Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk should ditch her Olympics portfolio and give it to Yvette D'ath, the current Health Minister, and make herself the Health Minister.
Because D'ath is increasingly showing her inadequacies in what is one of the most demanding and challenging ministries in government.
The Premier couldn't do any worse job than D'ath currently is. Things can only get better, they can't get much worse.
Despite waiting lists for elective surgery in Queensland public hospitals now commonly stretching on for years, despite controversy after controversy to do with ambulance delays in emergency situations resulting in needless deaths, D'ath continues to go on the defensive, and not just admit it - that the Queensland health system is in crisis.
In crisis and in desperate need of not only government funding for more frontline doctors, nurses and paramedics, but infrastructure spending as well.
Specific spending on carefully considered projects, like increasing the size of ambulance stations and emergency response areas within hospitals.
Not just throwing millions of dollars at QLD Health and the director-general and having urgent government funding continue to be funneled through multi-layers of bureaucracy, which by the time it reaches where it should be, it's been dwindled away.
That's been the Queensland health system's core problem for decades. That's not Yvette D'ath's fault.
She inherited a poisoned chalice. But she continues to go into denialist mode and on the defensive everytime she is quizzed by the media about the most elemental failures of the health system which the media politely, rationally, accurately, brings to her attention.
It's not aimed at the person, but Queensland deserves a better Health Minister than Yvette D'ath. It's drawing a long bow to suggest that Premier Palaszczuk will be a great Health Minister, but even if she's "just okay" there will still be some improvement. Anything is better than nothing.
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