Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: health service’s political run-in, council’s AI warning about… its own services, Powerlink’s (coming) new boss, and more.
The hearings of Queensland parliament’s government-controlled committee system often descend into a partisan farce.
But even by those standards, there were bizarre scenes last week when the health committee held what was scheduled to be a 15-minute briefing with the boss of the state’s largest health service.
This is the health service, politically attuned Circus folks would be aware, that runs Prince Charles Hospital – smack in the middle of the seat of Stafford, where a byelection will be held next month.
Metro North chief executive Nick Steele, pulled across from his role as a deputy director-general in Queensland Health late last year, however, seemed none the wiser.
With the briefing already taking place under contested circumstances – let alone the oddity of calling a health service boss outside estimates – the content also slipped into the bizarre.
Labor MPs on the committee that day, Joe Kelly and Linus Power, noted there had unusually been no portfolio briefing provided to members ahead of time.
The LNP’s committee chair, Rob Molhoek, confirmed only one item was on the agenda: a statement from Steele.
After a break to deal with a motion from Kelly to have the briefing, which he labelled a “political stunt”, extended to one hour, Steele was called to give this statement. Except he didn’t have one.
“I’ve just been asked to come along and answer some questions associated with the Prince Charles Hospital, which is in my catchment,” he said.
Quizzed by Kelly, Steele said he was given a first heads-up about the potential meeting on Tuesday night, and confirmation on Wednesday morning.
This came, Steele said, from the office of “a minister”, without any particular instructions on what to say.
But he was “given some suggestions on some of the questions that might be asked” by an adviser to the minister, and later said these were about ambulance ramping.
A proposed redevelopment of Prince Charles Hospital and ramping rates have already been raised by Labor and its Stafford candidate Luke Richmond.
In response to the first set of questions from Molhoek, Steele confirmed that the worst ramping figure for the hospital of 55 per cent was recorded in March 2022.
The latest data, from February, had the figure at 37 per cent, Steele said. Power then sought to ask Steele to confirm data from October 2024, which had the figure at 32 per cent.
On the number of beds planned for the proposed redevelopment, Steele said this had previously been 93 beds under the former government for delivery by 2028.
“We are planning to deliver at least that,” Steele said, but was unsure about when the beds would be ready.
Overseen by Health Infrastructure Queensland, the expansion now falls under the Crisafulli government’s “hospital rescue plan”, and is awaiting an updated timeline.
Asked by independent Noosa MP Sandy Bolton if he could think of any reason for such an unusual and seemingly urgent briefing on the topics with no notes provided to committee members ahead of time, Steele appeared stumped.
“Not that I’m aware of, because the redevelopment is progressing in those conversations and ramping is a conversation that we’re having quite, quite frequently at the moment, given the focus on it,” Steele said.
Quite the focus, indeed.
Major south-east council leans into AI – just don’t rely on anything it says
This column has previously delivered detail of Brisbane City Council’s explorations of market offerings for AI tech. Out in Toowoomba, they appear to have already found some.
Eagle-eyed Circus folk have brought word back to the tent of a disclosure statement on the major regional council’s website that it may use content algorithmically generated by AI.
The statement says only that this may occur across “customer service and Council services (or in part)”.
“Council uses reasonable due diligence to ensure the quality of the content, however there will be limitations, inaccuracies or prospective bias in presentation by AI tools may arise [sic],” the statement reads.
“The content should not be considered a substitute for professional advice, we recommend consulting appropriate content experts for guidance (as required). Council assumes no responsibility for AI generated use of content.”
A disclaimer that will strike confidence into the minds of residents and ratepayers, we’re sure.
But some further sleuthing has turned up a LinkedIn post by deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff, back in August, on just the topic which had Brisbane council staff worried.
“There’s a shortage of #planners across local governments – precisely at the time we need to increase #housing,” wrote Vonhoff, a former candidate for LNP preselection and journalist.
“Yesterday I spoke publicly about bringing #AI to Toowoomba Regional Council’s planning process to speed up assessments that are more straightforward or for answering enquiries.
“Other councils around Australia are doing this and there are some local examples including Sunshine Coast Council.
“We need a Planning Scheme that can be interpreted by AI and I’m encouraged by the approach of [council’s general manager of planning and development services] Ed Johnson who said using AI ‘should be carefully considered’ but that there are positive examples we can look to.”
As far back as 2023, the council spoke about trialling ChatGPT to help with marketing and promotion material. Last year, it tendered for an “AI vision solution to support road asset management”.
We’ve sung out to the council for some clarity on what, exactly, it is using the tech for and what “appropriate content experts” should be consulted by constituents if not … the council.
Redland City Council governance adviser off to a delayed start
The local government scene on Brisbane’s glorious bayside has been in a spot of turbulence of late. (See here and here, for starters.)
First-term Redland mayor Jos Mitchell had spoken since her election in early 2024 about the need for, at least, a governance adviser.
While Local Government department director-general Bronwyn Blagoev appointed Chris Rose for a six-month term back in December, it’s unclear what’s happened since.
Despite terms of reference requiring a “fortnightly summary report” on key risks and progress toward seven outcomes, not a single such report had been turned in by late February.
Circus’ request that month via Right to Information laws for all reports to the department circled back to us last week delivering the disappointing news for our $57.65 application fee.
The decision notice stated Blagoev’s office had been asked to search their systems for anything featuring Rose’s name or other relevant keywords. Nothing showed up.
Bizarrely, however, the decision notice stated: “There is no information to indicate that the documents should exist but cannot be located.” OK.
Asking for an explanation, we were told early engagement with the adviser was impacted by unplanned leave, with formal reporting kicking off in March.
What that means for Rose – a veteran council official across Queensland and NSW, who turned consultant in 2016 – and his slated end-date of May 29? We’re yet to hear.
A spokesperson did say the department is “committed to providing the support necessary to assist Redland City Council and continues to have regular briefings with the adviser”.
That’s good news at least for the council and its constituents, who are – after all – footing the bill for the work.
Appointment Watch: Powerlink’s (almost) new chief and a Safe Food chair
There’s been two announcements over the last week of new appointments across two quite different parts of the public sector.
The most recent is the long-awaited public news on Monday of the replacement for million-dollar man Professor Paul Simshauser AM as chief executive of Powerlink.
Simshauser, who came aboard in 2020, hung up his boots at the government-owned energy transmission corporation back in November after flagging the move in August.
Coming with a total pay package topping out at just over $1 million last financial year, the top job will (finally) go to Dr Seán Mc Goldrick, who’s heading up from across the Bass Strait.
Mc Goldrick has been chief executive of Tasmania’s state-owned energy distributor, TasNetworks, since August 2021, and had announced earlier this month he was moving on.
At the time, however, his departure was said to only be happening as his contract came to an end in late June – still some two months away.
Circus is told Mc Goldrick is indeed not making the move north until then, when he will see his pay almost double in one of the most well-remunerated public sector roles in the state.
Which makes sense, considering Powerlink services a population of more than five million, compared to the Tasmanian population of roughly one-tenth that.
Meanwhile, in a characteristic Friday afternoon announcement, Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett revealed a new chair for the Safe Food Queensland board: Lisa Palu.
The new head of the state’s food regulatory body is described as having decades of experience “in advocacy, policy and communications across state and Commonwealth governments, agriculture, science, and the resources sector”.
Her CV also includes running her own Glass House Mountains coffee farm and cafe, launched by LNP figures including then opposition leader David Crisafulli back in 2024, stints with lobbying firm SAS Group, as an adviser to former premier Campbell Newman, and state secretary for the pre-merger state National Party.
Have a curiosity for the Public Circus tent? Email us on m.dennien@nine.com.au or james.hall@nine.com.au. For more security, sing out with a non-work device and network via Signal to @mattdennien.15 (or using this link) and mattdennien@protonmail.com.
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.
