Queensland Parliament estimates 2019-20

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https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-committees/Estimates

Estimates Hearings

The estimates process aids the Parliament in its scrutiny of the Government's proposed expenditure. Since 1994, committees of the parliament have undertaken the estimates process, by examining and reporting on the proposed expenditures contained in the Appropriation Bill and the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill.

In 2019 the examination of the Appropriation Bill and the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill will be carried out by the seven portfolio committees.

During the estimates process (from 23 July to 1 August 2019) each portfolio committee will hold a public hearing at which the Speaker and Ministers (and certain senior public servants and officers) will be questioned regarding the proposed expenditures for the relevant portfolio areas. Other Members of the Legislative Assembly who are not members of the committee may also ask questions, with the leave of the committee.

The dates of portfolio committee hearings are set out below.

Information on the 2019 budget process will be available on each committee's Estimates inquiry page by clicking on the Consideration of 2019/20 portfolio budget estimates inquiry details links below. The hearing schedules for each committee can be accessed by clicking on the relevant date below and also on the individual committee's Estimates inquiry page. Please note: links to the inquiry pages and schedules will be added as they become available.

When the committee's hearings are completed, the committee members meet, discuss the information gained and compile a report for tabling in Parliament. Reports are to be tabled by 16 August 2019. The reports are then debated by the Parliament as part of its consideration of the Appropriation Bills.

Transport and Public Works Committee
Minister for Transport and Main Roads
Minister for Housing and Public Works, Minister for Digital Technology and Minister for Sport

30 July 2019

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Tic Tic Tic Tic...

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https://twitter.com/QueenslandParl1/status/1151982725370265600

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https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-committees/Estimates

23rd July 2019

Economics and Governance Committee

Speaker

Premier and Minister for Trade

Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
Minister for Local Government, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs

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https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1153386642909962240

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https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/deputy-premier-jackie-trad-to-face-estimates-hearings-as-integrity-scandal-grows/live-coverage/4607f41d8de6189071d7100c9e7b439a

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been unable to say whether she was aware of a $267,000 business development grant that was given to a business part-owned by her Chief of Staff David Barbagallo.

The business is called Fortress Capstone Pty Ltd.

Ms Palaszczuk said the business had been declared but said she would take Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington's question about whether she was aware on notice.

Mr Barbagallo is listed as a director of the business in ASIC documents. ...

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https://twitter.com/fel_caldwell/status/1153484358986022915

" ... CruiseTraka is described as a "smartphone-based solution used by passengers to share their cruise experience with family and friends back home in almost real time via social media and email".  " 

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^   

FMD ...

Can anyone slip me some moolah, I want to make a new app to monitor NGR brake squeal ...

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https://twitter.com/DebFrecklington/status/1153488596961124353

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Couriermail --> Annastacia Palaszczuk's chief of staff's company awarded taxpayer funds for smartphone app

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has agreed to audit how a business part-owned by her chief of staff after was awarded $267,500 in taxpayer funds to develop a smartphone app.

A COMPANY part-owned by Annastacia Palaszczuk's right-hand man received $267,500 in taxpayer funds to develop a smartphone app, sparking a fresh integrity crisis for the Government.

The Premier yesterday agreed to an audit of how Fortress Capstone, of which her chief of staff David Barbagallo is a director and shareholder, came to successfully obtain the money through a lucrative government-run investment fund to develop an app for cruising tourists.

The commitment came after Ms Palaszczuk was initially blindsided by Opposition questions on the funding during yesterday's Budget Estimates hearing at state parliament.

The Premier has said no government representatives were on the panel which decided on the investment, while a government spokesman said Mr Barbagallo had withdrawn himself from the application process before becoming chief of staff.

LNP Leader Deb Frecklington called for an investigation, declaring the awarding of money to a company linked to one of the government's most powerful men did not pass the pub test.

"Queenslanders have a right to know why the Palaszczuk Labor Government wrote a six-figure cheque for David Barbagallo's business," she said. "What integrity tests were applied — if any — and what happened to the money?"

Fortress Capstone received $267,500 from the $80 million Business Development Fund last year to develop the CruiseTraka app.

"CruiseTraka (Fortress Capstone Pty Ltd) is a smartphone-based solution used by passengers to share their cruise experience with family and friends back home in almost real time via social media and email," the Business Development Fund's website states.

The fund — established under the Government's Advance Queensland scheme — awards businesses between $125,000 and $2.5 million to develop their ideas, with the Government becoming a co-investor in the business in exchange for the cash.

Company records show the fund became a shareholder in Fortress Capstone in February 2018. Mr Barbagallo has been a director since 2007.

Ms Palaszczuk was initially unable to say if she had been made aware of the investment when questioned by LNP Leader Deb Frecklington.

But she later clarified Mr Barbagallo — a longtime Labor figure who rose to prominence in party circles while working for the late Wayne Goss — had informed her the company had been successful. The audit of the awarding of the funds will be undertaken by Ms Palaszczuk's director-general.

A spokesman for the Government said initial talks regarding the application began in 2017, before Mr Barbagallo took the chief of staff role. He said the full application was made after his appointment to the role. But he insisted Mr Barbagallo had withdrawn himself from the process at that point "as soon as he was employed by the Premier".

"The investment is in the company, of which the chief of staff is one of approximately 20 shareholders," he said. "As outlined on the fund's website, any amount invested in a company is a consequence of a decision made by the independent panel with no government or ministerial input. Just like when a private entity invests in another private company, it is not a grant or a loan — it is an investment which results in a share of the company and (its) profits."

Ms Palaszczuk said a panel of private investors were responsible for deciding which businesses should benefit, with no government representatives on the panel.

"The chief of staff filled out his pecuniary interest register in accordance with guidelines," she told the hearing.

"The chief of staff sought Integrity Commission advice. The chief of staff advised me last year that a company had been successful and all measures were in place. For completion, the DG will conduct an audit. No decision was taken by a minister in relation to it. It has been at arm's length. I am happy, for clarity, to do an audit to ensure that all processes were followed. I know the chief of staff is absolutely rigorous in making sure that processes are followed."

The Premier's office could not say last night if Mr Barbagallo's pecuniary interest register would be released.

Mr Barbagallo is known in Labor circles as a Mr Fix-it as well as a political headkicker. He was one of many Labor figures embroiled in the 2001 Shepherdson inquiry into electoral fraud. He was fined $1000 over the enrolment scheme.

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https://twitter.com/7NewsBrisbane/status/1153576501473763328

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Couriermail --> David Barbagallo part of Qld Labor landscape for over three decades

The Premier's right-hand man, now embroiled in the Government's second integrity crisis in a week, is widely regarded as a Labor Party "fixer''.

DAVID Barbagallo, AM, has been a key figure in Queensland Labor politics and corporate life for over three decades, and is widely regarded as an effective "fixer''.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's chief of staff — now embroiled in the Government's second intregrity crisis in a week — began working in the Australian Labor Party in the 1980s and, after serving as a systems analyst for Australia Post, became IT adviser and chief adviser to premier Wayne Goss.

During his early years with Labor he did something which was later to come to the notice of the Shepherdson inquiry into allegations of electoral fraud.

The Shepherdson inquiry led to high-profile resignations of then deputy premier Jim Elder, and high-profile MP and ALP state secretary Mike Kaiser.

But Barbagallo was the only ALP identity charged with electoral rorting.

In 2002 he admitted that while working for the ALP in the 1980s he had falsely enrolled one person amid some factional brawling over an important Brisbane seat.

He was fined $1000 with no conviction recorded.

Barbagallo's name was also brought up when a ranger in far north Queensland in 1993 located a ute that belonged to his brother Paul.

The ranger was suspicious that the ute may have been involved in the smuggling of prized Foxtail Palm seeds — an allegation Paul Barbagallo denied.

He was later fined $200 over the saga.

While Paul Barbagallo was being questioned at the Cooktown police station David Barbagallo turned up with another Goss government employee, Denis Atkins, who later worked as a journalist for The Courier Mail.

Allegations were made that David Barbagallo was there to interfere with the investigation, but those allegations were later found to be untrue by then watchdog the Criminal Justice Commission.

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https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-committees/committees/TPWC/inquiries/current-inquiries/Estimates2019-20

Transport and Public Works Committee Estimates 2019

Hearing program

Tuesday 30 July 2019

Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament House

Transport and Main Roads Minister for Transport and Main Roads 9.00am – 11.00am

Break

Transport and Main Roads Minister for Transport and Main Roads 11.30am – 1.15pm

Hearing broadcast – The broadcast will be available to view on the day of the hearing on ParliamentTV

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Rolling estimates blog. @JoAnnMillerMP has made her Estimates debut: https://t.co/gpdsP8eSUF #qldpol @couriermail

— Sarah Vogler (@SarahLVogler) July 30, 2019

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Mrs Miller Member for Bundamba asked about the poor bus rail connections eg. 522 and need to improve the bus timetables.   

Transcript will be available later.

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ESTIMATES—TRANSPORT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE—TRANSPORT
AND MAIN ROADS

Hearing transcript:

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/Committees/TPWC/2019/Estimates2019-20/trns-30Jul2019-est.pdf

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Mrs Miller Member for Bundamba asked about the poor bus rail connections eg. 522 and need to improve the bus timetables.   

Transcript will be available later.

Page 27 of the transcript  ( they are really talking about the 522 ...  )

Mrs MILLER: I have a question, Director-General, in relation to the bus-rail connections. The
issue within my electorate is that those people who are able to get to a bus often complain that they
arrive at the train station too late because of delays on the Ipswich Motorway or on the local network.
What they are asking is that you review those timetables for the peak-hour times so that they can arrive
at the station in time. They do not mind that they are there 10 or 15 minutes before the train goes, but
it is no good if they turn up two minutes after the train has gone. They have asked whether TransLink
could conduct a review which would then give them a better opportunity to use efficient public transport.

Mr Scales: I can give you the specific example of route 552, which has specific journey time
reliability issues. We do recognise the importance of continued investment in the public transport
network so Queenslanders can get easier connections to health services, education and jobs and with
each other. In the last financial year we spent over a million dollars in improvements to the urban and
school bus network. As you point out, member, the 552 bus gets stuck in traffic. It operates between
Springfield and Goodna offering a half-hour frequency between 5.30 in the morning and 8.30 pm on
weekdays and an hourly service at weekends.

Because the route performs a number of functions along its journey including linking to rail
stations at Goodna and Springfield Central, as well as providing coverage to residential estates, we
acknowledge that the connections are not as good as they could be because of peak traffic congestion
at the morning commuter peak and afternoon school bell time. We are working with our bus delivery
partner Bus Queensland to do service improvements to improve the on-time running which might, as
you say, inject more time to get to the end point.

By way of example, route 552 is one that we are working on now. If you have any other examples,
I would be very happy to take them because it is very important that we maintain connections. Buses
are unlike the train, tram and ferry, which all own the route on which they operate so you can guarantee
frequency and reliability. Buses are subject to congestion, traffic accidents and all sorts of other issues.
We have route 552 on our list, member for Bundamba, but if you have any more I am happy to have
them.