Ex-Tasmanian Liberal to sell Queensland to world
Queensland’s new trade tsar has been revealed and he’s … a Tasmanian, and a Liberal, and a former premier, as David Crisafulli concedes the ageing membership of the LNP is a ‘big challenge’.
G’day readers, welcome to this week’s edition of Feeding the Chooks, essential reading for those obsessed with (or even mildly interested in) Queensland politics.
Spruiking Tassie one day, selling Queensland the next
Who better to sell Queensland to the world than … the former Liberal premier of Tasmania?
Finance Minister Ros Bates – who boldly declared during Estimates that “the jobs-for-mates era is over” – announced the new chair of the government’s Trade and Investment Queensland board would be Will Hodgman, the Tasmanian Liberal leader from 2006 and premier between 2014 and 2020.
Hodgman’s now a Queenslander, living at Burleigh Heads, after getting a Gold Coast council job last year as chair of economic development organisation, Invest Gold Coast. After resigning from politics in January 2020, citing the need for new leadership, Hodgman was made Australia’s High Commissioner to Singapore by the Morrison government.
He replaces tourism industry veteran Daniel Gschwind as chair of TIQ, who was appointed by the Labor government in October 2022 after 21 years at the helm of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council.
Chooks can confirm Hodgman has deregistered as a lobbyist in Queensland, quietly dropping off the Queensland Integrity Commission’s public database on June 25.
Hodgman Partners had represented clients including lithium-ion battery recycling company Green Li-ion and technology firm Trovio.
The Hinchinbrook quandary
Labor are set to quit while they are behind in the by-election for the north Queensland seat of Hinchinbrook, sparked by the impending resignation of Katter’s Australian Party MP Nick Dametto.
Chooks hears that Labor is seriously considering not running a candidate after securing a woeful 14 per cent of the primary vote in Hinchinbrook at the October state election.
It would be an extraordinary move for Labor; the last time the party failed to field a candidate in a Queensland state general or by-election was in 2016, at the Toowoomba South poll.
Chooks understands Labor hardheads are weighing up the cost and effort of running in the seat, when the best the ALP can hope for is coming third or fourth. Dire.
The last time the ALP held Hinchinbrook was 65 years ago. Labor MP Cecil “Nugget” Jesson was the north Queensland regional electorate’s inaugural representative, holding the seat between its formation in 1950 until his resignation a decade later.
Already, the government is on the attack about the ALP being MIA, with Housing and Public Works Minister Sam O’Connor saying if true, Labor was essentially “flicking the bird” to North Queensland.
For the record, ALP HQ says it has yet to make a decision about running a candidate; the enthusiasm says it all.
But while an official ALP candidate is unlikely, it seems the frontrunner in the by-election has rolled-gold Labor pedigree.
The Katter’s Australian Party candidate for Hinchinbrook, Mark Molachino, has previously been a ‘true believer’.
His official declaration to the Electoral Commission of Queensland, when he ran as part of Labor-aligned Townsville mayor Jenny Hill’s “team” of councillors last year reveals he had been a member of Labor since October 2017 and a Right faction member since April 2020.
Chooks hears Molachino quit Labor last year.
But David Crisafulli has already jumped on the Labor links.
Mr Crisafulli, who is yet to reveal an LNP candidate himself but is desperate to win back Hinchinbrook, said it was strange that a candidate historically affiliated to Labor was running for a “different political party”.
Chooks hears nominations to be the LNP’s candidate at the by-election close on Sunday, and a mate of Crisafulli – Wayde Chiesa, the former CEO of Regional Development Australia for Townsville and north west Queensland – is considered a preselection frontrunner.
Spring chicken Crisafulli says LNP still has the numbers
David Crisafulli concedes the ageing membership of the Liberal National Party is a “big challenge,” after an internal review into Peter Dutton’s federal election defeat singled out the demographic reality as an existential threat to the party’s survival.
At just 46, the Queensland Premier is a veritable spring chicken compared to the median age of LNP members – 72.
And Crisafulli recognises this is an issue, telling Chooks it’s an endemic problem facing all membership bodies, whether it’s “service clubs, volunteer groups, charities” – or the Labor party.
“The median age (of those groups) is getting older, I think that’s a reflection of how hectic life is for people in the modern era who are raising a family, and it’s not they don’t want to contribute to their community – far from it – people are really time poor,” he says.
Chooks then broke it to a sceptical Premier that the median age of Queensland Labor members is 53, according to state secretary Ben Driscoll (a sprightly 30).
QLD LNP election reviewer Ian Walker – a former Newman government Science Minister, who clocks in a whisker under the median at 70 – says for the LNP to survive, it must broaden its appeal to younger people, women, and Australians from multicultural backgrounds.
“The median age of a member of the LNP is 72 … this statistic not only threatens our success as a party – it imperils our survival!” Walker’s election review – emailed to members and obtained by Chooks – warns.
Crisafulli says he agrees with Walker that the LNP had to change the way it engaged with members and supporters, that the monthly party meetings in halls across the state had to modernise.
“We’ve got a much larger membership than the Labor party though.”
But does the LNP really? According to LNP state director Ben Riley, the party’s Queensland membership sits just shy of 11,000. When we asked Labor’s Driscoll, he wasn’t forthcoming enough to divulge an actual figure, but indicated Labor’s state membership was not that high.
Townsville tussle
There’s a Melbourne Cup field of contenders lining up to contest the Townsville mayoralty by-election on November 15, triggered by the exit of the city’s controversial leader Troy Thompson.
Thompson is throwing his hat in the ring (again) despite an ongoing Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into him – the very probe that prompting his resignation.
He will be up against the aforementioned Hinchinbrook Katter’s Australian Party MP Nick Dametto, acting Townsville Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney, former candidate Harry Patel and possibly former Labor MP Les Walker.
A one-time deputy mayor of Townsville, Walker lost the seat of Mundingburra in October but apparently fancies himself as a frontrunner if he decides to enter the race.
If Thompson wins (and with the large candidate list, a full postal election, and optional preferential voting, anything can happen), Chooks wonders what happens when the CCC finishes its investigation into Thompson’s alleged wrongdoing?
Forget energy, How good is footy?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Brisbane on Friday to spruik his government’s social housing policy.
Fronting the media at a morning press conference, Albanese gave a master class in how to avoid answering questions on a range of tricky subjects.
But the superlative Reece Walsh-like sidestep came when he was asked about Queensland Energy Minister David Janetzki’s then-looming midday energy speech and the state government’s already well-aerated plans to dump the Palaszczuk government’s 2022 commitment to close the state’s coal fired power stations by 2035. (For The Australian’s coverage of the energy plan, stay informed online, and read The Weekend Australian newspaper.)
Question: “The state Energy Minister is releasing his energy plan today; it relies heavily on coal. How is it going to impact your 82 per cent target for renewables?”
PM: “Well, I haven’t seen the plan obviously, it hasn’t been released. So, look, we’ll continue to engage constructively. I have a good relationship with state and territory governments. I had a good chat with Premier (David) Crisafulli, had a chat with him last night, had an engagement with him at the footy on Sunday. I congratulate the Brisbane Broncos. I particularly congratulate my friend Adam Reynolds and of course Madge. I rang Madge last week and wished him luck. I got to know him when he was coach of my team – a South Sydney loyalist. But it was good to see a fantastic reward for what was an outstanding season by the Broncos in his first season as coach here. But it was a fantastic game and the Storm deserved big congrats as well. I thought both teams performed outstandingly, and it was terrific to talk with David Crisafulli there.”
Fair to say, a lot of hot air.
Spotted: Wells on ground
The PM’s comments confirm again that politicians like to revel in the reflected glow of a sporting win.
And on Grand Final day that was no more evident than with federal cabinet minister Anika Wells, who ran onto the pitch after the game to snatch a selfie with Broncos forward Patrick Carrigan.
The Brisbane-based Minister for Sport and Communications put aside last month’s fatal Optus triple-0 outages and her looming grilling in parliament this week to attend the Sydney final on Sunday.
And, sure enough, Wells posted the happy snap to socials.
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