Who would become Queensland Labor leader after Annastacia Palaszczu
SHE’S now been Labor’s leader in Queensland for longer than Anna Bligh. But if not Annastacia Palaszczuk at the helm, then who? Steven Wardill looks at the options, including some who aren’t even in parliament.
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IT DOESN’T seem long ago that the rump left of the Labor Party after the 2012 election met in an Ipswich hall to elect a new leader.
After winning the day without contest, Annastacia Palaszczuk has defied expectation to remain Queensland Labor Leader.
Palaszczuk, who celebrated her 49th birthday this week, has already held the job longer than Anna Bligh. By the time the next election rolls around in October 2020, she would have surpassed Wayne Goss. And if she wins that election and serves another term, Palaszczuk will beat Peter Beattie.
Her dad, Henry Palaszczuk, recently mused that his daughter could be as popular as Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
While Henry assumedly meant Sir Joh’s approval at the beginning, rather than at the end, it does raise some interesting questions.
How long will Palaszczuk remain Labor leader?
And who will replace her when she chooses to exit the main stage or when Queenslanders call curtains on her political career?
Here are six potential scenarios:
Jackie Trad
Labor’s deputy is proving she can sell the Government’s economic message after taking over the Treasury. This has only increased the number of allies the dominant Left faction boss has both inside and outside the Labor caucus.
However, Trad’s ascension would most likely occur while Labor is in office, either as a peaceful transition or a bloody coup if Palaszczuk’s reign goes pear-shaped.
Many doubt Trad could take Labor from Opposition back into office. She’ll never leave her South Brisbane seat. Having such a marginal electorate is deeply problematic for any politician but particularly one who hopes to become Queensland premier.
Cameron Dick
Dick would likely take over as the Labor leadership if the party found itself in Opposition.
He heads the Labor Right faction, which was once the prevailing force in the party. It may be again in the event of a heavy loss, given the Left holds many of the most marginal seats. Dick is the self-styled statesman of the Palaszczuk administration. After losing in 2012, he’s returned in a safe seat and become a more accomplished politician.
Before Bligh’s downfall, people were already pushing the then first-term MP as a replacement premier. He would likely attract support from other factions given some Left unions aren’t Trad fans.
Kate Jones
The compromise candidate. Jones would take over if the faceless men and women can’t decide between the first two. Jones leads the pint-sized Labor Unity faction. However, faction size doesn’t always matter for talent to rise to the top.
Peter Beattie was from Labor Unity and dominated for over a decade with the backing of the Bill Ludwig-run Right.
Jones is a popular figure both inside and outside the party and could win support to take over, whether it be from in office or Opposition. However, whether Jones wants the job and whether she is willing to hang around to get it are the real questions.
Shannon Fentiman
Probably the leading light of the Left faction’s generation-next.
Fentiman would likely be a candidate in the future if Palaszczuk manages to surpass Beattie’s record of 4225 days as Queensland Labor Leader by taking the party past the next two elections. A former lawyer with a strong social justice bent, she holds the safe seat of Waterford. She would also have plenty of ministerial experience by then.
The challenge for Fentiman in the future will be whether the Left retains its dominance and manages to hold itself together.
Sports Minister Mick de Brenni would also fancy his chances over Fentiman.
Leanne Linard
The 37-year-old Linard certainly seems a long shot right now. She’s a member of the Labor Right and hasn’t yet earned an assistant ministry, let alone proper ministerial leather since Labor returned to office.
Linard also has made a habit of rocking the boat internally since being elected in 2012 and is unpopular with some Left faction acolytes.
However, people would have also scoffed at the idea of Palaszczuk ever becoming leader early in her parliamentary career had the question ever actually been asked.
Linard, who holds the safe seat of Nudgee, has potential in the future if the Left’s dominance wanes and Palaszczuk further writes herself into the record books.
Joey Kaiser/Bisma Asif
If Henry Palaszczuk is correct and his daughter defies the trend of modern political leaders being afforded relatively short reigns, then the next person to head Queensland Labor may not be in Parliament.
They might not even be in the party yet.
Joey Kaiser is already proving he inherited some of the political number-crunching prowess from his father Mike Kaiser, the former MP and formidable Labor strategist. Kaiser Jnr scooped the Young Labor presidency last year by peeling Labor Unity away from the Left.
His successor, Bisma Asif, is equally one to watch.
While the follies of youth come with risks for wannabe political leaders, look out for this pair around the same time Donald Trump Jnr makes a run for the US presidency.
Kudos to Trad for acting on scammers
EXCELLENT work from Treasurer Jackie Trad this week in flagging plans to crackdown on claim farming. These scammers use illegal and immoral tactics to find out details about accident victims and on-sell it to lawyers.
The practice has inundated Queensland after NSW regulated payouts to victims. It is leading to dodgy CTP claims, putting compulsory third-party insurance premiums under pressure. Reform won’t be easy given more than a few Labor MPs earnt a crust as litigant lawyers before politics.
Trad’s husband is also a lawyer. But she’s taking action because a farmer rang her home phone and quizzed her youngest son.
“I have asked … the Motor Accident Insurance Commission through insurance commissioner Neil Singleton to urgently advise on options to stop this insidious practice,” she said. Her predecessor, Curtis Pitt, said the same after The Courier-Mail exposed Singleton’s report on the practice. They’ve had that since late 2016.
Bullying claims steal limelight
FEDERAL Labor MPs Emma Husar’s travails have made for captivating reading. Husar is now on leave as Labor investigates claims by up to 20 former staff that they took turns to be her live-in “slave”.
One young male staffer was allegedly told to do her dishes to learn about “white male privilege”. A few current Palaszczuk Government staffers confess that they can relate to the Husar allegations and that their gig often crosses the line between political apparatchik and personal slave.
A few awkward moments
THE Australian Institute of Progress last week hosted an event at Brisbane’s Tattersall’s Club. Spotted leaving after dessert was Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former squeeze, Shaun Drabsch, who seemed in a less-than-pleasant mood.
Speaking of awkward, there was also a mix up with “honourable” titles on name tags. Campbell Newman was afforded one but has never applied. And the title was not given to former treasurer Joan Sheldon but her husband.
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