Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus, where we aim to deliver frank and fearless titbits – from the bowels of the state bureaucracy to the top of One William Street and beyond. This week: native title questions swirl, (Red) Union boss’ board gig, slow progress on police integrity, and more.
It was a Tuesday in late February, and Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last had lobbed a doozy into the sensitive legal world he oversees.
In a direction to department head Graham Fraine, Last said the state should be contesting native title applications – a major shift from longstanding practice.
This news, and related orders, were then filtered down to the Native Title and Indigenous Land Services, according to a Federal Court affidavit filed by the state.
On the Saturday, Last and Fraine jetted to South Korea and Japan on a trade mission, leaving a cloud over the scheme to return land to traditional owners in their wake.
Amid the chatter around the Circus tent from folks trying to parse what exactly was going on, Federal Court Chief Justice Debra Mortimer called a case management hearing in a major Cape York claim last week to, partially, try and figure that out herself.
Despite the state earlier indicating it had resolved issues of connection the Western Yalanji and Eastern Kuku Yalanji people had to some areas of the claim, this then shifted and the state wanted to “proceed to trial” instead, Mortimer wrote in orders setting last Thursday’s hearing.
This had all “put into a state of uncertainty what is happening in Queensland about native title claims,” Mortimer told Solicitor-General Gim Del Villar KC in the hearing, after lawyers in an earlier matter told her there was no change in the state’s approach.
While Del Villar conceded the direction from the minister was not specific to the case, he noted its effect on it – but revealed this was now “no longer the case”, except for one small area.
“The remaining issue in this proceeding, effectively, has gone back to the position that it was in before that direction was given,” Del Villar said.
He also insisted the state had not taken a “blanket position that matters are going to be taken to trial”. Whether this happened would depend on the particulars of a case.
Pressed by Mortimer on whether this was a change in the state’s broader approach to native title cases, Del Villar said he “can’t indicate if the state has changed its position”.
Dr Raelene Webb KC, appearing for the Commonwealth, said it welcomed news the state would continue discussions, but made pointed references to Commonwealth law’s native title and Federal Court focus on negotiations to avoid expensive litigation.
“The Commonwealth regards as paramount an adherence by all parties to the principle of resolving matters by mediation wherever possible,” Webb said.
The almost month-long hiccup means the state now isn’t sure if it can meet court-set dates for a determination on the case in early July, which Mortimer also described as “of considerable concern” given the length of time it had been set down in her “diabolic” diary.
While the direction’s result on the Cape York case appeared (relatively) cleared up, Mortimer told Del Villar the court remained concerned about “what may or may not be happening” in the state.
“I will be talking to the other judges who have those proceedings in their dockets, and to the two national coordinating judges, about whether any further steps – in an overarching sense, by way of calling people in to explain things – need to be taken,” she said.
What remains unclear is what, precisely, the direction from Last was, and if it has since been withdrawn or altered – either in language by Last, or interpretation by the department.
The latter refused to answer Circus’ questions on that matter, fobbing us off to Last, whose office did not respond to multiple requests. The minister’s office had earlier given a vague statement when asked if the state would take all native title matters to trial.
“The government has a responsibility to represent the interests of all Queenslanders and a duty to ensure the way the state participates in native title matters meets this expectation,” they said.
“The government believes Queensland should be open and available for all Queenslanders.”
It certainly doesn’t seem to take that same view of openness about the information around its actions in this space. Then again, this is a government whose first laws axed the state’s Path to Treaty.
While the government might be able to ignore the humble Circus, the Federal Court? Not so much.
Unregistered worker group tagged in for CFMEU on health and safety board
It took little more than a week for Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie to sack CFMEU figure Kurt Pauls from his position on the state’s Work Health and Safety Board after the 2024 election.
What has taken longer was an appointment of someone to replace the repeat workplace lawbreaker as one of the board’s even split of worker-employer representative members.
Well, the wait is over. And while Pauls’ appointment may have not had universal support from the union movement, Circus is sure his replacement won’t, either.
Enter Jack McGuire, managing director of the Red Union Group – a sweep of incorporated associations spruiking “30 per cent price beat guarantee fees” and less “partisan politics” for workers.
Another feature, or maybe more of a bug? The groups are currently excluded from, or unrecognised by, large parts of the state’s workplace bargaining and industrial umpire processes many of its members fall within.
McGuire is a former president of the Queensland University of Technology LNP Club who says he quit the party “filthy” over its lack of representation of blue-collar workers.
Graeme Haycroft, another former LNP figure, founded the initial Nurses Professional Association of Queensland in 2014.
The group and its various workplace associations have been on a tear since the pandemic, to poach members from registered unions in historical decline.
And this has all, perhaps obviously, been embraced by the LNP – from taking out memberships to musings about creating more of a clear opening for the organisations to compete.
But McGuire’s spot on the WHS board, the peak advisory group to the government on such matters, is the first real move by the Crisafulli government to boost the group’s influence.
The board is also chaired by former LNP MP Michael Hart, and its entire 14-person membership must be reappointed by Bleijie by early September.
“The Crisafulli government respects the fundamental protection of freedom of association and believes in choice for workers,” Bleijie told Circus in response to questions.
While pointing out Pauls was appointed by the former Labor government, Bleijie was not drawn on whether McGuire was selected from the register of nominees to government boards or, if not, who put him forward for the role.
Nor whether any other candidates were considered.
Regardless, we can be fairly confident McGuire, Hart, and the only other figure appointed so far by Bleijie – Queensland Major Contractors Association Andrew Chapman, on the employer side of the equation – will survive whatever broader overhaul is looming.
Working hard or hardly working: The group wrangling overdue Police Integrity Unit
Parliamentary questions on notice can be a trove of useful, if often subtle, detail from within the public sector.
This was reinforced again this month by Crime and Corruption Commissioner chair Bruce Barbour.
The ask? The last time the watchdog was involved in the much touted “working group” figuring out how the government can set up a Police Integrity Unit.
(You know, the “priority” one the Commission of Inquiry into police responses to domestic and family violence report of November 2022 recommended be set up within 18 months)
Barbour said he attended the inaugural meeting back in September 2024, chaired by Public Sector Commissioner David Mackie.
Then, a gap of more than a year, until Barbour says Justice Department director-general Sarah Cruickshank wrote to the watchdog proposing to discuss the recommendation.
This was to be at an “initial meeting in late January”, with senior anti-corruption agency, police, Premier and Cabinet, Treasury and Justice figures.
“To date, the initial meeting proposed by the director-general has not been held,” Barbour wrote in his letter dated February 23, and published by committee on March 3.
Circus has asked Justice (and Attorney-General Deb Frecklington) to clarify if, in fact, the working group Frecklington has repeatedly told us still existed has held a meeting since the election.
(Ministerial-level talks has been said to have been held with unnamed key stakeholders in mid-2025.)
But since then, it’s been crickets on whether the government will pursue the unit, let alone how and when. This has continued in response to our latest questions, too.
“The Crisafulli government continues to consider the implementation of a police integrity unit,” a spokesperson for Frecklington unhelpfully told us.
They did not deny the working group’s lack of a meeting under the government’s tenure, instead accusing Labor of sitting on its hands with the recommendation while in power.
By Circus’ (generous) maths, that excuse can probably only reasonably fly until the end of the year. Tick-tock.
Literary award-stripping shakeup on the cards at the State Library
Not only is the future of the Queensland Literary Awards themselves now under a cloud until ministerial man of letters John-Paul Langbroek waves his wand on a replacement.
Fresh from the unceremonious stripping of the State Library’s award management, library staff are also staring down a related shakeup of its workplace structure.
The future of the seven-person Stories and Ideas team (with two vacant temporary positions) is now unclear, given the awards were a core part of its work.
A library spokesperson insisted no final decisions have been made about the changes, which affected staff and their union, Together, were being consulted over.
In response to Circus’ questions, the spokesperson said that depending on the outcomes of this, staff would be helped to find other suitable work in the library or broader public sector.
Inquiry to take a ride around the CFMEU with Cross River Rail boss
Amid a week probing what senior counsel assisting put forward as the “regulatory capture” of Workplace Health and Safety Queensland by the CFMEU, the inquiry also wrangled publicly with some thornier legal questions.
Circus estimates that at least an hour of last week’s three-day hearing block ended up traversing questions around what obligations the state has (or not) to its own employees being hauled before Commissioner Stuart Wood.
This debate centred around the appropriateness of the state’s counsel “advocating” for Workplace Health and Safety Queensland inspector, David Cappelletti, to be excused from giving evidence on medical grounds.
The discussion raised concerns for public sector figures about the tricky balance to support employees without undermining the process of the powerful inquiry.
In response to questions from Circus, a Department of Justice spokesman said the state owes its employees a legal duty of care and must take reasonable steps to protect the health and safety of employees.
“Including employees who are called to give evidence before a commission of inquiry,” the department said.
“Generally, the Crown Law provides legal representation and advice to the State (and its public sector employees), although there are occasions where separate legal representation is appropriate for an employee for a variety of reasons.
“Legal assistance supports the State and its employees to meet their obligations before the commission, and supports the work of the inquiry.”
The inquiry will this week call its highest-level public sector figure so far, Cross River Rail Delivery Authority chief executive Graeme Newton, for a hearing block focused on the project the inquiry has heard was particularly troubled by the union.
Have a curiosity for the Public Circus tent? Email us on m.dennien@brisbanetimes.com.au or james.hall@nine.com.au (or sing out more securely via mattdennien@protonmail.com and @mattdennien.15 on Signal).
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