Campbell Newman will today retreat from some of the Government’s most controversial decisions
Looks like the writings on the wall for these c!@ts....good job!
- The Courier-Mail
- July 21, 2014
The Courier-Mail can reveal Cabinet will today discuss scrapping several of the most contentious elements of reforms to Queensland’s corruption watchdog and tough anti-bikie legislation.
The Queensland Premier spent yesterday briefing senior LNP MPs on his plans after the Government suffered a massive 18.6 per cent swing against it in Stafford.
It is understood the Government will reintroduce a bipartisan appointments process for the chair of the newly named Crime and Corruption Commission.
The controversial decision by Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to remove the bipartisan parliamentary committee’s role in appointments was heavily condemned by former corruption inquiry head Tony Fitzgerald in one of his numerous salvos at the Newman Government.
Cabinet will also discuss removing some of the harshest aspects of the criminal motorcycle gang legislation that Mr Newman has repeatedly insisted he does not like but were an important weapon in the war against rebel bikies.
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It is also understood Cabinet members have been assured there will be no reshuffle and each will fight on to the election and be tasked with better selling the Government’s achievements.
A senior Government source last night said Mr Newman had briefed colleagues that the Stafford result showed the Government’s pace and extent of reform had worried Queenslanders and they must now act.
“He has consulted his colleagues today and intends to take to Cabinet a number of measures to address those concerns,’’ the source said.
Cabinet will also discuss asset sales but the Government remains staunchly behind the need to pay down debt and invest in infrastructure.
Labor candidate Anthony Lynham now holds the party’s safest seat after a mammoth swing against the LNP which surpassed the Redcliffe result of 17.1 per cent in February.
The Stafford outcome, just eight months before the general election, sent shock waves through the LNP and renewed fears over whether Mr Newman can retain his neighbouring electorate of Ashgrove which he holds by a margin of 5.7 per cent.
Mr Newman yesterday ruled out a reshuffle but said the Government has to do better at selling its achievements. “The issue is that Queenslanders perhaps don’t appreciate exactly the case that the state is starting to really move forward,” he said.