George St Beat: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk replaces PR chief with ‘Mr Fix It’

There’s been a major shake-up in the ranks of the Premier’s most trusted advisers, with one promoted in an attempt to mend relations with the press and another former journalist shuffled sideways.

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk has promoted one of her most trusted advisers and shuffled another sideways in a significant shake up set to have broader implications for the government’s media strategy.

Chris Taylor, a veteran Labor adviser who has worked for the Premier on-and-off since 2012, was brought back into the fold in the second half of 2022 as the Premier’s principal media adviser in a bid to mend relations with the press.

The Premier’s new deputy chief of staff (head of media) Chris Taylor. Picture: Zalk Simmonds

But his responsibilities have since been expanded, with Taylor promoted to the deputy chief of staff (head of media) position in the Premier’s office as of Monday — replacing former Nine journalist Shane Doherty.

Doherty in turn will take up the role of principal media adviser, where it’s understood he’ll be writing speeches for the Premier.

The Courier-Mail 2022 Power List, which ranked him 53rd, noted Doherty had an “often combative and dismissive approach to media requests”.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with Shane Doherty. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

It’s understood Taylor was quick to call a meeting of the government’s media spinners — something that hadn’t been a regular occurrence for a long time.

The vibe within the ranks of those charged with protecting the government’s image has been optimistic in the aftermath of the staffing switcheroo.

He’s been dubbed a “Mr Fix-It” but Taylor is arguably also the Toyota Corolla of media advisers — reliable, well-regarded and known to withstand the long bumpy journeys to elections.

NEW YEAR NEW SPIN

There has been movement in other political offices to herald in 2023, including a new hire in Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s office.

Amanda Templeton, a top media adviser to former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, has taken on the role of deputy director of media and communications in Mr Crisafulli’s office.

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has also welcomed new media Adviser Amanda Tempelton. Picture: Emily Barker

Meanwhile, it’s understood Brisbane City Council Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy is on the hunt for a new media spinner.

Perhaps Cr Cassidy and his team would have had some luck digging around the Nine newsroom, but it’s likely been hollowed out after years of poaching from the Palaszczuk News Network and Mr Crisafulli’s team alike.

EMAIL FAIL

It sounds like Opposition MP Trevor Watts needs to update his email list of LNP MPs.

The Toowoomba North MP sent an email to LNP party room members last week with details of an upcoming gathering at Redcliffe.

Except the email was inadvertently sent to the offices of several MPs from the Labor government.

Stick to the snail mail next time, Trev. Picture: Kevin Farmer

As we understand it, the email landed in the electorate inboxes of MPs in Pumicestone, Nicklin, Bundaberg, Caloundra, and Hervey Bay — seats which used to be LNP territory but were picked up by Labor in the government’s 2020 election sweep.

An LNP spokesman said the Labor MPs were more than welcome to join the party as they doorknock in Health Minister Yvette D’Ath’s electorate of Redcliffe to remind voters of her record.

STATE OF STATES SELF-AWARE STACIA

The trustworthiness and reliability of CommSec’s State of States report is directly linked, in the minds of politicians, to how high their jurisdiction is ranked.

So with Queensland topping the report for the first time in the 13-year history of its publication earlier this week, the state’s pollies were singing its praises.

But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk deserves some points for showing some self-awareness in her celebration of Queensland’s ranking this time around.

“I might have been negative about it over the last ten years, but I’ll accept number one,” she said at her first press conference back from holidays.

It is notable that when this moment of the press conference made its way to the Premier’s social media channels this quip was removed.

Back in January 2022 when Queensland ranked a lowly fifth, Acting Treasurer Stirling Hinchliffe famously hit out at the “inherent shortcomings” of CommSec’s methodology before dubbing the report “misleading”.

Yikes.

Originally published as George St Beat: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk replaces PR chief with ‘Mr Fix It’