Besieged Queensland Police Minister Jo-Ann Miller knew exactly what the opposition was going to ask during budget estimates, but in the end she never had to answer.
The opposition has hounded Ms Miller for months about her bungles, the most recent resulting in her own government referring her to the Ethics Committee for allegedly misleading parliament.
She has been accused of failing to destroy confidential documents and then signing an incorrect statement saying she had done so.
After a week of budget estimates hearings dominated by the matter, Ms Miller was grilled herself on Thursday.
But Labor MPs Mark Furner and Mark Ryan teamed up to ensure her political arch-nemesis Jarrod Bleijie was unable to rattle her.
The pair, well versed in the standing orders, decisively overruled most of the opposition police spokesman's questions about her bungles as irrelevant.
Liberal National Party MP Tarnya Smith tried to pass a motion of no confidence in the police minister, but it was destined to fail with government and opposition numbers on the committee tied up.
Hamstrung, Mr Bleijie grew increasingly impatient.
"What are we here for - if we can't debate the budget, if we can't debate integrity and accountability of the minister?" he said at one point.
But Mr Furner and Mr Ryan continued calmly to run down the clock by asking Ms Miller Dorothy Dixers.
In the final minutes, Mr Furner even asked her to name the breeds of police dogs.
Mr Bleijie said the public was poorer because the police minister had been shielded from answering his questions.
"The police minister has been hiding for weeks now," he said later.
"They went in there with a plan of attack today. They were going to protect her at all costs."
But Mr Furner declared that the hearing was "absolutely" a win for democracy.
"There was ample opportunity for everyone to hear from the government and also the opposition," he said.
Ms Miller did not hang around to speak to the waiting media afterwards.
But while she escaped unscathed this time, she will inevitability face the music when she is hauled before the Ethics Committee.
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