Former Townsville mayor Jenny Hill will contest Queensland Labor Senate position in factional showdown with Kate Jones

Former Townsville mayor Jenny Hill will nominate for a winnable Labor Senate seat in a direct challenge to union-backed Kate Jones.

Anthony Albanese with former Townsville mayor Jenny Hill. Picture: Evan Morgan

Former veteran Townsville mayor Jenny Hill will nominate for a winnable Labor Senate seat in a ­direct challenge to union-backed Kate Jones, saying she is Anthony Albanese’s best chance of winning back regional mining communities in Queensland.

In a shock move, Ms Hill, who served as mayor for 12 years before being defeated at the March ­council election, told The Australian she would nominate for ­preselection for the Right’s No.2 position days after the party’s dominant Left faction began ­manoeuvring behind the scenes to snaffle the seat.

“The reality is the Labor vote is dropping and it’s dropping ­because we keep putting career politicians into positions whose whole lives are based out of CBDs in capital cities,” Ms Hill said.

A once-popular and outspoken mayor, Ms Hill could face-off in a factional showdown against former state minister Ms Jones if a backroom deal is not hashed out and a statewide ballot of Labor members is triggered.

Left convener and union boss Gary Bullock told a meeting of his faction’s executive last week that he had spoken with Ms Jones about running for the Senate and she “had expressed interest”.

Ms Jones has not responded to questions from The Australian, but on Monday evening a source close to her said she was still ­considering nominating.

The once-powerful Right, of Annastacia Palaszczuk and Wayne Swan, which has lost numbers and influence over the past decade, has not yet reached consensus on a candidate.

Corinne Mulholland of the Right, an in-house lobbyist for Star casinos, is also rumoured to be considering a Senate tilt. She did not respond to The Australian’s request for comment.

Ipswich MP Jennifer Howard, the state’s Assistant Treasurer, told The Australian that she had been approached to contest the position for the Right, but “had other priorities”.

Former Queensland minister Kate Jones. Picture: Che Chorley

Corrine Mulholland. Picture AAP

When confirming her intention to run, Ms Hill said sections of the ALP “hated” her because she had supported Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, which had brought much-needed jobs to north Queensland.

“So at least if I was a candidate, I could show my face at a mining site and say to the workers there, I support you and they would at least believe me,” she said.

“Which is more than I can say for many of the career politicians we have coming out of the CBDs.

“They’d probably want to expel me because I would say the things too many of those who live in Brisbane and are too scared to say, which is really what people want to hear.”

Labor holds just five of 30 lower house seats, and none in regional Queensland.

In the upper house, the ALP has three of 12 seats after losing its usually safe fourth position at the 2019 election, when the party’s ­primary vote collapsed to 26.6 per cent.

Labor’s post-2019 election ­review criticised the party’s “ambiguous ­language on Adani” and anti-coal rhetoric, which triggered record swings against the ALP in regional Queensland

Premier Steven Miles, a member of the Left, on Monday refused to detail any conversations with Ms Jones or Mr Bullock.

“I am not going to get into ­private conversations,” he said. “As you know, I like Kate a lot, I respect her a lot, she is a great Queenslander, but I am not going to comment on the Senate preselection.

“I’d say the same thing to all of the factions – that being united is what has served our party incredibly well for decades, and I expect everyone to be working hard to see that continue.”

Australian Workers Union-aligned senator Anthony Chisholm said he expected “a number of candidates will put their name forward for such a great job”. He echoed Mr Miles’ call for unity.