As it happened: Thursday, November 23

A system outage across Queensland hospitals that forced staff to revert to pen and paper was caused by a firewall hardware issue, according to Health Minister Shannon Fentiman.

Some 24 hospitals were affected by the nine-hour outage on Wednesday which left staff unable to access patients’ digital records after experiencing log-in issues with the ieMR system.

“The cause of the outage was a firewall hardware issue - they have now moved to another firewall and that’s why the system is now working as it should,” Fentiman said on Thursday.

“There’s been no risk to cybersecurity and no patient confidentiality has been impacted.

“And for the most part, hospitals were able to continue to provide that world-class care for Queenslanders.”

Fentiman confirmed some specialist outpatient appointments were postponed and five minor elective surgeries were rescheduled.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles has dismissed community concerns about a bayside Olympic venue, talking up its post-Games use as a training ground for emergency services.

A petition to the Queensland parliament, which attracted 2574 signatures, called for the planned Redland Whitewater Centre to be scrapped because, they argued, it went against the International Olympic Committee’s “new norm” of using mainly existing facilities.

“[Redlands residents] want wild koalas, not a whitewater elephant,” the petitioners said.
Responding to the petition, Miles insisted the facility would have community use beyond the 2032 Olympic Games, when it would host canoe slalom competitions.

“The proposed Redland Whitewater Centre will be developed as a sustainable international standard whitewater venue, providing a unique addition to sport and recreation facilities for the Redlands community,” he said.

“Before and after the Games, the Redland Whitewater Centre will be used for high-performance sport, sport development, active recreation and adventure tourism and will provide an opportunity for a year-round swift water training facility for emergency services personnel.”

Miles said the venue’s project validation report would be completed next year.

Clive Palmer’s bid to build 3,000 dwellings on a Gold Coast flood plain has been knocked back again, this time by a judge.

After the Gold Coast council rejected the development application in 2016, on the basis that the site was unsuitable and any homes would be too close to a sewage treatment plant, Palmer appealed to the District Court.

Palmer had argued that the site, previously used as a wedding reception venue, was the last remaining opportunity for a medium density development near Merrimac train station.

But Judge Amanda McDonnell backed the council’s decision, saying there were still questions over water issues and prospective residents would be “subject to adverse odours”.

“Even if there is a need, I am not satisfied that such need and the net ecological benefit arising from the rehabilitation of the site are such as to overcome the adverse impacts of the development on the character and visual amenity of the flood plain,” McDonnell found.

Palmer may yet appeal to a higher court. He once took a council all the way to the High Court over a development application and still lost.

The daughter of Wayne Irving, the man who died after being ramped in an ambulance at Ipswich Hospital last week, has spoken out about her loss of faith in Queensland’s health system.

Lauren Handscombe appeared at a press conference this morning with Opposition Leader David Crisafulli and LNP MPs Deb Frecklington and Jon Krause, calling for urgent action.

Crisafulli pointed to new figures provided in answer to a question on notice about ambulance ramping, including one incident in June when a patient waited for 9 hours and 54 minutes outside Ipswich Hospital, and another incident in July when a patient waited 9 hours and 52 minutes.

“Imagine the frustration. Imagine being that family. Imagine being that paramedic. Imagine being the doctor or the nurse inside desperately trying to free up a bed.

“That is the result of a system that is broken, a system that is coming apart at the seams,” he said.

The rural Wieambilla site where two police officers and a neighbour were gunned down in December 2022 has been visited by Queensland State Coroner Terry Ryan and several legal representatives.

Today, during a second pre-inquest hearing for the case, Counsel Assisting Ruth O’Gorman told the court Ryan had visited the Wains Road property in October as part of the investigation.

She said the investigation was continuing and the coronial report and full brief of evidence was expected by February next year. It was expected the material would then be distributed to the inquest parties in March.

“A number of expert reports are expected to be completed by the end of December 2023 and there are still a number of active lines of inquiry that are still under investigation.”

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