Opinion: David Crisafulli’s hubris may catch up with him, as with Anna Bligh

We’ve had our first glimpse of arrogance from Premier David Crisafulli, and he would do well to learn the lessons of the past, writes Robert Schwarten.

Premier David Crisafulli has shown his first sign of hubris.

Premier David Crisafulli would do well to reflect on the polling history of one of his predecessors when next he pushes the arrogance button – as he has in refusing to dump plans to appoint John Sosso to the state’s Electoral Redistribution Commission.

Following the devastating cyclone and flooding in 2011, then premier Anna Bligh’s popularity soared.

I can still see her in my memory thumbing her phone in front of me reading out her popularity in her parliamentary office as we discussed the details of my resignation in Parliament on the following Thursday.

(Prior to the 2009 election I had offered to resign from her Cabinet a year before the next election, if I had made up my mind not to contest it. This was so someone else could have a go, as well as making way for – as she termed it – “fresh faces”.)

That 2012 election turned out to be a bloodbath, the worst ever result in Labor’s history.

And a lot of it was to do with Bligh’s arrogance back in 2009, when just six weeks in she dropped an out-of-nowhere bomb on the electorate, announcing the largest asset sale in modern history.

She wrong-footed even her loyal Left, and the resultant three-year union-led campaign destroyed every bit of oxygen from that term, save for the flood and cyclone disaster in 2011.

Labor’s then premier Anna Bligh concedes defeat in March 2012.

There is no doubting Premier Crisafulli has similarly soared in the polls.

It is very rare for a new broom not to be popular, or a shiny new toy not to attract attention.

But smart leaders like Ms Bligh’s predecessor Peter Beattie got more humble the more popular they became.

I know Mr Sosso. Yes, he has had a very successful career in the public service, and I recall him holding a senior role in the Office of Consumer Affairs under Labor deputy premier Tom Burns, for whom I worked.

But he has also very much been involved in conservative politics, and for a long time.

While he is entitled to do so, the problem is perception – which is 90 per cent of politics.

None of this is Mr Sosso’s fault, or problem. This is about politics.

In reality, this is the first glimpse of arrogance from the Premier, the idea that popularity earns the right to get away with anything.

Even Campbell Newman as premier was smart and kept the Electoral Commission as far away from government as possible.

But if this happens, any decision made by this body will have a backdrop of political interference – which is not good for any of the people involved, or for any of the rest of us that rely on an impartial, and seen-to-be impartial, agency.

Robert Schwarten is a former state Labor minister