Editorial: Perspective, cool heads needed as talk turns to splitting LNP

THE merger of the Liberal and National parties in Queensland has not been without its problems. And now the jitters are back. Perspective and cool heads are needed.

FOR almost two decades, this newspaper lamented the inability of the Liberal and Nationals parties in Queensland to provide an effective and successful political force that could challenge the political supremacy of the Labor Party.

After Wayne Goss saw off the Nationals following the demise of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in 1989, the non-Labor parties were defeated because of a squabbling over seats, humiliation at the hands of One Nation and then not having the wit or wisdom to best the wiliest of political operators, Peter Beattie.

From 2004 until 2008, wise heads in the Liberals and Nationals looked for ways to bring some sanity to what was an often dysfunctional political outfit.

No student of Queensland politics can forget the 2006 election campaign which the Liberals and Nationals lost within minutes of the poll being called as deputy leader Bruce Flegg could not say who would be premier if his side won in certain circumstances.

The subsequent bruising defeat, Mr Beattie’s third landslide in a row, pushed along a search for a better way and the 2008 merger of the parties was born. It was not easy and many politicians were suspicious of the motives of others. Several Brisbane Liberals, including now Attorney-General George Brandis, were trenchantly opposed, but they bowed to persuasion at a local and national level, while some far-flung Nationals wanted nothing to do with their ostensible city cousins.

The LNP might have had a difficult conception and birth but the project soon paid dividends. The new party picked up 11 seats at the next poll and then broke Australian electoral records by winning 78 out of the 89 seats at the 2012 poll.

Now, in 2016, the nerves are back after the renewed success of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, the fear arising from the US presidential poll in which Donald Trump triumphed and then the crushing defeat of the NSW Nationals at the Orange by-election. They lost the safe seat to the Shooters Fishers and Farmers party after an unprecedented 34 per cent primary vote swing against them.

This bout of jitters has caused several senior Liberals at a federal level to wonder whether the 2008 deal should be revisited.

At the weekend, Senator Brandis told Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger the state LNP was mediocre and because of the success of One Nation at the July national poll the merger might have to be revisited.

Some of his colleagues agree and the Canberra gossip mill has cranked into action. This is shortsighted and smacks of panic.

Some perspective and cool heads are needed. Turning what is one party back into two will not stop a repeat of 1998 when One Nation won 11 seats; there were still two established conservative parties at that time.

The abolition of optional preferential voting is not the game-changer many people think.

If the LNP and Labor take a principled stand, as they did in 2001, and put One Nation last, they will deny them electoral oxygen and stymie their ambitions. There are also organisational issues that would make a firm of accountants and lawyers weep.

One abiding thing to remember when political shocks occur is that these events, whether it is One Nation, Trump or the Orange by-election, happened because voters were fed up with not being listened to and being continually disappointed by politicians who do not seem to stand for anything.

This is why the Queensland conservatives should react with a genuine effort to reconnect with people and demonstrate their values and how these principles can provide outcomes that concern voters.

In the eight years since the LNP was established, there have been three national and three state elections in Queensland. The LNP has had success or held its own in each of these contests and should be able to meet the challenges that the return of One Nation now present.

To panic and jump at the first electoral shadows will achieve nothing.

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TPP DEMISE COULD OPEN DOOR

THE growth of free trade around the world, and the dismantling of tariff barriers and other protectionist measures, has contributed immensely to global prosperity in recent decades.

There have been costs — particularly as manufacturing bases in some nations shrink — but on balance the contribution of free trade to economic growth has been considerable.

US president-elect Donald Trump’s renewed vow, then, to withdraw from the trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is disappointing, particularly for trade-reliant economies such as Australia.

But it is not the end of the world. As long as Mr Trump does what is likely and softens his stance on some of his other trade policy campaign threats, such as punitive new tariffs against Mexican and Chinese imports, then we will be left with what is basically a continuation of the status quo.

And the US exiting the TPP could also open other opportunities for Australia, such as participation in a regional comprehensive economic partnership — which, unlike the TPP, would include China.

We should keep calm, and carry on.

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Responsibility for election comment is taken by Lachlan Heywood, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at www.couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us