Another Star with Labor-links
More revelations detailing the all-too cosy ties between Queensland Labor and Star Entertainment, as Steven Miles makes his debut.
G’day folks, and welcome to this week’s Feeding the Chooks column, packed full of political intrigue, parliamentary passion, and insider intel.
STAR-STUDDED LABOR
The links between Queensland Labor and Star Entertainment, that model corporate citizen being flayed over allegations of money laundering and organised crime in its casinos, are disturbingly deep.
Not that the cosiness is being explored by the inquiry into Star, reluctantly called by the Palaszczuk government and which, after holding just five days of hearings, seems more like an ad break compared to the months of drama aired every night on the TV news from the NSW public hearings into the casino giant earlier this year.
This newspaper has detailed many of the links, including how controversial lobbyist (now banned in Queensland) Evan Moorhead was secretly put on the Star payroll soon after leaving Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office.
Palaszczuk has consistently claimed that Star – which operates the Brisbane and Gold Coast casinos and was given the green light by her government to build the $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf riverfront casino in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD – has never received special treatment.
The Chooks can also now reveal that Star’s in-house lobbyist in Queensland, Corinne Mulholland, is on the ALP’s federal policy body – and is seeking a second term.
What’s more, Mulholland, a one-time unsuccessful federal candidate, is the nominee for the premier’s AWU-Right faction.
Mulholland’s predecessor at Star was Alison Smith, now head of the Local Government Association of Queensland, who was a Labor media advisor and is the partner of former Labor deputy premier Paul Lucas.
Smith got the gig at Star a few months after Palaszczuk won office in 2015.
This week, Mulholland made her pitch to Labor’s rank and file across the state for support in the upcoming ballot to be one of four Queensland members elected to the three year term on the policy committee.
Her renewed candidacy has raised eyebrows among some Labor members.
PAY RISE FOR POLLIES
Annastacia Palaszczuk would have had an extra little spring in her step when she travelled to Canberra for Anthony Albanese’s summit on jobs and wages.
Happily, federal parliament wasn’t sitting and there was no need for the premier to go anywhere near the red carpet of the Senate, given recent criticism about her apparent love of attending premieres.
It so happens that on the same day that Palaszczuk and the assembled pollies, union officials, business and community leaders were talking about the need to fix sluggish wage growth, Palaszczuk received her third pay rise in a year.
To be fair, all Queensland MPs received the hikes; starting with a 2 per cent hike on September 1, 2021, 2.25 per cent on March 1, 2022, and 2.5 per cent from September 1, 2022.
It was recommended by Queensland independent Remuneration Tribunal in May 2021 after Palaszczuk reneged on a promise before the October 2020 election to freeze pollies’ pay rises for the duration of the pandemic.
The rises, which didn’t draw any objection from the opposition, means the premier’s take-home has gone from $399,955 to $427,561 and backbenchers received an extra $7801 annually on a base salary of $159,122.
Still, she isn’t the highest paid premier with Victoria’s Daniel Andrews taking the crown on $441,439.
GAME ON
One of the first jobs for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games popped up recently - and Queensland recruiters are unimpressed.
Global recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson is advertising for a Director of Finance for the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Games, with Justine Eden – director of Brisbane’s Eden Ritchie Recruitment – asking colleagues “anyone else think that the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games should be supporting local suppliers?? #Queenslandownedandoperated”.
A government spokesman points out the recruitment is a decision for the organising committee, not the government, and says Odgers has a Brisbane office, and the boss of the board, Andrew Liveris, is based in New York City.
That’s not stopped the consternation from local recruiters. Paul O’Loughlin, a Brisbane recruitment sector figure, responded to Eden on LinkedIn: “Justine, the rank stupidity is nothing short of alarming…How many fantastic and highly capable recruitment agencies are there in Queensland with the IP and networks to place a role like this! Notwithstanding, you and others are on the government agency panel!”
GOD ONLY KNOWS
Former Morrison government minister Stuart Robert has had his share of political trouble from his business holdings and relationships with Liberal donors.
This week, Four Corners raised links between Robert and a mining exploration company, Greywolf Resources, now in liquidation with a long line of investors who have lost their dough.
The program produced internal documents to allege Greywolf attempted to use Robert’s name to ramp up the company’s image. Robert, who was also an investor, has rejected the claim and has denied any wrongdoing.
A friend and former Canberra flatmate of Scott Morrison – both Pentecostal Christians - Robert had his investments in a blind trust while serving in the cabinet.
But since the election, it appears Robert is getting back into business.
An ASIC search shows that on August 24 he registered a new company – Coram Deo Capital Pty Ltd - of which he is the sole director.
A Google search tells us that Coram Deo in Latin means “before the face or sight of God”.
MILES TO GO
With Palaszczuk in Canberra, her deputy Steven Miles was left to make his Question Time debut as Premier (albeit acting).
Miles, the leader of the dominant Left faction, is a contender for the throne when Palaszczuk decides to give up the top job, so Thursday was an audition of sorts.
And it must have been a big step for Palaszczuk to relinquish control.
It was only a week ago she decided she would rather cancel cabinet than let Miles chair the weekly meeting while she was in the Whitsundays (as revealed in last week’s edition of Feeding the Chooks).
It’s worth noting that Palaszczuk never let cabinet proceed in her absence, even back in the good old days when her trusted deputy was Jackie Trad.
It was a jovial question time, lacking substance, but with lots of entertaining teasing from both sides.
Miles was grilled by the LNP opposition over his pet (white elephant?) project, the $200m Wellcamp quarantine facility, now sitting empty on the outskirts of Toowoomba.
LNP frontbencher Deb Frecklington was clearly enjoying trying to shake Miles’ confidence heckling: “Back to your notes, back to your notes”, when he lost his place during an answer.
Palaszczuk should be happy with her deputy’s performance, he stuck to her usual script of returning to the Newman government’s sacking of public servants at any opportunity.
LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION
Turns out it’s not just the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who’s been bitten by the Hollywood bug. Labor Speaker Curtis Pitt – a self-declared mega-fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – has opened parliament up to the magic of filmmaking this week.
Nautilus, a Disney+ TV series based on Jules Verne’s classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is filming in the home of Queensland democracy this week, and coupled with ongoing renovations of the building, it’s causing excitement - and chaos and consternation.
It’s Speaker Pitt’s decision, not the government’s, a number of grumpy Laborites have told Chooks, although the production itself has been part-funded by both the state and federal governments.
As one Labor MP moaned to Chooks: “Who would allow a movie to be shot in parliament during a sitting week of all weeks? There’s a lot of angry people who already don’t have any space because of the renovations.”
CASH FOR ACCESS
Palaszczuk - whose usual comebacks centre on Campbell Newman and the fact longtime LNP MP Fiona Simpson was never a minister - finally mustered a good rebuttal during Question Time this week.
Under questioning from the LNP about whether she would demand Labor hand back $90,000 in political donations from the CFMEU, Palaszczuk noted: “We still have the opposition doing cash for access”.
The controversial cash-for-access fundraising technique has been employed by both sides of politics in Queensland, invoking allegations of favouritism to businesses that are involved.
So a fair point, but a bit rich coming from Palaszczuk who last year attended a midweek cash-for-access fundraiser with her cabinet ministers and business leaders, when some taxpayers might expect their government to be working.
Palaszczuk put an end to the practice on the Labor side this year, but LNP leader David Crisafulli will not follow her lead.
Instead he has criticised the government for imposing a “corrupt financial gerrymander” through its new donation caps.
A spokesman for Crisafulli said: “The LNP corporate program strictly adheres to the laws set by the Labor government”.
GAME SET MATCH
The Chooks would like to extend a sincere apology to Labor MP Jess Pugh, but this picture was just too good to leave out of the column.
Pugh joined doubles partner and LNP MP Dan Purdie on parliament’s makeshift tennis court this week for the annual Parliamentary Friends of Tennis event.
Best on court would have to go to Lance “Lob” McCallum followed closely by Deb “Forehand” Frecklington.
TIP US
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