Opinion: ‘This isn’t Anna’s empire’: Critical point Premier needs to remember

There’s a critical point Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk appears to have forgotten. She was elected to represent the people, not build her empire, writes Tanya French.

There’s a critical point Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk appears to have forgotten.

She was elected to represent the people, to be our voice and to execute our wishes.

It wasn’t to build ‘Anna’s empire’.

Way back when she first became the ‘accidental Premier’, Ms Palaszczuk stood on a platform of transparency, integrity and accountability.

But as her popularity has grown (along with her team of 30+ spinners), she seems to have forgotten what she promised to do.

The government’s secrecy hit an all-time high last week when it confirmed - after years of releasing vital school results for Year 12 and NAPLAN - that critical information parents rely on would be kept under lock and key.

All because a bunch of bureaucrats, no doubt influenced by the powerful Teachers’ Union, decided it wasn’t in the best interests of God knows who.

Annastacia Palaszczuk was not elected to build her own empire.

Education Minister Grace Grace then stood up in a maddening defence saying the information was ‘misused’ and parents should make their decisions based on talking to the school directly.

Well excuse me Minister, but I think it is our choice to decide how we want to make one of the most important decisions for our child’s future.

She said keeping the results secret was ‘in line with other states’ but unfortunately didn’t do her research.

Both NSW and Victoria provide full transparency for their Year 12 outcomes via HSC and VCE results.

Minister for Education Grace Grace tried to defend the secrecy. Photo: Sarah Marshall

Queensland won’t even release attendance figures any more.

So now Queensland has gone from the most openly transparent when it comes to school data, to the most secretive.

How’s the censorship?

As one Courier Mail commenter perfectly pointed out: ‘It is OUR kids, OUR schools, paid by OUR taxes’.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

A poll of Courier Mail readers found 86 per cent want school results released again.

This guarded state secret is the latest in a long line of transparency fails for the Premier and her team.

She’s refused – despite multiple Right to Information requests and petitions – to release the health advice which underpinned Queensland’s months-long hard border wall with several Australian states throughout the pandemic.

It’s a decision that has wreaked havoc on the lives of millions.

And she’s also refused to release Covid sentiment polling – her only reason being because ‘no other state is releasing it’.

So the government does a poll asking for our thoughts and then refuses to tell us what our thoughts were?

That makes sense.

The Premier has shown during this pandemic she’s not afraid to do the opposite to what her colleagues do interstate – in fact she could even be described as going rogue at times.

But when making information public doesn’t suit her agenda, she’s happy to follow their lead.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young this week stood up at her near-daily Covid press conference and raved about how her briefings were critical to keep the public informed and was a key reason why Queensland had so far avoided serious outbreaks like NSW and Victoria.

“I think we should share everything,” she said.

I couldn’t agree more.

Can you please tell your boss that?

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk must remember she was elected to represent us, not hide things from the public. Photo: Annette Dew

The government has also refused to release details of fatal hospital bungles, performance of ministers, links to lobbyists and convictions of police officers plus a swag of other information that the state’s Right to Information Officers deemed top secret.

Taxpayers have spent half-a-million dollars attempting to access information through Right to Information and privacy laws.

The Premier needs to remember this is not her empire and we are not her subjects.

We elected her to represent our interests.

We don’t need her censorship. We are smart enough and deserve the respect to decide how we will use public information.

Don’t forget where your (generous) pay check comes from Premier.