Jo-Ann Miller lashes Labor on widely believed final sitting day before election

MAVERICK Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller has launched an election-eve attack on her colleagues on the final day of what is widely expected to be the last Parliamentary sitting week before the next election.

Jo-Ann Miller caught many of her colleagues off guard with the spray in Parliament. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt

MAVERICK Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller has launched an election-eve attack on her colleagues on the final day of what is widely expected to be the last Parliamentary sitting week before Queenslanders go to the polls.

In a surprise and pointed attack just two months after she accused Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of turning a blind eye to corruption, Mrs Miller lashed her Government colleagues over their “callous” response to her black lung inquiry.

Miller accused Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of turning a blind eye to corruption. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

Staring down her colleagues as she spoke, the Bundamba MP warned them they would be punished at the ballot box for not urgently acting to address the issues raised by her “black lung, white lies” report into the re-emergence of the deadly coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.

She described the response so far as “spin” and further lashed the members of the parliamentary committee charged with considering draft new laws to tackle black lung for simply noting the legislation rather than recommending it be passed.

“The hearse is waiting in the driveway of some of these coalminers’ homes – men who are dying of this preventable disease – yet the callous disregard of that committee to give even a sideways glance at the coalminers’ evidence, which effectively puts black lung white lies in the bottom drawer of this Parliament and slams the door shut on the draft Bill that we developed, shows the real calibre of those members’ values and principles,” she said.

“We can have no doubt that this will be an election issue across the coalfields, the coal towns and the coal cities of Queensland.”

Mrs Miller caught many of her colleagues off guard with the spray, which comes amid speculation Ms Palaszczuk could call the State Election as early as Sunday for November 25. Her black lung select committee met yesterday and decided to table a report outlining its concerns.

The move meant Mrs Miller could speak in the House without having to be given a speaking spot from her party colleagues.

Originally published as Jo-Ann Miller lashes Labor on widely believed final sitting day before election