In an article, in the Courier Mail of 2 December 2000 (‘Shadow of Sir Joh’), Mr Tony Koch pointed out that just because the ALP was in crisis and the AWU was in disgrace it did not follow that the Queensland Government itself was necessarily in crisis. In other words, he identified the fundamental distinction between (a) politics as a ‘spectator sport’ and (b) the practical activities of government that make the real difference to people’s lives.

However, taking Mr Koch’s point but looking more closely at the practical reality behind the political circus, leads to the conclusion that there has been a crisis in governing Queensland.

Evidence of this is outlined in Queensland's Challenge, which addresses very severe problems in: society generally; economic competitiveness and strategy; the political system; the Public Service; and public finance. Electoral rorting was just the tip of an iceberg - a distraction from more significant challenges below the surface.

Neither the Government nor the Opposition has acknowledged, or stated credible policies for dealing with, the ‘iceberg’. Also Queensland has had few apolitical sources that make the public aware of the ‘iceberg’ and develop viable public or economic policies for dealing it.

For this reason, and others, the focus in the recent election was on the popularity of personalities rather than on how to achieve the practical outcomes and stability that the community desperately wants.

Furthermore, as Queensland’s Challenge shows:

• numerous interest groups have started expressing serious concerns about difficulties facing the community, and indicating that they expect substantial changes and real performance; and
• the practical ability to achieve constructive goals (eg those under Smart State), as compared with just spending money on them, has not been demonstrated recently by government in Queensland.

Thus the comfortable option of doing nothing more than promised before the election (see Franklin M. ‘Beattie swears by election promises’, Courier Mail, 23/2/01) is simply not available. Unless the effectiveness of government is dramatically improved, Queensland’s predicament could get much worse very quickly.

February 2001

PS. - The image of Queensland's Premier lying, relaxed and happy on a bed of weeds on the front cover of The Bulletin of 27 February 2001 perfectly illustrated that state's predicament [The Bulletin’s front cover was entitled ‘Labor in clover’. Unfortunately ‘the flowers (were) Singapore daisies, a pest that pops up everywhere’ (Williams B. ‘Garden pest spotted’, Courier Mail, 23/2/01)]