CRITICAL CONDITION: Independent Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest says in light of the critical challenges facing Tasmania's health system "it is time to take a step back, think and plan strategically about acute health services for this state before we keep spending on facilities unlikely to meet future demand".

Tasmanian health services are on the critical list.

It was alarming to read a letter from registrars working in the Emergency Department of the Royal Hobart Hospital addressed to the Tasmanian Health Service executive, expressing their deep and real concern for the safety of patients and staff.

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ELECTIONS are a great way of deciding who we want to sit on the Treasury benches but they’re a flawed means of deciding particular policies, especially vexed questions like pokie policy.

The Liberals deservedly won the 2014 election because they hadn’t done enough wrong. Electors, however, didn’t give them carte blanche approval to do whatever they wanted. Rather they were given the right to put forward a detailed proposal for consideration. My role as a Legislative Councillor is to scrutinise any proposal on behalf of my constituents.

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THE Treasurer’s Revised Estimates Report issued in late January has removed any doubts as to the financial position of the state.

In two years the Government will need external borrowings. Outlays will exceed receipts for the next four years even if the health system remains underfunded.

To paraphrase Paul Keating, they’re the deficits we had to have.

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Major parties claim to be open and transparent and that donations received don’t impact on decisions they make. 

Tasmanians want to know who has the ear of Government and be aware of the potential influencers on parties and candidates.  No-one believes significant amounts of money are given by interested persons and groups without an expectation of a return. The current delays in reporting are anachronistic.

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Murchison Independent MLC Ruth Forrest will raise questions about contracts which require patients to pay upwards of $8 per day to watch television in Tasmanian hospitals. 

Ms Forrest said the Tasmanian Liberals need to stop blaming past governments and act to support convalescing residents. 

“To those who say it is a ‘first world’ problem or insignificant or a joke - please consider the individual at the heart of this issue,” Ms Forrest said. 

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THE politics of fear and prejudice are being used around the country and world. In more recent times, this approach is being rejected. People claim they can’t trust politicians, stating they are only in it for their own gain, they don’t follow up on promises or commitments and they revert to fear-mongering to win elections.

I feel as frustrated and disappointed as other members of our community.

Last week we saw the federal Morrison Government, particularly Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert, doing just this with his comments regarding the recording of birth details of Tasmanian babies and the subsequent detail recorded on birth certificates.

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ACCESS to timely, safe, high quality health care is a reasonable expectation for all Tasmanians. Currently residents in the North-West and West Coast regions, and other regional areas, are right to feel aggrieved at the inequity we face in access to some health services that could and should be provided in our local region.

We generally accept it is safer to travel to access a one-off complex surgical procedure, despite the inconvenience at the time. However, travelling for noncomplex procedures that can and should be provided locally or for some chronic conditions is unreasonable and inequitable.

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Women earn on average $253 a week less than men, which negatively impacts their financial and social well-being, says a Tasmanian MP.

Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest successfully moved a motion on Tuesday that the Legislative Council note the gender pay gap was a major impediment to equality.

Ms Forrest said the Commonwealth Workplace Gender Equity Agency calculated the national pay gap as being 15.3 per cent which means that for every $1 a male receives, a female receives 85 cents.

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If you own publicly listed shares, you will know in the next week or two how your company performed for the year ended June 30, 2018. Most financial statements are released in August.

Why can’t government businesses release their financial statements in August? At present we don’t get to see annual reports of government businesses until the end of October.

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Ruth Forrest says long-awaited new rules for the carve-up of tax revenue will fail

THE possible benefits that may flow to Tasmania from the new rules for dividing GST revenue between states suggested, at first glance, a win for the state and a win for a rules-based system that, if nothing else, gives future certainty.

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Housing Tasmania is forced to pay off millions to Federal Government, writes Ruth Forrest

ONE of the essentials of life is shelter. If a person or a family does not have safe, secure and suitable shelter their chances of good health and of gaining an educational outcome that will assist them into employment and reduce reliance on social support is extremely high.

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WOMEN on low incomes and in regional Tasmania are being disadvantaged because of a lack of abortion services in public hospitals, says Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest.

She will move a motion in the Legislative Council calling on Health MinisterMichael Ferguson to ensure all Tasmanian women have equitable access to termination of pregnancy services in the public hospital system.

Ms Forrest said her motion was not about whether terminations should be available because that had already been decided by parliament in 2013.

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THIS year’s Federal budget and the Opposition response suggest there is $300 billion worth of revenue over the next 10 years that the Government is willing to hand back to taxpayers.

What may appear to cynics as a vote-buying exercise has been pitched as tax reform. We are part of a federal system. When it comes to tax reform, are tax cuts to individuals and companies at the Federal level the most urgent? 

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What is the role of the Tasmanian Legislative Council? 

It is timely to consider this important question in light of recent public comment suggesting the Legislative Council lacks relevance and is obstructionist.

The role, as noted in its 2016-17 Annual Report, is threefold: 

“(i) to authorise the raising of revenue and the expenditure of state moneys; 

(ii) to examine the merits of legislation; 

and (iii) to provide a parliamentary check on the government of the day.

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The only promise missing from this election campaign is the one we most desperately need. A State Optometrist. Someone to check the vision of those responsible for the daily deluge of pledges from all parties with little connection to any clearly articulated vision or long term plan.   

The majority Government of the last four years has wasted its grand opportunity to lay down a long term plan and is still relying on a hotchpotch of promises to shore up votes. 

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Government hasn’t stuck to its agenda for major projects, says Ruth Forrest

THE TasWater takeover Bill which will soon be discussed in the Legislative Council contains provisions requiring the new corporation to formulate a 10-year infrastructure plan to be agreed with the Government, which must be reflected in the corporate plan and budgets.

If only the Government would run its own affairs like this. When it comes to sticking to infrastructure plans this Government has been woeful.

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Ruth Forrest says judges and courts must have power to balance crime with punishment

TOUGH on crime or a political stunt to win votes?

With barely three months having passed since the Legislative Council rejected the Government’s bill to introduce mandatory sentences for serious sexual offences against children, the Government has given notice it wants MLCs to reconsider.

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The state needs to devise a better plan for infrastructure spending, says Ruth Forrest

THE annual Budget circus is about to get under way. Will it be the same old vaudeville that we’ll be glad to see the back of after a few frantic weeks, or will we see some fresh performances and displays of leadership? Is it too much to hope for a spirit of greater co-operation to move this state forward a notch or two?

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Ruth Forrest has a simpler, more collegial solution to state’s water, sewerage problems IT is a sure sign we are heading down the wrong track when disputing parties summon lawyers.

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The Examiner, June 3, 2017 - By Hayden Johnson

A Legislative Council inquiry has been established to canvass options and analyse King Island’s ongoing shipping issues and freight costs.

Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest will chair the inquiry and call for submissions from the community in an effort to understand and look and options to fix the island’s transport problems.

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