Queensland Unions: Who Will Fight for You?

When: 1pm, Thursday 4 July
Where: QCU Building, 44 Maryborough Street Bundaberg Central.
What: Media stand up with QCU General Secretary Jacqueline King and Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith MP, supported by regional community workers.

Queensland Unions say the outcome of this year’s state election has never been a more important one for working Queenslanders, as it unveils its Fighting for Queenslanders election campaign to local supporters in Bundaberg tonight.

Jacqueline King, General Secretary, Queensland Council of Unions said all signs in the early election race support the fact there are unmistakable policy and character differences between the LNP and ALP candidates both locally and a state level.

Queensland Union’s will use tonight’s forum to raise the alarm on dangerous comments previously made by Bundaberg LNP candidate Bree Watson regarding workers’ wages, safety and conditions, including:

• Opposing the annual increase to the minimum award wage, which will rise to just $24.10 an hour or $915.80 per week for a full-time worker (pretax) on 1 July.
• Supporting reimposing Industrial Relations piece rates for farm workers.
• Questioning measures designed to protect worker safety, such as the use of safety harnesses and compliance systems in the horticulture sector.

“Ms Watson’s submission to the 2024 Queensland Supermarket Pricing Select Commission should leave no one guessing what the LNPs intentions are when it comes to working people in Bundaberg,” Ms King said.

Ms King said the LNP’s tactics to chip away at workers’ abilities to secure fair wage increases and safe working conditions would spell a costly outlook for the region’s future and bring risk to every household and working family in the community.

“In today’s age of social media misinformation, it’s vital working people, those who would be most impacted by Ms Watson’s decisions, have all the facts to ensure they’re fully informed what each of these candidates stand for.

“Ultimately, the question is – who will fight to ensure working Queenslanders can depend on safe, secure jobs and who will be more invested in fighting for big profits?

“Make no mistake, historically whenever the LNP have talked about cutting wages, they’ve never achieved this by cutting from the top end of town,” Ms King said.

Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith, said at a time when every dollar earned matters more to families, the LNP are sizing up the wages of hardworking locals and getting ready to cut wages, entitlements, and workplace safety conditions.

“Whether it is the LNP Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett declaring that an LNP Government will ‘break the back’ of Queensland Health workers on his own Facebook page, or the Leader of the Opposition’s plan to cut major projects and services in town, the LNP are a risk to every single family in the Bundaberg electorate,” Mr Smith said.

“As the Miles Labor Government continues to roll out the single largest cost-of-living relief budget of any Government in Australia’s history, the LNP Candidate is committing to taking the food away from the mouths of Bundaberg families so that she can line her pockets even more.

“Sadly, we know that this is only the tip of the LNP iceberg,” he said.

Queensland Union’s will take its Fighting for Queenslanders campaign across the state in the lead up to the state election later this year, warning working people a vote for the LNP would be a vote to reduce workers’ rights to good jobs, health, education, housing and safety.

ENDS.