George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip
He might rule social media, but Queensland Labor leader Steven Miles has been given the cold shoulder on his latest public outing. THIS IS GEORGE STREET BEAT
QLD Politics
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Queensland Parliament might be on a winter break before Estimates later this month, but GSB sleuths are still working overtime to bring you the political gossip.
MILES AWAY FROM SELLOUT
Opposition Leader Steven Miles is giving this year’s Hayden Oration in Ipswich next month, and GSB can report ticket sales haven’t been, well, strong.
The Hayden Oration honours the late member for Oxley, federal opposition leader and Governor-General Bill Hayden.
Of the 140 tickets available to Mr Miles’s oration, just 13 had been sold as of Friday.
A drover’s dog could get people to pay $150 per seat or $1000 for a table of 10 – which includes a three-course meal – so what’s gone wrong?
Perhaps Queenslanders banking on free school lunches, energy rebates and state-owned servos now have fewer dollars to spend on luxuries.
On the event website, underneath the accurately gushing admiration of Hayden’s life in politics and community service, was a small disclaimer: “All proceeds from the Hayden Oration will go towards Jennifer Howard’s re-election campaign”.
It seems early to be fundraising for the 2028 election and with just seven tickets sold, Ms Howard’s tally campaign war chest sits at a measly $1950.
Perhaps she’ll pop it in a high-interest term deposit for the next state – or federal – campaign.
GSB heard Mr Miles’s Hayden Oration would not be a stump speech but a genuine opportunity to reconnect and inspire.
Ask not what your party can do for you …
TWO PEAS, INDEPENDENT POD
The Stafford electorate office is turning into a rehabilitation centre for ex-Labor MPs.
We can duly inform you Independent Member for Stafford Jimmy Sullivan – booted from Labor in May for failing to comply with a return to work plan – has hired defeated Labor Nicklin MP Rob Skelton to his office.
Politics aficionados would remember Mr Skelton for using social media to taunt a critical business owner to “have a go in court” and engaging in an online tit-for-tat that ended with Mr Skelton declaring: “Oh well. One less vote”.
He’s gone to pasture with Mr Sullivan after what surely ranks among the shortest stints as a real estate agent.
On May 22 Mr Skelton was announced as Ray White Nambour’s newest agent, but just 46 days later all traces of him had been scrubbed from their website as he popped up with Mr Sullivan.
YOU’RE GONE
An almighty blow-up occurred in Finance Minister Ros Bates’s office when her chief spinner Justin Armsden was told his services were no longer required.
GSB spies told us Mr Armsden, a former television journalist, was informed last week the office was going in a different direction and he wouldn’t be a part of it.
Apparently things got heated and Mr Armsden is now seeking advice about his dismissal.
He was a surprising addition to the government’s media ranks after a lengthy career as a journalist.
In 2014 the A Current Affair reporter embarrassed the Australian Federal Police by tracking and locating notorious conman Peter Foster before they could.
His axing from Ms Bates’s office caps a stunning end to the short relationship with the minister he was dedicated to protecting from pesky journalists asking about her penchant for airport lounges and installing a frosted glass door in her office.
MINNS TO MARKET
Premier David Crisafulli must be breathing easier than a cane toad in monsoon season after the Maroons sealed the State of Origin series.
It spares him from the political performance of a lifetime.
After Queensland’s stumble in game one, the Premier decided a simple jersey bet with his New South Wales counterpart Chris Minns just wasn’t spicy enough.
So, he upped the ante: The losing Premier would have to star in a glowing tourism ad for the rival state.
It would have been a tough pill to swallow for the proud Queenslander to praise the tourism assets south of the border, if the Maroons did not come through with a 24-12 victory on Wednesday night.
“I have no desire to stand in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and tell people it’s great,” Mr Crisafulli said. “So yeah, go Queensland.”
On the morning of decider, in Longreach, Mr Crisafulli was already taunting Mr Minns about his outback cameo.
He suggested the NSW Premier start his Queensland tourism ad in the red dirt before heading to the coast “to experience all the things we have that you don’t.”
Mr Minns will soon be promoting Queensland’s beaches, reefs and wide-open skies so he might want to start practising his lines.
SPEAKER COLUMBUS
Queensland’s great explorer, Speaker Pat Weir, is off on his global travels again – this time to Nauru for the Parliaments of the Pacific and Australia Regions conference.
GSB readers will fondly recall the extravagant detail of the United Kingdom parliaments Speaker Weir wrote home about earlier this year.
He recalled how Scotland’s parliament has two security gates, members do not have an allocated seat and in Wales politicians have to press a button to speak.
In Nauru Speaker Weir will spend three days in a conference and one day on excursions.
We hope he applies the Ernest Hemingway lens to this latest adventure.
CROC SPOT
In the way only regional Queensland can, Rockhampton residents are poking fun at the battle for Olympic rowing in 2032.
Incensed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s suggestion at relocating the sport to Penrith in New South Wales, a billboard has gone up near the Fitzroy River featuring the crocodile quadruple sculls calling on the city to “push off Penrith”.
MEMORY MALFUNCTION
John-Paul Langbroek suffered an embarrassing gaffe in Cairns this week after forgetting a key childcare stakeholder’s name at an urgent roundtable meeting on Wednesday.
The education minister, after spending two hours speaking to more than a dozen key players in the early childcare sector, blanked on the name of Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland president Majella Fitzsimmons at the press conference.
Cue an awkward pause, a desperate glance around, and a quiet rescue from a staffer who whispered the name just in time.
Ever the professional, Langbroek offered a sheepish apology and soldiered on with his announcement.
Deja vu, anyone? Feels a bit like that infamous moment on the campaign trail when Steven Miles forgot the names of his candidates, a few times.
PRESS PACKED
If there was a list of unusual places for the Premier to conduct a press conference, a surgical patient’s upstairs living room with the Brisbane press pack and camera crew would be among them.
Squeezed alongside couches with Health Minister Tim Nicholls with the patient’s collection of hundreds of records in the background. Making small talk beforehand, the Premier far too enthusiastically denied being a metal head. Mr Nicholls chimed in on the conversation saying his own preferred music was 90s pub rock.
It left us wondering what Mr Crisafulli’s playlist might be while on his morning jog.
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