Minister labelled a “workplace bully” in unauthorised campaign material
Housing Minister Mick de Brenni is being painted as a “workplace bully” in campaign material advocating for his LNP rival. But why is the LNP just as annoyed as Labor?
QLD Votes
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Housing Minister Mick de Brenni is being painted as a workplace bully by rogue political rivals in an unauthorised campaign that’s turned the race for the marginal seat of Springwood ugly.
A pamphlet purporting to be from LNP rival Kirrily Boulton contains a raft of claims about the two-term MP and his Labor colleagues, including that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is “heartless”, Rankin MP Jim Chalmers is a “flip-flopper” and Mr de Brenni is a “workplace bully”.
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But the LNP is angry over the claims as well, which has seen Ms Boulton’s name and picture used without her or campaign HQ’s authorisation but by an apparent rogue group of current and former LNP members.
The flyer, delivered last week, is adorned in the LNP’s trademark blue and yellow colours, with a picture of Ms Boulton on one side and the slogan: “Time for a change!”
On the other side, it contains the allegations about Labor members.
“Labor Member for Springwood and Workplace Bully (sic)”, it says of Mr de Brenni, who has rejected the claims outright.
It goes on to say “his father rips down opponent’s election signs”, in reference to Allan de Brenni’s tilt for Logan Mayor earlier this year during which he was filmed removing a rival’s sign.
Of Ms Palaszczuk, it says she is “heartless and (has) no compassion toward people suffering with medical conditions and children separated from their parents”.
Mr de Brenni said his constituents would not respond well to such negativity.
“The LNP has form on this sort of negative campaigning in Springwood, it’s why they lost last time and why they’ll lose this time,” he said.
A spokesman for Ms Boulton said the “look-alike flyer” had been circulated in Daisy Hill, but “was not produced or endorsed by the LNP and does not reflect LNP values”.
The flyer was endorsed by former Liberal Party member Peter Mensforth, who said he had been approached by several people he refused to name who are volunteering on the Springwood campaign.
He said he did not know who had paid for the ad, and he had not written it but had agreed to authorise it before he saw the contents.
“My advice wasn’t to run on those things,” he said.
“I just thought it was a waste of copy space because it wasn’t going to affect the average punter who was more concerned about COVID-19.
“I fully expected it to be authorised by campaign HQ.”
He said he was regularly consulted on campaigns as a “font of a great deal of knowledge”, despite having quit the party when it merged with the Nationals.
“I’ve been around, been there, done that and have a lot of war wounds from losing a lot of elections down here in what is a fairly rusted-on Labor area,” he said.