Queensland MP Cynthia Lui accused of bullying by staff

Labor MP Cynthia Lui concedes her electorate office staff have made formal complaints about her behaviour, but insists the complaints have been resolved.

Cook MP Cynthia Lui. Picture: Brendan Radke

Labor MP Cynthia Lui has admitted her electorate office staff have accused her of bullying, making formal complaints to parliament about her behaviour.

But Ms Lui – who holds the far North Queensland electorate of Cook on a 6.26 per cent margin – insists the complaints have been resolved and the eight staff who left in recent years did so to seek “other opportunities”.

At an election press conference in Mareeba on Thursday, Ms Lui conceded she had been spoken to by the clerk of parliament Neil Laurie “in the past” about staff complaints.

“Look in confidence, I think there were allegations that was made, but it’s all been dealt with, and all of that has been settled,” she said.

Premier Steven Miles with MP Cynthia Lui on Thursday. Picture: Adam Head

Ms Lui said she had fostered an environment in her electorate office that was “inclusive for everyone”.

“It’s a space that is very demanding … we work under pressure a lot of the times and looking after an electorate that is quite vast, there’s a lot of expectations on myself and the office. So I think, it is an inclusive environment. It is not for everyone. And yes, I have had people move on, but that was purely because they’ve moved on to other opportunities.”

She said she believed she had not stepped over the line in her dealings with staff.

Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman were in Cook on Thursday, announcing $20m for an expansion of the hospital in Mareeba, the biggest town in Ms Lui’s seat, west of Cairns on the Atherton Tableland.

The expansion does not include the provision of dialysis services, which Mareeba residents have been pushing for since at least 2022.

Clerk of the parliament Neil Laurie. Picture: Steve Pohlner

They also announced that the government’s two pharmacy pilots would be made permanent, a policy that has been criticised by doctors.

Under the model, pharmacists are given extra training to be able to prescribe drugs such as repeats of the contraceptive pill, and medication for a UTI, shingles, gastro and smoking addiction, without needing the intervention of a doctor.

The Labor government provided $6m for training during the pilot, but there is no extra money to make the trial permanent.

Ms Fentiman said 116 people had consultations with pharmacists as part of the contraception pilot since it started in August, while 415 people took advantage of the broader pharmacy pilot to access other drugs since that program began in April.

Ms Lui’s LNP opponent is former Newman government Minister David Kempton, who she beat in 2015 to become Queensland’s first Torres Strait Islander MP.