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Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch and her senior bureaucrats have been questioned about the handling of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine as Budget Estimate hearings continue.

Leanne Enoch has been questioned about Adani in Estimates hearings today.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Leeanne Enoch and her senior bureaucrats have been peppered with questions about the handling of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine as Budget Estimate hearings continue this afternoon.

 

Opposition frontbencher David Crisafulli asked both Ms Enoch and her director-general Jamie Merrick if they had received any input from Deputy Premier Jackie Trad or her staff regarding the mine’s environmental approvals.

Both have answered no.

Mr Crisafulli also asked what role Environment Department staffers Tim Seelig, also a veteran environmental activist, and Kirsten Lovejoy, a three-time Greens candidate, played in Adani’s environmental approvals.

 Ms Enoch replied that they had no role.

The mine has dogged the Government throughout its two terms. 

It received its environmental approvals from the Government in June after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk performed an about-face on the mine following Labor’s shock Federal Election loss in Queensland’s coal country, ordering an end to the drawn out approvals process. 

She called in the coordinator-general to negotiate a timeline.

It comes after the LNP this morning quizzed tourism bureaucrats over whether Annastacia Palaszczuk’s chief of staff had any involvement in the development of the government’s cruise ship terminal.

It comes after it was revealed last week that a company part-owned by David Barbagallo received $267,500 in taxpayer cash to develop a smartphone app that lets people track their cruises.

The questions were raised during Parliament Estimates hearing this morning. The Premier’s office has denied Mr Barbagallo played any role in the development of policies related to cruise ships.

They have also denied he had anything to do with the new cruise ship terminal under construction at the Port of Brisbane.

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LNP Tourism spokesman David Crisafulli seized an opportunity at this morning’s Budget Estimates to ask Tourism Department director-general Damien Walker if he was aware if Mr Barbagallo had declared an interest in the cruising industry and whether the Premier’s office had anything to do with the development of cruise ship policies.

Chief of staff David Barbagallo (right) looks on as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks during estimate hearings at Queensland Parliament in Brisbane. (AAP Image/Jono Searle) NO ARCHIVING

Meanwhile, Google's announcement it will launch its drone delivery service in southeast Queensland has been dubbed a 'game changer'.

Items like bread, coffee, ice cream and non-prescription drugs such as Panadol will soon be delivered straight to southeast Queensland homes via drones, with Google to launch its new delivery service in the Sunshine State within months.

The Courier-Mail today revealed Logan has been chosen by Wing – the delivery arm of Google’s parent company Alphabet – as the launch suburb for its new drone delivery service, with a swarm of at least 30 drones on hand to deliver to homes from September.

Innovation, Tourism Industry Development and Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones described it as a 'game changer' for Queensland business and will give more detail about the program when she speaks  first up in Estimates this morning.

Google autonomous drone

Meanwhile Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch is expected to be grilled over Adani's Carmichael coal mine after lunch.

Ms Enoch was slammed after two embarrassing videos surfaced last month, including one where she was seen telling an environmental activist she was "devastated" in the wake of her own department's approval of the mine. 

At the time, Ms Enoch said she was blindsided by the activist.

“She asked me how I felt about the way Traditional Owners have been affected by the Adani mine, to which I responded, 'devastated'," the Minister said last month.