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Queensland January to June 2000

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Queensland January to June 2000 Political Chronicles 575 Queensland January to June 2000 TRACEY ARKLAY Australian Public Sector Management, Griffith University New Millennium — Old Politics In his first interview for the New Year, Premier Peter Beattie stated he would like the coming year to be "dominated by major events" (Courier-Mail, 3 January 2000). Announcing that there would be no major social reforms in 2000, Beattie set the scene for a year in which the government would consolidate its achievements, hone its policies and lay the groundwork for an election scheduled midway through 2001. Before any consolidation could begin however, the government had to face two by-elections — one in Bob Gibbs' seat of Bundamba, left vacant since his retirement last year and the other following the retirement, announced in January, of Labor's longest serving parliamentarian and member for Woodridge, Bill D'Arcy, because of ill-health. The Premier set 5 February as the date for the two by-elections which would mark the mid-point of Beattie's first term and would also be the first double by-election conducted by the Queensland Electoral Commission, since its formation in 1992 (Courier-Mail, 11 January 2000). © Departments of History & Government, The University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishers 2000. 576 Political Chronicles Labor's Renewal — Hopes turn to Coalminer's Daughter and Boiler-Maker's Son Peter Beattie's public support for a balanced ticket saw the endorsement of Jo-Ann Miller in Bundamba and Mike Kaiser in Woodridge. Both Miller and Kaiser had long affiliations with their respective electorates — Miller had worked as Bob Gibbs' electoral secretary and was a well known local while Mike Kaiser, the former high-profile ALP state secretary, had grown up in the Woodridge electorate and still lived nearby. In an electoral environment where general opinion was of the view that good representation in these two seats had been compromised for factional sensibilities (Courier-Mail, 8 January 2000), it is not surprising Beattie insisted Labor put "its best foot forward" and nominate the best possible candidates regardless of factional ties. While this was a politically astute move in terms of garnishing voter support, as a member of the Labor Unity faction, (to which D'Arcy also belonged), Peter Beattie put his money where his mouth was in supporting the nomination of the AWU-aligned Mike Kaiser in Woodridge (Franklin in Courier-Mail, 10 January 2000). Under normal circumstances, the election outcome in these two Labor strongholds would have been a lay-down misere. Yet two weeks into the campaign when the news broke that Bill D'Arcy was to stand trial on child sex charges dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, the outcome suddenly seemed much less predictable. The media, partly constrained for legal reasons, were now free to report on the rumours that had been circulating in Queensland for over twelve months. Suddenly the timing of the by-elections seemed a brave gamble as the media published story after story of D'Arcy's less than illustrious parliamentary career. It was D'Arcy, the papers screamed, who had earned the sobriquet of the "phantom" after missing several crucial votes in the 1980s and had more recently been one of the key players in the "Net-Bet" debacle (see previous chronicle). These factors, when viewed alongside D'Arcy's invisibility in the electorate, were a clear indication, suggested the media, opposition and other candidates, that Labor had lost touch with its roots (Age, 5 February 2000). Not unaware of this perception, Mike Kaiser drew on his working-class background and dedicated his campaign to the memory of his father — a local boilermaker. Likewise, Jo-Ann Miller reminisced about growing up in Ipswich as the daughter of a local coalminer (Courier-Mail, 29 January 2000). Instead of capitalising on the glitch in Labor's campaign, the Liberal Party appeared unprepared, not announcing its candidates until 16 January. Later it would be argued, even among some in the Liberal Party, that it nominated poor quality candidates. As the 1998 state election had so dramatically highlighted, no longer could challenges by independents and minority parties be ignored by the major parties. The announcement, therefore, by Heather Hill, the former One Nation secretary and failed Senator-elect, that she intended to contest Bundamba for the One Nation offshoot, City-Country Alliance (CCA), caused some consternation within government ranks. This anxiety was lessened, however, when the Liberal Party's president made the tactical blunder of refusing to deny the Liberal Party was considering an exchange of preferences with the CCA (Courier-Mail, 8 January 2000). Liberal leader David Watson's quick assertion that no deal would be done with any affiliate of One Nation could not undo the perception that the Liberal Party had not learned its lesson from 1998. By the time it was announced that all the six other candidates in Bundamba would also preference Hill last, the CCA was removed as a serious contender (Courier-Mail, 19 January 2000). In Woodridge, events did not unfold quite so smoothly for the ALP. A tough challenger emerged from the pack of seven candidates, in the form of Logan City Councillor, Russell Lutton, running as an "independent". When it emerged during the campaign that Lutton had been disendorsed by Labor in the early 1990s because he criticised D'Arcy's performance, © Departments of History & Government, The University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishers 2000. Political Chronicles 577 his star shone more brightly. Considering this trump card, it was of little surprise when Kaiser refused to publicly debate Lutton, but instead modelled his campaign on a by-gone era when exhaustively door-knocking the electorate, pressing the flesh and listening to voter grievances were the norm. The news that the Democrats had decided to preference Lutton ahead of Labor, further added to the general air of uncertainty that pervaded much of the Woodridge campaign (Courier-Mail, 9 February 2000). Under mounting speculation that the heartland seat would be difficult to retain (Labor needing to win on the primary vote alone), Kaiser, a seasoned campaigner, made the worst blooper of the election when he said in a radio interview that electing an independent would be a wasted vote, as only he would be able to get a Minister on the phone (Courier-Mail, 25 January 2000). Considering the fact that this government had come precariously close to needing the support of an independent in 1998, Kaiser was quickly repudiated by the Premier, who attributed the statement to the stress of an arduous campaign. Rob Borbidge meanwhile reminded the government that it was effectively in "care-taker" mode and as such no "significant policy decisions or new appointments" should be made until after the by-elections. Up, Up and Away with Virgin Blue Providing a much needed fillip for the government was the announcement, two days before the by-election, that English entrepreneur, Richard Branson's Virgin Airlines would set up its Australian Headquarters in Brisbane (Courier-Mail, 2 April 2000). Winning Branson over with a rumoured $10 million worth of incentives (Courier-Mail, 29 February 2000), the estimated 750 new jobs and the 60 million dollars in investment to Brisbane that would flow on from this decision, represented a major public relations coup for a government taking a battering in the pre-election opinion polls (Courier-Mail, 9 February 2000). On polling day however, voters in Labor's heartland seats stayed loyal and Kaiser won 50.79 per cent of the primary vote, with Jo-Ann Miller faring even better, receiving 57.25 per cent of first preferences (Courier-Mail, 7 February 2000). In the electoral wash-up it became apparent that the real loser in the by-elections was the Liberal Party who recorded a five per cent swing against it in Woodridge while achieving only a two per cent gain in Bundamba (Courier-Mail, 17 February 2000). Queensland's Conservative Parties: Shouting Down the Enemies Within Leadership Tussles Following the Liberal Party's poor showing in the by-elections, underlying tensions within the ranks of party members soon erupted into a fully fledged brawl with an announcement by Noosa MP, Bruce Davidson that he intended to raise the issue of Watson's leadership at the next party room meeting. In one of his more decisive moves since becoming leader, Watson removed Davidson from the front bench on the grounds of disloyalty, replacing him with former Liberal leader, Joan Sheldon, who took over the role of Opposition Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs spokesperson (Courier-Mail, 17 February 2000). But Davidson was not alone in his disappointment over Watson's performance While there was no secret about Santo Santoro's (the member for Merythr) leadership ambitions, the barely disclosed hostility between Watson and Santoro came to a head in June when Santoro stood down from the Opposition front bench, following the Liberal leader's thinly veiled criticism of "certain colleagues ... [who] lacked political credibility and acumen" (Courier-Mail, 8 June 2000). The woes of the state Liberal Party were reflected by their dismal results at the local government elections held in March. Citing party disunity and financial difficulties, Liberal state president Con Galtos pledged to find the "five or six people" who leaked © Departments of History & Government, The University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishers 2000. 578 Political Chronicles stories to the media throughout the campaign and effectively undermined the election (Courier-Mail, 27 March 2000). One Nation Implodes Meanwhile, financial troubles also continued to plague former One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson. Beginning with the announcement in January that David Ettridge, the Party's finance director, was resigning, One Nation's headquarters in Ipswich and Manly were raided by detectives following allegations by Heather Hill that over $5 million in electoral funding was not accounted for (Weekend Australian, 12-13 February 2000).
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