It is being suggested that a former frontman for a high-risk finance company that went bust owing millions of dollars to mum and dad investors is likely to become the next Queensland Governor.
Do we want someone who chaired a company with a director who had a dodgy past to become the Queen’s representative in Queensland?
His smiling face was used in newspaper advertisements to entice people to part with their money in return for interest rates of up to 11% - rates that canny investors may have thought too good to be true.
As a former Queensland Premier he gave credibility to the company’s investment scheme when he urged 4BC and 4BH listeners to part with their money.
Company documents show he was chairman of the company, Asset Loans Ltd, from June 2004 to June 2010.
This is not the only reason why Rob Borbidge should not be considered for the most exalted position at the pinnacle of Queensland’s statehood, officiating on behalf of the Queen with our government and judiciary.
There are other reasons to worry about the Brisbane Times’ report that it is widely tipped that Mr Borbidge will be our next Governor.
It’s important to remember that as Opposition Leader in 1996 he signed a secret agreement with the Police Union pledging that if he became premier he would not appoint as police commissioner anyone to whom the union objected.
The corruption-busting Fitzgerald Inquiry had found that: “The Union on occasion has been both the means by which and the forum in which honest police have been dissuaded from doing their duty and reporting misconduct.”
Mr Borbidge should have been acquainted with a finding of the Fitzgerald Report of 1989 that: “It is singularly inappropriate for the Union to demand the right to influence the selection of the Police Commissioner or Minister.”
Yet in January 1996, as part of a desperate grab for government, he signed his name to a grubby deal that gave the union precisely the power that Fitzgerald had specifically warned against.
After Mr Borbidge became Premier the independent Criminal Justice Commission asked retired judge Kenneth Carruthers QC to investigate this agreement but the Borbidge Government sought to scupper this investigation by appointing an inquiry to investigate the Commission.
In doing so it usurped the powers of the parliamentary committee which had been created to keep the Commission at arm’s length from executive government.
The government-appointed inquiry demanded that Mr Carruthers hand over all the evidence he had gathered.
There was little surprise when the Supreme Court of Queensland found the Borbidge Government-appointed inquiry was biased and halted it but not before it had done enormous damage to the Criminal Justice Commission and wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.
Then there is the question of how Mr Borbidge would be regarded by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
While Mr Borbidge was Premier he waged a savage two-year war against native title aspirants, seeking initially a "one-point solution", namely the extinction of all native title, subject to compensation.
In a campaign designed to frighten voters, there was even a suggestion that backyards were under threat.
And, finally, there is the requirement that: “The Governor, as the representative of the Queen who is the Head of State in Queensland, does not participate in the political process.”
The Courier-Mail has reported that Mr Borbidge is using his political experience to act for Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung, chairman of Aquis GBR which wants to build a casino and massive tourist development on 3.4 square kilometres of rural land north of Cairns.
As a lobbyist for Govstrat Pty Ltd he introduced Aquis to the Premier’s Office in May and later facilitated a meeting with the Deputy Premier and Co-ordinator General regarding Aquis’s project.
The project is now on the government's list of co-ordinated major projects with completion not due until 2018 and the casino licence not yet even applied for.
According to the website of the Integrity Commissioner, Mr Borbidge is senior counsel with Govstrat Pty Ltd – one of only three lobbyists employed by the company.
One of the duties of the Governor is to preside over meetings of the Executive Council which comprises Ministers of the Crown. Convention also allows a Governor to be consulted, to encourage and to warn.
If Mr Borbidge were to become the next Governor, who is to say that he won’t have to preside at an Executive Council to deal with some aspect of the very project that he has been involved with as a lobbyist?
And which is worse in terms of being ruled out of the running for governorship: being the “urger” who enticed people to invest their money in a high-risk company or being the Premier who placed the executive government jackboot on the throat of a parliamentary committee?
Queensland has far more appropriate and deserving candidates for this crucial position.
Do we want someone who chaired a company with a director who had a dodgy past to become the Queen’s representative in Queensland?
His smiling face was used in newspaper advertisements to entice people to part with their money in return for interest rates of up to 11% - rates that canny investors may have thought too good to be true.
As a former Queensland Premier he gave credibility to the company’s investment scheme when he urged 4BC and 4BH listeners to part with their money.
Company documents show he was chairman of the company, Asset Loans Ltd, from June 2004 to June 2010.
This is not the only reason why Rob Borbidge should not be considered for the most exalted position at the pinnacle of Queensland’s statehood, officiating on behalf of the Queen with our government and judiciary.
There are other reasons to worry about the Brisbane Times’ report that it is widely tipped that Mr Borbidge will be our next Governor.
It’s important to remember that as Opposition Leader in 1996 he signed a secret agreement with the Police Union pledging that if he became premier he would not appoint as police commissioner anyone to whom the union objected.
The corruption-busting Fitzgerald Inquiry had found that: “The Union on occasion has been both the means by which and the forum in which honest police have been dissuaded from doing their duty and reporting misconduct.”
Mr Borbidge should have been acquainted with a finding of the Fitzgerald Report of 1989 that: “It is singularly inappropriate for the Union to demand the right to influence the selection of the Police Commissioner or Minister.”
Yet in January 1996, as part of a desperate grab for government, he signed his name to a grubby deal that gave the union precisely the power that Fitzgerald had specifically warned against.
After Mr Borbidge became Premier the independent Criminal Justice Commission asked retired judge Kenneth Carruthers QC to investigate this agreement but the Borbidge Government sought to scupper this investigation by appointing an inquiry to investigate the Commission.
In doing so it usurped the powers of the parliamentary committee which had been created to keep the Commission at arm’s length from executive government.
The government-appointed inquiry demanded that Mr Carruthers hand over all the evidence he had gathered.
There was little surprise when the Supreme Court of Queensland found the Borbidge Government-appointed inquiry was biased and halted it but not before it had done enormous damage to the Criminal Justice Commission and wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.
Then there is the question of how Mr Borbidge would be regarded by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
While Mr Borbidge was Premier he waged a savage two-year war against native title aspirants, seeking initially a "one-point solution", namely the extinction of all native title, subject to compensation.
In a campaign designed to frighten voters, there was even a suggestion that backyards were under threat.
And, finally, there is the requirement that: “The Governor, as the representative of the Queen who is the Head of State in Queensland, does not participate in the political process.”
The Courier-Mail has reported that Mr Borbidge is using his political experience to act for Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung, chairman of Aquis GBR which wants to build a casino and massive tourist development on 3.4 square kilometres of rural land north of Cairns.
As a lobbyist for Govstrat Pty Ltd he introduced Aquis to the Premier’s Office in May and later facilitated a meeting with the Deputy Premier and Co-ordinator General regarding Aquis’s project.
The project is now on the government's list of co-ordinated major projects with completion not due until 2018 and the casino licence not yet even applied for.
According to the website of the Integrity Commissioner, Mr Borbidge is senior counsel with Govstrat Pty Ltd – one of only three lobbyists employed by the company.
One of the duties of the Governor is to preside over meetings of the Executive Council which comprises Ministers of the Crown. Convention also allows a Governor to be consulted, to encourage and to warn.
If Mr Borbidge were to become the next Governor, who is to say that he won’t have to preside at an Executive Council to deal with some aspect of the very project that he has been involved with as a lobbyist?
And which is worse in terms of being ruled out of the running for governorship: being the “urger” who enticed people to invest their money in a high-risk company or being the Premier who placed the executive government jackboot on the throat of a parliamentary committee?
Queensland has far more appropriate and deserving candidates for this crucial position.
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