A MINISTERIAL staffer has quit his $135,000 a year job after he allegedly drove off from an inner-city hotel in a government-owned car, struck a four-wheel-drive while performing an illegal u-turn and kept going.
Former Fox Sports television presenter David Murdoch handed in his resignation yesterday following the incident about 7pm on Saturday.
Police sources have told The Courier-Mail, a large number of people at the Story Bridge Hotel witnessed the incident outside a fish and chip shop on Main Street at Kangaroo Point.
It is alleged a Holden Commodore left the hotel and drove for a short distance before attempting a u-turn and striking a Subaru Liberty four-wheel-drive, with a couple and their young child inside.
The Commodore then drove off, leaving the other vehicle's occupants shaken but unhurt.
The witnesses recorded the Commodore's registration number and informed police who were unable to track down the alleged driver until Sunday morning.
Officers are understood to be viewing video footage from the Story Bridge Hotel to determine how long the alleged driver had spent there, and how much he had to drink.Police yesterday confirmed they were investigating a hit and run incident at Kangaroo Point but no charges had as yet been laid.
The senior media adviser to Child Safety and Sport Minister Phil Reeves resigned on Sunday after the weekend incident.
No other details were provided in the statement from the minister's office.
Earlier, ministers arriving at today's Cabinet meeting were tight-lipped.
However, Community Services Minister Karen Struthers, who was caught drink driving in a government vehicle as a parliamentary secretary in 2007, said the staffer had done the right thing.
"These incidents are very unfortunate," she said.
"This fellow seems to have done the right thing and resigned and that's really a matter for him now."
Health Minister Geoff Wilson said he did not know the details and so couldn't comment on whether the community deserved to know what had happened.
"The public, and I'm sure the premier, expects the highest standards of behaviour from everyone associated with Government," he said.
In 2009, Premier Anna Bligh's top media adviser, Lidija Ivanovski , quit in disgrace after being charged with drink-driving in a government car after a post-Parliament booze-up.
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