Maverick Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller loses support Left, Right and with former ally the CFMEU

BUNDAMBA MP Jo-Ann Miller is coming under fire from Labor’s Left and Right and she may have gone a step too far with former supporters the CFMEU, writes Sarah Vogler

ALP member for Bundamba, Jo-Ann Miller’s warm embrace with One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson upset many within the Queensland Labor Party and the CFMEU. Picture: AAP/Darren England

LABOR’S Jo-Ann Miller has always been a maverick. Especially within her own party.

Until now the Bundamba MP – champion of the Ipswich battler – has escaped relatively unscathed.

But her repeated public criticism of her Palaszczuk Government colleagues over their handling of the Ipswich City Council corruption allegations on top of embracing One Nation MP Pauline Hanson on the campaign trail in November, may prove to be going too far.

It’s not just her colleagues but also her union, the powerful CFMEU.

Party sources have confirmed Mrs Miller was subjected to a Friday afternoon dressing-down at Labor’s caucus love-in last weekend, when backbenchers rose to vent their spleen over her actions.

Two MPs from the state’s north used an open forum session at the retreat, inside the Palm Meadows Mercure Hotel on the Gold Coast, to take direct aim at Mrs Miller’s campaign embrace of Ms Hanson, insisting it nearly cost them their seats.

Another from the southeast also took issue. He had to live with Labor’s stance on Adani, she had to handle the One Nation factor.

The criticism came from both within Mrs Miller’s own Left faction and from the Right. All wanted her to know that her actions had consequences.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk followed up the next day with an address on the importance of loyalty, considered among the Labor caucus to be aimed squarely at Mrs Miller.

And now the mining division of the CFMEU is mulling over whether or not it can forgive the proud coalminer’s daughter for her campaign trail sin.

It first considered its options at an executive meeting on December 6 last year when CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar brought forward a proposal to have Mrs Miller expelled from the union over her decision to meet and greet the One Nation matriarch in the streets of Ipswich in the final days of the campaign.

The Queensland Member for Bundamba Jo-Ann Miller is under a cloud with her once strongest supporter the CFMEU. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

Mrs Miller had not only embraced Ms Hanson, the CFMEU’s number one political enemy, but she came bearing gifts – bootees, for Hanson’s new grandson.

Her actions appeared premeditated. They blindsided and embarrassed the Premier. They took oxygen away from Labor’s campaign and sent shockwaves through not just the party but also the CFMEU’s membership.

Worst of all to those concerned, the incident emboldened One Nation. Mrs Hanson’s chief adviser had sent the clarion call to travelling media to keep an eye on the day’s proceedings.

The CFMEU had been spending an enormous amount of time and money campaigning against Ms Hanson and her Ipswich candidate Malcolm Roberts, and their members weren’t happy with Mrs Miller’s headline raising actions.

Compounding her sin was her embrace of the former senator Roberts, who questioned whether coal workers were to blame for contracting black lung disease, the issue Mrs Miller has prosecuted from the backbench on behalf of the CFMEU.

While Mr Ravbar was the one to raise her expulsion, Mrs Miller is a member of the union’s mining division so the decision is ultimately theirs.

Union sources confirmed the division wrote to the Bundamba MP asking her to explain her actions with further discussions expected at another meeting in August.

Mrs Miller has been a champion for the CFMEU in State Parliament as she pushed the Government to act on black lung.

She has defended the Hanson hug both publicly and privately, insisting she helped save seats and ensure the Labor Party retained office with a majority.

But it just might not be enough to balance the ledger in the eyes of the CFMEU.

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