{"id":193005,"date":"2025-09-02T02:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T02:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193005\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T02:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T02:33:12","slug":"queensland-premier-referred-to-states-crime-and-corruption-commission-over-health-officer-appointment-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193005\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland premier referred to state’s Crime and Corruption Commission over health officer appointment process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland’s premier and health minister have been referred to the state’s corruption watchdog, facing allegations they “inappropriately intervened” in the appointment of a senior public servant.<\/p>\n

The state’s opposition has asked the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) to investigate if the alleged intervention in the hiring process for a permanent chief health officer (CHO) amounted to corrupt conduct.<\/p>\n

Dr Krispin Hajkowicz was offered the role after a lengthy global recruitment process, before it was rescinded last month.<\/p>\n

The process had gone so far that a corporate head shot had been arranged, and a media release drafted by Queensland Health to announce the appointment.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Krispin Hajkowicz was initially appointed to the role in 2021. (ABC News: Dea Clark)<\/p>\n

Dr Hajkowicz was previously appointed to the job in 2021 but resigned days before he was due to start, citing “personal reasons”.<\/p>\n

Letter sent to CCC<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Steven Miles, in a letter to CCC chair Bruce Barbour seen by the ABC, alleged cabinet members had intervened and has called for an investigation as to whether “corrupt conduct and\/or misconduct had occurred”.<\/p>\n

\n

“The Queensland Labor Opposition asserts that the premier, the minister for health and ambulance services and likely other senior ministers, including the deputy premier, inappropriately intervened in and potentially directed a senior public servant to rescind an offer made to Dr Krispin Hajkowicz, who was found to be the most meritorious candidate for the chief health officer role following an exhaustive recruitment process.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The government has consistently denied it intervened in the recruitment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Man chosen as next CHO declines the job<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr\u00a0Krispin Hajkowicz tells the Queensland government he cannot accept the job of chief health officer for personal reasons.<\/p>\n

“I do not think it would be acceptable for the state to put the individual in a forward-facing role like this, and I do not think it would be right for him [Dr Hajkowicz] either,” Premier David Crisafulli told Queensland parliament last week.<\/p>\n

‘Uninformed and superficial’<\/p>\n

Mr Miles alleged while the premier did not tell the Queensland Health boss, Dr David Rosegren, to rescind the offer, he did advise him of the government’s concern, labelling it a “tacit instruction”.<\/p>\n

In a press conference Mr Crisafulli denied that he said the offer should be rescinded but said had spoken to Dr Rosegren about the appointment.<\/p>\n

Mr Miles referenced some reporting of the views of the expert recruitment panel, which identified Dr Hajkowicz as the preferred candidate and “positive, strategic, and forward looking”.<\/p>\n

“This reported insight into the views of the recruitment panel is in direct contradiction to the reasoning given by the premier, deputy premier and minister,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“It shows that their apparent reasoning was, at best, uninformed and superficial. It demonstrates exactly why political intervention of this nature was entirely inappropriate.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Queensland Opposition Leader Steven Miles has asked the CCC to investigate if the actions of the premier and other government ministers amounted to corrupt conduct. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)<\/p>\n

Wife’s political views raised<\/p>\n

Dr Hajkowicz’s wife, Dr Sarah Martin, made a submission to parliament earlier this year, concerning new laws which exempted 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games infrastructure from planning rules.<\/p>\n

Of particular concern in her submission was the Victoria Park stadium.<\/p>\n

Queensland passes legislation for Olympic Games venues<\/a><\/p>\n

The move will exempt Games infrastructure from major planning laws, in a bid to ensure projects are not held up by potential legal challenges.<\/p>\n

She wrote the laws, designed to stop projects being held up by potential legal challenges, were “right out of the Joh Bjelke-Petersen playbook”.<\/p>\n

Mr Miles’s letter to the CCC asked for the CCC to investigate if the job offer had been rescinded over political views.<\/p>\n

“Of deep concern, it has also been publicly reported that the decision to veto this appointment had clear political motivations,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“It is alleged that the reasoning was due to the political activities of an unknown person, or persons, who reside in Dr Hajkowicz’s residence.<\/p>\n

“The alternative, if not investigated, is a lasting perception that a politician, or politicians, have influenced this process purely for political purposes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The government said it wasn’t aware of the submission in the recruitment process.<\/p>\n

A renewed recruitment campaign was launched to find a new permanent chief health officer in early August<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr Hajkowicz is seeking legal advice over the rescinded offer.<\/p>\n

Mr Miles has asked the CCC to make its report public should it choose to investigate.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the CCC said it does not comment on, or confirm, referrals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland’s premier and health minister have been referred to the state’s corruption watchdog, facing allegations they “inappropriately intervened”…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,107728,17628,4219,107727,107732,454,107731,50,88788,2853,107729,4797,4798,107730],"class_list":{"0":"post-193005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-chief-health-officer","10":"tag-corruption","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-crime-and-corruption-commission","13":"tag-dr-krispin-hajkowicz","14":"tag-government","15":"tag-health-minister-tim-nicholls","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-opposition","18":"tag-parliament","19":"tag-premier-david-crisafulli","20":"tag-qld","21":"tag-queensland","22":"tag-queensland-labor"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115132367419298695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}