Possum has a super post on Lawrence Springborg’s cunning plan – how to lose an election against a tired four term government. Go read.
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Oh Jesus, that’s savage (and very funny). It makes me glad I don’t live in Queensland all over again, although Mike Rann is at least as hopeless as Anna Bligh.
Just out of interest, David, why do you think Anna Bligh is hopeless?
Perhaps I’ve been paying too much attention to the MSM, Mark, but I’m getting increasingly disenchanted with Labor leaders all round. The liitle bit we hear of her in the South makes her sound like just another populist centrist who isn’t actually going to do anything of consequence.
Fair comment probably, David. To some degree I think she’s leaning over backwards *not* to do anything interesting in social policy because of her perceived background as a member of the left.
Poss is right, there is pattern to the Borg’s campaigning. One thing I would add, is his voice. It irritates the hell out of me. I can’t stand listening to him. Like Poss said, there is an old fashioned aura that the Borg wears, he wraps himself around it like an old coat. It’s not nerdy like Rudd, it’s daggy, old fashioned. I can’t seem to think that this man will be good for Qld’s future because of his “daggyness”.
It’s a good article, but it tells the same sorry story that were going to be telling over and over again (I do agree however, funny stuff).
What I can’t understand for the life of me is why Lawrence cannot see this, regardless of what we think of him and his views, he couldn’t be this blind. This is his career, his future is on the line; is he really married to these ideals so much that he can’t even be a little flexible? He’s not even pretending to be more liberal, and that would still be more useful (if ultimately futile) then what he is doing now.
PinkyOz.
PinkyOz, Lawrence isn’t all that bright, to put it bluntly.
I’ve never met the man, so I don’t know, But I guess it wouldn’t surprise me. But it makes you wonder who is actually in control, if anyone. Actually, considering the possibilities, maybe I’m better off not knowing.
PinkyOz
As David Irving says “It makes me glad I don’t live in Queensland all over again, although Mike Rann is at least as hopeless as Anna Bligh.” And you can’t simply bank on Anna being hopeless. Hopeless gives Borgman 50-50 primary. He needs more.
Anna’s far from hopeless politically. Whether or not she’s a policy wonk or leftie’s dream Premier is another matter.
No one with any idea how to run a campaign or win an election, PinkyOz. One of his closest MP advisers is Mike Horan, for goodness’ sake.
Mark went, “No one with any idea how to run a campaign or win an election”
Can’t disagree there!
Not that Bligh’s office seems to be much better – too many young’ns and not enough nous.
She really is lucky that it’s the two headed schizo Hydra of the LNP with Borg at the helm that she’s facing and not a Liberal with a clue.
Yep!
I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the campaign is contracted out (in effect) to Hawker Britton again!
It would be a safe, bland and entirely predictable outcome Mark!
Those adds filled with soothing colors and voice overs from 60 year old men extolling the certainty of the ALP in a time of financial crisis. The attack ads with dark backgrounds, splashes of vivid reds and bright whites (not to mention those god awful low frequency sounds that really shit you to tears if you have a couple of powerful sub-woofers attached to the TV) talking about the inexperience of the LNP whilst throwing the usual grenades.
Oh Yes, Hawker Britton – political colour by numbers (so saying, it does work)
Hahahahahaha!
I wonder why they bother having the election at all, Possum! We could run a mockup on LP and your blog and probably script every move, and determine the number of ALP seats between 50 and 60 through a competition!
You guys are right, If they don’t know how to win an election why will it even matter who controls whom? oh well.
Ooh, if your going to script the campaign, add a few funny moments and silliness for us poor lot out here who could really use some political entertainment. You never know, you might be able to turn it into a movie, just imagine it, a comedy of errors so embarrassing even Joh would laugh, just needs a name. Any thoughts …
PinkyOz
Mark says “To some degree I think she’s leaning over backwards *not* to do anything interesting in social policy because of her perceived background as a member of the left.”
Anna was in the Socialist Left Mark, as you well know, there was no ‘perceiving’ about it.I still remember sitting in Anne Warner’s electoral office in the late 80′s with Anna trying to convince me that abortion could sit well with Catholic beliefs, not that that is a sign of ‘leftism’ of itself, just a fond memory.
When you say that “Anna’s far from hopeless politically. Whether or not she’s a policy wonk or leftie’s dream Premier is another matter,” I wish I had a dollar for everytime someone has said to me that the great hopes they had for Anna have been dashed. They don’t see that being good politically is a good end in itself.
“a Liberal with a clue”.
As the mad right tightens their grip, liberals with a clue seem to be getting thinner on the ground.
Please. The Anna of yesterday is not the Anna of today. Anyone surprised? She compromises. Politics does that.
Yet the Borg of yesteryear seems very much like the Borg of today. An historical anachronism. Please pay some respect to the Dear Departed (in advance).
“I wish I had a dollar for everytime someone has said to me that the great hopes they had for Anna have been dashed”
One of my more sober-minded mates was reflecting on the question “are you disappointed by Anna Bligh?” and he could only reply “No, I expect the Qld ALP to be crap no matter who’s leading it and Anna’s well and truly meeting my expectations.”
d
Surely it is a four term government?
But that’s why this really matters. If the LNP had been formed, and crashed and burnt at some other stage they’d have had time to rebuild before the best opportunity (if earlier) or had the excuse they’d tried everything else (if later). The problem here is that if they lose this one they’re really stuffed. No obvious replacement for the Borg, everyone desperate to put the blame on someone else. Lots of people (rightly) blaming the formation of the LNP, but no way to unscramble the egg.
So when the government seeks it’s 6th term – something no one has won in Australia since Joh, they’ll face a farce that will make this round look impressive. It’s all or nothing for the LNP, and it’s looking like nothing.
Yep, sorry, Feral, you’re right – fourth term government going for a fifth term. Will fix the post.
Perhaps someone needs to point to the unemployment figures of the last Liberal National Party in which Springborg was a Minister and show him the improvement since the Smart State strategy was implemented. The strategy actually started after a demonstration by the Unemployed Workers Union at parliament House where a deputation met with Beattie and demanded new employment opportunities be opened up in Queensland.
Springborg has still no idea of what the strategy was set up to achieve, what it has achieved or how anyone would measure the achievements. It would be another functioning layer of Queensland slashed because of Springborg’s igorance.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24922259-952,00.html
Steve,
Well … yes and no, the smart state initiative is actually both substance and spin. Your right, it was in demand for new job opportunities, but the were already things in place that were addressing this, The Goss and (to a lesser extent) Borbidge governments had already made changes to industry and technology policy, but those policies were not quite mature yet.
Beattie’s role in this was to amalgamate a group of disparate policies together into a single strategy with an overarching goal, it guaranteed new funding for some programs, gave a focus to industry policy (ie. Biotechnology) but left the field for other tech industries and made the whole thing accountable to the Premiers office.
In that sense it’s classic Beattie, He hasn’t really added anything new per se, opting instead to let public servants carve out the detail from very broad statements, but it does get new money pumping around, which of course Beattie could directly control if needed.
The problem was always going to be measurement, there were no negative growth years while Smart State was running, but that was true of the nation as a whole, and exactly how much of that boom was due to mining or mining related industry? Even direct measurement of technology jobs leaves something to be desired, as it could be easily explained away by natural growth factors. While there is little doubt that the policy has done something, the extent to which it could be called a success is obscured in poor evaluation techniques, which makes it hard to criticise on its failings.
The other major problem was the way Beattie was using it, he was trying to re-brand the state, but he was also trying to drive an attitude change towards technology, the smart state plates were a bad move in this regard, because they were too broadly targeted and lacked any natural appeal. Other more targeted approaches to that issue, like trade show assistance packages and export grants would end up having a bigger effect. See what I mean here, spin and substance.
Just thought I might clear that one up a bit.
PinkyOz
The article “Courier Mail manipulates reporting of water recycling to demand early election” which I published on 5 January 2009 may be of interest. The teaser is:
On 28 December Queensland’s Courier Mail called for early state elections alleging that Anna Bligh’s back down before “uninformed agitators” in shelving its plans to introduce water recycling has shown her government to be “timid” and “tired”. However, the evidence shows that Bligh’s backflip was soundly based. So, what is the real reason for the Courier Mail’s own backflip on the question of early elections?