January 30, 2015
by Dafyd Martindale
On Saturday the South Burnett will go to the polls to vote in the Queensland State election.
Voters in the Nanango electorate will get to choose from a field of six candidates and voters in Callide, seven.
All candidates are worthy contenders.
We believe they’re honest people who genuinely want to see a better South Burnett. The only things they disagree on are exactly how this might be best achieved.
So we take our hat off to them. They’re good people having a go.
And we can never have too many of these in Australian public life.
Instead, the real choice that Nanango and Callide voters face on Saturday is not whether they have good candidates to vote for, but whether they should vote with their hearts or their heads.
* * *
On the one hand, we think it’s true to say that the Newman Government is on the nose with many people.
Campbell Newman”s dictatorial, bull-at-a-gate style of leadership has led to a number of spectacularly poor decisions over the last two and a half years.
Sacking 14,000 public servants, pushing up the State’s debt with redundancy payments and dropping the economy into a mini-recession – when natural attrition could have achieved the same result without the costs – is just one case in point.
The current push to sell or lease the States assets is another that provokes sharply divided opinions.
And the increasingly questionable relationship between the LNP and the big end of town – which has led to many broken promises, such as approval for Acland Stage 3; the spread of CSG mining across vast swathes of prime agricultural land; and the removal of any community’s right to object – are others.
* * *
But on the other hand, when it comes to choosing who should represent us in Nanango and Callide we think the issues are much simpler. Here’s what they are:
In 2012, Nanango’s voters finally turned their back on a 14-year-long infatuation with minor parties and independents and voted for a relatively unknown candidate, the LNP’s Deb Frecklington.
This turned out to be a very good decision.
Mrs Frecklington, an unassuming solicitor and mother of three with a long background in social justice issues, has worked her butt off for her electorate since the day we gave her the job.
She has also risen rapidly from the back bench to the junior ministry because of her obvious talent.
And in the brief 30 months since she took office, Ms Frecklington has delivered in excess of $50 million to the South Burnett.
$50 million we would otherwise have had to pay for out of our own pockets, or simply have done without.
* * *
To put this achievement into perspective, this is more money than we saw in the previous 14 years of One Nation and Independent representation combined.
And in the next term, there is even more to come..
Similarly, electors in the South Burnett portion of Callide (a tiny corner of a vast seat) have seen LNP Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney deliver around $7 million of funding to them over the same period.
And again, there is more in the pipeline if the LNP is returned.
So while we may not like the idea that the party political system favours areas who have members in the government of the day and feel that in a truer, more just world all seats should be treated equally, the experience of the last few years shows having a local member of the party in power beats any other alternative.
Hands down.
* * *
A second point to consider is that while almost everyone agrees the LNP seems likely to lose a number of seats at Saturday’s election, all the betting agencies tip that it will still hold government.
This is probably a good thing in the sense that if the ALP won Government, it would very likely be a disaster for Queensland.
Why? Simply because most of its candidates would have no previous parliamentary experience.
The ALP was bad enough when it was last in Government and its candidates did have parliamentary experience.
So at least one more term in opposition will give that party the chance to really get its act together – something we think its performance in this election campaign shows it has yet to do.
* * *
A third point to bear in mind is that whatever we may feel personally about Campbell Newman, not one vote cast in Nanango or Callide will have any effect on his political future.
The voters in his home seat Ashgrove are the people who’ll determine if he stays in politics or not. And both the latest polls (and the bookies) indicate Mr Newman won’t be returning to George Street on Sunday.
Instead, what we think will happen is that the LNP will lose its obscene majority in parliament and instead gain a much-needed dose of humility from this weekend’s election result.
Chastened by the State-wide backlash against Premier Newman’s arrogant, bullying style of leadership, the party will opt for a more moderate, inclusive and consultative approach. Perhaps under the hands of a competent and seasoned moderate like Health Minister Lawrence Springborg.
The LNP will also realise that asset sales (or leasing) is not the way most Queenslanders want to go, and will finally start to look at the many other sensible options available to reduce the State’s debt.
The LNP will also be reminded that any Australian government that fails to look after the welfare of its most disadvantaged in favour of its most advantaged is not long for office; and that common sense, justice and fairness – not mindless adherence to ideology – should be its guiding lights.
* * *
A fourth point to bear in mind is that a returned LNP Government or an ALP Government is not the worst of all possible worlds.
That world would be a hung parliament, where independents and minor parties rule the roost.
Both the PUP and KAP parties have done poorly since their foundation, and both already show the same signs of rapid disintegration that caused One Nation to implode not long after it got underway.
This sort of instability is never a recipe for good government.
But it’s what may happen if we vote with our hearts and “send a protest” rather than focus squarely on our own back yard, and what’s best for us right here and now.
With no disrespect to the previous Nanango incumbent (who was a hard worker too, but completely ignored because she wasn’t a member of either of the major parties), we deserve better than the 14 years of shameful neglect we got for “sending a protest” last time.
* * *
One final reason for returning the incumbents of Nanango and Callide to office is that it’s the decent thing to do.
When our politicians are lazy, incompetent or dishonest they merit a pink slip.
We deserve to have the best people representing our interests at a State level, and we shouldn’t put up with anything less.
But when our representatives have worked hard and done a demonstrably good job looking after us – and Mrs Frecklington certainly has – then it’s un-Australian to sack them.
So on Saturday, we think we should focus squarely on our own back yards and return both our local members.
Let the rest of Queensland sort out the Newman Government.
We’ve already paid our dues.
