Neil Doorley compensation claim exposes secretive media unit run by Premier’s office

The existence of a mysterious media pool run by the Premier’s office is revealed in an email trail from a sacked spin doctor.

Former senior government media advisor, Neil Doorley arrives at Queensland Industrial relations Commission. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

THE Queensland Government has been drawn into a propaganda scandal after it was revealed a team of ministerial spin-doctors were sent to work in a secretive “media pool” run by the Premier’s office.

The details are contained in a series of emails submitted by former government media adviser Neil Doorley in a compensation claim before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

They show 14 staff were seconded to the pool in the wake of the 2017 election.

They are in addition to spin doctors already working in Ms Palaszczuk’s office.

Ex-staffer exposes dysfunction in ministerial offices

One source said the wages bill for the unit would be in excess of $1 million.

The Doorley emails highlight the mistrust and tension among the spin doctors.

The pool headed by the deputy director of the Government’s media unit Kerryn Manifold was made up of staff stripped from the offices of ministers including Mick de Brenni, Shannon Fentiman, Kate Jones, Stirling Hinchliffe, Coralee O’Rourke and Craig Crawford.

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington urged the Premier to say why it was needed.

“We need a detailed explanation of what exactly it does and how much it costs,” she said.

She said the existence of the mystery pool showed the Premier had a blatant disregard for Fitzgerald principles.

The Premier’s chief of staff, David Barbagallo.

The pool was set up by the Premier’s chief-of-staff David Barbagallo as “a six-month trial” in February last year.

The Courier-Mail understands that while the pool staff are paid from ministers’ budgets, ministers have no automatic access to its services.

Mr Doorley, who spent three years working for four government ministers, alleges in his claim he was “among participants” at a media advisers’ meeting in May last year “who sought clarification about the media pool trial” and the “specific functions” of the Rapid Response, Digital and Rural teams contained in it.

In an email sent to Mr Manifold, media chief Shane Doherty in the Premier’s office, and all the ministerial media advisers, Mr Doorley said he raised concerns about the team “in response to questions put to me by (Fire and Emergency Services) Minister (Craig Crawford) after our office was left without a media adviser when I went on holidays”.

“Some of my queries related to the role of the teams, in particular the benefits to an office with a sole media adviser, and how best to communicate with team members”.

In another email on July 6 last year, Mr Doorley said: “I was told at that meeting in May that information clarifying the roles of the teams would be circulated.

“I again raised the issue about the information being circulated at a subsequent meetings on Monday, June 25.

“Will that information be forthcoming please?”

Another media adviser, Martin Philip, responded that he too believed that “information would be useful”.

In a subsequent email by Mr Doorley again asking “how my office could better utilise the 14 staff involved in the (pool’s) three media teams” on July 9, Mr Manifold responded: “ … the first preference should be to seek someone from the department to backfill to the Min office”.

Mr Doorley’s requests for information on the pool fell on deaf ears.