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Qld parliament live blog: Premier defends yacht trip
The Premier has faced questions in parliament over her decision to cancel Cabinet to attend the opening of Hamilton Island Race Week.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended cancelling Cabinet to attend the opening of Hamilton Island Race Week, saying she was working while she was there but had requested leave to “cover off myself from any criticism.”
While insisting her Deputy Steven Miles couldn’t host Cabinet in her absence because he was chairing the Infrastructure Cabinet Committee, the Premier said the business of government did not stop.
SEE HOW QUESTION TIME PLAYED OUT IN OUR BLOG BELOW
“We had five Cabinet subcommittees that met last week,” she said.
“When I came back I had the Cabinet Budget Review Committee meeting, also too our future economy meeting, and very importantly, we actually had a Queensland Disaster Management Committee, of which we did scenario planning in the event that there was ever a Foot and Mouth outbreak in Queensland.”
The Opposition has slammed Ms Palaszczuk in recent days following news that the regular Cabinet meeting was cancelled last week while the Premier took leave to attend the yacht event in the Whitsundays. Ms Palaszczuk said Ministers were informed the previous week that Cabinet wouldn’t be going ahead.
“It was a very, very busy week of government,” she said.
“I’m the chair of Cabinet and I’m sorry, I took three days leave, I apologise to the people of Queensland that during a pandemic for over two and a half years I’ve had very little leave.
“In fact, I was officially opening the event and to cover off myself from any criticism I put in a leave application for three days even though I was working.
“I have officially opened this event in the past with Minister Kate Jones, and not one person has raised an issue with it.”
The Premier said the subcommittees weren’t organised just because Cabinet wasn’t being held.
Updates
Question time has wrapped up for today
Final question: When will unborn children killed in criminal acts be recognised?
The Premier confirms the Attorney-General has consulted with grieving families who lost unborn children due to crime, and would be consulting extensively on a potential new law to hold offenders accountable.
This comes after Lockyer MP Jim McDonald posed the question based on a story in the weekend Courier-Mail a few days ago.
Read: ‘This injustice’: Qld laws to recognise unborn children killed in criminal acts
It was revealed unborn babies who die as a result of a crime would be better recognised under potential laws that could also send offenders to jail for longer, following desperate pleas from grieving families.
Parents Sarah and Peter Milosevic – who lost their unborn daughter Sophie just days before she was due to be born when an alcohol and drug-affected driver ploughed into their car – have been pleading for change for years so that another family doesn’t have to suffer “this injustice”.
KAP asks Environment Minister about cattle in Cape York
Katter's Australian Party MP Shane Knuth has said cattle is being shot in Cape York national parks and being left to rot which is angering property and traditional owners.
He asked Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon whether she would halt all shoot-to-kill operations and further develop the bush-beef industry similar to the program at Normanby Station.
Ms Scanlon said the department's priority was to protect national parks.
"To be clear, no branded cattle are shot," she said.
"This is specifically targeting feral pigs and cattle."
– Domanii Cameron
Greens: Will government support two-year rent freeze?
Finally a change of pace, and Greens MP Amy MacMahon is asking Housing Minister Leanne Enoch whether the government will consider a rent freeze.
Ms Enoch says the MP “needs to understand what the rest of us understand”.
She’s says what renters don’t need is “poorly thought through legislation from the Greens … which could see further reduction of supply in the private rental market”.
Mum and dad investors need confidence to keep their properties, she says, attacking the idea as “extremist”.
“(She) needs to take a much more sensible and reasonable approach to this,” Ms Enoch says.
For those following the short answer on whether renters will get a freeze in rents was – no chance.
Read more about this here
– Stephanie Bennett
Minister knew Cabinet would be cancelled a whole week earlier?
Seniors and Disability Services Minister Craig Crawford has revealed he was told at the previous Cabinet meeting that the next Cabinet meeting would be cancelled.
It followed a question lobbed at him by LNP frontbencher John-Paul Langbroek, who asked the Minister if he had received Cabinet documents for the now-cancelled meeting.
Mr Crawford confirmed he was given a week's notice that Cabinet would be cancelled, as he launched his own attack on the Opposition over the number of shadow cabinet meetings they had held.
"How much extra do shadow cabinet ministers get paid – $62,000 to not turn up to work," he said.
Who knew what when?
Same question, different Minister.
This time the Opposition asks Resources Minister Scott Stewart when he found out the Cabinet meeting was cancelled.
Mr Stewart confirmed he was informed on Wednesday, August 17 that the Cabinet meeting coming up had been called off.
He said he attended two sub-committee of Cabinet meetings on the Monday instead.
Bates: "Mean girl"
Opposition frontbencher Fiona Simpson has asked the Premier why she wouldn't delegate control of Cabinet to someone else while she was away.
Ms Palaszczuk began answering by saying it was public knowledge Ms Simpson was not a Minister when the LNP was in government – an attack she launches frequently.
Opposition frontbencher Ros Bates yelled out, "Mean girl."
She was asked to withdraw.
Ms Palaszczuk said the government was busy last week and repeated that five Cabinet subcommittees met.
She said when she was in Opposition, Labor worked hard on creating alternative policies.
– Domanii Cameron
Halfway point
We’re halfway through Question Time and here’s what we’ve “learnt” so far
1) According to the government, cancelling Cabinet is not that big of a deal
2) There were five Cabinet subcommittee meetings held last week
3) It’s been seven years and three elections since the LNP was in government, in
case anyone lost count.
Premier: “The Greens - two members - are working harder than this mob"
Today’s fiery question time doesn’t look like dampening down the back and forth anytime soon, with another question to the Premier on the scrapping of last week’s Cabinet meeting.
She’s asked how often Cabinet meets at the same time as the Cabinet Infrastructure Subcommittee.
The question has been turned back on the LNP, with the Premier declaring there have been no shadow cabinets this year.
“The Greens – two members – are working harder than this mob,” she says.
“I’m happy to be corrected!”
A point of order attempts to bring it back to the question but the Premier is on a roll and happily switches it back into an attack on those opposite.
Warnings for “quarrelling” are being dished out left and right from the speaker today.
– Stephanie Bennett
Deputy Premier takes baton on questions about cancelled Cabinet
Deputy Premier Steven Miles has accused the LNP of holding only ten shadow cabinet meetings in the last year as he hit back at Opposition attacks over the Premier's decision to scrap Cabinet for a holiday.
It came after deputy LNP leader Jarrod Bleijie asked Mr Miles when he was first told to not chair Cabinet while the Premier was on leave.
Referring to Opposition Leader David Crisafulli's diaries, Mr Miles claimed the shadow cabinet had met ten times in the last year – prompting government MPs to hold up ten fingers.
Mr Miles also took the opportunity to refer to former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's decision to secretly take on portfolios without telling anyone.
"They've got no credibility whatsoever," he said.
He called on the LNP to stop for a second before launching a personal attack and to consider whether it would make them look like fools.
– Jack McKay
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