Some observations folks on the recent Queensland Election landslide and all that it now means. If you follow me on twitter at @NahSeriousBlog you may have heard a few of them already.
No one, not even the movers and shakers within the Labor Party, expected Labor to win the election. But geez, no one expected the margin to be what it was. Absolutely incredible. They lost seats in the west of Brisbane and Ipswich they’ve held since 1904. Former Ministers Mulherin (Mackay) and Pitt (Cairns) are the only Labor members outside of Brisbane. Conversely the LNP won seats and created local Members out of people who never ever thought they’d have to give up their day jobs.
The LNP won 88% (78) of seats with only 49.7% of the vote. Beating Labor’s record in 2001 when they won 74% of seats with 49% of the vote. Not exactly fair that a party that doesn’t even receive half the votes can enjoy such a majority. Then again, that’s our system of ‘winner takes all’ and moving to proportional representation (LNP would get 49% of seats, Labor 28% of seats, etc) is unlikely as what Government would want to install it while its actually in power? Certainly not this new one as it acts to implement its agenda after capturing such a massive mandate.
I’m not sold on proportional representation completely either as all Governments would probably end up being a Coalition of different parties rather than someone enjoying a majority of members and therefore being able to form a Government. Then again, maybe that’s a way of smashing the current two party system in this country which results in a lot of sameness and a lot of spin.
Certainly glad I don’t work in the Parliamentary Service having to teach 49 new members the ins and outs and rules and procedures of a working Westminster Parliament. Good luck to the new Member of Lytton as well as it constitutes his very first full-time job coming from stacking shelves at Coles.
The Parliamentary Committee System has been decimated by so few Opposition and Cross Bench Members. Normally a committee has 5 or so members – 2-3 Government, 2 Opposition and maybe a Cross Bench. There’s now not enough Opposition members to fill posts on the committees (10 in the last Parliament) so they’ll have to be stacked with Government members. Not good for the review/evaluation of Government policy and actions as the Committees are designed to do.
Perhaps Queensland needs an Upper House again after dismantling it back in 1922. Every other State has one which acts as a House of Review of the Government and its legislation. Can’t see the public voting to bring it on though if it means we have more politicians rather than less. Maybe fill it with all the Mayors across the State and merely sit a few times a year? Yeah, not bloody likely is it.
Labor had no right to win the last election in 2009. Due to a clever campaign, particularly in the last week, they came over the top of the LNP and had an unexpected win. Will never forget The Courier Mail calling it for the LNP on the morning of the election before sheepishly having to admit it got it wrong the next day. The irony is that if Labor had lost that election in 2009, they still would have won a decent amount of seats and been in a position to challenge and win this election. That 3 more years in Government may cost them 12-15 years in Opposition.
Was the Bligh Government really that bad? No doubt they were a tired lot that was too focussed on the media cycle, particularly in the last 12-18 months of its end of days. But I think that was due to them being so sensitive to public opinion knowing full well that they would face the ‘time for a change’ challenge if/when an election was called. The hate out there for the former Government and its' Premier is way over the top for mine considering it did deliver on a number of fronts over a number of years and did make some very difficult decisions despite the fact it knew it would be unpopular.
Speaking of which, the asset sales decision, while unpopular, did significantly add to the Government’s bottom line in the wake of the GFC and probably allowed for the saving of thousands of jobs across the economy given the Government’s hand in building some massive infrastructure projects and offering incentives to the building and construction industries. Again, not sure why there’s so much hate around that decision. Did the Queensland people really have such a great love for a road toll operator or a coal port terminal?
I lived in Queensland prior to Labor coming into power and it was a boring, staid and an inward sort of place. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out as soon as I finished my degree. By 2004 though it had changed dramatically and I was happy to return. It’s now busy, cosmopolitan and enlivened. Of course that’s not purely because of Government as business, industry and people have a lot to do with it but the Government did assist in creating some of the conditions to make it work and promote a number of industries that you would never associate the old Queensland with. Science, innovation, gaming are some that spring to mind. Again, was the former Government really that bad to deserve to be annihilated?
It’s quite sad really when the people doing the most trashing of your legacy are your own people. Hearing Annastacia Palaszczuk saying she’d always disagreed (maybe privately) with Labor’s former policy on this and on that is a bit disingenuous. Weren’t you in the Cabinet Room that made those decisions Anastasia? Isn’t 20-20 hindsight a wonderful thing though.
And finally, a lot has been made about Labor’s negative tactics in attacking Newman and his family’s business dealings. For the record, it wasn't Labor that ‘dug up that dirt’. It was The Courier Mail. Labor did run the infamous ads and for a week or so they did seem work with polls showing only a 50-50 split in Ashgrove and Newman looking very unsteady under intense questioning.
Alas, the issue was how long they ran them for and the constant bombardment of the ads over nearly a month. They really should have kept it to a week or so just to create some doubt in voter’s minds before moving on to something else. But again, isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?
Anyway, there’s EDM’s random thoughts on the 2012 Queensland Election. Strap yourselves in folks for quite a ride over the next few months and years in Queensland politics. And of course EDM will be happy to offer his two cents worth on it all from time to time so stay tuned here at Nah Seriously on a regular basis as well.
Til next time,
EDM.
No one, not even the movers and shakers within the Labor Party, expected Labor to win the election. But geez, no one expected the margin to be what it was. Absolutely incredible. They lost seats in the west of Brisbane and Ipswich they’ve held since 1904. Former Ministers Mulherin (Mackay) and Pitt (Cairns) are the only Labor members outside of Brisbane. Conversely the LNP won seats and created local Members out of people who never ever thought they’d have to give up their day jobs.
The LNP won 88% (78) of seats with only 49.7% of the vote. Beating Labor’s record in 2001 when they won 74% of seats with 49% of the vote. Not exactly fair that a party that doesn’t even receive half the votes can enjoy such a majority. Then again, that’s our system of ‘winner takes all’ and moving to proportional representation (LNP would get 49% of seats, Labor 28% of seats, etc) is unlikely as what Government would want to install it while its actually in power? Certainly not this new one as it acts to implement its agenda after capturing such a massive mandate.
I’m not sold on proportional representation completely either as all Governments would probably end up being a Coalition of different parties rather than someone enjoying a majority of members and therefore being able to form a Government. Then again, maybe that’s a way of smashing the current two party system in this country which results in a lot of sameness and a lot of spin.
Certainly glad I don’t work in the Parliamentary Service having to teach 49 new members the ins and outs and rules and procedures of a working Westminster Parliament. Good luck to the new Member of Lytton as well as it constitutes his very first full-time job coming from stacking shelves at Coles.
The Parliamentary Committee System has been decimated by so few Opposition and Cross Bench Members. Normally a committee has 5 or so members – 2-3 Government, 2 Opposition and maybe a Cross Bench. There’s now not enough Opposition members to fill posts on the committees (10 in the last Parliament) so they’ll have to be stacked with Government members. Not good for the review/evaluation of Government policy and actions as the Committees are designed to do.
Perhaps Queensland needs an Upper House again after dismantling it back in 1922. Every other State has one which acts as a House of Review of the Government and its legislation. Can’t see the public voting to bring it on though if it means we have more politicians rather than less. Maybe fill it with all the Mayors across the State and merely sit a few times a year? Yeah, not bloody likely is it.
Labor had no right to win the last election in 2009. Due to a clever campaign, particularly in the last week, they came over the top of the LNP and had an unexpected win. Will never forget The Courier Mail calling it for the LNP on the morning of the election before sheepishly having to admit it got it wrong the next day. The irony is that if Labor had lost that election in 2009, they still would have won a decent amount of seats and been in a position to challenge and win this election. That 3 more years in Government may cost them 12-15 years in Opposition.
Was the Bligh Government really that bad? No doubt they were a tired lot that was too focussed on the media cycle, particularly in the last 12-18 months of its end of days. But I think that was due to them being so sensitive to public opinion knowing full well that they would face the ‘time for a change’ challenge if/when an election was called. The hate out there for the former Government and its' Premier is way over the top for mine considering it did deliver on a number of fronts over a number of years and did make some very difficult decisions despite the fact it knew it would be unpopular.
Speaking of which, the asset sales decision, while unpopular, did significantly add to the Government’s bottom line in the wake of the GFC and probably allowed for the saving of thousands of jobs across the economy given the Government’s hand in building some massive infrastructure projects and offering incentives to the building and construction industries. Again, not sure why there’s so much hate around that decision. Did the Queensland people really have such a great love for a road toll operator or a coal port terminal?
I lived in Queensland prior to Labor coming into power and it was a boring, staid and an inward sort of place. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out as soon as I finished my degree. By 2004 though it had changed dramatically and I was happy to return. It’s now busy, cosmopolitan and enlivened. Of course that’s not purely because of Government as business, industry and people have a lot to do with it but the Government did assist in creating some of the conditions to make it work and promote a number of industries that you would never associate the old Queensland with. Science, innovation, gaming are some that spring to mind. Again, was the former Government really that bad to deserve to be annihilated?
It’s quite sad really when the people doing the most trashing of your legacy are your own people. Hearing Annastacia Palaszczuk saying she’d always disagreed (maybe privately) with Labor’s former policy on this and on that is a bit disingenuous. Weren’t you in the Cabinet Room that made those decisions Anastasia? Isn’t 20-20 hindsight a wonderful thing though.
And finally, a lot has been made about Labor’s negative tactics in attacking Newman and his family’s business dealings. For the record, it wasn't Labor that ‘dug up that dirt’. It was The Courier Mail. Labor did run the infamous ads and for a week or so they did seem work with polls showing only a 50-50 split in Ashgrove and Newman looking very unsteady under intense questioning.
Alas, the issue was how long they ran them for and the constant bombardment of the ads over nearly a month. They really should have kept it to a week or so just to create some doubt in voter’s minds before moving on to something else. But again, isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?
Anyway, there’s EDM’s random thoughts on the 2012 Queensland Election. Strap yourselves in folks for quite a ride over the next few months and years in Queensland politics. And of course EDM will be happy to offer his two cents worth on it all from time to time so stay tuned here at Nah Seriously on a regular basis as well.
Til next time,
EDM.
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