George St Beat: Labor accused of cleaning out tower of power as it left office

Premier David Crisafulli has let fly at Steven Miles, claiming that someone at Labor had taken items, including cutlery, out of 1 William St as the party left office. THIS IS GEORGE ST BEAT

Premier of Queensland Premier David Crisafulli at 1 William, Brisbane. Brisbane. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen

Premier David Crisafulli is furious at forks – or the lack thereof.

The Premier was peppered with questions about his government’s upgrades to 1 William Street shortly after moving in – exposed in a Right to Information response.

It wasn’t the near $4000 stools, or Ros Bates’s $67,000 office overhaul under his goat.

“I think offices should have a door on it. The one thing that I was very concerned about was the fact that cutlery had to be replaced,” he said.

“Who takes cutlery when they leave the office for God’s sake? Cutlery. Unbelievable.”

He couldn’t help but take a dig at Opposition Leader Steven Miles.

“Somebody took cutlery on their way out the door. Now, I know there’s knives out at the moment for an individual. Surely you wouldn’t take them from the government building,” Mr Crisafulli said.

It truly was a scorched earth inside the tower of power when Labor left.

GSB heard one minister went from their swearing in at Government House to the newsagent to personally buy pens and highlighters for their first briefing with bureaucrats.

“They (Labor) didn’t even leave a paperclip in the tower,” another said.

BACK DOOR

One line buried deep in the 900-page RTI raised GSB’s ears more than any other.

It was a “request to remove the Deputy Premier’s rear door CCTV” at his 1 William Street office.

Why had Jarrod Bleijie asked for the camera to his back door be switched off?

It turns out the renovation of Trade Minister Ros Bates’s office meant that camera was now in her space, filming her staff.

“No other ministerial office has a camera in their office space, therefore we would request that the one currently in our office be removed,” her policy adviser wrote to building managers.

When GSB asked Mr Bleijie about the camera he, predictably, took aim at the office’s former occupant.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie. Picture Lachie Millard

“Cameron Dick had CCTV installed to see if Shannon Fentiman was coming for his back in his new office,” he said.

“We don’t need to keep watch over our colleagues.”

VACANCIES

GSB hears spear-throwing Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie is struggling to hire a media team.

We heard in the nearly seven months since the government took office Mr Bleijie has lost two advisers and now has no dedicated spinner in his level 39 office.

Instead, Mr Bleijie’s social media creator is doubling as a media adviser and he’s got access to a staffer seconded from the premier’s unit.

GSB understands at least half-a-dozen people have been approached to join Mr Bleijie’s media team.

Speaking of ministerial staff, Premier David Crisafulli is yet to answer a question on notice from the opposition about the number of staff employed within each ministerial office as of January 6 and February 18, with a breakdown of pay bands.

Mr Crisafulli’s answer was due March 20, but we’re still waiting.

CUT SCRIPT

One would expect Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek to champion his own reforms, but his media team took an odd approach during a recent Gold Coast school visit.

While Mr Langbroek spruiked his three-tiered education action plan, the recording his office later provided curiously excluded the Q&A session — where he had taken questions from the media.

Minister for Education John-Paul Langbroek. Photo Steve Pohlner

Follow-up requests for the missing audio went unanswered.

The plan, which includes guidelines for how parents should communicate with teachers, may well be a positive step for educators. But when it comes to his own communication, Mr Langbroek seems to be struggling with the basics.

BIG KEV

“At the risk of sounding like I’m channelling Big Kev I’ve got to say, I’m excited,” State Development Committee chair Jim McDonald told a meeting this week.

What got big Jim so excited?

“ … being part of a government that does what it says it’s going to do”.

Riveting stuff from parliament’s gentleman.