Meet Australia’s new political power couple – with a huge age gap – as the ministers who are ‘deeply in love’ both land BIG promotions
- Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk rescheduled
- Newly promoted ministers mark bailey, meaghan scanlon dating
A political couple have both been awarded ministerial promotions by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk following a shocking Labor poll.
Transport and Major Roads Minister Mark Bailey, 55, has acquired the Digital Services portfolio, while his girlfriend Meaghan Scanlon, 30, is the state’s new Housing Minister.
The ministers of the left-wing faction with a 25-year age difference have been public about their relationship since 2018, but had been seeing each other since 2016.
They both have salaries of $327,705 as state cabinet ministers who were previously political staffers before being elected to parliament.
Mr Bailey, an inner-city Brisbane MP, is a former drama teacher and anti-nuclear campaigner.
He lived in a share house in Tarragindi, after living in Byron Bay, before being elected to parliament in 2015 and immediately becoming a minister.
Ms Scanlon is a former barrister who became Australia’s youngest minister in 2020 at the age of 27 and has held Labor’s only seat on the Gold Coast, Gaven, since 2017.
A political power couple have received ministerial promotions from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured, front left) following a shocking Labor poll. Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey (behind, left), 55, has acquired the Digital Services portfolio, while his girlfriend Meaghan Scanlon (behind, second from left), 30, is the new Housing Minister. They are also pictured with Governor Jeannette Young (center), new Health Secretary Shannon Fentiman (front, right), returning Attorney General Yvette D’Ath (left, second row), new Treaty and Minister of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Leeanne Enoch (center, second row), Minister of Employment Di Farmer (right, second row), Minister of Child Safety Craig Crawford (back, second right), and Secretary of the Environment Leanne Linard (right, back)
Their promotions follow a YouGov poll, published in the Courier-Mail last month, which showed the Liberal National Party Labor opposition leading 51 to 49 per cent after preferences – marking a four per cent swing against the government since the October 2020 elections.
If this result were repeated in the next state election – scheduled for October 2024 – Labor would lose nine seats, including Townsville, Thuringowa and Mundingburra in northern Queensland, Barron River north of Cairns, Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, the Sunshine Coast seats of Nicklin and Caloundra, and Redlands in the Moreton Bay area of Brisbane.
Ms Palaszczuk has also promoted Shannon Fentiman to the troubled Health portfolio, making her a possible future Labor leader of the party’s dominant left-wing faction that could compete with Deputy Prime Minister Steven Miles.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey (right), 55, has acquired the Digital Services portfolio, while his girlfriend Meaghan Scanlon (left), 30, is the new Housing Minister
Yvette D’Ath, a right-wing ally of the prime minister who was formerly in federal politics, is being returned to her old portfolio of attorney general, after problems in the health portfolio.
Ms Palaszczuk, Australia’s first female prime minister who won against the opposition in 2015, was re-elected in 2017 and again in 2020 after her decision to close the Queensland border amid the pandemic led her Labor Party to draw retired voters to the coast win that she normally doesn’t have.
But her third-term administration has faced political problems, from ambulances to DNA test errors and juvenile delinquency in Townsville.
“I’ve listened to the community and we need to do better,” she said.
“I heard this message loud and clear.”
