Queensland election: Anthony Lynham a curiosity in cabinet

Outgoing Queensland government minister Anthony Lynham never really looked comfortable in the Palaszczuk government.

Queensland Mines and Energy Minister Anthony Lynham. Picture: Shae Beplate

Outgoing Queensland government minister Anthony Lynham never really looked comfortable in the Palaszczuk government — not surprisingly, as he is the only one who was not a political adviser, a union official or a teacher before entering parliament.

For the Palaszczuk government is one of the most extreme examples in Australia of how the potential talent for parliament is coming from a very limited pool of work experience.

In a party branch heavily dependent on union backing, no fewer than 10 cabinet ministers — or over half the cabinet of 18 — were either union officials or union delegates before they entered parliament. A further five were political advisers, while two were school teachers.

Education and Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace managed to be both a political adviser and a union official before entering parliament, while Deputy Premier and Health and Ambulance Services Minister Stephen Miles has not only a practical knowledge of the union movement but also a theoretical one, as he has completed a doctorate on the subject of “union renewal” as well as working at the Queensland Public Sector Union and United Voice.

Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Minister Mark Furner started working life as a truck driver but then became a union official before becoming a federal senator and then entering state politics.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath and Employment and Small Business and Training and Skills Development Minister Shannon Fentiman were both industrial advocates for unions, the right-wing Australian Workers Union and left-wing Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

These two unions played a large role in the career of Regional Development and Manufacturing Minister Glenn Butcher, who did an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner before working for Queensland Alumina in supervisory roles.

Then there’s the political advisers. The Premier leads the way in this category, going straight from Young Labor to working for the Keating government then the Goss and Beattie Queensland governments before taking over her father’s seat in 2006.

Ministers Cameron Dick, Stirling Hinchliffe, Kate Jones and Di Farmer all sat on the other side of the ministerial table before taking their place behind it.

The two former teachers in the current cabinet are Environment, Science and Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch and Townsville-based Communities Minister Coralee O’Rourke, who is not contesting the election.

Then there’s Lynham, the only member of cabinet who could claim his union was the Australian Medical Association. He was a prominent maxillo­facial surgeon when he was elected at a by-election in late 2014 and is now returning to that field.