Premier enlists ‘Labor star’ in border defence

One of Labor’s ‘most gifted strategists’ has been employed by the Queensland government to consult over its coronavirus response.

Mike Kaiser, left, with former Queensland premier Peter Beattie in 2000. Picture: Grainger Laffan

Mike Kaiser, once dubbed one of the “most gifted’’ political strategists Labor has produced, has been employed as a consultant to Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government, tasked with advising on its COVID-19 response as the Queensland Premier launches a parochial defence of her border closures.

Mr Kaiser, a former Queensland ALP secretary and chief of staff to two Labor premiers, has been conducting stakeholder ­research on the state’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

A central plank of the government’s response — the border closures with other states, potentially­ until September — has thrust Ms Palaszczuk into the national headlines, as she has been accused of politicking by Morrison government ministers.

And in a winter that will be devoid of State of Origin contests, last week she engaged in a political brawl with her NSW counterpart, Gladys Berejiklian, declaring: “We’re not going to be lectured to by a state that has the highest numbers in Australia.”

Mr Kaiser, a partner with big consultancy firm KPMG, specialise­s in helping governments and companies gain public trust. Trust will be a key factor in deciding whether Ms Palaszczuk wins the October 31 state election.

While the government has said only that KPMG has been brought in as an “approved panel provider’’ of professional services, word has leaked out the project Mr Kaiser is involved in is stakeholder research on COVID-19.

Ms Palaszczuk is the first Australian political leader whose handling of the pandemic will face the electoral test. The polls suggest she has not enjoyed as big a political bounce from the crisis as some premiers in other states. Despite this, her support is holding up in the electorate, although it is shaky in the north, where Labor needs to hold on to a swag of marginal seats and the tourism industry is all but on its knees.

The Palaszczuk government has repeatedly hired Mr Kaiser and his team to assess its political campaign strategy, from delivering state budgets to keeping election promises. KPMG received nearly $100,000 in taxpayer funds late last year to, in effect, tell the government that it was doing what it promised it would do at the last election.

Documents released under Right to Information laws show the firm was engaged to “undertake a review of Our Future State — Advancing Queensland’s Prioritie­s”. It was the second time the firm had been brought in to contribute to what was essentially a report card on the government’s performance.

Why KPMG? According to a director-general’s briefing note: “This significant prior knowledge and expertise positions KPMG above other suppliers and makes them best placed to deliver a high-quality product within short timeframes required to inform the next steps for implementation of AQP”.

Mr Kaiser earned his reput­ation as a strategist when the private­ polling he compiled as campaign ­director for Queensland Labor’s 1998 campaign was among the first surveys to pick up the huge wave of support building for Pauline Hanson and her then fledgling One Nation Party.

That support ended up spelling the demise of the hapless Borbidge­ government, the rise of Labor premier Peter Beattie and the spectacle of 11 One Nation MPs in parliament.

The low point of his political career was in 2001, when he quit as the member for Woodridge after admitting to an inquiry into electoral rorting that he had falsely enrolled to vote in a preselection plebiscite in the 1980s.

However, two years later he was appointed the assistant nation­al secretary of the ALP.

Mr Beattie, who had won the 2001 election by a big margin after campaigning hard against vote-rigging, said at the time: “Mike Kaiser is one of the most gifted campaigners this party has ever produced. I can understand why the federal ALP would want him.”

Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the government had already spent $1.5bn on contractors and consultants: “It is staggering Labor can waste even more taxpayers’ money on a contract for a Labor mate.”