Former councillor Kara Cook poised to run for Labor in Bonner after federal intervention

Rising Labor star Kara Cook is poised to be preselected to contest the ­Liberal-held Brisbane seat of Bonner at the upcoming federal election after the party’s nat­ional executive intervened to block a local union official from running.

Rising Labor star Kara Cook. Photo: Supplied

Rising Labor star Kara Cook is poised to be preselected to contest the ­Liberal-held Brisbane seat of Bonner at the upcoming federal election after the party’s nat­ional executive intervened to block a local union official from running.

Ms Cook, a former Brisbane city councillor who surprised many in Queensland Labor circles when she quit in early 2023, underwent her internal candidate suitability interview on Thursday and is expected to be formally endorsed later this month.

A lawyer who set up Australia’s first specialist domestic violence firm, Ms Cook lives in the neighbouring electorate of Griffith and is married to high-profile barrister Josh Creamer, who headed the state’s recently axed Indigenous truth-telling inquiry

Her impending preselection comes after Billy Colless, lead organiser of the public sector Together Union, this week formally withdrew his nomination for Labor preselection.

Former Morningside councillor Kara Cook with husband and barrister Josh Creamer and daughters Rita and Eden. Picture Lachie Millard

In an email to branch members on Wednesday, seen by The Australian, Mr Colless said he felt he could “do more to support our re-election if I am not the candidate for Bonner”, and voiced his strong belief that the endorsed candidate should live in the electorate.

“There are a number of reasons that weighed on my mind in making this decision. First of all, I have been asked by my union, the Australian Services Union, to co-ordinate Together’s direct voter contact program for the key target seat of Leichhardt,” his email said.

“We have a great candidate who is knocking on doors and making calls, and I believe he can win if we talk to enough people.

“Direct voter contact wins campaigns and I have the opportunity to co-ordinate union members across the state making calls into Leichhardt so we can win the seat for the party.”

Billy Colless. Picture: LinkedIn

In his email, Mr Colless also said he and his wife were expecting their first child in June and “being a present and active father is something that is extremely important to me”.

“There is a chance the election still could be in late May and the party deserves a candidate who will have a laser focus and commitment to the campaign. I cannot provide the commitment required to win Bonner if the election is in May because I will be putting my family first,” he said.

When contacted by The Australian on Thursday, Mr Colless said he backed Ms Cook “100 per cent”, describing her as a formidable candidate who had “the runs on the board”.

Bonner is held by veteran LNP backbencher Ross Vasta on a tight 3.4 per cent margin, but has not been won by Labor since the 2007 federal election.

While Labor insiders are not optimistic about claiming the seat, one source said “if anyone can do it, it is Kara”.

Labor holds just five of 30 federal electorates in Queensland, including Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s safe seat of Rankin and newly promoted Aged Care Minister Anika Wells’s seat of Lilley.

The far north Queensland seat of Leichhardt is considered by party insiders the “most viable” potential gain, given the retirement of veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch and the fact state Labor managed to hold the seat of Cairns at Queensland’s October election.