Tim Mander: Crisafulli refuses to sack minister over AFP referral

Mr Mander yesterday stepped aside from cabinet after the police referral was made public and will now sit as a backbencher.

Mr Crisafulli said he would “just see where it goes” before dumping Mr Mander from his cabinet.

This is despite the Premier only being informed of the AFP referral after it was publicly reported yesterday morning, instead of being told directly by Mr Mander.

Mr Mander was made aware of the referral on Wednesday while in New Zealand on a work trip.

He emailed his lawyers, but failed to contact the Premier.

Mr Crisafulli was told about the AFP referral at lunchtime on Thursday, when one of his staffers – who had read about the refferal in the news – passed him a note while in a budget meeting.

“I had a note given to me whilst I was in a budget meeting,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“We don’t have our phones in budget meetings, so a message was passed to me.”

Mr Crisafulli, asked whether Mr Mander should have called him, said “I haven’t thought about that”.

“To be clear, I found out at lunchtime yesterday I was notified while I was in a budget meeting,” he said.

“And following that, we spoke.

“He took a decision to step down.

“I told him that was the right course of action, and he now believes he has the ability to be able to have his version of events validated.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Cameron Dick said it was “bizarre” that Mr Mander failed to tell the Premier about the AFP referral.

“That’s one of the first things Tim Mander should have done,” he said.

“It seems bizarre that a Minister who had been referred to the Australian Federal Police could not contact his boss to tell him that fact.

“Tim Mander wasn’t at the South Pole, he was in New Zealand, and now says he couldn’t contact the Premier.

“Was he near a hotel? Was he near a public phone? Why didn’t he ring the Premier?

“None of this makes sense, and that’s why this integrity crisis gets murkier by the day.”

Mr Mander has claimed he was emailing his lawyers late on Wednesday night when he received the news that he had been referred to the AFP.

He further claimed he wanted to meet with his lawyers in Brisbane on Thursday before telling Mr Crisafulli.

Tourism and Environment Minister Andrew Powell will now also take on Mr Mander’s portfolios of Sport, Racing and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mr Dick warned that Mr Powell was facing a significant workload.

“They’re big portfolios,” he said.

“You have to ask yourself whether he’s got the capacity and the ability simply to cope with that breadth of portfolio responsibilities.”

Mr Dick said Queenslanders also needed certainty around Games delivery, the major global event now just six years away.

“The Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is the signature event for our state to showcase Queensland on the world stage – that is an enormous portfolio on top of what he’s doing,” he said.

“And I think Queenslanders would be asking, how long is this going to go on for, and how long are we going to have an acting minister when the games need to be delivered?”

Mr Crisafulli said the referral was not a reflection of Mr Mander’s alleged dishonesty.

“Mr Mander has assured me he’s done nothing wrong, now it’s up to the AFP to investigate,” he said.

“And I assure you, at the end of it, I will make a decision based on what the AFP says and what happens during that process.

“I’d be very surprised if the AFP don’t understand the significance of it, and the need to do to deal with that swiftly.”

But the Premier would not say how long he would be willing to wait to shuffle his cabinet, with previous AFP electoral investigations taking up to two years.

He would also not say if an official AFP investigation would trigger Mr Mander’s sacking.

Mr Mander stepped down as Minister yesterday following the referral.

The Commission has said Mr Mander failed to provide evidence that he was living at the Ariana Hills address where he was enrolled to vote.

Failure to provide accurate electoral information is a criminal offence.

The AFP will now determine whether Mr Mander breached federal law and if an investigation should be launched.

The Premier would not say if he was angry with Mr Mander or whether the scandal was a stain on his government.

Asked if Mr Mander had acted with integrity, Mr Crisafulli responded: “That’ll be tested”.

“He has put across what he believes is a version of events that he believes will show that he’s acted appropriately,” he said.

“I want them tested across all of those models.”

The Courier-Mail contacted Mr Mander’s electoral officer Alison Hastings who reportedly lived at the Arana Hills address where he was enrolled to vote.

Ms Hastings was asked if she had assisted Mr Mander in providing information to the Electoral Commission Queensland and the Australian Electoral Commission, but declined to comment.

“I have no comment to make,” she said.