Remarkable opportunity for ministers appointed to key portfolios

The three ministers tasked by the Premier to turn things around in the three areas causing the most problems for Queenslanders have been gifted a remarkable opportunity – and they must act immediately, writes The Editor

The three ministers who have been entrusted by the Premier with the task of turning things around in the three areas causing most problems for this state government have been gifted a remarkable opportunity.

The inverse of the old adage of leadership that you should never follow a superstar is that following an underperformer is always a blessing, because you are likely to look good whatever you do. In this instance, all three will be sure to look good – based on the track record of their predecessors.

But the state’s new ministers for health, housing and youth crime will need to earn this result.

They will have to bring genuine energy to the task of turning around the outcomes for Queenslanders in these key areas. This work must start by engaging not just with their departments but also with the experts in their sectors. They must then use this knowledge to develop a plan where they can achieve quick wins while working on the bigger problems that voters are sick of.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with new Health minister Shannon Fentiman. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

In health, for instance, incoming minister Shannon Fentiman must bring the compassion she has shown as attorney-general when dealing with the scourge of violence against women to the challenge of turning around the state’s public health system – in which most key measures have been steadily going in the wrong direction pretty well since the Palaszczuk government came to office eight years ago.

Ms Fentiman’s challenges will extend from primary-care access (yes, a federal responsibility but still a part of the system) and ambulance response times and ramping issues, to emergency department waits and elective surgery delays, to critical local problems such as a string of regional cities no longer having access to maternity services. It will be a daunting to-do list, which is why it is so important she focuses on delivering some early wins.

Housing will also be a significant challenge for its new minister, likely to be the 30-year-old future hope Meaghan Scanlon, who currently oversees the environment portfolio.

Just as health will be a test for Ms Fentiman’s future leadership prospects, so housing will be for Ms Scanlon in terms of her cabinet ambitions. If she can prove herself in this role that is at the centre of public debate, her future will look more promising than ever, assuming Labor goes on to win the next election in October next year.

Meaghan Scanlon is expected to move from the Environment portfolio to Housing. Picture: Picture David Clark

But housing is more difficult in some respects than health, in that the only direct levers the minister can pull are in relation to public (now called social) housing.

Again, though, Ms Scanlon is hardly following a superstar – with the state’s auditor-general last year slamming outgoing minister Leeanne Enoch’s achievements in a report that exposed the fact that the government’s current plans would not even keep up with demand.

Again, there are plenty of chances here for some quick wins – and Ms Scanlon must take the opportunity of being the newbie to argue for more funding this year in the upcoming state budget. Real money for projects to be delivered now would be a decent early win that would take some pressure off as she works through the bigger tasks.

And so to youth crime, the hospital pass thrown by the Premier to current Employment and Training Minister Di Farmer.

This is an area where there are simply no easy wins in sight. But again, one opportunity would be for Ms Farmer to play her own “newly-minted minister” card and demand of the Premier an inquiry into youth justice – such as that proposed recently by former Labor minister Robert Schwarten. The strategy of repeatedly talking up the “nation’s toughest laws” is not working, and so a circuit-breaker is needed.

PREMIER MISSES CHANCE TO PUSH FRESH TALENT

The overwhelming theme of the reaction from our readers to news of the Premier’s reshuffle was that those ministers being “demoted” were not really being punished for their underperformance because they would still be sitting on the front bench, just in new roles.

It is a fair point, and one worth a brief consideration. Like in any team, high performance is impacted if people know the consequences of doing a bad job are that they will keep not only their pay but their benefits and simply get shuffled across to a different position.

We made this point earlier in the year when Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ruled out promoting any backbenchers into the ministry before the next election, in late October next year. The message this sent to every single member of her ministry was that it did not matter how you perform, your salary is safe for at least another 18 months. Ask any leader in the real world if this pledge would work in their context. They would laugh.

It is also a terrible way to build loyalty in the caucus, the support of which the Premier owes her job to. The moment that a majority of the 52 Labor MPs decide someone else should lead them is the moment Ms Palaszczuk is in trouble.

Telling her colleagues they have no chance of promotion any time soon – and then this week proving that to be true – stinks of hubris.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at www.couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us