Opposition Leader David Crisafulli outlines major reform for LNP

David Crisafulli has outlined ‘monumental’ reform for the LNP, targeting backroom powerbrokers and putting his support behind party stalwart Lawrence Springborg.

LNP leader David Crisafulli has outlined plans for “monumental” reform set to rock the party as he called for a dismantling of an all-powerful cabal of backroom powerbrokers and publicly backed the return of beloved veteran Lawrence Springborg.

Six months after the party’s devastating election defeat and as members were smarting over the installation of Campbell Newman on the state executive, Mr Crisafulli chose yesterday’s blockbuster State Council to outline a list of ultimatums to heal the party and redistribute power to grassroots members, more women, young families and everyday Queenslanders.

He called for a dismantling of the party’s unpopular President’s Committee, more women and multicultural candidates, fundraising reform, an embracing of former members who had been shunned for speaking out and threw open policy development for greater debate.

Speaking to the recent tumult within party ranks that exposed a party hierarchy undermining former leader Deb Frecklington, led to Mr Springborg being axed from the executive and saw former president Dave Hutchinson stand down, Mr Crisafulli acknowledged the past 12 months had been tough.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli at the LNP State Council at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Picture: Liam Kidston

But he said issues “weren’t created by the election, they were exposed by it”.

“I have travelled around the state talking to members like yourselves and it has become increasingly apparent that our party has some deep-seated issues that need to be addressed,” he said.

“ … It would be convenient for me to stand here and point at an individual or a party unit and assign blame – but that would be a cop-out and a betrayal of my responsibility to the party.”

Instead, the election failure “had many parents” and “as a serving member of parliament, I was one of them”.

Mr Crisafulli, who was local government minister in the Newman Government before being swept from parliament in their 2015 electoral wipe-out, said it would be “a monumental task” to win government in 2024 “and to achieve this we must heal our party first”.

He outlined what he called “five major reform ideas” he’d harvested from regional campaign reviews and branch meetings from Bribie Island to Macgregor and Longreach.

“The first step in this healing process for our party must be the return of primacy of members,” he said.

Slamming as “counter intuitive” the “incredible power concentrated in the President’s Committee”, it was his view that power must be devolved back to the membership through state council and state executive.

“For us, as a party, to truly respect members, we must be a party run by the members,” he said.

And all sections of the LNP – from the grassroots, to its parliamentary wing – must properly represent society, he said.

He told the room he believed in a meritorious preselection process for candidates, but that wasn’t happening now.

“With only five women in a party room of 34, it is impossible to argue that we are achieving a meritorious result overall,” he said.

“ … Just like in our society, we must create the environment within our party that provides women with the same opportunity to succeed.

Deb Frecklington with Lawrence Springborg at the LNP State Council in Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

“We must also set our sights on depth of representation in other areas.

“We must find ways to allow people from multicultural backgrounds, young parents and those who run businesses the flexibility to campaign and still make a living.”

He said the LNP needed to win 14 seats to achieve a workable majority and he wanted women candidates in at least seven of those marginal, target seats.

“I will be making it my mission that we choose candidates with a breadth of work and life experience including those with current businesses and young families,” he said.

Mr Crisafulli also chose to publicly celebrate Mr Springborg in the lead up to the party’s convention where a new president and executive positions will be set.

Party members are championing the figurehead to lead the LNP out of its problems and heal it internally.

Mr Crisafulli said the LNP could not continue to ignore key personalities who had been banished for daring to speak their minds, arguing it was a great tradition of conservatives to tolerate dissenting opinion, not punish it.

“Great servants of our party such as John Wharton, Gary Hardgraves and Peter Lindsay have been lost to the cause because they have been critical of paths chosen,” he said.

“The father of our modern movement, Lawrence Springborg, is no longer on State Executive.

“I defy anyone to say we are a stronger party without them contributing.

“We must encourage them, and many others, to return to the fold.”

In a thinly-veiled swipe at Clive Palmer, he said while there was room for dissent, there was not room for disloyalty and “the path back must be far more difficult” for those who had run against LNP candidates or funded their opponents.

However, he appealed to members to exercise that same tolerance of dissent when considering the secretariat and former office holders.

“While you may have differing views on their decisions, they have all spent countless hours away from family and friends under enormous pressure in service to our cause,” he said.

“They should leave with our thanks and respect.”

Mr Crisafulli said he would be divesting power from his own office, which had traditionally controlled policy development.

Instead, he wanted shadow ministers to engage with industry and policy committee chairs to develop robust policies that offered “real solutions to the challenges facing honest Queenslanders”.

And he flagged the need to roll with “gerrymander” spending caps introduced by the Palaszczuk Government last term that would nobble the conservatives.

Ahead was a “12-month sprint” to raise money from larger donors under current laws and then a long-term sustainability challenge starting July 2022 before a switch to everyday Queenslanders funding a generational, centre-right government through small financial commitments, he said.

Originally published as Opposition Leader David Crisafulli outlines major reform for LNP