Annastacia Palaszczuk tells reporter to ‘be kind’
Annastacia Palaszczuk has used Strive to be Kind Day as a shield to avoid scrutiny during her first press conference since the cost of the obsolete Wellcamp facility was revealed.
Labor used Wellcamp as a political tool to wedge the former Morrison government over its hotel quarantine failures last year.
A quarantine facility was a good idea in January last year when it was first floated, but by the time the Palaszczuk government decided to go ahead with Wellcamp, eight months later, the commonwealth had already proposed a facility close to the Brisbane Airport.
Almost $200m was spent on building and renting Wellcamp, which is owned by one of the state’s richest families. Most of the contracts for Wellcamp were awarded without an open tender process and had Labor lobbyist fingerprints all over them.
So it was natural for journalists to ask questions about Wellcamp and the hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money that was poured into it.
Palaszczuk rolled out her usual mantra of “keeping Queenslanders safe” when the questions began. Channel 9 reporter Josh Bavas was quick to point out that “Wellcamp didn’t keep Queenslanders safe at all”, given it was opened when quarantine was already scrapped for vaccinated travellers.
“You could have done other measures at the time to keep Queenslanders safe and keep the borders functioning like every other state,” he said.
Palaszczuk’s reply?
“Today is be kind day, strive to be kind. No, I am serious, I am answering your questions”.
Strive To Be Kind Day is held each year in memory of Allison Baden-Clay, who was murdered by her husband. Mark “Mangocube” Bailey, who famously deleted an email account to avoid Right to Information requests, was quick to jump on Twitter to defend the Premier.
The most appalling behaviour by @JoshBavas at today’s media conference yelling, interrupting, trying to dominate time over all other journalists present 🙄
— Mark Bailey MP (@MarkBaileyMP) July 29, 2022
“The most appalling behaviour by Josh Bavas at today’s media conference yelling, interrupting, trying to dominate time over all other journalists present,” he wrote.
Cue eye roll.
Bookie bucks tax, ditches Broncos
Online bookie Ladbrokes has hit Broncos super fan (and Queensland Treasurer) Cameron Dick where it hurts, ditching sponsorship of the team in protest against Dick hiking the betting tax.
Ladbrokes and other corporate bookies were blindsided on June 6 when Dick, flanked by gambling giant Tabcorp’s boss Adam Rytenskild, announced the point of consumption tax would be raised from 15 to 20 per cent and now include bonus bets.
The government and Racing Queensland negotiated with Tabcorp before the move, which has got the other bookies spitting mad.
Ladbrokes now says it can’t afford the $7.5m sponsorship deal for the back of the Broncos’ jersey, and Dick is standing firm on the tax, refusing to budge on what he locked into his third budget.
Watch this space.
Cosy quarters
Queensland MPs are getting used to a new way of working at parliament with pollies from across the aisle now sharing a common wall between their offices.
Voices have to be kept to a hush to avoid accidentally divulging party secrets to the political enemy while the ageing parliamentary annex undergoes a two-year $41m makeover.
Opposition MPs and their staff have set up camp in one communal office nestled between a busy elevator and a laundry.
A few government backbenchers have taken up quarters next door. Let’s hope the walls are thick.
Opposition MPs have pitched in to make the space their own, buying office staples: Nescafe blend 43, Lipton tea bags, honey and a coat rack.
The opposition might be a close group but after the first week of estimates, some might wish it was a reality TV show where they get to evict someone each week.
Thankfully the first aid room is right next door.
Star on the rise
Jarrod Bleijie may have lost his coveted title as Queensland Parliament’s most dazzling performer.
Bleijie, who has appeared in this column numerous times for his karaoke performances and Elvis impersonations, has been upstaged by up-and-coming country music sensation Robbie Katter.
Katter, who represents northwest Queensland in state parliament, took to the stage at the Hughenden Music Festival at the weekend.
While Katter lacked Bleijie’s bedazzled outfits and hip-swivelling moves, he made up for it with a signature akubra and impressive skills on the guitar.
Chooks rated his foot-stomping rendition of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues, but would like to see some dance moves if he is serious about dethroning Bleijie.
Power Rangers
The Greens’ six new federal MPs and Senators, including the three Brisbane-based MPs Max Chandler-Mather, Elizabeth Watson-Brown and Stephen Bates, are starring in a delightfully dorky party meme based on the criminally underrated 1990s television show, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Under the heading ‘What our new Greens MPs will be fighting for’ each of the fledgling MPs and Senators has a different cause, ranging from LGBTIQA+ rights (Bates, who gave a truly standout maiden speech about being proudly and publicly gay), renter rights and affordable housing (Chandler-Mather) and better public transport (Watson-Brown).
But while Twitter users debated whether the meme was ‘good cringe’ or ‘bad cringe,’ Brisbane City Greens councillor Jonathan Sri chipped in and said: “I think, on balance, it would be ‘good cringe’ except it’s also unintentionally reminding us that even the Power Rangers in the 1990s were more culturally/ethnically diverse than the Australian Greens are in 2022”.
When the Chooks reached Sri, he acknowledged the Greens’ existing federal parliamentary team included DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara Senator Lidia Thorpe, Yamatji-Noongar Senator Doreen Cox, and Mehreen Faruqi, the first Muslim woman to sit in an Australian parliament.
But there‘s still room for improvement.
“I think there will be growing pressure within the Queensland Greens to preselect People of Colour and First Nations candidates for the most winnable seats in the coming council and state elections,” Sri told the Chooks.
Tables turn
Opposition leader David Crisafulli has been full of advice for the Palaszczuk government after the damning Coaldrake report into public service malaise and the malignant influence of campaigner-lobbyists.
Crisafulli has been particularly critical of the government’s involvement with lobbyists (particularly Evan Moorhead’s Anacta) who ran Labor campaigns. Palaszczuk’s now banned Moorhead, his partner Dave Nelson, and rival Labor lobbyist Cameron Milner from lobbying her government.
The Chooks revealed this week that the LNP has a longstanding relationship with campaigner-lobbyists Crosby Textor, and lobbyist Rob Borbidge sat at the campaign committee table at the recent federal election.
Now Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman wants Crisafulli to put his money where his mouth is. In a pointedly worded letter, which has fallen into The Chooks’ hands (claws?), Fentiman has challenged Crisafulli to restate his commitment to the Coaldrake reforms, endorse the Crime and Corruption Commission chair’s appointment for five years, abandon cash-for-access fundraisers, and crucially, name lobbyists who worked on the LNP 2020 election campaign in a substantive role.
Fentiman says she wants Crisafulli to name and shame so the lobbyists “can be prohibited from engagement with the Queensland government for the remainder of this term of office”. No response from the opposition camp as yet.
Lucky company
A Scouts meeting took a dark turn at Queensland parliament on Thursday night.
About 70 people were gathered for the group’s annual general meeting, hosted by Scouts president and former federal MP Jane Prentice, when a man collapsed.
Lucky for him, two high profile doctors were in attendance and could administer emergency treatment before an ambulance arrived.
Fresh from a long estimates hearing Dr Christian Rowan – an addiction medicine specialist – and Professor John Pearn, former Surgeon General to the Australian Defence Force, jumped into action.
Chooks understands the man is in hospital and doing well.
‘Divisive’: Crisafulli’s new director-general oversaw Labor’s ‘Wastecamp’
David Crisafulli has recruited the bureaucrat who oversaw the highly politicised Wellcamp Covid quarantine facility to head his department, as Labor’s Right faction accepts a proxy vote from a suspended MP.
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