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Defense & Security · Asia Pacific

Queensland deputy premier introduces bill to let government end protected strikes, opposition says LNP hid plan

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie introduced a bill that would give the Queensland government broader power to terminate protected industrial action. Opposition Leader Steven Miles said the Crisafulli LNP did not take the industrial relations changes to the 2024 election and criticised the bill at a media event with union figures.

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What happened

Key facts

  • Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie introduced a bill that would allow the Queensland government to terminate protected industrial action by workers negotiating deals with government (per The Sydney Morning Herald).
  • Bleijie said the bill acts on calls from a government-commissioned review (per The Sydney Morning Herald).
  • Bleijie claimed key provisions of the bill would align with federal powers (per The Sydney Morning Herald).
  • The article states the bill's ability to terminate protected industrial action is broader than the federal law it is said to be based on (per The Sydney Morning Herald).
  • Miles fronted media with various union figures outside state parliament to criticise the bill and called Bleijie an "ideologue" who could "not be trusted when it comes to workers' rights." (per The Sydney Morning Herald).

The brief

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has introduced legislation that would give the Queensland government an expanded power to end protected industrial action by workers bargaining over agreements with the state.

Bleijie framed the bill as implementing recommendations from a government-commissioned review and said its key measures would align with comparable federal powers, while asserting the new authority would be used sparingly and constrained in ways similar to other jurisdictions.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the bill’s capacity to terminate protected industrial action is broader than the federal law it is said to be modelled on. Opposition Leader Steven Miles publicly attacked the measure outside state parliament, where he was joined by union figures.

Miles accused Premier David Crisafulli's LNP of misleading voters by not taking its industrial relations changes to the 2024 election and used the media appearance to characterise Bleijie as an "ideologue" whom he said could "not be trusted when it comes to workers' rights." The Herald quotes Miles comparing the bill’s approach to earlier national-level reforms such as those linked to WorkChoices.

Bleijie told reporters the bill responds to the government-commissioned review and that the government had accepted many of the review’s recommendations either fully or in principle; the Herald records Bleijie saying the review’s findings underpinned the proposed changes.

The article notes the government accepted a large share of that review’s recommendations and that Bleijie invoked that record when defending the scope of the new powers.

The Herald also records Bleijie’s argument that other jurisdictions impose limits on similar powers, and that Queensland’s bill includes comparable constraints; the paper states, however, that the bill’s reach is broader than the federal counterpart it references.

Miles and union figures countered that comparison by publicly warning the changes represent a significant shift in the balance of bargaining power between government employers and workers.

Reporting from the Herald is echoed by a headline from streamlinefeed.co.ke that likewise states the LNP has granted the deputy premier strike-ending powers, indicating the change was reported beyond the Herald’s coverage.

The sources together document the political dispute over whether the measure was put before voters at the 2024 election and whether the bill’s scope is appropriately limited.

The immediate debate centres on parliamentary consideration of the bill and on public messaging: the government says the legislation follows an expert review and will be constrained, while the opposition and unions say the LNP did not disclose these plans to voters and that the measure would give the deputy premier excessive authority over protected industrial action.

Why it matters

  • Queensland workers negotiating agreements with the state could lose a legal mechanism to continue protected industrial action if the government uses the bill’s powers to terminate strikes, altering the bargaining leverage of unions involved in those negotiations.
  • The political cost falls on the Crisafulli LNP: Opposition Leader Steven Miles argues the party did not put the reforms to voters at the 2024 election, a claim that could influence parliamentary debate and public support for the bill.
  • The government points to a government-commissioned review as the formal mechanism justifying the changes, documenting an institutional channel through which the policy was developed and accepted in whole or in principle.

What to watch next

  • Whether the Queensland parliament votes to pass the bill as introduced by Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie.
  • Whether committees or parliamentary inquiries consider the government-commissioned review’s recommendations cited by Bleijie and how they treat the accepted recommendations.
  • Whether Opposition Leader Steven Miles and union figures mount further public or parliamentary campaigns to block or amend the bill.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
2 source articles · 2 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Too few rated· 1 Center · 1 unrated
Where the outlets are based: Asia 50% · Africa 50%
Outlet political mix
Too few rated
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
1 outlet
0 outlets
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Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
2 unique outletsDominant coverage: Asia
Limited coverage
  • Coverage is currently limited to 2 outlets.
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

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Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. Queensland enacted the Industrial Relations Act 1999, setting out the state's industrial-relations framework.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  2. The Commonwealth enacted the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  3. The Commonwealth enacted the Fair Work Act 2009, establishing the national framework for bargaining and protected industrial action.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  4. On the Labor side, Steven Miles served as Queensland deputy premier and later as a senior Labor figure in state politics from 2020 onward.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. David Crisafulli became leader of the Queensland Liberal National Party.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  6. Steven Miles was elected leader of the Queensland Labor Party.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  7. The LNP won the Queensland election.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  8. David Crisafulli became Queensland premier.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

The immediate backdrop is the Commonwealth’s national industrial-relations framework created by the Fair Work Act 2009 (enacted June 2009), which set out the statutory concept of “protected industrial action” and federal processes for bargaining and dispute resolution.

The structural roots include the Commonwealth’s use of the corporations power in section 51(xx) of the Constitution—invoked by the Howard government’s WorkChoices reforms (introduced 2005) and later retained as the basis for the national Fair Work system after WorkChoices was repealed in 2009.

Related developments1 story

Original sources

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