I’ll help Annastacia Palaszczuk improve integrity and accountability

Former Palaszczuk government staffer Neil Doorley. Picture: AAP

For the sake of me and my family, I hope the Palaszczuk government doesn’t shoot the messenger.

If Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk really does care about integrity within 1 William Street, perhaps she’ll see this as constructive criticism – a desperate plea to ensure other ministerial staffers aren’t potentially lured into a dark culture that still lingers like a black cloud over my wellbeing.

As I write this, I’m overcome with anxiety – sweating every word. I am dreading taxpayer-funded Crown Law experts will be unleashed on me over a legal settlement the government brokered with me in 2020.

A major reason I launched the initial unfair dismissal action was because I wanted to uncover the reasons why my $150,000-a-year contract as a senior media adviser – which I started in 2015 – was abruptly terminated in November 2018.

Despite receiving two glowing references from ministers, the exact reasons for my departure were never made clear during my legal battle, but I suspect part of the problem was my penchant for calling out what I believed to be unethical, immoral and at times potentially illegal behaviour.

And now, it’s time to speak out again – this time publicly, for the first time, even though I fear inflicting even more pain on my family, who suffered terribly during my 13-month court case.

I’m buoyed that, amid the integrity concerns swirling around her government, the Premier implored public servants with complaints about her government to come forward, and while I may no longer work there, I keep in contact with several others who do – confirming my fears that the dark arts practised behind closed doors continue in ministerial offices.

Let me shine a light on some examples, like the time I believed it was inappropriate for a minister – not for the first time – to turn up to a parliamentary sitting, clearly tired and emotional after a long night out with colleagues.

I told my manager that I thought Queenslanders – and the political process – deserved better.

I was abused for simply asking staff – loyal servants of the party parachuted into offices for helping on election campaigns for example – to do their taxpayer funded jobs, and I put noses out of joint by openly questioning why highly paid ministerial staff weren’t actually working in their designated offices – instead deployed to a secretive “pool”.

I openly challenged the use of ministerial resources – and time – to conduct work I believed to be outside the scope of official duties and refused to be untruthful to inquiring journalists.

And I certainly didn’t agree with a senior manager clearly drunk on Kool-Aid who, when pushed on why I believed it was important to be honest and upfront with the media – and ultimately the public — mindlessly retorted: “It’s only a mistake when you get caught.” Gob-smacking.

Sometimes I put my concerns in writing, like when I wanted to speak to one of my superiors about “issues in my ministerial office”. I never got to elaborate because I was sent an email telling me such emails weren’t “helpful”. If they’d asked, I would have explained my concerns about junior staff being reduced to tears with little or no support.

I’m still weighed down by the guilt of failing to make a formal complaint as per the Queensland Ministerial Handbook, which clearly states: “The public expects and demands the highest standards of ethical behaviour and propriety from ministers and ministerial staff.” I just had no confidence it would go anywhere.

To this day, I still check in with one of those tormented staffers, who, like several others when I was there, chose to leave quietly rather than commit “career suicide” by complaining – just to make sure they’re doing okay.

Despite everything that’s happened to me in the past few years, the verbal abuse – being called a “dog” and a “c..t” by brainwashed party zealots who continue to undermine my efforts to get on with life by running my own media consulting business – I’m more than happy to help the Premier “do better” when it comes to her government’s track record with integrity and accountability.

I’ve no doubt my offer will be quickly dismissed – unlike the growing push for her to make this government responsible for its actions and the consequences of those actions.

Neil Doorley is a media consultant, journalist and former ministerial staffer in the Palaszczuk government.