The Labor figures and Queensland government critics in early health board exit lounge

Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: further health board intrigue, an audit office check-in, job swappers’ mysterious and important work, and more.

After closing the tent over the long weekend to gorge on chocolate eggs, Circus has returned for one last bite at another item in vast oversupply: state health service board changes.

In particular, the second cohort of members across the 16 boards who went unmentioned by Health Minister Tim Nicholls: those whose 2028-ending terms were cut short.

Our sleuthing of the state of play, based on the gazetted appointments and reappointments, along with comparisons of the new and former board compositions, has delivered results.

Assuming all health service boards have updated their websites, which most – if not all – appeared to have, we’ve found nine people who’ve left early across six of the boards.

It must be noted that, while the government does have new powers to push people without cause, such looming refresh can also be used as a tidy time to resign for various reasons.

Case in point: former Metro North board member Adrian Carson, said to have tendered his resignation back in August, to take effect on April 1 alongside the rest of the class of 2026.

But Carson isn’t the only early departure from Metro North. Joining him are former Labor minister Linda Lavarch, not shy social service peak chief Aimee McVeigh, and Shea Spierings.

Over the river at Metro South, former Labor candidate Donisha Duff is also gone, along with Gail Ker.

Another former Labor minister, Paul Lucas, is off the South West health board, with Darren Brown off West Moreton, Karen Prentis no longer at Wide Bay and former long-term public servant Michael Hogan, who got his state start under the Beattie government, gone from the Gold Coast.

The key remaining unanswered question, of course, is which of those were booted against their will (and without cause).

While those reached by Circus politely declined to elaborate on the record, and Nicholls has refused to say if he’s used his shiny new powers, we do know some were sent letters giving them a matter of days to explain why they should be kept.

Happy Easter!

The work is mysterious and important for Premier and Cabinet job swappers

The Circus tent lit up with chatter on Thursday night when one of our ranks broke news of only the second shuffle-out of a department boss since Crisafulli and Co put its permanent post-election picks in place.

Most notably, the explanation of a government spokesperson around the job-swapping of Customer Services head Chris Lamont with David Sinclair’s not-quite director-general implementation role in Premier and Cabinet.

In the government’s lingo, part of a “Senior Executive Mobility Arrangement”. In the words of one former senior public servant, “it’s a parking lot”.

Circus is certainly not shooting down the value of a good secondment. Particularly in circumstances where someone (Sinclair) hasn’t been a director-general or someone (Lamont) is still relatively new to the state public service.

But such arrangements, of course, are also of benefit to the government of the day, for whom reassignment can mean avoiding any pesky golden handshakes for various reasons and/or a neat way to retain people who could be useful elsewhere.

Look no further than the only other director-general chair to have had multiple internally shifted occupants over at Youth Justice – still yet to appoint a permanent replacement for Bob (Job) Gee.

So, of course, the question of why has loomed large over last week’s activity. (A question ignored by the office of long-term MP but first-time minister Steve Minnikin.)

The government spokesperson’s line only that Lamont had shifted to help deliver whole-of-government policy and economic priorities gave little away. An additional one in response to how long the exchange might last perhaps said more.

In a phrase reminiscent of one delivered by the fictional Mark Scout of Severance fame, the spokesperson said: “The work is critical and will take as long as required”.

Artificial intelligence, coming to help trim an annual report intro near you

One responsibility of Lamont/Sinclair’s department is the government’s internal generative artificial intelligence tool, QChat.

Because, of course, the public sector is far from immune to the hype train of a technology whose workplace benefit is probably still fairly described as to-be-determined.

Someone who is in the engine carriage of that train, it seems, is the state’s independent Information Commissioner, Joanne Kummrow. A self-described “QChatter” as they are (apparently) known.

Fronting a hearing of her parliamentary oversight committee late last month, Kummrow was lobbed a question from the government’s Thuringowa MP Natalie Marr, curious about how the office’s trial of the tech was going (while conceding she was still, for some reason, focused on working out the fax machine).

Kummrow said that to regulate the space and support others, she felt it was important “we are kind of in the sandpit as well”. And by her own telling, Kummrow is all in.

Some members of staff with a curiosity had taken it up, and were finding “great benefits” from it preparing briefing notes for her.

When it comes to trimming down an initial 900-word forward for her annual report into something more concise, Kummrow herself has also found a use.

“I am not on the payroll for the developers or the department, but I have to tell you that I am truly impressed by it,” she said.

We sure hope not, and can assure Circus readers that any trimming back of this column is done by sheer brainpower alone. And with not a fax machine site.

Is AI replacing town planners at city hall?

Speaking of the wonders of technology, Circus had heard rumblings a potential AI rollout at City Hall would come at the expense of workers in the Brisbane City Council’s town planning division.

Chat about a possible cut to staff in the division had begun circulating, with one well-placed contact saying the cause of the scuttlebutt was a heightened fear among workers council would begin using AI to assess development applications for minor structures such as garages and porches.

A council spokeswoman told Circus no AI platform was currently being used and there was no plan being considered to replace staff with machines.

But they did confirm Brisbane council was “exploring what technology is available on the market”.

The rumours come after fears in the corporate sector AI would replace jobs became a reality this year, with thousands of jobs cut from CBA, Bendigo Bank, WiseTech and Atlassian alone in recent weeks.

In an AI world, it’s unlikely development applications would be stamped by robots and the expertise of town planners will still be needed.

But some specific AI-driven platforms are already available for the local government sector to automatically measure building heights, site coverage, and setbacks on digital applications.

How AI will impact the public sector workforce more broadly is a keen focus for Circus. Another gentle reminder our inboxes are open for human workers.

Audit office’s reminder for board blood new and old – and don’t worry about the consultants

With all the recent influx of newbies to the state’s health service boards, the Queensland Audit Office wasted no time reiterating its warning from January.

By way of a reminder, that was the office’s annual health sector report, which featured a chunk dedicated to the conflict-of-interest risks raised by the government’s rule for health services to have one of their own clinicians on the board. (Questioned by Integrity Commissioner Linda Waugh).

In a blog post on the independent finance watchdog’s website last week, senior director David Toma wrote that conflicts are not uncommon and are often a byproduct of appointing folks with the relevant skills, and experience.

Which, of course, can also give rise to actual, potential, or perceived competing interests. “It is not realistic to eliminate all conflicts – but it is essential to manage them well,” Toma wrote.

Toma said “perception and trust is critical” and it was now over to the new boards to ensure plans were in place to manage any and all conflicts that exist, and members to disclose these. You’ve been warned.

On the subject of the auditors, and in light of recent events, Circus thought we might as well take the chance to came back to another of their reports we haven’t touched on here yet: March’s annual state entities check-in.

Given Circus’ interest in the happenings of appointments to government bodies, a section titled “managing the impact of changes to senior leadership” grabbed our attention.

Under the heading, the office noted that between July 2024 and November 2025, about one quarter of all statutory body board members and chairs were new appoints.

For government-owned corporations, this rose to “almost all board chairs and 76 per cent of board roles”. Meanwhile, 13 director-general appointments were made across 28 departments.

While noting this obviously helps with the necessary need for renewal, the audit office also pointed out that many leadership changes came before those leaders’ terms were up. Whoops.

The auditors diplomatically noted this meant many public sector bodies risked facing lost corporate knowledge, pointing to another of their recent reports recommending an overhaul of appointment processes – still yet to see any action, of course.

Elsewhere in that report, the $406 million year-on-year increase in government spending on consultants and contractors in 2024-25 to $4 billion is briefly touched on. Briefly being the key word here.

Particularly, when finding $6.8 billion savings from such spending was a key plank of the Crisafulli government’s pre-election plan to pay for its promises and lower debt.

And, most notably, the fact the audit office had geared-up to file a standalone post-Coaldrake report on the matter this financial year, before dumping it from the forward work plan.

The explanation at the time? The topic had been reassessed and the work better rolled into the annual state entities reports.

If this is it, Circus isn’t sure it quite cuts it.

Have a curiosity for the Public Circus tent? Email us on m.dennien@brisbanetimes.com.au or james.hall@nine.com.au (or sing out more securely via mattdennien@protonmail.com and @mattdennien.15 on Signal).