George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip
Labor should have been a shoo-in for this departing senior minister’s seat. Instead the LNP candidate won on her sixth try. THIS IS GEORGE STREET BEAT
One of the surprising Labor defeats at the 2024 state election was in the electorate of Redcliffe, held by retiring senior minister Yvette D’Ath.
The bayside seat was held by Labor for 32 of the past 35 years.
Comrades were even more shocked it fell to the LNP’s Kerri-Anne Dooley, who had been rejected by voters five times before.
Apparently Ms D’Ath’s late decision not to recontest the seat buggered up any opportunity of a well-planned succession.
Labor sources told us Ms D’Ath and her former chief of staff Simon Zanatta assumed rising Labor star Corinne Mulholland would put up her hand, but she was already eyeing the Senate and didn’t.
GSB heard Mr Zanatta is shaping up for a run in 2028 after Labor’s affirmative action ruined his chance last year.
Ms Mulholland’s rejection meant Kass Hall was ultimately sent on what would prove to be a political suicide mission.
“She was basically the only branch member who put their hand up,” one Labor source told GSB.
We heard the Left is attempting to build numbers in the seat to challenge Mr Zanatta for preselection.
Watch this space.
MP’S HAPPY SNAP WITH COKE DEALER
You can’t choose your family, but you can choose who you post photos with.
Queensland’s youngest politician, Ariana Doolan, might have learnt a vital lesson: Politics is tough.
Ms Doolan posted an innocent photograph to social media from a family 30th birthday she attended at Brisbane’s Calile Hotel recently.
The issue? She was alongside convicted drug dealer Eden John Turkovic, who was paroled from a Victorian prison in 2024 five years into an eight-year sentence.
He was in the clink for selling “seriously large quantities” of cocaine and steroids worth an estimated $1m.
Turkovic is Doolan’s first cousin.
Of course there is no suggestion she has engaged in wrongdoing, but Labor was quick to seize on the association.
“She should not be posing for pictures on a night out with someone she knows is a convicted cocaine dealer, which could be seen by people who look up to her,” Police and Crime Prevention spokesman Glenn Butcher said.
“Ariana has a duty to hold herself to a higher standard, as are all members of Parliament.”
Ms Doolan slapped down the saga.
“That’s a pretty long bow for Labor to draw in an attempt to distract from Steven Miles’ short grip on the leadership ahead of the Labor caucus meeting, but even as Queensland’s youngest MP I know there’s no safe way to take drugs,” she said.
GSB is reminded of Health Minister Tim Nicholls’ quip at Labor in September when he said, “We do not support anything that encourages drug dealers.”
STATEMENT FAIL
Few Queenslanders would visit the state government’s ministerial media statements web page.
It features almost every statement issued by a Queensland government since that of the LNP’s Rob Borbidge in 1996.
From August 31, 1997, there’s an entry where then premier Borbidge sends condolences to the family of Diana, Princess of Wales.
“This beautiful young woman captured the imagination of people around the globe, far beyond the English-speaking world, through the glamour and sadness of her life,” it said.
Tens of thousands of less memorable moments are captured on the statement website, but you wouldn’t have been able to access it on Wednesday morning.
The website’s security certificate expired, and someone forgot to renew it for a few hours.
NEW MOMENTUM
Beck O’Connor has found her feet after resigning as Queensland victims’ commissioner in August.
GSB can reveal Ms O’Connor, who faced criticism from government ministers for her leadership at DVConnect, has been appointed performance, integration and momentum director at Cancer Council Queensland.
Apparently it’s a repurposed version of the planning and projects senior manager position.
Cancer Council Queensland boss Matt Gardiner described Ms O’Connor as “one of our sector’s exceptional leaders and one of the most capable people I’ve met”.
It’s a return to Cancer Council for Ms O’Connor, who 14 years ago was its senior services manager.
MEDIA MELTDOWN
The embattled Queensland Police Media unit seems to be rudderless.
GSB hears the comms team recently learned that a shared calendar system (commonly provided for free through Google or Microsoft) could help them keep across important events or dates – kind of like Remembrance Day.
The team is apparently struggling with structure and can’t grasp that journalists are on their side, seeking information to tell the world what a great job police are doing.
At one point it seemed QPS was preparing to turn a new leaf by recruiting a fresh director of media and public affairs.
However in another bugger-up, they apparently told applicants there was no preferred candidate and suggested the hiring process would be reopened.
GSB has seen an email to applicants where QPS apologises for them sending an incorrect template email that did not appropriately reflect the circumstances of this selection process.
EXTENSION GRANTED
Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm’s office has formally requested an extra 15 days to hand over Right to Information documents about the spectacular Unify data bungle.
Apparently the department mixed up the documents it had already prepared and now needed to sit with RTI officers to ensure they were accurate before handing them over.
Ironic given that this office manages the agency responsible for handling complex case files.
GSB had no choice but to approve the extension, otherwise the precious documents wouldn’t materialise at all.
However, this bureaucratic oopsie-daisy has one very convenient side effect- the documents containing the who-did-what on the Unify fiasco will now drop after the final sitting week of parliament.
Perfectly timed? We think so too.
CHURCH GAMES?
The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee unveiled its new mantra last Wednesday evening: “Believe. Belong. Become.”
GSB received several messages the next morning pointing out it was the same as the “three Bs” often spread in the church.
A quick search found “Believe. Belong. Become.” – sometimes in a different order – was the title of sermons made at Westoak Woods Baptist Church, Acacia Church, Edgewood Church and Christian Provision Ministries, to name but a few.
Originally published as George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip
