Over the past 18 months, the Crisafulli government has quietly removed union representatives from multiple Queensland boards – and replaced them with conservative political appointees.
The moves have drawn accusations the Liberal National Party (LNP) is stacking state boards with conservative figures and undermining the independence of state institutions.
Advance Australia founder appointed to key education post
The pattern first emerged in November 2025 when the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) underwent a significant board reshuffle.
The QCAA is an influential body in developing the state’s curriculum and senior assessment, and for decades, Queensland’s two largest teacher unions held positions on the QCAA board.
Without any direct communications from the government, Queensland Teachers’ Union President Cresta Richardson and Independent Education Union of Australia branch secretary Terry Burke were removed from the QCAA board.
The Crisafulli government replaced those positions with James Power, the founding chair of far-right campaign group Advance Australia, and Leesa Jeffcoat, former Diocesan Director of Catholic Education.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek defended the appointments, arguing the board required a broad mix of skills and experience rather than representation from workers.
Richardson quickly rebuffed this, saying, “Queenslanders expect board appointees in key positions to have experience, understanding and strong relationships in the education sector. I’ll let the community judge this decision, the qualifications of the new appointees, and the manner in which the process has been handled.”
Running concurrent to these appointments have been protracted enterprise bargaining negotiations between the LNP government and teachers over wages, workload and classroom conditions. While the appointments were made under the minister’s statutory powers, both the Guardian and the Australian were quick to highlight the changes occurred during a breakdown in the talks.
Burke said that neither he nor Richardson were extended the courtesy of a conversation with the minister, instead learning of the changes via the media.
Targeting workers’ protections
The changes were largely treated at the time as a standalone decision. But months later, another followed.
In June 2026, late on a Friday afternoon, Deputy Premier and Industrial Relations Minister Jarrod Bleijie announced sweeping changes to both the WorkCover Queensland Board and the Work Health and Safety Board. Among those removed was Richardson once again, but the sweeping changes extended to five other union representatives collectively removed from the boards.
The removal of union officials ends a longstanding model that had existed under multiple governments – where boards were balanced between organised labour, employer representatives and independent experts at the table.
In his media statement, Bleijie said that reforms were needed to ensure the boards “have the experience, commercial expertise and strategic leadership needed”, adding that workers would continue to be represented elsewhere.
But the board changes appear part of a broader, more ideological targeting of workers’ protections.
On March 24, the deputy premier announced the commission of an independent review into the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 and the Industrial Relations Act 2016.
The terms of reference seek to identify – what the LNP government claims – areas of fraud, understand the increase in psychosocial hazard claims and whether the WorkCover scheme is fit for purpose. The investigation is still in progress and not expected to deliver findings until later this year.
Jacqueline King, secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, quickly challenged the board changes, stating, “Queensland workers should have zero confidence that these reviews will be conducted fairly or independently …”
“… the deputy premier has deliberately removed every representative of Queensland’s registered trade unions from the very bodies established to advise government on workplace safety and workers’ compensation.”
Independent bodies losing their independence
Statutory boards occupy an unusual position within government. Although unelected, they are not intended to function as political extensions of the executive. There is an implicit understanding to their existence – that political parties recognise their limitations on the expertise required to govern.
Political scientists B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre describe the tension between political control and institutional independence as “politicisation”. Writing in the International Review of Administrative Sciences, they note politicians have always sought to control public institutions but have historically been constrained by “the normative and institutional restraints” of a merit-based, permanent and impartial public service.
That appears to be changing, however, not least in the US with the Trump administration appointing loyalists to key institutional posts. The Queensland LNP appears to be following a similar trend of independent officials being replaced by political appointees in order to exert control over public institutions.
It’s a form of democratic backsliding that often flies under the radar. As the scholars put it, “the emergence of authoritarianism urges us to reevaluate many of the aspects of governance that we have taken for granted over the past several decades.”
