Opinion: Dawn of the new political personality age where our government belongs to premier

WELCOME to the age of me, myself and I as the Queensland government apparently has become the personal property of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, writes Mike O’Connor

YOU may not have noticed but the Queensland government recently changed hands.

It is no longer our government. It has become the personal property of Annastacia Palaszczuk.

This realisation dawned after reading a 500-word piece that appeared under her name in this newspaper earlier this week.

In it we read that “my government has been determined…,” “my government has had…,” “my government employed…,” “my government knows…” We also had “I committed”, “I announced”, “I promised” and “I ignored”.

In her dissertation, the LNP rated two mentions while the Labor Party was not mentioned at all.

Power of one: Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

Perhaps the Premier has decided that if she can distance herself from the Labor tag and become a political force in her own right, then long-term employment in the Big Job is assured. Are we seeing the dawning of the Palaszczuk Personality Cult?

Can we look forward to T-shirts, banners, fridge magnets, baseball caps and tea towels all bearing the image of the Exalted Supreme Leader? The marketing opportunities are boundless.

In her defence, when it comes to the use of the singular personal pronoun, Palaszczuk has some way to travel before attaining the heights achieved by Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

As reported elsewhere this week, in an address to the Curtin Research Centre, Shorten used “I”, “me” or “my” 103 times and is generally regarded as the current personal-pronoun record holder. To be fair, he did manage to mention the Labor Party seven times.

The ball, or rather the personal pronoun, is back in your court, Premier. One hundred and three to beat. You can do it.

I’ve always imagined it to be “our government”, given that we elect it and pay for it.

Silly me, for I failed to allow for the arrogance of a political class that presumes to assume personal ownership of the state.

LNP Opposition deputy leader Tim Mander in Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

The Premier wins the Hubris Award of the week but it was left to Police Minister Mark Ryan to take home the Wooden Spoon Award for his attack on Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander.

Unearthing a video of Mander taken in March last year when he addressed the Shooters Union of Australia, Minister Ryan let fly with both barrels.

March? Yes, 10 months ago. Never let it be said that the minister rushes to judgment.

“Queensland families and Queensland police would be very worried that the LNP are ready to weaken Queensland’s gun laws,” Ryan thundered.

Mander was asked whether he would support licensed owners having access to semi-automatic rifles for sports or hunting.

Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan. Picture: AAP/Steve Pohlner)

He replied that he would like to see “less regulation” as long as there was no risk to public safety.

It was a rational response to a rational question which, as expected, elicited a totally irrational “blood in the streets” response from the Minister.

When Ryan moves on from March 2017 and catches up with the rest of us here in January 2018, he might care to do something about getting rid of the covert speed cameras that fall within his portfolio.

Just a suggestion.