Only two truly great premiers in Queensland history: Paul Williams

Annastacia Palaszczuk may have come out on top in a recent YouGov poll but for Paul Williams, there are only two truly great Queensland premiers. VOTE IN OUR POLL

What makes a great political leader?

A recent YouGov poll found that Queenslanders rate current Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk the state’s best of the past 22 years.

In a time of pandemic, that suggests we admire decisive action during public crises. It might also suggest we have rather short memories and know too little about our state’s past.

In that light, identifying the best Queensland premiers of all time is a useful exercise.

Many would equate “best” with the electorally most successful: the number of years served and elections won.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Tertius Pickard

In that case, Joh Bjelke-Petersen would come out on top with 19 years’ service and seven election wins. But Joh did enjoy the advantage of malapportioned electorates that saw the Nationals sometimes win as little as 20 per cent of the vote.

Then there’s Labor premier William Forgan Smith whose 10 years and four victories are on a par with Country Party premier Frank Nicklin’s own record. Only slightly behind is Labor leader Peter Beattie’s four wins over nine years.

These leaders certainly leave Labor’s Andrew Dawson in the shade – a premier for just seven days in 1899.

But some say the size of a premier’s parliamentary majority is a greater measure. In that case, the LNP’s Campbell Newman would come in first after he won the largest majority (till Mark McGowan’s avalanche last year) in Australian history with 88 per cent of the seats in 2012.

Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman. Picture: Patria Jannides

But Bjelke-Petersen (84 per cent in 1974), Forgan Smith (74 per cent in 1935) and Beattie (74 per cent in 2001) would also rate highly.

Another measure might be a sheer tenacity in refusing to be beaten. In that sense, the independent Arthur Macalister and the conservative Thomas McIlwraith take out top billing for each having served as premier on three separate occasions in the 19th century.

Then there’s community engagement – how premiers worked with pressure groups, the media and the public. Again, most of the long-term premiers were good politicians in the way they handled people, with Sameul Griffith, McIllwraith, Forgan Smith, Nicklin, Bjelke-Petersen, Beattie and Palaszczuk all being enormously popular at some point.

But if crisis management is a measure, then Labor’s Anna Bligh deserves kudos, too, for her reassuring guidance during the 2011 floods. Before the deluge, Labor sat on just 26 per cent primary vote; immediately after, Labor recorded 38 per cent, or 52 per cent after preferences.

Yet let’s not forget Forgan Smith who spent big on infrastructure to mitigate the worst effects of the Great Depression, and Labor’s Frank Cooper who worked closely with Prime Minister John Curtin during World War Two.

Surely, though, the best measure of “great” leadership is vision and statecraft: the ability to see beyond the next election and build a Queensland for the future.

On that level, Forgan Smith’s investment in agriculture and Bjelke-Petersen’s commitment to mining are obvious successes. But so, too, is Macalister’s vision for a rail network, Ned Hanlon’s commitment to free public hospitals, Griffith’s legalisation of trade unions, and Beattie’s “Smart State” mantra that sought to make Queensland into something other than a farm, quarry or playground.

I would also add Mike Ahern to the list for his commitment – “lock, stock and barrel” – to the Fitzgerald report despite the opposition of many in his party.

Wayne Goss, who became premier of Queensland in 1989. Picture: Patrick Hamilton

For me, there are only two truly great Queensland premiers who did all the above and more – T. J. Ryan (1915-19) and Wayne Goss (1989-96) – who not only got things done but who did it against the odds, and in a way that forever changed Queensland for the better.

Ryan, like few Queensland leaders before or since, built community links between rural, regional and southeast Queensland. He also took on the wealthy Establishment that had reigned over (rather than governed) the colony and state for 55 years. With cavernous gaps between the rich pastoral “haves” and the poor urban “have nots”, Ryan’s vision was for a more equitable Queensland where the rich paid their way and the poor got an even break. What’s more, Ryan (and his successor Theodore) did all this against the power of an unelected Legislative Council.

Then there’s Labor’s Wayne Goss who, also facing a long-entrenched political culture, took charge of the Fitzgerald reforms that made Queensland a modern democracy – reforms both Labor and the LNP have chosen to ignore when it suits them.

Do leaders still matter in a social media age where disengaged voters think so little about politics?

Yes, they do. Perhaps more than ever.