The following is reprinted from today’s Brisbane Times, reporter Daniel Hurst.

The lobbying revelations, the 30-minute berating of a minister, and the downfall of a career … Daniel Hurst reports on the drama behind Bruce Flegg’s departure from Campbell Newman’s cabinet.

ANALYSIS

It was November 2 and Queensland Housing Minister Bruce Flegg’s chief of staff was angry about a story on lobbying.

“You journos sure know how to twist a story,” Fraser Stephen wrote, according to the email’s recipient, Dr Flegg’s former senior media adviser Graeme Hallett.

“Talk about desperation to make a tale out of nothing.”

The email was a reference to a Fairfax Media story highlighting two occasions in which Dr Flegg’s office was recorded as having lobbying contact with his son, Jonathon Flegg, who happened to be manager of government relations at private sector consulting firm Rowland.

Within two weeks, Mr Stephen was sacked as Dr Flegg’s chief of staff, Mr Hallett was dumped from his senior media adviser job, and Dr Flegg ultimately fell on his sword and resigned as a minister.

So how did a desperate and twisted tale about “nothing” set off a chain of events that provoked the Newman government’s second ministerial resignation?  Click here to read the rest of the article.