Auditor-General unloads on toll taken by cabinet reshuffles

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has dismissed concerns about the disruption caused by her government’s constant chopping and changing of departments, following a scathing new review.

Auditor-General Brendan Worrall

Slicing and dicing government departments is expensive, disruptive, and doesn’t guarantee better services for Queenslanders, but the government doesn’t properly understand the impact of its constant shake-ups, Queensland’s Auditor-General has warned.

Brendan Worrall, in scathing report on “machinery of government” changes, also warned chopping and changing departments increased the risk of public servants repeating past mistakes.

And there was also the risk for sensitive information stored across tens of thousands of documents to be lost.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday dismissed concerns about the processes.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: David Clark

“These machinery of government changes happen all the time. They happen with every government, whether it’s federal government or state government. It’s just what happens,” she said.

Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said Queenslanders were “footing a multi-million dollar bill, just so the Premier could benefit from political circuit breaker”.

The state government’s “unexpected” cabinet reshuffle on May 18 resulted in 11 functions being transferred between 10 departments — marking the fourth time in six years youth justice had been impacted.

Financial reports will also take extra time, with information no longer comparable with the prior year as a result.

Backing in a landmark Coaldrake review into government integrity — released a year ago — Mr Worrall said he was concerned the government did not have a good enough understanding of the costs of a department reshuffle.

“I am concerned that government is not clear on the benefits it aims to gain from such organisations,” he said.

Professor Peter Coaldrake, in his 2022 report, warned machinery of government changes were expensive and disruptive, with suggestion a simple name change could cost about $5m to roll out across the state.

He had urged for self-restraint to be applied by governments to limit changes to those which were absolutely necessary.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in the aftermath of the reshuffle the machinery of government changes were minor and would serve the people of Queensland, later defending the moves as a necessary part of the frontbench reshuffle.

Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said Queenslanders were footing a multimillion-dollar bill so Ms Palaszczuk could benefit from a political circuit-breaker.