Health Minister Lawrence Springborg has demanded the Opposition apologise to the Auditor-General after former premier Peter Beattie accused Andrew Greaves of being "political" in a report highlighting a $2.2 billion blow out in hospital project costs.
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But Mr Springborg said it was a completely different situation to Premier Campbell Newman questioning the integrity of the acting integrity commissioner, David Solomon.
Dr Solomon detailed a phone conversation he had with the Premier's chief-of-staff, Ben Myers, in his annual report, which he described as an "ill-informed, abusive rant".
Mr Myers and the Premier both disputed Dr Solomon's report.
"I just say this, what he has put forward is completely wrong, and we reject it," Mr Newman said on Monday.
"What Mr Solomon has said is completely wrong."
Mr Beattie questioned terms Mr Greaves used in his report in an interview with Fairfax Radio 4BC on Tuesday.
"Now what I think the Auditor-General has missed with this - and I think it is unfortunate that he has - is that when you start, you have to go out and consult with the doctors, you have to consult with the nurses, you have to consult with the process.
"That was a long drawn out process. Now, I announced this in 2006 and a year later I retired.
"Construction of it was done after my time. I think he is being unfortunate in terms of the use of his term. I think there is some political background in doing that. I would hope that in future, his reports wouldn't be so political."
Mr Springborg said Mr Beattie's comments were unacceptable, given the independence of the Auditor-General office and the respect it commanded.
But he said the Premier's comments were completely different.
"What I am doing here today is actually talking about the Auditor-General and the fact that I think he has an enormous amount of respect, given he was appointed by a previous Labor government in Victoria and also was appointed by the previous Labor government in Queensland," Mr Springborg said.
"I think to draw any conclusions with regards to the issue around the integrity commissioner is not appropriate, because the Premier, all he has said, is he is disputing what the commissioner has actually said, he hasn't gone in question the whole basis of the appointment's process as Peter Bettie has done."
