Queensland – Perfect One Day, Amazing the Next……..

Pic courtesy Brisbane Times

 Political pundits are still in the process of wiping egg from their faces after last weekend’s events.

That is not really a surprise. Queensland is and always has been different, especially when it comes to political trends. Generally, as voters, we lead. We don’t follow.

What threw the pundits was the preference flow. They hadn’t predicted the fairly disciplined flow of preferences from the Greens to Labor, and the further display of discipline from Labor, Green PUP and other voters to put the LNP last.

Mind you, this putting the LNP last in many cases must have been a simple protest, irrespective of what the How to Vote cards were saying. There was more to it than following instructions.

I must admit, my money was on an LNP with a reduced majority, and Newman getting the boot in Ashgrove. With a member of my extended family, most of whom live in or around metro Brisbane, sacked by Newman, this result was almost inevitable. Plenty of public servants and their extended families live in Ashgrove.

You don’t get my extended family offside – they are fiercely loyal, and some who had not been vocal prior to the sackings became very active. What had affected one individual suddenly mobilized an extended family whose members totaled about thirty voters. I reckon there were many other families with sacked public servants as members who reacted in the same way. Blood is thicker than water.

As my nephew, whose dad was sacked after thirty plus years of hard work and loyal service said – it had become personal.

Anyhow, now we have a very interesting situation. It’s not inconceivable that the Borg might corral the Katter boys, and Peter Wellington into a minority government, especially if they end up having a by-election in Ferny Grove, because, apparently, the PUP candidate couldn’t read a form.

The Borg and the Katter boys speak the same regional dialect, after all.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, despite all the sexist commentary that has already been thrown at her, is smart and competent. The little bit I had to do with her as a member of the Regional Disability Council when she was Minister for Communities in the Bligh government reinforced that understanding.

The important outcome is that the corrupt whiteshoe influence has largely been flushed from Queensland politics. It remains with a toehold on the Gold Coast (little Baghdad on the Nerang), but has been mortally wounded.

Peter Wellington is on a mission for transparent government. Good luck to him. Given the position he now occupies, he has a good chance of success.

Commissions directed against defeated governments are suddenly all the go. Let’s have one inquiring into the connections between the Newman government, mining companies, real estate interests and disaster recovery contracts.

Come on, Peter, go for it…………