George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip

He was famously the “only” public service boss to be sacked by the LNP state government. Now Mike Kaiser is eyeing a new role. THIS IS GEORGE ST BEAT

Mike Kaiser may be heading interstate again.

The former boss of the bureaucracy, Mike Kaiser, might be about to again fly the Queensland coop.

Mr Kaiser is reportedly the frontrunner to lead returned West Australian Premier Roger Cook’s department.

The former Labor MP turned bureaucrat followed Steven Miles up the elevator at 1 William Street in December 2023 to become Department of Premier and Cabinet Director-General.

He was booted 10 months later with the election of the LNP government.

Now Mr Kaiser is reportedly in the running to head Labor Premier Cook’s department.

It would be the second interstate political posting for Mr Kaiser, as he left Queensland in 2007 to become NSW premier Moris Iemma’s chief of staff.

It was temporary, however, with Mr Kaiser transferring two years later to do the same role with Anna Bligh.

At the time he said the calling of his home state was too strong to resist’.

With at least three-and-a-half more years of LNP government in Queensland, the Labor stalwart and music-loving Mr Kaiser might need to again look elsewhere.

DEAL OR NO DEAL?

Minister for airport lounges Ros Bates has her feet firmly back in Queensland – except for a little trip this week plane spotting at the Avalon Airshow.

Taxpayers now get to see how the state’s economy benefited from the Trade Minister’s eight-day trip to Singapore and India in February.

Her arrival at India’s BioAsia 2025 event was accompanied with a media release declaring the mission would “generate millions of dollars’ worth of trade and investment for the state”.

But a report into Ms Bates’s attendance at the event makes no mention of a deal – only that she provided opening remarks and was “projecting the work of Queensland-based organisations and their potential for collaboration”.

Of course the private businesses on the mission might have inked a deal, but if so it would be odd for that not to rate a mention in Ms Bates’s media release.

That release also said the mission was about “repairing trade relationships” following a decade of Labor mismanagement.

However, the only discussions about Queensland’s “relationship” were with Australian Government officials.

The closest Ms Bates appeared to come to a tough conversation was a “status check” with Tata Steel, a large purchaser of Queensland coal.

Almost every meeting summary in the 38-page travel diary begins with “the minister was briefed …“, “the minister learnt about …” or “the minister discussed…”.

Hang on though. Don’t believe it was a meaningless junket just yet!

In Singapore, “the minister was briefed on the Australian-themed floral display”.

In India, “the minister participated in a cooking demonstration with a celebrity chef to prepare a selection of dishes that blend Queensland produce with Indian culinary traditions”.

Thank God the decade of Labor is over.

POMS REJOICE

Patriotic Premier David Crisafulli says he’s on team Maroon, but is he on team Australia?

In delivering a new stadium at Victoria Park, our devout cricketing premier has inadvertently signed the death knell of the Gabba – Australian cricket’s fortress for 40 years.

The demolition of the “Gabbatoir” was celebrated in the cocky English press this week.

The UK’s Skysports pointed out: “England’s record at The Gabba is dire with the tourists winless at the Queensland venue since 1986 and losing seven of their last nine games there, including by nine wickets in 2021.”

England’s Joe Root must be cheering. Picture: Getty Images

Thankfully Brisbane’s spicy wicket will survive long enough for the Aussies to smash the Poms on December 4-8 this year and then again in the 2029-30 summer.

We’ll then have the chance of slaying the world in 2032 and winning a cricket gold medal that would hand the old girl the perfect swan song.

Bureaucrats and builders will soon work out the intricate transport, security and logistics details of Victoria Park’s new Brisbane Stadium – but the big question is will it go the way of most other cricket grounds and feature a drop-in pitch?

Only the Gabba and SCG deliver a natural wicket but the move to a multipurpose, world-class sports and entertainment stadium might force Victoria Park to be different.

MANUFACTURED BOARD

In a move that can only be described as peak irony, Employment and Training Minister Ros Bates has decided that the Manufacturing Skills Queensland board no longer requires representation from the people who manufacture things.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union members have been shown the door from the board that exists to address their skills and training needs.

According to the AMWU, who helped create the board made up of government, industry and union, this new “restructure” replaces tripartisan collaboration with a one-sided echo chamber — where industry talks to itself while workers are stuck yelling into the void.

Apparently giving workers a say in how they’re trained was just too radical an idea.

The union’s reaction? Utter outrage and a stern Schwarzenegger warning to the state government that “we’ll be back”.

Way to solve the skills shortage.

BETRAYED, BURIED, BACK

Speaking of bureaucratic musical chairs, former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s chief of staff has been tapped as director general of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

It’s a bounce back for Sarah Cruikshank, who was put in the unenviable position of testifying against her former boss by giving evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption about Ms Berejiklian’s relationship with Daryl Maguire in 2013.

Ms Cruikshank was reportedly ‘thrown under a bus’ to ICAC by her former boss who she knew since their early 20s at university, as they both had different recollections of a phone conversation about Ms Berejiklian’s relationship.

Sarah Cruikshank.

Despite ICAC considered Ms Cruikshank to be the more reliable witness, her career until now seemed to have been impacted as the once former G20 assistant-secretary under then Prime Minister Tony Abbott was shifted from the premier’s department into the NSW Department of Customer Service.

Since last November, Ms Cruikshank has been on a travel break, giving herself time to “deep-dive” into her hobbies and cultural interests.

Now, she’s in Queensland heading up Attorney-General Deb Frecklington’s department.

GOOD COP, BRAWLER COP

Abbott and Costello, Gillard and Rudd, Hayden and Langer – relationships take many forms.

GSB is eager to commission a study on the odd one between Premier David Crisafulli and his Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie.

Jarrod Bleijie and David Crisafulli. Picture: John Gass

The regional sugar cane farmer and pocket square monarchist, the two couldn’t cut more different figures.

Apparently despite Mr Crisafulli playing the statesman role and Mr Bleijie the ideological brawler, the pair are near inseparable at work.

The Premier offered an insight into it at The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane Olympics lunch. “We have a relationship, good cop, bad cop,” he said.

Originally published as George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip