Former Queensland minister Kate Jones abandons Senate race
Former state minister Kate Jones has pulled out of the preselection race to stand as a Labor candidate for the Senate in Queensland at the next federal election.
Former Labor state minister Kate Jones has pulled out of the preselection race to stand as a Senate candidate in Queensland at the next federal election.
The veteran state MP, who quit ahead of the 2020 state election, had been backed by union boss and Labor Left faction convener Gary Bullock to contest the preselection in a move that challenged the Right faction’s traditional hold on second position on the ticket.
The Australian last month revealed Mr Bullock was plotting to install Ms Jones into the winnable Senate spot, telling a closed-door meeting of the Left executive that he had spoken to the former minister about running and she had “expressed interest”.
His comments sparked a backroom factional brawl within Queensland Labor, leading former Townsville mayor Jenny Hill to express her interest in running for preselection.
In recent days, the Right-aligned Australian Workers Union has thrown its support behind Corinne Mulholland, a lobbyist for Star Entertainment.
Labor insiders say the emergence of Ms Mulholland as a Right faction-backed contender delivered a “fatal blow” to Ms Jones’s aspirations.
In a statement, Ms Jones, an Australian Rugby League commissioner, confirmed she would not be running.
“While it was humbling to be approached by numerous members of the party encouraging me to nominate in the Senate preselection process and to consider contesting the seat of Brisbane in the next federal election, I have decided I will not be nominating for either positions,” she said.
Ms Jones was in March forced to quit her “specialist consultant” role at lobbying firm Akin Agency after revelations in The Australian that she was organising meetings with some of her old ministerial colleagues for companies that later became paid-up clients of Akin.
The former Old Guard faction leader denied she was lobbying without being registered.
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