David Crisafulli claims Labor government ‘trashing’ independence of public service

The independence of Qld’s public service is being “trashed”, David Crisafulli argues after another bungled Labor move.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli.

• Editor’s view: Rotten culture exposed

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli argues the government is “trashing” the independence of the public service as Labor MPs express frustration at the bungling of its flagship housing announcement.

Revelations former director-general Rachel Hunter was in-line to undertake a paid review of homelessness services – just one month after walking away from the government with a $400,000 payout – prompted disbelief within the government.

Several Labor MPs told The Courier-Mail they were frustrated the announcement had overshadowed the government’s pledge to allocate $390m to ease the housing crisis – but praised Premier Steven Miles for quickly asking Ms Hunter to instead do the review for free.

Former director-general Rachel Hunter.

One MP said paying Ms Hunter so soon after her hefty payout “would not have gone down well with the public”.

Another praised Mr Miles, however, for acknowledging the error and quickly correcting it.

“Annastacia (Palaszczuk) would have dug her heels in,” they said.

Mr Crisafulli, however, slammed the government and accused Mr Miles of being “hellbent on paying back favours”.

“The more we observe this government the more we believe they are in intent on trashing the independence of public servants more than the last government,” he said.

“The way the public service continues to be politically compromised is deeply troubling.

“Not only have things not gotten better, they’re getting worse.”

Mr Crisafulli claimed Mr Miles, despite committing to govern with Peter Coaldrake’s 2022 integrity review at heart, argued he was instead “using it as a door mat”.

Professor Coaldrake raised concerns about the independence of the bureaucracy, its “increased use of outside consultants and the subsequent loss of capacity in the public service”.

The premier said he supported the Coaldrake report recommendations and argued Ms Hunter would deliver an outsider’s view of government procedures.

“Sometimes though, you need somebody to look at the public service, like Peter Coaldrake did … in this case too we needed somebody to look at all of the services – those delivered by non-government organisations and those delivered by the public service,” he said.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon did not reveal a cost to taxpayers of the government’s homelessness review, but declared Ms Hunter’s agreement to do pro bono was beneficial.

“We’ll work through that but of course, she’s doing it for free,” she said.

“That makes it substantially lower than it would be if we had someone else doing the role.”