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At the end of the parliamentary sitting earlier this month, a senior Queensland minister privately conceded to this masthead it was the first time they had felt the immense pressure and difficulty behind the job of leading the state.
As the fallout of the IT bungle within the child safety department continued to unravel and the LNP was caught celebrating an overstated reduction in victim numbers, the minister opined it would only get harder as the gravity of their own policy decisions played out.
And, in only the fortnight since, play out they have.
A photo posted by Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie wiith LNP government colleagues this week as parliament returned for the first sitting since the 12-month anniversary of their 2024 election.Credit: Jarrod Bleijie
This sitting week marked the first since the weekend one-year anniversary of the election which handed the LNP enough seats to take the seats on the government side of the house, and it had a big ticket item to tick off.
The government had been keen to focus on the planned passage of its laws establishing a child sex offender register in honour of murdered Sunshine Coast teen Daniel Morcombe. The laws were passed on Thursday, but the week had more in store.
First was the Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday that the government’s January pause on gender-affirming care for kids was unlawful, finding in favour of the parent of a transgender teenaged who launched the legal challenge on the grounds there had not been proper consultation.
Within hours of what was, on-paper, his director-general’s struck-down direction, Health Minister Tim Nicholls had issued a fresh ban – later defending this by citing the fact he was not bound by the same requirements to consult and only had to consider human rights.
So it was on human rights and discrimination grounds that new action was launched against the new ministerial direction by late Wednesday.
Nicholls and Premier David Crisafulli were dogged by questions, in and outside parliament, about the promised but so far unknown annual ambulance ramping target as the key figure goes up instead of down.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek faced his own about how a bureaucratic failure left 140 year 12 students studying the wrong Caesar until only days before a key exam, before state school teachers voted down the government’s final pay offer.
Finance Minister Ros Bates had to explain some government board appointment musical chairs.
And there was also the matter of a Katter’s Australian Party crocodile control bill due up for debate instead being kicked into December amid a government review of its own croc management plan and speculation about the date of a vote to fill a vacant parliamentary seat.
Party leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter made his thoughts clear. “Please, let’s at least have the decency to acknowledge why this is happening. There is a byelection happening in Hinchinbrook and we have this debate, so we have a gag order now,” he said.
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Deputy Opposition Leader Cameron Dick went further: “There are plenty of members of the LNP who would love the opportunity to support this bill.”
Within this environment, and with only two parliamentary sittings left this year, the government also lifted its attacks on Labor leader Steven Miles’ future by hyping the prospect of another “Christmas coup”.
But opening proceedings on Wednesday morning, Speaker Pat Weir had a reminder for his fellow MPs: please don’t take photos in the chamber.
“I wish to remind all members that the use of cameras including phone cameras on the floor of the chamber, including in the wings and the rear of the chamber, is not permitted during proceedings,” Weir warned.
“It does not matter whether it is a selfie or a photograph of another willing participant.”
It’s something you would imagine all would be keenly aware of after the “spying” drama of last year, but this week was special and needed a pic for the feed.
“We’ve been delivering for Queenslanders for a year – and we’re only just getting started!” Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie wrote in the caption of an Instagram selfie collage with colleagues before Weir’s warning.
“Great to be back in Parliament this week.”
But there are pesky rules and realities in that place – and beyond – that can get in the way of a good time.
Catch up
- The parliamentary week also saw Treasurer David Janetzki introduce the annual bills to formally approve unforeseen spending across the previous financial year. While down on the year before, the $5.7 billion price tag and change of government saw fresh accusations that the former Labor government had underfunded services and hidden project cost blowouts.
- Alongside this was a new bill from Bleijie in his industrial relations portfolio capacity seeking to unpick looming reforms allowing greater ability for some union officials to request enforcement and compliance information from the regulator, something open to all but which Bleijie used the potential of CFMEU “weaponising” to justify.
Heads up
- While we still don’t have a date for that Hinchinbrook byelection, the vote for a new Townsville mayor on November 15 – featuring the former Katter MP Nick Dametto as a candidate – is sure to only increase the heat of that debate when parliament returns in the days after.
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