From today’s Crikey email:
Peter Beattie’s final legacy to Queensland (and federal) politics is characteristic of his modus operandi. The new Premier, Anna Bligh, will be able to execute the quick step Beattie was no longer capable of doing convincingly – admitting mistakes have been made, garnering sympathy, and promising to fix them. Beattie’s already done the hard part – telling the ABC twice last night that he’d been “over-enthusiastic� about local government reform and “should have listened more�.
Whether Bligh shifts the policy or not is moot, but she’ll change the rhetoric.
And it won’t be difficult to build a bit of honeymoon momentum on the back of the most recent Newspoll on state voting intentions, published in June, which found state Labor had a 51% primary vote and an astonishing 61% two party preferred. Both figures represent swings to the government from last year’s election.
Bligh will be elected unopposed tomorrow as Labor leader, and sworn in as Queensland’s first female Premier on Thursday.
Beattie’s legendary sense of timing ensures her elevation - it reinforces the contrast he wants to highlight with Howard’s position. “A smooth transition�, Beattie opined, demonstrates Labor is a “mature party of government�. The symbolism rubs off on the poised and calm Kevin Rudd, who looks every inch the Prime Minister in waiting when compared to the hyperbolic and shrill flailing around that has characterised the federal Coalition since last December.
Beattie embedded the transition in 2005 when Bligh was elevated to Deputy Premier. Opposition from the AWU was neutralised then, and the once dominant faction will be compensated by the likely elevation of Transport Minister Paul Lucas to the Deputy’s gig. Big Bill Ludwig may grumble from outside the tent, but that only underlines his irrelevance – one of Beattie’s little noticed achievements having been to tame his power and to groom a new generation of factional leaders under his own wing.
It will be interesting to see whether, as has long been rumoured, Bligh will announce that she is leaving her Left faction to become a non-aligned leader. Beattie, nominally a member of the old guard faction that was his historic enemy in the 1980s, was effectively non-aligned. Wayne Goss never joined the AWU. If Bligh does announce this move, it will be perceived as bold, and will disable much of the predictable carping from Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney. Julia Gillard will be watching closely.
In last year’s state election, Bligh was given nearly equal billing with Beattie. First elected to Parliament in 1995, Bligh, who presents well, and who is regarded as competent and popular, was a high-profile Education Minister for five years, presiding over major reforms to school education. Bligh’s own “education revolution” has been central to the “Smart State” strategy and has in fact given Rudd Labor many policy ideas. As Treasurer and Infrastructure Minister, she has easily deflected criticism from the weak state opposition.
In leaving office, Beattie also reinforces what he correctly identifies as his major contribution – the building of a “New Queensland� far closer to the Australian mainstream than “the Deep North� of yore. In doing so, he acts only to reinforce Labor’s “fresh� and young image, handing over the reigns to a talented and articulate 47-year-old politician. Bligh and Rudd are from the same generation. And they’re close, much closer than Beattie and Rudd. Coalition strategists should be even more worried about federal seats in Queensland then they were on Sunday.
I wonder what company will win the next major infrastructure tender in Queensland under Bligh? lol
Hint : Beattie will be there soon
I think that’s a misreading of Beattie. He doesn’t need to do a Mackenroth and go and work for a developer and he knows it would cheapen his reputation to do so.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/is-beattie-going-to-london/2007/09/11/1189276662615.html
Mark, wasn’t Wayne Goss originally part of the AWU faction? Didn’t he and another of its members leave the faction before he became leader?
Yes, Sacha, actually that’s right. I should have written that he wasn’t a member of any faction while he was Premier.
This reads like party propaganda from a cheer squad rather than a press posting Mark. Fresh, young, talented, articulate … where’s the bathroom and your sense of proportion, Mark?
The fact is that Beattie wasn’t much of a Premier though he was quite a nice bloke which went well with his goofy grin and bland populism. A loveable turkey.
Its hard to see his lefty successor failing to do better.
Thanks for that well informed comment, Harry. I don’t know much about Victorian politics so I generally refrain from comment on it. I’m surprised you have expertise in Queensland politics.
I’ll have a thread up on Beattie’s legacy tomorrow so save up your stoushing urges.
Hmm I don’t know about “personal gain” and “ethics” the word is he will be in some way part of Babcock and Brown.
Ha ha ha ha ha! Harry Clarke wrote that! About someone else!
We’ll see, Anthony. The word is often wrong.
Mark true…just like Howard resigning we will see soon enough cheers!
Sade is Beattie’s replacement?
I’m moving north.
The latest Printgate developments that cut across state and Fed politics are here.
Bligh and Lucas - Briabane Times view
- Courier Mail View
I notice most recognise the likeliness of Bligh and some also question the substance. Both approaches can be correct. Yes, she looks the goods, but in what sense?
Is she ok with policy and leadership, is she merely a reactive, clutching “politician”. “Vision” or image and self-preservation, this time in a power-suit?
I can ask Mark for an intelligent response to the following without expecting a rasonable answer, but will ask anyway.
Any chance that the new regime will pull QLD out of a Lennonist Stone Age, as per ecology, environment, “development” and neoliberalism?
Or just ( yet another ) replay of the same old- same old “vested- interests rule”, regardless of harm or damage ?
I think we’ll need to wait and see, paul, for a lot of the answers. I would hope that the “development” at all costs mentality is on the way out, but I’m not holding my breath. Bligh showed a fair bit of vision before becoming Treasurer - it’s harder to judge her in that role (except to say she was very competent) as she was really implementing Beattie’s decisions and agenda. In general, I think we will see a more overt support for a socially liberal agenda, and perhaps more emphasis on social spending.
I don’t think she’s a “reactive, clutching politician”.
I’m at a loss to know what you mean by that.
The Libs have had a smoother transition. Over the last 11 years, nearly every moderate has left the party or died. At grass roots level, the Libs are now a bunch of lunatic fringe right Christian/market fundamentalists hell bent on the biggest election train wreck the country has ever seen.
Toot Toot Mr Howard, keep that foot on the accelerator
Mark:
Care to elaborate on Madam Bligh’s “fair bit of vision before becoming Treasurer” while in the education portfolio, probably her longest, and therefore the one where she should have made her mark most?
Arts? State Development? Any crumb will do. Getting kelvin Grove housing estate investment opportunity through as an education initiative?
I reckon her Mätresse-stroke has been raising the use of the “The Glossy Brochure” as propaganda device to an art form. I wonder if it would be possible to audit the various departments’ glossy brochure deployment over the life of the Beattie gov’t, who was champion GB’er?
Looks like they are going into risk management mode, in case GB’s don’t work so well any more: there’s a tender out, -
-(well not exactly out, but a ” FORWARD PROCUREMENT SCHEDULE ONLY and as such is only an anticipated purchase for the 2007/08 financial year”)-
for “Critical customer confrontation training” services.
Qld state gov’t agencies being confronted by critical customers? Surely not, were all happy happy joy joy aren’t we?
National Member for Gympie fires broadside at Seeney and Flegg for being absent.
While anything is possible, I don’t believe he would even contemplate that option. Certainly his public service chief went down that road in the not too distant past, but Beattie has a sense of history and ‘right and wrong’ that IMHO rules that out entirely.
Look for him to accept a public service type role either within Australia but more likely as some type of government representative overseas.
I reckon wpd’s right. He’s got a job lined up (ambassador, trade rep, whatever) working for the Rudd government
Oh and while I agree its a bit rich for harry to complain about it, this post was not exactly a critical appraisal of Beattie or Bligh.
Thanks for considered response, Mark. Sorry about the spelling error, obviously created a misapprehension.
Was not suggesting she IS a grasping politician, was wondering if she might yet be proven one, “in the eating”, so to speak.
If we have Lennon-style politicians elsewhere, could not the current climate create equine flu like conditions for more of them?
As to doubting the response I received, I was only going on responses I have had from other experts concerning specific issues, particularly ones as Foundational( if only to me) as development/ neolib/ ecology.
No probs, paul.
Incidentally, I read someone in the Fin saying something along the lines of “as a left winger, she’s predisposed to place importance on education and social services”. What have we come to!!!
dd, it’s mostly a political commentary. It’s just a statement of fact to say that she’s a good communicator, and perceived as competent etc. In part I’m drawing on some polling we did for the state election last year. I don’t know whether Harry understands genre, but I’m sure you do - I’m not setting out to write a detailed policy appraisal of Bligh’s record, or to assess Beattie’s legacy, but to provide some short commentary on the politics and background for Crikey readers many of whom aren’t familiar with Qld politics.
There certainly is a lot of room for debate on Beattie’s legacy, which is why, as I said earlier, I’ll be posting something about that later on tonight.
Danny, I’m thinking of raising the school leaving age, the Education 2020 planning process, the emphasis on embedding voc ed with school ed, the creation of state colleges with particular specialties - ie maths/science, creative arts, aviation, etc. There’s a lot more, and again, some of it, like Prep, arouses debate. But there’s no doubt that she was a reforming Education Minister. Welford really has just implemented and tweaked stuff. Education, as you’d be aware, has long been an area in which Queensland has lagged seriously, and the Smart State isn’t just about industry policy.
wpd, yep, the article I linked to was speculating about him becoming Trade Commissioner in London. I think Beattie does have more to offer in a public role down the track.
Anyway, FWIW, I like Anna Bligh and I’m glad she’s become Premier. (Lucas is a mate from Uni so I’m obviously pleased he’s to be Deputy). If Beattie had stayed on, as well, Seeney may well have been in with a chance come election time. And it’s very good for Rudd in Qld.
I will also be very interested to see whether she departs from the populist/big boss style of leadership that’s characterised almost all Qld Premiers.
There is something about that bright, sunny, optimistic, Queensland smile …
dd, It certainly isn’t critical. Is the word syncophantic? One glowing adjective after another. I guess to Mark it’s like asserting the faith but it is very tedious writing that says little more than ‘I am a Labor supporter’. And you are saying that - echo, echo - on a blog that panders to those with the same beliefs.
As an occasional reader I was struck by the pointlessness of it.
Also it is dishonesty - no-one ever claimed that Beattie was a great Premier. He just was not a man of intellect or substance. He squandered a decade of possibilities for reconstructing Queensland’s infrastructure in one of the fastest growing areas in Australia - energy, ports, transport, water, health all ignored and dumb subsidies retained.
He was a former railway union hack and his replacement is a community relations ’social worker’ with smaller teeth than her predecessor and who is probably only slightly more reticent than he is to turn every media occasion into an opportunity to sprout populist cliche.
Yes, Queenslanders are different.
Forget attracting the likes of Boeing, I reckon we’ll see a manolo blahnik factory established here pretty soon.
Just remembered, last time I saw Kev in West End was at a footpath table at the Swiss Deli with Anna. Should have guessed something was up.
I’m not sure of LP’s product placement policy, but they do make the most delicious snackerals. Not swiss either, more portuguese.
And the company you can keep…
I like Anna Bligh too. She’s very calm and relaxed inside her own skin. One of the bravest things she did was to face the Traveston Dam protestors. They showed a bit of it on TV tonight. She seemed totally unflappable.
Mark, you are right that there was a fair bit going on in education when Bligh was there. On Prep, which I know most about, the policy was a crock, but that is probably not her fault. Primary principals have long wanted to get their hands on Preschool and domesticate it. So did the curriculum development boys and girls at system level.
The implementation was crook too. Top down and wanting to hear good news only. But that style seemed to go right across government. I have no reason to believe, though, that this would change if the other mob got in. When I enquired about the National Party’s policy on the public service I was told they didn’t have one.
But if we are going to have rampant neoliberalism and managerialism anyway you could do worse than Anna Bligh methinks.
Yep, nice spot, that Deli.
Lordy, Harry, do you read or just infer? I don’t state in the piece that Beattie was a great Premier. He was a brilliant politician. As a Premier, he wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t a detail person, and he can be rightly criticised in some areas but also rightly praised in others.
I don’t think you know a thing about Anna Bligh, quite frankly.
As others have noted, it’s quite bizarre to be lectured on impartiality by you. Not that Crikey is supposed to be impartial anyway - it’s opinion and commentary.
And as to that remark, you, sir, and any other Mexicans who share your view, can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I mean Melbourne of course.
I’m also in the Bligh admirer camp, about which enough panegyrics have already been written.
Lucas, however, is a self-important windbag and a dud. I can only assume his more talented colleagues - eg Mickel, Welford and Robertson - have been overlooked in order to ensure, Brian Howe-like, that the Deputy slot goes to someone held in such universally low esteem that he can’t be a threat.
Well, I disagree with that, but as I said, I know Lucas so can’t be objective on it.
So do I, Mark, and neither can I.
Well, I like him, Hal9000, but I get the sense that you don’t. But, to be honest, I haven’t followed his portfolio performance so I think anything I would say in his defence would be coloured too much by our personal history.
It’d have to be a unique situation whereby the PM’s and the Premier’s jobs are at the dispensation of the one smallish localised group of people, such as the electors of Griffith/South Brisbane, wouldn’t it? Half a dozen pages of the refidex would cover the catchment.
Hmmm, we could set up leader-watch pressure group, provide a conduit for delivering the will of the larger electorate, harvested via a blog. If we got say 500 people geographically dispersed throughout the seats so flyers/polls could be quite easily and comprehensively dispersed and collected, and a decisive vote unleashed, we’d have both of their attentions under pain of losing their jobs next time round.
There’s gotta be a way of exploiting this extraordinary situation to improve the democratic process.
All schemes considered, except of course Brisbane Southside Votes For Sale.
Fair enough. My own experiences are more recent and more professionally-oriented than yours which relate to a carefree youth in the Barbagallo-dominated Uni of Qld students union, I believe. I do know public servants in Transport have fingers crossed he’ll move, while those in other agencies are trembling in terror lest he be inflicted on them. Mr Micro-management, I believe he’s known as. Perceived as being very much in the same mould as the thankfully departed McGrady. I could say rather more but will refrain, as Lucas and ilk are known for their vindictiveness and I have a mortgage to pay and dependents to support. But trust me on this Mark, he may be a great mate but as a minister he’s a dud. Perhaps we should leave it at that.
Barbargallo was gone by the time I got involved, Hal9000, but his ghost certainly lived on.
And as to that remark, you, sir, and any other Mexicans who share your view, can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I mean Melbourne of course
Always found that term Mexicans stupid…does that make us Queenslanders “north of the border”…try hard
AmericansCanadians? We have are own version of a crazy Quebec as well…its called Bundaberg lol.I’ve always thought Canada was a great place!
Er, I thought it was Rocky and everything north of it that’s always threatening to cut itself adrift. That said, would anyone admit from coming from the same state as Bob Katter?
I went to uni with Bob’s daughter! I’m sure we shared a XXXX or two at a few Law Society pool parties!
Bob’s a nice guy actually. (If a little mad.)
Just sayin…
North of the Sunshine coast the crazies start…I think the heat and humidity melts their brains..
Bundaberg is from my experience alot worse than Rocky.
These ideas had been around the Department of Education for years. Much of that agenda was developed by Terry Moran who left to head up the Premier’s department under Bracks.
Bligh’s strength was that she got the funding to implement those programs. That’s to her credit.
Lucas is considered to be lazy. Hal9000 is on the money.
Being a Bundaberger and having just moved back after a decade further afield… is there something I’m missing about these crazies? Maybe I moved back too soon?