Union organiser blocked from Labor preselection after federal intervention

Labor infighting erupts after a Queensland union organiser is blocked from preselection by ALP national executive.

Brisbane-based Together Union lead organiser Billy Colless. Picture: LinkedIn

A brawl has erupted in Queensland Labor after the party’s nat­ional executive intervened to block the looming preselection of a union official for a federal ­Liberal-held Brisbane seat being targeted by the ALP at next year’s election.

Lead organiser of the public sector Together Union Billy Colless was expected to be announced as ALP candidate for the bayside seat of Bonner, one of the Liberal seats deemed “winnable” by Labor at the election, due by May next year.

Labor holds five of the 30 Queensland federal electorates and is targeting Bonner along with the Cairns-based Liberal seat of Leichhardt, outer Brisbane Liberal seat of Longman, and the two Greens-held seats of Griffith and Brisbane.

Labor sources said Mr Colless, a former national chair of the socialist-leaning Australian Fabians, was standing uncontested for preselection and had the backing of state ALP officials before the federal intervention blocked his candidacy.

Mr Colless, who has been heavily involved in the ALP and was supported by Together Union state secretary Alex Scott, did not return calls.

One senior Labor source said the move came as a surprise and had “stirred up tensions” within the Left faction and anger at the national executive. “It has been seen as the heavy hand of the nat­ional executive and possibly (Anthony) Albanese in blocking someone who is very popular among the branch,’’ they said.

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and LNP Bonner MP Ross Vasta. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Prime Minister intervened earlier this year in a preselection challenge against veteran federal Labor MP Shayne Neumann in his Ipswich-based seat of Blair. State MP Jen Howard, then Queensland’s assistant treasurer, submitted an expression of interest to contest the preselection, using gender quota rules requiring women to be preselected in at least half of the party’s held seats.

Mr Albanese stepped in to block Ms Howard, with party sources saying he feared Labor would lose the seat with a candidate replacing Mr Neumann.

Labor has just two women among its five Queensland House of Representative MPs and three senators: Aged Care Minister Anika Wells in the Brisbane seat of Lilley and Queensland senator Nita Green.

The under-representation led to veteran Labor MP Graham Perrett announcing his retirement, with former ALP state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell preselected to run for his marginal seat of Moreton, on Brisbane’s southside.

The Queensland ALP did not return calls about the federal intervention in Bonner.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells. Picture: Sarah Marshall

LNP candidate for Lilley, Kimberley Washington. Picture: LinkedIn

It comes as the Liberal National Party signalled it was targeting Lilley, held by Ms Wells. Former ex-staffer for senator Gerard Rennick and government affairs manager for Bishopp Outdoor Advertising, Kimberley Washington has been preselected to run for Lilley.

Ms Washington was endorsed on December 21 after her opponent, the 2025 Queensland Young Australian of the Year nominee Dylan Conway, withdrew two days before the vote.

In an email on December 20, Mr Conway, a military veteran who founded the Brothers and Books bibliotherapy charity that promotes libraries and books as a resource for people dealing with trauma and stress, told party members he had conceded “with the feedback of many” that Ms Washington had the best chance of winning back Lilley.

One LNP branch source said they believed Mr Conway had been pressured to withdraw from the race; another said the Defence veteran had accepted he did not have the numbers and was being considered as the party’s candidate to run for the state seat of Aspley at the 2028 state ­election.