History repeating itself as Labor’s long reign goes bad
IT’S now been more than 30 years since Wayne Goss and the Labor government swept into power in Queensland, December 2, 1989. Three decades later, Labor has been in government for 25 of those years. That’s Labor government rule for a generation.
I was 11 years old in 1989. Growing up in a conservative dairy farming community near the Bunya Mountains, I was already a political tragic and the politics of the dying days of the Bjelke-Petersen era filled our family’s conversation.
It was a sad end to an extraordinary state-building government, achieving prosperity, near full employment, infrastructure delivery and resource exports. But governments that go too long run the risk of going bad too. A generation later, Labor is living this out.
Back in 1989, Wayne Goss and Labor had a mandate and they exercised it ruthlessly through Goss’ Chief of Staff Kevin “Dr Death” Rudd – and it continued through Premiers Beattie, Bligh and now Palaszczuk.
With a unicameral parliament and the lower profile of state politics, Labor has got away with plenty. There have been criminal convictions for Labor MPs like Keith Wright, Bill D’Arcy and Gordon Nuttalll. The Shepherdson Inquiry precipitated the resignation of Deputy Premier Elder, forced then MP Mike Kaiser (and subsequent Bligh Chief of Staff) to admit to electoral fraud, and another Deputy Premier Paul Lucas was found to have had an “opportunistic” electoral enrolment. Premier Beattie introduced laws that made it lawful to lie in parliament. The list goes on.
But it’s under Palaszczuk where Labor has lost its touch. Palaszczuk doesn’t have the authority of former Premiers and is hostage to the left-dominated caucus.
Cronyism is rampant under Palaszczuk with appointments of Labor MPs’ spouses, their mates and their spouses’ mates. A Minister foolishly communicated on ministerial matters through private email channels. The Attorney-General introduced electoral law amendments entrenching a financial gerrymander for Labor and unions but thought nothing of accepting gifts from Star – a company over which she has regulatory responsibility for potentially billion dollar transactions.
There have been the integrity scandals that raged throughout 2019. Staggeringly, Palaszczuk was the first Queensland Premier to ever be found in contempt of the Queensland Parliament. And of course, with Jackie Trad’s recent resignation as Deputy Premier, a spotlight has again been shone on how Labor really does business.
After nearly three decades, time has caught up with Palaszczuk and Labor. Their integrity crises have been laid bare. If your new Deputy Premier is best known for using a rigged poll that brought down the Lady Cilento hospital sign you’re in serious trouble. Labor have been in power too long and, sadly for Queensland, have gone bad.
DAVID JANETZKI,
LNP SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL