Peter Beattie: ‘Minority government can work’
He led Queensland for almost a decade, including one term in minority government, now Peter Beattie insists today’s political leaders can and should make a hung parliament work, if that’s what voters deliver.
QLD Votes
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Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie has insisted “minority government can work” amid pledges from Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deb Frecklington that they won’t do deals.
Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Mr Beattie – who led Queensland for almost a decade, including one term in minority government – said it was up to the leaders of each party to make a hung parliament work, if that’s what voters deliver.
Peter Beattie shows leaders how it’s done
It comes after the premier claimed last week that “minority governments don’t work”, despite leading one from 2015 to 2017, when she relied on the support of an independent.
Mr Beattie said the will of the people was “the most paramount thing”, and that the state’s political leaders had an obligation under the Constitution and Westminster system to form a government to “reflect the will of the people”.
“In other words, if (Governor Paul de Jersey) says to Annastacia Palaszczuk or Deb Frecklington, ‘I believe you’ve got the majority in the parliament or you can make it work’, they have to go off and do it,” he said.
“And if they can’t, then they should resign and give it to someone who can.
“It’s not for political parties to say ‘well hang on, we didn’t like how people voted’.”
Neither Ms Palaszczuk nor Ms Frecklington would say last week if they would stand down as the leaders of their party and let someone else strike a deal if they fall short of a majority at the October 31 poll.
They have both promised that they won’t do deals in the event of a hung parliament, pleading with voters to give them a majority.
Mr Beattie said a hung parliament could result in “enormous transparency”, because it meant MPs had to show the parliament and the people of Queensland why they were voting a certain way.
“Everyone is terrified of minority government,” he said.
“Minority government can work. It can work, it just requires a lot of work.
“But it can work and it institutes transparency to the parliament, which in the end everyone sees exactly what’s going on.”
Pointing to his time leading a minority government between 1998 and 2001, Mr Beattie said he made it work, with then-independent MP Peter Wellington promising Labor the supply it needed to govern.
“That’s all the leader of the day needs to get,” he said.
“You don’t need to do a deal with anybody.
“As I said at the time, we will govern as if we have a majority of 10 and we did.”
The former Queensland Labor leader also suggested that if a minority government can’t convince the parliament to support a Bill, then the Bill does not deserve to pass.
“They have then got an obligation to try and convince as many members of the parliament to support their Bill,” he said of minority governments.
“And they need to use every bit of vision, persuasion, public debate, transparency, openness about the measures they’re putting to the parliament.”
