{"id":708262,"date":"2026-06-01T12:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/708262\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T12:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:50:17","slug":"public-circus-ai-use-in-the-queensland-public-service-and-the-lack-of-qchat-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/708262\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Circus: AI use in the Queensland public service and the lack of QChat interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Welcome to Brisbane Times\u2019 Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: the use and non-use of artificial intelligence in department land, an own goal for the Games authority and all hands on deck for a bargaining agreement at City Hall.<\/p>\n

The fast-approaching state budget means the enthralling democratic theatre of estimates is just around the corner.<\/p>\n

Public servants have begun compiling enormous folders filled with detailed departmental notes, in preparation to face questions in late July from the government\u2019s political rivals who have trawled through the budget line-by-line.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Crisafulli during his first estimates as Premier. <\/p>\n

And at least one department has told its staff to lean on the handy help of artificial intelligence to prepare the exhaustive documents.<\/p>\n

Circus was told workers within the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI<\/a>) received a verbal instruction to use AI to fill out the first spine of the briefing note.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

The documents are heavily relied on during estimates to provide transparent information about how the government is spending the state\u2019s cash.<\/p>\n

The department didn\u2019t say if there were specific platforms it preferred its staff use, or if there are any concerns related to the use of AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing secure AI tools is optional, and importantly, they don\u2019t replace normal approval processes which include verifying information to ensure it is accurate,\u201d a spokeswoman said in response to questions from Circus.<\/p>\n

But this column was told the instruction raised eyebrows within the department, where a cohort are increasingly concerned about the use of AI, particularly for tasks where accuracy is of the utmost importance \u2013 such as, how the department is spending taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n

The AI platform public servants aren\u2019t using<\/p>\n

The environment department refused to outline to Circus if there was a preferred platform, but it\u2019s likely staff aren\u2019t using the government-owned AI-powered assistant, QChat<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Premier David Crisafulli flagged the need to overhaul how public servants use artificial intelligence during a summit hosted by sector publication The Mandarin, because less than one-in-10 are using the state\u2019s own platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of people using QChat, unfortunately,\u201d he told the audience in response to a question asking if he had used the platform himself.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe may need to look at other ways to allow people to use AI because I\u2019m not sure QChat is delivering what it was intended to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier said unions would need to be involved in the further adoption of AI to sensitively communicate to workers that it\u2019s not replacing staff but is instead \u201ca new wave of opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

The use of AI is a keen focus for Circus<\/a> but the lack of QChat adoption is a costly issue given the government spent $2.7 million to develop and roll it out and another $1.8 million each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cQChat is an AI tool currently available to Queensland government departments and statutory bodies,\u201d a Department of Customer Services, Open Data and Small and Family Business (CDSB) spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCDSB is continuing to explore a range of cutting-edge AI technologies in order to enhance customer service, increase productivity, and to better support public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope the government\u2019s chatbot for schools, the $1.5 million Corella AI program<\/a>, is more useful.<\/p>\n

PR blunder for Games authority<\/p>\n

There were more than a few palms slapping foreheads over at the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority last Tuesday when workers at Victoria Park were instructed to erect fences during \u2013 and right next to \u2013 a media conference held by those opposed to the stadium development.<\/p>\n

The conspiracy-minded among the Save Victoria Park crew accused GIICA of trying to intimidate them into silence, ahead of the authority taking possession of the land on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"GamesGames Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority (GIICA) erecting fencing during a Save Victoria Park media conference at Victoria Park.Cameron Atfield<\/p>\n

But Circus understands Hanlon\u2019s Razor \u2013 \u201cnever attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity\u201d \u2013 can be applied in this case.<\/p>\n

The work could \u2013 and should \u2013 have easily been delayed a few minutes to let the conference proceed without disruption, but instead it elevated Save Victoria Park much more than the release of a hydrology report could ever have.<\/p>\n

Those back at GIICA HQ understood it was a bit of an own goal. What would have been a relatively dry (pardon the pun) report about the site\u2019s hydrology turned into a headline-grabbing story about conflict between activists and workers and a precursor to heated clashes between police and protesters on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The best publicity Save Victoria Park could have hoped for.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Save<\/a><\/p>\n

Less upset about the brouhaha was Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie, who was his usual hyperbolic self as he sought to take political advantage of the situation.<\/p>\n

The minister in charge of Games delivery, who has called the well-meaning and sincere group \u201cloopy\u201d for their opposition, said GIICA contractors were left shaken after the confrontation.<\/p>\n

In reality, the hi-vis brigade was barely stirred.<\/p>\n

The council where staff love working<\/p>\n

Brisbane City Council chief executive Kerrie Freeman took the unusual step of attending negotiations herself as enterprise bargaining got under way for thousands of staff.<\/p>\n

The top public servant at Australia\u2019s biggest local government appeared in person at Brisbane Square as discussions kicked off on May 12.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been typical in the past, but the chief executive outlined council\u2019s position for negotiations and said she was hoping a deal could be reached quickly, one union in attendance told members in an email after the meeting wrapped.<\/p>\n

Council staff, from bus drivers to librarians, are covered by the same agreement, and it\u2019s a safe bet they\u2019ll be asking for a sizeable pay bump amid ongoing price rises.<\/p>\n

The roughly half-a-dozen unions involved in the negotiations are expecting an offer from council on June 9. It could be months before a deal is finalised.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Brisbane<\/a><\/p>\n

The bio-hacking lord mayor<\/a> didn\u2019t say why his chief executive had decided to get hands-on when asked on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go through a very thorough process when it comes to working with council workers \u2026 and making sure it\u2019s a collaborative negotiation,\u201d Adrian Schrinner<\/a> told Circus.<\/p>\n

He disputed claims staff in some areas at the council had aired frustrations about perceived cuts and restructuring, saying retention statistics showed it was a great place to work.<\/p>\n

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\"JamesJames Hall<\/a> is the News Director at the Brisbane Times. He is the former Queensland correspondent at The Australian Financial Review and has reported for a range of mastheads across the country, specialising on political and finance reporting.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-708262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}