Analysis: Deb Frecklington attempts to wedge Labor over unemployment

LNP Leader Deb Frecklington has sniffed an opportunity to wedge Labor over its reticence to name an unemployment target by repeating a Peter Beattie promise from 1998, writes Steven Wardill.

Peter Beattie’s famous promise during the 1998 election to cut Queensland’s unemployment rate to five per cent has long had a certain mythology attached to it.

According to the story – which some swear is true but others dispute – Beattie uttered the commitment after misinterpreting a hand signal being made by a staffer at the back of a press conference.

From then on, the waving hand urging him to abort the issue became a solid pledge.

Beattie’s opponents scoffed at the claim given Queensland’s unemployment rate was over eight per cent at the time and had been for eight years.

And while the ambition might have appealed to some Queenslanders, the issue dogged Labor until the state’s jobless rate finally dipped below five per cent in 2004.

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Peter Beattie delivered on his promised unemployment target.

Ever since, Queensland leaders have studiously avoided naming an unemployment target.

Anna Bligh came close when she committed to create 100,000 jobs but Queenslanders quickly grew cynical about that commitment after it was revealed Labor would include work of just one hour a week.

So far during the campaign, both Annastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer Cameron Dick have refused to name a target.

“To get unemployment as low as possible and as quickly as possible,” Dick managed.

“We’re going through a global pandemic,” Palaszczuk offered.

Clearly, LNP Leader Deb Frecklington sniffs an opportunity to wedge Labor over its reticence to name a target by repeating Beattie’s 1998 promise.

Will it achieve much? Only time will tell.

But it has certainly added to the awkward position that Labor has got itself into on the totemic issue of this campaign: jobs.

It means Palaszczuk and Dick will spend the rest of this election spruiking an economic plan but won’t commit to it actually working.

For the record, Queensland’s jobless rate was 3.7 per cent when Beattie retired. It’s currently 7.5 per cent.