Ms Campbell replaced Evan Moorhead who resigned in December after spearheading Labor to a second successive election and she is the first woman in the role.

The North West Star caught up with her after she attended the monthly branch meeting in Mount Isa and she said she was looking forward to getting on with the job.

“I started on Monday and one of the very first things I did on my first day was book my flight to Mount Isa,” Ms Campbell said.

“The reason I wanted to do that was I think that regional Queensland will be critical in the next federal election and the Labor party is a party that is and continues to be a party that represents all Queenslanders regardless of where they are from.”

Ms Campbell said the most important thing in her first week was to listen to what party members had to say. “The issues they raise is casualisation, what is happening to secure work, the impact of FIFO and we also talked about Labor’s strong commitment to regional Queensland.”

She said she was honoured to serve the party she loves.

“My role is about making sure we do represent all the regions and making sure we are able to win government,” she said. “The real story coming into the federal election is the very poor stance Malcolm Turnbull has taken in the issues that affect regional Queensland. He just doesn’t get it, this week giving tax breaks to big business instead of addressing the real issues.”

Ms Campbell batted away criticism neither the premier nor her ministers came to North West Queensland during the recent election campaign.

“The Premier has a big commitment to regional Queensland, that’s borne out in her restoration of front line services and in significant reform in issues affecting the regions like casualisation, job security as well as reforms around procurement policy and labour hire licences, the first legislation of its type in the country,” she said.

“One of the reasons I’m here in my first week is that we are backing that commitment.”