November 22, 2017
by Dafyd Martindale
The Queensland State election will be held this Saturday, and the South Burnett faces some tough choices.
On the one hand, our region’s LNP member Deb Frecklington has been an outstanding representative for our area over the past six years, and I believe she deserves to be returned to George Street for another term of office.
In just two terms, Mrs Frecklington has secured more than $65 million for the South Burnett.
This is more State investment than we saw in the previous 12 years when we were represented by independents or minor parties.
And we could easily double that in the next term if the LNP wins government.
On the other hand, the possibility of an LNP State Government led by Tim Nicholls fills many people with dread, and I share that feeling.
Nicholls was Treasurer during the Newman Government.
That government squandered its overwhelming majority by making such a mess of things it was thrown out on its ear after just one term.
In the two years and 10 months since then, the Palaszczuk Government has laboured long and hard to pick up the pieces. And I think they’ve done a pretty remarkable job, all things considered.
They’ve reduced average unemployment from 6.6 per cent to 5.9 per cent and made Queensland the major job-creating State in Australia; reined in energy price rises to CPI (or less); and managed to pay down a few billion dollars of the State’s debt. And they’ve done all of it without selling any public assets, and without slashing 14,000 jobs.
The Palaszczuk Government has also restored many important frontline service positions and community welfare programs that the Newman Government axed.
And to their undying credit, they fulfilled all the LNP’s promises to the Nanango electorate, too: the new Kingaroy and Nanango police stations, a refurbished Kingaroy Court House and a $1.5 million upgrade to the roads leading into Swickers are testament to this.
The Palaszczuk Government’s achievements are even more remarkable when you consider they have had to rely on cross-bench support to get most of their programs across the line.
So the choice is stark: Do went want to return an LNP Government and get a wodge of money spent in the Nanango electorate, but run the risk of seeing the State brutally mismanaged again?
Or do we return an ALP government that has distinguished itself (in comparison to what it replaced) despite being in a minority, and brought back good sense and compassion?
My view is that we should re-elect Mrs Frecklington in Nanango, but re-elect the Palaszczuk Government to run Queensland.
We should re-elect Mrs Frecklington because she has done as good a job in Opposition as she has in Government, and deserves to continue representing us. She is hard-working, personable, easily approachable and a formidable fighter for our region, and we’re very lucky to have her.
But we should re-elect the Palaszczuk Government because it deserves a longer time to see the many innovative policies it has launched grow, develop and produce fruit.
We’ll need to rely on the rest of Queensland to do the heavy lifting if the Palaszczuk Government is to retain power.
But we can at least vote to retain an MP that many other regions would kill to have as their representative.
With no disrespect to any other candidate running against Mrs Frecklington in Saturday’s election, she has the runs on the board.
And the South Burnett has done very well out of her work over the past five years and 10 months, no matter what our personal political persuasions.
