New Queensland premier ‘must axe dud ministers’, say Labor MPs

Queensland’s new premier will be pressured by backbenchers to sack ‘dud’ cabinet ministers to rehabilitate the Labor government’s image.

Labor backbenchers want Mark Bailey sacked from cabinet under new Queensland premier. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Tertius Pickard

Queensland’s new premier will be pressured by backbenchers to sack “dud” cabinet ministers to rehabilitate the Labor government’s image on policy pressure points ahead of next year’s state election.

As furious negotiations continue to try to settle the leadership contest between Left faction rivals Steven Miles and Shannon Fentiman, some ALP MPs are calling for a frontbench clearout of deadwood to coincide with the change at the top.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey, Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, retiring Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe, Resources Minister Scott Stewart, Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer and Police Minister Mark Ryan are all in the sights of the Labor caucus to be kicked out of cabinet.

One Left faction MP told The Australian that if controversy-prone Mr Bailey were not sacked as Transport Minister by the new leader, there would be a “revolt”.

“The Premier was punished and paid the price for being loyal to dud ministers,” the MP said.

“If Bailey is not removed from cabinet there will be a revolt.”

It is understood Mr Bailey is supporting Left ally Ms Fentiman in the leadership contest, and Mr Miles would be more inclined to remove him from cabinet.

A Right faction MP also called for Mr Bailey’s head, saying “even the Left want to get rid of him”.

“It cannot be the same old people who have been around since 2015. You can’t have change if you have the same people running the show,” the MP said. “It might be time for some of those ministers who have been umming and ahhing about leaving, to go.”

Another Right MP said thenew premier must launch a “refresh” of the frontbench. “Whoever leads the party to the 2024 election will no doubt look at the whole make-up of the cabinet, and that is the right thing to do,” they said.

Annastacia Palaszczuk was reluctant to reshuffle her cabinet during nearly nine years as premier and rarely removed ministers, instead waiting for trouble-prone colleagues to fall on their swords.

Late in 2015, in her first year as premier, Ms Palaszczuk demoted police minister Jo-Ann Miller after the parliament’s ethics committee ruled she had engaged in a “pattern of reckless conduct”. Ms Miller quit cabinet before Ms Palaszczuk could sack her entirely.

In late 2016, agriculture minister Leanne Donaldson quit cabinet after it emerged she had failed to pay her overdue council rates for more than three years. Ms Palaszczuk reinstated Mr Bailey to her cabinet in September 2017, after demoting him during a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into the deletion of his private email account, which he had used to have back-channel conversations with union bosses.

The CCC found he had breached the ministerial code of conduct and was “foolish”, but could not be criminally charged because the deleted emails were eventually able to be retrieved. He has recently come under fire for keeping huge cost escalations on the Gold Coast Faster Rail and the state’s flagship train manufacturing program secret from taxpayers.

Just five months before the 2020 election, Ms Palaszczuk was forced to find a new treasurer when her deputy, Jackie Trad, quit cabinet during a CCC investigation. She was later cleared.

The LNP has already indicated it will continue to attack the new leadership team on the government’s pressure points of health, cost of living, youth crime and housing. LNP state director Ben Riley emailed party members hours after Ms Palaszczuk’s resignation announcement and warned “although a new leader might see a sugar hit in the polls, with Labor in charge, the chaos and crisis impacting Queenslanders will remain”.