‘Blocker’ Gary Bullock clears path to seat of Queensland power

United Workers Union Queensland secretary Gary Bullock.

The whip hand of union leader Gary Bullock has never been far from Annastacia Palaszczuk and will remain on the reins if her deputy, Steven Miles, becomes the next premier of Queensland.

State secretary of the United Workers Union, the veteran unionist has wielded the kind of backroom influence over Palaszczuk and her cabinet rarely seen in modern politics.

“Blocker”, as he is known, is the convener of the dominant Left faction in Queensland Labor and nothing, it seems, is done without his tick-off. It was Bullock who protected Palaszczuk for months as successive polls showed her government headed for defeat next year, with her long-vaunted personal popularity collapsing among voters.

But when the powerbroker last week asked the three-term premier to consider her future, she knew the gig was up. She resigned and, tellingly, publicly endorsed her “fantastic, steadfast deputy” to succeed her as premier.

The message was clear: despite Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Treasurer Cameron Dick holding ambitions, caucus needed to back Bullock’s pick and avoid a messy leadership contest. And Bullock – who has long nurtured Miles, speaking daily – has the numbers. Of Labor’s 52-­person caucus, 34 MPs – or 65 per cent – belong to the Left or are card-carrying members of Bullocks’ union, or both. But Fentiman, also a member of the Left, and Dick, a member of Palaszczuk’s Right, aren’t budging.

In the past 24 hours, there appears to be growing support for the Health Minister among the caucus and other unions, including the nurses, teachers and the Queensland Council of Unions. She is seen as a competent minister and, more importantly, an able, nimble communicator of the same quality as Liberal National Party leader, David Crisafulli.

“Fentiman is the only one who has the chance to turn it around for Labor and lead a reset, including cleaning out the cabinet,’’ one senior ALP insider said. “Palaszczuk wouldn’t do it because Bullock wouldn’t back it. But if you think Annastacia Palaszczuk was under the influence of Bullock, you haven’t seen anything if Miles becomes premier.”

The disproportionate power Queensland unions exert over the parliamentary ALP at the state level is anchored in both institutional and historical factors.

There is a high density of union membership in the public service, the biggest employer in the state, and Labor has managed to stay in power for all but five years out of the past three decades.

Labor’s industrial wing in the Sunshine State has always been highly concentrated: the Right centred around the once-mighty Australian Workers Union, the Left bridging the gap left when the old Trades and Labor Council-based faction, Labor Unity, also known as the Old Guard folded.

Formerly the power base of influential figures such as Peter Beattie, Labor Unity was essentially absorbed by the Left.

Union leaders, such as the late Bill Ludwig of the AWU (which controlled the Right faction), were powerful. But they weren’t allowed to exert the level of control and influence by former premiers Wayne Goss, Anna Bligh or Peter Beattie. The latter rarely let them set foot in the government’s then-Executive Building.

Which brings us back to Bullock. The rout of Bligh’s government at the 2012 state election at the hands of Campbell Newman opened the door to a realignment in the formerly Right-dominated power structure of Labor movement politics in Queensland.

The Left, under Bullock’s sway, seized the opportunity. It had the resources through well-funded unions such as the Electrical Trades Union and, of course, the big public sector unions to put up candidates in seats thought unwinnable at the 2015 election.

And when the tide stunningly turned against Newman, a whole swag of new MPs beholden to Bullock arrived in parliament.

Palaszczuk was able to form minority government and lent on the union leader to help maintain discipline within the ranks.

“Annastacia just didn’t stand up to those unions from the outset, to Bullock, to the ETU (Electrical Trades Union) or Together Union (public sector),’’ the ALP insider said. “They became the crutch that she relied on. And when you give them an inch, they take a mile.”

Sweetheart industrial deals were signed off with the unions across the board ensuring their continued support. Now, with Fentiman refusing to accept the anointment of Miles, there could be a long and drawn-out contested ballot for the leadership. If MPs don’t settle on a single candidate at its Friday meeting, rules dictate that a new ballot will be extended to include the caucus, ALP membership and affiliated unions. And then unions can flex their muscle directly on the vote for who becomes the next premier.