Minister onto fifth key staffer amid fears of office ‘toxicity’

The minister steering Queensland’s efforts in the key area of youth justice is now onto her fifth chief of staff and third department head, amid ongoing concern about the “toxicity” of her office.

Andy Longmire, shifted into Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber’s office in September, has now also moved on, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The sources, granted anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the longstanding ally of Premier David Crisafulli had been replaced with another from his office: Ian Kaye.

Kaye, a Newman government MP for Greenslopes and former police officer of 23 years, has worked with the government since its time in opposition – most recently as a policy advisor.

He is said to have started with Gerber last week. Longmire is now said to have only ever been in the role on an “interim basis”, according to a spokesperson for Gerber.

The minister has previously dismissed what she described as “spurious personal allegations” about her behaviour.

Issues within the Commonwealth prosecutor-turned-Currumbin MP and first-time minister’s office have been repeatedly aired since May last year.

Labor had raised parliamentary questions of Gerber’s office in June, hinting at turmoil. In response, a visibly angry Gerber accused unnamed Labor ministers of throwing staplers at staff.

After reporting in September of the last turnover of her chief of staff, and detail of 11 office departures, Opposition Leader Steven Miles described Gerber as “inappropriate to be a minister”.

Last year, Crisafulli played down the turnover as people who “might take other opportunities”, and dismissed the reporting as a “gossip column”.

After winning government, Crisafulli said he would hold ministers accountable to government priorities and values through charter letters.

Gerber’s letter requires her to treat public servants with “the highest levels of courtesy and respect”.

The minister’s responsibility for youth justice, victim support and corrections places her in one of the most important roles to deliver the crime victim number reduction Crisafulli has staked his leadership on.

Former youth justice department director-general Bob Gee last year took leave to work as secretary of the CFMEU Commission of Inquiry – though publicly denied requesting the move.

After acting for a short time as Victim’s Commissioner following the resignation of Beck O’Connor, Gee was appointed Cross-Border Commissioner last month.

His acting successor as director-general, Kate Connors, was at the same time announced as the new permanent Victims’ Commissioner. Michael Drane, a former deputy, now leads the department.

A government source, speaking to this masthead on condition of anonymity to detail internal workplace matters, described reported concerns about Gerber screaming at colleagues as ongoing.

“The level of toxicity in her office is resulting in the turnover of staff,” they said, adding that the level of micromanagement by Gerber and her office was leading to workload problems in the public service, which was often being pushed to alter public messaging.

“It’s like the separation of powers has just been thrown out the window – their in-reach is just on another level.”

Crisafulli’s office did not respond to questions. A spokesperson for Gerber initially did not provide a response for publication to questions on the change in the chief-of-staff role.

“The minister will continue to work closely with Connors in her new role to support victims of crime, and with Gee in her capacity as the local member for the cross-border community in Currumbin,” Gerber’s spokesperson said.

They accused the opposition of “trying to get in the gutter and distract from their failures and get in the way of us delivering fewer victims of crime, which we are”.

In a later statement, they added: “Andy was always only acting in the chief of staff position for an interim period before Ian Kaye joined the team”.

Deputy Labor leader Cameron Dick said he was “incredibly concerned about the revolving door of leaders” in the department and “high turnover” in Gerber’s office.

“Strong and stable leadership is important in every government and department – especially when it comes to the people tasked with addressing the LNP’s crime crisis,” Dick said.

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