Labor MP Jimmy Sullivan to return after legal issues
G’day readers, and welcome back to Feeding the Chooks, your essential weekly update on what’s really going on behind-the-scenes in Queensland politics. We’re back for 2025; it’s going to be a big year.
Jimmy’s return
Wayward Queensland Labor politician Jimmy Sullivan will be making a surprise appearance at the ALP’s annual love-in and caucus retreat next week, after reassuring party headquarters that his legal woes – a “reported domestic violence incident” – have been resolved.
But not everyone in Labor Land is happy about the impending return of the Stafford MP, who is expected to be finally sworn in at the next sitting of parliament on February 18.
Police were called to Sullivan’s Kedron home on Sunday October 27 – the night after the state election – to respond to what they described as a “reported domestic violence incident”.
Opposition leader Steven Miles ordered Sullivan take leave until “his legal and medical matters” were resolved, and as a result, the Right faction MP missed the first two sitting weeks of parliament last year and has not yet been sworn in.
After the incident, a number of Sullivan's Labor colleagues said they were worried about his “relationship with alcohol,” prompting Sullivan to say he had sought the support of friends and mentors including doctor and former Stafford MP Anthony Lynham.
“I’m surrounded by good people including very good friend and mentor Dr Lynham,” he told The Courier-Mail in October.
“I’m at a busy time in my life, not just the election, but with a beautiful newborn baby.”
Despite being on enforced leave, Sullivan’s proxy vote was used to bolster the Right’s numbers for Opposition frontbench spots, even though he had not been sworn in as an MP.
Chooks hears some of Sullivan’s frenemies were closely studying the Parliament of Queensland Act, examining a couple of provisions that if Sullivan’s parliamentary absence had continued could have been used to shove the MP out the door. (Section 74 allows for a member’s seat to be vacated if they fail to be sworn in within 21 sitting days after being elected, or if they are absent without the parliament’s permission for more than 12 consecutive sitting days. Sullivan has missed six.)
Scheming was at such an advanced stage that Chooks understands some were doing the numbers for potential preselection candidates for a possible by-election in the suburban Brisbane seat.
Sullivan declined to speak to Chooks. It is understood he has no intention of quitting his position and has told party office that all of his legal issues – a Brisbane Magistrates court civil matter; no criminal charges were laid – had been dismissed by a magistrate in their entirety. He reassured Labor HQ that there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be back in the House when parliament resumes for the year.
He’s been warned this is his final chance.
Loveless love-in
And while Jimmy Sullivan returns to the fold, Chooks is wondering how much love will be felt between the factions at Queensland’s love-in next week, which almost didn’t go ahead.
The annual policy and strategy “retreat,” which has been purposely renamed a “caucus workshop,” will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday at Queensland’s Parliament House.
Steven Miles had attacked the Liberal National Party for holding their annual two-day policy shindig in Hervey Bay, just before flood waters arrived in north Queensland.
There was high-level discussions in Labor about postponing, for fear of being accused of being hypocritical, but it was decided on Thursday the event should go ahead.
Given the recent defection of two Right MPs – Jen Howard and frontbencher Corinne McMillan – to the Left faction, Chooks reckons that the get together won’t be as harmonious as in previous years.
The departures are another blow to the once-powerful Right faction – which dominated Labor politics in Queensland under the late Australian Workers’ Union boss, Bill Ludwig – and its parliamentary leader Cameron Dick.
For over a decade, the Left have run the show – guided by the often invisible hand of United Workers Union boss Gary Bullock.
The Right now have 12 MPs out of the Labor caucus of 36 MPs. The Old Guard, which is aligned to the Left, is now made up of six MPs and the remaining 19 are in the Left.
Together Union state secretary Alex Scott has organised a so-called grouping within the Left, and lured the defectors, along with former police minister Mark Ryan, Chris Whiting and Shane King.
Chooks heard that Jonty Bush, a member of the Old Guard, had joined but apparently backed out after some heated talks with her predecessor Kate Jones.
Scott’s union increased their affiliation to the ALP last year and with the merger with the Australian Services Union, his influence is only going to get bigger.
One MP tells Chooks that Scott was challenging Bullock’s influence.
“His goal is to fix the problems in Labor, he sees Blocker (Bullock) as having too much influence and being captured by minority groups,’’ the MP says.
More MPs are understood to be considering joining the group.
Part of the attraction is that Scott last year showed he was willing to spend big to back selected MPs, and send out his union members to volunteer during the election campaign.
It’s not gone unnoticed that most of the MPs in Scott’s new sub-faction are strong supporters of Shannon Fentiman, who was locked out of a post-Palaszczuk leadership spot in a late-2023 factional deal between Bullock and the AWU’s Stacey Schinnerl.
That doesn’t mean a Labor coup is on the cards; Scott is a long-time friend of Miles and the Opposition leader and his wife have both worked for Scott.
But those with long memories hope Scott’s political radar has improved since 2012.
Back then, Scott told public servants not to worry that they would lose their jobs under a Campbell Newman government because the then opposition leader had assured him that his plans to reduce the bureaucracy would not involve “forced retrenchments … but would be through natural attrition”.
Didn’t quite work out for the 14,000 later sacked by Newman.
On your marks, get set … go?
Everyone is sweating on PM Anthony Albanese to call an election, which must be held on or before May 17.
But just how ready is Labor in Queensland, a key battleground state where the ALP holds just five of 30 electorates?
Chooks can reveal the ALP has yet to announce candidates in a staggering 12 electorates, including a seat Labor itself classifies as winnable: northern Brisbane’s Petrie, held by the LNP’s Luke Howarth on a skinny margin of just 4.44 per cent.
Peter Dutton’s QLD LNP appears to be in a more organised position: just six of the 30 electorates are without candidates, including Hinkler, held by retiring Nationals MP Keith Pitt. (On Friday, it was announced Pitt had accepted an extraordinary offer from the Albanese government to become ambassador to the Holy See. Labor capitalised on Pitt’s frustration with the Nats and leader David Littleproud, and is neatly exporting the popular local member just before the federal election.)
It’s not like Labor hasn’t been trying to find true believers to put up their hands to join Team Albo. ALP state secretary Kate Flanders first opened expressions of interest for Queensland seats way back in April last year.
Recalcitrant retirees
On the other side of the federal fence, the LNP is facing an altogether awkward problem.
Chooks has been told retiring MPs Karen Andrews and Warren Entsch are less than enthused about the LNP candidates contesting their seats at the upcoming federal poll.
When lawyer Leon Rebello was endorsed in April last year to replace the former Home Affairs Minister as candidate for the blue ribbon Gold Coast seat of McPherson, Andrews publicly revealed she was “enormously frustrated” she’d been unable to find a woman to run for preselection.
It seems her frustration has not softened as time has passed. Chooks has not been able to find a single photograph of Rebello and Andrews together, nor an endorsement by the retiring MP of the new candidate for her seat. And while other LNP MPs, including Gold Coast-based state politicians, have invited Rebello to attend events and announcements with them, Andrews – who did not respond to questions from Chooks – appears pointedly not to have done the same.
Up in far north Queensland, Entsch is retiring from the sprawling electorate of Leichhardt and former paramedic Jeremy Neal was preselected to run as the LNP’s candidate in Entsch’s place.
It’s no secret the veteran MP was backing a different candidate; as Chooks reported at the time, Entsch had wholeheartedly thrown his support behind Alana McKenna, a local aviation industry leader.
As Labor’s Matt Smith enjoys the wholehearted backing of Cairns-based ALP Senator Nita Green, accompanying her to the opening of an envelope and travelling extensively together across the large electorate, Neal has not received the same support from Entsch. And it matters. Leichhardt is Labor’s top target in Queensland.
As one senior LNP source tells Chooks, “This is souring what legacy there is left for Warren. His legacy will be defined by his sour grapes behaviour over the past six months”.
Entsch even told The Cairns Post last month that his relationship with Neal was “not positive,” alluding to a failed appeal against Neal’s preselection, and would not say whether he would appear on the campaign trail alongside his successor.
“There is nothing more I can do about it, so I think we got to get behind him,” Entsch said in January.
Entsch’s office tells Chooks: “Any issues between Mr Entsch and the LNP candidate for Leichhardt Mr Jeremy Neal have been resolved. Mr Neal enjoys the full support of Mr Entsch”.
With that full-throated endorsement, Chooks expects to see Entsch doorknocking for Neal imminently.
Democracy manifest, Ipswich-style
The block of so-called “independent” Ipswich councillors are licking their wounds, and crying victim, after being forced to back down in their bid to gag the popularly-elected mayor, Teresa Harding.
Last week, The Australian revealed that veteran councillor Paul Tully had drafted amendments to the council’s media policy that would have put restrictions on the mayor from speaking to the media or issuing press releases on major city issues.
That’s right, the mayor was to be gagged about talking about the city she has been twice elected to lead so that her rival councillors could take the spotlight.
Democracy manifest.
The story dropped on the day the changes were to go a vote, but Tully and his merry band of allies – who last year removed the mayor as the head of the disaster management group – got spooked by the ensuing media coverage and put off the motion to a now-unspecified future date.
Funny what a little scrutiny and community debate does to even the best laid plans.
In the wash-up, Tully and former mayor Andrew Antoniolli cried foul in the local Ipswich Tribune saying the Mayor misrepresented the intent of the proposed changes when she described them as an attempt to gag her.
On our read, she was right.
But what drew Chooks’ attention was Antoniolli accusing the mayor of “intimidation” in voicing her concerns about the proposed changes to The Australian and later, to journalist Steve Austin on ABC Radio.
“The intimidation is the worst form of leadership I’ve ever witnessed in 20 years of local government; this is a new low for this council,’’ he lamented.
Chooks wants to put this into context and give a little reality check to the aggrieved councillor’s comment.
Over the past 20 years, there has been three Ipswich mayors: Paul Pisasale (2004-2017), Antoniolli (2017-2018) and Harding (2020-2025).
Let’s never forget that Pisasale served three years of a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty to dozens of charges, including corruption, fraud and sexual assault.
Court hearings heard Pisasale accepted money from developers, pocketed donations and used council money to buy items at auction.
In 2016, he twice forcibly kissed and touched a young woman in a council office, with Judge Dennis Lynch telling Pisasale’s sentencing hearing he “preyed upon” her and that she became “socially isolated and fearful of others” following the attack.
Pisasale was also separately found guilty of extortion after he posed as a private investigator to demand thousands of dollars from the ex-boyfriend of a Chinese escort.
And Antoniolli faced his own problems with the law, having been forced to step down as mayor after being charged with 12 counts of fraud and one count of attempted fraud for using council money to buy stuff at charity auctions.
It included a $5,000 bicycle which was found at his house but his lawyers later said he had never used.
Antoniolli was convicted but acquitted on appeal.
His charges did lead to the entire council being dismissed by the Labor state government.
Rocky road between Labor neighbours comes to a head
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has adjudicated a spat between suburban Brisbane Labor MPs Jonty Bush and Mark Furner over a service road running between their electorates.
The factional rivals had been biffing on social media during last year’s election campaign about the unbuilt path that was originally slated to run from a new housing development in Furner’s seat of Ferny Grove into Bush’s Cooper electorate - until the masterplanned community was called in by the Palaszczuk government in 2015.
Furner wanted it to ease congestion in his electorate, while Bush feared it would create more in hers.
After starting a petition that gained 1269 signatures, it appears Furner has emerged the victor.
Bleijie lifted conditions allowing the road to only be used for emergency vehicles and got the ball rolling on amendments to the city plan to put planning decisions back in the hands of Brisbane City Council.
But he stopped short of committing the funds to build it.
“Finally, I note that a change to the neighbourhood plan does not mean the road will then be constructed,” Bleijie said in response to the petition.
Over to the developers, we guess?
A persuasion of lobbyists
Lobbyists are falling over themselves to throw out the shingle in Queensland after the election of the Crisafulli LNP government in October. The gaggle of freshly registered spruikers (what is the collective noun for lobbyists, Chooks wonders? Suggestions welcome in the comments section) include former federal Treasurer Joe Hockey’s lobby shop, Bondi Partners, which has not declared any Queensland clients as yet.
Also in the fray are Denise Spinks – Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former deputy chief of staff – who is shilling for dairy farmer advocates eastAUSmilk – Digby McLeay, a long-ago chief of staff to Finance Minister Ros Bates, and Candice Stower, a former Nationals adviser who worked for David Littleproud, Keith Pitt and Matt Canavan. McLeay is repping publicly listed coal-seam gas company QPM Limited (after serving as their general manager of corporate communications since 2021), while Stower is paid by global beverage company Lion, and has already taken deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie on a tour of the XXXX Brewery in Milton.
Townsville-based Ryan Wellington – who appears to have been radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands’ long-time manager – is a newly listed lobbyist for the North Queensland Cowboys.
Spotted at the Queensland Parole Board
Criminal barrister Michael Woodford – who first rose to prominence in Queensland defending Bundaberg-based surgeon Jayant Patel – has been appointed the new head of the Queensland Parole Board.
His predecessor, Michael Byrne resigned last year, and was referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission over alleged travel allowance misuse.
The then LNP Opposition used parliamentary privilege to accuse Byrne of being involved in a relationship with a Labor staffer.
Coincidentally – and in a demonstration of Brisbane’s one-degree-of-separation legal fraternity – Byrne was senior counsel to Woodford’s junior counsel on Patel’s defence team during his high-profile Supreme Court criminal manslaughter trial in 2010.
Vale Warren Pitt
Erstwhile Labor MP and former Speaker of the Queensland parliament Curtis Pitt has announced the death of his father, Warren Pitt, aged 76.
Pitt Senior held the far north Queensland seat of Mulgrave between 1989 until his retirement in 2009, except for a three-year gap between 1995 and 1998. The rugby league-mad MP was a schoolteacher before his election to parliament.
When he announced his impending exit from politics in 2009, the then Main Roads Minister Pitt said he had been successfully fighting a serious illness for several years and was now in remission.
Curtis Pitt – who succeeded his father as Mulgrave MP from 2009 until last year’s election – said his dad had fought the “good fight his entire life” and “laid down his gloves in the early hours of this morning, passing away peacefully in Gordonvale”.
“He lived an extraordinary life, doing so much for others and creating a positive impact on this world,” Curtis Pitt said on Facebook.
Changing of the Chooks
Big news here in the Feeding the Chooks pen. Queensland political reporter Lydia Lynch has flown the Queensland coop for a stint working for The Australian in London. Michael McKenna and Sarah Elks will be joined by a fabulous new Chook, Mackenzie Scott. Please make her welcome as only our sleuths and spies can … with news tips. And if you’ve got European leads for our overseas feathered friend, Lydia’s email remains lynchl@theaustralian.com.au
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