Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: an accused Youth Justice fraudster to front court, early annual report season detail on Sunwater chief’s send-off (and more), plus what the state is – or isn’t – doing about smart glasses, and more.
The Department of Youth Justice is one of the few departments still dealing with protected industrial action from staff negotiating a new workplace deal, with some (and Child Safety colleagues) walking off the job on Friday.
But the department is also dealing with … less protected and non-industrial action: its alleged defrauding of more than $100,000 by a now-former employee.
Circus can reveal one of the department’s detention centre HR managers, Tina Louise Fleming (who also went by Tina Sofele), was arrested on August 16 over the matter.
In a statement, police confirmed detectives from the Gold Coast criminal investigation branch charged the 34-year-old Upper Coomera woman after “investigations into fraud in Brisbane’s south”.
Fleming faces a charge of one count of fraud (dishonestly obtain property from another by employee, value of at least $100,000), which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.
“Officers will allege the offence occurred at a location at Wacol between January and August 2026,” police said.
Fleming, whose HR role spanned the Wacol Youth Remand Centre and West Moreton Youth Detention Centre, is on bail and has a second date in the Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The bench charge sheet from police notes Fleming “dishonestly obtained Australian currency from the Queensland government, and … was an employee of the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support”.
For its part, the department declined to respond to questions, other than to say it could not comment on matters before the court.
Fleming, however, is no longer an employee.
Those who still are wouldn’t know much about any of all this, though – Circus hears the department has so far shared little with other staff about her departure and the reason for it.
Annual report season launch reveals $552,000 Sunwater chief payout
The next marker of spring in Queensland is upon us: the onslaught of annual reports from public sector entities.
Dozens of the documents began rolling into Circus’ inbox from late last week. While we’re yet to skim the lot – as lofty a goal as that may be – some of the earlier arrivals piqued our interest.
The first was Sunwater, which made headlines in May for an awkward leaked letter to government from chair Jeff Seeney and the departure of six-year chief executive Glenn Stockton.
Newman-era deputy premier Seeney had told Water Minister Ann Leahy the proposal for a new $4.4 billion wall down from the troubled Paradise Dam structure was “grossly disproportionate”.
That approach had come under the former Labor government before a detailed business case was complete. Premier David Crisafulli said in July the wall would instead be rebuilt where it was, but also conceded the business case due in May was yet to be delivered.
Sunwater’s annual report notes this was handed to government later in the month. It also reveals Stockton landed a tidy $552,000 in “termination benefits” along with the portion of his tidy annual package ($808,000) accrued up to his departure on May 22.
“Mr Stockton resigned for personal reasons, his final payment was in accordance with his employment contract and Sunwater wishes him well with his future endeavours,” a Sunwater spokesperson said in response to questions about the size of the sum.
After somehow missing the cutoff for last year’s annual report, the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority’s Maserati-ferried man of the people, Simon Crooks, is now a confirmed member of the top public sector earners club.
The GIICA annual report shows Crooks netted $882,000 in total remuneration across the 2025-26 financial year.
Crooks, of course, only began in the role wrangling the daunting task of delivering 2032 venues (on time and budget) from August 1, with his interim predecessor paid $25,000 for the month of July.
Back on the water front, and Circus’ attention was grabbed by a related party transaction disclosure in the Seqwater annual report disclosing $4.68 million paid or payable in 2025-26 for “professional services from a project management company controlled by a related party of a minister”.
This was said to have been under a contract awarded before the minister was appointed, but also additional work won in a competitive process since. Seqwater declined to spill on who this involved.
But not to worry. Circus has learned the minister in question is Amanda Camm, with her brother Joshua Camm’s Agile Project Management the recipient of the funds for work listed on its website as “sustaining essential infrastructure”.
“Faced with critical resource shortages, Seqwater partnered with Agile PM to embed an expert team across over 20 infrastructure projects. Our role included full lifecycle project support, risk modelling and process optimisation,” the Agile website notes of efforts under way since 2024.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Seqwater, or either of the Camm siblings.
Business as usual on Smart State’s public sector smart glasses
While federal Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher recently revealed she had asked bureaucrats for advice on whether to ban smart glasses from their offices and service centres, don’t expect anything similar in Queensland any time soon.
In the wake of that news, we reached out to Premier David Crisafulli’s office.
The response, from a Department of Customer Services and Open Data and Small and Family Business spokesperson, made clear it was business as usual for now.
They made clear photography and recordings were already not permitted in customer service centres – a fact that is well signed – and that such rules applied to camera-equipped glasses.
“If someone is recording inside a customer service centre, staff may ask them to stop,” the spokesperson said. “If recording continues, they may be directed to cease recording or leave the premises.”
On the government office side of things, they said privacy, security, workplace safety and operational policies applied to the use of smart glasses, recording devices “and other emerging technologies” which allowed them to “remain relevant as technology and device capabilities evolve”.
Have a different view of things from your workplace (and your own human eyes)? Drop us a line.
The petition feud over a $10,000 Education Department staff program
The Education Department’s decision to quietly scrap a support program for LGBTQIA staff in late August has drawn public ire, with a petition demanding its reinstallation amassing almost 4000 signatures.
The state ended its subscription to the Pride in Diversity program, which is offered by ACON, formerly the AIDS Council of New South Wales.
The program’s website describes it as a workplace inclusion initiative, listing benefits such as enhancing employee retention, and aligning with best practice.
The program costs a large organisation $10,622.20 for the year.
The decision to end the program subscription followed a petition launched by Sunshine Coast woman Nerissa Pace on August 20, calling for the state to drop the program because ACON “is a national advocate for transgender ideology”.
“The Education/ACON alliance influences student activities, classroom content and recruitment,” Pace wrote in her petition brief.
It quickly gained several hundred signatures, and just over a week later Sunshine Coast and LGBTQIA news outlets reported the state had begun withdrawing from the program – of which it had been a member for eight years.
While the department did not provide this masthead with a straight answer to the reason it nixed its membership, a spokesperson said it operated many program subscriptions on an annual basis.
“For the department, investment considerations are not only about the membership fees but also about the nature and reach of benefits that membership provides to employees,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said in-kind costs associated with keeping memberships also factored into the decision.
Launched on September 10, a counter-petition has demanded the department reinstate the program and maintain resources protecting LGBTQIA staff.
Principal petitioner Shelley Argent OAM, who formerly was the spokesperson for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), said she was also prepared to foot the department’s bill.
“It’s not that expensive … I can, and I will pay,” Argent told Circus.
“It just needs to be addressed, and things should be just left stable for people – there’s nothing wrong with giving LGBT [people] rights.”
Both petitions remained open until mid-to-late November.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics, parliament and the public sector. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.From our partners
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