Corridors of Power: Queensland news, politics, courts

HE’S yet to pull the pin, but already there’s a lineup of high-profile Queensland politicians looking to take George Brandis’ Senate spot.

AS IT turns out, not all news is fit to print ... but these insiders will whisper if you lean in close. We’ve brought together our top insiders to report from Brisbane’s worlds of law and politics to bring you a concentrated dose of the week’s best gossip.

Federal Politics

WHO’S UP?

THE race is on to replace Attorney-General George Brandis in the Senate. While there is no confirmation of when the long-time Queensland Senator will pull the pin, Liberals are lining up to put up their hand.

CoP has been told former state Opposition Leader John Paul Langbroek wants the spot, which pays about $200,000. Sources say the “nice bloke’’ will get up.

Other names thrown around include Bill Glasson, two time loser for the seat of Griffith, held by former prime minister Kevin Rudd and now held by Labor’s Terri Butler.

But CoP’s money is on Joanna Lindgren, who was defeated at the election earlier this year.

QUICK RECOVERY

FEDERAL Ministers were dropping like flies last week. But it was the man in charge of the nation’s purse, Treasurer Scott Morrison, who went under the knife.

ScoMo had his gall bladder removed at Canberra hospital. People who have suffered from attacks say it is the second most painful to child birth.

Morrison was so grateful for the medical help he received that he took to Facebook to gush about hospital staff.

The good news for the Government is that ScoMo is fighting fit again and giving both barrels to Labor.

Industry Mininster Greg Hunt was also sick last week - bed-ridden with a virus. Apparently the former environment minister was green around the gills.

‘TRUMP TOWER’

NORTH Queensland Senator Matt Canavan recently jokingly praised the local artists’ collective getting on board with US politics by renaming their base “Trump Tower”.

Rockhampton’s local artists are determined to Make Rocky Great Again! pic.twitter.com/09aTKR47PO

— Matthew Canavan (@mattjcan) November 16, 2016

The small brick shop front in one of Rockhampton’s main drags is a far cry from the 58-storey New York Tower, but Senator Canavan jested they were doing their bit to make Rocky Great Again.

Of course, he may also prefer the new name to the old one: Joe Hockey’s Cigar Tokin’ Yobbo’s Den.

The one-time ‘Joe Hockeys Cigar Tokin Yobbo’s Den’ has been renamed ‘Trump Tower’. Picture: Matt Killoran

MORE TO COME

FEDERAL politicians have just realised something - although it is something that was obvious to us Queenslanders long ago - our state is a very important one politically.

To be fair, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has spent more time in Queensland than any Kiwi lately talking up his plan to make it harder for businesses to hire foreign workers.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also recently did a bush tour of Queensland.

The upshot means that Queenslanders only now getting over the double-dissolution election campaign, should expect a lot more fly-in visits until the kick-off of the next campaign in two-and-a-half years.

- Renee Viellaris and Matthew Killoran

State Politics

ONLY THE LONELY

THE buzz around the Palaszczuk Government’s innovation agenda appears to be fading rapidly.

An unfortunate case of government scheduling forced Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath and Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch to do separate but simultaneous media events on Tuesday.

But, unfortunately for Ms Enoch, all the media pack went to hear the AG speak about a Jobs Queensland discussion paper and no one turned up at UQ to talk about the launch of a Centre for Digital scholarship.

It appears as if there has never been a more exciting time to be an Innovation Minister.

CHIKO ROLLS AND COKE

THE recent reshuffle promoted fresh-faced Mark Ryan to the Police, Corrections and Emergency Services portfolios.

Mr Ryan is an able media performer – and at least more comfortable in front of the microphone than his predecessor Bill Byrne – but a couple of his Caucus colleagues are a bit worried he may go overboard searching for the perfect zinger.

A search of Hansard shows Ryan is the proud voice behind the “chiko roll and Coke index”, introduced to Parliament as a measure of economic growth.

“While some past premiers have measured economic activity by counting the number of cranes on the skyline, I like to reinforce the benefit to local businesses of local infrastructure projects by counting the number of chiko rolls and cans of Coke that can be purchased from local food outlets.”

A few Labor backbenchers in marginal seats are praying Mr Ryan doesn’t start using the chiko roll index to measure prison overcrowding or refer to the Coke index in terms of illicit drug sales.

AS THE SAYING GOES...

WHILE CoP was busy perusing through Queensland MPs’ register of interests we found something we didn’t know about Burleigh MP Michael Hart.

He is a part owner of the Burleigh Brewery, which makes a number of refreshing and award-winning brews.

So considering he owns one, Mr Hart should be one of the (few) LNP frontbenchers able to organise a p**s-up in a brewery. Ba boom ching!

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF

CoP regular, Housing Minister Mick de Brenni, was busy dropping policy insights and insults at an industry seminar in Adelaide last month.

Midway through his speech, after referencing a Courier-Mail article about his proposed reforms, he had a dig at people who advocate for social housing to be managed by not-for-profits rather than government.

“I’m generally surprised by the acceptance of what are fundamentally Thatcherist policies by those people who would want to portray themselves as of the Left,” he said.

“It seems to me that too often these people pretend to be of the Left until it becomes inconvenient to their personal or organisational goals.”

But Mr de Brenni’s office claim he was talking about the mass transfer of public housing stock into the not-for-profit or private sector.

“The Minister wasn’t referring to (Community Housing Providers) as being Thatcherite, but rather the doctrine of stock transfers that has failed to increase the number of homes available to vulnerable people,” a spokesman for Mr de Brenni said.

You can watch the YouTube link above and judge for yourself.

WHERE ARE YOU?

NATURAL Resources Minister Dr Anthony Lynham has failed to visit any of the seven indigenous communities participating in a freehold title trial for almost two years.

But Dr Lynham’s ministerial diaries show he found time to meet with the Southside Pony Club and attend a medieval festival, since being sworn in on February 2015.

The seven indigenous communities – Poruma, Hammond Island, St Pauls and Cherbourg, Hope Vale, Napranum and Mapoon – were selected to work on creating new planning schemes to allow freehold title and eventually home ownership.

The two-year trial was a policy of the former Newman Government and commenced in January 2015, and the Palaszczuk Government committed to it but indigenous community leaders are starting to wonder whether Dr Lynham and his department are dragging their feet with these historic reforms.

BILLY’S BACKFLIP

INDEPENDENT Member for Cook Billy Gordon’s unpredictable voting behaviour has riled his crossbench colleagues.

Last week, Mr Gordon voted with the Palaszczuk Government on its water reforms, which the Katter’s Australian Party argue will make it harder for irrigated agricultural projects in North Queensland to get approved.

KAP Member for Mount Isa MP Robbie Katter said Mr Gordon promised to vote with KAP over amendments to make access to water easier for farmers.

“We were given very strong signals that Billy would support us, so it’s very disappointing that he voted against our amendments and stifled economic development in the North and the Cape,” he said.

“Reliability and integrity is a precious commodity in politics.”

Mr Gordon admitted he had pledged his support to the KAP but changed his mind after reviewing sections of the legislation.

“I reserve my right to change my mind,” he said.

The last-minute vote switch came just months after Mr Gordon voted with the KAP and LNP to sink Labor’s controversial tree-clearing legislation.

Mr Katter and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad may represent opposite constituencies, but they now have one thing in common – they’ve both been hoodwinked by Billy!

- Anthony Templeton

Courts

TROUBLE STRIKES AGAIN

THE alleged bikie at the centre of the Jarryd Hayne Snapchat saga found himself in strife with the law - and at home - after he was caught driving his girlfriend’s luxury car while on a demerit-point suspension.

Christopher Howard Bloomfield, 26, mischievously stopped to hold out his phone for a selfie in front of media as he left the Brisbane Magistrates Court earlier this month, after being slapped with a $600 fine for pleading guilty to the traffic offence.

The court heard the hulking one-time Titans U20s player had been driving his girlfriend’s black Mercedes-Benz car in August when he was intercepted by police at Marsden. Her vehicle has now been seized.

“He instructs he wouldn’t have been driving the girlfriend’s car at the time if he knew this was going to occur,” high-profile defence lawyer Adam Magill said.

“As a result the vehicle’s been seized - so he’s in strife at home.

“He clearly has other problems with the respect to the seizure of the vehicle which we are currently trying to sort out.”

Christopher Howard Bloomfield takes a cheeky selfie as he leaves the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Scott Pearson told the court Bloomfield was driving unlicensed at the time because of a demerit-point suspension which had started five days earlier.

He explained the car initially came to the attention of police that afternoon because they were interested in the “female registered owner’s licence status”.

Magistrate Penelope Hay said she accepted Bloomfield had been unaware of the status of his licence but urged him to “get a mail box at the post office” to avoid any future issues.

She decided against imposing a licence disqualification period greater than the mandatory minimum of 6 months.

“I note the vehicle’s that’s been seized - it’s not yours, it’s your partner’s and you’ve already suffered some consequences from her,” she said.

KNOW THE COSTS

Legal Services Commissioner Paul Clauson has called out ongoing “lack of thought and respect” by some lawyers when it comes to keeping clients in the loop about how much their cases end up costing.

In his annual overview at the start of the commission’s annual report, Mr Clauson lists cost disputes as a major area that needs improving in the profession with a third of all complaints linked to how costs were disclosed or dealt with.

“The major concern centres around the matter of disclosure to the client of costs estimates and the ongoing reassessments as the matter progresses,” he said.

“The issue sadly epitomises this all too common lack of thought and respect for the client’s need to be informed and updated as to costs as a matter progresses.

Just like a builder keeping clients updated on running costs for a project, lawyers, too, have a duty to let clients know where their “project” stands at each step in the legal process.

Touting at the scene of an accident or advertising contrary to restrictions were specifically mentioned as areas the LSC can proactively raise a complaint about rather than wait for a consumer to do so.

The annual report notes 344 solicitors and 16 barristers were subject to investigation in the past year, with QCAT finalising 22 prosecutions. Five practitioners were struck off for dishonesty offences while the remainder were reprimanded and or fined and ordered to pay costs.

It terms of redress to consumers, a total of $102,557 was refunded or returned by waiver of legal costs.

- Kate McKeena, Emmaline Stigwood