Opposition slams government as ‘outrageous hypocrites’ who put Queenslanders second while Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk enjoys her second overseas trip this year
The state government have been accused of putting the interests of Queenslanders as a distant second as the Premier enjoys her second overseas trip this year.
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The LNP have lashed the state government as “a bunch of hypocrites” after complaints about reports of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s European trip, with Opposition Leader David Crisafulli saying he was “happy to stand” by his own work ethic.
Mr Crisafulli said the government has a “job to do, and they’ve got to do it quickly”, and they should focus on the issues important to Queenslanders.
The Premier has been under-fire for taking her second overseas trip this year after a controversial week for the government – which included the rushing through of amendments to the state’s youth justice laws – with several Ministers coming out today to defend their leader as “deserving a break”.
“I never thought I would see a day that the Labor Party was in the state that it is at the moment, and Queenslander’s interests are running a distant second,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“The Premier can be held accountable for her work schedule – I’m happy to stand on mine.”
LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates slammed Labor as “an outrageous bunch of hypocrites”.
“What they’re saying is ‘you’re entitled to take a holiday if you’re a member of the Labor Party’ – we all know they have attacked others for taking leave, their hypocrisy is just rank,” she said.
“Let me tell you what Queenslanders are saying – they don’t care about how the Premier interacts with paparazzi, they do care about a Premier who takes leave more than any other MP.”
Transport Minister Mark Bailey was the latest cabinet minister to defend Ms Palaszczuk’s decision to jet overseas – between two sitting weeks – saying on Thursday “I think everyone deserves leave”.
Mr Bailey – who, like Treasurer Cameron Dick, said he didn’t know the Premier was going overseas – said “we’ve got an acting Premier, a full Cabinet and all our Director-Generals working hard”.
Both Mr Bailey and Ms Palaszczuk were critical of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison travelling to Hawaii with his family in 2019, with Mr Bailey telling parliament “we remember the Prime Minister deserting this country during the bushfires for Hawaii and lying about it”.
Ms Palaszczuk also said after Mr Morrison’s controversial holiday: “when Australia was burning, was the Prime Minister around for press conferences? He was in Hawaii, he was in Hawaii”.
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