Union boss Gary Bullock backs former ALP minister Kate Jones for Queensland Senate spot
Queensland Labor kingmaker Gary Bullock is plotting to install the woman who helped him make Steven Miles premier into the party’s winnable second Senate position at the next federal election.
Queensland Labor kingmaker Gary Bullock is plotting to put the woman who helped him make Steven Miles premier in the party’s winnable second Senate position at the next federal election in a move that could trigger factional warfare.
State secretary of the United Workers Union and convener of the omnipotent Labor Left faction, Mr Bullock plans to use his numbers to snatch the No.2 Senate spot from the Right and deliver it to former state minister Kate Jones, a member of the Left-aligned Old Guard faction.
The scheme is being interpreted in ALP circles as Ms Jones’ reward for her role in the factional take-down of Annastacia Palaszczuk in December, which delivered Mr Miles the premiership.
Mr Bullock – who has been described by Mr Miles as a “mentor” – told a private meeting of the Left executive on Tuesday night that he had spoken with Ms Jones about running for the Senate and she “had expressed interest”.
The top spot on Labor’s ticket will go to sitting Left senator Nita Green and the second position has traditionally been reserved for the Right-aligned Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) union.
As UWU state secretary – the biggest union in the Left and the only union in the Old Guard – installing Ms Jones would give Mr Bullock influence over three of Labor’s top four Senate positions.
Only Australian Workers Union-aligned senator Anthony Chisholm – a former Queensland ALP state secretary and member of the Right – would be outside Mr Bullock’s sphere of factional influence, with Senator Murray Watt a member of the UWU and Senator Green in the Left.
The Right, and some members of the Left, are furious at the prospect of Ms Jones being parachuted in. “Blowing up a power-sharing arrangement this close to a state election could be the worst idea I have ever heard,” one Labor Left insider said.
A senior Labor source said if Ms Jones became a Senate candidate it would “not be a good outcome” for the party “given the role she played installing Steven Miles as premier”.
“It would not be good to have anyone involved in that associated with the federal government,” they said.
Another ALP insider said the move to overthrow decades of factional organisation was “just not cricket”, and predicted it could spark federal intervention to block Ms Jones’s elevation. “Just because you (the Left) have the majority, doesn’t mean you get everything,” the source said.
If the No.2 position is contested, it would spark a statewide Labor ballot with rank-and-file members getting 50 per cent of the vote and unions receiving the other 50 per cent. It would be the first time a Senate position was contested under a voting system introduced about a decade ago.
Another senior Labor source told The Weekend Australian that in order to gain more federal seats in Queensland, the party had to “put forward quality candidates”.
“Kate fits the bill,” they said. “She has a proven track record as a minister and is a great campaigner.”
Ms Jones was in March forced to quit her “specialist consultant” role at Akin Agency – a lobbying firm run by Canberra-based marketer Kate Lord – after revelations by The Australian that she was organising meetings with her old ministerial colleagues for companies that later became paid-up clients of Akin.
The former Old Guard faction leader – who is now an Australian Rugby League Commissioner and an executive director of the Tech Council of Australia – denied she was lobbying without being registered.
Under Queensland law, all lobbying activity must be done by registered lobbyists and declared on the state’s public register.
When Ms Jones was rumoured to be considering a lower house tilt ahead of the 2022 election, Anthony Albanese described her as a friend and an “outstanding Queenslander”.
The SDA lost its Senate position at the 2019 election when Labor’s primary vote in Queensland dropped to 26.6 per cent under Bill Shorten and one-term Labor senator Chris Ketter failed to get re-elected.
It was Labor’s worst Senate result in Queensland since 1949. The party won two Senate positions at the 2022 federal poll when senators Watt and Chisholm were re-elected. Neither Ms Jones nor Mr Bullock responded to requests for comment.
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