What two inquiries and forced debate reveal about LNP and Labor’s lull
At the closing ceremony hearing two weeks ago, the head of Queensland’s fourth child safety inquiry in three decades spoke diplomatically about having to cut his work back by six months.
Paul Anastassiou, who was initially given until November to report back to the government, was instead told in February to complete the work in time to incorporate the proposed corrections into this year’s state budget process.
“If I had had longer, the report would have been shorter,” he joked, using one of two well-known aphorisms to address the issue of the shortened time frame.
“The second is that the time required to complete a task tends to expand to fill the time available to accomplish it. Back in February, I wasn’t as convinced of the latter, but the former still holds.”
What the Crisafulli government has so far failed to explain is why it has not requested or requested an interim report for budgetary purposes. Political opportunity perhaps explains some of this.
The $20 million investigation into the troubled system, whose concerns are about how society and the government support (or fail) families, was set up at the CFMEU a second ago.
The fact that the original July reporting date of this politically charged inquiry was extended until December 2027, the same week its counterpart’s report was tabled, says a lot about the LNP’s approach.
Let alone the rhetoric surrounding the two. Senior cabinet officials, who published the 1,400-page Child Safety Inquiry report on Wednesday, went on the attack without any response from the government.
They condemned former Labor ministers responsible for system failures, but Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm refused to take responsibility (or even raise concerns) about some of the people in her care.
(Opposition Leader Steven Miles comments:[s] similarly missing was the “responsibility to do everything we can to support vulnerable Queensland children”).
This is just one example of how Crisafulli’s government has so far struggled to shake the long base of attacks during the opposition period.
While there are valid issues that Stuart Wood, a leading figure in the CFMEU Inquiry, will delve into, many of the union’s most serious issues rear their heads in the southern states.
Industry figures, a key researcher and the AWU, the target of much of Queensland CFMEU activity, have said at public hearings that the construction industry has been in a much better position for months.
But through Deputy Prime Minister Jarrod Bleijie, who announced the extension of the investigation while serving as attorney general on Sunday, the government appears determined to ensure Labor has its “Fitzgerald moment”.
“The Crisafulli government has agreed to extend the commission’s term to ensure that every allegation can be thoroughly investigated and that no stone is left unturned,” he said in a statement.
And so we will have another 18 months of headlines after the inquiry, at a cost to be determined through the June 23 budget finalization process.
Not to mention the final report, released less than 11 months before the 2028 state elections. Time will tell how Anastassiou’s aphorisms will be applied here; but it’s clear he could use more time.
“This does not mean that there are not issues that would benefit from further consideration or require further investigation,” he said at the closing hearing last month.
If the LNP has not completely shed opposition lines more than 18 months into its stay in government, Labor is still struggling to find its feet after a decade in power, barring the LNP slipping.
This week’s effort to stoke public concerns about access to abortion felt necessary, following Katter’s Australia Party’s effort to get past the joke about the legislation being debated in parliament.
And after a swing to the LNP in the Stafford election, senior Labor figures were this week forced to apologize by the government for misleading parliament about the party’s sole campaigning point.
MPs stood sheepishly to make clear in parliament on Thursday that 93 beds at the LNP-run Prince Charles Hospital had not been cut. (But they now lack a timeline).
In a subsequent statement that was rejected, Nicholls used a strangely Trumpian tone to claim that newly elected Labor MP Luke Richmond had been “put into office on a lie” because of this admission.
Asked later in a brief media conference whether he suggested voters were stupid or wrong for voting in Richmond, Nicholls insisted he thought most of them understood the allegations.
Miles said that the MPs were stuck on a technical detail in the language. Technically, neither Labor nor the LNP are completely outspoken.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that alongside Stafford’s switch to the LNP there has also been a jump in the number of voters parking their first preferences outside the major parties.
And perhaps it’s no surprise that Richmond used his maiden speech to call out the need for state debate on gas exporters “paying their fair share”, beyond Labour’s bare-bones post-election policy closet.
It is an idea also discussed by independent federal Senator David Pocock, the Greens and One Nation. Could Labor be next, at least in Queensland?
Be careful
- Attorney-General Deb Frecklington’s recently updated white paper suggests it will take two months for the Government to respond to the Child Safety Inquiry report Queensland Media Club address 16 Juneand linking this answer to: In Open Sight The report suggests we may get at least some clues much sooner.
- Beyond Frecklington’s big announcement, the next three weeks will be busy in Queensland politics and parliament, with two weeks of CFMEU Inquiry hearings ahead of a four-day session of MPs ahead of budget day on June 23.
Matt Dennien is a reporter for the Brisbane Times covering state politics, parliament and the public sector. He previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.
