Opinion: Condren’s candidacy will make mayoral race very interesting
Even after enlisting former Channel 7 journalist Patrick Condren, Labor remains very much the council underdog in the election race. But his candidacy will certainly make the race a whole lot more interesting, writes Paul Williams.
Opinion
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IT USED to be said that Brisbane is a Labor town.
The party currently holds almost all of the nearly 40 state seats across Greater Brisbane, and the four now held by the LNP – Clayfield, Chatsworth, Everton and Moggill – are marginal. Moreover, Labor lord mayors and councils controlled the Queensland capital for 37 of the 43 years between 1961 and 2004.
But over the past 15 years a “Can Do” Campbell Newman and a gregarious Graham Quirk were just too hard for Labor to beat. When it comes to local government, voters really do place a premium on plain speaking leaders.
That’s why Labor’s not-so-surprising weekend announcement to roll 2016 lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding – with Council Opposition leader Peter Cumming (Wynnum Manly) also stepping down for Cr Jared Cassidy (Deagon), with Cr Kara Cook (Morningside) his deputy – is either a political masterstroke, a crazy risk, or a little of both.
Yes, it could be the smartest move in Queensland local politics since the Liberal party – years before the LNP merger – realised that, by installing engineer Campbell Newman (a non-politician born of Liberal party royalty) as lord mayoral candidate, the Liberals could not only dislodge Labor from City Hall but send a message to the Nationals that their 80 year domination of the Queensland coalition should – and would – come to an end. Remember that Newman’s name was bandied around as a potential premier years before the 2012 state election.
That’s why, by parachuting veteran television journalist Patrick Condren into its lord mayoral candidacy, Labor has just filled a vacuum in council opposition politics that Rod Harding and Cr Cumming, despite their best efforts, just couldn’t fill.
First, there’s the public recognition factor. Where few Brisbane voters could put a name to Harding’s face, most, after 30 years of watching him on the box, will know Condren’s blokey mug. Second, there’s Condren’s easy Australian manner, his concise verbal delivery and his lengthy media experience that’s taught him how to stay on message.
Third – and this could prove decisive – Condren has promised to freeze a lord mayoral salary that now tops a quarter of a million dollars each year.
It is a simple “time for a change” ploy that worked for Jim Soorley when he toppled popular incumbent Sallyanne Atkinson (Liberal lord mayor between 1985 and 1991).
Critically, those sentiments are also found in Condren: a non-career politician who can look afresh at voters’ most pressing concerns. That’s why his pledge to spend ratepayers’ money on something as prosaic as footpaths is likely to resonate with suburban folk annoyed by such everyday grumbles as broken concrete paths and parking congestion.
But that strength could also prove a weakness and, perhaps, the clumsiest political move since Pauline promised us a two per cent tax rate.
Put simply, Brisbane voters aren’t like their regional cousins: they’re very comfortable with party candidates and they don’t warm to the folksy amateurism of Hanson or Clive Palmer. Moreover, in dumping Harding, Labor has also ditched a competent candidate with several years of hard-learned experience.
To counter this, Condren has come out, guns blazing, and reminded voters of Schrinner’s own easy path to the lord mayor’s office, without election, following Quirk’s retirement.
Condren has also accused Schrinner of being an extravagant lord mayor. At a time when voters everywhere are feeling the pinch, Condren might have hit a fiscal nerve.
But make no mistake: even with the capable Condren, Labor remains very much the council underdog next March. The party today holds just five of the Council’s 26 wards and Condren has an enormous challenge in not only wresting the top job for himself, but in seizing the nine wards he needs to form majority government.
If nothing else, Condren’s candidacy will make this election Brisbane’s most interesting in 15 years.
Dr Paul Williams is a senior lecturer at Griffith University
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