George Street Beat: Inside the diaries of a ‘very, very busy’ Annastacia Palaszczuk
Annastacia Palaszczuk this week declared in a fury that she was “very very busy” and told journalists “look at my diaries for goodness sake”. So we did. THIS IS GEORGE STREET BEAT
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’ll stand down if it is “in the best interest of the people of this state” - a fairly strong statement.
Innocuous attempts to elaborate on how she would measure that - such as the support of colleagues, her tiredness or other opportunities - was met with surprising fury.
“I’m very very busy … go and have a look at my diaries for goodness sake,” Ms Palaszczuk told the press pack - so we did.
Let’s look at the past four months.
Ms Palaszczuk took the first weekend in July off and then averaged three ‘events’ per day in the 22 days she was in Queensland.
July did include a trip to Japan, South Korea and Singapore on a trade mission - which are notoriously fast-paced.
In the first 24 days of August the Premier averaged 3.5 meetings per day, including one very busy August 14 at the Ekka when nine events included attendance at the equestrian, meeting Deputy Premier Steven Miles, meeting him again pre-Cabinet and then visiting Queensland Government show displays.
For the rest of the month from August 26 Ms Palaszczuk infamously ducked to Europe - for the second time this year.
At her return to work on September 11 to the 30th the Premier averaged 3.6 meetings per day, but this time the attendees were slightly different.
Days after pledging to improve her leadership the Premier met with a number of Labor backbenchers and even found time for Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall, who weeks earlier criticised the difficulty in meeting her despite repeated requests.
In October, the most recent available diary, Ms Palaszczuk took 123 events over 31 days - averaging four per day.
Most of the Premier’s meetings are with ministers, MPs and bureaucrats - but as you’d expect there are regular breakfasts, lunches and dinners to grace.
GSB knows Ms Palaszczuk’s schedule is busy, but we wonder whether counting “parliament sitting” and “met students visiting parliament” is inflating the numbers a tad.
SPIRITS TURN ‘SH*TTY’
Spirits were high as spirits were poured at the parliament’s Christmas party ahead of the morning’s paper revealing the state would splash $137m on upgrading the RNA Showgrounds.
Things quickly turned sour amid revelations the next morning that while ministers were happy to chat about it on Thursday night, nobody had reached Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to ask if he’d be right helping out.
What followed was four days of damaging headlines for a government which doesn’t want to spend time talking about stadiums while people struggle to pay bills.
What did Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe’s colleagues think of the bungling?
“I’m pretty shitty,” one minister declared.
“We thought it was sorted.
“The state never wins in a fight against city hall.”
Staggeringly, on Friday morning one Labor backbencher texted in from the warmth of regional Queensland to ask GSB if we could provide any more details on the announcement.
With Mr Hinchliffe to retire at the next election, Ms Palaszczuk might want to consider the following through with the reshuffle she flagged in September.
SKIP FROM PROPERTY COUNCIL
Jen Williams’ shock announcement she’ll step down from leading the Property Council caused a stir at the industry group’s glitzy Christmas bash on Friday.
Ms Williams has been a regular voice in the housing crisis, emerging as a thorn in the side of the Palaszczuk government for her frank policy criticism.
Her resignation less than a year from the state election piqued the interest of political pundits, who speculated the expertise of the former LNP city hall staffer would be a handy addition in the state arena.
But an LNP insider insisted to GSB there had been no murmurs from within the party about Ms Williams being seriously considered for preselection.
They said someone of her profile would likely only run in a winnable seat, with only three electorates yet to confirm candidates but are in “the last throes of pre-selection”.
Those Labor-held seats the LNP considers winnable around Brisbane include Mansfield, Pumicestone, and Aspley, with Pine Rivers a possibility “if the swing’s really on”.
The LNP insider agreed Ms Williams would be “brilliant” and a “fantastic addition” but wasn’t sure if her high profile in business circles would translate to electoral success.
“Any Joe Blow wouldn’t know her from a bar of soap, and it’s the Joe Blows who have got to vote you in,” they said.
Ms Williams insisted she had no interest in a life on George Street.
In fact, the scuttlebutt had been so persistent she said she wished she used the opportunity to tell the 1700-people at the industry group’s Christmas bash she would not be putting her hand up for preselection.
CANDIDACY CHICKEN IN STAFFORD
Labor MP Jimmy Sullivan could be heading towards an awkward preselection battle in his safe seat of Stafford, where a potential candidate has miffed party insiders by refusing to withdraw her nomination.
A senior Labor source told GSB Susan Lynch, a former staffer for the seat’s previous Labor minister Anthony Lynham, was still hanging around.
If Ms Lynch’s nomination is not withdrawn, the party will be forced to drag Mr Sullivan, the son of prominent long-serving MP Terry Sullivan, through a vote.
“We all thought she was gonna withdraw but she hasn’t yet,” an insider told this column … “So we might have to have a ballot in Stafford.”
The awkward stand-off comes as Mr Sullivan prepares to defend his healthy margin of more than 10 per cent against former LNP councillor Fiona Hammond.
ANACTA
Labor-aligned lobbyists Evan Moorhead and David Nelson have been forced to find creative ways to wheel and deal after the Anacta directors were banned from influencing Ministers until after next year’s election.
The pair were spotted at an Anacta-sponsored table at the Queensland Media Club in October and both have now been spotted on a draft agenda for a youth justice roundtable today led by prominent advocates.
Mr Moorhead will lead a discussion on “building community confidence”, which is interesting given Professor Peter Coaldrake’s integrity review found the dark arts of lobbying had had a “troubling” influence on state government processes.
Fellow Anacta director Mr Nelson is also featured on the long list of attendees for the roundtable.
COAL COMFORT
A changing of the guard is underway in the tidy mining town of Moranbah - and it could cause a stir among state MPs.
Long-time Mayor Anne Baker won’t stand for re-election at the 2024 local government poll.
While this regional council retirement may seem minor, it sets in train a significant tizz for the Labor Party in the depths of Queensland’s mining country.
Cr Baker is openly aligned to Labor and there’s speculation she could pop up to run against the LNP’s Dale Last in Burdekin – the vast seat taking in Moranbah and a significant chunk of the Isaac Regional Council’s footprint. Although at this stage Cr Baker is firm she is taking a break from politics after nearly two decades of service.
Mr Last is the opposition’s tough-talking police spokesman.
Cr Baker’s exit also opens up the mayoralty for her long-time second-in-charge Kelly Vea Vea.
The young and tenacious Cr Vea Vea has long been considered a viable political weapon for Labor, but she hasn’t been deployed as a candidate in either federal or state government.
With multiple national TV appearances, could Cr Vea Vea’s inevitable tilt at the mayoralty be a stepping stone to bigger things?
GOING POSTAL
The battle for the safe seat of Gregory to replace retiring LNP MP Lachie Millar is underway, with the LNP party machine set to hold its first postal plebiscite this election cycle in the new year.
It’s understood Barcaldine Mayor Sean Dillon - who made headlines when he was prosecuted by the Office of the Independent Assessor for criticising the Covid-19 vaccination program - is a frontrunner in a Melbourne Cup field of interested candidates.
IT’S YOUR CASH
It’s the time of the year your hardworking MPs spend valuable time filming Christmas videos for social media.
They’ve been trickling out in the past week - kicked off by the government’s taxpayer-funded ‘parliament wrapped’ TikTok.
Check it out if you desperately want to know senior ministers’ top song of the year.
On the Christmas video front, we liked Bundaberg MP Tom ‘Spielberg’ Smith’s effort for what pundits predict will be his last Christmas in parliament.
The first-term MP spent the best part of a day in parliament filming presents being thrown at Labor MPs and staff before, cutting the vision into a montage.
Fellow marginal Labor MP Rob Skelton waited until he was back in the electorate office to gather nine family elves for a choreographed rendition of Jingle Bells - which at the time of going to print had 16 shares on social media.
The grinches in the LNP’s social media team were less festive - choosing to instead feature a video of David Crisafulli and shadow ministers cradling their ‘Right Priorities’ document and asking voters to “show Labor the door in 2024”.
‘A real climax’: Ex-Labor MP celebrates national orgasm day
Former Labor MP Jason Hunt has taken community service to the next level by celebrating, wait for it... national orgasm day. THIS IS GEORGE ST BEAT
‘Lifting lid on underbelly’: Heads of CFMEU inquiry revealed
A top industrial relations barrister has been appointed to lead Queensland's 12-month inquiry into alleged violence and corruption within the militant CFMEU.