The high-profile figures who most often appear in Palaszczuk’s diary
By Matt Dennien
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with, from left, CFMEU Queensland secretary Michael Ravbar, billionaire Andrew Forrest, and Toowoomba businessman John Wagner.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
Billionaires, diplomats and Olympic bosses are among the high-profile figures to feature prominently in Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s official diary over the past three years.
A data analysis of 31 months’ worth of ministerial diaries helps illustrate the course of Queensland politics since the last election, revealing who met whom as the Premier and her government worked on the 2032 Olympics, grappled with the COVID pandemic and negotiated deals, trips and policies.
The lists reflect the people and organisations with the most tallied monthly diary appearances – some may be multiple interactions and include meetings, events and media appearances. The diaries do not include party, personal or sensitive scheduling.
Included are meetings between the premier and top business figures, including Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, Visy’s Anthony Pratt and John Wagner, whose family company secured contracts to build and lease the now-decommissioned Wellcamp quarantine hub in 2021.
With 16 encounters, Wagner was the private individual who had the most documented diary appearances with cabinet ministers since the election.
Union chiefs, crossbench MPs and sports CEOs also feature repeatedly in the ministerial diaries, with Olympics and Paralympics committee chiefs keeping Palaszczuk – the Olympics Minister – busiest with 31 mentions meetings since October 2020.
Other sporting codes also received face time with the premier and her ministers, including NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and Brisbane Racing Club’s Neville Bell, with the arts most represented by Queensland Ballet’s Li Cunxin.
Since the 2020 election, the most regular fixtures in ministerial offices were the mayors of major cities and top public servants, including police, health and emergency services leadership.
Most notable of these was former chief health officer and now-Governor Jeannette Young, who managed a whopping 147 mentions in that time.
Unions are key players in the Labor Party and gained significant access to the government with Peter Ong of the Electrical Trades Union, Gary O’Halloran of the Plumbers Union and the CFMEU’s Michael Ravbar collectively receiving more diary time than present and former prime ministers Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison, respectively.
The LNP frontbench doesn’t keep equivalent diaries but Opposition Leader David Crisafulli provides an outline of his meetings, which include the Australian Medical Association, the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee, executives from Queensland Energy Resources, Consul-General of Japan to Brisbane Kazunari Tanaka, and Football Queensland’s Robert Cavallucci.
Palaszczuk has promised to provide further transparency around meetings with lobbyists following a major government integrity review.