Steven Miles, Shannon Fentiman and Cameron Dick are in the running to replace Annastacia Palaszczuk
Queensland is about to get a new Premier after nearly nine years with Annastacia Palaszczuk in charge. What do we know about the challengers?
Queensland is about to get a new Premier after nearly nine years with Annastacia Palaszczuk in charge. So who are the contenders?
STEVEN MILES
Name: Steven Miles
Age: 46
Entered parliament: January 2015
Current position(s): Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Olympic and Paralympic Games Infrastructure.
Support base: Miles is the parliamentary leader of the dominant Left faction, and has the crucial backing of United Workers Union boss and Left convener Gary Bullock.
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s deputy, Steven Miles, is her anointed successor. The former union official has been Ms Palaszczuk’s second-in-charge since Jackie Trad stepped down from cabinet in May 2020, but it was not until Ms Palaszczuk’s shock resignation announcement on Sunday that she declared he should take on the top job.
Crucially, Mr Miles is the parliamentary leader of the dominant Left faction (despite originally being a member of the Right before he entered parliament), and is a member of the United Workers’ Union.
UWU boss Gary Bullock is the Left faction convener and widely considered Queensland Labor’s single-most influential powerbroker. Mr Miles has his strong backing, and Mr Bullock’s UWU has 22 members of Labor’s 52-strong caucus.
Mr Miles, a 46-year-old father-of-three came to national attention as Queensland’s health minister during the Covid pandemic, where he drew some criticism for his political attacks on opponents, including then-prime minister Scott Morrison and then-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. He filmed himself tearing up a hotel quarantine bill from NSW, and stumbled over his words at a rally in 2021 appearing to accidentally call Mr Morrison a c..t.
He is considered an astute negotiator, but there is some doubt he has the cut-throat attitude necessary to dump ministerial deadwood from cabinet if he succeeds in his bid to become Labor leader. His backers say he is the government’s best negotiator, is affable and intelligent.
Mr Miles confirmed on Sunday that he would formally nominate for the top job. As well as being deputy premier, Mr Miles is has the powerful portfolio of Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, and has also been charged with overseeing the multibillion-dollar infrastructure program for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Elected at the 2015 poll, when Ms Palaszczuk unexpectedly beat the LNP’s Campbell Newman after he served just one term as premier, Mr Miles originally represented the inner-Brisbane seat of Mount Coot-tha. But a redistribution abolished Mount Coot-tha, and he shifted to a much safer seat, the outer-suburban electorate of Murrumba. At the same time, he stopped referring to himself as Dr Miles, a nod to his PhD on union renewal from the University of Queensland.
Mr Miles was communications director for United Voice, a precursor to the UWU.
SHANNON FENTIMAN
Name: Shannon Fentiman
Age: 40
Entered parliament: January 2015
Current position(s): Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services, and Minister for Women.
Support base: Fentiman is a senior member of the Left faction and a member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union.
Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman officially announced on Monday that she would nominate to replace Annastacia Palaszczuk as Labor leader, describing herself as best-placed to deliver “renewal and change” for the party.
Ms Fentiman is a close friend of Mr Miles and also a member of the dominant Left faction, but she is backed by the less-powerful Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union. While there is doubt that she has the numbers to beat Mr Miles – unless she can negotiate a ticket with Treasurer and rival leadership aspirant Cameron Dick – Ms Fentiman said she was confident she had strong support within the party.
A former solicitor and AMWU industrial officer, Ms Fentiman was heavily involved in domestic and sexual violence support services before she entered parliament.
She served as Ms Palaszczuk’s Attorney-General for nearly three years after the last election, is across the detail of her portfolios, and is considered one of the cabinet’s best communicators, though has a reputation for a fiery temper behind closed doors. Her mentor is former Deputy Premier Jackie Trad.
The Premier shifted Ms Fentiman into the troubled health portfolio in May, and though it is seen as a poisoned chalice, Ms Fentiman has largely been able to handle the rolling crises in the state’s hospital system.
Her pitch to colleagues will focus on her ability to win the next election, in October 2024, and separate herself from the leadership team of Ms Palaszczuk and her deputy Mr Miles. But Ms Fentiman has been in Ms Palaszczuk’s cabinet from the start, since Labor was elected in January 2015, and won’t be spared LNP attacks.
CAMERON DICK
Name: Cameron Dick
Age: 56
Entered parliament: Dick was first elected in 2009 to the seat of Greenslopes, but lost at the 2012 election. He was re-elected in 2015 in the safe seat of Woodridge.
Current position(s): Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment
Support base: Dick is the parliamentary leader of the Right faction and the Australian Workers’ Union.
Treasurer Cameron Dick is the most experienced of the three leadership contenders, having served as Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations, and Education Minister under then-Labor Premier Anna Bligh during his first stint in parliament.
The former solicitor, barrister and one-time Attorney-General of Tuvalu is a factional ally of Ms Palaszczuk, and – while she backed him as one of the best treasurers Queensland has seen – did not endorse him as her successor.
It would have stung Mr Dick, who has known Ms Palaszczuk for decades. Her best friend is his brother, the speaker of the federal parliament, Milton Dick.
Mr Dick has told his Right faction colleagues he wants to be leader of the party, and has urged them to fight to keep the leadership in the once-dominant group.
But he does not have the numbers on his own, and could be wooed by either Mr Miles or Ms Fentiman to be their deputy.
Mr Dick has not publicly declared his intentions, and would only say this morning that he was having “sincere” discussions with his Labor MP colleagues about Ms Palaszczuk’s replacement.
Mr Dick has a fierce command of his Treasury portfolio and is not afraid to pick fights, including with the state’s mining industry, over his decision to hike coal royalty rates in defiance of the government’s election promise not to introduce new or increased taxes.
He is a strong performer in parliament, but is a divisive figure in caucus.
THE FACTIONS
The ALP caucus: 52 MPs
The Left: 25 MPs (including 13 United Workers Union members)
The Right: 18 MPs
The Old Guard: Nine MPs (all are United Workers Union members)
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