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Queensland July to December 2000

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Queensland July to December 2000 Political Chronicles 265 Queensland July to December 2000 JOHN WANNA Politics and Public Policy, Griffith University Once again, as the millennium year came to a close, Queensland politicians demonstrated they had not lost the talent for entertaining the nation. Not content with producing the One Nation whirlwind between two successive minority governments, politics in Queensland saw the Labor party inflict major damage upon itself as evidence of electoral rorting began to emerge. With Labor's credibility in tatters, Premier Peter Beattie ended the year hounding electoral rorters from his own party, losing his Deputy Premier and another backbencher in the process and with clouds hanging over other Labor members associated with the Australian Workers Union faction. The grubby revelations of skulduggery and forgery that provided much media entertainment, were brought on by factional infighting and pay-back politics mainly inside the AWU faction. For Labor, the one bright note from the whole incident was the unshakeable personal standing of Beattie (remaining around 58 per cent throughout the crisis), which paradoxically appeared to be enhanced by his uncompromising "clean out the rorters" stance. Labor remained more popular than the Coalition throughout the entire second half of 2000 despite the electoral forgery allegations. The government was riding high in the polls in June with 62 per cent support on a two-party preferred basis and 49 per cent primary support (its highest level of support since the immediate post-Fitzgerald days of 1989-92). Labor held its ground in July-August (retaining 49 per cent primary vote) despite losing slightly in two-party preferred terms (down by 4 per cent to 58 per cent). But in polls conducted in September-October the party regained its huge lead with its primary support increasing to 51 per cent and two-party preferred rising to 60.5 per cent. The Coalition, by contrast, failed to make inroads into Labor's lead despite the vote-rigging scandal. Coalition support fell to a low of 37.5 per cent in two party preferred terms in June 2000, but recovered slightly in the following months to sit © Department of History, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishers 2001. 266 Political Chronicles between 40-42 per cent. Its primary support was of the order of 33-34 per cent. The poll results for the Liberals showed them registering 23 per cent, while the Nationals were probably under-estimated at 10.5 per cent. Support for the minor parties and independents (a crucial factor at the next election) was around 18 per cent with the Democrats attracting 6 per cent, the One Nation group registering between 3-6 per cent and the Greens at 3.5 per cent. Independents and other parties (eg, the City-Country Alliance) were polling 5.5 per cent (Bulletin, 3 October 2000 and 5 December 2000). The Opposition leader Rob Borbidge managed a personal approval rating of just 15 per cent in August. Acknowledging the "disastrous" result for his leader, the Nationals' deputy leader Lawrence Springborg attempted to rally the faithful behind Borbidge, arguing he was the best leader the Opposition had and that individual members "had to lift their work rates because they were over-reliant on Borbidge, whose approval rating was suffering as a result" (Courier-Mail, 5 August 2000). Springborg's predecessor, Mike Horan, a former challenger for the leadership position, argued that the polls understated the level of National Party support and that of its leader. Perhaps sensing a degree of resignation, he commented that the Coalition had been in the same position before the 1995 election against Wayne Goss, yet pulled off a remarkable victory. In mid-year, Premier Beattie found time to commemorate Australia's Federation by attending a London shindig along with other serving and former heads of government. Flocking around the halls of Westminster, the luminaries entertained themselves with topics of conversation ranging from the state of the hotel rooms, the insistence of Janette Howard to meet the Queen mum, and which expatriates they could manage to avoid. The occasion, costing Australians $20 million and described by Kim Beazley as a trip "that would make Marco Polo proud", was so memorable to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair that in an unfortunate slip of the tongue he confused Australians with Americans — implying perhaps former colonies are hard to distinguish. The big day for the Australian entourage was just another delegation passing through for the Brits. The Queensland Premier, perhaps conscious of the negative press, visited Ireland to negotiate a trade deal. He also ventured that state governments should take the initiative on the republican question by going ahead with electing future governors either by a two-thirds vote of the legislature or by popular election. He did not indicate whether he would follow his own recommendation if and when the time came. Marketing the Budget With the unemployment rate stuck around 7.9 per cent, the Beattie government injected another $5.29 billion into capital spending to boost employment — with projections of 61,000 jobs dependent on the funding. According to government figures, this level of commitment brought the total capital works spending to $15 billion over its first three budgets. The main capital works projects funded were in mines and energy ($1.4 billion), followed by health ($473 million) with education and police- corrective services both receiving around $250 million. But even with this level of public spending it was questionable whether Beattie would achieve his jobs target of no more than 5 per cent unemployment by 2003. The other measures included in Treasurer David Hamill's second State Budget (delivered on 18 July 2000) included: 800 additional teachers, a $114 schools renewal program, 360 extra police, a $90 million employment training program, $90 million on public housing, and $25 million © Department of History, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishers 2001. Political Chronicles 167 for further implementation of the Forde Inquiry recommendations in the area of children in institutional protection. In total the government budgeted to spend $18.2 billion on the provision of goods and services for Queensland — an increase of almost 5 per cent on the previous year but a massive hike in real budget outlays over the decade Small out-year surpluses were projected ($70 million in 2002-3 and $91 million in 2003-4). The State's own- source revenues were down on forecasted levels (by $800 million) mainly due to the reduction in gambling taxes (although total revenues were up over a billion on last year's budget projections to $18.15 billion). In all, Hamill described what would become his last Budget as simply "responsible". However, one of the more noteworthy incidents associated with the Budget was the leaking of an embarrassing briefing paper to the Deputy Premier Jim Elder in late July. In the briefing paper the Treasurer's spin-doctors discussed an explicit "strategy to sell the budget by making journalists see its strengths and miss its weaknesses" (Courier- Mail, 13 July 2000). The media release advised Labor politicians to "laugh off' suggestions the budget may be in trouble. The release stated: "in all media (and therefore marketing) opportunities, be it interviews, press conferences, dinners or simply over the phone, we cannot afford to hesitate simply because of what we know internally. There is no room to be defensive, and nothing like the perception of enthusiasm to drive the agenda we want from this Budget" (Courier-Mail, 12 July 2000). The briefing paper was premised on the government's internal calculations that the State had a small cash deficit and that a looming "black hole" was possible. In the Opposition leader's Budget reply, Rob Borbidge made reference to the secret document, believing it was an admission that Queensland was going backwards. He also criticised the government's jobs record and blamed Beattie for low business confidence and investment (Hansard, 20 July 2000). Petrol Taxes, Turbulent Incidents and Stranded Tankers On advice from Treasury officials, the government floated the idea mid-year of removing the fuel tax exemption on petrol in exchange for reducing the annual vehicle registration fee. The problem for the government was that a uniform fuel tax was now federally collected, which meant that the Queensland government was reimbursing petrol distributors 8.3 cents per litre. The government claimed that petrol was being purchased in Queensland at the reduced rate and transported south into NSW — thus imposing costs on Queensland taxpayers. The new proposal was conceived ostensibly as a way of minimising this leakage of the subsidy. The Treasurer, David Hamill, persuaded the Premier to announce the idea, which received almost universal disapproval. As soon as the idea was announced it sent shivers up the collective spine of most Queenslanders who had long been attached to lower petrol prices and proud their State imposed no levy on fuel. After touring a few shopping centres and "talking to people" the Premier reversed his decision but in the process suffered some embarrassment and appeared to be making policy on the run. In this case, however, the backdown was popular. At the same time controversy arose in July over the payment of performance bonuses to senior public servants of up to $30,000 per annum (or 15 per cent of salary). While Beattie claimed that these bonuses were justified because they "saved taxpayers © Department of History, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishers 2001. 268 Political Chronicles billions in improved standards", the government was simultaneously resisting a pay increase of just 3 per cent for nurses (Courier-Mail, 27 July 2000).
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