Anna Bligh's husband Greg Withers quits Queensland public service job

The husband of the former Premier Anna Bligh, Greg Withers, has resigned from his job in Queensland's public service but the LNP government has said he was not pressured to do so.
Mr Withers tendered his resignation this morning and today will be his last day in the office.
He was the Director of the Office of Climate Change and after the March 24 election Premier Campbell Newman ordered him to wind back green energy programs he had helped to create over the past four years.

Mr Withers, a veteran bureaucrat, had been promoted by his wife to the rank of assistant director-general - earning $220,000 a year - after she controversially appointed him as head of the Office of Climate Change, which she created barely a month after she became premier in 2007.

Newman government sources have confirmed his resignation, effective immediately, and insisted there had been no pressure on him to quit the public service after the LNP swept into power.


"The office of climate change was disbanded, he helped shut it down and was then given other duties," one source said.

Mr Withers, who could not be reached for comment, will receive a basic payout covering leave and possibly long service entitlements.

Just before the state election Mr Withers had his contract renewed for three years by his wife amid speculation he would be sacked if the LNP won power. If he had been sacked, the new government would have been bound to pay out his three-year contract.

Mr Withers' resignation follows the rejection by Mr Newman of a request last month from Ms Bligh for the state government to cover the costs of her phone, iPad and a staff member.

Despite falling six months short of rules requiring premiers to serve five years before gaining access to such ongoing taxpayer-funded benefits, Ms Bligh has requested the "entitlements" for the two months after her election defeat.

Ms Bligh, who retired on a lifetime pension of at least $150,000 a year, has argued the staff member is needed to help her deal with the correspondence and invitations linked to her former role.