Government’s late night document dump a train wreck
QUEENSLAND Rail is still plagued by dysfunction two years on from the state’s “Rail Fail”, an astonishing late-night document drop by the State Government shows. But that’s not all it revealed.
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
QUEENSLAND Rail is still plagued by dysfunction two years on from the state’s “Rail Fail”, an astonishing late-night document drop by the State Government has revealed.
The Palaszczuk Government — which swept to power in 2015 promising a new era of transparency — has been slammed for releasing 75 annual reports on the performance of departments and agencies late on Friday as Queenslanders headed into Grand Final weekend.
LIST: SCROLL DOWN TO SEE WHAT DOCUMENT DROP REVEALED
The reports were published in three batches from 3.30pm, with The Sunday Mail notified of the final and largest lot of documents at 9.54pm.
Revelations include Stadiums Queensland reporting an operating loss of more than $20 million; Queensland Health failing to meet treatment efficiency targets; shocking revelations of drug use among parents dealt with by Child Safety; and Queensland motorists being fined to the tune of $250,000 a day.
The most alarming findings were in the QR annual report, which revealed staff were taking sick leave at a much higher rate than expected.
The annual report showed unscheduled absences were running at 12.45 days per employee, well ahead of the target of 10.25 days.
The revelation comes amid a new wave of disruption on the rail network. On Friday, the Fair Work Commission ruled the Rail Tram and Bus Union had orchestrated more than 100 drivers and guards calling in sick that day in an act of illegal industrial action.
QR took the matter to the commission, afraid the campaign of “sickies’’ would cruel services yesterday and cause chaos, with hundreds of thousands of people attending last night’s Riverfire celebrations.
The commission ordered the union not to organise any further absences at short notice.
LNP Deputy Leader Tim Mander said the episode highlighted the fact that the union retained “a stranglehold”.
“The union runs this Labor government. The union is running the railway system,” he said. “They don’t want extra drivers in because they want to control the situation so they can continue to get excessive overtime.”
Today is the second anniversary of the first day of the “Rail Fail” series of mass cancellations and service disruptions across the network that led to a Commission of Inquiry and recommendations to end restrictive work practices by drivers and break a closed-shop recruitment process.
But the report shows the organisation is still plagued by problems. Despite an external recruitment program for trainee drivers and guards attracting more than 10,000 applicants, only 40 additional drivers have been employed.
QR has implemented 17 of the commission’s 31 recommendations, which are due to be completed by next year, and services are still short of returning to a full timetable.
The report also says just 23 per cent of capital works are done within delivery deadlines, well under the 80 per cent goal.
And it reveals the top eight QR executives were paid a combined $3.37 million in 2017-18. This includes a $755,000 package for chief executive Nick Easy and $482,000 for executive general manager network Tim Ripper.
The total salaries are nearly double the $1.78 million listed in the previous year’s report but QR says that is because of turnover, with some senior staff only in positions for short periods of 2016-17.
A QR spokesman said: “We are focused on fixing the trains, and the salaries and performance targets of Queensland Rail employees are designed to drive outcomes which improve rail services for Queenslanders.”
Rail Back on Track lobby group spokesman Robert Dow feared QR was returning to an ineffective top-heavy structure doing little to improve things on the ground.
“It’s not complex. All people want is for them to run more services,” he said. “After (Friday’s) events, one wonders what the future of rail is.”
The LNP says the dump of documents — many of which would likely have been completed well ahead of Friday night — was the latest-ever such release by the Palaszczuk Government.
“This government is all about secrecy and cover-up,” Mr Mander said.
“They hope anything negative is smothered by a long weekend and grand finals. This government talks transparency but actions speak louder than words.
“It is not surprising but it is disappointing.”
A State Government spokesman yesterday said: “The reports are being tabled on their due date (September 30) and available to anyone to read. This is standard practice.”
QR said that, since the annual report was prepared, the net increase in drivers had grown to 50, plus 79 extra guards, with a further 95 trainee drivers and 42 trainee guards in training.
WHAT THEY DIDN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW
* POLICE: Queensland’s confidence in police dropped 4 per cent in the past year.
* CHILD SAFETY: One in three children who came into the care of the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women in the past year had a parent who had used or was using methamphetamine. The report revealed 9093 children and young people were in care in the last year and 210 young people were in detention.
* YOUTH JUSTICE: Youth Justice Services statistics showed 74 per cent of young offenders were charged with another offence within 12 months of being dealt with in court for a proven offence.
* DISCRIMINATION: Complaints to the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland (ADCQ) soared by 13 per cent last year, with 810 claims of sexual harassment or discrimination.
* SPEEDING FINES: There were 176,000 speeding infringement notices issued by QPS in 2017-18. The state’s fixed speeding cameras caught nearly 472,000 motorists last year, with more than $250,000 in fines issued every day.
* RAIL FAIL: The combined pay of Queensland Rail’s top executives doubled from $1.5 million to almost $3 million in one year.
* EXPENSES: Labor MP Joan Pease overspent her electorate allowance by $19,000 in the past year.
* OMBUDSMAN: Of the 802 public interest disclosures reported to the Ombudsman’s Office in the last year, 74 per cent were about corrupt conduct. State government departments were the main source of disclosures with 49 per cent, followed by hospital and health services, with 24 per cent and local councils, with 13 per cent.
* STADIUMS QUEENSLAND: Stadiums Queensland suffered an operating loss of $23 million in the past year, with the body’s operating expenses of $129 million significantly higher than its $106 million income.
* ROYAL COMMISSION: Queensland Police’s Sex Crimes Unit was referred 544 cases from the Royal Commission. Forty-three matters are still under investigation.
Additional reporting by Jack McKay, Kay Dibben, Jeremy Pierce and Chris Clarke.
$135m health bungle: Minister’s apology to affected businesses
Health Minister Steven Miles has apologised to businesses that have suffered delays because of the new Queensland Health payment system.
Hundreds of staff underpaid at Queensland utility
A Queensland Government-owned utility corporation has underpaid hundreds of its senior staff for more than a decade in a bungle that could have ripped off up to a quarter of its workforce.