Queensland Rail chairman, two board members resign

QUEENSLAND Rail’s board chairman has resigned after just a over a year in the job, in the wake of a scandal involving the awarding of generous executive bonuses. Two other board members have also resigned.

QUEENSLAND Rail board chairman Phillip Strachan has resigned in the wake of a scandal involving the awarding of generous executive bonuses in the midst of the ongoing “rail fail”.

Two other board members, Sandra Birkensleigh and Paul Wallis, have since followed his move and also resigned.

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Mr Strachan was only appointed to the board in February last year, after handing down a scathing report on the managerial failings that led up to the QR driver shortage debacle in 2016.

Mr Strachan’s appointment had been touted as a step forward for the Government’s efforts to fix the broken commuter train network.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Phillip Strachan pictured soon after he was appointed as QR board chairman last year. Picture: Tara Croser

Announcing his nomination for the job last year, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had said: “Phillip Strachan is uniquely placed to lead the organisation through what will be a significant transition to focus on its customers — the travelling public.”

His resignation comes after The Courier-Mail revealed Deputy Premier Jackie Trad had intervened to stop more than $3 million in executive bonuses being paid out.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday refused to give the Board her support when questioned about the bonuses.

Paul Wallis has also resigned.

… as has Sandra Birkensleigh. Pictures: Supplied

The Courier-Mail understands the QR board approved the hefty bonuses of up to 15 per cent at a meeting on Friday, which would have been granted to 384 staff.

The Government this week issued a direction to stop the payments, outraged that QR would contemplate any bonuses at a time when they have failed to restore full services.

The average bonus would have come in at 8.1 per cent or about $9300, with not one train driver or guard to have benefited.

In internal correspondence, Mr Strachan said he was proud of his “role as the chair and the work we have delivered over the past nineteen months”.

“As a team we have maintained a constant and strong focus on implementing the recommendations of the 2017 Commission of Inquiry and successfully stabilised our services,” he said.

Phillip Strachan, pictured with and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, said he was proud of what QR achieved since his appointment at the start of 2017. Picture: Tara Croser

“Most importantly, we flawlessly delivered the heavy rail component of the Commonwealth Games and have seen a number of significant improvements for our customers..” he continued.

He listed achievements including:

— securing “the ability to externally recruit traincrew”

— arrest the upward trend in drivers running red lights

— improving on-time running performance

— reducing the service cancellation rate

— cutting driver overtime by 20 per cent

— “robust” forecasting of supply and demand of traincrew

— reducing the duration of driver training by 30 per cent

— introducing 29 New Generation Rollingstock trains into service

Transport Minister Mark Bailey, in a statement released Thursday night, said Mr Strachan phoned him earlier in the day to advise of his decision to step down.

“I accepted Mr Strachan’s resignation and thanked him for the significant contributions he has made to improving the performance of rail services in Queensland,” Mr Bailey said.

“I have now received resignations from two other members of the board: Paul Wallis and Sandra Birkensleigh.

“I thank them for their service.

“The Government will now consider Mr Strachan’s successor as chair.

“We remain focused on stabilising southeast Queensland’s rail network and restoring the public’s confidence in our rail system.”

State Opposition leader Deb Frecklington has used the resignation to attack Mr Bailey’s performance.

Given @AnnastaciaMP hand picked chair to fix @QLDLabor’s rail fail has resigned. Surely the buck stops with @MarkBaileyMP and he must go as well. #mangocube #qldpol #auspol

— Deb Frecklington MP (@DebFrecklington) October 4, 2018

This month marks the second anniversary of the Rail Fail debacle of mass service cancellations that led to a Commission of Inquiry.