They are the reason the inquiry was called, but Queensland's ministers have not received their formal invitation to appear at the Senate Inquiry into the actions of their government.
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Due to hit Brisbane this Friday, Premier Campbell Newman, his deputy Jeff Seeney and ministers including Jarrod Bleijie, were meant to appear at the inquiry but a government spokesman said they had not been called.
"It probably sums up the entire exercise - farcical," he said.
"The Premier's diary is full, so I would think it's a little late even if the invitation is still in the mail."
Calls to representatives of the committee chair, Palmer United Party Senator Glenn Lazarus, were not returned.
The Committee Secretariat said she could not disclose whether invitations had been extended.
But farce was the word of the day with Mr Seeney, who has had one of the more public war of words with PUP federal leader Clive Palmer over the past two years, laughing off suggestions he would attend the inquiry.
"It's a complete joke. It's a complete farce," he said.
"Everybody knows how much of a joke it is."
But the Newman government is interested to see how former Bligh government ministers, including Kate Jones, Mr Newman's Ashgrove opponent, will fare when the committee moves on to investigating the previous Labor government's gas deals.
Submissions to the inquiry close on November 18.
