Labor overhaul leadership vote system in Queensland

Queensland Labor’s rank-and-file members will have a direct say in the election of the party’s state parliamentary leader after the move received overwhelming support at the ALP state conference.

However, similar moves to further democratise the selection of Senate and Brisbane lord mayoral candidates will be decided via postal ballot after a referral to the party’s administrative committee.

Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten greets Labor party faithful after speaking at the Queensland Labor Party state conference held at QUT.Credit: Harrison Saragossi

The move follows on from former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s introduction of similar leadership reforms at a federal level in June.

At the state conference on Saturday, Labor member Julie-Ann Campbell’s motion to have the state parliamentary leader be decided evenly by three voting blocs – the party membership, the caucus and members of affiliated unions – was easily passed.

Former Bligh government environment minister Kate Jones had proposed an amendment for the rank and file to have 50 per cent, with the other half to be decided by a combination of caucus and affiliated union members, but that amendment was defeated.

Prior to the vote, Queensland Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, whose position would be directly affected by the policy shift after the next state election, was an enthusiastic supporter of the reform.

‘‘We are serious about how our leadership is decided and we are serious about allowing rank and file members to play this important role,’’ she told delegates.

‘‘That’s because a leader must have the support of their caucus, the membership and the union movement.

‘‘A leader should never lose touch and that is why I am supporting the direct election of the state parliamentary leader and let branch members and union members have their say.’’

However, proposals to have Labor’s Queensland Senate candidates and the Brisbane lord mayoral candidates could not be decided upon at the conference.

The proposals, revealed by Fairfax Media last month, sparked an at times heated debate at the Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point campus.

Senator Jan McLucas said the party should ‘‘embrace absolutely’’ the opportunity to have the rank-and-file select Senate candidates.

‘‘It is true to say, friends, that the way our Senate team is selected by the conference is not a wholesome fully democratic approach,’’ she said.

‘‘Yes, there’s a group of people who make the decision, but frankly the people I have to talk to to get my preselection are a small number and I’d like to be given a mandate from a much larger number of people.’’

Amid booing from a large section of the crowd, conference delegate Jared Cassidy made an impassioned argument against the Senate reforms, saying regional Queensland would be ‘‘disenfranchised’’.

‘‘Seventy-six per cent of branch members live in south-east Queensland,’’ he said.

‘‘If you make senators beg for their jobs every term, senators simply won’t have to leave Brisbane and in fact it would be to their detriment if they left Brisbane.

‘‘...Senators would only have to meet with a cabal of inner-city branch members in coffee shops from Paddington to West End ... It will provide a welcome boost to CityCycle.’’

It was also opposed by the Australian Workers Union’s Troy Spence, who said people ‘‘drinking chardonnay and weaving baskets in West End’’ would decide Labor’s senate candidates.

Speaking in favour of the reform was Owen Doogan, from the Rail Tram and Bus Union, and Labor assistant state secretary Evan Moorhead.

‘‘The last regional senator supported by the people who oppose this amendment was Mal Colston on the Gold Coast,’’ Mr Moorhead said.

Mr Colston, who died in 2003, was charged with fraud after allegedly misusing his parliamentary travel allowance.

He never went to trial.

The proposal to have the party’s lord mayoral candidate decided by popular vote did not raise any objection among the membership.

Both proposals will go through the committee process before the postal vote is taken.