Des Houghton: Labor young guns face October election wipeout
The Labor Party will suffer something far worse than defeat in the October election, writes Des Houghton. SEE LABOR’S 12 MOST AT RISK
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Labor Party will suffer something far worse than defeat in the October election.
It will have to watch many of its bright young performers pushed over the electoral cliff.
Its party’s future will be stolen.
A long queue of ALP backbenchers and ministers and assistant ministers now face political oblivion with last weekend’s two by-elections resembling an insurrection.
Labor elders concede the party may be in “terminal decline”.
That may be good news for the conservatives, and it may be even better news for the Greens and One Nation.
There is long list of Labor members destined to lose their seats: Those most likely to go are Ali King in Pumicestone, Tom Smith in Bundaberg, Kim Richards in Redlands, Robert Skelton in Nicklin, Adrian Tantari in Hervey Bay, Craig Crawford in Barron River, Scott Stewart in Townsville, Aaron Harper in Thuringowa, Brittany Lauga in Keppel and Les Walker in Mundingburra.
And I fail to see how Transport Minister Bart Mellish can possibly hold Aspley, and it seems unlikely that Tourism Minister Michael Healy will survive in Cairns. If it is not the cost-of-living crisis, it will be the youth crime epidemic that has voters turning away.
Housing, Local Government and Planning Minister Meaghan Scanlon has a better cushion, but she, too, may be toppled if the anti-Labor swing is anything like it was in Ipswich West. Despite her flamboyant appearances in front of the television news cameras she has failed to instil confidence that the ALP can resolve the housing crisis.
While embracing the poison of identity politics, too many Labor luminaries have neglected the bread-and-butter issues of most concern to its working-class base.
In its march to power the LNP may claim some very big scalps.
At this early stage the Minister for Energy Mick de Brenni could be in trouble in Springwood where he has done little to ingratiate himself.
It’s a similar story for Nikki Boyd in Pine Rivers. She was recently elevated to Cabinet as the Minister for Fire and Disaster Recovery and Minister for Corrective Services but appeared to be out of her depth in media interviews.
It might be wishful thinking on my part, but I think Grace Grace will have trouble holding on in McConnel where her biggest threat may come from the Greens.
She is close to, and a former general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions described in Parliament last month as “organised crime at its best”.
Grace is now front and centre of the Olympic Games venues debacle in her role as Minister for State Development and Infrastructure and Minister for Industrial Relations. Heaven help us.
Queensland schools fell behind other states in literacy and numeracy during Grace’s term as Education Minister.
Budget papers showed Queensland failed 24 targets for reading, writing and numeracy at all year levels tested in NAPLAN.
And there is a trio of Labor virtue signallers who may very well lose their seats in October. I hope so. They are Jonty Bush in Cooper, Melissa McMahon in Macalister and Jessica Pugh in Mount Ommaney.
David Hinchliffe, a former Brisbane City Council Labor majority leader, said in an essay this week that the ALP faced “fundamental and life-threatening problems”. He was writing in the context of Labor’s poor showing in the civic poll.
Then he went further: “The Labor Party, for its part, must accept like other Social Democratic parties around the world facing extinction, that it has to be prepared to share power and to reform itself …”
He proposed a Green-Labor alliance.
Now that would be interesting.
Originally published as Des Houghton: Labor young guns face October election wipeout
State’s Olympic future can drive tech industry change
Brisbane 2032 can replace a reputation of industry failure with an example of transformation and success that provides a model for the world, writes Ed Chung.
‘CFMEU think Qlders are stupid – they only have themselves to blame’
CFMEU’s Dylan Howard has staunchly defended the union’s “perks” – but opinion remains divided among Queenslanders. HAVE YOUR SAY
Why LNP really scrapped the controversial CFMEU ‘tax’
Unions and so-called work ‘perks’ have become the scapegoat for blowouts on Qld projects as the LNP moves to scrap the BPIC policy. But there's more to the story, writes CFMEU official Dylan Howard.
This is one thing Qld needs more of … before it’s too late
Queensland tourism has the chance to go to another level – but we have to be bold first, writes Carnival’s Peter Little.
Editor’s view: We must not ignore Games opportunity
Brisbane 2032’s legacy needs certainty and that’s where Future Brisbane comes in – The Courier-Mail’s annual series, kicking off today, that will end with a star-packed sold-out lunch event Friday week.
Pocket money: how much is too much?
Three key questions dominate parents’ thinking about pocket money in a world of digital payments and rising living costs.