List: Qld politicians who have been caught up in booze controversies

Queensland politicians have been whining about wine long before Opposition Leader Steven Miles was left seeing red. SEE THE LIST

Queensland politicians have been whining about wine long before Opposition Leader Steven Miles was left seeing red after a couple of reds during a recent visit to flood-ravaged north Queensland.

While there’s no suggestion Miles himself was drunk, here are some of the most famous – and infamous – cases of Queensland pollies being caught out or caught up in wine sloshing controversies and boozy benders.

Steven Miles drinking red wine in Townsville.

WINEGATE

It happened more than 20 years ago, but the Winegate scandal is still synonymous with Queensland politics after a ministerial staffer was caught taking wine into a remote Indigenous community on the Lockhart River in far north Queensland.

Teresa Mullan, a staffer for the former Indigenous Affairs Minister Liddy Clark, was initially busted and later sacked for carrying a bottle of red wine on a government jet during a journey to the Lockhart River community – a region under strict alcohol regulations, in 2004.

While she was initially viewed as a fall guy, Ms Mullan was eventually reinstated after admitting Ms Clark and the department’s Director-General Warren Hoey knew the wine was on the plane.

While Ms Mullan got her job back, then-Premier Peter Beattie banned all booze from Queensland government jets.

The ban was later overturned during Campbell Newman’s era as premier.

A DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH

Former Labor MP Karen Struthers was busted for drink driving in 2007 after recording an alcohol reading three times the legal limit.

The former Algester MP – who at the time was the parliamentary secretary to the Health Minister, blew 0.16 after being stopped while driving a parliamentary colleague to a taxi rank after a family gathering.

Karen Struthers made headlines in 2007.

She was later fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 10 months after pleading guilty in Brisbane Magistrates Court and dismissed calls for her resignation, describing the incident as an “aberration”.

THE PLONKER

Former LNP MP Peter Dowling made headlines for all the wrong reasons when a photo of the member’s, err, member, plonked in a glass of wine was circulated in 2013.

Mr Dowling served two terms for the LNP as the member for Redlands and at one point also acted as chair of the parliamentary ethics committee, but his career never recovered from the “plonker” scandal, which came to a head when his secret mistress lodged a complaint to parliament.

While Mr Dowling survived attempts to have him removed from the party at a parliamentary level, local branch members were not as forgiving and plonked him on the curb ahead of the next election.

MP Peter Dowling with a glass of red wine.

ONE NATION, TWO BOTTLES

One Nation MP Steven Andrew was banned from bringing guests into Parliament House after a rowdy night out in 2019.

After attending One Nation’s annual meeting and enjoying a drink, Mr Andrew took a group of 14 people into the House.

They were booted out after security guards observed video footage of the group rifling through the drawers and desks of other MPs.

Stephen Andrew enjoyed a rowdy night in 2019. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Mr Andrew conceded things “had gotten away from him” while his back was turned and admitted the group had consumed a couple of bottles of wine before the ill-fated parliament visit.

Mr Andrew was reprimanded by the party and banned from bringing guests into the building for six months.

BOOZE BAN

A series of booze-soaked incidents led former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to make the extraordinary move of banning her ministers from consuming alcohol at official events.

Ms Palaszczuk’s 2019 edict came after she was informed by people outside the Government of an episode involving an inebriated Labor Left-faction figure who had to be helped to leave a sports event.

Then Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ripped into MPs in 2019. Picture: NCA NewsWre/Glenn Campbell

MAD COW MAYHEM

Former Mundingburra MP Les Walker was involved in a boozy brawl outside Townsville’s famous Mad Cow night spot in 2021.

Mr Walker was knocked out in an altercation with two young men outside the popular watering hole.

He later told media he had no real memory of the blue, but said he had been celebrating his birthday on a night out with friends and family.

He told media he could not recall how much alcohol he had consumed but was “drinking responsibly”.

Townsville MP Les Walker gets punched at the Mad Cow Tavern, Townsville.

CCTV of the incident allegedly showed Mr Walker shove one of the men before being punched in return.

All three men were slapped with $800 public nuisance fines and banned from the Townsville Safe Night Precinct for 10 days. No charges were laid.

Originally published as List: Qld politicians who have been caught up in booze controversies