Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: how the government is trying to avoid answering growing questions about its inquiry, the construction probe gets its lunch eaten, the outgoing Governor’s farewell tour, and new LNP figures pull into port.
It’s been more than a week now since the state’s peak union body called on the government to consider setting a special prosecutor to work alongside its major inquiry into the CFMEU and construction sector.
Since then, even Geoffrey Watson – the man whose report provided the LNP its catalyst to launch the Stuart Wood-led probe – has backed the idea. But it’s been almost silence from Crisafulli and Co in response.
After nudging the government on no less than four separate days since October 9, we thought maybe we’d had a breakthrough when one notification pinged the Circus phone on Monday.
Lo and behold, it was nothing more than a “background” message from a ministerial office telling us it was a matter for Wood’s inquiry.
Of course, when we put questions to the $95 million inquiry 10 days ago, it said this was a decision for the government.
Given Wood has no power to establish anything like a Victorian-style special prosecutor, we can see why Attorney-General Deb Frecklington’s office wouldn’t want such a line attributed to it.
But in lieu of an actual response from the office of Premier David Crisafulli or his deputy and recently unleashed IR attack dog Jarrod Bleijie, that’s about the best we’ve got.
It’s perhaps more telling than a follow-up statement from a Frecklington spokesperson, which reiterated that the inquiry had heard evidence of various wrongdoing within the industry and allegations relating to the former Labor government.
“The Crisafulli Government established the CoI [Commission of Inquiry] to ensure these serious matters are thoroughly examined and will continue to support the Commission in carrying out its important work,” they said.
That will do little to reassure critics the government believes in the idea of a serious probe that delivers more for Queensland than a rubber-stamp for its policy agenda, social media tiles for Bleijie, and political ammunition for the 2028 election year.
Or maybe the hush is because the inquiry is gearing up to recommend referrals for prosecution in an interim report to be handed to government this month.
Who knows? (The tent is always open, anonymously and confidentially, if you do.)
Government’s IR review eats a chunk of CFMEU inquiry lunch
When it was set up, the CFMEU inquiry was told not to duplicate the work of the Queensland Productivity Commission, which reported back in January.
But the government appears to have forgotten to tell its workers’ compensation and industrial relations law review not to step on Wood’s toes. (This is Glenn Ferguson and Gary Black’s report, tabled in parliament last week, along with a response that drew immediate blowback from unions.)
Circus noted with interest the government’s controversial new bill included the establishment of a “fit and proper person” test for union officials.
Considering this test was part of the parcel of work handed to Wood by the government, along with possible changes to “whistleblower laws”.
This, of course, is another thing Bleijie’s bill will address, with protections for union figures wanting to speak out.
Two new LNP-linked board directors pull into regional ports
Just when you think the Crisafulli government may have run out of board appointments to make, there comes another Friday afternoon media release.
So it was last week, when Finance Minister Ros Bates and Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg announced eight new directors across four of the state’s port authorities.
Among the appointments, two names jumped out: Candice Stower at the Gladstone Ports Corporation and John Hathaway at the Port of Townsville.
Stower is a registered (and quite active) lobbyist with her pseudonymous shop, chief executive with Queensland United Egg Producers, former ministerial advisor to Nationals figures David Littleproud and Matt Canavan, and a chief of staff to Morrison government minister Keith Pitt.
Hathaway, on the other hand, was an army officer of 30 years (rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel) before being elected as the LNP’s Newman-era member for the state seat of Townsville.
Hathaway’s successor in the seat was Labor’s Scott Stewart – one of the few folks from the other side of the political aisle handed gigs by the government, who Hathaway will now funnily enough join on the board.
Young squeezes in a royal farewell tour with all the stops
With little more than a week until the changing of the guard up on Fernberg Road, outgoing Governor Jeannette Young has embarked on a final official jaunt to the motherland.
On the agenda? A “farewell call” with King Charles – the kind of royal facetime Jarrod Bleijie was unable to land on his trip this month. But that wasn’t all.
The vice-regal Twitter/X feed, still the platform of choice for day-to-day updates, laid out the itinerary of Young and her husband, Professor Graeme Nimmo, in detail.
There was a church service and reception in St James’ Palace, visits to three museums and galleries, and the laying of a wreath at the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner.
Not to mention a meeting with High Commissioner Jay Weatherill and his deputy Elisabeth Bowes, a morning tea with Trade and Investment Queensland staff, “working lunch” with other top TIQ folks, and a dinner for “inspiring Queenslanders living and working” in the UK.
Inspiring stuff. The trip marks Young’s first overseas engagement in more than a year, with her office’s recent 2025-26 annual report noting an active period of domestic travel across the period instead.
This included 62 visits to locations across 30 Queensland council areas, including 25 public hospitals and 13 state schools – with Townsville the single-most visited place at four trips.
The travel bill for the financial year ran to $208,000, down from the $447,000 in 2024-25 – said to have been due to travel to the UK and Europe, Japan and India “at the request of the Queensland state government”.
Total spending for Young’s office fell 12 per cent this financial year to $11.7 million, along with a 41 per cent drop in supplies and services, attributed to the completion of major initiatives.
Seems almost everyone on Team Queensland is pulling their weight to see the state back in black.
Young’s successor Justice Thomas Bradley will take over Government House, and the social media accounts, after his swearing in on November 1.
Have a curiosity for the Circus tent? Email on m.dennien@nine.com.au. For more security, sing out with a non-work device and network via Signal (mattdennien.15 or here) and mattdennien@protonmail.com.