Queensland election: transparency lost in Palaszczuk campaign

What a difference three years — and power — has made to the campaigning style of Annastacia Palaszczuk.

During her 2015 campaign, the then largely unknown opposition leader promised Queenslanders she would deliver open, transparent and accountable government. Palaszczuk’s days were full of lengthy, unpredictable walks through suburban shopping centres, meeting ordinary people in the full glare of the travelling press pack. Voters responded to her ­relaxed style, buying the Labor leader’s promise that she would be consultative, when LNP premier Campbell Newman was combative.

This time, after nearly three years in government, there ­appears to be a concerted effort to protect Palaszczuk from scrutiny — both from the media and from unplanned encounters with the public.

In the three days since she called a snap election for November 25, she has held one brief public engagement followed by one press conference each day. As well, she’s done FM radio interviews and live crosses to morning television shows.

On Sunday, she allowed a meagre 4½ minutes of questions from reporters about her decision to call an election.

The first full day of campaigning — Monday — saw a mere 11 minutes of questions at a press conference at the Proserpine hospital in north Queensland.

Later that day, in Townsville, Palaszczuk took a 5km walk and encountered “hundreds” of friendly locals. But in a break from tradition, journalists were not informed of her sunset stroll. The scenario was repeated yesterday morning, when the location of Palaszczuk’s morning constitutional was kept secret.

The Premier did take more questions yesterday — enduring a 17-minute interrogation in a roped-off “pen” for the media in a Townsville TAFE mechanical workshop.

Palaszczuk — whose party’s greatest strength this term has been her popularity and voters’ relief that she is not Newman — yesterday denied her campaign was being tightly controlled because anti-Adani protesters had crashed her first two days.

Later, her spokesman said: “In the 54 hours since the election was called, the Premier has conducted three media conferences and conducted several interviews with radio and television programs.

“The Premier is happy to have her record for transparency and accountability stand against that of (Opposition Leader) Tim Nicholls any day of the week.”

Unfortunately for Queenslanders, an aversion to scrutiny in the campaign reflects a worrying trend in Palaszczuk’s government. The Premier’s own staff regularly delayed — by up to 14 weeks at a time — the release of independent statistics recording the size of the state’s rapidly growing bureaucracy.

Palaszczuk will need to adjust her campaign strategy if voters are to believe her promises of openness and transparency.