G’day readers, welcome to a short and sharp Feeding the Chooks, your unmissable guide to what’s really going on in Queensland politics.

Cash for Connections

Queensland taxpayers are forking out millions of dollars to a struggling small airline business to subsidise flights into far-flung parts of the state to “make Queensland easier to visit”.

Great idea! Except, that’s not exactly what Tourism Minister Andrew Powell announced this week, when he confirmed the first domestic flight deal from the Crisafulli Liberal National Party government’s $75m Connecting Queensland Fund.

Instead, Queenslanders are paying Jetstar – yes, part of the Qantas Group that made a record underlying profit before tax of a measly $1.46bn for the first half of this financial year – to run flights from the new federal government-owned Western Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek to the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Ah yes, that famously inaccessible route, Sydney to Brisbane.

Of course, just how much taxpayer cash was gifted to Jetstar will remain a mystery shrouded in “commercial in confidence” opacity.

The handout means that from October 25 (when the new airport will open), Jetstar will run four services a week between Western Sydney and the Gold Coast and three a week between Western Sydney and Brisbane.

And it’s not as if Queensland is rewarding Jetstar and Qantas for their undying commitment to the state.

Let’s not forget that in April, Qantas announced the temporary suspension of Melbourne-Hamilton Island flights and Jetstar temporarily suspended its Darwin-Gold Coast service.

There have also been flight reductions on some crucial regional routes – those legs that make it easier for Queenslanders themselves to move around in our sprawling state – including Brisbane-Bundaberg and Brisbane-Mackay.

Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson lauded the decision as a “milestone in Australian aviation” and boasted Jetstar had “an incredible history of growing new markets”.

“Being the first airline to launch will give one of the country’s fastest growing regions better access to low fares to some of our most popular destinations,” Hudson said.

Sounds like a great deal for Qantas.

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Not spotted: bipartisan admiration in Cairns

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie popped up in Cairns on Wednesday, accompanied by the local member for the neighbouring electorate of Barron River, Bree James, to announce $5.37m for Norship to upgrade its servicing yard.

The pair were in the electorate of Cairns, held by one of Labor’s last regional MPs standing, Michael Healy.

Political watchers may remember Bleijie has repeatedly attacked Healy in parliament for the ALP MP’s unwise social media re-posts, labelling the Opposition frontbencher a misogynist and an antisemite.

But time has passed and perhaps relations have thawed.

While it would be unusual for an Opposition member to appear at a government announcement, Chooks asked Bleijie at the end of a spirited press conference whether Healy had been invited along.

“Michael Healy?” Bleijie asked incredulously. “Not a fan of Michael Healy.”

He then cut off a local journalist’s follow-up questions: “He’s an opposition member of parliament, by the way, and he had nothing to do with this announcement. This is a Queensland government, Crisafulli LNP announcement, nothing to do with Mr Healy.”

Which witch is which, Pauline?

Women politicians have been putting up with sexist nonsense for decades, as this snapshot from the archives of a Chooks correspondent reveals.

Back in the late 1990s, after Pauline Hanson won the federal seat of Oxley – then based on Ipswich – in 1996 and One Nation won eight Queensland state seats at the 1998 election, there was a fervent local Labor campaign against her.

In this picture, longtime Labor-aligned Ipswich councillor Paul Tully can be seen holding up a sign: “The Wicked Witch – Curse of Ipswich”.

This week, Hanson told Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan to “suck it up, sweetheart” after the Labor leader was targeted by a billboard campaign – partially funded by a Melbourne brothel owner – urging Victorians to “Ditch the Witch”.

Hanson aside, the appalling billboards have been condemned by everyone from Anthony Albanese and Julia Gillard (who was targeted with the same slogan at PM) to Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson.

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