audit of facilities for scouts and girl guides and start work on the refurbishments and upgrades that are most needed including modernising huts and dens and improving disability access.

A further $4.8 million over 2 years is allocated for SwimStart, which is an extension of FairPlay, making more than 30,000 vouchers available to eligible families for children up to the age of four to learn to swim. The Palaszczuk Government is committed to innovation and will work with venture capital funds to provide start-ups with greater access to early-stage capital, which will support them to scale up and accelerate growth.

Queensland delivers surplus budget with electricity rebates & infrastructural boost

Brisbane, June 13 (Australia India News News Desk)

The Palaszczuk Government’s 2023–24 Budget announced todayhas allocated money on the things that matter to all Queenslanders such asdealing effectively with the cost of living, and delivering improved services in health, housing and community safety.The 2023–24 Budget is being said to be focused on investing in the state’s future and also dealing with the immediate challenges.

This became apparent when Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick announced a budget with a surplus of more than $12 billion,offering $1.6 billion in new and expanded concessions to effectively deal with such issues as cost-of-living woesin his 202324 budget, according to media reports.

The budget surplus is owing tothe higher coal prices and a $1.7 billion increase in tax revenue in 2022-23.But the next 2023-24 budget is likely to seea deficit, and the subsequent two budgets have been forecast to see surplusesfor 2024-25 and 2026-27, say media reports.

While presenting his in the parliament, treasurer Cameron Dicksaid the surplus would pave the way for the state to fulfil its promises related to the biggest cost-of-living program, as well as its biggest building program,though the state will also repay its debt, media reports suggest.

According to media reports, highlighting the budget’s priority, Dick said,"That priority is to deliver cost-of-living relief, but to do so in a way that does not add to inflationary pressures.This budget delivers the strongest direct costof-living support package of any Australian state government."

One of the implications of this budget are that all Queensland households will receive a $550 rebate on their electricity bills.If the household comes in the category of vulnerable households, this rebate increases to to $700, in addition to the existing $372 rebate under the Queensland Electricity Rebate Scheme. Besides, eligible small businesses will benefit from receiving a $650 electricity rebate, suggest media reports.

The Queensland government has always been concerned about children’s welfare in the state. And in keeping with that sentiment, the budget makes provisions so that nearly 50,000 four-year-olds will now be able to attend kindergarten for free across the state, say media reports.

According to media reports, the budget has allocated funds for 15 hours of kindergarten per week, for 40 weeks of the year, to benefit children in the year before they commence school costing $645 million over four years.

Care has been taken for the benefit of rural and regional patients, who will now see a $70.3 million boost to the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme, a step that will assist them to travel to access essential health care services, media reports suggest.

According to media reports, school breakfast programs in areas which are full of hardship, will now be expanded to the tune of $2.7 million over two years and Foodbank will receive $315,000 in grant funding.

Replacing a driver's licence, photo ID or industry authority card will now be cheaper with the fee reduced to $35.

Addressing health, housing &safety

Significantly, the Palaszczuk government has increased the state's health budget by 9.6 per cent to a record $25.8 billion, media reports suggest.

Investments comprise the continuation of the health and hospitals plan with the opening of all seven satellite hospitals at Caboolture, Kallangur, Ripley, Eight Mile Plains, Tugun, Bribie Island, and Redlands. There will also be redevelopments at Caboolture and Logan Hospitals.

Acknowledging the need to address mental health issues, Redland Hospital will be the recipient of a new $150 million mental health facility, a step that will be instrumental in doubling its facility.

Moreover, the budget promises $764 million to deal with ambulance ramping and emergency department wait time woes.

Addressing the parliament while presenting the budget, the treasurer saidthe government is aware of the state's housing shortage, caused by supply chain and labour force issues which worsenedduring the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore an additional $1.1 billion would be allocated for the housing portfolio to meet the rise in construction costs, said the treasurer, reports the media.

Caring for the doctors & health workers

The budget has been wise enough to pay attention to provide for the doctors and health workers. Doctors and healthcare workers will now get up to $70,000 and $20,000 respectively to relocate to Queensland. For relocating to regional, rural and remote parts of the statenursing and midwifery students will get a $5000 cost-ofliving allowance.

The government is also conscientious of youth-related problems. Therefore, to tackle youth crime, the government will allocate $96 million for Youth Co-Responder Teams to engage with young people, $50 million for infrastructure developments at PCYCs and up to $30 million of funding for seniors to secure their homes.Besides, a sum of $58.3 million will be invested over four years to implement the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence review.

The infrastructural boost

According to media reports, the treasurer also spoke about his government's capital program for the next four years, which is expected to cost $89 billion. A slew of steps will therefore be needed. So, a sum of $1.9 billion will be spent over four years on infrastructure for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Then there is also the global issue of making transition to renewable energy. Under the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, Queensland will receive $19 billion total investment over four years. Also close to a billion dollars will be spent on land for new school sites with state schools receiving $358 million for new learning spaces and $259 million for expansion of the school halls program.

Also, the budget has provided for a $6.9 billion investment in transport infrastructure, which includes $420 billion towards Stage 1 of the Coomera Connector and $260 million towards Stage 3 of the Gold Coast Light Rail, media reports suggest.