Queensland By-elections 2005

LETTER TO EDITOR - 11 August 2005

Dear Editor

Like the smiling clowns at our annual shows, whose incessantly oscillating faces rarely deliver anything of value, Premier Pete's Show goes on. Except it is all happening in the main pavilion.

Peter Beattie is now trying to convince the voters of Redcliffe and Chatsworth that next week's State by-elections will somehow be a litmus test for the proposed Federal government changes to Industrial Relations legislation.

Think again. The two ill-timed by-elections, brought about because two of his State colleagues have had enough and want to walk away, have nothing to do with Federal issues, but are directly about the Premier’s failure to deliver in Queensland.

Firstly, despite all the hype from the former Treasurer, Terry Mackenroth, about the recent State budget and its record surplus, Beattie has failed miserably to deliver even the basic services we expect as Queenslanders in the key areas of health, emergency services, roads and other essential infrastructure.

Spending another $20million tinkering at the edges of Queensland Health, and wasting more money on full-page ads to tell us about it (FCC 6/8/05), is not going to cut waiting lists at hospitals or restore public confidence.

With urgently needed beds closed all over Queensland and petty bureaucrats manipulating statistics or trying to stop enquiries, nothing will solve the problem other than a complete overhaul of the health system.

Secondly, the whitewashed Hollis expenses enquiry clearly demonstrated Beattie's unwillingness to demand transparency and accountability from his team. His constant excuses for the poor performance of his parliamentary colleagues, and his unwillingness to elevate junior colleagues to challenging ministries in his recent reshuffle, are all indicative of a bloated and lacklustre government urgently in need of the surgeon’s knife.

Perhaps the voters of Brisbane will agree that Beattie is just a sideshow clown after all and will help to pare back his unhealthy majority?