Six months of Labor: popular Palaszczuk keeps Queensland show on the road
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Version 0 of 1. Friday marks six months since the Labor party led by Annastacia Palaszczuk, against all odds and predictions, won control of the Queensland parliament. While it is still relatively early in the life of the government, here are six emerging themes. Female voters keep Labor in front; Palaszczuk has broader appeal Labor clawed its way back from a single-figure parliamentary contingent under the mocking gaze of former premier Campbell Newman to the barest of working majorities. A Morgan poll this week showed support for the Palaszczuk government remained pretty much where it was when the dust settled a fortnight after the election. The poll found an election held now would be too close to call, with Labor sitting on 51% of the two-party preferred vote. However, on the question of individual leader popularity, there were north Queensland-strength rays of daylight between Palaszczuk and LNP rival and perennial political bridesmaid Lawrence Springborg. Palaszczuk was considered the better choice as premier by 64% of voters over Springborg, whose most decisive political act has been the prosecution of the case that forced Cook MP Billy Gordon from the Labor party. Support for Palaszczuk rose to nearly three quarters among women. It is in fact the support of women that keeps Labor ahead, with 53% of men plumping for the LNP. But Palaszczuk’s personal appeal spans the sexes, with 55% of men still preferring her over Springborg. The kiss of D’Ath puts an end to Carmody of errors The divisive nature of former premier Newman was best exemplified by what for a time appeared to be his lasting legacy: the appointment of Tim Carmody as the state’s chief justice. The initial howls of protest from the legal profession at the appointment of the much-maligned policeman turned barrister turned tough-talking anti-bikie chief magistrate came to a brief lull until the curious aftermath of the state election brought renewed scrutiny of the top judge. An escalating series of revelations about Carmody’s performance and dysfunction, and mutual lack of respect between him and his peers in the courts, made the chief justice a national story. Carmody eventually sought to put an end to this by offering to quit on “just terms”, which reportedly included a waiver of the usual hurdle to obtain a judicial retirement package, for which he was several years from qualifying. He also wanted a commitment to an independent judicial commission, a concept supported by just about everyone – except both major political parties. The latter notion was promptly batted away by deputy premier Jackie Trad. There followed a round of negotiations with attorney general Yvette D’Ath, which seemed to yield an outcome far different from the one presaged by Carmody when first announcing his plan to quit. Carmody now occupies an office in the state’s civil and administrative tribunal. The rumblings in the judiciary have ended and when court reporters take up their stylus, the cases, not the judges presiding over them, are once again the story. Tackling ‘soft on crime’ claim by outsourcing question of bikies (and librarians) The vexed question of how to undo Newman’s extreme anti-bikie laws without seeming soft on crime has been deftly handballed to Carmody’s definitive critic, retired supreme court justice Alan Wilson. Wilson has been chairing a taskforce looking in detail at how to repeal or replace laws, including the anti-association measures that put a female librarian in jail. Contained within the terms of reference, there is arguably an implied judgment about the need for laws that help dismantle organised crime as opposed to those that wipe out the outlaw motorcycle club subculture (disregarding the extent of a Venn diagram crossover between the two worlds for the moment). Wilson, who has police at the table, will make his own judgments on that distinction and how best to arm crime fighters, with scalpels rather than sledgehammers where appropriate. History shows police will still be squaring off against bikies with lawyers, guns and money (and drugs) in tow for years to come. But whether or not the outlaw clubs become the hot-button political issue they once were under Newman depends less on the form of laws the government adopts on Wilson’s recommendations than whether bikies start shooting at each other in shopping centres again. Walking a knife’s edge towards the moral high ground The spadefuls of dirt dug up on Billy Gordon, most tellingly domestic violence allegations, ensured the far north Queensland MP’s presence in the Labor fold was quickly seen as radioactive. Gordon walked from the party before he was pushed but clung on as an independent whose nominal ongoing support for Labor kept what Springborg unfailingly referred to as the “Palaszczuk Gordon government” in train. Six months on, police are yet to declare the outcome of an investigation that has been referred to an independent QC for advice on whether Gordon should be charged. The Cook MP has said police have already indicated he will not be. The prospect of the government coming undone over the Gordon imbroglio has receded along with the media storm that once engulfed him. However, a second police investigation continues into another Labor MP, Rick Williams, who has been accused of dodgy insurance paperwork by a former colleague and a tangle of other improprieties, including trying to hire someone to have his ex-wife’s boyfriend “done over”, before entering parliament. Palaszczuk was forced to stand Williams down from the parliamentary legal affairs and community safety committee. Recently the Courier-Mail revealed Williams’ social links to an ex-Rebels bikie whom he vouched for in a court reference before the man went down for another crime. As with Gordon, a police decision not to lay charges may well take the sting out of the equation. But such things are not a good look for Palaszczuk, who has made “integrity” a byword of her administration. Such things risk overshadowing positive moves such as returning the secret political donation threshold from $12,400 to $1,000. And if losing one MP to the crossbench may be regarded as a misfortune, losing a second – when the government already relies on the votes of Gordon and independent speaker Peter Wellington to pass laws – appears more than careless. Stealing Greg Hunt’s thunder in the campaign to save the reef The state Labor government’s moment in the sun came at a meeting of the UN’s world heritage committee in Germany last month. After racing to update a joint conservation plan with the commonwealth in a bid to head off an embarrassing “in danger” listing for the Great Barrier Reef, the Palaszczuk government had the satisfaction of hearing committee members single out its initiatives as decisive moves in the reef’s favour. These included moves to limit new ports and ban the dumping of dredge spoil in world heritage waters. The Australian delegation fronted by federal environment minister Greg Hunt included not one but two Queensland government ministers – Hunt’s state counterpart Steven Miles and deputy premier Jackie Trad. Trad told the committee: “Queenslanders, Australians, love the Great Barrier Reef. They love it so much they elected a government committed to protect it and that is exactly what we will do.” Somehow Trad and Miles’ smiles appeared broader than Hunt’s when the committee ruling came down. Coal is still king (just about) Speaking of new ports, or at least new jetties for coal ships, near the reef, the Palaszczuk government has offset its vision for the state’s future carbon budget by continued outward support for the hugely controversial Carmichael coal project. On the one hand it has axed the former LNP government’s $430m plan for taxpayer funding of Adani’s proposed rail line and promised no dredging for Abbot Point port expansion unless the Indian conglomerate obtains “financial closure” – which seems more a case of if than when. But on the other hand, among the government’s first acts was to move swiftly to hatch a new option for Adani to dump dredge spoil on a disused bit of industrial land near its planned new terminal, instead of in wetlands or reef waters as the Newman and Abbott governments once proposed. Related: Queensland government denies delaying Adani's Carmichael mine Mining minister Anthony Lynham, who first came to public prominence as a facial surgeon speaking out on the impact of drink-fuelled violence, has been less forthcoming with any concerns he may harbour about the impact of the Adani “carbon bomb”. Perhaps there is no point in the Palaszcuk government risking appearing anti-business, much less anti-coal – not when economic conditions in central and north Queensland are stalling. Not when part of your base is knee deep in coal. And especially not with all those ex-Labor Adani lobbyists about. But most of all, why risk a brawl over a project when you can safely sit and watch it recede into the sunset. The Palaszczuk government at large has one thing still in its favour. It can appear progressive and decisive simply by undoing all the work of its predecessor. |