Plum role for controversial Queensland Senator-elect Barry O'Sullivan leaves LNP divided QUEENSLAND Senator-elect Barry O'Sullivan has been invited to take on an informal role working on a key federal government policy despite facing a corruption inquiry that has delayed his entrance to parliament. In a move that threatens to ignite tensions within the Liberal National Party, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has engineered a plan for Mr O'Sullivan to conduct research for the government's Agriculture White Paper even though the Queensland government has not endorsed him as a Senator. But some senior members of the LNP are pushing for Mr O'Sullivan to "graciously step down" and allow the party to endorse another senator. Mr O'Sullivan, a former Treasurer of the LNP, was anointed to take over Mr Joyce's plum Senate spot after the now Agriculture Minister moved to the lower house. But his preselection opened bitter tensions within the party, with some powerful members of the party unsuccessfully trying to block his appointment. An obstacle to his promotion later emerged after The Courier-Mail this year published secret recordings of negotiations for state MP Bruce Flegg to retire to make way for Campbell Newman to enter parliament in 2011. Mr Newman has so far refused to endorse Mr O'Sullivan until he is cleared by the Crime and Misconduct Commission, which is investigation allegations Mr Flegg was offered inducements to resign. The CMC inquiry may not be finished until the end of the year or later, meaning Queensland will be down a Senator when parliament resumes this month. Mr O'Sullivan's absence will also be blow to the National Party because they will be down a voice in the Coalition joint party room and could make it harder for them to argue against policies such as paid parental leave. Despite advice from the acting Clerk of the Senate that there was nothing in the Constitution preventing Mr O'Sullivan taking up his seat, the Queensland government says it has different advice and will wait for the CMC findings before endorsing him. But Mr Joyce and Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell have broken ranks with their state counterparts and called for Mr O'Sullivan to be allowed to sit in the parliament. Mr Joyce said regional Queensland would not be properly represented in parliament while Mr O'Sullivan's seat was vacant. "I think it's important that Queensland is represented as soon as possible because issues are on foot that need to be dealt with," Mr Joyce told The Courier-Mail. The LNP has selected Barry O'Sullivan and it is now for the parliament to send him down. Mr Joyce is already planning an informal role for Mr O'Sullivan that will put him in an influential position in the development of the Abbott government's Agricultural White Paper. "If he's sitting in his room at home, he's no use to anyone," he said. You have a resource at your disposal for the development of policy and currently that resource is not deployed. But senior Liberals appeared unaware of Mr Joyce's plan, with one minister warning it would be unacceptable. Mr O'Sullivan welcomed the role and said he wanted to travel around Queensland to speak to farmers and other industries and "feed in as much information as I can to the minister for him to consider for his White Paper in 2014." He said he had no hard feelings about being locked out of parliament. "I respect the decision of the state government in relation to the confirmation of my appointment at the moment," Mr O'Sullivan said. I'm confident that matters will sort themselves through in the near term.