Democracy Under Attack in Queensland - 2007

COMMENT - First posted Monday, 6 August 2007

Never before have we seen such a blatant disregard for the wishes of the Queensland people, or such an obvious grab for power on the part of a State government.

During the premiership of the late Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Labor figures often complained about the so-called "gerrymander" of the State electoral system allegedly to favour Sir Joh's long-standing government. They argued that city folk were being denied a voice because the National Party had rigged the voting system to give unfair weightage to rural votes.

The fall of Sir Joh at the hands of his own ministers and the subsequent slide into oblivion for the conservatives in Queensland has brought an end to the visionary development of infrastructure that was the hallmark of Sir Joh's leadership of the Sunshine State. For example, not one new dam has been constructed since Labor was first elected in September 1992 to support the massive population growth which has flowed on from the Bjelke-Petersen years.

Indeed, Labor has consistently refused to build new dams until recently when they were forced by the extended drought affecting much of Australia to acknowledge the impending disaster. Beattie's cynical move to announce a dam on the Mary River in the Gympie electorate despite it failing all essential design and suitability criteria will do nothing to enhance water supplies in Brisbane and the south-eastern corner in general. It simply reflects the arrogance and incompetence of a government which to date has been happy to simply surf on the waves generated by former conservative governments in Queensland.

Not only have new public capital works projects ground to a halt, but commencing under the previous Labor Premier Wayne Goss (1992-1996) and his then side-kick and now would-be Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, schools, court houses, railways, government offices and services have been closed or scaled back in a savage attack on the electorates outside the south-eastern corner of the State.

Of equal concern is the massive decline in the standards of public health facilities throughout regional and rural Queensland since 1992 as Labor MPs have switched focus from serving "all Queenslanders" to bolstering their grip on the metropolitan seats which have given them the Treasury benches in Queensland.

Since the Goss and Beattie governments were elected, almost half of the birthing centres throughout Queensland have been shut down and assets stripped from major regional hospitals that once were the pride of their respective communities. Hospitals that previously offered a broad range of specialist services as well as comprehensive maternity, accident and emergency care facilities have been mothballed and gutted by Labor as funds have been siphoned off to Labor electorates and key Brisbane hospitals and to meet the growing demands of a huge public service monster shuffling paper and "administering" the health system.

With 45 of the 58 seats south of Noosa and east of Toowoomba in their grip, in an 89 Member House, little wonder the rest of Queensland is being neglected and ignored. The reality is that any other seat is a bonus for Labor and provided they throw their traditional regional seats of Cairns, Townsville, Mount Isa, Mackay and Rockhampton a few morsels from the rich man's table, they are under little threat from the combined Opposition of conservative Members who represent the vast majory of the rest of Queensland.

Over the last few elections in Queensland, we have seen the "One Vote, One Value" card played heavily to entrench the Labor government of Peter Beattie. Re-introduced by the Goss Labor government in 1992, it has effectively disenfranchised conservative voters and allowed a city-centric government to win successive landslide victories.

With less than 47% of the primary vote at the 2006 State election, Labor presently holds 66% of the seats in our Parliament. Hardly a reflection of the will of the people.

The Beattie government's fourth election victory in 2006 has been the catalyst, not for improved governance, but for a reinvigorated attack on the rights and quality of life of Queenslanders living outside Labor's precious south-eastern corner.

Under the present regime in Queensland, millions of dollars have been diverted into fattening the George Street cows and building up massive bureacracies of non-productive, paper-circulating administrators and managers, at the expense of the majority of Queenslanders.

The present exercise in people-crunching will destroy Local Government in Queensland. It will centralise power in the hands of regional bureaucrats rather than elected representatives of the people.

Following similar moves in other Australian States over the past decade or so, amalgamating Local Government areas in Queensland is intended to pave the way for a Federal Republic to be introduced should Queensland Labor's former hatchet man Kevid Rudd be successful later this year and Labor finally have the unfettered numbers to abolish our Constitutional Monarchy.

Is it worth the risk?