Labor accuses Premier of new broken promise as 10 DGs sacked
The LNP quietly announced after 6pm on Friday that 10 director generals would be sacked in a move that Opposition Leader Steven Miles says is another broken promise.
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Labor says Premier David Crisafulli has broken another promise after the LNP quietly announced on Friday night that a total of 10 directors-general would be punted, with the other 10 safe.
Mr Crisafulli said in an interview last month that the majority of DGs would remain in their roles.
The LNP announced at 6.38pm on Friday that a total of 10 new DGs would be appointed, with the police commissioner staying in his role.
Public Sector Commissioner David Mackie has been appointed acting DG of the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
The government argued commissioners were grouped in with DGs, so Mr Crisafulli had kept to his word as a majority (12) of public sector bosses remained in place.
“Queensland will benefit from a mix of continuity and new energy to deliver a fresh start for (the state),” Mr Crisafulli said.
“New directors-general will be appointed in consultation with ministers, over coming weeks.
“We thank all directors-general for their leadership and commitment to our state.”
The announcement came after confirmation on Friday that Department of Justice and Attorney-General boss Jasmina Joldic, Health Director-General Michael Walsh and Under Treasurer Michael Carey were given their marching orders, along with Labor-aligned director general Mike Kaiser whose exit was revealed earlier in the week.
Sources said Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Patricia O’Callaghan had been headhunted to be director general of the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
Deputy Opposition Leader Cameron Dick said the announcement flew in the face of the 2022 Coaldrake report which recommended directors-general have more independence, including five-year terms to remove their appointments from the electoral cycle.
Mr Dick said the lack of a merit-based appointment process for the new DGs sent a poor message to the public service.
“This stinks. It’s a broken promise. David Crisafulli said there was an integrity inferno engulfing the Labor government and that we needed to listen to Peter Coaldrake and implement every word of his report,’’ he said.
“Now, the only thing that’s been thrown on the integrity inferno is Peter Coaldrake’s report — David Crisafulli has completely trashed what he recommended to the people of Queensland.’’
He said the ousted DGs had had stellar careers and any time they might have spent working with Labor did not negate their experience or talent.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles accused Mr Crisafulli of embarking on a witch hunt.
“He promised only one director-general would be sacked but in just his first week David Crisafulli sacked 10,’’ he said.
“It’s David Crisafulli’s fourth broken promise in his first week, after he broke his promises to appoint Ros Bates as health minister, appoint himself tourism minister and keep his cabinet intact.
“It’s frightening that David Crisafulli promised so much during the election campaign and now we know his word counts for nothing.’’
Mr Crisafulli, in his first message to the state’s more than 250,000 public servants on Monday, made clear the election scare campaign about mass cuts to the sector was baseless.
“There will be no employment cuts to the public service workforce,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Any views you may have heard otherwise are completely untrue.
“Having seen the impact of job losses in the past on the productivity and morale of the public service, I will not be repeating those actions.’’
But he said in the message to public servants that there would be some initial realignment in leadership and in machinery-of-government changes, signalling the firing and hiring of directors-general and reassembly of departments.
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