Besieged MP Coralee O’Rourke breaks her silence
A Queensland Labor MP who holds one of the state’s most marginal seats, has spoken out for the first time since revelations she was reconsidering running in October’s election.
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Palaszczuk Government Minister Coralee O’Rourke has maintained she’s the candidate for the marginal seat of Mundingburra.
Speaking for the first time since The Courier-Mail revealed she was reconsidering running at the October poll, Ms O’Rourke repeated several times today she was the endorsed candidate.
“I’m the endorsed candidate, I nominated, I went through the pre-selectron process with the party and I’m the only candidate for Labor for Mundingburra,” she said.
Labor holds the north Queensland electorate with a paper-thin margin of 1.1 per cent, and it is one of a raft of key seats the Government needs to hold to retain power.
Asked whether her name would be on the ticket on October 31, Ms O’Rourke repeated she was the candidate.
And asked whether there would be any personal reason for why she wouldn’t run, Ms O’Rourke said: “I think everybody knows what I’ve dealt with in the last 18 months, almost two years now actually, but it was a commitment that I made to the party, to the Government.”
Ms O’Rourke publicly detailed her battle with breast cancer last year.
“I went through the nomination process, I went through the pre-selection process and I’m currently the endorsed candidate for the seat of Mundingburra in the lead up to the state election,” Ms O’Rourke said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Premier and fellow Left Faction member Steven Miles said Ms O’Rourke was Labor’s nominated candidate when asked whether she was running today.
“I’ve heard no announcements otherwise,” he said.