Des Houghton: Insider spills on union influence behind Palaszczuk policy

A former Labor press secretary claims secrecy triumphed over transparency as unions dictated policy inside the Palaszczuk government, writes Des Houghton.

A senior journalist has challenged claims by Deputy Premier Steven Miles that unions are not lobbyists.

Neil Doorley, a former Channel 9 reporter and Sky News producer who also worked at The Courier-Mail, told me he believed improper pressure was applied to ministers during his time as a Palaszczuk government spin doctor from 2015 to 2018.

And he is willing to provide details to the Crime and Corruption Commission to back up his claims.

Doorley’s comments come after Miles rejected assertions by Courier-Mail journalists of “inappropriate lobbying” by unions linked to the ALP.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles

Miles and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk rejected a Crime and Corruption Commission recommendation to make public any contact between ministers and union leaders. The CCC recommended in-house lobbyists as well as unionists and “other interest groups” declare contact with the government when they seek to influence policy or law changes.

Doorley said the ALP had had links with the union movement for 130 years, so it was not a surprise they had an ongoing relationship. But he questions the lack of integrity by the government in failing to fully reveal its contacts with union leaders.

He referred to ousted State Archivist Mike Summerell’s damning Mangocube report into Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s use of private emails. It was handed to the CCC in 2017 and kept under wraps.

“Mike Summerell’s report, which had been kept secret for five years, was only made public by the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee, which requested it amid the Palaszczuk Government’s ongoing integrity crisis,” Doorley said.

“In his report, Summerell revealed explosive emails showing Bailey being told which way to vote in a cabinet meeting by a union leader, as well as receiving a “hit list” of bureaucrats. “Disturbingly, Summerell noted the Electrical Trades Union seemed to believe that Bailey owed them.

“Last March, Bailey assured Queenslanders that politicians and ministers get lobbied by stakeholders, peak bodies and ‘all kinds of people all the time’. ‘I think that’s a normal part of the political process,’ he said.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey

“However, I believe Summerell’s report – and another instance of worrying union access to the top tiers of 1 William Street which I can today reveal – underline the importance of Crime and Corruption Commission reforms demanding union officials be treated as lobbyists who must publicly declare their dealings with this government.

Doorley provided this commentary to me of the machinations that took place behind the scenes when he was working as senior media adviser to Craig Crawford, Minister for Fire and Emergency Services the year after Summerell sent his secret 2017 Mangocube report to the government.”

Doorley said: “I had to deal with the fallout from an ‘unhappy’ union on a policy decision. As background, during the 2017 election campaign, Ms Palaszczuk gave a $29m commitment that a re-elected Labor government would fund 100 new firefighters across the state.

“Ms Palaszczuk told reporters in November that year: ‘The (QFES) commissioner will determine exactly ... where the firefighters will go but we know that with natural disasters this state has, we need to make sure we have enough firefighters’.

“In 2018, ahead of Estimates, I was asked to work with the Premier’s office to arrange a ‘good news story’ and draft several releases revealing the regions where these new officers were going to be allocated.

“The draft releases, done in conjunction with QFES and regional MPs, reinforced the Premier’s line that the ‘allocation of the firefighting positions had been determined by QFES, based on operational priorities.’

“Crawford was quoted saying: ‘These additional firefighters will go a long way towards boosting frontline services and we will continue working with the QFES Commissioner and stakeholders’.

Neil Doorley. Picture: Des Houghton

“Those stakeholders included the powerful United Firefighters Union (UFU), and in the week before a scheduled press conference was due to take place, I was told that as a ‘matter of routine’, the announcement would be run past the UFU. That meeting was to prove anything but routine, with one of the minister’s staff later informing me that the UFU was strongly opposed to 38 of the new firefighters being sent to two then-yet-to-be-built facilities – one on the Gold Coast and another near Toowoomba.

“When I sought clarification, I was told that because the UFU had ‘gone to the Premier seeking the new firefighters, it believed they should have a say in where they’d be going’. “And seemingly, no one disagreed!

“At the 11th hour, I was told to amend the media releases, which I did, liaising with QFES and the Premier’s office – with the resultant material which went out under Crawford’s name on July 20, 2018, now headed: ‘Sixty-two new firefighters to hit the road in regional Queensland’.

“Incredibly, the lines about the destinations for the new officers being based on QFES’ operational priorities were left in – with this added assurance given to Queenslanders regarding the remaining 38 officers (out of the promised 100), and another 12 yet-to-be-deployed fire communications officers. Crawford said: ‘Once again, the QFES Commissioner will determine where these officers will be best placed to serve Queensland communities’.

“Very little about the reason for the changes was committed to writing. This meant of course, it’d be virtually impossible for any information to be captured through a Right to Information application.

“As for the extra 38 firefighters, I don’t know where they eventually ended up – but what is clear, is that the CCC should be applauded for moving to further bolster transparency around just who is influencing our politicians and their senior staff.”

Crawford’s press secretary was approached for comment.

United Firefighters Union secretary John Oliver said his union sought to bolster crews where they were most needed in the interests of public safety.

“It wasn’t lobbying. It was providing the facts to the government and the fire service,” he said.

Oliver denied suggestions his union was improperly interfering in policy matters.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

Why Harry and Meghan should make a balcony appearance

One has to feel sorry for good King Charles, King of Australia.

Our monarch was snubbed by Kylie Minogue who has rejected an invitation to perform at Windsor castle in a concert to celebrate his coronation on Saturday, May 6.

To add to his misery, our king’s rebellious son Harry, who delights in airing the royal family’s dirty linen in public, won’t say whether or not he will attend the Coronation.

I’m sure it will be a blow to his father if he does not.

I was saddened to read in The Sun that the organisers of Operation Golden Orb, as the Coronation taskforce call it, have recommended that Harry and Meghan Markle should not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony if they do decide to go.

I hope they do get a balcony gig. It may help bring the family together and help heal old wounds.

‘F*** u and the Labor Party’: MP’s texting road rage

It seems some Labor MPs with union links have learned very little from the Mangocube affair.

Member for Rockhampton Barry O’Rourke threatened to quit his seat and the party in a row over road funding that was revealed in a brutal text message leaked to The Australian late last year.

It accused Transport Minister Mark Bailey of having “totally f$@ked” (sic) up on funding for the Rockhampton Ring Road.

In a group text exchange that included union powerbroker Gary Bullock and Queensland Labor president John Battams, O’Rourke said: “Mate if you do not announce funding next week in Rocky. I’m out. F*** u and the Labor Party (sic).”

The Mangocube saga was revived last week when the government finally moved to make the destruction of public records a crime.

Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga, Acting Premier Steven Miles, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Member for Rockhampton Barry O'Rourke and Senator Murray Watt look over plans for the Rockhampton ring road. Picture: Kentos Komms