Aug 20, 2026, 12:51 AM

State of silence. It's a repeat of the Newman government's gag order of NGOs. Queensland LNP governments can't stand criticism. The penalty for speaking out is funding cuts. Queenslanders are expected to be grateful, obedient & praise the Crisafulli government. #qldpol

LNP government accused of threatening to defund charities for public criticism. Community groups across Queensland claim the Crisafulli government has threatened their funding for publicly criticising its policies. Community groups have been hauled into ministerial offices and threatened with funding cuts as retribution for publicly criticising the government or its policies. Advocates across the child safety, domestic violence prevention, youth justice and housing sectors claim to have received abusive phone calls from senior figures within ministerial offices, with some dragged to government headquarters at 1 William St for a dressing down.The Courier-Mail spoke to 12 advocates separately – all on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution – and all had a remarkably similar story of a government pushing to silent dissent by threatening to pull funding.Some of them have worked under successive governments, including LNP and Labor, with one describing the Crisafulli government