Queensland election 2017: Curtis Pitt Too many gaffes and poor term as Treasurer blamed for reshuffle

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk has guaranteed her Treasurer’s job following internal criticism of his performance on the hustings and over the past three years.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk may sacrifice Curtis Pitt.

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk has guaranteed her Treasurer’s job following internal criticism of his performance on the hustings and over the past three years.

Ms Palaszczuk said she had not spoken with Curtis Pitt since The Courier-Mail revealed Labor insiders were angry over several campaign stumbles and his inability to sell the Government’s economic message.

Some have suggested a difficult discussion may need to happen if Labor is returned, as Mr Pitt loses favour in his own Old Guard faction.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt may be the first casualty if the State Government is re-elected.

But after refusing to rule out a possible reshuffle if re-elected yesterday, Ms Palaszczuk today vowed Mr Pitt would remain as Treasurer.

“Yes I do guarantee his job,” she said.

“He has delivered every single year a surplus, he has done everything that I have asked of him and also too, the Deputy Premier and I have worked with Treasurer Curtis Pitt as part of the team that’s been delivering frontline services to Queensland, investment in health and education, record investment in health and education.”

Ms Palaszczuk said Mr PItt’s greatest success in his job was in creating 134,000 jobs for Queenslanders over the past three years.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has backed Treasurer Curtis Pitt. Picture: AAP/Darren England

Asked what her message to Mr Pitt’s detractors was, she said: “I would just say to them, get focused on winning your seats.”

Ms Palaszczuk said she was “not even thinking about that now” when asked whether any other ministers could face reshuffle.

Instead, she was focused on campaigning and winning the election, she said.

OVERNIGHT

TREASURER Curtis Pitt could be the first casualty if Annastacia Palaszczuk is re-elected, following his gaffe-ridden efforts throughout the election campaign.

Mr Pitt has inflamed widespread anger in the Labor camp, with sources telling The Courier-Mail they have been less than impressed with his performance on the hustings and during the past three years as Treasurer.

Dubbed a “weak link” by one, his latest stumbles have only solidified long-held beliefs that he is not up to the job as the Government’s chief economic messenger.

Amid the internal unrest, the Premier yesterday refused to guarantee her team’s jobs were safe and left open the option of a reshuffle to elevate her best performers.

It is believed there will be a cross-factional push to strip Mr Pitt of the crucial Treasury portfolio if Ms Palaszczuk is successful on November 25.

“He’s a weak link, no doubt about it,” one senior Labor source said.

“If we win this thing, and that’s still an ‘if’, there might have to be a tough conversation.”

Others who spoke to The Courier-Mail could only rate his performance as mediocre.

One said that “anyone” else could do a better job.

The Member for Mulgrave has been heavily criticised internally for being off-message about the Government’s position on Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine during Labor’s horror start to the election.

He also claimed only Cairns and the Gold Coast were in line for future casinos, which was contrary to government policy.

During his only Brisbane press conference in the campaign’s first week, he dismissed the state’s $81 billion debt bill as a “magical or mythical” figure that Queenslanders should ignore.

Mr Pitt has since been shunted from the main campaign and confined to local events in his electorate.

Curtis Pitt's trail of fail

The Treasurer did not make the trek to Brisbane to respond to healthy jobs figures released yesterday.

He was missing from Ms Palaszczuk’s side on Tuesday as she campaigned in Cairns, where he may be in trouble in his seat of Mulgrave.

There are nerves over how he will handle Labor’s crucial costings announcement and a realisation that the Government will need to improve its economic credentials next term.

The Premier has long been loyal to her Treasurer, who held the role when Labor was reduced to a seven-person opposition.

But she twice refused to guarantee she would maintain her team if re-elected during yesterday’s press conference.

Ms Palaszczuk said she was proud of her Cabinet team “and I back them 100 per cent”.

Asked whether she would rule out any changes, she would not.

“I’ll make those decisions,” she said.

“I’m the one who decides.”

Margaret Strelow quit the party to run as an Independent.

Mr Pitt is a member of the Old Guard, Labor’s smallest faction, after defecting from the Right.

But he has lost favour in his new faction, with many unhappy with his lack of intervention in the Rockhampton preselection brawl.

Old Guard candidate Barry O’Rourke was eventually chosen but only after a protracted fight in which the Premier personally endorsed local mayor Margaret Strelow from her own Right faction.

Ms Strelow subsequently quit the party to run as an independent.