Pauline showed the perils of polls
24.02.2009
COMMENT
WHEN considering the electoral chances of any political party in Queensland, it should always be remembered that in 1998, Pauline Hanson's One Nation party secured just under 25 per cent of the vote -- one in four.
That was with almost no funding, the barest of organisation and no budget.
Premier Anna Bligh should win this election easily, but that won't be the case.
She inherited the leadership from Peter Beattie, and she also inherited one of the most moribund cabinets imaginable.
Beattie was a master at winning elections, but he could not govern. Just look at the mess he left in regard to water and road infrastructure and health and hospitals.
Beattie's vision for Queensland spanned 24 hours. He would get out of bed in the morning and ask his wife, Heather, on what issue he could call a morning news conference that would get him on the evening television bulletins and through until the same time tomorrow.
Bligh's greatest fault appears to be that she has copied the flawed model of Beattie.
It takes more than photo opportunities at the latest laying of a pipeline or opening of a coalmine to convince people that you are a leader in control.
Queenslanders will collectively puke if there is one more photograph of Bligh wearing a hard hat.
Bligh has had to operate without her own mandate, and that, coupled with the deadweight of the cabinet that came with the job, has meant she could not make her own mark.
She is yet to convince anybody she is tough enough for the job. An example is that she still has Police Minister Judy Spence with a portfolio -- the minister who appears to think cosying up to the Police Union is doing her job.
Lawrence Springborg entered parliament in 1989 as a 21-year-old, so even though he is just 41, he has a long experience. The question to be asked is if he really has 20 years' experience, or one year's experience repeated 19 times.
He has been tireless in organising and leading the newly formed Liberal National Party, but his problem is the dearth of talent in his team.
His job will be to convince people, particularly constituents in the heavily populated southeast corner, that he is presenting anything other than another bunch of underperforming hayseeds with policies of no relevance to city dwellers.
The Liberals in Queensland are convinced that the new conservative alliance is what they predicted it would be: a takeover by the Nationals of city branches and therefore an obliteration of the Liberal Party.
During the campaign, Labor will drive wedges into this party so deep that they will find it difficult to get on the front foot.
If Bligh wins, as she should do, Queenslanders have a right to expect a much better effort than she has shown to date.
It should start by caucus selecting a cabinet with at least some intellectual and managerial ability, and not one that contains just worn-out party hacks that have never shown any administrative ability, and are never likely to
do so.
