Peter Gleeson: How is Mick de Brenni in charge of $70bn gas project?
With the Palaszczuk government on the nose on so many fronts, there’s only one Cabinet minister you’d turn to if you wanted to deliver a $70 billion project on time and on budget.
Peter Gleeson
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With the Palaszczuk government on the nose on so many fronts – health, integrity, juvenile justice, cost overruns, wastage – there’s only one Cabinet minister you’d turn to if you wanted to deliver a $70 billion project on time and on budget.
Yes, it’s our Hydrogen Minister Mick de Brenni, who moonlights as Public Works Minister, a role in which he has oversight of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.
This is the same QBCC that was the subject of a report by former senior Beattie government bureaucrat, Jim Varghese.
It came after whistleblower complaints that Mr de Brenni was presiding over an authority with systemic and entrenched culture and performance issues.
There are already reports that the much-touted $62 billion investment for Queensland’s landmark energy plan is now likely to be $76 billion in real terms by 2040.
Ernst and Young said in a report the government’s $62 billion figure only takes it to 2035. It also warned that hydrogen needs massive amounts of electricity and water.
The fact that the Palaszczuk government is lukewarm on coal-fired power stations and hasn’t built a dam in 20 years – and is now hesitant on improving Paradise Dam – shows this will be an uphill task.
Engineers are already suggesting it’s pie in the sky stuff, but hey, it will appease those inner city luvvies who want to save the planet and are ready to abandon Labor for the Greens in 2024.
So how did Slick Mick get the big gig? Well, he’s the darling of the union movement, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Left’s factional powerbroker, Gary Bullock.
The Left faction run Queensland. That’s why the state is going broke.
The latest saga in the QBCC debacle involves long-suffering victims calling on Mr de Brenni to immediately sack the watchdog’s board – instead of waiting for their contracts to expire at the end of November.
Townsville communications engineer Mark Agius – one of the QBCC’s fiercest critics – said Mr de Brenni should have “shown some backbone” four months ago and dismissed board members in the wake of the numerous failings identified in Dr Varghese’s damning review.
“It beggars believe that Mr de Brenni – who only ordered Dr Varghese’s $380,000 review after The Courier-Mail exposed serious concerns over the QBCC’s culture and a lack of transparency around decision-making – didn’t sack the board once the findings were handed down in June,” Mr Agius said.
“Clearly, the Minister is happy to add to the pain and suffering of innocent Queenslanders by enabling the uncertainty and confusion around the board to continue unfettered.”
In his report, Dr Varghese revealed stakeholders had questioned “whether the QBCC board fully represented the industry and had the necessary expertise to govern the QBCC” and recommended cutting the size of the current board from ten to seven.
The move has been supported by the Palaszczuk government, which said it was “timely” as the appointments of current board members – including the chair, former state ALP president Dick Williams appointed by Mr de Brenni in 2016 – expired on November 30.
Former Labor minister Robert Schwarten has already announced he’ll be standing down from his board position. Then there’s Mick Tringale, who loathes the $225,000 house he’s had built at Mareeba in far north Queensland.
He dislikes the QBCC even more.
“I don’t want to be in my house,” the 54-year-old truck driver said. “Every day, I’m reminded of what’s wrong with it – and my stress and frustration levels are through the roof.
“It’s devastating. Why isn’t anyone listening? I’ve hit breaking point and I want this to just end.
“The so-called building watchdog, which I thought was set up to protect people like me, is only adding to my anxiety and instead of standing behind his sham inquiry (into the QBCC), the Minister (Mick de Brenni) should intervene.”
Mr Tringale says he’s spent more than $20,000 on legal fees, independent inspections and reports during his three-year-fight with his builder and the QBCC.
“My problems virtually began from day one back in 2019,” he said. “I was living on-site, so I was able to see everything that was going on – and wrong.
“The first defect was the large holes I spotted in the slab, which I was worried would undermine the integrity of the foundations.’’
It’s an all too familiar tale of woe. The irony of announcing a project with an 18-year lead time is that de Brenni will never be held accountable.
By then, because of the way Labor rewards incompetence, he’ll most likely be prime minister.