Qld integrity crisis: Premier brands LNP/union alliance a MAFS moment

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has evoked the spirit of reality TV in repelling the latest integrity attacks from the Opposition.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has hit back at the Opposition’s support of CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar’s hammering of the Government over its lack of action on lobbying rules, declaring their relationship was like an episode of Married at First Sight.

In an extraordinary statement on Wednesday, Mr Ravbar, CFMEU Queensland boss and Labor national executive member, called for “swift action” by the Government on the ongoing issue of lobbying.

Ms Palaszczuk was pressed by the Opposition during Thursday’s Question Time on the government’s lack of action over its relationship with lobbyists, after Mr Ravbar sensationally called on Ms Palaszczuk to “excise this cancer” if she was serious about restoring public trust.

LNP Member for Moggill Dr Christian Rowan asked: “How many more inquiries, audits and reports does the Premier need before decisive action is taken with a full royal commission commenced into the Queensland State Government?”

Ms Palaszczuk snapped back: “Usually they are attacking that particular individual. Now they are friends.

“It is like a Married at First Sight episode. I do not think it is going to last very long. I think it is doomed for failure, that relationship between the LNP and the particular individual they refer to.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Question Time yesterday. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Ms Palaszczuk said she “won‘t be lectured by those opposite who sacked the parliamentary crime and corruption committee”, and said she had been clear about her intentions regarding the need to tighten lobbying rules.

“This would apply to all ­lobbyists, not just ones that are talked about in the media,” she said. “On 24 March I said, ‘if we need to tighten the rules, we will do so’. Last week, on 13 June, I said, ‘I’ve said to the people of Queensland that I’m looking at tightening requirements around lobbying. I’ve been on the public record saying that.

“This week I said, ‘I’ve said publicly and I’ll say it again today publicly, I absolutely do believe that we need to tighten up some of those definitions around lobbyists’. I cannot be clearer.”

Ms Palaszczuk also referenced Peter Coaldrake’s integrity review, to be handed down next week, saying: “The Government will be acting.”

Mr Ravbar’s comments came in the wake of the Crime and Corruption Commission announcing last week it was stepping up its probe into lobbying.

“(The CCC) again highlighted the growing risk of corruption related to the extraordinary access and influence of a small number of lobbyists – many with very close links to both the Labor Party and the executive arms of government,” he said on Wednesday.

“In some instances, the web is so tangled it is hard (to) separate ostensibly external lobbyists such as Anacta from the innermost workings of the government itself.”

Anacta, established by former Labor state secretary and MP Evan Moorhead, welcomed the CCC’s review this week, but declined to comment on Mr Ravbar’s statement.

CFMEU Queensland boss and Labor national executive member Michael Ravbar