Queensland Public Service chiefs on the money
Annastacia Palaszczuk and her cabinet, who are being rewarded with three pay rises this year, are not the only ones being well remunerated by taxpayers.
It’s that time of year when public service departments dump their annual reports in the parliament all at once.
Chooks scratched through dozens of annual reports to see who got what.
Palaszczuk’s recently resigned director-general, Dave Stewart, who served in the role for 11 months, took home $622,000 — a little more than his former boss’s income of $427,500.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young pocketed $595,000 for managing the state’s pandemic response, up 2.2 per cent from the previous year.
Graeme Newton, the man in charge of Brisbane’s planned underground railway the Cross River Rail, got a $653,000 package while Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll’s was paid $558,000.
But the real big bucks were earned by the CEOs of government-owned corporations and statutory bodies.
Top earner was Queensland Treasury Corporation boss Philip Noble at $1,245,859 followed by Energy Queensland chief Rod Duke ($973,000) and Queensland Rail CEO Nick Easy ($825,000).
Then there were the Labor mates and ex-pollies who sit on government boards.
Former union boss and president of Queensland Labor, John Battams, pocketed $103,094 as part of his work as a director of the QIC.
Jim Soorley, former Brisbane lord mayor, took home $124,000 for his time on the board of Unitywater and a further $96,000 as chair of CS Energy — which also posted its first ever net loss of $266m.
Australia‘s former deputy prime minister and treasurer Wayne Swan, who is Labor’s national president, was paid $34,000 in his capacity as director at the state-owned electricity generator Stanwell, which returned a profit of $375m.
Former state treasurer and long-serving Labor MP David Hamil made $113,500 on the Seqwater water board.
LNP struggles with donations
Queensland Labor’s decision to host a cash-for access fundraiser for business to mingle with the Premier, state ministers and federal MPs on a work day last week has paid off.
Lobbyists, business and industry associations forked-out more than $500,000 since last year’s state election to join Labor’s “Queensland Business Partnership Network” program, which culminated in a cocktail party and the all-day meet-and-greet on October 6.
On the other side of the ledger, the Liberal National Party is struggling to raise moolah from supporters in Queensland.
Insiders told Chooks that federal Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, who holds the Queensland seat of McPherson, held a fundraiser recently that apparently managed to attract only four paying attendees.
A perusal of the Electoral Commission of Queensland website — where donors have to declare their financial support within seven days of handing their hardpearned over to party hacks — shows Labor outstripping the LNP in the state.
Since August 1, just after the LNP state conference had its much-vaunted “changing of the guard”, the party has raised just $159,884 compared to Labor’s $316,380.
Among the more recent donors to the ALP is former deputy premier Jackie Trad, who forked out $1320 for a fundraiser for the campaigns in the federal seats of Brisbane and Dickson.
Bush and her prickly tweet
Labor’s Jonty Bush got down in the weeds about the Extinction Rebellion protestors who this week managed to slip past security to demonstrate on the roof of the Parliamentary Annexe Building.
The tyro MP from the leafy Brisbane electorate of Cooper — the battleground seat held by former Palaszczuk Minister Kate Jones (who retired) and former premier Campbell Newman (who got beat) — went all fashionista on the group.
“If one drives past Extinction Rebellion protesting about climate change, and observes they’re dressed in #fastfashion what exactly should one do? Asking for a friend?”
If one drives past Extinction Rebellion protesting about climate change, and observes they’re dressed in #fastfashion what exactly should one do?
— Jonty Bush - Member for Cooper (@JontyBush) October 12, 2021
Asking for a friend?#thinkglobalactlocal#bethechange
Not sure how the backbencher was able to determine the protestors were adorned in garb made in the sweatshops of Bangladesh — as “one” drove by — or were wearing something they picked-off the shelves at the local secondhand shop.
But you can rely on the Twitter crowd to keep it real for Bush, making the above point in a pile-on over her piousness.
A fav was a snapshot of the vote at the October 31 election showing Bush only got elected on the back of Greens preferences.
Moving forward
No word yet on Matt Burnett, Labor candidate for the must-win federal seat of Flynn, and how he intends to get around the vast electorate after his recent run-in with the law.
The Gladstone mayor was recently pulled-over by police on his way home from an event and blew 0.050. He told reporters “it was entirely my fault” in a statement of the obvious, saying despite drinking three beers in three hours, he thought he was good to go.
Chooks have been unable to get Burnett on the phone about what was dished-out to him in court over the drink driving charge.
But while Burnett didn’t respond to calls, a staffer of Labor senator Murray Watt phoned Chooks to ask what the inquiry was about.
The use of a federal parliamentarian’s taxpayer-funded staffer to deal with a media inquiry about a Labor candidate is questionable, at best.
When quizzed about this, the staffer couldn’t get off the line quick enough.
Meanwhile, Burnett’s fellow travellers have been flying into the electorate in recent weeks to help him out.
After 8 years of the LNP, the electorate of Flynn has 2nd worst access to GPs anywhere in Qld & seniors need to leave their communities to find aged care. Good to have @Mark_Butler_MP in town to back someone with a record of standing up for his community - Mayor Matt Burnett. pic.twitter.com/HuLriPIr5Q
— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) October 14, 2021
Annastacia Palaszczuk shared the limelight with him on Sunday at the announcement of Andrew Forrest’s $1bn plan to build a hydrogen equipment plant in the city.
And there has been a steady stream of federal Labor frontbenchers from Brisbane and the states not locked out from Queensland.
The latest was federal health spokesman Mark Butler, from South Australia, who has been in and out of Queensland for weeks.
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