Frantic factional brawling kicks off on Annastacia Palaszczuk’s replacement

Annastacia Palaszczuk has anointed deputy Steven Miles, but he facies a fight from Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Treasurer Cameron Dick.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk officially open the Kallangur Satellite Hospital on December 1. Picture, John Gass

Queensland Labor leadership frontrunner Steven Miles is relying on union heavyweight Gary Bullock to help his campaign to be the state’s next premier, as he faces a fight from Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Treasurer Cameron Dick.

Ms Palaszczuk’s shock resignation triggered frantic factional negotiations on Sunday as the party tries to avoid a politically messy leadership ballot at Friday’s caucus meeting.

If MPs and union leaders are unable to agree on Ms Palaszczuk’s replacement and new deputy, a caucus vote would force a mandatory vote of every rank-and-file Labor Party member and affiliated unions, which could take months.

Ms Palaszczuk was glowing in her endorsement of Left-faction leader, Mr Miles, who she described as a “ fantastic, steadfast deputy”. “He is strong, and what you see is what you get, he is compassionate as well,” she said.

“I worked very closely with ­Steven, particularly during Covid. And I strongly endorse him to be the next premier.”

Mr Miles was quick to hit the phones on Sunday morning, telling caucus colleagues across all three factions that he would be putting his name forward and ­asking for their support.

By the afternoon, he confirmed that he would nominate for Labor leader, saying he would build on Ms Palaszczuk’s legacy and “refocus the state on the services Queenslanders rely on”.

Behind the scenes, power­brokers were working to stitch up a deal to keep all three factions “happy”, with several sources saying Mr Miles’ accession to the leadership was “not set in stone”.

Mr Miles will rely on his ­factional overlord Mr Bullock to ­secure numbers.

Mr Bullock – a United Workers Union (UWU) official and ­member of Labor’s national executive – also leads the party’s Left faction in Queensland, which dominates the state parliamentary caucus and membership. Of Labor’s 52-member caucus, 34 MPs – 65 per cent – belong to the Left or are card-carrying members of the UWU, including most of the pint-sized Old Guard faction.

Ms Fentiman is also a member of the Left, but belongs to the less powerful Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union.

Despite that, she is understood to have support of across the three factions and significant union leaders and is considered the best communicator of the three.

“We have two outstanding ­candidates from the Left – I think it will be close,” One Left faction MP said.

Another from the Right said: “All three of them (Miles, Fentiman and Dick) are positioning at this stage.”

Steven Miles and Shannon Fentiman. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Scott Powick

Several Labor sources confirmed that Mr Dick had told MPs he wanted the leadership, but his Right faction membership makes it almost impossible he would have the numbers to become the next premier.

During a phone hook-up of Right MPs on Sunday, Mr Dick said the faction needed to keep the leadership, but some of his colleagues said though talented, “he is not a loved figure in caucus”.

The majority of the Old Guard faction, which is aligned with the Left, is understood to be supporting Mr Miles.

Several Labor MPs said Mr Miles was the frontrunner, but there was major wrangling over who would be his deputy, either Ms Fentiman, or Mr Dick.

Mr Miles, a former union ­official who holds a PhD on union renewal from the University of Queensland, held the health portfolio during Covid-19 pandemic and took over as deputy premier in 2020 after Jackie Trad was forced to quit the frontbench.

His stunts, which included ­“accidentally” calling Scott Morrison a c--t at a rally in 2021 and ripping up a quarantine bill from NSW, had Labor MPs concerned he lacked the maturity and gravitas to become premier.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

But his colleagues say Mr Miles has grown into his role as deputy, and is now considered as one of the smartest, and most affable, on Labor’s frontbench.

He has been charged with overseeing the ­multibillion-dollar infrastructure program for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. In his statement on Sunday, Mr Miles’ pointedly said the government had “so much left to do”, including working “better with our partners to deliver the legacy benefits of the Olympics and Paralympics”.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner quit an Olympics leadership forum a week ago after being blindsided by the state ­government’s plan to force the council to pay for part of an ­upgrade of the RNA showgrounds to become a temporary stadium while the Gabba was ­demolished and rebuilt.

Elected to parliament as part of Ms Palaszczuk’s 2015 rout, Mr Miles was appointed to cabinet as environment minister in his first term. Thanks to his close relationship with Mr Bullock, he secured the safe seat of Murrumba in Brisbane’s northern outskirts, after his electorate was removed in a 2017 redistribution.