A former LNP MP, one of the party’s 2024 election candidates and a former vice-president are among 50 new additions to the state’s public health service boards unveiled in the Crisafulli government’s long-awaited overhaul.
Darren Zanow, a former Ipswich West MP, will join the West Moreton board, Cairns candidate Yolonde Entsch will join the Torres and Cape board, while Maranoa deputy mayor and former LNP vice-president Cameron O’Neil will join the South West board.
Announcing the new additions, along with the reappointment of 41 other members across the state’s 16 health service boards, Health Minister Tim Nicholls said all would now feature one of their own frontline clinicians.
Nicholls said in a statement that the changes made good on the government’s promise to put local clinicians back in charge and that doctors, nurses and allied health professionals knew their hospitals and communities.
“Ensuring clinicians have a seat at the decision-making table will help deliver practical local solutions and keep our health services focused on the care Queenslanders need,” he said.
“This reform is an important step in delivering a fresh start for Queensland’s health system.”
Hospital and health service boards appoint chief executives, control the often multibillion-dollar services’ budgets, and are accountable – along with the minister – for performance and standards.
Regular members on most health boards are paid at least $44,000 each year, with chairs earning at least $85,000. A handful of smaller rural and remote health service boards earn less.
The government changed laws last year to require frontline clinicians on each board, prompting a Queensland Audit Office warning about the potential conflicts of interest such arrangements create.
Nicholls said strict governance requirements would be in place, including declaring and managing conflicts.
After more than 1000 applications, the new appointments and reappointments – most for four years – will take effect from April 1 after the expiry of about half of the 137 board roles the day prior.
All new and reappointed members answered a call for expressions of interest between July and September, and all are said by government to have gone through a Queensland Health suitability check, including shortlisting and interviews.
The ultimate appointments were considered by cabinet. Analysis by this masthead found 41 board members with terms expiring next week who were not named among those who were reappointed.
Most remaining terms are not due to expire until March 2028. It is unclear if the government has used its new powers to remove any of these board members without cause, and Nicholls’ office would not be drawn on questions about the midterm removal of any members.
An investigation by this masthead in October revealed changes across 115 of the state’s 320 boards in the year since the Crisafulli government’s election.
Almost two-dozen of those appointments held explicit LNP links, raising concerns from some former board members. At that time, only five health board appointments had been made.
Before Zanow’s 2024 byelection win and subsequent decision not to recontest the general election later that year due to a health diagnosis, he was president of the Ipswich Show Society and for years worked with his family earthmoving business.
Entsch was previously married to former federal Liberal MP for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, and faced questions on the 2024 campaign trail about at least two grants he had announced for companies connected to her.
Roma-based O’Neil was elected to his fourth term on the Maranoa council in early 2024.
Margaret Strelow, the former Rockhampton mayor-turned independent 2024 election candidate has also been appointed to the Central Queensland health board.
Beyond those additions, Stephen Robertson – a former Bligh Labor government minister – was reappointed on the West Moreton health board.
This masthead does not suggest any appointees are not qualified or suitable for their roles.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics and the public service. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.
