Next Qld premier almost certain to jettison minister Mark Bailey

Almost the entire Labor Party wants Mark Bailey removed from the ministry, says an insider, as the next premier is set to chop cabinet dead wood.

Trouble-prone Transport Minister Mark Bailey faces the boot and the “dead wood” in cabinet will be removed under a deep ministerial reshuffle by Queensland’s next premier, Labor insiders say.

Senior sources within the government warn a reset is needed for the state’s 40th premier to stand a chance against the LNP at the election next October.

Frantic phone calls are being made as Shannon Fentiman and Steven Miles negotiate with Labor MPs about what their respective cabinets would look like and the policy priorities they would prosecute in an attempt to win the election.

Both leadership contenders are refusing to detail, however, what deals they have made with colleagues.

A deep ministerial reshuffle and agreement about who gets what portfolio is at the centre of talks between Mr Miles and Ms Fentiman.

Labor’s minority Right faction is emerging as a kingmaker as the leadership contest drags on.

Its leader, Treasurer Cameron Dick, who does not have the support to become premier, is attempting to extract a deal from Mr Miles and Ms Fentiman for more positions for his faction in cabinet.

The leadership turmoil caused by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s looming departure has put the jobs of several senior ministers on the chopping block.

Mark Bailey’s days as transport and main roads minister are reportedly numbered. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Mr Bailey, who was loyally supported by Ms Palaszczuk through repeated transparency scandals, now faces being booted from cabinet or demoted to a more junior ministry as part of the major clean-out.

It is understood he is backing Ms Fentiman, fearing the election of Mr Miles could end his ministerial career.

Mr Bailey maintained the confidence of Ms Palaszczuk despite creating days of damaging distraction for the government last month by refusing to reveal cost blowouts on major infrastructure projects and, on one occasion this year, attempting to hide it from Queenslanders.

One Labor MP, from the opposing Right faction, said almost the entire party was calling for Mr Bailey’s removal, and tipped the next premier would grant their wish.

“He’ll go … it wouldn’t surprise me, I think most of my colleagues would agree,” the MP said.

Questions also hang over the cabinet future of Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe – the Premier’s assistant on Olympics sport and engagement – with his handling of the RNA Stadium stoush and looming retirement combining to put his cabinet position on shaky ground.

Palaszczuk loyalist Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, Agriculture Minister Mark Furner and Education Minister Grace Grace have been earmarked for relegation from the front bench, as each has spent seven to nine years in the senior ranks of the government.

Education Minister Grace Grace is a veteran of the front bench. Picture: David Clark/NCA NewsWire

“This is the caucus’s opportunity to do something different,” a senior Labor source said. “They have the power to do it and it’s in their best interest to do it, this is their opportunity to create a new dynamic with a genuinely new time and get a bit of attention.”

Assistant ministers Brittany Lauga and Nikki Boyd on the Left and Charis Mullen and Bart Mellish on the Right are also understood to be eyeing a promotion into cabinet if the next premier embarks on a clean-out.

Senior Labor Party players said the incoming premier needed to use the opportunity to “move on those that need to be moved on”.

This would pave the way to do what Ms Palaszczuk refused to do – promote assistant ministers and MPs on the backbench.

After Friday, the Right will have 17 members compared to the Left’s 25 and the Old Guard’s nine. The Right holds six of the 18 ministries but believes it should have more, claiming the Old Guard is “over-represented” with three ministers and the Speaker.

The departure of Ms Palaszczuk paves the way for at least one more Right MP, ­likely to be Ms Mullen or Mr Mellish, to enter cabinet.

Another senior Labor member said “a change would give us a chance” at the 2024 poll.

The shake-up would come just seven months after Ms Palaszczuk made a small ministerial reshuffle to elevate Ms Fentiman to the Health ministry, give Meaghan Scanlon responsibility for Housing and make Leeanne Enoch the state’s first Treaty Minister.