Parochial Myopia - Candidates - 2006

LETTER TO EDITOR - 31 January 2006

Dear Editor

It seems Steven Dixon suffers the same parochial myopia that afflicts Dr Shaun Rudd and Hervey Bay MP Andrew McNamara (FCC 31/01/06), and the same unfortunate willingness to listen to and take advice from petty bureaucrats.

Clearly Mr Dixon’s legal mind thinks along identical lines to that of his Labor foe. A political clone, and out of touch with everyday realities.

They both seem to think only Hervey Bay people need hospitals and yet Hervey Bay has no major highway, no significant industrial activity, and serves a much smaller geographic area than the regional centre of Maryborough.

Mr Dixon offers the same band-aid logic as his Labor rival: poach personnel and facilities from Maryborough to provide for the growing needs of Hervey Bay and sacrifice a long-standing hospital to prop up an under-resourced new one.

However, neither petty tinkering nor adding “people-sensitive managers” will solve the problems brought about by years of Labor neglect and entrenched mismanagement.

Why not restructure Queensland Health completely to ensure all regional areas get their fair share of the Health purse?Apportion the total Health Budget evenly between the 89 State electorates and allow local communities to decide whether they want to retain their own regional hospital facilities or share one or more larger facilities as in Brisbane.

This way Hervey Bay could have the resources to service its growing population without robbing the greater Wide Bay and its hinterland of essential medical services.

Every community deserves ready access to quality hospital facilities, including fully-functional 24-hour birthing facilities and emergency care.