My Ideal World (But It’s Your Vote)

January 30, 2015

by Anne Miller

I’m not going to tell you how to vote … I don’t dare to and by now most of you have done so already (the pre-poll centres have been packed!).

However, I’d like to share with you my analysis for the seat of Nanango.

(I’m ignoring Callide completely because, quite frankly, you’d need a ton of dynamite to shift Jeff Seeney from that seat – sorry, John B-P).

There are six candidates in Nanango, and apart from Ray Hopper who is standing for Katter’s Australian Party, I can honestly say I know them all.

Dean Love is running as an independent candidate. He’s a Nanango bloke who has a real interest in youth issues and mental health. He’s organised a few local events and is community-minded. He also genuinely believes the current political system is broken. That’s enough to stir Dean into trying to make a difference. Good luck, Dean!

Then there’s Jason Ford, from Kingaroy, who is standing for Palmer United. I have worked alongside Jason on numerous committees, photographed him at hundreds of events and he writes a column for this newspaper. Jason is a genuine family man who works hard for the community. His number one love, I believe, is sharing his cooking skills which he does at numerous community events and at his main job, as a Hospitality teacher at TAFE. Since Newman was elected, the TAFE system has been turned on its head and in Kingaroy, the campus has been sold, the canteen and library closed and staff numbers cut. I believe Jason feels betrayed by the LNP and I suspect this is the reason he is standing. Good luck, Jason!

Grant Newson, from Brooklands, has been flying the flag for the Greens for years. Grant knows he has no real chance of winning this seat but believes his preferences could well make a difference. He’s fought coal seam gas on the ground and has made sure no one has ever forgotten about Acland Stage III. He’s also been a loud and proud anti-VLAD campaigner and organised a protest concert at Wooroolin last year – spending a lot of his own money to do so. There’s no doubting his fire for the cause. Good luck, Grant!

And I have to congratulate the Australian Labor Party for standing a genuine local candidate for once. Liz Hollens-Riley lives at Benarkin and is involved in the local community. I believe Liz knows the ALP stands no chance in a conservative seat such as Nanango – and it seems the party hierarchy probably agree, as they don’t seem to be providing her with a lot of compaign support. However, she’s hopeful of increasing the ALP’s vote and I have to congratulate her for putting up her hand and giving it a go. Good luck, Liz!

This brings me to the “big two” who most pundits believe will be fighting it out on the leader board for Nanango: Ray Hopper and Deb Frecklington.

Ray Hopper is an unknown to me but having met him a couple of times now, I think I can sum him up as old-style National Party. I believe he would have felt right at home in the Cabinet led by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen… the same Cabinet that his party’s founder Bob Katter once belonged to.  These old-style Nats look simple to city eyes but are actually very canny politicians who always seem to come out on top when the fight gets dirty. The only problem is, it’s no longer 1967 (perhaps unfortunately)  and the world has moved on … I’m not sure that KAP have quite come to terms with that. Ray wouldn’t believe in luck, I suspect, as I think he is a man that believes in shaping his own destiny.

Deb Frecklington was an unknown when she stood for the LNP for Nanango in 2012. I am certain several local noses were put out of joint when she won pre-selection. However, she has thrown herself into the job with enthusiasm and vigor. There is no way any critic could doubt the number of hours of work she puts into the electorate and the genuine concern she has shown to her constituents. Her door is always open. On top of that, she has earned herself a place near the top table in George Street and has managed to drive millions of dollars of government support into the region. This is a level of funding that could only be dreamed about when we had an Independent (Dolly Pratt) as the local MP. Deb is friendly, approachable and to put it bluntly, “scrubs up well”.  The perfect candidate. Her only baggage – which of course she would vehemently deny – is the party she belongs to.

And that brings me to the LNP – that marriage between partners that most long-term watchers of Queensland politics must suspect will one day head towards the divorce courts.

It is no secret that before the merger many Nationals members hated the Libs more than they hated the ALP.

And the reverse is also true. I believe there are still old scores from the days of the Fitzgerald Inquiry when two of the three people convicted (Don Lane and Brian Austin) were ex-Libs who became Nats to give Sir Joh a majority.

I believe the LNP is not as happy a ship as it pretends to be, and Campbell Newman’s style of government since the 2012 election has not made life any easier.

To begin with, the sacking of 14,000 public servants shocked many.

Then we had school music teachers rebelling when Fanfare was canned (and then later revived through a private sponsorship).

And let’s not forget Acland Stage III. The LNP promised the controversial extension to the Acland coal mine would not go ahead. It was a key platform in 2012. But a few months after the election, an amended Stage III was unveiled, stunning protesters and LNP supporters alike. The fact that Acland happens to be the hometown of a very loud and opinionated Sydney radio broadcaster didn’t help Newman “sell” his explanation.

Then there was the VLAD laws (a name that sounded like it had been thought up in a schoolyard) which upset more than just bikies and civil libertarians – it had the legal profession reeling, too.

It is hard to explain (or justify) why a law-abiding motorcycle rider should be asked to strip on the side of the road so that police could photograph his tattoos. Or why fathers and sons could no longer enjoy a beer together in a pub because they happened to belong to the same motorcycle club.   Or why one criminal should receive a far longer sentence (and have to wear a pink jumpsuit!) than a non-bike club member who committed the same crime.  Or why wearing a belt-buckle with certain emblems on it into a licensed venue was now an offence …

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a police crackdown on drug-pushers or thugs. It’s just that I think they already had the legal powers to do just that.

Then judges planned a boycott of the appointment of a new Chief Justice who was plucked from almost nowhere …

Newman seemed to have upset everyone from teachers, to nurses, to rural firefighters, to judges (and, of course, members of outlaw motorcycle gangs) within months.

Asset sales (now leases) were the cream on the cake for his critics. The union protests kicked into overdrive!

This is the baggage that Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington carries into Saturday’s election. It is real.

But even so, I believe Deb is the only real choice for this electorate.

She has worked hard and brought home the bacon. She deserves to be re-elected.

It’s selfish to say but it’s honest. Pork-barrelling is quite okay when your electorate is on the receiving end. It sure beats the years when we were out in the funding wilderness when we had a nice (but ineffective) Independent member.

PUP and KAP are kidding themselves if they think they can get the balance of power and wield any real influence for us.

And a complete change of government back to an inexperienced ALP team would shake up markets and government departments at a time when our economy is only just starting to pick up (and would bring no extra funds for the seat of  Nanango)

In my ideal world at the moment, Deb Frecklington will win Nanango and Campbell Newman will lose Ashgrove.

The LNP would be re-elected with a much, much smaller majority.

The arrogance of some LNP MPs will vaporise and they will bow to the will of the people and realise asset sales / leases are poison and drop the idea like a stone.

And they will realise that judges, magistrates and solicitors can’t be all wrong when they criticise the VLAD laws. After all, most of the arrests have not even been made under this Act so it is obviously unnecessary.

That’s my ideal world.

Now it’s over to you folks. Ain’t democracy grand?

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