Ros Bates in danger of becoming a distraction for LNP government IS IT time for Ros Bates to resign? Or should the Newman Government's trouble-prone Arts Minister finally be given the chance to knuckle down and concentrate on her portfolio? These questions must have been rolling around in Campbell Newman's head this week as he led the Government's disaster response. Once again Bates proved accomplished at distracting the administration from the task in front of it after word of her chief of staff's sacking inevitably leaked out. Digby McLeay went from being sent in as the Mr Fix-It to another troubled minister's office not so long ago, to being frogmarched out of Bates' office because the minister had lost confidence in him. At a press conference, Newman was left mouthing a jumble of words that when deciphered left you with the conclusion that Bates had used up her last ministerial lifeline. "Minister Bates had issues last year in terms of the conduct of some of her responsibilities," the Premier said. She understands what she has to do and I see this as a clear sign of her cleaning up her area and making sure she is well and truly in 2013 able to discharge her responsibilities. In other words, Bates' issues have not all been entirely of her own making. QUIT: Bruce Flegg on the first day of parliament. But if there are any more distractions this year, she'll be warming a seat on the backbench near another former minister, Bruce Flegg. Many of Newman's own colleagues believe the Premier has been too soft on Bates and should have cut her already. It would have been better for more ministerial blood to be spilt in 2012 - a year already dominated by sackings, scandals and desertion - than for the same issues to continue in 2013. After all, this is the year the Government hopes to finally get it together after being largely devoid of direction. Policies in areas such as health and education remain to be written and will prove important for adding flesh to the bare bones of the first LNP Government. Fixing the finances has been the main game so far but with the Costello fix of asset sales about to be shelved for two years, awaiting a mandate from the next election, the Government is going to need something else of substance. The risk is that keeping Bates may prove an ongoing distraction and take away from any future achievements, much like it took away from Newman's solid efforts in the aftermath of the floods this week. However, none of the individual issues that have dogged Bates so far have deserved her resignation, although when taken collectively that backbench seat beckons. The issues surrounding her son and the investigation into his appointment to a public service position don't reflect well on Bates. Yet they have nothing to do with the discharging of her ministerial duties. She has also been genuinely ill and needed a considerable amount of time off. But taking a Bali holiday after getting well showed an astounding level of ignorance and self-indulgence. Perhaps Bates' biggest crime was her failure to table in Parliament an accurate version of her office's Contact with Lobbyist Register. This was either a paperwork blunder on behalf of an adviser (which is not a sacking offence) or a wilful misleading of Parliament (which is). Newman probably could have sacked Bates by now and most people would have believed it was done for the right reason. However, now Bates faces the sack at any moment simply because she has become an unwelcome distraction. If there are any more issues with Bates in 2013, the only question Newman will probably be asking himself is why didn't he act earlier. Steven Wardill is The Courier-Mail's state political editor Email Steven Wardill