Labor fightback begins in Ipswich
THE Queensland Labor Party returned to its "base" in Ipswich for yesterday's first caucus meeting since Saturday's election demolition.
While the 72 LNP members met for the first time in Parliament House, the six surviving Labor MPs met at the Ipswich Art Gallery.
New Opposition leader Anastacia Palaszczuk wasted no time in apologising to voters for the controversial asset sale which betrayed the trust of Queenslanders.
But who of the six remaining will take which shadow portfolios won't be unveiled until Premier Campbell Newman confirms his cabinet.
Returning Bundamba MP Jo-Ann Miller said she would be the shadow minister for at least a couple of portfolios and would sit on a number of parliamentary committees.
Mrs Miller said the Labor Party were ready to rebuild the party's standing and reach out to all sections of the community.
"The Labor Party supporters are a broad group and we will be reconnecting and re-engaging every one; street by street by street, suburb by suburb," she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said the caucus decided the asset sale was the "changing point" for Anna Bligh's government.
"We needed to take the community with us and we did not do that. There was a fundamental breach between our government and talking to the community and explaining to the community our decision and how we went about. And for that, today I apologise," she said.
"What we saw over the weekend was something like a 30% swing in primary vote here in Ipswich.
"We are under no illusion of the task ahead, like I said it will be like climbing Mt Everest.
"We've done a lot of soul searching today, thinking about the issues that impacted and got us here today."
Ms Palaszczuk said despite the considerably reduced size of the Labor team, a strong spirit remained.
