Health boss grilled over lack of Indigenous directors on three hospital boards

Queensland Health director-general David Rosengren has claimed the lack of legally required First Nations members on three hospital service boards is the result of “unscheduled vacancies”, despite the departures being forced or known in advance of a recent major overhaul.

The comments, made during the state budget estimates hearing of a parliamentary committee, came amid accusations the Crisafulli LNP has sought to unpick Indigenous representation and policies in a push dubbed “Project Invisibility”.

After reports from the ABC last month highlighting the lack of First Nations directors in the state’s largest hospital and health services – Metro North and Metro South, the latter of which also caters to the greatest Indigenous population – Rosengren faced questions on Tuesday.

Quizzed by Labor’s opposition health spokesperson, Mark Bailey, Rosengren confirmed the Sunshine Coast hospital board was also lacking a First Nations director, which is a requirement under legislation governing the 16 bodies running public health services.

“Very recently, the process to undertake a scheduled recruitment across all of the hospital and health boards was completed, and with the appointment of a substantive number of new board members in April of this year,” Rosengren said.

“Subsequent to that process, there are three boards where they’ve experienced resignations of board members that are identified First Nations, and there is an active recruitment campaign that is nearing an end to identify appropriate replacements for those unscheduled vacancies that exist on the board structure.

“But the other 13 of the HHS’s all have an identified First Nations board director, including three of our hospital and health boards where their chair is an identified First Nations [person], and that is a nation-leading framework for our boards in Queensland.”

After changing the law to allow the sacking of health board directors without reason, on March 27 Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced 50 new additions to the boards – including three former LNP figures – after a months-long two-yearly appointment round overhaul.

Despite Rosengren’s comments, this masthead can reveal Bundjalung man Terrence (Terry) Bell, of the Sunshine Coast health board, was among the large group of members across all 16 HHS boards whose terms were due to expire on March 31, according to an archived version of his board’s website.

At Metro North, this masthead has previously reported that director Adrian Carson’s resignation half-way through his term, effective April 1, was tendered in August 2025. Gangulu man Dr Shea Spierings left in February for a new role, according to his LinkedIn.

Metro South, which covers the largest First Nations population of any of the state’s health services, lost former federal Labor candidate and Wuthathi woman Donisha Duff OAM from its board half-way through her term after she was given a show cause notice five days out from the March 31 overhaul.

This masthead sought comments from the former directors, who were either unable to be reached by the time of publication or declined to speak about the matter.

Queensland Health was yet to provide a response before publication to questions seeking clarification of Rosengren’s comments.

Former truth-telling inquiry chair Joshua Creamer suggested last month the Crisafulli government had a deliberate strategy, dubbed “Project Invisibility”, to wind back First Nations representation and policies.

The government has said its focus has been on “redirecting funds into practical, locally led projects which deliver tangible outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander discrete communities through our Closing the Gap Priorities Fund”.

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