Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s European jaunt fuels sense of crisis
As Annastacia Palaszczuk jets off overseas with her boyfriend, the Queensland Premier is relying on a union boss to stem concerns within Labor ranks over her leadership.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is relying on the support of union boss and powerbroker Gary Bullock to stem concerns within Labor ranks over her leadership as she jetted off for a European holiday at the weekend.
Ms Palaszczuk and partner Reza Adib flew out of Brisbane on Saturday for their second overseas holiday this year amid speculation over whether she would be pushed to quit as Premier ahead of next year’s October election.
The planned holiday had been kept quiet by her office and surprised some Labor MPs, increasingly concerned about successive published polls suggesting the third-term government is heading for defeat.
On Saturday, The Weekend Australian revealed that key sections of the Labor Party in Queensland now believe Ms Palaszczuk should quit as Premier.
The leadership speculation was further fuelled by the Queensland government’s disastrous few days in parliament last week, with Ms Palaszczuk blamed for mishandling controversial measures to tackle youth crime. On Sunday, Acting Premier Steven Miles tried to play down the unrest, saying “they’ll always be chatter” over leadership. `
“It didn’t align with what people are saying to me,’’ he said in Brisbane. “I understand they’ll always be chatter, they’ll always be rumours and gossip.”
But Mr Miles, a likely contender if there was a leadership spill, repeatedly avoided answering questions on whether he held ambitions to be premier. Mr Miles would only say that he enjoyed his current job as deputy premier and supported Ms Palaszczuk. “I’m very, very happy to be Deputy Premier, Annastacia is doing a fantastic job as Premier and I’m very pleased to support her.’’
Ms Palaszczuk, who last week did not respond to questions from The Australian about the speculation over her leadership, has previously said she will lead Labor at the next election.
Labor Party rules in Queensland makes it difficult to roll Ms Palaszczuk, with at least 50 per cent of her MPs needed to support a petition to the ALP state secretary for a ballot.
Then, there are three separate votes to determine who should be leader: of the state parliamentary party, of eligible grassroots branch members, and of affiliated unions.
Senior Labor sources said Mr Bullock, who did not respond to an approach for comment by The Australian, was pivotal in determining whether the party would push for a leadership challenge.
Mr Bullock is national political director of the United Workers Union, and president of the Left faction in Queensland which dominates the state parliamentary caucus and membership.
Several Labor sources said Mr Bullock and other union leaders still backed Ms Palaszczuk.
“Gary is supporting Annastacia to remain and doesn’t want a leadership challenge,’’ one senior Labor insider said.
“If he changes that position, then it is on and either Miles or (Health Minister) Shannon Fentiman will be sparring it out.’’
Another senior Labor figure said Ms Palaszczuk’s decision to go overseas could prove politically fatal.
“It is unfortunate timing but with all the speculation it is not a good look that she is overseas,’’ the insider said. “Politics is often about feel and those two factors could fuel momentum.’’
Unrest over Ms Palaszczuk, who led Labor to election wins in 2015, 2017 and 2020, follows three successive published polls and internal ALP research showing her popularity is plummeting, with the state government headed for defeat in October next year.
Labor MPs were also angry at Ms Palaszczuk’s handling last week of controversial youth crime measures. Last-minute legislative amendments were rushed through parliament to make it legal to detain children in adult jails and police watch houses, dodging the usual parliamentary committee scrutiny and overriding the human rights act.
The changes were widely attacked by the state opposition, minor parties, legal advocates and policing experts.
But several other Labor backbenchers, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said Ms Palaszczuk was the best hope of re-election. One Labor MP said the Premier would stay.
“I don’t think the Premier’s going anywhere,’’ the MP said.
“There have been issues, but I think we’ve been sorting them out as a government. Some of the backbench have just got to get out and do the work.”
The backbencher said if the Premier did leave, the only possible replacements would be Ms Fentiman and Mr Miles.
Other backbench sources said they were confident in Labor’s ability to out-campaign the LNP.
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