Editorial: Jarrod Bleijie treats us all as suckers

The Deputy Premier loves the spotlight, but those paying close attention as he updated media on the Delivery Plan for the Olympic and Paralympic Games also learnt he quite enjoys a gaslight, too, writes the editor.

Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie at the Queensland Media Club on Thursday. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

• Starter’s gun: Stadium finally a go
• Analysis: Risk of blowing it all up

Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie loves the spotlight.

That was abundantly clear as he trod the boards as very much the star of yesterday’s Media Club lunch event – where those in the room had been promised they would “be the first to hear about progress and critical next steps in the 2032 Delivery Plan for the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.

And they were. But those paying close attention also learnt that Mr Bleijie quite enjoys a gaslight, too.

He told the room he was sure the $7.1bn funding package for Games venues would remain as planned at that level because the Crisafulli government knew how to get stuff done on time and on budget.

“Don’t be guided by the 10 years of blowouts from previous governments in Queensland,” Mr Bleijie said. “There are businesses in Queensland and nationally that actually deliver things on time and on budget. So we can’t be in the mindset that everything is just going to blow out, we’ve got to make sure we try and do it on time and on budget. Our budget is $7.1bn – and we’ve not shifted from that.”

Problem is, Mr Bleijie had just minutes before revealed the first Games blowout – it is just that he had not drawn attention to it.

Ever the showman, Mr Bleijie made much of the fact he had brought as his “little special guest” the federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King. The pair used the event to put their past animosity behind them and announce they were now besties, having finalised a renegotiated funding deal – or Intergovernmental Agreement.

Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie with his federal counterpart Catherine King. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

But you cannot yet see this deal, as it has not actually been signed – just “finalised” in time for the photo shoot where the BFFs each held a black folder holding, we assume, two unsigned agreements.

What was announced is $1.2bn of the $2.5bn originally quarantined by the federal government for a new 17,000-seat inner-city indoor arena will now be reallocated to help build the new $3.8bn, 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park.

Minister King revealed $584m of the remaining $1.3bn federal cash would be “held in reserve”, but did not explain what that meant. You do not need to be a mathematics genius to see that leaves $716m unaccounted for. Mr Bleijie says that money will go towards the additional minor venues, such as the National Aquatics Centre and boutique stadium at the RNA Showground. But the federal Minister’s office says the money will go to “additional projects and cost pressures in the minor venues program”. Cost pressures? Sounds very much like cost blowouts. Sigh.

Anyway, there was still a lot to like out of yesterday’s event – and the freewheeling way Mr Bleijie answered questions from the media table, as is the tradition at this lunch.

He confirmed – thank goodness – that he is committed to having that inner-city arena built by the private sector at the old Goprint site across the road from the Gabba before 2032. We assume that means the arena will host Games events, but so determined are the politicians to try to draw our attention away from these first cost blowouts – they are saying it is no longer a venue, and so is not funded by the venues budget.

Are you keeping up? Don’t feel bad if you are not. This is all now more confusing than the scoring system in the modern pentathlon.

The important thing is we are finally getting somewhere, with geotechnical testing at Victoria Park about to start and a boss of the Games infrastructure authority to be appointed “very shortly”. Let’s hope. The clock continues to tick.

FUNDING MODEL WORTH A TRY

You can see what state Health Minister Tim Nicholls is trying to achieve by turning the funding model for Queensland’s public hospitals virtually on its head.

Rather than pumping more and more cash into underperforming or overwhelmed hospitals, his new model incentivises excellence.

And that is a worthy goal, that makes sense in most businesses. But the problem in the contest of a stateside hospital system is that by incentivising excellence, you also punish mediocrity.

Under the plan – that we reveal exclusively today – public hospitals will be judged by a series of KPIs that range from ramping times and waitlists for elective surgery to budget performance and a long list of patient outcomes.

The goal is to lift the standard of care. The danger is that should hospitals fail to meet these targets, and subsequently have their funding cut, they could spiral.

The Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union has a point in its warning about how the model risks increasing the likelihood of poorer outcomes for patients.

So too should Professor Reece Hinchcliff’s warning be considered. He said tougher KPIs was a “naive approach” for how to manage a complicated hospital system.

However, hospital performance issues – particularly ramping – are now an endemic problem across the state. And so perhaps it is time to try something new.

But we must urge the Minister to ensure that there will be support available for underperforming hospitals so they do not get stuck in a death spiral of missed KPIs, followed by more funding cuts.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as Editorial: Jarrod Bleijie treats us all as suckers