Former Queensland treasurer Terry Mackenroth an acute embarrassment

THE ties that helped Terry Mackenroth enjoy the taxpayer-funded grace and favour of the Queensland Labor government he left five years ago to become a successful private lobbyist have been fraying for some time.

But the relationship is now close to threadbare after the findings yesterday of Mackenroth's leadership role in the costly debacle that continues to cause acute embarrassment to Premier Anna Bligh and her embattled Sport Minister, Phil Reeves. Five years ago, having quit suddenly as deputy premier of Queensland - forcing a by-election that the then Beattie government lost - Mackenroth was controversially given a plum part-time gig by one of his former cabinet mates.

At the time of his appointment to head up the annual government-funded Gold Coast motoring event, which had become a prominent tourist drawcard, Mackenroth denied he had received preferential treatment.

Inquiries by The Australian yesterday established that the remuneration for the role rocketed after his appointment - from about $15,000 a year when he took over from the incumbent to $40,000 last year.

"I think I'm well qualified to do the job," Mackenroth said at the time. His sponsor, the then employment minister Tom Barton, added: "It's not a question of jobs for the boys, it is a question of appointing the best person for the role."

In the light of the findings yesterday of Queensland Auditor-General Glenn Poole and an independent investigator, David Williams, both of whom scrutinised the lamentable corporate governance and scant due diligence by Mackenroth and his team before and during their costly relationship with the A1GP motor racing outfit, it would be difficult to imagine Bligh entrusting the former treasurer to run a public chook raffle. Given Mackenroth's formidable reputation for spotting a lemon, being duped by A1GP, despite the numerous clues to the parlous state of its finances, will not look good on his updated CV.

Nobody comes out of this mess with much credit for the waste of public money, especially Mackenroth, who should have remembered something about risk management, given he was once in charge of Queensland's finances.