An opening salvo from successive Palaszczuk Government ministers to keep the focus on addressing skills shortages was derailed by shouting from across the chamber.

The LNP opposition niggled Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s alleged links to a violent union protest while indicating Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had cut the government adrift while holidaying in the Whitsundays.

This morning’s animated scenes follow a week of sustained pressure on Bailey, with the Opposition demanding he come clean on what he knew about the CFMEU’s entry into a Transport and Main Roads building in Brisbane that forced a lockdown and caused staff distress.

Amid interjections from the Opposition benches, Bailey told the house he had no prior notice of the union action, “despite the disgraceful slurs from those who sit opposite”.

Palaszczuk was also forced to defend her record after Opposition Leader David Crisafulli asked why she had cancelled Cabinet during her week’s leave instead of deferring to her deputy as stipulated in the cabinet handbook.

In a rambling reply, which raised a point of order for its relevance to the question, Palaszczuk said the cabinet sub-committees had continued to operate and that she had delegated to Steven Miles to be the acting premier in her absence.

The raucous behaviour, which caused Speaker Curtis Pitt to call order several times, set up what was likely to be a robust day in Parliament with 13 bills due to come before the chamber, which include amendments to industrial relations, racing integrity, casino control, animal protection and country of origin food labelling.

After months of pressure on its integrity and governance record, the government has flagged its intention to re-set the narrative, opening this morning’s sitting with the release of a new workforce strategy aimed at filling the shortfall of 280,000 jobs across the state over the next three years.