George St Beat: Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s two weeks from hell
Queensland’s top bureaucrat has issued a rare warning to the state's public servants that they must have the courage to tell their political masters “no”.
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Public servants must be courageous and learn to say “no” to their political masters according to MP turned top bureaucrat Mike Kaiser, in a rare but timely warning in the aftermath of the bombshell Robodebt inquiry.
Mr Kaiser, who heads up the state development department, told his staff this week that public servants were “required to faithfully serve the government of the day” but their “overriding obligation” was to the people.
“Politicians rely on us to advise and implement well. But we also need to tell them what can and can’t be done. That sometimes means saying no. And that can take courage,” he said on social media.
The declaration comes in the wake of the damning findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission, which has already claimed the scalp of senior federal government public servant Kathryn Campbell.
A total of 20 people embroiled in the illegal debt averaging scheme have been referred to the national’s anti-corruption body and the Australian Federal Police.
Mr Kaiser, though to a scale multitudes smaller, understands the impacts of being embroiled in an inquiry.
He was one of several Labor MPs who fell on their sword in the aftermath of the Shepherdson Inquiry into electoral fraud more than two decades ago — a dignified political death some in federal politics have yet to opt for.
BAILEY UNDER FIRE
The mid-year break for our pollies officially ends next week, with the MPs, the boffins and their staff madly scrambling to get their books in order for the annual estimates hearings
And while we might have predicted new Health Minister Shannon Fentiman or Di Farmer in the under-siege Youth Justice portfolio would be the one sweating bullets ahead of the annual grilling, Transport Minster Mark Bailey is arguably the one to watch off the back of a shocking two weeks.
First the Minister was forced to admit during a blundering press conference he knew the government’s flagship train manufacturing program had blown out by a whopping $2.4 billion when a press release was sent to reporters with the old figures in June.
Then Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk returned from Japan, she told reporters she didn’t think she was aware of the staggering increase before the release was published but endeavoured to “double check”.
On reflection, it turned out the Premier was told by Mr Bailey about the blowout, with the Transport Minister issuing a grovelling apology for the stuff-up at a stacked press conference which included Ms Palaszczuk and three other cabinet ministers.
“The correct overall figure should have gone in the media release,” he conceded on Monday.
“I’m the line minister, I take responsibility for that — I apologise sincerely.”
Easy to miss – after all, $2.4bn is only about ten times the cost of the Wellcamp quarantine facility (which was only finally revealed to the public by Deputy Premier Steven Miles after months of scrutiny at last year’s estimates).
Next up was a blow-up with his old sparring partner the CFMEU, following a horrific fall at the Cross River Rail site which left a worker fighting for life.
It meant this week ended with the militant union calling for their foe to be sacked – not for the first, and we suspect not the for the last time.
Mr Bailey will be without long-serving Director-General Neil Scales by his side at estimates for a change after the Transport and Main Roads boss stepped down last month after more than a decade.
We note Mr Scales has already gone in the well-worn direction of many public servants – with his LinkedIn page revealing he is already offering “consultancy services”.
GOLD MEDAL WHOOPSIE
Last week’s comedy of errors for the organisers of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games could have been worse it turns out, with a new Queensland government website nearly turning into a snafu redirecting readers to a rare chromosome disorder.
The state government’s recently launched their new procurement initiative to get businesses bidding for Games contracts, and is officially linked to “Q2032.au” – a bit off, given the branding across the website is “2Q32”.
Internet sleuths have pointed out the website was nearly “2Q32.au” after all with the advertising contractor first registering the 2Q32 domain on June 12, before registering the Q2032 address about two weeks later.
It’s suspected the switch had something to do with 2Q32 being a search term for a rare chromosome disorder also known as “Glass Syndrome”, which is characterised by intellectual disability, severe speech issues and dental abnormalities among others.
MINISTERIAL DOPPELGANGER
The colony-wide drama following Dan Andrews’ decision to ditch the Commonwealth Games offered up a bizarre round of separated at birth.
Britain’s Sports Minister Stuart Andrew poked his head out in Australian media to encourage another city to take on hosting duties for 2026.
And GSB can’t help but think he shares striking similarities with our very own Sports Minister Stirling Hinchliffe.
We’ll let you be the judge.
MIKEY ROCKS OUT
While there were a few feathers ruffled about the Premier being spotted at Splendour in the Grass last weekend, our attention was caught by a sighting of everyone’s favourite AUSLAN interpreter Mikey Webb.
Mikey, who became a very familiar-face to Queenslanders while fronting hundreds of press conferences during Covid, was rocking out on stage at the Byron Bay music festival.
Originally published as George St Beat: Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s two weeks from hell
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