The former state member for Stafford said he considered joining Labor immediately after quitting his seat, but decided he didn’t want to influence the outcome of the by-election.
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Dr Chris Davis submitted an online application to join the ALP on Saturday night, just one day after officially resigning from the LNP, and nine days since the LNP lost Stafford in a crushing 18 per cent swing against it.
Dr Davis if he had changed political allegiances formally when he quit the seat in May, the outcome of the poll could have been attributed to him.
“I certainly was thinking of it, but at the same time I did not want to influence the voters of Stafford in any way,” he said.
“I wanted their voice to be pure and simple as to their feelings.”
He said the by-election reinforced educated, intelligent constituents shared his unhappiness with the state government’s treatment of health issues like doctor contracts, and accountability issues like changes to the former Crime and Misconduct Commission (now Crime and Corruption Commission).
“I really needed to get affirmation from the outcome of Stafford that my concerns were very much reflected,” he said.
“When I indeed saw that they were, that there was this enormous appetite for the government fully listening...then I made the decision to apply to the Labor Party.”
Labor state secretary Anthony Chisholm denied Dr Davis could be selected to run against Premier Campbell Newman in the seat of Ashgrove.
He said the pre-selection process was largely complete, with a state election due in early 2015.
“To run as a candidate you need six months of registered branch membership, and Dr Davis will obviously fall short of that,” he said.
“The candidate for Ashgrove at the end of the day will be someone who is already an existing party member.”
Dr Davis said he joined the ALP because its policy views allied with his own, not because he had expectations of being parachuted into a candidacy.
“[I did it] not having any expectation of having any particular role within the Labor party, but just because I saw them saying the same things that I was concerned about,” he said.
Asked on Sunday about Dr Davis’ defection, Mr Newman stuck to his new strategy of being “boring”, refusing to be drawn into a public slanging match.
“I would say this about Dr Davis when he’s talking about health, and that is the health system is being turned around,” Mr Newman said.
“This government has done that because we focused on letting doctors and nurses and administrators get on and make the improvements that are required.”
