RTI REVEALS TAFE BOARD MEMBER, LNP DONOR RECOMMENDED BY STOKER

• Revealed: LNP donor Andrew Knox appointed to TAFE Queensland board after personal recommendation of Crisafulli’s Assistant Training Minister Amanda Stoker
• RTI documents expose Stoker personally emailing Knox’s CV and pushing for his appointment to the plum role

Queensland Labor has today blown the lid on another LNP integrity scandal revealing Andrew Knox, a known LNP donor, was appointed to the TAFE Queensland Board after the direct recommendation of Assistant Training Minister Amanda Stoker.

Right to Information documents show Stoker personally emailed Knox’s CV explicitly recommending him for the plum board role.

Knox is one of three LNP-aligned people appointed to the TAFE board by David Crisafulli’s LNP government, alongside former candidate Chris Lehmann and new chair of TAFE Viv Grayson – an LNP member thanked for his campaign work by various Gold Coast LNP MPs.

The last time the LNP got their hands on TAFE they sold campuses, sacked teachers, cut courses and jacked up fees.

Stoker suggested that Knox would bring an eye to better “financial performance” and to see assets “working harder”.

It comes after LNP-linked appointments in Julian Simmonds as EDQ CEO and John Sosso as Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie’s Director General.

In revealing the scandal, Shadow Jobs and Training Minister Michael Healy said this is not a government choosing the best person for the job—it’s a government using public institutions as a rewards scheme for its mates.

He said while Queenslanders are training for real jobs, the LNP is handing out taxpayer-funded titles to donors and insiders.

Quotes attributable to Shadow Jobs and Training Minister Michael Healy:

“Andrew Knox didn’t go through a selection process, he went through the LNP’s inbox.

“If there was a Cert III for appointing LNP mates to plum positions, Amanda Stoker would be top of the class.

“The only test Andrew passed was the LNP donation threshold.

“This wasn’t skills-based training, it was mates-based placement.

“Crisafulli’s board appointments come with one qualification: political loyalty.”

ENDS