COMMENT - 14 September 2007
So Premier Pete is "over it". Just like a egotistical footballer whose lost the drive to play competition rugby any more?
Whilst some commentators describe him as "one of the most significant Labor politicians of the last decade", his tenure as Premier of Queensland will be remembered for what he did not do, rather than for what he achieved, and for the disasters he presided over and was unable to solve.
Remember his 2004 election promise to clean up child abuse? He cut his second term short supposedly to secure a mandate to fix the problem.
Remember his 2006 promise to personally address the problems in Queensland Health? Problems he had presided over as both Health Minister and Premier, and then as Treasurer. Has anything changed? We are still shuttling patients around looking for hospital beds.
Remember his pledge to get water for Brisbane? From a dam that will cause environmental, social, economic damage long after he has been forgotten and which will statistically need 110 year cycles to fill up.
Remember the former Labor Member for Noosa, Cate Molloy, who spoke out against the Traveston Dam project and was promptly expelled from the Labor caucus by Premier Beattie? Seems she didn't like his plans to flood some of Queensland's most productive agricultural land, flooding roads and railways, drowning peaceful rural communities and endangering the health of the downstream river ecology for the sake of city votes.
Remember the other Labor mates he personally welcomed as new MPs or selected as ministers, then expelled when they were found to have rorted the electoral system? The 2001 Shepherdson Inquiry into Electoral Fraud, led to three members of his government being forced to quit parliament: former Labor Party State Secretary Mike Kaiser (then Member for Woodridge), backbencher Grant Musgrove (then Member for Springwood) and senior government Minister and Deputy Premier Jim Elder.
John Budd, Labor Member for Redlands from 1992 to 1995 was also implicated in that enquiry. The present Deputy Premier Paul Lucas was also mentioned in that report but managed to hang onto his career in the Beattie administration.
Remember the Ministers that he stood by time and time again when it was plain they were incompetent or up to mischief? Merri Rose, recently imprisoned for trying to bully the Premier into giving her a job following her fall from ministerial favour and the subsequent loss of her seat in parliament, and Gordon Nuttall, forced to resign as Health Minister, and now facing corruption charges... The list continues to grow.
Remember Peter Beattie presiding over one minute's silence in parliament in pity for convicted drug traffickers condemned to the death penalty in a country well-known for its stance on illicit drugs?
Remember the Premier whose team condoned Parliamentary lying and protected themselves by changing the law?
Remember his promise to get rogue surgeon Jayant Patel back from the United States after his government paid for his first class exit ticket?
Remember the Premier who was going to fine Mayors for seeking the views of their local constituents over forced amalgamations?
This is Peter Beattie's legacy. All talk and little action. All spin and little substance. One of wasted mandates to work for the good of all Queenslanders. One of failure to look ahead and see the problems caused by unbalanced development in south east Queensland. One of appalling lack of accountability or managerial commonsense on the part of his governments.
Seems like Mr Beattie has taken the easy way out yet again, and left Deputy Bligh to sort out the mess.
Well may we ask what is his legacy. Serial crises and serial apologies for failing to provide the essential services Queenslanders deserve, like reliable water and power supplies, a high-quality public health system for all Queenslanders, forward planning for improved roads and port infrastructure throughout the state, a fully-resourced Ambulance Service and Police Service, to name a few.
Premier Beattie has been more interested in football stadiums and conning the public to win elections than in delivering services for all Queenslanders.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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?
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?
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As published by the Fraser Coast Chronicle on 17 November 2007.
