Queensland’s wicked ways

Nuttall was the same minister who, as health minister, was found by the Davies Royal Commission to have shown conduct that was “misleading, unreasonable and careless”, but who still remained in the ministry. Nuttall was the same minister implicated in a conflict of interest issue regarding a proposed new regional hospital on the Sunshine Coast.

It was Nuttall for whom the Beattie Government recalled parliament in December 2005 to pass special legislation to remove potential legal action against ministers not fully forthcoming before parliamentary committees.

Of course, Nuttall finally retired and did not stand at the September 2006 state election, amid a continuing CMC investigation, but he was never sacked or even reprimanded. This is perhaps why the pecuniary interest issue is still a problem in Queensland. Laws may be passed, but they need to be enforced by real practice and example. In truth, the “cultural” change that Fitzgerald spoke about all those years ago to really change behaviour and set new standards, has yet to really catch on in Queensland government.

Of course there were other problems, like the Labor Member for Gaven who spent more time in Thailand than his electorate, wait for it, to seek medical treatment. And just when you think nothing worse can happen in Queensland we heard that former racing minister Merri Rose, who lost her seat in the previous election, was before the courts in November 2006 facing a possible charge of extortion in trying to get a job in the state government.