Welcome to 2010.  I hope residents of the Dayboro district had a wonderful festive season, an enjoyable holiday break and are looking forward to the year ahead.
NEW DOCTOR

The Dayboro community is fortunate to have gained the services of an additional GP just before Christmas.
Dr Sami Ahmad started work at the Dayboro Medical Centre at the end of November.  A petty bureaucratic requirement almost robbed the local community of this much needed extra doctor.
After Practice Manager Lynne Sawdon contacted my office we were able to take up the matter with Medicare and secure a prompt and successful outcome.
We welcome Dr Ahmad to our community, I’m sure he’ll enjoy Dayboro and the wider Pine Rivers region.
CATARACTS - MEDICARE REBATES

On another medical matter, an incredibly bad decision – to slash Medicare rebates for cataract surgery - is being overturned after intense pressure from the Coalition.
The Rudd Government decided in the 2009 Budget that it would cut rebates in half from just over $600 to around $300 forcing patients needing cataract surgery to pay hundreds of dollars more out of their own pockets for treatment.
As we pointed out at the time, it would be a false saving because more patients would be forced into public hospitals where government health budgets would meet the full cost of surgery at several thousand dollars each time, or people would delay treatment, suffer from failing eyesight with flow-on consequences such as falls and injury that would require additional medical intervention and added costs.
As Shadow Minister for Health I was steadfastly opposed to this decision which would impact mostly upon our senior citizens - those who least can afford to be hit by such a hard-hearted and ill-conceived Government budgetary measure.
Just as Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh have failed to fix health in Queensland and continue to ignore the concerns of those at the coalface of healthcare and the needs of patients, the Rudd Government pushed blindly on with these savage rebate reductions from November last year, but the Coalition, supported by all crossbench Senators, rejected the changes in the Senate – twice.
We did so because this was not something that was going to provide better health outcomes for our families or seniors, which I am passionately committed to pursuing.  The pressure started to produce results towards the end of last year when Health Minister Nicola Roxon did what she should have done at the outset – sit down and talk to the doctors who perform cataract surgery and work from there.  Those discussions will produce a far better outcome for patients with rebate reductions likely to be in the order of 10-15 per cent, nothing like the initial 50 per cent planned by Labor.
SAVE THE NATIONAL SCHOOL CHAPLAINCY PROGRAM
The battle to save the School Chaplaincy Program continues.  Several thousand people within Dickson have already signed petitions calling on the Rudd Government to continue to provide funding to this valuable resource in our schools.
Tens of thousands have indicated their support around the country and the Rudd Government is now providing funding to keep chaplains in schools until 2011, the Coalition has promised ongoing funding and the Rudd Government needs to commit to it as well.  YOU can add your voice; it’s still possible to sign petitions which will influence the Government’s thinking.  Petitions can be downloaded from my website www.peterdutton.com.au or you can email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   and I’ll have a petition sent to you.
DAYBORO STAYS IN DICKSON
Dayboro is finally assured of remaining part of the Pine Rivers communities and the Dickson Electorate after the Australian Electoral Commission released its final electorate boundaries in mid-January.
At one point the Commission proposed to move Dayboro and Kurwongbah into the Caboolture based seat of Longman, a proposition that would have actually divided the Dayboro area itself.
I argued strongly against these proposed boundary changes in submissions to the AEC.  In my view Dayboro and Kurwongbah residents have always seen themselves as part of Pine Rivers.
Dayboro and surrounding areas form the rural backbone of Pine Rivers – the ties between all of these communities are strong and historic and I’d like to thank all the residents who took the time to make submissions to the AEC to ensure our communities’ longstanding links remained.
I look forward to continuing to represent the Dayboro-Kurwongbah areas in the Federal Parliament.  The incredible growth that our communities have undergone and continue to witness has meant that the boundaries of Dickson have see-sawed around the region at virtually every election since the early 1990’s.
While I have been honoured to represent the various communities of the Brisbane Valley since the last distribution and am disappointed to see them move from Dickson now, the Electoral Commission’s decisions in relation to the Brisbane Valley are understandable.
I also look forward to once again representing the people of Kallangur whose community was part of the Dickson electorate prior to 2006 and returns in this redistribution.
INTERNET CENSORSHIP
Many Dickson residents have expressed concerns about the Rudd Government’s plan to censor the internet.  They are concerned that the mandatory internet filter being proposed by the Government will be entirely ineffective and may slow internet speeds.
I am willing to support any sensible and workable measures to protect children from inappropriate online content.  That is why I supported the previous Coalition Government’s actions in providing all Australian families with access to a free, optional PC-based content filter, which could be specifically tailored to assist parents in protecting their children.  (The Rudd Government cancelled this program at the end of 2008 without putting in place any alternative). However IT industry experts are suggesting that most predatory risks to children lurk in those areas of the online world that are largely immune to filtering, such as chat rooms, email and peer-to-peer networks.  If that is true, the Labor Government is set to waste millions of dollars on its internet filter plan – money that could be better spent boosting the resources of our law enforcement agencies to tackle threats in more sophisticated ways. The fact it has taken the Government two years to produce a plan and release results of filtering trials highlights the complexity and problematic nature of this proposal.
Residents have also expressed concerns that an internet filter of this kind provides too much potential for a government to censor opposition and free speech.  No other Western democracies operate a similar scheme – only countries like China.  I am therefore yet to be convinced that the Government’s mandatory filtering plan will be effective.
I would greatly appreciate hearing from any Dickson residents who have views regarding the internet filter plan – email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
MOBILE OFFICE
I’ll be out and about with my mobile office in numerous locations across Dickson over coming weeks and months, and look forward to you stopping by to say hello.
WEBSITE
Stay in touch with the latest issues through my website – www.peterdutton.com.au