QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh's husband, Greg Withers, will receive a six-figure payout if he is dumped by an elected Liberal National Party government after the top bureaucrat just had his contract renewed.
Mr Withers, put in charge of the newly created Office of Climate Change in 2007 barely a month after Ms Bligh became Premier, won a new three-year contract, with a further two-year option, on his $220,000-a-year package in December.
A spokesman for Ms Bligh said Mr Withers -- promoted to the rank of assistant director-general in 2009 -- had undergone a performance review after his previous five-year contract expired late last year.
"It is a standard SES (senior executive service) contract that was renewed when the previous one expired, he received no pay rise or additional benefits," he said.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls said Mr Withers's role was a clear conflict of interest and it was suspicious that he should have his contract renewed on the eve of the March 24 election.
Mr Nicholls said the government should release all details of Mr Withers's performance review and contract renewal. "Given the clear conflict of interest between the Premier and the senior appointment of her husband -- in a job invented for him -- it is imperative that they stop hiding the details and provide a full explanation of this contract and why it was necessary to renew for five years at the 11th hour of this tired 20-year Labor government," he said.
"This is a government that fails the accountability test at every turn and 'jobs for the boys' for the Premier's husband needs to be absolutely open and transparent."
LNP insiders told The Australian last year that Mr Withers was in the "firing line" if the Campbell Newman-led opposition were to win government.
