Qld politics: Sacking of CS Energy bosses scapegoating, says Labor

The Energy Minister has been accused of sacking electricity bosses to distract from his failure to inform Queenslanders of the latest power station explosion.

Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki last week. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

• Analysis: LNP’s own integrity inferno

High-ranking CS Energy staff were sacked as scapegoats to distract from Energy Minister David Janetzki’s failure to tell Queenslanders about a major explosion at Callide Power Station, the Opposition says.

The Energy Minister swung the axe on Callide Power Station general manager Mick Hill and brought forward the departure of CEO Darren Busine on Sunday for, he said, “failure at the highest levels of CS Energy”.

Mr Janetzki – who failed to mention the explosion in a landmark energy speech four days later – said CS Energy’s April 4 briefing about the explosion had failed to convey the gravity of the situation.

However the minister faced pressure to explain why he did not mention CS Energy’s “troubling” misrepresentation at a media conference last Thursday.

Asked when Mr Janetzki found out he had been misled, a spokesman from his office produced two briefing documents from CS Energy dated April 4 and April 11.

“While no one was in the area at the time of the event and there were no injuries, we recognise the significance of what has occurred on the unit,” the April 11 note said.

Premier David Crisafulli was also grilled on Sunday about what he knew of the incident as he labelled the lack of information provided by Mr Janetzki as a transparency issue.

Opposition Leader Steven Miles argued Mr Busine and Mr Hill had been made 11th-hour scapegoats for Mr Janetzki’s failings.

“What a shameful scapegoating exercise for the most senior minister in this government who was blamed by the Premier for misleading him and then he turns around and sacks a worker at the power plant and wipes his hand of it,” he said.

The Callide Power Station

“That’s not good enough.”

A spokesman for Mr Janetzki said he ordered the CS Energy board to act.

“The minister directed the board to hold to account the individuals from CS Energy behind the failure to convey the gravity of the incident,” he said.

CS Energy’s Customer and Growth manager Emma Roberts has been appointed Acting CEO, while Mr Hill’s replacement is yet to be confirmed.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the dismissal of the CS Energy officials would improve transparency and defended the time before the government took action.

“One must give proper due process and find out, go to the bottom of things, and that’s what we’ve done,” Mr Bleijie said.

“People have accepted responsibility and going forward I suspect with new leadership, new leaders in the board the openness and level of transparency and accountability to government and to the people of Queensland will be like you’ve never seen before.”

Asked if Mr Janetzki made a mistake trusting the information provided by CS Energy, Mr Bleijie said: “That’s a matter for the Energy Minister.

“I think the Energy Minister has been pretty clear now that if he had his time again in hindsight he would have asked those further questions and would have disclosed that.”

CS Energy initially described the incident as a pressure spike, but Mr Bleijie declined to say what he thought that meant.

“I don’t run power stations … I’m not going to get into technicalities,” he said.

Originally published as Qld politics: Sacking of CS Energy bosses scapegoating, says Labor