Queensland’s attorney-general is poised to take on the troubled health portfolio as the Palaszczuk government undergoes a cabinet reshuffle.
Shannon Fentiman will meet Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday, with the ministerial restructure expected to be revealed on Thursday.
Senior ALP sources remain tight-lipped on portfolio details, but the attorney-general and Health Minister Yvette D’Ath are expected to swap positions.
Ms D’Ath was Queensland’s attorney-general from 2017 before being appointed to health in November 2020.
Ms Fentiman has also been touted as a potential challenger to the leadership role, with the shift to health coming as the premier’s personal popularity plummets.
The government has struggled to handle critical health, housing and youth justice challenges, with ministers Leanne Linard and Leeanne Enoch expected to be casualties in the reshuffle.
The Liberal National opposition is celebrating the reshuffle after months of relentless attacks on the government.
Opposition Health spokesman Ros Bates believes the reshuffle fails to address the critical flaws within the ALP.
“Queenslanders deserve better, and Queenslanders are not going to be fooled by this,” Ms Bates told ABC Radio.
“This is just shifting people around the table now. Cameron Dick, Steven Miles and Yvette D’Ath have all been health ministers in Queensland, they have all sat around the cabinet table making the same decisions, and nothing has changed.”
The system was in “full-blown crisis”, Ms Bates said, regardless of who took on the health minister role.
“It really doesn’t matter who they put in there because it’s the same premier who has presided over all of this chaos and crisis.
“Same circus, same clowns, but worse than that, it’s actually costing Queenslanders their lives.”
LNP deputy leader Jarrod Bleijie has also joined the chorus calling for Ms D’Ath to be axed.
“The Palaszczuk Labor government is officially in a full-blown state of chaos and crisis,” he said following reports of Ms D’Ath’s removal.
The reshuffle comes after recent polls showed falling support for the Palaszczuk government.
Support for Ms Palaszczuk plunged by seven points to 31 per cent, marking her worst approval rating since coming into office in 2015.
Labor’s primary vote fell by one point to 33 per cent, while the LNP continued to increase by one point to 39 per cent in the April polling figures published in the Courier Mail.
The Labor leader’s popularity has declined quite quickly, having recorded a 39 per cent approval in December’s results.
– AAP
