Peter Gleeson: Mick de Brenni faces renewed accusations of misleading parliament
Despite being a witness in protection, Mick de Brenni looked decidedly out of sorts during estimates hearings as he once again faced accusations of misleading parliament, writes Peter Gleeson.
Peter Gleeson
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Parliamentary estimates hearings are the State of Origin of politics, where the intensity of the on-field battle exposes those who can’t cut it at the top level.
Cabinet ministers, their senior bureaucrats and opposition counterparts prepare for estimates like an Origin showdown, meticulously developing questions and answers on what will likely be the game-changing moments. It’s not for the faint-hearted and many a promising career has been cut short by a dismal estimates performance.
Unless, of course, you’re a member of the Palaszczuk government, where ineptitude and incompetence have now become KPIs for selected dud ministers.
Estimates referees are not impartial. Far from it. In this government, they are Labor Party hacks with one aim – to protect their ministers.
Last week, government reformer Peter Coaldrake would have been disappointed at the way MPs such as Linus Power shut down debate on integrity, a clear sign the Palaszczuk government just doesn’t get it on accountability and transparency.
Time and time again, Labor dodged and wove, obfuscated and prevaricated to stop opposition MPs putting them under the microscope.
However, there was one cabinet minister, Mick de Brenni, who despite being in witness protection, looked decidedly out of sorts, and why wouldn’t he?
The Public Works Minister, now officially one of the greatest underperformers in the history of Queensland politics, was again accused of misleading the parliament, a claim he has consistently denied.
Calls for de Brenni’s sacking by his opposition counterpart Tim Mander again went through to the keeper, and it will be a cold day in hell if Ms Palaszczuk ever sacks a Left faction minister.
Estimates did show that the office of Mr de Brenni was reviewing Right to Information documents compiled by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), before allowing the sensitive material to be publicly released.
The disturbing new development in Mr de Brenni’s “relationship” with the supposedly independent building watchdog has ironically been uncovered through an RTI, highlighting the minister’s office taking a specific interest in a separate application by Member for Burleigh Michael Hart.
This is the same minister who has repeatedly told parliament neither he nor his office get involved in the day-to-day running of the QBCC.
A newly released 40-page RTI document revealed the minister’s office “would like to see” material compiled by the QBCC relating to the controversial Kirra Vista development on the Gold Coast ahead of its release to Mr Hart.
In an email to QBCC’s principal RTI officer Elysha Coss in April last year headed “Request for Information – Michael Hart MP”, the QBCC’s ministerial and executive services manager Mary Condie wrote: “… just wanted to raise with you that the Minister’s office would like to see what is going to be released to Mr Hart and when it is going to be released’’.
“This has been raised with me directly by the DLO,” she wrote. (The DLO is the department liaison officer embedded in the minister’s office).
In an email sent shortly afterwards, Ms Cross responded: “I don’t have any concerns with the Minister’s Office seeing what will be released in advance”. Mr Hart’s subsequent decision to lodge an application for an external review requesting more information relating to his original RTI request was covered in internal QBCC emails.
In an email headed “URGENT ASAP: RTI approved documents – Kirra Vista – Michael Hart MP” sent on February 21, Ms Conn wrote: “We have been requested by the Ministers Office to provide all of the documents released under this application, and subsequent applications including under External Review. We need to provide this as soon as possible today.”
The material shows the RTI material compiled for Mr Hart included four separate files relating to “Kirra Vista” – and for reasons unknown – clarified a Parliamentary Briefing Note was “fully exempt”.
The emails follow an RTI request by Mr Hart lodged in February 2021 for “correspondence, diary events and minutes of meetings between the QBCC and Minister de Brenni and/or the Director-General Housing and Public Works containing some or all of the relevant keywords of “Kirra Vista”, “Toni Bowler”, “Groupline” and “Maya” between September 2019 to December 2019.
Mr Hart had to wait a year before receiving hundreds of pages revealing confidential information relating to the Kirra Vista-Groupline matter.
This included material prepared for a high-level QBCC meeting with Mr de Brenni, just days after the he allegedly intervened to fast-track the building watchdog’s investigation after constituent Toni Bowler raised concerns about the Groupline development.
The RTI shows the QBCC material included three pages of information relating to “Kirra Vista” for the meeting, which also included QBCC Board chair Dick Williams and then QBCC Commissioner Brett Bassett on September 10, 2019.
Mr de Brenni, who oversees the QBCC, used his parliamentary estimates hearing last week to once again deny interfering in operational matters.
This came as QBCC Commissioner Anissa Levy admitting to LNP Shadow Minister Tim Mander that the commission had sought legal advice about its obligations under the RTI Act when it came to providing the minister or his office with information from the commission’s independent RTI unit.
“There are occasions when it is appropriate for us to brief the minister on RTI positions, particularly as it relates to prepare for him for public debate, including when matters are a public interest or raised in parliament – and that advice confirmed that position that where appropriate RTI information can be provided to the minister’s office to prepare him for debate in Parliament”.
When pressed by Mr Mander, Mr de Brenni said: “I have no knowledge of any of those requests (for his office to be shown RTI documents before being released) being made, and certainly have never made such a request”.
And in response to Mr Mander’s suggestion he should resign for misleading parliament, Mr de Brenni said: “I’ve been incredibly clear in all my public statements that I do not engage in operational matters of the commission,” he said.
Mr Hart called on the Premier to launch a full Commission of Inquiry in the wake of “almost daily revelations of new evidence” following the conclusion of Peter Coaldrake’s review into the state’s public sector.
“The fact the QBCC’s independent RTI staff are being told to run documents past the minister’s office before releasing them to the LNP could possibly be interpreted as intimidating staff,” Mr Hart said.
“Like most RTIs from this government, there are plenty of holes in the email chain so to help fill those in, the Premier should act to determine just how serious this issue is.”
Professor Coaldrake released his final report late last month, with the Premier promising to implement his 14 recommendations to strengthen accountability and integrity within the Queensland government “lock, stock and barrel”.
While De Brenni remains a minister, Ms Palaszczuk is an emperor with no clothes.