MPs back to parliament after a government walk in a winter blunder land

Queensland MPs will return to state parliament this week for the first regular session since before the budget way back in May.

But the government, in particular, has had anything but a chance to take a breath or bed down bubbling issues over the winter break.

Asked about recent Brisbane Times polling on Monday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the election still some 14-months away was ‘not a popularity contest’, but one of ideas. Credit: Robert Rough

While the post-budget roadshow gave them a chance to spruik their goods across the state, events since haven’t been so favourable.

This month’s annual estimates period saw news served up about the government’s decision to refashion a key piece of the Coaldrake accountability review.

Deemed too costly and time-consuming, the idea of a one-stop “clearing house” for complaints about government will instead be ticked-off by upgrading an existing web form.

(For his part, LNP leader David Crisafulli insisted on Monday he would make it happen if elevated to the top job come next October – one of his party’s few new, if obvious and sometimes detail-scarce, policies).

The Department of Premier and Cabinet’s response to submissions from key accountability bodies around its latest relevant proposed reforms seems similarly lacking at times.

Coaldrake’s calls aimed at stopping “dual-hatting” by lobbyists who work on political party campaigns before trying to influence government decisions for clients mentioned no time-frames for such a ban, so a few weeks would do.

The review mentioned no change around a potential loophole identified by the Integrity Commission which could see lobbyists thwart the scheme by only agreeing to a fee or reward after doing their work, so no change was needed there, either.

Estimates also saw further questions about the government’s appetite for the full depth of police integrity reforms recommended by last year’s commission of inquiry into the agency.

What Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has described as the “distraction” of train building cost blowouts have also dragged on for more than a month now, with reported backbench frustrations.

The government’s handling of crime led Deputy Premier Steven Miles to reassure fellow Labor MPs earlier in the year, and even saw Cooper MP Jonty Bush break ranks to call for an evidence-based approach.

That political pressure has gone nowhere, with the Katter’s Australian Party on Monday announcing their plan for remote relocation sentencing which Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her team would “definitely look at it”.

And while Fentiman opened the government’s third satellite hospital in Redland on Monday, midwives marched on parliament frustrated at government funding for their sector.

Last week’s latest Resolve Strategic poll for Brisbane Times continued a recent trend in souring public support for Labor and Palaszczuk, too.

Asked about the survey on Monday, Palaszczuk did not dismiss it like another recent set of numbers, but cast her gaze closer to the more defined campaign period to kick off some time next year.

“It’s not a popularity contest,” she said.

“It comes down to the election and in that election period Queenslanders will be focused on who has the ideas, the big ideas for this state.”

They certainly will.

Heads up

• Expect to hear a bit about the Queensland Family and Child Commission’s first Child Rights Report on Tuesday, now live on its website. Youth justice is a key focus, with suggestions made to review strict bail laws and ending the use of youth detention in police watch houses.
• While parliament does return this week for a regular three-day sitting, procedural debate about estimate hearing reports from the various committees are expected to take up the bulk of time.

Catch up

• Another detail out of estimates was shaken loose on day one by a question to parliamentary Clerk, Neil Laurie, about reform of the often-maligned committee system. Laurie revealed there had been “some discussion” within the powerful Committee of the Legislative Assembly, but couldn’t say much more due to confidentiality rules.
• In an attempt to snatch the state seat of Noosa back from second-term independent Sandy Bolton, Crisafulli announced last week that Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart would run as the LNP’s candidate.