The second day of budget estimates has wrapped up, with State Development Minister Grace Grace first in the hot seat on Wednesday.
For clarity Speaker Curtis Pitt fronted an hour-long sessions of estimates on Monday, making that the official first day of this season.
For those who missed it, it was revealed on Monday Premier Steven Miles’ flagship cost-of-living inquiry which largely called on the government to keep doing what it was already doing cost nearly $154,000 to run.
This equates to each of the six inquiry hearings— only two of which were in a regional city—costing $25,613 each.
Clerk of Parliament Neil Laurie, speaking at budget estimates on Monday, revealed the inquiry cost a total of $153,681 to run.
This didn’t include having to hire any extra staff, though a number of parliamentary employees were effectively saddled with doing two jobs in order to help run the inquiry while keeping up with their day-to-day duties.
Staffing for the inquiry alone cost $95,128.
Budget Estimates: Mining royalties, Gabba cost, jobs for mates, CFMEU
It is a “complete fantasy” to think consultation with the mining industry would have led to them accepting changes to Queensland’s royalty regime, Treasurer Cameron Dick has declared. SEE HOW ESTIMATES UNFOLDED
The second day of budget estimates has wrapped up, with State Development Minister Grace Grace first in the hot seat on Wednesday.
Tuesday's session included fiery exchanges on mining royalties, Gabba costs, jobs for mates, the CFMEU and more.
SEE HOW BUDGET ESTIMATES UNFOLDED BELOW
Updates
Goodnight
'Complete fantasy': Dick slams notion consultation with miners on royalties was worthwhile
It is a “complete fantasy” to think consultation with the mining industry would have led to them accepting changes to Queensland’s royalty regime Treasurer Cameron Dick has declared.
Mr Dick, taking up the mantle of the government’s political pugilist in chief, slammed the Opposition for “sobbing and moaning” over a lack of consultation as a “smokescreen”.
The mining industry has been criticising the state government since 2022 for putting in place controversial royalty changes—which make Queensland the highest taxing jurisdiction in the world—without consultation.
Premier Steven Miles, at the Courier-Mail’s Future Industry’s event earlier in July, conceded the lack of consultation was done to control the timing of the public discussion.
But Mr Dick has always maintained he informed the then- Queensland Resources Council head Ian MacFarlane before the announcement was made.
Asked by Opposition Treasury spokesman David Janetzki at budget estimates which was true—Mr Miles concession on a lack of consultation or Mr Dick’s insistence, the Treasurer said “the Premier and I are both correct”.
Mr Dick then launched into a full-throated defence of the state’s progressive coal royalties, arguing no amount of consultation would have changed the narrative.
“The premise of this question, as with so many others that have been asked in relation to coal royalties, is that if only we had spent months talking and meeting with the coal lobby, they would have been happy to pay a 40 per cent premium… That is a complete fantasy,” he said.
“I want to put that to bed now. The royalties have been in place for two years, and they are still complaining about them, crying their eyes out as they bank yet more record profits.
“The moaning from a few of those companies just proves that it would not have mattered how long or how much we talked to them, they would have never agreed with our position, ever. I know that now.”
QIC writes off troubled London-based investment
The Queensland government’s investment arm has written off its share in troubled London utility Thames Water.
The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), headed by former Lend Lease executive Kylie Rampa, holds 5.4 per cent of Britain’s largest water and waste water company that has found itself on the brink of financial collapse and at risk of being nationalised.
Ms Rampa, speaking at estimates, confirmed QIC had “written that asset down to zero which is very unfortunate”.
“We have looked very hard at the lessons learned from that from a regulatory perspective,” she said.
“But having said that, we run a diversified investment portfolio and even taking that loss into account we will be delivering record returns this year.”
Treasurer reveals breadth of his 'friendship' with Jim Soorley as CS Energy woes take frame
Treasurer Cameron Dick says he hasn’t had a substantial social meeting with former CS Energy chair and Labor man Jim Soorley since the Bligh government more than a decade ago.
And the last time he hung out with the former Lord Mayor socially was likely when the Palaszczuk government took office in 2015.
Mr Dick revealed his lack of interaction with Mr Soorley during budget estimates amid questioning by Opposition treasury spokesman David Janetzki over the goings on at CS Energy’s Callide Power Station.
“I obviously am an acquaintance of Mr Soorley through the Australian Labor Party, but it is wrong to characterise as (Mr Janetzki) so blithely did, that I’m a close personal friend of his,” Mr Dick said.
CS Energy chief executive Darren Busine has also been taking questions at budget estimates, and has so far confirmed he started receiving drafts of forensic engineer Dr Sean Brady’s report about six months ago.
Mr Busine also said CS Energy’s board made the decision to publish a draft Brady report in June, papering over the government-owned company's multiple federal court appearances seeking to fight the release of that report.
Quick estimates note: Why journalists should do degrees in economics
We have entered the “credit spread margins” section of budget estimates.
It’s understood credit spread is a finance term and not what bankers put on their toast each morning.
Treasurer Cameron Dick's budget estimates session begins
Premier Steven Miles' estimates hearings have concluded and Treasurer Cameron Dick will now face questions for the next four hours.
Investigation-ception: The many stages of Coaldrake's recommended clearing house
Taxpayers will fork out another $6.2m to investigate how to push forward with a key integrity review measure, but there is still no timeline on when the complaints clearing house will be up and running two years on.
The decision to spend millions setting up the starting blocks of the clearing house also comes in the aftermath of the state government hiring retired District Court judge Michael Forde to help them assess their options.
The state government has been repeatedly criticised over its implementation of a one-stop complaints clearing house for public servants in the aftermath of the 2022 Coaldrake review.
Premier Steven Miles, at estimates, confirmed the state government had received the Forde review and had picked one of the three options.
This option will involve extending “the responsibilities of one of Queensland’s integrity bodies, providing additional technology and resources”.
But the project was set to be “complex” and would thus be done in a “staged” fashion.
This first phase will involve $6.2m and 15 full-time staff over the 2024/25 period.
Public Sector Commissioner David Mackie confirmed this phase of work would “explore the option in greater detail”, shed light on how much the clearing house would cost and what computer program the government needs to buy.
“(This will) explore that option in greater detail to really come up with details around cost but also what product from an IT perspective can do the functionality that it requires,” he said.
“We’re already on that first bit around the webform and webpage which allows complaints to actually go through one door and be directed.
“So this is then stage two… it’s really about building an IT system and locating that functionality in an existing body.”
Mr Miles said his government was “serious” about implementing the clearing house.
“We have carefully considered Mr Forde’s report and will now begin foundational work to progress the next stage of a Queensland Complaints Clearinghouse model,” he said.
“We know that this type of significant change will have a cross government and community impact, so it is important that we get this right."
Professor Peter Coaldrake called for the clearing house in mid-2022 as part of his Let the Sunshine In report into the culture of the public service.
Former Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk initially scrapped plans for a clearing house after claiming it was not feasible.
She then back-flipped and called on Mr Forde in late November 2023 to look into options available to government.
Premier's disappearing texts available via RTI
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has grilled Premier Steven Miles over his use of the WhatsApp messaging service, an application that allows a user to send encrypted messages, accusing him of using the service to speak secretly with union power brokers.
WhatsApp users can enable a disappearing messages setting that, when activated, deletes messages sent between parties 24 hours, one week or 90 days after they are sent.
Mr Miles has enabled this feature.
Mr Crisafulli asked Mr Miles why he uses auto deleting methods to communicate, and the Premier assured that he always complied with the ministerial handbook and with the Public Records Act by backing up any disappearing chat messages so they could be accessed at a later date via Right to Information Laws.
“I'm referring to the Premier’s dealing with (union boss) Gary Bullock who installed him (Mr Miles) in the job,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Why wouldn't those communications need to be subjected to an RTI if the government needs to be done transparently?”
Mr Miles said former Prime Minister Scott Morrison had implemented changes allowing ministers to discuss cabinet over WhatsApp but that he personally didn’t use the app for ministry of official business.
“If a public record was to be created, though, for example, by somebody messaging me in that app in a way that the message should be held, there's a process in my office for ensuring that it is held in accordance with the Public Records Act. …archiving before it is deleted,” he said.
-Taylah Fellows
$1bn Gabba rebuild cost plucked from thin air
The initial $1bn price tag for the Gabba redevelopment was based on absolutely nothing, Director-General of Premier and Cabinet Mike Kaiser has said.
The shock revelation comes following a line of questioning on the Gabba proposal by Mr Crisafulli, who asked Mr Kaiser whether the initial advice on the Gabba rebuild, referred to as the project validation report, was written to align with the position of the government at the time.
The $1bn rebuild was first announced three years ago in April 2021 by former Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who, when asked how the figure came about, said her team was still working out “final costings”.
When Mr Miles became Premier in October 2023, he ordered a review into the Gabba redevelopment, citing disatisfaction with the validation report.
It was then discovered the likely cost for the rebuild was $2.7bn -more than double than what Ms Palaszcuk had claimed.
Mr Kaiser denied the initial project validation report had been sanitised for the benefit of the government, but sensationally admitted the initial $1bn cost was “not based on any analysis at all," including the validation report.
“There was original discussion of a $1bn cost for the Gabba which was not based on any analysis at all,” he said.
“It wasn't based on a project validation (PVR) report or business case.
“When the business case was done. When a PVR was done. There were four options which were examined…clearly the value for money option was $2.7 billion.”
-Taylah Fellows
Miles asked federal government to put CFMEU into administration
Premier Steven Miles said he personally contacted the federal minister in-charge to ensure Queensland’s arm of the CFMEU was put into administration.
Mr Miles, speaking at budget estimates, confirmed he contacted Workplace Minister Tony Burke seeking the construction arm of Queensland’s CFMEU be included in the federal government’s move to put the militant union into administration.
He then clarified he did not believe the union would be able to “address those concerns” about its behaviour without the help of an administrator.
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