Editorial: Blowout probe a first step toward doing the right thing

If this review confirms a deliberate cover-up ordered by the minister, then he simply must be removed from the ministry, writes the editor.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with Transport Minister Mark Bailey

It took a fortnight, but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has finally done the right thing in ordering a review of at least part of her Transport Minister’s covering up of a $2.4bn blowout on his watch.

All Queenslanders should be troubled by the evidence that has emerged over the past weeks into how Minister Mark Bailey and his office deliberately covered up the blowout to the cost of the state’s trains manufacturing program – because it points to a culture where transparency and accountability are considered optional extras.

When Professor Peter Coaldrake released his landmark review into the culture of the state’s public sector a little over year ago, Ms Palaszczuk said she welcomed and embraced all his recommendations – because “once (they are) implemented, Queensland will have the most transparent and accountable government in Australia”.

Minister Bailey clearly did not get the memo. What has been exposed is that his office deliberately and repeatedly hid the cost blowout from Queenslanders – the people the minister is accountable to, and whose taxes will have to pay the bill.

Ms Palaszczuk has so far managed to wash her hands of the fiasco by blaming an errant staffer working from home while sick for adding the old – wrong – figure three times to a press release issued in her name.

Ordering her director-general to investigate one small part of this sorry fiasco – an email where his office asked the department to delete the true cost – is really the least she could do.

Ms Palaszczuk must next reflect on the old adage that says the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. If this review confirms a deliberate cover-up ordered by the minister, then he simply must be removed from the ministry.

COAST GAMES A GOLDEN CHANCE

Maybe Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has a point – perhaps his city should indeed step in and host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, and in so doing save the concept forever; following the event being dumped by Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.

There is clearly no appetite from the Queensland government to help fund a 2026 Games – mired as it is in ballooning costs for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games (thanks in no small part to the special deal it has cut with the CFMEU construction union, where its workers get 30 per cent more pay on big government jobs).

The federal government, too, appears less than eager to chip in – but it had been discussing a possible contribution for Victoria’s Games.

And if you step back and think about it for more than a moment, what is wrong with Mr Tate’s idea? There is every chance it could turn out to be a more serious proposition than the opportunistic grab for a headline that it first appeared.

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, breathed fresh life into the proposal this week – and her public support has dragged some peak sporting bodies along as well. There is now renewed momentum.

The revelation that Perth is also now considering joining the party in a joint bid where some sports would be contested on the east coast while others are played out west adds even further impetus to the push.

And let’s not forget that despite the unforgettable few hiccups at the opening and closing ceremonies, the Gold Coast Games in 2018 were overall considered a huge success.

Most of the sports infrastructure required remains in place – give or take an athletics track here and a swimming pool grandstand there.

Another athletes village would have to be built, but with an extra 381,000 people forecast to move to the Gold Coast over the next two decades the city will be needing a lot more housing. Cut the right deal with developers and an athletes village could quickly materialise.

Presumably it would also not be too challenging to round up at least some of the key organisers from the successfully run 2018 event.

And so, it’s really just about the money. Mr Tate claims hosting the Games would cost little more than a billion dollars. He thinks the federal government should stump up about half of that, and has already written to federal Sport Minister Anika Wells – a Queenslander – pledging a costed proposal within weeks.

But there is also no need for these things to always just rely on private funding. The 2028 Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles, for example, will be privately funded through domestic sponsorships, licensing, hospitality and ticketing.

That Mrs Rinehart has offered her support to the Gold Coast bid is therefore significant. While she has been clear that Hancock Prospecting’s sports funding program would remain focused on “direct athlete support”, she has offered to do whatever else she can do to help the city secure the event.

If nothing else, Mrs Rinehart has led the way for others in the private sector to also show their support for an event that has always been so close to the hearts of Australians.

More power to her, and to Mayor Tate. As was said at the Sydney 2000 Games, let’s dare to dream.