Labor leaders embark on listening tour to Townsville

Steven Miles and Cameron Dick will face regional Queensland voters to learn why they wiped Labor off the map.

Dumped minister Mark Bailey (second from left) has been returned to Steven Miles’s shadow cabinet. Picture: David Clark

• Mundine: Obvious why Labor smashed

Opposition Leader Steven Miles and his deputy Cameron Dick will travel to Townsville on Wednesday to face regional Queenslanders and learn why they wiped Labor off the map.

Labor lost 11 of its 14 regional Queensland MPs at the October 26 state election, with crime and the longevity of the government blamed for the cataclysmic loss.

Mr Miles unveiled a new shadow cabinet at the first meeting of Labor’s diminished caucus on Tuesday, but is yet to dish out the portfolio responsibilities.

Mr Miles was elected unopposed as opposition leader and Mr Dick will stay on as his deputy.

Shannon Fentiman, the left-faction ally of Mr Miles, is expected to become shadow treasurer.

She and Grace Grace will remain in Labor’s four-person leadership team.

In an effort to promote renewal, Mr Miles dumped former ministers Mark Ryan and Mark Furner to promote Joan Pease, Tom Smith, Corinne McMillan and Linus Power

“This is the outcome of the caucus process,” Mr Miles said.

“We clearly wanted to incorporate some new faces, and in order to do that, some people need to take on other roles.”

Mr Ryan will take a parliamentary role, likely as manager of opposition business.

However, one of the new frontbench faces is former transport minister Mark Bailey – who Mr Miles axed from cabinet when he became premier in December.

Asked why Mr Bailey had been returned, Mr Miles said: “That’s decision of our caucus.

“I would certainly welcome Mark back to the team, and I reckon whichever minister has Mark as their shadow better watch out.”

The individual responsibilities of the Labor front bench will be decided by the end of the week.

Labor’s 35 surviving MPs – with the exception of Member for Stafford Jimmy Sullivan – met in Queensland Parliament on Tuesday morning to endorse the team tasked with rebuilding the party.

Shannon Fentiman is in line to become shadow treasurer. Picture: David Clark

Labor’s Barbara O’Shea is expected to win South Brisbane and former transport minister Bart Mellish is likely to retain Aspley.

Both attended the caucus meeting, along with new Member for Sandgate Bisma Asif and Member for Ipswich West Wendy Bourne.

Outside the southeast, Labor is represented only in Bundaberg, Gladstone and Cairns.

To understand the scale of the defeat in regional Queensland, Mr Miles and Mr Dick will on Wednesday fly commercially to Townsville for the start of a listening tour to rebuild the party.

They are also expected to visit Mackay, Rockhampton, Cairns, the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay.

“It’s a process that starts tomorrow, but we have four years to do that rebuilding and I intend to make the best use of every single one,” he said.

“We’ve been in government for a long time and we will now begin that process of analysing what happened.

Mr Miles said Labor had been too slow to respond to the concerns about crime, and when changes had been made regional Queensland voters had already made up their mind.

He, in part, attributed the loss of safe Labor seats Rockhampton and Mackay to retiring local members and popular former Labor member Margaret Strelow siphoning votes.

“But we accept the outcome of this election,” he said.

Mr Dick acknowledged Labor suffered a swing in regional Queensland and the outer urban areas of South East Queensland.

“The people of Queensland expect Labor to do better and we will do better,” he said.

“In many parts of regional Queensland we have lost the trust of Queenslanders, and we need to now work hard to listen to Queenslanders to reconnect and to rebuild.”

Asked whether he should have stood aside for a fresh face, Mr Miles argued he had not helmed the party for too long.

“I was only leader for the last 10 months of the last 10 years,” he said.

The Queensland Labor caucus convenes on Tuesday for the first time since the party’s election loss. Picture: David Clark

Originally published as Labor leaders embark on listening tour to Townsville