Editorial: Gaslighters and fibbers, or a lucky dip? Your choice

Yes, democracy is the least worst system, but the options being presented at this election are not exactly appealing, writes the editor.

Premier Steven Miles (right) and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli at a Courier-Mail debate early this year

Woe betide our beautiful state of Queensland, where the choice for who will lead us for the next four years is between one side that won’t answer the most basic of questions about their plans, and the other that is shamelessly trying to scare you into backing them while gaslighting you about their past performance.

How prescient was former British prime minister Winston Churchill when he observed that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms”.

He was right. At least we get to choose. But it must be conceded, the options being presented at this state election are not exactly appealing.

The common wisdom among the insiders is that Queenslanders have already voted in their head for the LNP; that they do not necessarily dislike Premier Steven Miles, but think after a decade of Labor it’s time the other mob had a go.

This is the wisdom that is clearly underpinning the seriously small target campaign strategy being employed by the LNP. It is a “don’t stuff it up” strategy – the reason its leader David Crisafulli is so loathe to answer challenging questions at his daily press conferences.

It should be noted that this is not a new tactic. Mr Crisafulli has made it an art form as Opposition Leader to shamelessly twist a question he does not want asked back into safer territory for him. It is a tactic that has worked well for him. But it was also one that was not going to ever survive the spotlight of an election campaign – where, rightly, every single word the leader utters carries a lot more weight than at other times in the election cycle.

Premier Steven Miles campaigning in Bulimba in Brisbane this week. Picture: Adam Head

Mr Crisafulli has been exposed in this way on two topics so far during the campaign. One of these was his own fault – his rubbery position on a new Brisbane stadium – while the second is a successful Labor trap.

On the former, Mr Crisafulli just does not want to talk at all about any stadium in Brisbane because of the blowback that would inevitably spark in the regions north of Noosa – where the seats he needs to win are mostly located.

On the latter, Mr Crisafulli knows he cannot be too definitive because of the large socially conservative element in both his party room and the broader membership base of the LNP. He also desperately wants to shut down any talk on this topic because of the voting record of his party – and the fact he voted against decriminalising abortion himself.

But shutting it down will require a far more definitive response than his current lamentations of “it’s not part of our plan” when grilled by the travelling media pack. This issue will dog him up until polling day.

Meanwhile, over in the Labor camp, the scare campaign goes on. Not content with its union proxies claiming without a skerrick of evidence the LNP will “sell off” public hospitals and “private health services”, the party’s state director Kate Flanders has now authorised a leaflet that claims Mr Crisafulli is planning “MASSIVE CUTS for Queensland”.

Her evidence? Well, it’s a bit of a journey. But here goes: The leaflet first claims that Mr Crisafulli “wants to give more than $10bn a year to multinational mining companies”. We assume this is based on Labor claims that an LNP government would do away with Treasurer Cameron Dick’s globe-topping royalties tax on metallurgical coal miners (yes, the ones that dig up coal to make steel – not the ones who dig up coal to be burned). Mr Crisafulli has repeatedly vowed to not make any changes to that tax regime before the next election, but why let the facts get in the way of a good story right?

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli campaigning in Townsville this week. Picture: Liam Kidston

The next claim the Flanders leaflet makes is that “this means … cuts to our hospitals, schools, roads and major projects … our cost of living relief, including energy rebates … health workers and police … (and) renewable energy projects, driving up your power bills”.

But that is a claim that one might describe as a pretty large leap.

Mr Dick somehow spent $9bn more than he had budgeted to in the last financial year – an overspend that was offset by the revenue from his mining royalties tax. We assume – and again we can only take an educated guess at this – that Ms Flanders is saying in her leaflet that without the extra royalties revenue, that overspend would not have been possible.

But other than the $2.2bn for the $1000 household power bill rebates, the remainder of that money was not spent on delivering new stuff. It was mainly covering blowouts on the normal business of government – details released by the Treasurer himself confirmed this.

And so essentially Ms Flanders has twisted here the inability of the current administration to balance its books into claims that as a consequence an incoming LNP government would need to make cuts (including to an energy rebate that Labor itself will not renew).

This all part of the hurly burly of a campaign. But the point is that, after a decade in power, Labor is not running on its record. It is instead not even trying to hide the fact that it has decided the only way for it to stem its losses at this election is to try and scare – and mislead – voters.

At the same time we have former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s most senior ministers telling voters they were but helpless pawns in that administration. It is all just so tragic.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as Editorial: Gaslighters and fibbers, or a lucky dip? Your choice