David Crisafulli elected as LNP leader, David Janetzki to be deputy

The LNP party room has elected David Crisafulli as its new leader, but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk seems unfazed by her latest opponent.

David Crisafulli has declared he is “hungry to win” in his first press conference as Opposition Leader as he vowed to be a “conviction politician” and sell a vision to Queensland.

The newly minted LNP leader, who won the job unopposed, said he was hurting from the party’s recent election drubbing and conceded the next four years in opposition would be a “long journey”.

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Mr Crisafulli said there was enough partisanship in politics as he promised to support good policies and call out those that he doesn’t support.

“If something is good, I will be the first one to say we support it and we’ll back that,” he said.

“But by the same token, if something is wrong, I will be prepared to call it as such and will do it in a forceful manner.

“I won’t compromise my values. I am a conviction politician.

“I will stand before you and I will take the tough questions, but I will always do it true to my value set.”

New Queensland LNP leader David Crisafulli. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

The Broadwater MP said he would respect the Premier’s mandate to keep Queensland “safe and strong”, and that his team was “hungry” to provide the economic leadership the state was yearning for.

Mr Crisafulli will put his shadow Cabinet together in the coming days, promising today that they would be the best people for the job and that there would be new faces in the mix.

“I don’t owe it to factions, I don’t owe it to any sort of backroom support,” he said.

“Rest assured we will accept the election result and that means that we need to put forward people who have got the energy, the drive and the passion to put forward a credible alternative.”

New Deputy LNP leader David Janetzki (wearing glasses) with rival contenders Dale Last, Steve Minnikin and Christian Rowan arriving at the party room. Pic Peter Wallis

He brushed off questions about how he would differentiate himself from his service in the Newman Government, saying if that was Labor’s only cause for re-election in 2024, then they did not deserve to win.

“I won’t be standing in that House condemning the Premier every day for being a part of the Bligh Government,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“It is up to her to sell a vision, because I will be selling a vision for this state beyond. If they want to look in the rearview mirror, good luck to them.”

Newly elected LNP deputy leader David Janetzki, who represents the Toowoomba South electorate, said it was a “privilege” to take up the number two job.

He said the party would review everything they took to the last election, vowing to come back “bigger, stronger, faster”.

Mr Crisafulli would not be drawn on where outgoing leader Deb Frecklington and former deputy leader Tim Mander would serve in his team.

It’s understood the vote for deputy came down to a contest between Mr Jenetzki and Steve Minnikin.

Party Whip Rob Molhoek would not say how many votes each deputy contender received.

The Queensland Governor Paul de Jersey receiving Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk following the 31 October election.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, when asked if she feared the LNP’s new leader, said: “No not really, I mean they can put up whoever they want, I don’t really care.

“Let me go through, there has been Campbell Newman, Lawrence Springborg, Tim Nicholls, Deb Frecklington, that’s a matter for them.”

Ms Palaszczuk yesterday unveiled her new-look front bench as she made the trip to Government House to officially assume her place in history as a third-term Premier.

Revealing her priorities as she works to guide Queensland’s economic recovery through the COVID pandemic, Ms Palaszczuk announced a new hydrogen portfolio as she vows to invest in the lucrative energy source over the next four years.

Mick de Brenni will be tasked with the job, which Labor hopes will see the industry thrive like the LNG industry did under the Beattie and Bligh governments.

The Premier, who will keep trade in her frontbench shake-up, also named a new Water Minister in Regional Development and Manufacturing Minister Glenn Butcher as a recognition of that valuable resource.

The Cabinet announcement followed Ms Palaszczuk attending Government House to meet with Governor Paul de Jersey and inform him that she had the numbers required to form government.

Mick de Brenni takes on the new hydrogen portfolio. Photo: Steve Pohlner

It followed flurry of activity from the Electoral Commission of Queensland yesterday as they officially declared seats into the evening.

CABINET LINE-UP

Meanwhile, Grace Grace looks likely to ascend to the government’s powerful Cabinet Budget Review Committee alongside the Premier, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Treasurer Cameron Dick as the fourth most senior member of government following Kate Jones’s retirement.

She retains her education and industrial relations portfolios, but adds racing.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey will add Cross River Rail to his responsibilities.

And in a major promotion for Shannon Fentiman, the employment lawyer becomes the new Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, also adding Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence to her duties.

New Environment, Great Barrier Reef, science and Youth Affairs Minister Meaghan Scanlon. Pic Annette Dew

Other notable changes include Stirling Hinchliffe, whose former local government responsibilities went to the deputy premier, and is now the Tourism, Industry Development and Sport Minister.

Mark Furner adds rural communities to his agriculture and fisheries responsibilities.

The Townsville-based Scott Stewart will be Resources Minister and his fellow newly appointed colleague Leanne Linard has been given child safety responsibilities, but the title has been changed to Minister for Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs.