Opinion: Qld Labor govt to go the way of Commodore, Falcon without a tune-up

Unless the state government gets a new model out soon, it is bound to follow both Falcon and Commodore, writes Robert Schwarten. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Voters are a weird mob. Just look at the latest Queensland polling. It seems when we were all locked up for our own safety, not allowed to go to the pub, have a punt or a milkshake in a park we loved our state governments so much that we wanted more – so we gave them more seats as a reward. Now that we can basically please ourselves where we go free of government minding our business, we want the same governments chucked out.

But it doesn’t need to be this way. Look back a couple of decades to state Labor’s vote rorting episode. The common wisdom was we were stuffed, but then premier Peter Beattie rolled out his life-saving “swim in the shark tank” stunt to make the point that he would not stand for any predatory antics in the ALP. He would go on to not only survive, but to flourish. Beattie left on his own terms a decade later, rather than in the undertaker’s overcoat the know-it-alls had predicted.

Queenslanders at the moment are very upset despite record jobs growth, money in the bank to pay down debt, and hardly a block of land left in the state to build a school, hospital, prison, police station or public housing. Even with unemployment so low that anybody who wants to work can find a job, we are not the slightest bit impressed. It almost seems the healthier the economy, the more disgruntled we get.

It is not as though anything much has changed in the government’s attitude or delivery that would warrant such an extraordinary full swing of voter contempt. No, it is pretty much the same sort of government doing the same thing we have all signed up for so enthusiastically over this past couple of parliamentary terms.

It is as though we have become almost obsessive consumers hell bent on getting the latest model of something we desperately do not need. I know the type well: they buy a new car each year, and their homes are museums to unused motorbikes, exercise machines, boats, and pretty much everything that rattles bangs or squeaks.

But surely politics is different? Well, having spent a lifetime being obsessed, enchanted, annoyed, appalled by it, I can tell you that, no, it is not.

Just as the cravings for some new gizmo seems irresistible and indeed increasingly more so for some, so too for voters when it comes to the idea of buying into a different model that promises more for the same price.

Let’s talk about youth crime. Since the time of Cain and Abel there has been violent crime and family disgrace. Since the time of Socrates people have been whining about young people. In the 1920s, louts carried cutthroat razors – and used them for non-shaving purposes whenever the mood took.

It is a fact that wherever there is money there are thieves. Wherever there is poverty there is crime – whenever people who have nothing to lose but, as they see it, much to gain.

There might be more of it around at the moment, but no politician has ever got rid of crime. And yet in every circumstance of perceived societal breakdown the voter does what the consumer does when they are tired of their purchase – they look to buy the new shiny thing, regardless of whether the expenditure justifies the cost.

In Queensland’s case, the shiny new thing right now is an Opposition with no costings, no position on a whole range of social issues, led by a spruiker who would make a show tent raconteur look like an introvert who claims to have the mystery balm that will end surgery waitlists and other challenges on every government service, while building more buildings, paying more wages but costing the voter less.

Maybe it is just a case of people believing that there has to be someone else who can reduce the cost of petrol, save the planet and magically deliver 100,000 homes for free. But the good old consumer warning holds true: if something sounds too good to be true, you can bet that it is.

There is another analogy here, and that is that trusted brands remain only as good as their capacity to remain relevant. Just look at Commodore and Falcon – left stranded by their competitors because they would not veer from the gas-guzzling high-emission V6s. These were highly regarded cars made for Australians by Australians but consumers were attracted to the shiny new Asian and European models with their turbo engines or batteries.

Whether it is industry or politics, a shiny new trusted-brand latest-model will always impress and grab market share. In politics it is harder to achieve because we are dealing with humans who are difficult to remodel and do not like the idea of ending up in the used car auction.

But if the polls mean anything then unless the state Labor government gets a new model out soon, it is bound to follow both Falcon and Commodore.

Robert Schwarten was a minister in the Beattie Labor government

Originally published as Opinion: Qld Labor govt to go the way of Commodore, Falcon without a tune-up