Is the LNP ready for a real stink?
AS State Parliament resumed this week after the Commonwealth Games, the Opposition targeted the Government about the event. Who was to blame for turning the city into a ghost town, and for the closing ceremony that excluded the athletes?
All important questions, but there is one more critical.
Is the Opposition at risk of losing support by bagging out the Gold Coast?
Labor insiders were shaking their heads about the LNP’s political strategy. Yes, the questions were relevant. But wow, by asking them, their own MPs on the Coast were cast in a bad light.
Surfers Paradise MP JohnPaul Langbroek asked Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones if she knew “our great athletes were going to be cut out of the closing ceremony”.
Burleigh MP Michael Hart interjected, and Ms Jones went for him, reminding that he had been tweeting from the Whitsundays.
“We are seeing a very clear theme here this morning, one that dates right back to when they first formed government in 2012, which is that they never wanted the Commonwealth Games to go ahead,” she said.
Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates asked Ms Jones why she failed to mediate between GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie and the Premier to prevent a “petty spat” over a speaking spot.
Ms Jones reminded Ms Bates she was in Townsville and Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey was “out of town”.
Now Ms Bates and Mr Hart are shadow ministers which tops up their workload, requiring them to travel in their portfolios of health and public housing across the state.
In the last Parliament, Opposition Coast MPs Michael Crandon and Mark Boothman prosecuted the case for M1 funding and lobbied for better schools. They are effective MPs.
Mr Langbroek, as the shadow Games spokesperson, has the most difficult balancing act. He was in the bleaches at the rugby sevens screaming support with his wife, Stacey.
Flying under the media radar during the Games, new Bonney MP Sam O’Connor was out at the athletes village, working as a cleaner in the rooms and toilets, and picking up empty XXXX Gold stubbies.
In five shifts he made $1000 for Rotary, which had a cleaning arrangement for the Games. Its teams of cleaners raised funds for charity.
After the Opposition’s questions, Gaven’s new Labor MP Meaghan Scanlon asked Ms Jones what would have happened if the former Newman LNP government had proceeded with its plan to axe the event.
“I thank the one Gold Coast member in this House who will fight for the Gold Coast. It is a welcome breath of fresh air,” Ms Jones replied.
This is the dilemma for the Opposition.
In the new Parliament, if they attack the Coast the city’s only Labor MP will ask a question of a Minister who can brand the LNP a bunch of knockers.
Sam O’Connor received enormous positive feedback on social media after posting about his cleaning duties. I’m told one of his first jobs was to look after the Sri Lankans.
Kenny in the Aussie mockumentary film of the same name, which starred Shane Jacobson, warned firsttime cleaners about punters who consumed too much curry and alcohol, which could create a potent mix.
The new challenge for the LNP will be when and how to handle a stink. They need to be wary about opening up the portaloo door.
Otherwise the debate will linger on them, and they are at risk of creating a smell that outlasts religion.