Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller continued to flout her position as the most "untouchable" member of the government, by speaking out against her party's role in the estimates hearings process she all but dominated, labelling it "a joke".
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Ms Miller, who joined every committee in asking her former Cabinet colleagues questions during the 10-day estimates process, with only Bill Byrne who now holds her former police portfolio, missing out on a grilling, proved more effective than the Opposition during the hearings, skewering ministers and their senior departmental staff on cost of living and issues of import to her electorate.
On Tuesday, she doubled down on her strategy, using a parliamentary debate to bemoan how the process - one of the most important in the unicameral Queensland Parliament - had become "a joke".
"What we have in Queensland is a situation where we have almost a dance, where the government side - it is so organised that it is almost like a parliamentary waltz," she said.
"You can see ministers almost relax when the government members ask questions. You can see them sigh a bit of relief and then when the Opposition gets up to ask questions, they tend to move forward and take a bit more notice."
Ms Miller called on government backbenchers - who have been labelled "apathetic" by the Opposition but which the Premier defends as "disciplined" - to "follow in my footsteps, no matter what threats are made to the individual members of the Parliament, or whatever the consequences may be".
But for the Bundamba MP, the consequences have been minimal. With Cairns MP Rob Pyne's defection to the cross bench, Labor's numbers on the floor are equal to that of the LNP. It can not afford to lose another member of the government, and with Ms Miller's support in her electorate continuing to grow from an already strong base, her resigning from the government to sit as an independent has become a real fear within the party. It has left the long-time Labor member in a position of power, with more freedom to say what she wants, without fear of repercussions.
This week she used that to criticise the estimates process and her party's role in diminishing it.
"... Over the years, it has saddened me somewhat, that the estimates committees of the Queensland Parliament have become ... to be seen as a bit of a joke, not only within this parliament, but also seen as a joke within the public service as well," she said.
Ms Miller faced her own estimates grilling in 2015, while still police minister, in the midst of allegations she had misled a parliamentary committee by signing a declaration she had correctly disposed of confidential documents which were later found in a safe by a LNP MP. Ms Miller was saved from having to answer questions on the issue by a last minute referral to the Parliamentary Ethics Committee, which prevented Opposition MPs from pressing the issue.
Labor MPs on the committee questioning Ms Miller used their own questions to wind down the clock on the hearing, even going so far as to ask the Police Minister what breed of puppy was being used as police dogs and why.
The bi-partisan Ethics Committee cleared Ms Miller of misleading the party, but noted a "pattern of reckless behaviour" which resulted in Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk demoting her from the Cabinet late last year. Ms Miller took it one step closer and resigned from the ministry and has since sat in the backbench, where she has become a confidant for other MPs.
"She's always been pretty generous with advice, but she's probably the freest she has ever been in terms of being able to talk frankly with people," one MP said.
"She is pretty untouchable at the moment, and we all know it."
Parliament continues until Thursday.
