George Street Beat: Qld politics news and gossip

After the LNP and Greens teamed up to topple Jackie Trad at the last state election, attention has turned to another Labor figure. THIS IS GEORGE STREET BEAT

Minister for Employment Grace Grace

The LNP and Greens teamed up to slay Labor giant Jackie Trad during the 2020 state election and they could be aiming for another big scalp this time around.

GSB hears there’s talk within the LNP about what they’ll do in McConnel – the inner-city seat held by veteran Labor Minister Grace Grace.

We hear there are opposing views, with some LNP heavyweights agitating for the party to preference the Greens, like they did in South Brisbane to remove Ms Trad.

Such a move would make it tough for Ms Grace to win the seat.

Others, however, are hoping Ms Grace scrapes over the line to help create a future battle between the progressive parties over the seat.

WHO’S RUNNING FIRST?

Before discussing who to preference in the seat the LNP might want to focus on spelling its candidate’s name right.

While GSB is always cautious to throw stones in glass houses, this error got us chuckling.

The LNP’s candidate for McConnel Christien Duffey, for 24 hours after his Facebook page launched, misspelled his name as Chrisiten.

Where did the Facebook page go?

Queensland Speaker Curtis Pitt. Source: Instagram

The Premier and Labor ministers have declined invitations to the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games and MPs have been told to ditch travel and focus on their electorates – but Speaker Curtis Pitt is eager to get one last trip before the October 26 election.

Mr Pitt has secured permission from Mr Miles for a nine-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and the UK from June 29 to July 7.

He’ll focus on strengthening ties with other Commonwealth jurisdictions and identifying trade and collaboration opportunities for the state.

Don’t worry taxpayers, the trip will cost less than $35,000 and Mr Pitt is going on his own.

The speaker noted Premier Steven Miles on April 2 gave in-principle support for the trip.

Odd, considering the premier’s May 31 comments noting – in response to Leeanne Enoch’s luxury $126,000 trip to Canada and the United States – that “I haven’t approved any international travel for ministers”.

Semantics, perhaps, with the speaker not a minister.

Safe travels, Mr Speaker.

DOING WHAT MATTERS

Election slogans are carefully cultivated to consolidate a party’s message.

Queenslanders are already getting a taste of what’s in store for the October 26 poll.

The LNP for more than a year has been cradling a Right Priorities for Queensland brochure you can expect won’t go away.

Since the June 11 budget Premier Steven Miles has been slapping Doing What Matters on his press releases.

GSB supposes he couldn’t run with “Annastacia who?”

Historically election slogans are meaningless and quickly forgotten, but this 1990 exchange between Andrew Peacock and Bob Hawke wasn’t.

In that year’s federal election the Coalition’s slogan “The answer is Liberal” was panned by Hawke, who quipped: “It must have been a bloody stupid question.”

Deputy Premier Cameron Dick. Picture: John Gass.

DEAD AIR

It’s the golden rule of radio: You can’t have dead air.

It might not apply to Treasurer Cameron Dick though, after he made not one, but two palpable pauses during a tense exchange with interviewer Peter Fegan during a live broadcast this week.

As Mr Dick was grilled over the Brady report into the 2021 Callide power plant explosion, he suddenly took a little sabbatical, leaving listeners in suspense.

Was it a moment of deep contemplation, a silent protest against the line of questioning or an impromptu meditation?

Mr Dick is known for his quick-witted, triumphant responses but when the silence finally broke, the best he could say was, “just waiting for you to conclude there”.

The dreaded beast of live radio won this round.