Who is Gary ‘Blocker’ Bullock, Queensland’s most powerful man?

He almost single-handedly decided Annastacia Palaszczuk’s fate, but who is Gary Bullock? This is the untold story of ‘Blocker’ and the political masterstroke that handed him power.

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Queensland’s most powerful man has lived up to his name – removing the sitting Premier who took Labor from electoral annihilation to a thumping majority.

Gary Bullock, state secretary and national political director of the United Workers Union, met Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week to urge her to reconsider her future.

She had resisted mounting calls to stand down and as recently as Monday declared she was “very excited” for the next election.

The visit from Mr Bullock, or Blocker as he is known, and Queensland Labor president John Battams last week ensured the die was cast.

Gary 'Blocker' Bullock is considered Queensland's most powerful man.

It was in contrast to Ms Palaszczuk’s defiant claim a month ago when this reporter asked her whether she needed Mr Bullock’s support to remain leader.

“No, I don’t,” she said.

Privately Ms Palaszczuk was taking offence to the probing questions about when she last spoke to him and whether she had his confidence.

Who is Mr Bullock and how did one man gain so much influence?

While Mr Bullock remains an unfamiliar face to most Queenslanders – successfully avoiding cameras and frequent public statements – he wields unrivalled political power.

He collected $100,684 in remuneration last financial year on the largely Labor-friendly Hostplus board, but his day job remains as head of the United Workers’ Union.

Gary Bullock is state secretary and national political director of the United Workers Union.

The position as Queensland’s most powerful man was born from a clever political assessment made in the fraught years of Campbell Newman’s LNP government.

In a 2015 masterstroke, Mr Bullock moved to fund the campaigns of many Labor candidates, who would be elected MPs in the Palaszczuk landslide.

He’s previously boasted of having “United Voice MPs” including Thuringowa’s Aaron Harper, Capalaba’s Don Brown, Springwood’s Mick de Brenni, Pine Rivers’ Nikki Boyd, Barron River’s Craig Crawford and now Premier-in-waiting Steven Miles.

The United Workers Union represents some 150,000 workers across hospitality, ambulance and health, manufacturing, tourism, supermarkets, education, cleaning, aged care, call centres and logistics.

Gary Bullock was labelled a “factional war lord” by LNP Leader David Crisafulli.

Critics, including LNP Leader David Crisafulli, claim he is simply a “factional war lord”.

Ms Palaszczuk owed her position to Mr Bullock and the alliance between her Right faction and the Left that made her party leader in 2012.

For almost nine years decisions were rarely made around the Cabinet table without a consideration of “what does Blocker think?”

Leading into the 2015 election pundits predicted Ms Palaszczuk would take some bark off the LNP, but did not seriously consider she would “climb Mount Everest”.

Mr Bullock was awake, however, sniffing an opportunity to stand Left faction candidates in tough seats.

Gary Bullock in 2016 shortly after a political masterstroke handed him power. Picture: Peter Wallis

His gamble paid off, with a statewide primary vote swing of 10.81 per cent to Labor and a monumental two-party preferred swing of 14 per cent allowing Ms Palaszczuk to form a minority government with the help of independent Peter Wellington as Speaker.

Ms Palaszczuk’s Caucus grew from seven to 44 members, with the Left faction in dominant control.

Jackie Trad was named Deputy Premier and became a well-known as the driver of the government’s agenda.

A few weeks after the 2015 union bosses warned Ms Palaszczuk to “honour commitments Labor made to them’’ – it was a blatant reminder of how they had helped the party secure an unlikely win.

On December 10 – 11 years, eight months and 12 days after making Annastacia Palaszczuk Labor leader – she revealed her time was up.