LNP MP Scott Driscoll cancelled a Christmas party to save $1000 and banned staff from wrapping presents, giving the Grinch a run for his money He cancelled a Christmas party to save $1000 and banned staff from wrapping presents. Is LNP MP Scott Driscoll doing the Grinch out of a job as well? LNP MP Scott Driscoll cancelled a Christmas party for staff at a community association he secretly controlled to save $1000 while funnelling thousands of dollars a week from the organisation to his wife's company. Mr Driscoll's intervention meant that instead of the $50-a-head Christmas party they wanted, staff of the Regional Community Association Moreton Bay had to make do with a combined staff-volunteer Christmas celebration in the centre's gardens for half the price. New emails obtained by The Courier-Mail show the extent to which Mr Driscoll micro-managed the RCAMB while an MP, directing every aspect of the centre's day-to-day operations from at least last August. They show he also banned a Christmas party for the centre's mental health clients and nixed a plan for staff to volunteer their time at a Christmas gift-wrapping fundraiser. While he clamped down on spending, Mr Driscoll's wife's company Norsefire was being paid $2850 a week in secretariat management fees by the RCAMB. From late last year, Emma Driscoll was also on the payroll of the RCAMB as "Administrative Officer - Human Resources." In one email sent to Mr Driscoll in November, RCAMB services manager Tracey Slater asks for approval for a $1000 staff Christmas party. "I have been informed that in the past the board has contributed to this," Mr Slater writes in the email. "I would also see this as a great opportunity for team building as the staff I feel have been th (r) ough quite a lot over the past 12 month (sic) and would allow them to put all of that behind them and move on," he continues. Mr Driscoll knocked back the request. The now-suspended LNP MP also rejected a request by Mr Slater to hold a $500 Christmas party for mental health clients of the RCAMB. CONTROVERSY: The Regional Community Association Moreton Bay (RCAMB). Staff would have served the mental health clients meals and had offered to buy their own meals to help offset the cost, according to an email from Mr Slater. Mr Driscoll replies: "re the mental health Christmas party, no extra spending is approved. But I'd encourage a basic morning tea be held in lieu. Staff were also forbidden by Mr Driscoll to volunteer their time at a Christmas gift-wrapping fundraiser in a shopping centre. Mr Slater had assured Mr Driscoll the fundraiser would use centre volunteers and RCAMB staff in their own time, saying it would give the organisations greater exposure while raising funds. But Mr Driscoll replied that the "real time and opportunity cost to paid staff at what should be the busiest time of year outweighs any upside in my view." "The potential risk of having to man the event is real," he writes. I think we decline this year please. Government funding for the RCAMB has been frozen pending an independent audit into allegations of financial irregularities. Meanwhile, Scott Driscoll's mates on the board of the Regional Community Association Moreton Bay are missing in action as staff and members try to resuscitate the collapsed organisation. Staffer and RCAMB member Len Thomas said treasurer Geoff Jamieson and president Brian Roselt had not attended an emergency meeting between staff and Department of Communities officials yesterday. "They're out of the picture," he said. Mr Thomas said the focus was on maintaining services to its 500 vulnerable clients after the board declared the body insolvent last week and padlocked the doors. "We have staff who haven't been paid but want to keep providing the service to clients," Mr Thomas said. We're not being told anything. Another staffer and RCAMB member, Talosaga McMahon, said the Department of Communities had not been able to provide any commitment to pay staff the two weeks' wages they are owed. Ms McMahon said her programmes were funded by the Federal Government and her understanding was that the money included her wages and those of two other staff. Mr Jamieson last week told RCAMB's 23 workers they were being "stood down" because State Government funding had been frozen. He did not return calls yesterday. In a statement yesterday, the RCAMB's three board members rejected any complaints about its governance as "entirely baseless." Mr Driscoll, who in his maiden speech called Brian Roselt "a great mate" and referred to Mr Jamieson's "friendship and support" issued a statement yesterday calling on anyone experiencing hardship in Redcliffe to visit his electorate office. "He and his staff will compassionately assist them by way of support and/or referral to appropriate support services in the most respectful and confidential manner," the statement said. Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk accused Communities Minister Tracy Davis of "sitting on her hands" while the RCAMB folded. "For two weeks she sat on her hands and today once again she is failing to take any responsibility for what is happening out there in Redcliffe," Ms Palaszczuk said yesterday. "This is a minister who is not up to the job and if she is not up to the job the premier should move her aside," she said. Under the Community Services Act the government has a range of options open to them, especially the minister who is responsible. She (Ms Davis) has the power to investigate. She has the power to send officers in, to examine the books, to ask the questions and to make sure everything has been acquitted. We also know that the member for Redcliffe was intimately involved with this organisation. Now is the time for a full explanation. Ms Davis rejected Labor's claim she did nothing, saying she had immediately instructed her department to activate contingency plans to ensure services could continue after being told on Thursday the RCAMB could no longer operate.