QUEENSLAND ELECTION

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (11:53): I move:

That this house congratulates Campbell Newman and the Liberal National Party for their successful election on 24 March 2012 as the new government for the state of Queensland.

Well, this is a great day, on this occasion, to congratulate Campbell Newman and the Liberal National Party for their successful election on 24 March 2012 as the new government for the state of Queensland, and what a stunning victory it was. Members would be aware that, after some nervous counting on 24 March, the Liberal National Party, which was clearly going to form government, finally tallied 78 seats in the parliament; with the ALP, seven seats; Katter's Australia Party—there are always a few of them, there are always a few extremists in every state of course—two seats; and other Independents, two seats. Unquestionably, the biggest single win in the history of Australian politics for the Liberal and National parties, now an amalgamated party in the state of Queensland. Prior to that, I think the 1993 election in this state of the then Brown government, which had 37 seats out of the 47 seats, was the next most impressive majority in the history of Australia.

I do recognise that the member for Torrens very shortly thereafter came into the parliament, after a by-election as a result of Joe Tiernan's untimely death after his heart attack, and I am happy to say she has made a very significant contribution to the parliament since then. That, of course, took the then Liberal Party down to 36 seats out of 47. But even that majority has been overshadowed by this impressive win by Campbell Newman.

Campbell, of course, had already previously served Australia with distinction in the defence service and also as lord mayor of Brisbane, probably the biggest city council, both in budget and numbers, in Australia—a very significant council—where he excelled. Evidence of his support from the people of Queensland was that in the election he beat Kate Jones, a minister in the then Bligh government, in the seat of Ashgrove, where he enjoyed some 50 per cent or thereabouts of the primary vote—a stunning victory for which he should be properly recognised. I wrote to the Premier (as I am sure other members of this house did) congratulating him. In his response, he thanked me for that, but he also went on to say:

The voters of Queensland have entrusted the management of the State to me and my team and I appreciate your support.

As Premier, I will work every single day to deliver better government. My Government has a strong action plan to get Queensland back on track and we will work with all Queenslanders to ensure this is the best state in the country.

So, he is taking up that challenge. He has a new team. I had the opportunity to meet with Mr Scott Emerson, who is the new transport minister in the new 'can do' LNP government in Queensland. He, too, has served in the world of media and in other areas, which I am sure will be of benefit in his taking up his responsibilities as a cabinet minister. I wish him well. I also personally congratulate Fiona Simpson (the member for Maroochydore), who has been appointed as part of the government but, most importantly, as Speaker of the parliament. She joins our own Speaker as being one of the two female Speakers in the house of the people across the country. We extend our best wishes to her.

The challenges are huge. Having already discussed matters with Mr Emerson, as the Minister for Transport in Queensland, a very big state in area and in very high need as a result of extraordinary and very sad natural events, including flooding in Queensland, which has left that state bereft of its core infrastructure, which has resulted in the need for a very substantial rebuild.

Even within the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the public transport system has been under huge pressure. As I have no doubt all those who have read the newspapers and followed the election would be aware, it became a very significant issue in the election. The people of Queensland, particularly in metropolitan Brisbane, said, 'We've had enough. We want adequate services. The public transport is in a mess, and it needs to be remedied.' They sent a very clear message, on election day, that they expected a higher standard of governance and a higher standard of service. I say to the people of Queensland, 'You have an opportunity to get that now.'

I am sure that even those of other political persuasions will not be churlish in failing to support this motion and will join with us in recognising that this has been a sterling win and an historic win, and the Queensland government should have the congratulations of this parliament for the challenge it has to undertake.

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (12:00): I move to amend the motion as follows:

After 'state of Queensland' insert ', thanks Anna Bligh for her enormous contribution to Queensland and acknowledges the key reforms implemented by Labor that have transformed Queensland and built the foundations of a modern and progressive state.'

Anna Bligh was a hugely talented leader who worked hard each and every day to deliver Labor reforms for her state. As premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh secured record mining investments and, I am advised, has generated almost 100,000 jobs for the people of Queensland since the previous election. Just over 14 months ago, Anna Bligh showed her true strength as a leader when she led Queenslanders through the worst floods and cyclones the state has ever seen. Since then, she has committed herself to the reconstruction task to make sure Queensland got back on its feet again. A special mention must also go to former Queensland premier Peter Beattie, who also played a vital role in transforming Queensland into the smart state, based on research and innovation.

Anna Bligh served in a number of leading roles throughout her political career, including, obviously, premier, but also deputy premier, treasurer, minister for education, minister for the arts and minister for families, community services, disability services and youth. Despite the global financial crisis and the most devastating natural disasters in the state's history, the Bligh government remained focused on keeping Queenslanders in work, protecting their precious lifestyle and implementing reforms that transformed Queensland into a stronger, better and fairer place to live and work.

Under both Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh, Labor diversified the Queensland economy, providing Queenslanders with a broader base than just three or four industries. Almost 30 per cent of Australia's aviation firms are now located in Queensland. In fact, Queensland is now at the centre of Australia's aerospace industry and helicopter industry, one of the key high skill, high tech industries of this century. I am told that Queensland's biotechnology industry grew from a $150 million industry in 2002 to over $1 billion in 2008. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of ongoing apprentice and trainee commencements in Queensland increased by over 28,000 per annum.

In government, Queensland Labor embarked upon the most extensive hospital modernisation program Queensland had ever experienced. Under Labor, Queenslanders will have a brand new $1.4 billion Queensland Children's Hospital, bringing together the history, skills and expertise of the staff of the Royal Children's Hospital and Mater Children's Hospital into one purpose-built facility. In addition, $45.6 million is being spent on a new children's emergency inpatient and outpatient service at the Prince Charles Hospital.

A defining difference between the Queensland Labor government and its conservative opponents was the protection of the Queensland environment. The Bligh Labor government led an agenda of extraordinary reform in the area of environmental protection and sustainability. In addition, Labor dragged Queensland's waste management system out of the Dark Ages. In moving this amendment I would also like, as the member for Bragg has done, to take this opportunity to congratulate the Queensland government and wish it well. I also recognise the outstanding contribution that Anna Bligh and Queensland Labor have made to that state and this nation.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (12:04): I rise in support of the member for Bragg's motion. I congratulate Campbell Newman and the Liberal National Party on their historic win in Queensland. They do it differently in Queensland, and how unique for a non-member of the parliament to lead a coalition party to such a stunning victory. I also congratulate a previous leader, who is now a senior minister, Mr John-Paul Langbroek. I was part of his original election team when he first stood for parliament some years ago. Also in Queensland they use a different voting system, the optional preferential system. I think we need to have a very good look at that. Most people in Queensland vote without registering any other preference and it works. It cuts out some of the minor parties and it cuts out some of the silly deals that they do.

As we know, Queensland was a boom state under the previous Borbidge and Bjelke-Petersen governments. A lot of industry left South Australia and went to Queensland. I know that many of the commercial offices that used to be in Adelaide left and went to Brisbane. Companies like John Deere left because it was more attractive there. The Bjelke-Petersen government at the time did what Tom Playford did and made sure it was very attractive to do business in Queensland.

Anna Bligh, as the previous speaker said, was the leader and was on a trip to nowhere when she resumed office. I will say she did a great job during the disastrous Queensland floods. We all saw her on TV and she did a really good job. Also, Peter Beattie—I knew him quite well. I spent time with him at the constitutional thing in the year 2000 and he was very good at what he did; a very good and popular leader up-front. However, both of those leaders changed the economic direction of Queensland and now we can see the result: the largest political swing in Australia's history. The minister shakes his head; I believe it is.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Swing, no; result, yes.

Mr VENNING: Result, yes; not swing. I stand corrected and I will check that later. Certainly I think we can all learn from what happened in Queensland because I believe that this was the result that should have happened at the last election but it did not so what we have ended up with now is this result.

To be honest, it is not the best result for the country to have swings like this and to have a parliament like this. It is not good. It was not good for us in 1993 to have a majority of all but 10 because the governing party has difficulty with such a large backbench. It is always best for a government to govern with a majority. In our instance, three or four votes; in their instance, of course, about 10. They do not have an upper house there, and I have an open mind about that, but certainly they have a very strong majority.

I think Campbell would be quite concerned about how he is going to look after a rather large backbench who all have ambitions. We know that a fair percentage of them, being realistic, are going to be one-term MPs. That happened to us in 1993. When you sneak in, you are going to sneak out again, too, because we know the pendulum always swings.

I think it is good for politics that we have had a change of government in Queensland. Congratulations to Campbell, John-Paul and all the members we know very well; they have worked hard and toiled through. One thing we can learn from this is that unity is strength, because when these parties decided to fight on their own they were never going to be successful. It was okay when Bjelke-Petersen was there because he was so strong and powerful and he creamed the Libs, but now you have the parties operating as 50 per cent parties. Under one banner, success, particularly under the optional preferential voting system. We should consider that here because, above anything else, I believe in the two-party system and that if you do not vote for us you can vote for them and forget the rest. Sorry, member for Mount Gambier, you are not one of us but we will work on that!

I believe the system has worked well. Only the other night we discussed that the system works well with two major parties. I think that we should look at optional preferential. Even though Ren DeGaris would never have agreed, I think it is time we looked at it again. Congratulations and thank you to the member for Bragg.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (12:08): I thank the other speakers for their contributions to this motion. If the member for Little Para had concluded his proposed amendment by acknowledging Anna Bligh for her commitment to public office as premier she is entitled to that and I would have accepted it, but to have presented to us as a parliament some kind of opportunity to give her an accolade for what she has done for the people of Queensland in infrastructure and the like defies comprehension given the absolute removal from office of the government which she led.

I think people who undertake leadership roles—in fact, all of us as members of parliament—need to be acknowledged from time to time for their contribution to public office. That is important. Premiers particularly have a large and very significant responsibility on behalf of their whole state. I have no axe to grind with Ms Bligh; I give her credit. However, I will not stand by to see a situation where a commission of inquiry in her own state—apart from the judgement of electors on election day—has found the most appalling, wanton abandonment of responsibility and neglect (reckless, in my view).

I think the commissioner also recognised the failure of her government to act to release water from dams. This has left her state ravaged, with a loss of infrastructure and, even worse, the loss of life. The teams of lawyers that are going to swarm around that past conduct and lack of attention to protecting their own state will not need me to add any words; however, I will say this: it will be very expensive for Queensland. It has already paid the highest price: people have lost their lives and families have lost their livelihoods, their homes and the like.

I simply could not support an amendment which in some way gives recognition to the perpetrators who so wantonly abandoned their responsibilities, which extended the damage caused by a natural disaster. In rejecting the amendment, I do thank Anna Bligh for her commitment and for the sacrifice that she (and her family) has made by presenting herself to public office. However, I simply cannot support the amendment that has been put today.

I will also say that it is the rest of Australia that has had to pick up the cost to support the rebuilding of Queensland. We have already heard the Gillard government's criticism of the Queensland government in failing to properly insure infrastructure, and we have heard of the actual cost that is now having to be met by people across the country in rebuilding this infrastructure. I am told that funding has been allocated, as is necessary whenever there is a rebuild of a state after a disaster like this, irrespective of whether or not they should have insured. However, it is Australian taxpayers who are picking up the bill to rebuild that state—rebuild the bridges, restore the roads, ensure that access is reintroduced, rebuild the hospitals, etc.—to enable those communities to start again. That is something that we have all joined in.

In some documents I read yesterday, I noted that the Rail, Tram and Bus Union was under a bit of fire this week over giving a donation to a football club; however, last year it gave a $5,000 donation to the flood victims in Queensland, apparently without the permission of its members. Leaving that aside, all sorts of institutions, organisations and individuals across the country have joined together in trying to make sure that Queensland has a fresh start.

The people of Queensland decided months ago that they wanted a fresh start at the governance level, and I think we should be acknowledging that today and not trying to introduce some political addendum, which is not only inconsistent with an amendment but inconsistent with the flavour of the motion, so I reject that.

The house divided on the amendment:

Majority of 5 for the ayes.

Amendment thus carried; motion as amended carried.