State Labor needs to take a long hard look at itself post-election, says CFMEU
The Queensland branch of the Labor party must launch a full review of the federal election result if it is to remain competitive in the state, a powerful union says.
Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Michael Ravbar has also called for a pause of the election to replace outgoing Labor state secretary Julie Ann Campbell.
āIt makes zero sense to have the appointment process for the most important party position in the state rushed through before the final results of the May 21 poll are even known,ā Mr Ravbar said in a statement on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is poised to form a majority government after Labor picked up the necessary 76 seats, but the party lost ground in the Sunshine State.
Terri Butler lost her seat of Griffith to the Greensā Max Chandler-Mather, with the minor party also claiming the surrounding electorates of Brisbane and Ryan, formerly held by the Liberals.
āThe bottom line is the Labor vote, and seat numbers, declined even further at the election, and the party should be casting the net as widely as possible when replacing the state secretary, at the same time as conducting a root and branch review of the campaign,ā Ravbar said.
Ravbar said the āunedifying scrambleā to replace Campbell ā with voting meant to close on Friday ā meant there was no effort to examine the credentials of Butler or the losing Labor candidate for Dickson, Ali France, to take up the position of state secretary.
āIt just beggars belief that the candidate mentioned as front-runner, Kate Flanders, was a former organiser with the Together Union which backed Campbell Newman at the time of his 2012 election,ā he said.
The CFMEU famously quit Queensland Laborās Left faction following the 2020 state election, saying it was a protection racket for dud politicians.
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Laborās primary vote roseĀ 1.1 per cent toĀ 27.7 per cent in Queensland, despite aĀ 3.8 per cent swing away from theĀ Liberal National Party, which fell toĀ 39.9 per cent of first preferences, according to the ABC.
With voters in inner-Brisbane seats turning toward the Greens, whose primary roseĀ 2.2 per cent to 12.6 per cent, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been spruiking her governmentās āprogressive environment agendaā since the election.
āWe now have a federal Labor government that is committed to action on climate change,ā Palaszczuk said from the regional centre of Rockhampton on Monday.
āIām looking forward to working with, and I love saying this, the Albanese Labor government to put in place ā¦ key reforms when it comes to climate change.ā
The Queensland branch of the ALP has been contacted for comment.
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