Former Labor MP looks back on political office, contemplates her future
In a rare interview, the former Member for Keppel reveals her thoughts on her tumultuous three terms and what is next for her.
As Brittany Lauga reflects on her tumultuous three terms as the Member of Keppel, she has much to ponder.
That long list includes her strong leadership during the pandemic and natural disasters, major infrastructure and health wins for the community, the birth of her daughter and some very challenging personal issues that became the subject of public scrutiny.
It’s been quite a rollercoaster ride for the 38-year-old former town planner.
She won the seat in 2015 as a 27-year-old with a 11.2 per cent swing to Labor and lost the October 26 election to the LNP’s Nigel Hutton after a 17 per cent swing against her.
She says there were several significant factors at play in the loss.
She faced high-profile candidates in Hutton, the former Livingstone deputy mayor, and One Nation’s James Ashby, a statewide swing against Labor, the juvenile crime crisis and a widely-circulated video of her with a man across from a Yeppoon hotel late at night in April after she allegedly had her drink spiked.
Police are continuing to investigate Ms Lauga’s allegations of sexual assault and drink spiking.
“Sure I’m disappointed (with the loss) but I’ll be okay,” she said a few days after the election.
“Having candidates with high profiles and well-known in the community (was a factor) but I do think the LNP’s crime policies and slogans worked.
“But they have pretty ambitious targets on what they’re going to try to achieve.
“It’s not an issue that’s easily solved. It’s complex and, something you can’t just fix with slogans but I look forward to seeing what they can do.”
She said the impact on her both personally and politically from the video was “huge”.
“It still goes on today,” she said about the social media negativity and attacks.
“It is incredibly tough, how do I deal with it? I just do. I just put one foot in front of the other.
“I was pretty determined to make sure I contested the election. I wanted to do that and I wanted to go and fight and I did.
“So I’m proud of that.
“But I know I worked really hard and I listened to my community. There have been some really big challenges and a lot of work has gone into things that people don’t know how hard it was to get delivered for our community.”
She said it was satisfying to look around and see what 10 years of hard work had produced.
“(But) Brisbane (Labor Party leadership) was often hard to deal with, “she said.
“I often was frustrated at Brisbane not understanding our needs and the geographic narcissism was something I came up against and often.”
“In my first term, the department told me that the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road didn’t warrant an upgrade because there weren’t enough vehicles per day on it.
“So I had to really go into bat for that upgrade and to see it underway now with all the that work happening there is something I love to see.”
She said the North Rockhampton detox rehabilitation centre was another big win for her and the community.
“I fought for that and delivered it and now thousands of local people have been able to get the help that they need there,” she said.
Another huge win for the region was her leadership role as Assistant Health Minister in keeping the North Rockhampton Mandalay Medical Centre open after it was set to be closed with more than 21,000 patients on its books.
“That involved a lot of work behind the scenes,” she said.
“The (new) urgent care clinic there as of July has had 11,000 patients through it since December. That’s 11,000 people that would have otherwise potentially presented to the Rockhampton Hospital ED.”
There were other wins helping individuals that came to her for help that very few people know about.
“Just a couple of weeks ago a lady with brain cancer needed to participate in a medical trial but the (heath authorities) said no,” she said.
“But I worked with her and now she’s participating in the trial. That’s the last hope that she has got.”
When asked about her hours of work, Ms Lauga can’t come up with an answer.
“I couldn’t count the number of hours a week I was working because even times when you think you’d be finished for the night something would come up and you’d have to deal with it,” she said.
“I always considered people and the situation they were in. During Covid a man reached out to me whose mum was in North Rocky nursing centre and she was passing away but due to Covid restrictions they were not allowing him and her husband in to say goodbye.
“That was in the middle if the night, calling the (health services) and trying to get him to see his mum before she passed away.” When you’re in those situations you have no choice but to fight for them and you have to put yourself in other people’s shoes.
“I was thinking at the time, imagine if that was my mum?
“You just have to pull your socks up and do the job but I loved doing it as well. My job was all about people and getting the best outcome for our community.”
Ms Lauga prides herself on her leadership during natural disasters and times of crisis. That was tested 10 days into her first term in 2015 when Cyclone Marcia smashed into the Capricorn Coast as a severe category 4 storm.
The 2018 bushfire emergency also stands out when more than 11,000 people had to be evacuated from Gracemere as a catastrophic bushfire roared towards the town.
“I’ll never forget driving home that afternoon after a school award ceremony and I saw a plume of smoke in my rear vision mirror and thought what is going on here?,” she said.
“Then the deputy premier (Jackie Trad) rang me and she said ‘we are evacuating Gracemere’.
“The trembling in her voice was audible.”
A combination of waterbombing sorties, computer modelling and the grit of emergency service workers saved the town from being razed.
Ms Lauga said The Caves area was also being threatened by intense bushfires at the time and the town’s rural fire brigade went on to win the Commissioner’s Award for their service during that emergency.
Ms Lauga decided to join The Caves Rura Rural Fire Brigade.
“I thought I need to actually understand better how these guys work,” she said.
“How do they protect the community? They did an incredible job to stop that fire.”
As well as working hard, Ms Lauga has played hard as well on and off the sporting field.
She has lived her social life often in view of the public and has from time to time paid a price with an element of public media attacks.
One of the more intense incidents came when she lost a high-profile court case against a man accused of stalking her.
“You just don’t want to let them beat you,” she said about her resilience.
“You get back up again and keep fighting.”
For now, though, it’s a time to step away and consider her future.
“I’m going to take time and space to work that out,” she said.
“There are a few things I’d like to do but I’m not really sure so we’ll have to wait and see what the next chapter entails.”
“Right now I’m look forward to playing golf and a bit more body boarding and a cricket season to finish with the Frenchville Falcons.”
“We’ve won our first four games and I’m looking forward to smashing a few boundaries.”
Ms Lauga, who also plays Aussies Rules with The Brothers Kangaroos, recommended playing sport as a great outlet for people in high pressure jobs.
“It gives you something to look forward to that’s not politics and you have to have that in your life,” she said.
“Everyone needs hobbies and sport I think, especially on the footy field, to get some of the stress and anxiety out in your tackling.”
Her young daughter Odette is also a high priority.
“I’ll be able to take Odette to the playground and not be on the phone most of the time,” she said.
“She was born while I was in office and has never known mum not to be a local MP.
“But she’ll go down in history as the first stranger of the house being breastfed on the floor of parliament.”
“I’ll enjoy some rest now and be able to actually spend some time with my family.”
She laughed at suggestions a book might be an option.
“My dad said that to me but there are more chapters to go.”
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Originally published as Former Labor MP looks back on political office, contemplates her future
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