The King’s war on drugs and a Queensland ‘420’ reform debate

It’s almost common knowledge that the Queensland LNP’s second-in-charge is partial to cosplaying as the King. That’s Elvis Presley, not Charles III, of whom any impression would probably see Jarrod Bleijie booted from his Monarchist League gig.

But when the Sunshine Coast-based MP and Twitter warrior rose to his feet in state parliament last week to rail against progressive reforms to the state’s drug laws, he channelled the rock’n’roll icon in a different way.

Then US president Richard Nixon meets with Elvis Presley at the White House on December 21, 1970.Credit: US National Archives

“This is the day the Labor Party has gone soft on crime and drugs,” Bleijie said of the changes allowing people found carrying less than a gram of illegal substances three chances before facing charges.

“This is the day the Labor Party has given up on the war on drugs”.

(Presley in 1970 sought to enlist himself in US President Richard Nixon’s war on drugs in part to add a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge to his collection of police insignia.)

With similar concern, the LNP’s police spokesperson – former officer Dan Purdie – suggested the very public support given to the policy by top cop Katarina Carroll and her three predecessors earlier this year was only because it would help save police time and resources.

Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek, who led the LNP in opposition for two years between 2009 and 2011, noted the “strange coincidence” the bill would be passed by parliament on April 20, or “420 Day” – a key day in the cannabis culture calendar.

Peak medical and community groups have welcomed the move towards decriminalisation and a health-based response to personal drug use, also called for by the Productivity Commission.

And despite hours of formal debate on the significant bill, neither LNP leader David Crisafulli – who has suggested the move was a “trade off” between the Premier’s Labor Right faction and the dominant Labor Left around youth crime crackdowns – nor Annastacia Palaszczuk spoke.

The LNP ultimately supported the bills.

If you took only one example from state parliament last week that painted a broader picture, this was it: a government with the numbers to use processes as it wishes, and an opposition keen to oppose without always acting.

The week also saw the release of a survey of voters across a large chunk of this year, conducted for Brisbane Times, which showed a souring public perception of both Palaszczuk and Crisafulli.

It also showed one-in-four of those surveyed were “unfamiliar” with the LNP leader, despite almost full saturation for a premier the opposition and some media have sought to paint as out of steam, out of touch with voters, and enjoying “the high life”.

Personal attacks on Crisafulli by government members have ramped up in parliament and on social media. One LNP source suggests this “extraordinary” focus on an opposition leader showed Labor was worried ahead of the state election in 18 months.

But the calculation in the Labor camp appears to be that introducing voters to Crisafulli on their terms – including his record or equivocation on social issues such as abortion or Indigenous recognition, his role in the long shadow of the Newman government and the nationally damaged LNP brand, and so-far minimal state policy platform – is worth the risk.

ICYMI

After about a dozen public briefings, hearings and forums across the state, the government’s Path to Treaty bill has had the tick of approval from a parliamentary committee.

In a report published on Friday, committee chair and Labor’s Mansfield MP Corrine McMillan recommended the bill pass, while making some suggestions for the truth-telling inquiry it will set up: in particular that the police commissioner, councils and non-government organisations such as churches should be able to be compelled to appear, given their roles in the state’s colonial history.

That work has been cited by Palaszczuk as one reason her government had not been able to up its game advocating for people to vote yes on the federal Indigenous Voice to parliament.

Palaszczuk and her team has since made a noticeable effort to encourage support for the Voice on social media.

Heads up

The government is now gearing up for the next steps in its efforts to decriminalise the state’s sex work industry, releasing a Queensland Law Reform Commission report two years in the making on Monday.

In doing so, Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the government “broadly supports” the 47 recommendations set to be worked through before public consultation on draft laws she hopes can be brought to parliament by year’s end.

“No worker should have to choose between working safely and working legally,” Fentiman told reporters.