Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: a former deputy premier and chief spinner reunite, a council U-turn on e-bikes, arts funding funny business, and QPAC board curiosities.
In early April, just one month before the departure of Sunwater chief executive Glenn Stockton and a bizarre, publicly-aired board position at odds with government policy, there was a new addition to the state-owned regional water manager’s team.
The appointment? A new executive general manager for corporate affairs, Jane Paterson. It’s a bit of a full-circle moment, given Paterson previously ran media for then deputy premier Jeff Seeney – now chair of the Sunwater board.
Circus hears Seeney has been ruffling feathers in his approach to the role, and his deputy chair posting over at state-owned power generator CS Energy, which itself recently lost a chief executive in similarly surprising circumstances.
Paterson, whose time beyond Seeney’s deputy premier digs includes corporate affairs and stakeholder relations roles at Meat and Livestock Australia and Peabody Energy, appears to have filled the (renamed) shoes of former exec Cameron Milliner, who left his post in September.
In response to a series of questions, a Sunwater spinner said Paterson was appointed on April 7 after an external, merit-based process following state-owned corporation policy.
The quirk, however, is the fact Seeney is said to have played no role “due to a declared conflict of interest in line with an established conflict of interest management plan”.
“The process was facilitated by an executive recruitment firm, and the position was advertised across print media,” the company spokesperson said.
But wait… Seeney had no role because of a declared conflict and already established management plan? We had some more questions about the timeline there, which were summarily knocked back.
Instead, we were told to refer to the previous statement. Circus has also been told multiple candidates had previous working relationships with Seeney. Hmm.
To any Sunwater or CS Energy folks reading this: the Circus tent is always open wide.
We make no suggestion of wrongdoing by either Paterson or Seeney.
Council chief’s office seeks (late) qualification of e-bike crackdown concern
The Gold Coast joined thousands of people making submissions opposing a crackdown on low-powered legal e-bikes, but it turns out that position was never formally endorsed by the council.
The City of Gold Coast highlighted issues with licensing requirements, age limits and a 10km/h footpath speed in a submission dated April 10, and signed by infrastructure operations general manager Duncan Greeney, for the council’s chief executive.
“The primary safety issue is the reckless operation of high-speed e-motorbikes on paths and in open space areas – not pedal e-bikes,” the submission read.
On April 24, two experts from the Gold Coast’s transport operations team appeared before a parliamentary committee hearing, highlighting issues with the bill.
But now the council has written to the committee to say the submission was prepared by city officers and “reflects a technical and operational perspective”.
“It was not formally endorsed as a position of council,” the letter says.
That letter, dated May 12, was written by Alton Twine, who coincidentally is a former Bicycle Queensland boss, but is now working as the general manager for the office of Gold Coast council chief Tim Baker.
A council spokeswoman told Circus the letter was simply clarifying the position presented at the hearing was based on the opinion of the city’s road safety experts.
“[It was] not a resolution of the council and if they [the committee] wished to engage with the organisation or the elected representatives for a variety of views we would be open to it,” she said.
However, it’s a bit late to hear what Gold Coast councillors think, as the committee published its report on May 8 recommending several changes in a partial watering-down of the bill.
For what it’s worth, Brisbane and Logan councils also raised concerns.
In City Hall last week, Brisbane’s biohacking Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the council’s position was made clear, in writing, in response to a question from Greens councillor Trina Massey who asked if he opposed the state government’s proposal.
And, somewhat cheekily, Schrinner said he stood “in solidarity with our comrades from the BUG (bicycle user group) groups and cyclists in wanting to get the right outcome here”.
Schrinner’s newfound fondness for the BUGs comes after he accused members of being mouthpieces for the Greens two years ago, in comments that one volunteer said were “incredibly offensive”.
The government is yet to formally respond to the committee’s recommendations, but Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said he looked forward to introducing “nation-leading reforms”.
Arts Queensland’s quick change to funding rules after slogan banned
Circus readers would be well aware of the Crisafulli government’s controversial crackdown on two Palestinian protest slogans in laws passed back in early March.
Arts Queensland under long-term Newman-era appointee, deputy director-general Kirsten Herring, acted quickly. By the end of the month, it had updated eligibility criteria on at least one major events funding program.
Archived versions of the Touring Queensland Fund shows a new “community expectations relating to Queensland Government funding” subheading was added to the guidelines on March 26.
This identical segment is now also attached to the Queensland Major Commissioning Fund, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Development Fund and Queensland Arts Project Fund – that is, all previously, currently or to-be-open funding programs since the passage of the laws.
The section notes the laws’ focus on “terrorist symbols and phrases” and says the agency won’t support applicants or activities not representing an “appropriate use of public money”.
“This could include promoting behaviour or speech that is hateful, insulting or that promotes racism or religious intolerance, or that is contrary to Anti-Discrimination or hate speech laws,” the criteria states.
“Arts Queensland will also consider any financial and operational risks in allocating funding and managing funding agreements. To undertake these due diligence processes, Arts Queensland will consider publicly available information.”
In other words, don’t even think about applying for funding if you’ve been posting anything online which could find you at odds with the new laws – laws that have been wielded quite widely.
But don’t worry. The criteria state the government acknowledges “the unique role the arts can play in considering different points of view, the exchange of ideas and commentary on contemporary issues”.
This shift follows the March-published review by Australian Catholic University chancellor Martin Daubney AM KC of the State Library’s black&write! fellowship saga, which saw the library stripped of the Queensland Literary Awards and told to tighten up its policies.
At the time, Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek noted the review had “more broadly” highlighted the need for government-funded arts and cultural organisations to consider policies to ensure they “are consistent with and meet the expectations of the Crisafulli government”.
We reached out to the agency to ask if the change was of its own initiative, or at the behest of Langbroek. The four-sentence response from a spokesperson – a work of art in its own right – left us none the wiser.
Legal dramas and conflict related-resignations for QPAC board directors
On a not unrelated note, this week sees the beginning of a three-week unfair dismissal case brought by concert pianist Jayson Gillham, whose Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert was cancelled over his on-stage comments about Gaza.
Why is this relevant to Queensland, you may ask? Well, that saga led to the sacking of former orchestra managing director Sophie Galaise – who Langbroek made a Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) board director in October.
Having returned to her home country of Canada, Galaise has been described as a critical witness in the case, though “unlikely to be a willing” one, as Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer has noted. Galaise has denied liability and the orchestra is defending the matter.
Her Queensland theatre venue board chair, former LNP MP and arts minister Ian Walker, has told the Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column that any issues arising from Galaise’s involvement in the court case would be dealt with by a “robust conflicts of interest policy”.
By happenstance, trudging through the QPAC website in this context has revealed the departure of one of Langbroek’s other October appointees: Rod Pilbeam, a founding partner of the Australian venue management behemoth AEG Ogden, now part of the Legends Global group.
Pilbeam, also chair of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the grandson of controversial state Liberal MP Rex Pilbeam – or “Tyrannosaurus Rex” – dropped off the QPAC website some time between December and late February.
In response to Circus’ questions, a QPAC spokesperson said the disappearance of Pilbeam related to his “several significant professional and financial interests relevant to QPAC’s operating environment”.
While these were fully disclosed after his appointment, and initially managed through the board’s governance processes, things got a tad unwieldy.
“It became clear that the scale and ongoing nature of the conflicts would continue to require extensive management measures and recusal from substantial parts of board business,” the spokesperson said.
“After careful consideration, and acknowledging the advice received regarding governance risk and the integrity of board decision-making, Rod chose to tender his resignation.”
Langbroek’s office suggested the resignation was a matter for Pilbeam. Given this isn’t the first time existing conflicts have caused problems for new board picks, Circus isn’t sure the government can brush off questions about its appointment processes so easily.
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 (@mattdennien.15 or this link) and mattdennien@protonmail.com.
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.
