Democracy’s no-show
I WENT to the Townsville Entertainment Centre on Tuesday to see our “democracy” in action. Well, that is what I hoped to see anyway.
The members who our tax dollars paid to get here, sleep here and feed themselves here should have recognised the importance of at least a semblance of effort.
The Premier and her underattack Deputy Jackie Trad made no appearance, the Labor seats nearly empty while the Leader of the LNP made her election speech.
Then many of the LNP left, when the person who was representing our Premier/ Deputy Premier got up to make his bunch of claims, but the seats of the Labor Party were also nearly empty. I counted 15 only, while the Labor member spoke.
This opening barrage lasted nearly 20 minutes, with people on each side of the chamber screaming at each other.
After this farce, I thought at least I would see some debate.
A Bill to get another public servant department up and running to deal with the Uber and taxi complaints was “supposed” to be debated.
Instead (still no Premier/ Deputy Premier/now no Leader of the LNP), one member after another got up and gave the reasons they would/would not support this money-taking Bill.
All of the private transport bodies in our state had declared they did not support it; the LNP, while voting with Labor to kill off our taxi industry, said they did not support it, and still vacant seats outnumbered the few who sat there on phones and ipads. No debate, just meaningless prepared speeches, which some of them had to use fingers to follow on the paper.
The North deserved the courtesy of at least showing up and talking about our water, power, lack of jobs, Greens harassment and anti-adani Labor stance. They talked about a Bill that benefits the south because of all those hard-up people who have to wait 10 minutes to get to work.
The vote for this Bill is already determined along party lines, so tell me: Where is the democracy? Where was the actual concern for the people of the entire North? You lot came up here and did not pay us the respect of even sitting in the seats that our tax dollars paid for you to sit in.
I asked one MP, who was actually sitting in the chamber, why was this scandalous behaviour considered “democracy”, or even earning your pay, and he said, “they will get more from the media and doing press than being in here”. This cannot be democracy at work; this is not what we deserve anywhere, let alone here in the North. This is party politics and this is the best we are going to get if this undemocratic system is allowed to continue.
This “regional parliament” is only here to try to say Labor/ Liberal care, yet they sat across from the sugar terminal, where we export sugar to the world, and they are killing our farmers that fill that terminal and pay taxes that paid for those chairs they sit in, the drink they drank, the food they ate and the airfares to get here.
At the next election we cannot hand power to either of them. The only way this state will work is with the balance of power going to a minor party, who can deliver what we need, because they are beholden to the electors and not this party alliance that has given us this thing we are forced to call “democracy”.
DEBRA GIBSON,
Pinnacles.