Michael Ravbar savages Annastacia Palaszczuk over lobbyist ties

In an extraordinary spray, Queensland union boss and Labor’s national executive member accuses Premier of failing to excise the ‘creeping cancer’ in her government.

Michael Ravbar leads CFMEU members in the Labour Day 2022 Toowoomba march in April. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Queensland union boss and Labor national executive member ­Michael Ravbar has savaged Annastacia Palaszczuk for failing to excise a “creeping cancer” of lobbyists from her government.

Mr Ravbar – head of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union in Queensland – said it was time for the Premier to act on lobbyists, particularly top firm Anacta, co-founded by Evan Moorhead, a former senior adviser to Ms Palaszczuk, state secretary of the Labor Party and former factional ally of Mr Ravbar.

“The time for empty platitudes and vague promises to do ‘something’ is over,” he said.

“Ms Palaszczuk has been warned for years that the growing influence of this cabal of highly paid mercenaries is undermining public trust in the integrity of government, but has so far failed to take any meaningful action.”

“How many more inquiries and audits and reports does the government need before it moves to address an issue which is so toxic for the entire government?

“Last week, the Crime and Corruption Commission again highlighted the growing risk of corruption related to the extraordinary access and influence of a small number of lobbyists – many with very close links to both the Labor Party and the executive arms of government.”

Queensland’s integrity watchdog will further probe ties between Ms Palaszczuk’s government and lobbyists as it warns that corruption risks had “intensified” since the 2020 state election campaign.

Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks at a post budget lunch. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The probe comes after a two-year investigation by The Australian that exposed deep connections between the two major parties and lobbyists who work behind the scenes, overseeing election campaign strategy, party preselections and disciplinary proceedings.

Its investigation found that a small group of people may be being given a “disproportionate amount of access” to decision-makers.

Peter Coaldrake, commissioned by the state government to run an inquiry into the state’s public service and who is also looking at the influence of lobbyists, is expected to report back next week.

Mr Ravbar said Queensland’s political and lobbyist landscape was a “tangled web” and “in some instances, the web is so tangled it is hard (to) separate ostensibly external lobbyists such as Anacta from the innermost workings of the government itself”.

“These lobbyists are not ­motivated by any sense of altruism or the greater public good – they exist solely to enrich themselves and their corporate clients,” he said.

“Here’s some free advice: the issue is not going to disappear, and if Ms Palaszczuk is serious about restoring public trust, she must move swiftly to excise this cancer.”

Mr Ravbar said he had raised the issue of lobbyists at the last Labor state conference but the government had “displayed a determined reluctance to do anything more than hope the problem will just go away”.

A spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk said the Premier “has already said she’s looking at tightening the rules around lobbyists”.

The spokesman said the gov­ernment was looking forward to Professor Coaldrake’s recommendations.

The Australian revealed Mr Moor­head and lobbyist Cameron Milner, who runs Next Level Strategic Services and is a former ALP state secretary, were called in by state Labor to run Ms Palaszczuk’s 2020 election campaign.