Queensland flies solo with Boeing
Where was the federal wingman for Annastacia Palaszczuk and Cameron Dick when they unveiled Wellcamp Airport, near Toowoomba, as the manufacturing hub for Boeing’s Loyal Wingman project?
Despite the feds stumping-up $155m for the unmanned aircraft project, the state government flew solo with the announcement late last month.
Chooks understands a few feathers were ruffled when the announcement was made while Defence Minister Peter Dutton was on his tour of the US.
You would have thought Boeing would have looked at the feds reversal on the French subs project, and insisted someone from the Morrison government was invited.
Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price was available, as was federal Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, whose electorate of Groom includes Wellcamp, or even Gold Coast based Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews.
The Palaszczuk government denied it was their announcement and referred the Chooks to Boeing. Boeing told us to get in touch with Defence.
A Defence spokesperson talked up the magnitude of the announcement, but did not say why there was no federal presence at the press conference.
“The Loyal Wingman is the first military aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in over 50 years,” the spokesperson said.
“An aircraft production facility being built on our shores can be seen as a vote of confidence in Australian aerospace expertise and highlights Defence’s ongoing commitment to expanding sovereign defence industry, creating jobs and maximising export opportunities.”
Watching the watchdog
Judgement Day is coming for Crime and Corruption Commission boss Alan MacSporran QC.
The LNP’s Jon Krause, who chairs the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee, told a brief meeting of the oversight body on Tuesday that “key findings” will be aired next week into its hearings into the CCC and its laying of fraud charges against seven Logan councillors and its mayor.
All eight had their charges were dropped this year by prosecutors.
The PCCC findings could prove to be decisive for MacSporran, with some in the Palaszczuk government unhappy with his handling of the Logan issue and wanting a fresh break after his near-six-year stint at the watchdog.
MacSporran has led a watchdog that has taken on local government corruption, including jailing Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale after years of media revelations about his dealings.
But his recommendation to ban developers from making donations in council politics was extended by Palaszczuk to state politics. It effectively created a financial gerrymander, with the LNP blocked from taking any dosh from one of its biggest traditional groups of supporters, developers, while unions continue to give millions to Labor.
Political stunt
How far will the government go to remind us, again, of its big ticket Cross River Rail Project?
Just minutes into Question Time on Tuesday, a “rumble‘’ was felt across the benches of Parliament House triggering looks of concern among MPs.
It wasn’t an earthquake, as one of the media advisers later explained, but a subterranean blast for the $6.9bn project.
“No, it wasn’t timed to remind people that this is the state’s biggest infrastructure project, fully funded by the state alone,’’ one spinner, who couldn’t help himself, told chooks.
Cooking up a profile
In a desperate bid to boost his profile and, maybe, appeal to middle-aged MasterChef fans, Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli has released his first cooking tutorial.
While Australia’s premiers have seen stratospheric lifts in their profile during the pandemic, opposition leaders have struggled to cut through.
Crisafulli, a confident media performer, has often been forced into the shadows of the regular spats between Annastacia Palaszcuk and Scott Morrison.
Following in the footsteps of social media gurus Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, Crisafulli has tried his hand at a cooking tutorial to engage with voters.
Adorned in a Townsville Cowboys jersey, the Opposition Leader shares his “carb loading preparation” routine ahead of a parliamentary sitting week.
The 90-second video features Crisfaulli singing a Maroon5 song as he shows his Facebook followers how to cook his family’s secret spaghetti sauce.
Despite the effort, the video was trumped by a photo of Palaszczuk’s mother’s cat.
Crisafulli’s Italian cooking post pulled in 1300 likes and 218 comments, compared with the photos of Lorelle Palazczuk’s cat “Puss”, who secured 3300 likes and 342 comments.
But it is an unequal battle, with the Premier relying on her taxpayer funded army of 30 spin doctors who routinely pump out slick graphics and videos.
Straying staffers
The Palaszczuk government is facing an exodus of political staffers.
Since July, more than a dozen staff have left the offices of Queensland’s ministers including Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former principal adviser Brett Murphy, who tackled an Adani protester on live television during the 2017 election campaign.
Maddy West, an “advancer” in charge of scoping out press conference locations and making sure the Premier was not photographed in front of anything embarrassing, has fled to Western Australia to work for Mark McGowan.
At least four people inside Palaszczuk’s digital team, responsible for curating her social media persona, have quit this year.
Education Minister Grace Grace is on the hunt for new media advisers, having lost four — Brock Taylor, Jan Martin, Courtney Hoogan and Laura McKee — since last year’s election.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey has lost two spinners, Francis Dela Cruz and Toby Walker, since the start of the year and Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman’s senior media adviser Penni Pappas has also moved interstate.
Nothing new in blaming Newman
Tuesday morning’s Question Time was dominated by the row over when Queensland will open its border to NSW and Victoria.
LNP frontbenchers asked if an ill-prepared health system was the reason there was no “pathway out of the pandemic”.
Senior doctors last week warned hospitals across the state are already full despite low rates of Covid-19, and would become overwhelmed once the virus circulates more widely.
Rather than releasing detail on what thresholds needed to be met or what health modelling it was waiting to receive, Labor seemingly has two tools in the shed — Campbell Newman and Scott Morrison — whenever it tries to craft a defence of its record.
Deflecting on its failure to address chronic bed shortages during their six years in power, the Palaszczuk government said it was the federal government’s responsibility to prepare the health system and referenced “savage cuts” of the LNP Newman government almost a decade ago.
“Rather than criticising our health workers, I am proud of the work our staff are doing each and every day keeping Queenslanders safe,” Palaszczuk said.
“We are not sacking nurses like the opposition did.”
Asked about an increase in ambulance ramping from 29 per cent before the pandemic to 41 per cent now, Ms Palaszczuk read out news articles about pressures on the NSW health system.
LNP frontbencher Fiona Simpson said: “So you can’t find the Queensland data, but you can find NSW?”
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