“He’s everything we hoped David Littleproud would be.”
This was the description one Queensland minister offered when asked before Christmas about first-term MP Sean Dillon – a rising star from the bush who government sources say is next in line to join Crisafulli’s cabinet.
The broadside at the Nationals leader carries further weight following the collapse of the federal Coalition.
But it also provides an insight into Dillon, a fourth-generation cattle farmer from Alpha, a near-five-hour drive west of Rockhampton, who has quickly acclimated to parliament life and bridged the gap between the various forces in the LNP.
“Don’t be fooled by the cowboy clothes,” another moderate senior minister offered when privately nominating Dillon as being on the cusp of a ministerial promotion.
This masthead spoke with a range of LNP figures, within cabinet, the partyroom and the base more broadly. They say Dillon is smart and affable, without being painfully political.
He’s viewed as a pragmatist who has resisted the dogmatic ideology that has torn the federal Coalition to shreds.
Under Premier David Crisafulli, the state LNP branch has so far quarantined itself from the implosion of its federal colleagues. And figures like Dillon are key to the government’s bid for re-election in 2028.
“We’re looking at our federal colleagues not in a positive way,” another minister laughed when speaking with this masthead anonymously to share details about cabinet dynamics.
“I’m actually thankful we’re all in the one room, right? You get that diversity of views, but you have it out in the one room. You don’t have to worry about this rogue little operation with a small number of people who are talking about their things. We’re all in the same place.”
To get a better sense of the hype around Dillon, this masthead travelled hundreds of kilometres to interview the member for Gregory in Clermont, a remote hub for coal mining and agriculture.
Dillon, who still runs his family’s station, is waiting in the sweltering December heat outside a local cafe twirling a worn light-coloured cattleman’s hat. The venue was once the town’s social club, and honour boards show generations of the MP’s family name.
Both Dillon’s father and grandfather were elected to local government and his family has had a long and active association with the National Party.
Dillon says his own motivation for entering politics, where he has risen from councillor to mayor to state MP in three successive election cycles, broadly echoes that family tradition.
“I saw less and less people from a purely rural perspective [who were] either able to or prepared to put their hand up to go: ‘I’ll be one, I’ll go out there and have the sticks thrown at me’,” he says.
He also sees an opportunity to put his experience into the bureaucracy running local and state government, “to advise them on policy levers that are probably not going in the right direction, or expand on ones that were”.
“Each of us have had a different motivating factor, but the underpinning principle is exactly the same: don’t stand on the outsides and throw spears. Get in there, roll your sleeves up and have a go.”
Dillon is a fierce advocate for the coal industry and despises the presence of small solar farms in irrigation channels prime for agriculture to the west of Emerald.
But he backs renewable energy and the ongoing investment to transition to green sources in less productive rural areas, such as between Hughenden and Winton in the state’s central west.
“That area has huge potential for very large-scale wind and solar,” he said. “I’m probably one of the only people in Queensland that could actually openly say that, knowing that the community in that area is quite open to a conversation about it – they’ve been actively pursuing this now for the better part of three years.”
The Crisafulli government is expected to finalise its position on post-Bondi gun and hate speech reforms at cabinet on Monday, but Dillon said the suite of policies would not include a reduction in firearms for farmers.
“Primary producers should rest assured that not only do I know, but the senior members of our government understand, the value and the necessity that a firearm is to a primary producer,” he said.
“We won’t be taking tools away that we know are critical and necessary to them undertaking their work.”
In the weeks since meeting with this masthead, Dillon’s stocks have risen further after he cancelled a family holiday to support flooded communities in both his own and neighbouring electorates.
Locals gushed over his proactivity while his familiarity rose across the state, appearing alongside the premier in disaster press conferences as other colleagues faced scrutiny for being on holidays.
“It seemed very natural to Sean to break his well-earned family holiday and to be on the ground,” Nationals senator Susan McDonald told this masthead.
“Not just to fly in to do an inspection, as would have been entirely appropriate, but he stayed for days, and everybody I spoke to had already spoken to Sean, and he knew what their needs were, whether it be helicopter fuel or jet fuel or food or stock movements.”
Seat at the cabinet table beckons
After Crisafulli formed government in 2024, he was beholden to a pre-election pledge to carry over the shadow ministry into government.
But insiders say a logical refresh ahead of the 2028 election to phase out older ministers was likely, while pressure also mounts on Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber, who has been accused of running a turbulent office with a revolving door of senior staffers.
Many government sources nominated Dillon, who currently serves an assistant minister, as the most likely to be parachuted into cabinet.
Another name being discussed is former Morrison government assistant minister Amanda Stoker, who has privately impressed moderate party figures for appearing to shelve far-right views perceived as ideological and not disrupting government messaging.
Dillon deflected the glowing endorsement from his colleagues and said he wasn’t actively seeking a promotion to the ministry.
“I would love to be part of a government where we were able to take a cabinet from one election to another. The ministers are delivering in areas that are so tricky in policy,” he said.
“I work with ministers across the board in supporting them and I’ve got, I think, an excellent relationship with all 19 of them, and learning from them how to be a parliamentarian is my number one goal, not learning and observing them ready to be a future minister.
“I’m not avoiding your question, I’m giving you a reason why I don’t actually care, not because I wouldn’t be deeply honoured and give it my best shot, but because I really will take whatever role, and if I happen to serve three or four terms as an assistant minister in a stable government, you won’t find a more prouder individual.”
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James Hall is the News Director at the Brisbane Times. He is the former Queensland correspondent at The Australian Financial Review and has reported for a range of mastheads across the country, specialising on political and finance reporting.Connect via X or email.
