Qld election 2020: Mining, tourism key to state’s recovery
Annastacia Palaszczuk will secure her greatest wish in politics – to beat Peter Beattie and become Labor’s second-longest serving premier in Queensland. It is a remarkable achievement for the accidental premier, writes Peter Gleeson.
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Annastacia Palaszczuk will secure her greatest wish in politics – to beat Peter Beattie and become Labor’s second-longest serving premier in Queensland.
If she does a full four-year term, and with Jackie Trad now gone that looks certain, Ms Palaszczuk will eclipse the nine years and 85 days served by Mr Beattie.
It is a remarkable achievement.
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The accidental premier is now headed into the pantheon of Labor luminaries and she deserves great credit.
But let’s be clear – this was a comfortable victory in the middle of a pandemic, not a landslide.
It was a presidential-style election, and Ms Palaszczuk dominated Labor’s public messaging on her government’s hardline border decisions to protect people from coronavirus.
The people of Queensland loved it and they voted with their feet.
Make no mistake, this will go down in history as a referendum on COVID-19.
Voters didn’t even focus on Labor’s failings on the economy and its integrity scandals.
Ms Palaszczuk’s folksy style and her fervent belief in Queensland is authentic and it shows.
That’s the beauty of her politics. What you see is what you get. She even said it herself during the final debate.
The Queensland Labor Party is an election-winning machine. They are disciplined, on message and sing from the same hymn sheet.
The LNP tried hard but their message was destroyed by the suffocation of COVID-19. The developer donation ban also hit hard, affecting its ability to properly market itself.
But it now needs a line in the sand. The reality is that the LNP has been in power in Queensland just five years in the past three decades.
There will be recriminations and fresh leadership is likely.
For Labor, the challenge is massive.
Queensland is such a wonderful state with its magnificent beaches, sparkling rainforests, rollicking western countryside, and it is home to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef.
It has a proud and storied history and is often named as the No.1 “bucket list’’ destination among American and European visitors.
Yet rarely – if ever – has Queensland faced a bigger challenge than the next decade, after a series of man-made and natural events which have conspired to throw out a massive curve ball to our political leaders.
The economy and getting the state’s fiscal balance sheet back into order must be the No.1 priority of the Palaszczuk government.
This will be a difficult assignment. It is why mining and tourism – both under tremendous pressure for varying reasons – must remain the state’s biggest economic drivers.
Let’s take mining, which directly employs 60,000 Queenslanders and another 375,000 people indirectly.
There is a concerted campaign, led by the Greens, to close mining in Queensland. This must be resisted at all costs by Ms Palaszczuk.
As climate change becomes real, transitioning to more renewable energy is sensible policy and it must always be part of the overall mix.
But so too must coal and gas, which provide Queensland with $5bn a year in royalties, which equates to a lot of nurses, teachers and police.
Closing down mining in Queensland would turn the economy into a basket case. The loss of jobs and the impact on the state’s bottom line would be cataclysmic.
It’s all very well to save the planet, but at what cost? Tourism is the state’s second-biggest economic driver. It is a powerhouse and when the tourism industry is firing, so is Queensland.
But the pandemic has sent shockwaves through the industry, particularly in hot spots such as the Gold and Sunshine coasts, the Whitsundays and Cairns.
The loss of employment and impact on business has been savage.
When JobKeeper runs out in March next year, there is a dark hole coming, the like of which we haven’t seen in this country for a long time.
Tourism is the sector likely to be most affected in Queensland and the scourge of the pandemic has been the chief culprit.
The Palaszczuk government has been as consistent as it has been stringent on border closures and lockdowns during COVID-19.
There is also the vexed and ongoing issue around the way the regions are treated.
Queensland is Australia’s most decentralised state, with more people living outside Brisbane than in the state’s capital.
Yet the only time the regions tend to see the leaders of the major parties is during an election campaign.
This is not an illusion. It is real.
The regions are treated differently.
That’s why moves by people such as Bob Katter to set up a separate North Queensland state always get traction.
Why can’t we move the office of tourism to the Gold Coast?
The mines department to Townsville or Mackay?
Queensland has so much to give, so much to offer.
We are at a crossroads because of coronavirus.
We can either accept the challenge and make policy decisions which bring us prosperity and hope, or go into the foetal position, adopting risk-averse strategies that put us back a generation.
The stakes have never been higher.
The Palaszczuk-government now has to live up to its promise and deliver.
Originally published as Qld election 2020: Mining, tourism key to state’s recovery
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