Labor faces by-elections in Queensland
By Graham Matthews
BRISBANE — The Queensland Labor government will face two by-elections in traditionally safe Labor seats on February 5. The by-elections are the result of the resignations of former sports minister Bob Gibbs from the seat of Bundamba, near Ipswich, and Bill D'Arcy from the seat of Woodridge, south of Brisbane. The loss of either seat would force Labor into minority government.
In Woodridge, former ALP state secretary Mike Kaiser was installed by the state ALP leadership as its candidate. In Bundamba, Gibbs' former electoral secretary, Jo-Ann Miller, has been given the nod.
The ALP faces stiff opposition in both by-elections. Kaiser is to be challenged by a former ALP councillor, Russell Lutton, while Bundamba is being contested by former One Nation senator-elect Heather Hill.
Late last year, Hill split from One Nation, along with its five remaining state MPs, to form the City-Country Alliance. The new party's politics do not differ substantially from those of One Nation.
The ALP is painting Hill as racist, drawing on her One Nation past, but, in an ironic twist, Land Rights News has released a front page editorial in its first issue of the year branding Peter Beattie's Labor government racist for its implementation of native title legislation.
"Despite its appalling record after 18 months in office, Labor remains the lesser evil", the Democratic Socialist Party's Brisbane secretary, Jim McIlroy, told Green Left Weekly. "Because the result of these by-elections will determine government in Queensland, the DSP recommends voting for Labor after the Greens, and putting the One Nation-look-a-likes last."