Job creation plan the key to winning votes in crucial Queensland seats

QUEENSLANDERS, who will play a key role in deciding the winner of the federal election, want policies that will create jobs now and help build a new economy that will ensure their children’s prosperity.

TWO days ago, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull laid out his vision for Queensland on these pages. Writing for The Courier-Mail’s #goqld series, he promised that this state’s best chapter was “about to be written, with my Government’s continued support”.

Later that day, he announced that Western Australia, rather than Cairns, had been granted a $500 million Defence contract to build ships that would patrol the Pacific. It is a decision that will cost thousands of hoped-for jobs in struggling far north Queensland. It so angered his own MPs that one of them hung up on him during a phone call to complain about the decision.

The WA bid was cheaper than the Queensland one, although there is some scepticism that the tender can be delivered for the price quoted. Certainly, from a political perspective, the decision is totally understandable as there are more marginal electorates in and around Perth than Cairns.

But the announcement was a kick in the guts not only for the Cairns region, but to the entire state. The timing, too, was unfortunate and it leaves Mr Turnbull with some brownie points to win back as he tries to woo Queenslanders over the next 73 days.

This state will be a key battleground in this election. As we report today, if just 16,000 of the Queenslanders who voted for the Government in 2013 change their vote this year, the nation will be on track to elect a Shorten Labor government.

Mr Shorten is well aware of this fact. In his opinion piece for #goqld, published yesterday, he professed to love the Sunshine State so much that he married a Queenslander, former governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce’s daughter Chloe, and that he barracks for the Maroons in the State of Origin.

On more serious matters, his pitch for Queensland’s future was focused on ensuring those who live in the regions have the same access to hospitals, schools and higher education as those in the more populated southeast corner; as well as promising funding for a range of new transport infrastructure.

But Mr Shorten’s sweet talk masks a more serious fact: that it was the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor governments, led by prime ministers that he chose, that loaded up the federal Budget with the massive debt the nation will pay off for the foreseeable future.

It is here that we come to what should be the central theme of this contest, that opinion polling now suggests is 50-50: the economy. Also, the rejected Bill that will trigger the double dissolution election that the Prime Minister is likely to officially call in the week of May 9, a Bill to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, is critical to our nation’s economic recovery.

By holding construction sites to ransom, militant unions put a brake on one of the few sectors of the economy that is going strong. Witness the cranes dotting the skyline, then zoom in and see from how many of them hang CFMEU flags.

Reestablishing a construction industry watchdog will ensure building sites are more efficient. FILE PIC

ry single one of those sites can be more efficient and re-establishing a construction industry watchdog will help ensure they are.

Efficiency is vital because this is a critical time for the nation’s economy and it is an even more important time for Queensland as it transitions out of a once-in-a-generation resources boom.

Indeed, this is the topic of the #goqld series of special reports. The key solution identified so far being that we need to transition into a more diverse economy and that the Government needs to ensure an environment where innovation can flourish, be that by start-ups or established businesses.

This should be fertile ground for Mr Turnbull, who understands innovation and the opportunities that are possible if you are willing to take a risk.

The Prime Minister says the restoration of the ABCC is a “very important part” of his party’s economic plan. But it can only be part. Mr Turnbull needs to clearly articulate why the return of his Government will best ensure Australia can continue to take advantage of its unique position in the world. It is a nation with a terrific reputation located close to where the biggest economic growth will occur this century.

But there are real dangers for Mr Turnbull in risking such a long election campaign. Already the clear oratory of his victory speech on the night he rolled Tony Abbott last September has faded from voters’ memories as his Government has lurched from thought bubble to thought bubble.

Enter Mr Shorten, who has dropped his ridiculous sound-bite “zingers” and taken on a more statesmanlike demeanour.

The latest Newspoll found that satisfaction with Mr Turnbull’s performance fell last week for the fifth consecutive fortnight. The lead the Prime Minister enjoys over Mr Shorten on this score has halved this year.

The May 3 Budget is therefore a chance for the Government to reset the conversation, to start clearly explaining why the not-yet-year-old Turnbull administration should be returned.

Following the patrol boat decision, the Government has some work to do to make it up to Queenslanders. We expect both sides to commit funding to this state over coming weeks.

But the key thing the Queenslanders who will decide this election want are policies that will create jobs now and help build a new economy that will ensure their children’s prosperity.

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