Larvatus Prodeo

She did say that in her speech to Parliament:

At times in our history the government of Queensland has sold beer, sawn and milled timber, retailed fish and even had 90 state owned butcher shops.

In Brisbane, our electricity network wasn’t state owned until 1977. And we didn’t own power stations until then either.

We’ve always owned a railway, but never owned a communications company. While we’ve retailed fish and meat, we’ve never been greengrocers.

So Bligh is arguing that what states own over time changes, and changed circumstances require decisions about what assets a state should own and what trading enterprises a state should be involved in.

She was actually quite articulate and even eloquent in the several times I’ve heard her on local ABC radio. And the speech in parliament is not bad at all. It’s just that people don’t listen. As soon as the interview ended callers, probably about 3 to one, rang in expressing visceral displeasure in no uncertain terms.

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