Editorial: Qld Govt’s Covid priorities seriously out of whack

The latest revelations of PR spending at the expense of practical Covid-19 measures says much about this government, writes the editor.

There is absolutely no doubt that the State Labor Government won the last election off the back of its Covid-19 record, which kept Queenslanders safe and helped them financially through one of the toughest fiscal periods in our history.

At least that was the election pitch. Unite and Recover was the advertising blitz that they used to galvanise Queenslanders into fighting back and winning the pandemic war.

It was slick, targeted and it worked. Voters returned the Labor government, rewarding it for its Covid-19 response.

But a damning auditor-general report released yesterday showed that much of the government’s economic stimulus was simply smoke and mirrors.

Even worse, the report said the Palaszczuk government spent three times more on its messaging around the economy and uniting and recovering than it did on a campaign to get people vaccinated.

That says much about this government, accused daily by the opposition of being more about style than substance.

At a time when the government was in a race to keep people safe and have them fully vaccinated so that we could get our liberties and freedom back, it was spending three times more on telling us how well it was doing, rather than getting people to get a jab.

Priorities are often lost in the fog of war and a pandemic is no different. But this is a government that must stop its obsession with image and style over good policy.

On any measure, there is no justification for fiscal ad spending to outperform vaccination messaging by three times. It should be the other way around.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

Also, the damning report exposed how slow off the mark the government was in helping struggling businesses, crippled by lockdowns and border closures.

It is one thing to announce grandiose funding promises, but it’s another thing to deliver on them.

The report said there was no evidence that a single cent had been spent on 79 initiatives worth $4.9bn. The government admitted it had “no clue’’ on where the money had gone and whether it had been successfully utilised.

Surely, there are enough public servants around to implement government programs. This government has put on an extra 52,000 public servants since being elected in 2015, and it has flagged another 18,000 extra bureaucrats over the next two years.

The Coaldrake report identified a government bureaucracy that was paralysed by analysis, and moribund and inflexible in its delivery approach.

This latest debacle is an example of how we are simply not getting value for money. The state’s public service appears to not be delivering what it should.

The wider political question is why a government that knew vaccination was the window to our salvation would spend three times as much money promoting itself, rather than on ensuring people were double and triple-vaxxed.

It is a question that like so many that are put to this government will be waved away as either being “a federal issue” or some media or opposition witch-hunt.

But it begs legitimate questioning around sound government priorities and transparency and the politicisation of the pandemic.

This report – as so often happens with this Palaszczuk government – raises more questions than answers.

RBA REVIEW IS TOTALLY FAIR

It is totally fair enough for federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers to order the first wholesale review of the Reserve Bank in three decades.

As we often say in this column, trust in government is a critical part of the democratic process – and trust in its institutions is an important part of that.

The Treasurer will ask the review panel of three experts to examine the RBA’s 2-3 per cent inflation target, the make-up of the board – as well as the culture, management and recruitment processes. The review will exclude the RBA’s financial infrastructure, banking and banknotes functions.

The RBA has come under fire in recent times on a number of fronts, including for advising that interest rates would likely not rise until at least 2024 – when it has instead been forced to increase the cash rate multiple times this year already.

We agree with the Treasurer in saying it is critical we ensure our central bank is the best in the world.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here