Butcher officially preselected to run in election

“We want to make sure we can still give people those opportunities to get jobs,” says incumbent member.

Gladstone MP Glenn Butcher at Lions Park. Picture: Tara Croser

GLENN Butcher has been preselected to run for Labor in the seat of Gladstone at the October Queensland state election.

The incumbent member, Mr Butcher first won the seat in 2015, increasing his margin to 20.7 per cent at the 2017 election, when he comfortably defeated One Nation’s Amy Lohse and the LNP’s Chay Conaglen.

Mr Butcher said he found out he won preselection for the October 31 poll via a letter from the Labor Party HQ in Brisbane.

“No matter what the margin is, every campaign that I run, I run it as if I’m on a zero margin,” he said.

“People of Gladstone, I’m hoping, after two terms in government and what we’ve delivered over two terms, or nearly five-and-three-quarter years, that they know that I’m continuing to deliver on my promises.

“The Gladstone Hospital upgrade is almost finished, we’ve had more police and nurses in Gladstone than we’ve ever had before, plus the roadworks that are going on around the region.

“All those promises that I’ve made, we’ve certainly delivered on and I will continue to deliver on.”

Liveability in Gladstone is part of Mr Butcher’s focus, he said.

“We want to make sure we can still give people those opportunities to get jobs, particularly coming out of COVID,” he said.

“We also want continuing opportunities moving forward for locals with new industries coming to Gladstone, whether it be the hydrogen industry or an ammonia facility or solar.

“That’s part of my role as the state member and now as the Regional Development Minister to help facilitate those industries so we can get jobs on the ground in Gladstone.”

LNP campaign director Lincoln Folo said the party’s preselection between several potential candidates was “pretty close”.

Mr Folo said the party did not publicly release the candidates’ names vying for preselection before the decision is made.

One Nation announced former Labor voter and union member, 59-year-old Curtis Island warehouse officer Kevin Jorgensen, as their candidate in May.

Mr Jorgensen encouraged people of the region to consider One Nation as a viable alternative to Labor and the LNP.

“If they’re dissatisfied with some of the decisions of this government – and even previous Liberal governments because the Liberal Party and the Labor Party have both been pushing us down toward this globalisation path, which is why our manufacturing is so reduced in this country – give One Nation a go,” he said.