• State Budget deepens mystery of Minister O’Rourke’s achievements
• Ms O’Rourke’s role as Minister for North Queensland not mentioned in key budget papers
• Budget clear evidence North Queensland is going without a strong voice at the cabinet table

The ongoing mystery that is Coralee O’Rourke’s position as Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland continued this week, when the Palaszczuk Government’s second budget failed to make clear to North Queenslanders what Ms O’Rourke was responsible for.

Shadow Natural Resources and Mines and Member for Hinchinbrook Andrew Cripps said the Labor’s second budget contained no information for Queenslanders as to the formal role of Coralee O’Rourke as the Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland.

“Unlike other ministers, neither the budget papers, nor the departmental service delivery statements in which Coralee O’Rourke is mentioned as a responsible Minister, contain any information about her role assisting the Premier on North Queensland,” Mr Cripps said.

“This lack of transparency and accountability is, for a second year in a row, unacceptable.  Through the estimates process last year, Minister O’Rourke was exposed for not being technically responsible for anything in North Queensland.

“A full year later, it’s extraordinary the Palaszczuk Government has failed to clarify Ms O’Rourke’s responsibilities or achievements for the State’s north, despite the region’s social and economic importance to the State.

“This doesn’t however prevent her from trying to take the credit for various things that happen in North Queensland.

“It seems North Queensland is paying for Labor’s factional system and the entrenched mediocrity it promotes.  Unfortunately, while this situation continues, North Queensland is going without a strong voice at the cabinet table.”