Ex-federal MP withdraws from preselection battle against Amanda Stoker
G’day readers, and welcome to Feeding the Chooks, your weekly insight into the behind-the-scenes machinations of Queensland politics.
LAMING WITHDRAWS
Controversial former federal MP Andrew Laming has sensationally withdrawn his nomination for LNP preselection for the state seat of Oodgeroo.
Laming had been taking on former LNP Senator Amanda Stoker and ordained Anglican priest Daniel Hobbs for the party’s preselection in the Brisbane bayside seat of Oodgeroo, after the retirement announcement of veteran Queensland MP Mark Robinson.
Internal candidate vetting had been running a ruler over the candidates for the past fortnight, and the Applicant Review Committee referred the matter to the LNP’s state executive meeting on Friday.
Chooks hears Laming withdrew his nomination after fronting the closed-door meeting early on Friday afternoon.
He did not pass vetting ahead of the last federal election for his seat of Bowman, but later won a defamation suit against the Nine Network over its reporting of denied allegations that Laming took an inappropriate photograph of a female constituent and harassed other women.
Laming ran into legal trouble this year when the Federal Court ordered Laming pay a $20,000 fine for three unauthorised and misleading Facebook posts he authored, ahead of the 2019 federal election.
He’s appealing that Judgement.
Laming is also contesting claims from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority that he owes money in taxpayer-funded travel expenses.
As long as Stoker passes vetting, there will be an intriguing contest between her and Hobbs, considered the dark horse in the race.
Chooks is told Laming will mobilise his supporters behind Hobbs. The former federal MP did not respond to Chooks’ questions.
READY FOR THE FIGHT
The knives are being sharpened for veteran Queensland Labor MPs Graham Perrett and Shayne Neumann, as the party’s strict affirmative action rules bite.
Senior Labor sources have told Chooks that the “worst-kept secret” in Queensland Labor is that during the federal parliamentary break, there will “be discussions” about the MPs’ future.
Perrett has held the marginal Moreton, in Brisbane’s southern suburbs, since 2007, while Neumann is Labor’s only regional MP in Queensland and has held Blair – based on Ipswich – also since 2007.
The ALP’s affirmative action policy includes a target to have 50 per cent women in held seats by 2025, and recently a transitional rule expired that had protected any sitting male MPs from the AA threat in preselection battles.
“(Former ALP state secretary) Julie-Ann Campbell is the hot pick for the Left in Moreton and it’s understood (Palaszczuk government MP) Jennifer Howard is weighing up her options for a tilt at Blair,” a Labor source says.
“It’s too early to say who will be executed but there’s definitely a lot of chatter going on.”
Another Labor source says Neumann was “in denial” about the reality of the rules, which mean two Queensland male MPs need to be replaced by women.
From the Right faction, the more senior Speaker Milton Dick and Treasurer Jim Chalmers are unlikely to be rolled, leaving Neumann vulnerable.
One of Neumann’s supporters says Queensland does not have an AA problem.
“After all, federal Labor caucus has a majority of women. Rather, Queensland has a problem winning seats.”
Labor holds just five of the 30 federal seats in Queensland – the smallest proportion of federal seats held in the state by any government since 1906.
After the next election, Blair is expected to be redistributed to include more of Ipswich and less of surrounding rural areas, where Neumann’s support is said to be especially strong.
The seat will become safer, making it more of a prize for the MP’s Right faction.
Both Neumann and Perrett say they want to go around again.
“I am very confident I have support on the ground in my electorate,” Newman tells Chooks, while Perrett says he also intends to nominate.
“With AA, we’ll see what happens.”
Perrett’s absence from the last sitting week of parliament also raised eyebrows. He and LNP colleague, fellow Queenslander Scott Buchholz, flew to France as part of the Australian parliamentary rugby union team – The Wombats – to compete in the parliamentary rugby World Cup, which happens before the real World Cup.
The pair of Queenslanders – who were unfortunately not joined by actual former Wallaby and now Senator David Pocock – and a team of other pollies or politically connected people from South Australia and NSW were narrowly beaten by France in the first game, flogged by New Zealand in the second, and won against Argentina in the third.
The Wombats did not make the finals, and the Kiwis were the overall winners.
Unfortunately for Perrett, he copped a Kiwi boot to the face when he was at the bottom of a ruck.
“It was in the second game and a filthy Kiwi gave me an amateur facelift and raked the side of my face,” Perrett tells Chooks.
“One of the British players was an emergency department doctor who pulled my face back together.”
Perrett says the injury didn’t stop him from playing in the Argentina game, “against doctor’s orders and once it was stitched up”.
PRESELECTION SEASON
The swing seat of Bundaberg is shaping as a battleground at the October 2024 state election, after the LNP preselected the chief executive of the Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers Bree Watson as the candidate to tackle first-term Labor MP Tom Smith.
Former high school teacher Smith was not a long-term Wide Bay local before he won the seat in 2020, by an excruciatingly small margin of just 11 votes.
Shortly after former bodybuilder Watson was officially announced as the candidate, Smith leapt onto Twitter to accuse her of a “known track record of privatisation and choosing big money bosses over workers”.
Nervous much?
Watson said: “‘This tired Labor government has stopped listening to Queenslanders and we need real change to see Bundaberg thrive”.
She is known to locals as a growers’ advocate and shot to national prominence in 2019 and 2020, after she spoke out on behalf of locals concerned about the defective Paradise Dam, built by the Beattie government and opened in 2005.
The Queensland and federal governments have been forced to spend a total of $1.2bn to fix the faulty water storage and make it safe.
Watson beat former Newman government media adviser Larine Statham-Blair, now the Bundaberg Tourism director, in a hard-fought preselection to seize the candidacy.
In other preselection news, the fight for the LNP nomination for the marginal Labor-held seat of Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast, has somewhat fizzled, with the shock withdrawal of one of the frontrunners.
Used car salesman Alister Eiseman pulled out of the race this week, leaving local businesswoman Kendall Morton in the box seat.
Party sources say Eiseman’s decision to withdraw during candidate vetting process was unusual, given he had “put in the hard yards” to rebuild the Caloundra branch after the seat fell to Labor at the last election.
Eiseman did not respond to questions, but Chooks was leaked a letter he sent to party members on Wednesday, explaining he had withdrawn due to “personal health”.
So why was the fight for Caloundra going to be so interesting?
Eiseman was facing off against Morton, who is widely considered to be LNP Leader David Crisafulli’s pick, while Eiseman was known to be backed by the increasingly powerful Young LNP.
Crisafulli has tried to appear at arms’ length of grassroots preselections, but has set a 50 per cent gender target for new candidates and is determined to see it met.
FINGERS CROSSED
What is it they say about counting your chickens?
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s plan to ditch coal by 2035 and reach a new renewables target of 80 per cent relies heavily on a proposed mega pumped hydro project near Mackay.
She has said her $62bn energy plan was “concrete”, but the government is still a year away from make a final decision on whether the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro project will go ahead.
For starters, it is still being subjected to detailed engineering and environmental investigations.
So what is the government’s backup plan to hit ambitious renewable targets if Pioneer-Burdekin does not get the tick of approval?
Energy Minister Mick De Brenni says it would likely be battery storage which “presents a prohibitive cost and technology barrier”.
“I am advised that an alternative plan using a battery of comparable size to the 120GWh Pioneer-Burdekin Hydro would cost over $80bn and need to be replaced approximately six times over the lifetime of the pumped hydro-electric storage at a capital cost of up to $480bn on today’s prices,” De Brenni said in reply to an LNP Question on Notice, tabled in parliament.
Mamma Mia.
DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
Liberal National Party MP Christian Rowan has saved someone in parliament … again.
The doctor-turned-pollie sprang into action at Brisbane’s Parliament House last week when a 16-year-old student collapsed while on a school tour. He provided first aid until she could be taken to hospital, where she made a full recovery.
It’s not the first time the addiction medicine specialist has had to administer first aid. Rowan tells Chooks he’s responded to about four emergencies in parliament in the past three years, as well as being bombarded by medical questions from his colleagues, and his political rivals.
The good doctor reckons he’s often been approached by crossbenchers or members of the government for advice on a particular ailment or another.
Rowan is not the only health professional in Queensland parliament. The Liberal National Party’s John-Paul Langbroek was a dentist and Ros Bates was a nurse, while on the Labor side Joe Kelly was a nurse and Aaron Harper and Craig Crawford were paramedics.
The Deputy Premier’s proper title is Dr Steven Miles, but best not to go to Miles for a medical opinion.
Miles has a PhD in Philosophy; his thesis was titled “Trade Union Renewal in Australia: rebuilding worker involvement”.
KICKING GOALS?
Transport Minister Mark Bailey had footy fever on Friday.
As two hometown teams prepare for finals in the Queensland capital on Saturday (the Brisbane Lions obliterate Carlton in the AFL at the Gabba at 5.15pm, before the Brisbane Broncos demolish the New Zealand Warriors across town at Lang Park at 7.50pm), Bailey couldn’t resist getting his hands on a ball.
Under the guise of telling punters how to zip between the two venues, Bailey pulled on a Lions guernsey outside the Gabba and grabbed (inexplicably) a rugby union ball.
For a minister known for his handballing of responsibility (recall Bailey blaming staffers for the deletion of a $2.4 bn train-building cost blowout), Chooks’ correspondents say Bailey’s sporting prowess left a little to be desired.
“It was a rugby union ball and he was doing AFL and league passes. The shanked kick. It was so embarrassing,” an observer tells Chooks.
BUON ANNIVERSARIO
Happy wedding anniversary to Queensland’s Education Minister and the man who made her Grace Grace.
A daughter of Italian migrants, Grace was born a Farfaglia and scored her double-name when she married her husband Michael Grace in 1985.
Grace (who is also racing minister) says the pair celebrated their 38th anniversary up north at the Cairns Amateurs Racing Carnival earlier this month.
VALE SCOTT DIXON
Chooks wants to acknowledge the passing of Scott Dixon, a much-loved and respected fixture in the worlds of journalism and politics in Queensland.
Dixon, 62, was a veteran newspaper sub-editor, a master of words and mentor to countless reporters.
At various times, he was also a senior adviser and speech writer in the Goss, Beattie, Bligh and Palaszczuk governments.
He cut his teeth as a reporter on Brisbane’s Telegraph and Daily Sun in the 1980s and, later on Sydney’s tabloids, before becoming the Chief sub-editor of The Sunday Mail.
It was during his decade-long stint (1996-2006) as “chief sub” on Queensland’s biggest paper that Dixon calmly and kindly tutored a generation of young (and sometimes older) journalists on the rules of English and the need for accuracy, empathy and attention to detail.
His professionalism enabled him to move back and forth between journalism and politics – having served as press secretary in the Goss government for then-Minister for Tourism, Sport and Racing Bob Gibbs, before being offered The Sunday Mail role.
He was later media advisor and speech writer to Premier Anna Bligh and speech writer to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and, in between, returned to the tools as a senior sub-editor on The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail.
For several years, Dixon also showed how well read he was in a weekly historical column “The Way We Were” in The Sunday Mail.
As a media advisor, he was widely trusted by journalists for his frankness and dedication to transparent government.
Dixon, a dear friend of this column, was one of a kind.
His funeral will be held next at 1.30pm on Tuesday at K.M. Funerals in Bowen Hills with a wake to be held in the Journo Room of the Jubilee Hotel.
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