Opinion: Meeting between minister and premier’s former chief of staff

According to the rules, a recent meeting between the Premier’s former deputy chief of staff and minister Mick de Brenni must have been dull, writes Mike O’Connor.

If you are a former member of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s staff, there are some things you can say and some things you can’t.

You can’t, for example, speak to or conduct business meetings with any state government representatives such as ministers on any matter with which you have had official dealings during your time as a political staffer for 18 months after leaving your role.

Denise Spinks resigned as the Premier’s deputy chief of staff last September. There was to be no trip down to Centrelink in search of ­gainful employment for Ms Spinks, however, for barely had she handed in her government security pass than she was hired by a company called Anacta, which in a happy coincidence is a lobbying and consulting firm with close links to the ­Palaszczuk administration.

You can’t help good luck, but obviously when it came to any dealings with the government, Ms Spinks’ lips are sealed until March, 2023, with regard to anything with which she had dealt with in the Premier’s office.

Denise Spinks was Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s chief of staff until last September. Source: Supplied.

Mum’s the word and all that. Not so much as a “nudge, nudge” nor a “wink, wink” could be indulged by Ms Spinks until she had served her time in the quiet corner.

She would, however, not be idle and shortly after joining Anacta she had a meeting with Energy Minister Mick de Brenni.

At about this time CleanCo, which falls within Mr de Brenni’s brief, felt the need to pay someone to provide what it has since described as “advisory services to support us to develop our stakeholder engagement function”, the stakeholder being the Queensland government.

Who then, out of the hundreds of consultants and lobbyists who prowl the canyons of The River City would be the lucky party hired by the state government-owned CleanCo, without going to public tender, with the towering task of developing its “stakeholder engagement function?”

Joy of unspeakable joys – it was Anacta that trousered what is said to be about $75,000. And who would be in charge of the CleanCo contract but the redoubtable Ms Spinks.

Once more, you can’t help good luck for obviously in her meeting with Mr de Brenni, Ms Spinks, bound by her monastic-like vow of silence, would not have been able to discuss Anacta’s eminent suitability to provide the stakeholder engagement function should CleanCo feel the need as it most fortuitously did.

So how then, did the chat between the minister and Ms Spinks proceed?

“We discussed the importance of renewables and CleanCo and no lobbying activity took place,’’ said Mr de Brenni, as it should have been.

It must, however, have been quite a conversational feat and one akin to tap dancing through a minefield to ensure that Ms Spinks avoided any allusion to any aspect of her employment in the Premier’s office, particularly as it might relate to Anacta and CleanCo.

The footy would have been a safe bet, Mr de Brenni having previously demonstrated a keen interest in sports by overruling his department’s recommendations and diverting sporting grants into Labor-held seats.

“How you reckon the Broncos are going to go? What chance the Brisbane Lions? Wasn’t it great about the Ashes?” would all have been safe conversational gambits. The weather, I imagine, might have been discussed during any embarrassing lapses in their chat, which might have ­occurred as Ms Spinks pirouetted around any reference to you-know-what. The importance of renewables was, as Mr de Brenni explained, ­discussed. This must have made for some riveting exchanges, which could have, but of course never would have, gone something like this:

Minister: “Ah yes. Wonderful things, renewables. Can’t get enough of them. The Palaszczuk government is committed to renewing renewables. Tricky one that when you think about it because if they’re renewable, then you shouldn’t really have to renew them. I’ll have to look into that. How’s the new job going?”

Spinks: “Great but of course there are some things that I can’t talk about. If fact I’m not even sure that I can talk about not talking about them.

Minister: “You can’t be too careful. A slip of the lip and there you are taking about what you can’t talk about, not that I have any idea what it is that you can’t talk about absolutely not talking about so I’ll just have to guess what it is you’re not allowed to talk about so that I don’t talk about it myself and, obviously, even if I did you still wouldn’t be able to talk about it.”

The above exchange, of course, never took place, but if it had, I wouldn’t be able to talk about who talked about it to me.