It’s parliament, not Love Island: Queensland’s ministerial affair drama becomes a sordid distraction

Question time in the Queensland parliament is not a ratings juggernaut.

Nielsen doesn’t publish ratings data about the live stream from Brisbane’s George Street, but one imagines the numbers of voters tuning in to watch our state politicians flagellate on a weekday morning are relatively low: a handful of politics nerds and the odd journo who prefers to work from home.

Tuesday’s broadcast seemed more suited to prime time; like an episode of Love Island, full of sordid allegations about affairs, only the cast seems far less likable.

During question time the deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie – a man not known for his subtlety – made good on a promise from last week to expose personal relationships of Labor MPs.

Bleijie breathlessly rattled off the names of five Labor MPs and threatened to reveal information about their personal relationships. He accused another two of being in a relationship (which they deny).

“We’ve all heard rumours and innuendoes and stories,” Bleijie said.

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Bleijie’s remarkable comments followed repeated questions from Labor about the relationship between two Liberal National party ministers, Tim Mander and Amanda Camm.

Stories about Mander and Camm, and questions about the timeline of their coupling, have been front-page news in Queensland. The justification for the inquisition has been “integrity” concerns, though there has frankly been more smoke than fire in that regard.

The LNP created this mess. They coined the term “integrity crisis” during the last term of government, mainly to overhype a story about the wiping of a laptop retrieved from the office of the integrity commissioner. An investigation later found the circumstances were not actually on par with Watergate but in fact “entirely ordinary”.

Labor created this mess, too. The opposition is floundering when it comes to actually holding the government to account for its quiet but steady shifts to the right on juvenile crime, trans rights, native title and “hate speech” laws. Apparently the Mander-Camm relationship is the best attack Labor can find.