Queensland government in ‘integrity crisis’ over alleged undisclosed affair between two ministers, opposition says
The Olympic Games minister, Tim Mander, and the child safety minister, Amanda Camm say they were not in a relationship when they were sworn in
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Queensland’s opposition has accused the LNP government of being in an “integrity crisis” over an allegedly undisclosed affair between two ministers and has urged the government to show how the pair are avoiding conflicts of interest.
But one prominent political commentator has warned Labor’s attack strategy may backfire – saying the issue “would not even make the list of things to be tested in the pub”.
The Olympic Games minister, Tim Mander, and the child safety minister, Amanda Camm, both issued statements over the weekend giving a timeline to a “personal relationship” that began in June 2023 – while the LNP was in opposition – and ended in May 2024. Both said they were “categorically not in a relationship” when sworn in as ministers after the LNP was voted into government in late 2024.
Mander said that, after separating from his wife in April 2025, he and Camm “reconnected” in June 2025 and “our relationship began”.
“I immediately sought advice from the Integrity Commissioner and the Clerk of the parliament and made all the necessary declarations in line with that advice and the Ministerial Code of Conduct,” Mander said.
The code obliges ministers to declare personal relationships within a month of being sworn in or whenever their circumstances changed “giving rise to a potential conflict of interest”.
But the timeline was called into question by media reports over the weekend of a letter, seen by Guardian Australia, from Mander’s sister-in-law to the premier, David Crisafulli, last July, which claimed Mander and Camm had been in a relationship for at least the past two years.
That would mean a period of about eight months during which Mander and Camm were government ministers in an undeclared relationship. During that time, the Crisafulli government moved 2032 Olympic sailing from Brisbane’s Moreton Bay to the Whitsundays – or from Mander’s portfolio to Camm’s electorate.
The Australian, which broke the story, described the affair the “first major ministerial accountability scandal to hit” the Crisafulli government.
Deputy opposition leader Cameron Dick described Mander and Camm’s timeline of their relationship as “just a bit too cute” and “just a bit too convenient” on Monday, likening it to a famous on again off again relationship of an American sitcom.
“David Crisafulli’s integrity crisis went from a blaze to a bushfire yesterday,” he said.
“David Crisafulli wants Queenslanders to believe that Tim Mander and Amanda Camm are the Ross and Rachel of his government.
“No one is buying any of this. This isn’t an episode of Friends. These are two ministers responsible for the expenditure of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.”
Dick called on the premier to release the integrity advice and conflict of interest management plans in relation to his two ministers.
But associate professor at Griffith University and longstanding Queensland political commentator, Paul Williams, said he felt Labor was “barking up the wrong opposition tree here”.
There “may have been a lack of procedure followed” with Mander and Camm’s relationship, he said, and it was “not unreasonable” to raise questions about moving the Olympic sailing.
But that would have been a cabinet, rather than ministerial decision, Williams said. And while voters “hated” scandals involving “pollies with their hands in the trough” – this “was clearly not that”.
Most voters, he said, would either believe the Mander and Camm affair to be a private matter or simply not care about it, being more focused on what the government was doing to address the housing and cost of living crises.
“That’s the attack that’s going to be effective,” Williams said. “Not: ‘let’s pick on two LNP ministers who might be in love’.”
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