Gleeso: Will voters fall for Annastacia Palaszczuk’s personality and the double doughnut days?
If Queensland voters can turn on Campbell Newman, who lost the so-called unloseable election, they can certainly do the same to Annastacia Palaszczuk, writes Peter Gleeson.
Peter Gleeson
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One of the great things about the Australian electoral system is that the power lies with the voters – not the politicians.
If Queensland voters can turn on Campbell Newman, many who say he lost the unlosable election in 2015, they can certainly do the same to Annastacia Palaszczuk.
But what exactly does it take to change somebody’s vote? Are voters prepared to overlook incompetency and poor performance because they like the premier?
And what does it take for the premier herself to banish two Ministers who have been the target of strong criticism, including people from within their own department?
On any performance indicator, Mick de Brenni should not be the Minister responsible for overseeing the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.
It has been established that the QBCC is a rudderless, aimless, toxic organisation that has let Queenslanders down. It may well be Australia’s most dysfunctional government entity, resulting in a trail of broken reputations.
Overseen by the Minister and the board, the QBCC is accused by the LNP of destroying people’s lives and their livelihoods, a claim the QBCC rejects.
The LNP says de Brenni has misled Parliament on the Kirra Groupline matter, after he said he nor his office engaged with the QBCC on operational matters. He vigorously denies that allegation.
The premier, Ms Palaszczuk, says there’s nothing to see, that de Brenni has her full support. Just like that. This is absurd.
I am happy to forward across to the premier the scores of emails I have received complaining about the disgraceful way the QBCC treats Queenslanders.
People are going broke, losing their homes, their livelihoods and in most cases – when the person has the money to fight it through the courts – the claims do not stand up to legal scrutiny.
Groupline is a good example. Four judges said the QBCC had acted beyond its powers to stop work on that project.
It cost Groupline millions of dollars to take the QBCC to court and win. They are lucky they had the fiscal muscle to do that. Now Groupline has lodged a damages claim against the QBCC and it will be interesting to see what emerges in evidence under oath.
The witness list is already enthralling. The real problem here is the cavalier way the QBCC throws around taxpayer dollars to prosecute people.
The latest mail out of the QBCC is that they have hired a number of highly paid PR consultants to repair their image. Good luck with that. The only way the QBCC can emerge from this mess is to sack the board and the senior executive team and start again.
Most people who write to me are desperate and without the financial capacity to fight the QBCC, which of course is a government entity with unlimited funds.
It’s easy to go after someone when you are using other people’s money. It’s not so easy when it’s coming out of your own pocket. Critics say the business model for the QBCC is to extend and protract legal action.
Ms Palaszczuk doesn’t want to know about the problems at the QBCC because she doesn’t want to discover that, yes indeed, there is an issue and she might have to sack De Brenni.
It’s a stark difference in leadership style to former Labor premier Peter Beattie, who remains the state’s longest serving Labor premier. Beattie would throw his grandmother under a bus to protect the integrity of his government. He took integrity seriously.
If Ms Palaszczuk were also to have a good look at Queensland Health, she’d have little choice but to move on Health Minister, Yvette D’ Ath.
Ramping is rife at hospitals, there’s accusations of medical malpractice at the Caboolture and Mackay Hospitals and 92 per cent of Queensland nurses say the hospitals are not ready for a Delta coronavirus outbreak.
The parlous state of Queensland Health comes despite the draconian and tough Covid-19 policies around border closures and lockdowns, which have kept Covid numbers low.
Queensland Health has had 18 months to get ready for a Delta outbreak and it’s the ones on the frontline, nurses, who have the most trepidation about coping. D’Ath has had a year now to stamp her authority on the role yet it seems nothing has changed.
Again, where’s the leadership? Where’s the desire to cut through the QBCC and Queensland Health bureaucracies to sort out these messy oligarchs?
So the question remains – will Queenslanders abandon Labor because it can’t run a proper health system, and the organisation set up to protect people from shonky builders is in disarray?
Will voters punish Ms Palaszczuk for allowing two Ministers to oversee mediocrity? Or will voters fall for the premier’s personality and the double doughnut days?
Integrity and competence are important.