Queensland pays the price for Palaszczuk’s political circuit-breaker
A scathing new report by the Auditor-General has exposed the Palaszczuk Labor Government Cabinet reshuffle is costing Queenslanders millions of dollars and hindering frontline services.
The report’s searing assessment of the Premier’s Cabinet reshuffle suggested it would “divert focus from leading service delivery” and “may take months, or even years, before new functions are fully integrated”.
The findings mirror those made a year ago in the bombshell Coaldrake integrity report Let the Sunshine In, which said machinery of government changes were “expensive and disruptive”.
Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli said it was clear the Premier hadn’t listened to the warnings and didn’t care about the real impact of her Cabinet reshuffle on Queenslanders.
“Queenslanders are footing a multi-million-dollar bill and services are being delayed, just for the Premier’s political circuit breaker,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“It is simply without justification to uproot the public service and hinder frontline service delivery at a time when Queensland is facing a housing crisis, a youth crime crisis and a health crisis.
“We have fewer police with weaker laws, hospitals with record ambulance ramping, and nearly 50,000 Queenslanders on the social-housing wait-list.
“Queenslanders need a government focused on service delivery, not distracted by Palaszczuk’s Cabinet musical-chairs.”
Shadow Minister for Integrity in Government, Fiona Simpson questioned how the Premier could justify uprooting the public service for no gain.
“Queenslanders are paying the price for the chaos and crisis of the Palaszczuk Labor Government every day,” Ms Simpson said.
“The millions of dollars being spent shuffling the public service around could be used to heal the Queensland Health Crisis or put more police on the beat to fight the crime crisis.
“For Premier Palaszczuk to suggest her reshuffle had ‘minimal cost and impact on Departments’ is uninformed at best, and misleading at worst.
“Rather than sandbagging her political future, the Premier should be focused on delivering the services Queenslanders need and deserve.”
Key comments from the Report include:
- “The scope of each change can vary greatly in terms of complexity. What does not vary is that they divert focus from leading service delivery.” (Page 1)
- “I am concerned that government does not have a good enough understanding of the costs of the re-organisation- both initially, and ongoing as departments deliver new or altered services. I am concerned that government is not clear on the benefits it aims to gain from such reorganisations.” (Page 1)
- “I agree that restructuring agencies is not a substitute for strategy, nor does it guarantee better service delivery.” (Page 1)
- “Departments will now shift their attention to change implementation, thus reducing their ability to focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their service delivery.” (Page 1)
- “Machinery of government changes can take months, or even years, before new functions are fully integrated.” (Page 1)
