George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip

As the Broncos-Dolphins blockbuster looms Queensland’s local ministers have declared their allegiances – except one.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk didn’t even flinch as she said “the Broncos, of course” to a question about who would win the historic derby clash against the Dolphins.

But the allegiances of Deputy Premier Steven Miles are far less cut and dried. In fact, he has so far skirted answering the question outright – and there’s every chance he might not even know the answer himself.

Mr Miles lives just down the road from the Redcliffe headquarters of the Dolphins and is a paid-up member of both that club and the Broncos.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles with Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy

While he is attending the clash on Friday night, it’s unknown which team he will barrack for – with the possibility of having to dress in neutral colours rather than a pick a favourite. Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Sports Minister Stirling Hinchliffe also represent electorates in and around the Redcliffe area, the birthplace of the Dolphins.

Ms D’Ath’s allegiance to the Dolphins is always on full display, while Mr Hinchliffe put his support for the NRL’s newest team on the record during an ABC Brisbane radio interview.

We are waiting breathlessly for Mr Miles to get off the fence on this one.

LIVE STREAM DEMISE

The era of the live broadcast press conference on the Palaszczuk News Network has come to an end – but the number of social media staffers on the government’s payroll remains unchanged.

Nearly every government press conference was broadcast live on the Premier’s Facebook page during the Covid-19 era, with Ms Palaszczuk even picking up the habit of saying hello to Facebook viewers.

But as the pandemic petered, so did the PNN live content. The live streams were relegated to Twitter and YouTube, before falling off Twitter, and now being retired entirely.

A government spokesman confirmed the demise of the live stream – and that the number of social media staff across the government’s ministerial wing remained unchanged.

“As more and more people turn to social media for news and information, staff remain focused on delivering across multiple platforms relevant to all portfolios,” he said.

Whatever that means.

STATE FINALLY FULFILS IOU – 20 MONTHS ON

Remember earlier this month an almighty war broke out between Transport Minister Mark Bailey and Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner over a scuttled council push to build a tunnel for the North West Transport Corridor?

As a quick recap, Infrastructure Australia earlier this month rejected the proposed tunnel connecting Bald Hills to the Airport on a technicality, bringing to a crescendo a long-running political bunfight.

The former Morrison government gave the council $10m to look into the project, with the money needing to pass through the state government as middleman. Well, someone – that person being Mr Bailey – didn’t like the idea of the project very much, describing it as a waste of “$10m of taxpayer’s money” by the council.

Problem is, it’s hard to waste cash you never had.

The government had initially passed $2.4m on to council, but until recently were yet to hand over the remaining $7.6m – with Cr Schrinner accusing the state of “pinching” the cash.

We can now reveal the state finally handed over the money this week – 605 days after the council first asked for it.

And we note that is a fair bit slower than the 20-day time frame the government has set for itself when it pays small businesses.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner

LNP YOUTH WING VIE FOR SENATE SPOTS

Preselection for the Queensland LNP senate ticket has opened, with hopefuls given a deadline of April 28 to get their paperwork in order before the vote in July.

Senators Paul Scarr (Lib), Susan McDonald (Nat) and Gerard Rennick (Lib) will be up for re-election when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decides to pull the election lever any time between August 3, 2024, and May 17, 2025.

Some within the Coalition camp think Scarr’s spot at the top of the ticket is safe, though preselection battles are cutthroat and there have been rumblings about his lack of a public profile, despite acknowledgments of his strong work ethic and deep community ties.

But third-spotter Rennick will almost certainly face a challenge.

It’s understood LNP young blood Toowoomba councillor Rebecca Vonhoff and Nelson Savanh are tipped to make a tilt, with the name of Anglican priest Daniel Hobbs also thrown into the mix. Savanh is a former public affairs manager for e-scooter company Lime, and is speculated to have the heavyweight backing of numbers man Senator James McGrath and Nationals leader David Littleproud.

A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS

The fate of the last remaining conservative government on the Australian mainland is set to be decided by NSW voters on the weekend, with polls and pundits largely pointing to a Labor-controlled minority.

So in these state of affairs, you’ll need all the help you can get from your mates – even if they’re across the border.

LNP Member for Currumbin Laura Gerber popped over the border – on Wednesday – to the electorate of Tweed, and donned the yellow and green to hand out how-to-vote cards for Nationals MP Geoff Provest.

The Opposition confirmed Ms Gerber spent a couple of hours over lunch helping out the neighbouring MP.

Ms Gerber said residents who worked across the border “expected their elected representatives in Tweed and Currumbin to work together to overcome challenges facing our unique community”.

WHOSE GAMES ARE THESE?

The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games was meant to be an event for “South East Queensland”, but as the pitch evolved and the hosting rights won it seems this has been forgotten.

Andrew Liveris, president of the Brisbane Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, at the Legacy Forum this week tried to wrangle it back, saying the branding in 2032 would be a “new era” for the Games delimited by a city’s borders.

But even in the high-level intergovernmental agreement between the Commonwealth and the state, the XXXV Olympiad 2032 is referred to as “collectively, Brisbane 2032”.

At least Cr Schrinner will be pleased.

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