New nepotism claims have been levelled against Queensland's former arts minister Ros Bates. Source: AAP
A FRESH scandal surrounding Queensland's former arts minister, Ros Bates, has nothing to do with her resignation, her temporary successor says.
But Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek says it is unacceptable that a Screen Queensland board member and friend of Ms Bates was also working as a consultant.
Ms Bates resigned from cabinet on Friday after criticism surrounding alleged nepotism, her contact with lobbyists and the amount of leave she's taken.
On Saturday morning, it was revealed she had appointed her friend Kaye Martin to a department contract and a board position with Screen Queensland.
The Courier-Mail has reported Ms Martin earned $50,000 for three months' work reviewing finances in Ms Bates' department and was recently given a $1500-a-day consultancy at Screen Queensland despite also being appointed to its board.
Mr Langbroek, who has temporarily taken on Ms Bates' science, IT, innovation and arts portfolios, says he is seeking Ms Martin's resignation from Screen Queensland's board.
He wants Ms Martin to stand down because of the conflict of interest, not because Ms Bates appointed a friend.
"Her (Ms Bates') resignation yesterday was something that was due to health and family reasons," he told reporters in Brisbane on Saturday.
"That's separate to the situation we find ourselves in today.
"You can either be a consultant or a board member, but you can't be both."
Mr Langbroek said he only became aware of the situation late on Friday and it was the government who informed the newspaper of the story.
But Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has called on the government to release all information it has on the board appointment so it's clear exactly what the government knew.
"Did the premier know on Friday this new scandal was about to be revealed and if so why did he still not lift a finger to sack a minister who clearly had to go?" she said in a statement.
Ms Bates resignation on Friday came just hours before Premier Campbell Newman announced that sidelined Department of Transport and Main Roads director-general Michael Caltabiano would be sacked.
Mr Caltabiano had also been involved in an alleged nepotism scandal with Ms Bates after he gave her son, Ben Gommers, a high paying job in his department.
The Crime and Misconduct Commission has been investigating whether he misled parliament by telling an estimates committee he only knew Mr Gommers personally, despite having worked with him at a lobbying firm.
Mr Langbroek told reporters he had only seen a brief statement Mr Newman made about Mr Caltabiano's sacking on Friday afternoon.
"The premier ... has been very open and up front with Queenslanders and I'm sure that more of those details will come to light," he said.
Mr Langbroek said Ms Bates' permanent replacement would be sworn in on Wednesday.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Bates' friend to go amid Qld arts scandal
Dengan url
http://tempatistirahatan.blogspot.com/2013/02/bates-friend-to-go-amid-qld-arts-scandal.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Bates' friend to go amid Qld arts scandal
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Bates' friend to go amid Qld arts scandal
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar