2010 Committees and Bills

EDUCATION, ARTS AND TRAINING COMMITTEE

Currently not all Queensland High School students in Years 8 and 9, from both government and non-government sectors do not have the opportunity to experience the variety of Arts subjects that the State has to offer. According to the Queensland Studies Authority Essential Learnings guidelines, 5 subjects comprise the Key Learning Area (KLA) of The Arts in Queensland; Dance, Drama, Media, Music and Visual Art. Every student, no matter which part of the State they reside, deserves the opportunity to immerse themselves in these Arts orientated subjects in order to broaden their overall learning skills and open greater opportunities to themselves in Years 10, 11 and 12 of their schooling.

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

This bill is about the preservation of prime agricultural land in Queensland. Firstly, it seeks to prioritise the use of prime agricultural land for farming use above any mining interests. This is in recognition of impending food shortages and the continually declining amount of quality farming land. Essentially, declared areas will be prevented from being used for mining, and will be preserved exclusively for agricultural use. The bill also seeks to preserve agricultural land through programs and initiatives aimed at preventing and curing the increasing problem of salinity. Particularly, these will aim to develop sustainable farming practices and regenerate denegrated land. Essentially, this bills seeks to set-up a sustainable supply of farming products for Queensland's future.

JUSTICE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL

This bill is a social development of young people from adolescence into adulthood. This bill will look at creating free parenting courses for young parents before and after the child is born using the teaching styles of PPP and Relationship Aust. It also will look into Reproductive Rights (IVF, Surrogacy and Adoption) and making the process fair and just for all. The cosmetic industry will also be discussed in this youth bill with tattoos, piercings, cosmetic surgery and solariums being the main focus.  The last section of this youth bill is minimal age, this looks at creating 18 as the minimal age at which a young person can drink, smoke, vote and engage in sexual intercourse.

INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

The Indigenous Affairs Committee 2010 has decided to produce a youth bill that introduces additional to parliament specifically for Indigenous representatives.  The Indigenous Affairs Comittee sought to address issues such as societal discrimination against indigenous Australians by giving them a voice and a representative to take their needs and issues to the highest level.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLANNING

The RDIP bill proposes that the Queensland expansion has been playing regional planning catch-up for too long. Master planning outside of South East Queensland is limited and infrastructure struggles to keep up with the resources boom of Queensland. This bill proposes that not only has Queensland planning and infrastructure become too centralised, but it’s at the detriment of the state’s productivity and the people’s quality of life. As the next step from council amalgamations, the RDIP bill legislates the transition from the current three tiered system and looks to the future of a two tiered system in Queensland. By legislating the reform, it forces the hand of necessary infrastructure projects, efficiently supports regional economic interests and aptly manages the problem of land spread against population boom which will only become more problematic in the future

COMMUNITY, HOUSING AND DISABILITY SERVICES

Communities, Housing and Disability Services Youth Bill of 2010 is about defining youth rights and providing  education, support and services for all youth in Queensland. The Bill is spilt up into three sections. The first section sets out the rights that all youth between the ages of 13-25 have in Queensland. These rights will include education, health, religious belief, legal representation and freedom of speech.  The second part of the Bill will introduce a new compulsory subject to schools for grades 8-10. The subject will be called life skills and will focus on educating youth on how to look after themselves and provide information on services they can access in times of need. The final section of the Bill will ensure all youth have adequate access to youth services such as shelter and health care. This Bill aims to ensure youth always have support in Queensland and are not ignored or forgotten by the government and state legislation.

The motives of this bill are aimed at the obesity crisis. Australia has the largest percentage of obese people in the world, and Queensland has the largest percentage of obese people in Australia. Consequently, the youth of Queensland are exposed to a world of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle choices. This bill aims to provide a health reform, consequently tackling the excessively growing issue of obesity amongst the youth of Queensland. It aims to reduce obesity through using several different means. The strategies used are implementations such as increased physical activity in schools, nutritional classes given at schools, sporting incentives and specifically banned foods which greatly contribute to the alarmingly growing rate of obesity. The plan of attack threefold, targeting the areas of nutrition, physical activity and education. These three angles ensure that the youth will be greatly influenced to be healthier, hence directly addressing the issue at hand – obesity.