George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip

Jarrod Bleijie’s move to one-up Steven Miles has put his wine-drinking colleagues off-side. THIS IS GEORGE STREET BEAT

Steven Miles and THAT wine

In aiming to one-up Steven Miles, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has put a few of his wine-drinking ministerial colleagues off-side.

Mr Bleijie’s decision to table photographs of Mr Miles drinking red wine in the Qantas Lounge last month continues to create ripples.

Ministers are apparently consciously avoiding touching a drop of alcohol in public since the photo was circulated.

However GSB heard one traversing a Qantas Club in regional Queensland scoured the room for Labor sympathisers before taking a swig of white wine.

Several Liberal National MPs contacted by GSB said they were frustrated with Mr Bleijie’s photo.

“I wouldn’t have done it,” one said.

Another warned it had set a difficult precedent for MPs, with no understanding of when it was acceptable to drink.

“You have to be careful. It’s a bad look if we’re caught,” they said.

The effect has hit Labor too.

Mr Miles’s glass at Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Queensland Media Club speech on Tuesday was notably untouched.

Steve Minnikin was on the attack last week.

BLEIJIE-INSPIRED BEDLAM?

Last week’s Question Time wasn’t just politics — it was WWE with a dress code.

Liberal National MPs went absolutely feral, slinging insults so low they’d need a mining permit.

Open Data Minister Steve Minnikin was on a mission, relentlessly going after Labor MP Joan Pease like a terrier with a bone. Meanwhile, Opposition health spokesman Mark Bailey got a new nickname — “lanky lurker” — which even Health Minister Tim Nicholls acknowledged deserved a swift apology.

Labor MPs are whispering that all this verbal carnage wasn’t just spontaneous aggression but a grand performance to impress none other than Deputy Premier and certified chaos merchant, Jarrod Bleijie.

Because really, if you’re trying to climb the ranks of parliamentary pot-stirrers, who better to impress than J.B. himself? But let’s be honest — no matter how wild things get, no one can outdo the king of theatrics.

SPELLCHECK WOES

Hoping to expose some juicy cronyism in Infrastructure Minister Bleijie’s 100-day Olympics review panel, Labor eagerly lodged (and paid for) a Right to Information request — only to trip over their own typo.

They managed to correctly name six out of seven panel members, but a rogue “l” betrayed them when they misspelled Property Council executive director Jess Caire’s last name as “Claire.” Oops. No revelations for them.

Ms Caire is no stranger to the surviving Labor MPs. Opposition Leader Steven Miles, deputy leader Cameron Dick, and shadow treasurer Shannon Fentiman were recently spotted grinning alongside her at an event, but apparently none of them double-checked the spelling. Tough break.

It’s like studying for a big test, getting the answers mostly right, and failing because you bubbled in the wrong name at the top.

TOURISM THRONE TAKEN

It seems Tourism and Events Queensland may have finally landed on a replacement for popular former CEO Patricia O’Callaghan for the high-profile post. It is almost six months since Ms O’Callaghan’s shock departure to take up a role as director-general of the state government’s Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, with an extensive recruitment process taking place to unearth her successor.

Ollie Philpot, TEQ’s group executive for commercial and partnerships, has been serving in an acting capacity, but it is understood he did not seek the role permanently.

However, the tourism industry rumour mill is now rife that the position has been filled, though the appointment has not yet been rubber stamped by the state government or the various William Street departments which need to sign off on the process.

That is expected to be ratified before the upcoming Australian Tourism Exchange, which takes place in Brisbane in late April.

The rumoured appointment is likely to raise plenty of eyebrows both in and outside the tourism industry, but there is no doubting the applicant’s experience over a long career in the sector.

Kevin Rudd with Annastacia Palaszczuk

PALASZCZUK DUDS RUDD

It was to be a nostalgic blast from the past at the Smart Energy Council conference in Sydney next month when Annastacia Palaszczuk chaired a panel featuring US ambassador Kevin Rudd and former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr.

The jetsetting Ms Palaszczuk was invited to make her second appearance at the council’s annual meeting as its international ambassador.

She was pencilled in to interview Mr Rudd and Mr Carr about the Asia-Pacific’s energy transition, with an asterisk.

The fine print noted Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Carr were “invited speakers”.

As GSB logged on to book our tickets we found any mention of the pair in the program had been scrubbed.

Now, Mr Rudd will be interviewed by Smart Energy Council Senior International Fellow Thom Woodroofe.

We might leave it.

BOUNCING BACK AFTER GLADYS

A high-ranking Liberal staffer who worked for former New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has popped up in a top level bureaucratic role in Queensland.

Sarah Cruikshank, who has been on a travel break since November to give herself time to “deep dive” into her hobbies, has been appointed the head of Queensland’s Department of Justice.

It’s a solid career bounce-back for Ms Cruikshank, who was put in the unenviable position of having to testify against her boss.

She gave evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption about Ms Berejiklian’s relationship with MP Daryl Maguire in 2013 during the notorious corruption scandal.

She 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.

Despite ICAC considering Ms Cruikshank to be the more reliable witness, her career seems to have been put on ice – until now.

‘SOMETHING NICE FOR THE MISSUS’

It is an unusual occasion comparing Greens with the Katters, but looking at MPs’ entitlements had us curious about Greens MP Michael Berkman’s and KAP leader Robbie Katter’s salaries, because recognised party leaders are paid a $70,000 bonus on top of their base rate.

A thought we could not resist putting forward to Mr Berkman: For the sake of a total $9720 fortnightly salary, does he lead himself in the parliament?

Well, no, he says it has never been an issue because the Greens are not classed as a recognised political party, because of legislation which says you need three MPs and 10 per cent of the statewide vote, or if the party makes up 10 per cent of the parliament.

Mr Katter learnt a costly lesson when an amendment to tighten the recognised parties was brought forward during a pre-Christmas parliamentary session in the Newman government 10 years ago.

The less experienced MP at the time went to the movies assuming the session would focus only on bland end-of-year formalities during a “pretty hostile parliament” and he is still “pretty pissed off” that it was snuck through without his debate.

The tightening of the definition meant minor parties were “stripped of any resources overnight”, although some staffing resources have crept back since.

Was it a good movie at least? He thinks it might have been James Bond.

Committee chairs also received bonuses, and it is claimed a former Labor minister tried to tempt Mr Katter into heading a committee investigating supermarket giants, by eloquently suggesting an extra 60 grand could “buy something nice for the missus.”

Whether or not he would have treated Daisy Katter or not, Mr Katter said the money was “pretty tempting” but that the former government did not agree to his demand to have the casting decision on policy.

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