Unions to rally outside Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office

In a major challenge to the Premier’s tenuous leadership, Queensland’s union movement will stage a surprise rally outside her office over what it alleges are broken promises.

Queensland’s union movement will stage a protest outside Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office. Picture: David Clark

Queensland’s union movement will stage a surprise rally outside Annastacia Palaszczuk’s tower of power, alleging her government has broken its promise to introduce laws decriminalising sex work before the end of the year.

In a major challenge to Ms Palaszczuk’s tenuous leadership, the rally will be led by the state’s powerful peak union body and target the government over its failure to act on promised “bread-and-butter” reforms.

The rally, to be held outside government headquarters on Wednesday morning, is expected to draw hundreds in a public display of the disquiet from within the union movement that has extended beyond the outspoken CFMEU.

A senior union official said the government has “reneged on their promise to the union movement”.

“These are big issues,” the official said. “This has come via the Premier and the Attorney-General (Yvette D’Ath).”

Meanwhile, senior party sources have told The Australian major players from the dominant Left faction were becoming increasingly frustrated with union powerbroker Garry Bullock and his refusal to move against Ms Palaszczuk’s leadership.

Mr Bullock, a United Workers Union official and member of Labor’s national executive, is key to determining whether the party should change leaders and has so far supported the Premier.

Under party rules in Queensland at least 50 per cent of MPs would need to support a petition to ALP state secretary Kate Flanders to challenge Ms Palaszczuk’s leadership before three separate votes of the caucus, eligible branch members and affiliated unions.

Of Labor’s 52-member caucus, 34 MPs, 65 per cent, belong to the Left or are card-carrying members of the UWU, meaning a petition to Ms Flanders is unlikely to succeed without Mr Bullock’s go-ahead.

One influential Left faction source believes a change in leadership is the only hope Labor has of retaining government at next October’s state election.

“We can still win but we need a fresh government, with a fresh cabinet and fresh ideas,” they said.

“Otherwise we are going to get roasted at the election.”

Ms Palaszczuk on Monday said it was a “matter for the caucus” if it wanted to call for a vote, but she would not convene another formal meeting of MPs until February and would not resign. Several MPs in the caucus and cabinet still believe Ms Palaszczuk is the best person to lead Labor to the October 2024 state election.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman are friends and rivals. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Scott Powick

“Regardless of how things may seem now, she is still our best shot,” one senior MP said.

Unrest over Ms Palaszczuk, who led Labor to election wins in 2015, 2017 and 2020, erupted in August while the Premier was on a two-week holiday in Italy, and resurfaced at the weekend.

There is no party consensus on who should replace her, with support split between Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman.

Mr Miles, in Dubai for a climate summit, is championed by Mr Bullock but other significant unions have privately said they would prefer Ms Fentiman.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Ms Fentiman said she did not believe there was a co-ordinated strategy to destabilise Ms Palaszczuk’s leadership and did not believe caucus would reconvene before parliament resumes in February.

“The Premier has been really clear, she will take us to the next election,” she said.

Ms Fentiman said she had not been approached about her leadership aspirations. “No one’s raising that with me, because we have our leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who is firmly focused on the things Queenslanders are worried about right now. You’ve heard the Premier speak, she’s focused on cost of living, on the infrastructure we need for this growing state.”