2016 Queensland Parliament Estimates Hearings

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NGR:  3 sets now here, set 4 is on the water.

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Question from Mr Powell to Ms. Gluer CEO QR re MBRL.  Not answered as there is a independent review ongoing.

From Minister's comments it looks as if MBRL is nowhere close.  [Just my interpretation, I could be wrong].

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Yes !!  Minister has just announced:

Weekdays new 5.09am service from Springfield Central

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Mrs Miller has just asked a question re bridge strikes ... 

Bertha St Goodna looks like getting a protection beam too!

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MP @JoAnnMillerMP wants to know what the Govt is doing to help ppl who rent removal trucks & then accidently hit a rail bridge. @tennewsqld

— Tegan George (@tegangeorge) July 28, 2016

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Media Statement
Minister for Transport and the Commonwealth Games
The Honourable Stirling Hinchliffe

Timing of the release of independent review of the Moreton Bay Rail Link signalling system

Minister for Transport Stirling Hinchliffe today confirmed he has received advice the Independent Review of the Moreton Bay Rail Link (MBRL) Project will be finalised in the coming weeks.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet who are leading the independent audit yesterday wrote to Minister Hinchliffe to advise they have requested the reviewer undertake further work to finalise the report.

"While I asked for the audit to be finalised before the end of July, I support the decision by the department of Premier and Cabinet to request further work," Mr Hinchliffe said.

"The audit was announced to determine what went wrong and how the signalling system was selected.

"This audit has been run separately to the work being undertaken by Queensland Rail into the requirements of the signalling systems in order for Moreton Bay Rail Link to open."

The full scope of the audit is outlined below:

Governance and Contractual processes for MBRL, including:

    Any signalling system related issues, risks and/or opportunities arising from the decision in 2012 to bring the project under the auspices of the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR);
    A review of the signalling system elements of the tendering and contract process;
    Whether the role assigned to Queensland Rail through contractual and/or governance documents and processes provided for appropriate involvement of the rail operator in the assurance processes relating to signalling; and
    Contract milestone payments relating to signalling, and gainshare payments, and the grounds upon which any payments have been made.

Performance and integration of signalling systems during design and construction, including:

    The nature of assurance activities by the project team, Queensland Rail, or other parties to monitor, test, and review signalling systems and signalling system interface/integration;
    The nature of interface/integration issues experienced between multiple signalling systems on the one network; and
    The adequacy of assurance activities, and lessons for future rail contract selection and oversight;
    The processes by which concerns raised by Queensland Rail or other parties regarding the signalling systems or signalling system integration were managed; and
    The assurance program being implemented by Queensland Rail in order to have the project commissioned

Mr Hinchliffe said he expects the report will be finalised in the coming weeks.

Advice from Queensland Rail into the requirements of the signalling system in order for MBRL to open is expected to be finalised by mid-August. 

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' Dixer ' re regional rail services.  Minister has outlined the fact that the government supports regional rail and travel-train and will continue to do so.

Queensland Rail has been directed to improve these services.

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Mrs Miller has asked a question about rail extension to Redbank Plains South !    Will be looked at.

Time expired!!

Well, a few wins there   

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http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-budget-estimates-july-28-2016-20160727-gqfcpl.html
4.13pm

Estimates MVP - Can it be anyone else other than Jo-Ann Miller? She asked some questions which made them uncomfortable.  Not sure you can say that about any one in the Opposition.

Estimates theme - *shrugs* Don't think anyone can pinpoint it.  If it was there, it didn't exactly stand out.

Story of Estimates - Jo-Ann Miller.  Dumped minister returns as avenging backbencher.  A government MP openly questioning the government's policies and decisions in a way not really seen before - and she got results.  Director-Generals will be marching out to her electorate, she laid out cost of living issues, embarrassed ministers and made the government take stock.  How will that play out for her in the future is anyone's guess, but we doubt the government will be forgetting her performance for some time.

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Mrs Miller also raised the prospect of an additional Brisbane Ipswich Nightlink rail service out of Brisbane around 2.30am.

Will be looked at in the context of the changes to the lock-out laws etc.

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Brisbanetimes --> Jo-Ann Miller's greatest hits from budget estimates

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Brisbanetimes --> Deputy Premier Jackie Trad shrugs off Jo-Ann Miller's friendly fire

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Hansard - Record of proceedings for Transport:

>> https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/hansard/2016/2016_07_28_EstimatesTUC.pdf

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Couriermail --> Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller claims she received veiled threats for grilling ministers

LABOR MP Jo-Ann Miller says she received veiled, indirect threats from within her own party when she took the extraordinary step of grilling her Palaszczuk Government ministers this year.

Ms Miller caused the Government constant headaches during the estimates hearings, which she used to quiz former Cabinet colleagues about local issues in her electorate and call for a royal commission into black lung disease.

The former police minister sat on almost every committee – barring that of current Police Minister Bill Byrne – and lobbed curveball questions at ministers.

It is an offence to threaten a member of Parliament.

Ms Miller yesterday used a speech in Parliament to call on other MPs to follow her lead – "no matter what threats are made".

She described the estimates process as a "parliamentary waltz" that is now viewed by many as a "joke", with ministers using Government MPs' questions as time to take a breather from tougher Opposition questioning.  ...

I am a voter in the Electorate of Bundamba, Mrs Miller is our MP.

This is what I think, a letter written to the editor of Queensland Times (not published):

================

29 July 2016

Dear Editor,

I would like to thank our Member for Bundamba, Mrs Jo-Ann Miller MP, for her close scrutiny and examining key issues of importance to Bundamba Electorate constituents during the recent Parliamentary Estimates Hearings.

For a keen political observer, it was a refreshing change to see and hear real significant questions asked,  rather than just questions for opportunities for Ministers to spruik the party lines.

I was disappointed in the LNP's overall performance during Estimates.  Mrs Miller showed them how to do it!

Yours sincerely,

Robert Dow
Goodna 4300

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Thank you @JoAnnMillerMP
This is what I think @QLDLabor & @LNPQLD #qldpol
> https://t.co/MqGY8POz47 a letter I wrote to Ed @qld_times

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) August 16, 2016

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Brisbanetimes --> Miller ditches Labor waltz, dances to her own drum

Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller continued to flout her position as the most "untouchable" member of the government, by speaking out against her party's role in the estimates hearings process she all but dominated, labelling it "a joke".

Ms Miller, who joined every committee in asking her former Cabinet colleagues questions during the 10-day estimates process, with only Bill Byrne who now holds her former police portfolio, missing out on a grilling, proved more effective than the Opposition during the hearings, skewering ministers and their senior departmental staff on cost of living and issues of import to her electorate.

On Tuesday, she doubled down on her strategy, using a parliamentary debate to bemoan how the process - one of the most important in the unicameral Queensland Parliament - had become "a joke".

"What we have in Queensland is a situation where we have almost a dance, where the government side - it is so organised that it is almost like a parliamentary waltz," she said.

"You can see ministers almost relax when the government members ask questions. You can see them sigh a bit of relief and then when the Opposition gets up to ask questions, they tend to move forward and take a bit more notice."

Ms Miller called on government backbenchers - who have been labelled "apathetic" by the Opposition but which the Premier defends as "disciplined" - to "follow in my footsteps, no matter what threats are made to the individual members of the Parliament, or whatever the consequences may be". ...

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Ex-Minister Miller has right attitude > https://t.co/QiXJMwAD3X #qldpol
Indeed, pity more party sycophants don't really stand up hey !

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) August 17, 2016