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All eyes on Gladstone as our new Cabinet hits the road for first time

Anthony Albanese says a responsibility to the national interest was behind a decision to hold a federal cabinet meeting in central Queensland.

Jun 15, 2022, updated Jun 15, 2022
Lilley MP Anika Wells is one of 13 women in the new Albanese Government ministry.

Lilley MP Anika Wells is one of 13 women in the new Albanese Government ministry.

The cabinet will meet in the city of Gladstone on Wednesday, as part of the prime minister’s first visit to Queensland since he won last month’s election.

Albanese said he was looking forward to delivering on a promise to govern for the whole of the country.

“We’ll be having meetings not just in Gladstone, but people travelling throughout the region over yesterday, today and for the rest of this week,” Albanese told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

“Because (the cabinet) will be listening to what people have to say, and that will be informing our decisions before parliament resumes back in July.”

Gladstone is in the Queensland seat of Flynn, which was retained by the coalition despite a swing to Labor.

While Labor did not win any new seats in the Sunshine State, the prime minister said Queensland remains important.

“A lot of people came back to us in central Queensland, but what we need to do is to do better in the future,” he said.

“I want to represent people regardless of how they voted. I want a government that works for all Australians, wherever they live.”

Regional cabinet meetings were previously used by former politicians including Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd and Queensland premier Peter Beattie to take ministers out of their city comfort zones and to engage directly with voters.

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“We were given two ears and one mouth for a reason, we need to listen to people on the ground,” the prime minister said.

The meeting, in a seat with a large energy industry presence, comes as the government seeks solutions for rising power prices, considers short-term controls on the gas market and rolls out a more ambitious carbon emissions target than the coalition.

The prime minister is set to emphasise regional jobs as part of a pitch to transition to more renewable energy and net-zero emissions by 2050.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will take his shadow cabinet to Western Australia, where the coalition faced a massive voter backlash at the election Dutton is expected to convene his first shadow cabinet meeting in Perth on Wednesday.

Labor picked up four extra seats in WA, where the Liberals already have a minuscule presence in the state parliament after the party’s trouncing by Labor Premier Mark McGowan.

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