A New Alternative for Queensland

Queenslander!

Steve Lewis writes today on the question of a new non-Labor political force and I have long agreed with the notion, especially needed in the context of QLD politics.

With a new party you’d have the capacity for a strong regional emphasis, as well as a strong small-business emphasis, also a family-based emphasis, and that is going to be very attractive to those on both the conservative and the center of politics. Powerebrokers from the Liberals and Nationals are pushing forward, including Liberal Senator Nick Minchin who told the Young Liberal Movement National Convention in Perth recently that the parties had to merge to remain a 'competitive adversary' to the ALP's federal and state dominance. The arguments against have included the threat of a split of the conservative vote, though I have to disagree. A new party would attract many from the conservative side of QLD politics (the Nats are almost unanimous and there are many state and federal Liberals who are ready to go), those on the right of Labor, centrists and obviously if the party is perceived as having good policy, the swing votes necessary to win government in this state start to come your way. That is the key.

It is probably the most pressing in Queensland (and in NSW) where the status quo is almost untenable and a result is a failing state government who is rarely questioned. The Borg has continued his conversation with QLD and with his push for a single force to unite against the juggernaut that is QLD Labor and he should be commended for doing so. It will not be easy and some short-sighted operators from both the Liberals and the Nationals will resist, so be it. They will not be part of the next government. But it must be done, not for the good of politicians but for the good of Queensland and the health of democracy in general .

Play the game not the man

Frankly, this is turning me off the game. It'd be good if all this talking resulted in some good cricket. But the overall performances (from both sides) have been less than spectacular. Little less talk and a little more action.

Bipartisanship on fixed terms

Queenslander!

Was hoping this was going to get through. With more support, maybe it will. And it will be about time. Can we ask for an upper house too?

Bligh's léger de main

Queenslander!

After Anna Bligh was sworn in as Premier, one of her first decisions of office was to review freedom of information legislation, giving this task to Dr David Soloman. This culminated in the Enhancing Open and Accountable Government discussion paper that was recently released and is most certainly worth a look. I was amongst the chorus of applause for such a move. After all, it was an important issue in the last federal election for the media, blogosphere and concerned citizens alone.

FOI was introduced in the early 1990’s after the Bjelke-Petersen regime. Goss did some good in regards to FOI, however subsequent Premiers Borbidge and Beattie subverted FOI to the point of which a minister may simply certify material is (or at some point might be) for Cabinet's consideration, and that secrecy status is assured.

Recently, the State Government has introduced legislation into Parliament that ensures thousands of documents held by the parliamentary secretaries can now be covered by the 30-year Cabinet confidentiality rule. Crown Law advice previously questioned whether the current practice of hiding parliamentary secretary documents under these circumstances was legal.

Premier Anna Bligh has been hypocritical at best and dishonest at worst with this underhanded amendment, covertly placed in the Professional Engineers and Other Legislation Amendment Bill. It is a provision to extend ministerial exemptions to parliamentary secretaries and basically an opportunity for 11 more MPs to make sure any documents they choose are hidden from the public for the next 30 years.

FOI is simply a fundamental to the openness, transparency and accountability of Governments. Access to information must be regulated and sufficient reasons given. However, this development is an abuse of the notion. Amendments that allow ministers to apply a Cabinet exemption for no reason other than the sole purpose of avoiding documents being accessible through FOI are not the products of healthy democracy.

UPDATE:

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg basically asks the question as to why the need for such secrecy- what have they got to hide?

Clean Up Queensland

Queenslander!

Bottles are fast becoming a major litter problem, with a Clean Up Australia survey finding plastic beverage and other containers account for about half of the top 10 litter items.The recovery rates in South Australia for beverage containers are close to 90 percent. The rest of the country it is 38 per cent. South Australia has a container deposit scheme. Queensland doesn't. Founder of Clean Up Australia Day, Ian Kiernan wants to change this.

The QLD government rejects the idea.

We should be the smart state.

The Queen Vic sails in

Queenslander!

Majestic indeed. Lucky sods. And they get to head up to Port Douglas too. A beautiful spot, no matter what the weather is doing. After many bucks spent on a terminal of questionable location it will be interesting to see how it goes.

(BTW- In no way am I sponsored by downunderonline.com just the first livecam I found, of a fav spot of mine. )

UPDATE:

Oh dear. Seems there were many red faces and wet feet. The people up in Rocky would feel their pain.

Blogging Code of Conduct

Queenslander!

I always thought this a good idea.

Exhausting lungs with spin

Queenslander!

Last year the Federal Government began an environmental audit of the Paradise Dam, west of Bundaberg in south-east Queensland. The result is here.

If there was confirmation the dam is complying with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 you would expect the subsequent press releases from State Water Minister Craig Wallace to flood the MSM. You would also expect the State Government to now use it as an example of successful dam operation to illustrate its arguments in favour of the Traveston Crossing proposal, if there was confirmation the dam is complying with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

What the summary of findings of the dam’s performance audit does refer to is “only partial compliance with a key condition” of the dam’s approval in 2002 by then Environment Minister David Kemp.

However, the minister says “the audit report confirmed what the State Government has said since the dam was constructed in 2005 — that all steps have been taken to ensure it is environmentally responsible”. Well the audit report actually says the Paradise Dam was approved “subject to conditions for the protection of relevant matters of national environmental significance”. One crucial condition being that the dam provide downstream access for the Queensland lungfish. On this it fails to achieve full compliance on the lungfish, specifically listed as vulnerable under the EPBC Act. Don't worry, Minister Wallace assures us “the Paradise Dam has good green credentials".

Really? The report goes on to quote the dam’s operating authority as admitting the fishway to be an imperfect compromise between lungfish protection and “cost-effectiveness”.

This is far from the Compliance Audit of Paradise Dam confirming the dam is complying with the Act, as claimed by Mr Wallace, and in reality confirms the Minister prefers to spin rather than address the vital and legally relevant environmental issue of the dam.

Do not past GO and do not collect $134,000

Queenslander!

As we have pointed out before, there is nothing credible for the Premier in attempting to defend the indefensible. But now Anna is making it a habit.

And Mr Purcell's punishment? The Premier is satisfied the punishment "is commensurate with the incident." Yes Queenslanders, he was punished. In the real world you may get a criminal record. In Premier Bligh's world you get a $134,000-a-year salary as well as generous allowances.

Oh, and Premier Bligh also said no Labor MP had suggested to her that Mr Purcell should be forced out immediately. So that's all ok then. We expect more form our leaders. In fact, this issue has a lot to do with the leadership of the party itself. That Mr Purcell has had no charges laid is not an excuse for the action. This is lack of judgment on behalf of the Premier. He should be expelled from the Labor Party. If he wishes to run for another party or as an independent for the seat of Bulimba, so be it. That's democracy.

However, it remains that Mr Purcell physically assaulted two staff members. He then mislead and lied about physically assaulting two staff members. He should be removed from the party and from the parliament. There ought to be a by-election.

ALSO: Maddona King regards it as much a fail of leadership as it is judgment.

UPDATE:

Oh, and the Premier says the Opposition has "appalling ethics". Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech says Purcell is a role model.

Tunes

Queenslander!

If you haven't already, do yourself a favour and check out Ian Hunter's latest album. Hasn't left my player in months.

A couple of tasters below.

When the World Was Round or listen to it live.


Words (Big Mouth).

Oscar

Queenslander!

A well deserved acknowledgment goes to Javier Bardem for playing one of the most disturbing characters in cinema history. The character could not be further from the man himself. A humble gentleman.

Size matters

Queenslander!

Andrew Fraser illustrates more concerns about council amalgamations.

"One of the reasons the Queensland Government cut the number of councils in the state from 156 to 72 was to give them size and clout to cope with development pressures."

Both NSW and Victoria have been through the sort of amalgamation process Queensland is now facing.

In NSW, the director of the Centre for Local Government at the University of New England, Brian Dollery, says that as a rule, local government is coping with these challenges of substantial population growths "with difficulty".

Dollary is sceptical about if "big is better". He also questions if the changing of responsibility for deciding land use, the main function of local government, to state government will address the problem.

So am I.

UPDATE:

Friends of Noosa have questioned Premier Bligh's pledge that will "protect building heights, vegetation and signage plus everything else Noosa wants will be included in the legislation".

So far their essential requirements have been ignored in the draft legislation. Looks like a sign of things to come. It is a dog of a policy and a dog's breakfast of legislation.

They have a list of Council Amalgamation myths worth reading also.

Quick note

Queenslander!

Well that is the start. The blog will now be getting a bit of a renovation over the next week or so and posts will be light. However, I will attempt to have at least two or three (one non-political) post a week. See you soon.

Q.

Council Amalgamations

Queenslander!

In 1927, a Royal Commission was initiated by the State Government to investigate "distribution and size" of local governments. One of the concluding recommendations was that the 152 Local Authorities be reduced to 86 (see page13). The state government did not act on that recommendation.

Fast forward 80 years and it appears we still can't get it right. The issue of council amalgamations was handled atrociously, as Andew Bartlett has noted previously. It was most certainly an exercise in the abuse of process and a blatant contempt for democracy. A Spin campaign hit the MSM following this and Queenslanders were far from happy with the decision.

Of course, the spin machine sent out all the benefits of the decision. In the end it is apparently all about stronger councils (as highly questionable as that is). However, as our PM says "if there’s any proposal for an amalgamation, that it should be tested by the local people through a referendum." Far from happy.

Swamp News reports and we learn that LGAQ executive director Greg Hallam suspects the Beattie government had its own reasons for moving the amalgamation process along quickly.

“The real reason for the undue haste is that there is a direct connection between this process, and the state seat re-distribution later this year,” he said.

“We believe this is a very clever, Machiavellian plot to influence the state re-distribution in October.”

Surely it was never about that.

So, I guess it was also never about pro-developer councils like Cairns City eating up smaller councils like Douglas Shire, virtually opening the gate and letting the developers walk right through to places like the Daintree and more likely some of the other rainforest and coastal areas in the Douglas Shire. That is not in the interests of Queenslanders.

And, even the developers have reported some potential problems with the decision, with the problems of housing affordability to be potentially exacerbated by the amalgamations.

I know there is a long way to go and time will tell us the outcomes but these reforms are increasingly looking extreme and misguided at best. And any potential benefits seem to be outweighed by some terrible outcomes.

Larvatus Prodeo pointed out (amongst the surrounding intensity of a federal election) the concerns expressed that further services will be lost from the bush similar to what happened in Victoria with the Kennett amalgamations in the 1990s.

Anna must be hoping that Pete's parting gift was not a WorkChoices of a reform.

UPDATE:

The Bligh government decision to remove “Constitutional Corporation” status is both extraordinary and unprecedented. It also adds to the fears that council amalgamations are an extreme reform that Queenslanders have rejected but the government decided to push through anyway.

The Opposition are scathing and so they should be.

Howard Hobbs, Shadow Minister for Main Roads and Local Government, says "Local Government’s in Australia and throughout the world have been constituted as corporations and empowered as a body corporate with perpetual succession, a common seal, and may sue or be sued in its name. The effect of the State Government Local Government and Industrial Relations Amendment Bill 2008 will take away Local Government’s existence in law as a separate legal entity".

The government claims that de-corporatisation of Local Government will not affect their existing rights and responsibilities and they will retain existing powers. Not sure how that can be reconciled given the recent developments. As I said, this is unprecedented and has not been tested in law. Thus, Hobbs says "Councillors as individuals who will proceed to constitute the Council may find themselves subject to liability".

It is fast becoming a dog of a policy. If it wasn't already.

Well done Premier

Queenslander!

When do we stop...Hopefully now?

Beyond Good and Evil

Queenslander!

Can't see how this is any good.

The Borg, once again shows that attitude of pure evil the Premier has warned us of when he says:

"He (Purcell) is a walking advertisement for both Ms Bligh and the Labor Party machine on how they fail to take seriously the issues of workplace bullying and dishonesty," he said.

"If Mr Purcell was one of my MPs however, the only event he would be allowed to attend is a meeting to explain why he should not be sacked from the organisation."

Maybe some necessary evil from the Premier wouldn't go astray?

Starship Enterprise it is not

Queenslander!

I see the State Government has been naming the Opposition everything from "racist" to "pure evil". We have all come to know that The Borg is far from "pure evil", though I also doubt Anna Bligh has a high horse to call from on indigenous issues. In fact, it may be a case of a nervous nellie laying her cards too early. Any more of that JWH arrogance and... Resistance is futile.

Do they really care about us?

Queenslander!

Not good. And the Queensland Government moves to block a few leaks in a truly tragic, disturbing and sorry tale.

“Abusive Queensland mums and dads will have one year to become better parents or risk having their children taken away permanently.

Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech said the policy aimed to recognise the importance of a stable, safe home environment and a loving relationship with a carer.”

Foster Care Queensland president Brian Smith says it is really just more of the same stuff that hasn’t worked:

“We've identified in the past that not-so-good practice has occurred where time frames haven't been met, but children have been placed back at home, or plans to reunify have continued, and more trauma to the child has occurred”.

Like here and here.

There are more.

Water

Queenslander!

The Queensland government's takeover of water assets is a sham.

As Selwyn Johnson points out. The State Government doesn’t have the interests of water (or the people of QLD) at heart here. It doesn't even want water as it’s own asset, it wants to acquire it so it can be “bundled” and sold off to private enterprise.

This is NSW all over again, only it is a different asset and without the benefits. It is really just Kaiser at it, all over it again.

Sesquicentenary

Queenslander!

Q150 celebrates the 150 years since Queensland forged its own identity, after Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent separating Queensland from the colony of New South Wales. On June 6, 1859, an Order-in-Council established representative government in Queensland.

Maybe an upper house would be in order for the state... for a start.

Ho-Hum. Ha!

Anyway, let us all hope Professor Peter Coaldrake knows how to deal with controversial issues. Prof Coaldrake was handed the advisory role to Queensland Premier Anna Bligh in regards to Q150 and his role has been loosely defined as a review as to what has "gone on" with preparations for the state's sesquicentenary.

Slightly worrying, considering the tracing of some suspicious roots of this issue back to Marion McMahon's CMC investigation and temporary suspension without pay on November 2007..

The Queenslander

Queenslander! This is a greeting that will meet you with each post. Why? My generation is called many things. Some say it is generation X, Y, Me, You, I or Poo. I am Generation Q. I am a Queenslander and proud of it. John Harms (the spy in the south) once wrote on that spontaneous yet profound moment when Billy Moore yelled “Queenslander” in the tunnel before running out to battle, “It’s enough in Queensland to encapsulate the essence of the way of life in that single word.” What is or who is a “Queenslander”. What does it mean?

I grew up in both rural and city Queensland. Warwick, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and for the last 8 years Brisbane. All these places I have called home. Or at least a home away from home. From dusty paddocks to dusty concrete. A Queenslander need not be born to any of these places. They need not even have been there.

To many, Queensland may be holidays at the coast, beautiful scenery, tropical hinterlands, cattle herding on remote outback stations, huntin', shootin' and …tootin’. Yes, a lot of tootin’ goes on in pubs and parties here. Just ask a Queenslander. You could wrangle a steer or be sat on your rear but being a Queenslander, you’ll just go to the hotel and pull a beer. The former is an example of native prose. However, that is not all there is to Queensland or being a Queenslander. To me being a Queenslander has much to do with being true. True to home, to other Queenslanders (even the temporary one), to loved ones and to one’s self.

I tend to agree with Harms. “When I think of Queensland I still smile. That means, in my mind, that a romanticised view prevails, a view that has been conditioned to ignore the racism and bigotry, the materialism and hollowness. The tug is there. The tug is Queensland’s liberating fatalism, its acceptance of things beyond its control, its mood of freedom, its call to ratbaggery. But I wonder if the tug is strong enough. Queensland is too confident for me, too sure of itself. I am preoccupied with my own thoughts; Queenslanders just get out there and live. They are not lost in the cosmos. They know exactly where they are. They are in Queensland.”

Harms continues, “In Queensland you are born true. You start true, because you are a Queenslander. It’s as if growing up in Queensland confers on babies a purity. Queenslanders don’t have to look forward to a life of searching for truth. They have the truth. They live in a state of Queensland grace. But that elevated status – being a Queenslander – can be corrupted. It is under constant threat of corruption by excessive thinking and theorising, and by time away from Queensland. It will definitely be corrupted by time spent among the infidels of the south. And the whole Queensland way is in jeopardy if too many southerners are allowed in. Queensland leaders only become real leaders when they can demonstrate they have taken on the southerners – the tricky journalists, the academics, the complicators – and remained true. In the Queensland odyssey these are the tests. Indeed, once a leader can do that, only then are they fit and free to lead. They can only continue to lead as long as they keep Queenslanders enjoying the life they cherish.”

You see dear Queenslanders, this is where we must come in. We must keep the status of the Queenslander alive. It is at risk of having one too many, passing out and being kicked to death by those who do not value it. It matters not, whether you are here for a week’s holiday, a year off or you are slogging it out daily. We must not let it be eroded. We should keep the truth. The truth is us. Go Queenslander!

Too much water

Queenslander!

After many Queenslanders visited hardware stores expecting to have to build an ark, we see some relief. Well relief only means clean up.

My hat goes off to each and every volunteer.

UPDATE:

Looks like that ark may be needed after all.