Inside Annastacia Palaszczuk’s team of 30 media spinners

Among Annastacia Palaszczuk’s 30 media spinners is a secret team of a dozen people in charge of curating her public image.

The Premier has up to 30 media spinners reporting to her, but her office won’t give details around a secret team of a dozen people in charge of curating her public image.

Annastacia Palaszczuk was forced to detail she has 18 full-time-equivalent media staff between her office and her department in a recent Question on Notice, but The Courier-Mail has been told a further 11.5 full-time equivalents exist in a separate digital team that reports to her office.

They include management, content, graphics, camera and video operators and special projects staff.

A post on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Instagram account done by her social media team who credited Bronwyn Evans for the drawing (@bronwynevans).

However, because some positions are funded through ministerial offices, sources say they’re not counted in those official figures, obscuring the team from scrutiny.

Asked directly to confirm whether 11.5 staff existed in that digital media team, headed by the Premier’s digital director, a government spokesman would not give details on staff numbers.

Neither would he detail the cost of technical equipment purchased for the specialist media work they do, including filming the Premier and her ministers for promotional videos and photos used online.

He said costs were met within relevant budgets and it wasn’t unusual for the Premier’s office to have oversight over whole-of-government operations.

“Technology continues to evolve and that means how government’s engage with the public also evolves,” he said.

Another post from Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Instagram account. Picture Instagram

Despite the team being set up in late 2019, before the pandemic, the spokesman repeatedly referenced the communication of health information as a key function of the team.

“More and more Queenslanders are turning to the Premier’s social media as a source of important information during the global coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

“The digital team works across all portfolio areas to ensure the Premier and Ministers can provide Queenslanders with access to up-to-date information about the pandemic, the state’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan and other important matters through a number of platforms.”

An Instagram post made during the Covid pandemic. Picture Instagram

Opposition Integrity in Government spokeswoman Fiona Simpson called for Ms Palaszczuk to “come clean” on how many spin doctors she has, arguing taxpayers had a right to know how their money was being spent.

“We thought 18 spin doctors was high and now there’s suggestions of up to 12 more,” she said.

“How many more does the Premier have hiding that she’s not telling us about?

“We first asked the Premier three months ago to be honest and tell Queenslanders how many she employed, we asked again during Estimates, and here we are still waiting for a clear answer.

“Transparency matters. Integrity matters.”

Ms Palaszczuk this week dodged questions about secret public sentiment polling over her handling of the coronavirus pandemic.