# Meanwhile in Queensland... **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 24, 2012, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686 "2012-03-24T12:13:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/21 "2012-03-25T23:29:18Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I may have misspoken a bit, and i agree, at least in part, with your second sentence. > > I don’t mean corruption in the literal sense of illegal behavior, or subverting the course of justice, or that sort of thing. I mean the more generalized notion that the Labor Party, having been in power so long, tended to take its own power for granted, and to be more concerned, when making policy, with its own internal needs and conflicts than with the actual needs and wants of the electorate. > > I was a Labor voter for basically my whole adult life before leaving Australia, but the way that the party tended to be dominated by cronyism and factional disputes that were more about internal power grabs than actual politics used to drive me crazy. I recognize that it’s one of the almost inevitable side-effects of a Westminster-style political system, and i’m not sure the Coalition is much better in this regard, but when one party dominates power in a state for an extended period, that sort of inward-looking factionalism tends to get worse over time. The electorate gets sick of it, and even if they know that the other guys might not be much better, they decide that a new version of cronyism might be a good thing. I don’t agree, as far as Qld is concerned. I must admit I see State politics as a bit irrelevant so I don’t follow it very closely but I haven’t seen factionalism being a problem in Qld in recent years. Obviously it is a major thing in NSW and federally. The party has been solidly behind Bligh. I don’t agree about doing what’s good for the party rather than the electorate either. I think that Bligh was very, very ready to listen to the electorate. She was indeed a person whose talent was for figuring out which way the mob was moving of its own accord and then running to the front and pretending she was leading. I think she lost because Qld Labor has been in power for a long time and Bligh herself didn’t have anything to offer. She’s a left wing Romney. She was a bland blank canvas. She was good at standing in front of natural disasters and looking sympathetic and sounding Strong and Decisive, but she didn’t actually do anything very much (with the possible exception of boosting education) and didn’t stand for anything except motherhood statements and platitudes. So when “Can Do” Campbell came along he was a shoo-in because he’s new, and he comes across as a decisive leader. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/22 "2012-03-25T23:32:12Z")
… and by the way I think Gillard is not much different, and faces an opponent who _also_ has that “decisive leader” shtick happening. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/23 "2012-03-25T23:46:37Z")
Captain Amazing, the thread is about Queensland, not Quebec. I recognise that threads wander occasionally but your posts (in my view) are proving to be annoyingly distracting. I’m from Queensland and this is a thread I’d like to participate in. As to the thread’s subject matter? Yes, the Westminster system is inherently designed to occasionally have large shifts of power and electorate representation. And it’s always a shocking but impressive thing when you see it happen. For mine, the comments in this thread which I agree most with are those which relate to “how long a given party has been in power for”. And I reckon you can apply this throughout most of the Western World… it seems that regardless of which side of the political fence you’re sitting on, after a long enough period of being in power a subtle shift in priorities takes place - namely, a shift where being in power itself becomes more important than doing the best thing by your constituents. Governments seemingly lose their ability to “stay in contact” with the common man at that point. In my view, if the previous Queensland Government had kept the communication channels open with “the common man” they would have never even remotely considered the fire sale of public assets which they embarked upon over the past 3 years. They would have, instead, focused much more on public spending and wastage. Few things piss off an electorate more than selling off public assets and then wasting millions on advertising purporting to tell your electorate what a great job you’re doing at a fiscal level. That sort of move tends to seal your death sentence, I rather think. In closing, the new Premier elect has a wife who, for inexplicable reasons, has an appearance which makes her look like a former porn actress. Perhaps I’m really guilty of projecting my own personal vices there, but if you do know who I’m talking about, the very thought of it being true makes it ever so funny. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/24 "2012-03-31T18:07:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Pssst - **Captain Amazing** - when come back, bring PEI. 😃 Doh! You’d think that being such a fan of Anne of Gables Green, I wouldn’t make that mistake. Lucy Montgomery Maud is no doubt turning over in her grave.. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/25 "2012-03-31T19:51:58Z")
They lose their cars too? Wow, Australian politics is tough! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/26 "2012-04-01T00:05:42Z")
Plus their seats! So there’s all these half-assed former members limping around. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686/27 "2012-04-01T00:27:30Z")
After seeing the results, one of the first things that came to mind for me was “Maybe Chuck Norris _did_ vote for the LNP after all.” I don’t ever recall seeing a Government concede defeat before the election was even held before, either. I’m not at all surprised Ms Bligh quit, to be honest- although I do think the cost of the by-election should be coming out of the pension she’s now getting as a former MP. It’s not fair on her electorate for people to vote her in and then have her quit the next day because the other side won too much, IMHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-queensland/616686.md?page=1)