Qld integrity crisis: Another day, another damning revelation

Just when the State Government hopes its integrity crisis has been put to bed, damning new revelations emerge, writes Hayden Johnson.

Each day appears to deliver a new blow to a Queensland Government desperately trying to put questions of its integrity to bed.

Former state archivist Mike Summerell and outgoing Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov – the two voices on transparency and accountability respected more than any other – have been thorns in the side of the Labor Government.

Mr Summerell has now claimed his push for the emails of other ministers to be reviewed was blocked in the wake of the Mark Bailey investigation.

With each passing day, new questions about the Government’s internal operations – dubbed an “integrity inferno” by the LNP – emerge.

The Premier’s argument that these incidents happened long ago says more about the battle against a bureaucracy for public disclosure than any acquittal of her ministers.

Last week questionable emails detailing the relationship between the Electrical Trades Union and then energy minister Mark Bailey were revealed.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

This love-in was the first look at the ultimate power and access of union bosses over Labor ministers.

The third-term premier Annastacia Palaszczuk can’t simply laugh in dismissal.

Conveniently, Ms Palaszczuk hadn’t finished reading the report into Mark Bailey’s emails until after parliament had adjourned on Thursday evening – claiming she was simply too busy writing letters and running the state to consider such a trivial matter.

Ms Palaszczuk did not mention her busy schedule involved mingling with athletes and Governor Jeannette Young at a Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay function, or her brief appearance at the Parliamentary Friends of Rugby League event.

It's not uncommon for the Premier to use plausible deniability by declaring she is not aware of a particular allegation or hasn’t read a report.

Privately, some Labor MPs are growing increasingly frustrated with the damning daily headlines about the government’s inner workings.

Ms Palaszczuk is weathering the most sustained storm of criticism in her long premiership and it shows no sign of clearing.