‘More inclusive’: Speaker of Queensland parliament changes acknowledgement of country
Acknowledging the acknowledgment
The new Speaker of Queensland parliament has quietly expanded the acknowledgement of country that recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders at the beginning of every sitting day.
Not only does Pat Weir, the LNP MP for the rural seat of Condamine, formally acknowledge the state’s Indigenous people and their “elders past, present and emerging,” he also tips his metaphorical hat to the “former members of this parliament who have participated in and nourished the democratic institutions of this state”.
“Finally,” Weir’s daily script says, “I acknowledge the people of this state, whether they have been born here or have chosen to make this state their home and whom we represent to make laws and conduct other business for the peace, welfare and good government of this state”.
Weir’s predecessor, Labor’s Curtis Pitt, stuck purely to the acknowledgement of country for Indigenous people, thanking “First Australians for their careful custodianship of the land over countless generations” and
The LNP Speaker tells Chooks he wanted to rewrite the acknowledgment to “be more inclusive” especially of “all those who have contributed to the development of Queensland”.
“I come from Irish heritage. If there were any doubts on my decision, when I listened to the maiden speeches of the three new Labor members – (whose families) come from England, Scotland and Pakistan – that is exactly the reason I did it, because I wanted to be inclusive of all nationalities that have helped develop this state,” Weir says.
New Labor MP for Sandgate Bisma Asif’s family came to Australia as migrants from Pakistan, arriving in 2004 when she was eight. Ipswich West MP Wendy Bourne was born in St Andrews in Scotland, while South Brisbane MP Barbara O’Shea described herself as part of the Irish diaspora during her maiden speech in November.
On Weir’s side of the aisle, the new MPs for Maryborough and Mackay were both born overseas: John Barounis is from a small Greek mountain village called Agrilos and former police officer Nigel Dalton was born in Northern Ireland.
But not everyone is happy with Weir’s amendment of the acknowledgment, and some feel it represents a watering-down of the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Chooks notes Labor MP Leeanne Enoch – who became the first Aboriginal woman elected to Queensland parliament when she won the seat of Algester in 2015 – is often heard issuing an audible “hear hear” after Weir acknowledges Indigenous people and elders.
Game on, finally
David Crisafulli faces the trickiest test of his five months in power on Tuesday when he unveils the government’s plans for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
The Queensland premier will have to pull off a gold-medal winning performance in spin if he is to accept the reported recommendation of his hand-picked review body and go ahead with a new stadium at Victoria Park, breaking a central promise of his election campaign.
Already, the deliberations and leaks (about the review and the government’s response) has caused friction, and outright fighting, within the government.
Chooks hears that Tim Mander, Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, didn’t make it to the podium of decision makers as the final details of the government plans were worked out.
Spies tells us that he was left out of a meeting this week of the Cabinet Budget Review Committee, which was going through the costs.
Crisafulli and his deputy Jarrod Bleijie have been increasingly annoyed over leaks about the review, with government chatter suggesting Mander was cut after he was spotted talking to a journalist (quite openly on the parliament balcony) during the sitting last week.
Mander and Bleijie are rumoured to have had a blow-up over it, with the Olympics minister apparently saying his position was “untenable”.
But Mander was jovial when Chooks called to ask about the rumoured spat, and would only say: “I am not commenting on anything to do with the stadium review”.
Bleijie – who has carriage for the delivery of the Olympic infrastructure – didn’t respond to calls from Chooks.
Spies have also told us that there have been tensions between Crisafulli and the review body, headed by Stephen Conry, particularly over the lack of options to cut costs.
Crisafulli apparently has never been a fan of the proposed federally-funded $2.5bn Brisbane Arena, which is slated to host the Olympic swimming with a drop-in pool, before becoming a permanent venue for concerts in the inner-city.
The review has recommended it be moved from its proposed location at Roma Street to the old GoPrint site, beside the Gabba.
Anthony Albanese this week publicly backed the benefits of the arena, saying the city would not be overlooked by global acts such as pop superstar Dua Lipa (is the PM trying to show us he’s hip with the young-uns?) if it had an indoor venue close to its city centre.
The speculation is that Crisafulli wants to use the $2.5bn to fund Victoria Park and allay the mounting construction costs in this inflationary environment.
But where will the swimming be held?
Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate has been shilling an idea to hold the Olympic swimming at the Aquatic Centre at the Broadwater, where the 2018 Commonwealth Games swim meet was held.
Weird to hold the swimming for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics in another city.
But spies tell us that Bleijie travelled to the GC this week for a meeting with Tate.
Thankfully, on Tuesday, all will be revealed. And then, only seven years to go.
All Wells and good in Lilley?
Queensland’s newly-crowned federal cabinet minister Anika Wells looks like she will have a fight on her hands going into the federal election.
The Aged Care and Sport Minister, who became the state’s first female cabinet minister in Anthony Albanese’s ministerial reshuffle this year, holds her north Brisbane seat of Lilley on a healthy margin of 10.54 per cent.
Surely that buffer should be enough to keep it out of the target range for the Liberal National Party?
Not so. Peter Dutton and the LNP have put the seat, long held (first won in 1993) and once lost (1996) by former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, in their sights, and the money is flowing.
In the past few days, six billboards (and more to come) have popped-up across the electorate promoting LNP candidate Kimberley Washington.
An “introductory” leaflet about the former journalist and small business owner was also dropped in every household this week; the first time the party has gone to that sort of trouble for any of its candidates in the seat.
LNP insiders reckon the hefty margin is inflated, given its candidate in 2022 was Vivian Lobo, who The Australian revealed during the campaign lied to the Australian Electoral Commission about living in the electorate and was last year fined $1000 after pleading guilty to providing false information.
“Peter Dutton needs this seat to win majority government and we have the right candidate and are putting in the resources to deliver it,’’ one LNP insider said.
Labor’s Petrie problems
As Chooks has reported before, Labor has yet to preselect candidates in a number of federal seats in Queensland, including that of Petrie held by the LNP on Brisbane’s outskirts.
It’s not like they can turn to their 2022 candidate, Michael ‘Mick’ Denton, who secured a near four per cent swing towards Labor in the seat and made it a marginal (4.44 per cent) for the incumbent, LNP MP Luke Howarth, to defend.
Denton is unavailable because he was arrested in February last year and charged with stalking a political staffer of then state Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath.
The ex-Labor candidate, a former Australian Workers Union delegate, had previously been in a relationship with D’Ath, who held the seat of Petrie between 2007 and 2013, when she lost to Howarth.
D’Ath announced her intention to retire a few weeks after Denton made his first appearance in court on a single count of stalking to harass, intimidate or abuse between May, 2022 and February last year.
Officials have told Chooks that Denton is back in court early next month for a directions hearing.
Labor is still missing candidates for four of Queensland’s 30 seats – Petrie, Bowman, Wide Bay and Maranoa – while the LNP has not found contenders for the electorates of Griffith, Oxley or Rankin.
The ALP is in a much better position than it was a month ago, when it was still searching for 13 Queensland candidates.
Shooting for Brisbane
Australia’s Annie Oakley of politics, Bridget McKenzie, is once again packing … and wanting your money.
If you recall, the Nationals’ Senate leader is a gun nut and prone to shooting herself in the foot.
Back in 2020, the then Morrison government cabinet minister became embroiled in the “sports rorts” scandal over her handling of the Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program.
A subsequent review found the program was a pork barrel with the rollout of money heavily favouring marginal government seats.
But it also found the Victorian Senator breached ministerial standards for failing to disclose her membership of a gun club that received funding, leading to her resignation from cabinet.
Against that background, one of Chooks’ spies shot us a rather unusual invitation for an “upcoming fundraising event” they received this week from McKenzie.
“The senator will host an exclusive shooting event in Brisbane on Wed, April 2nd from 10.00am-2.00pm. Further information is available upon request,” the invitation from Beth Gazard, the party’s corporate relations manager, reads.
Chooks called the Nats for details on the event, but has yet to hear back.
Rennick remains rogue
Do you ever get the sense the bigwigs in the LNP feel just a tiny bit relieved they no longer have Gerard Rennick in their ranks?
The Queensland Senator quit the party in a fit of pique after he lost his spot on the Senate ticket to then party treasurer Stuart Fraser, following a vote of the LNP’s state council in July 2023.
Rennick failed in numerous attempts to have the vote re-run, and is now fronting the eponymous Gerard Rennick People First party at the upcoming election, where he’s (ironically) likely to be up for the sixth Senate spot against his old foe Fraser, One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, Labor’s Corrine Mulholland, and a handful of others.
Since his departure from the LNP, Rennick hasn’t been subtle about his displeasure about his old allies.
In a particularly florid tweet on Elon Musk’s X this week, the senator – who was elected in 2019 and quit the LNP in August last year – described the party as not truly conservative, but rather “controlled by a small cabal of faceless bedwetters” which he claimed exerted authority over the party and Peter Dutton.
Unsurprisingly, the LNP declined to comment on Rennick’s spray.
Feed the Chooks
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G’day readers and welcome to this week’s edition of Feeding the Chooks, your essential guide to what’s really going on in Queensland politics.