Party preferred
By Dave Riley
@column = They've gone and done something they're not supposed to do. They were warned. They knew the consequences. But the people of Queensland got carried away and have protesteth too much.
@column = It's one thing to complain. It's OK to whinge a little. But almost toppling Gossnost is going too far.
@column = After all that the Queensland Labor government has done for them too.
@column = Doesn't it make you mad? NIMBY this and NIMBY that. If responsible government can't operate in a Queenslander's back yard, where else can it be expected to work?
@column = But try telling that to a bunch of banana benders. Once the locals are given a pencil and a ballot paper, they become negligent. They kept voting Joh Bjelke-Petersen in when a perfectly good Labor government was waiting in the wings all that time. It took them years to finally get it right. And now, they undo all the good work done over the last six years.
@column = As we tally up the irreparable damage to the Labor project, let us not forget who were the agents of this disaster. Maybe we misread the electorate. But didn't we promise it the world! And then it goes and bites the hand that feeds it.
@column = No, the party did its best. It kept to its reform agenda. We were remaking Queensland without blowing out the budget.
@column = The real culprit — what did us the most damage — was green myopia. In politics you need the long view. In politics you need the broad view. And good politics can only rest on a vision for everyone — and Queensland enterprise especially. Those road busters and those greenoid sects are nothing but a bunch of chlorophyll junkies who can't see beyond the herbage on the next hill. They did in the Labor Party. You know why? I'll tell you: because it needs to be said: those whingeing NIMBY types were nothing but tools of the Coalition.
@column = We can say that because the broad community speaks to us through conscientious and professional outfits such as the leading environmental bodies. They're on our side — thank God and Graham Richardson — the side of good government.
@column = It's no good being bitter about the shabby treatment meted out to us — it's all just water under the Storey Bridge. But I fear that there is a perception in the electorate that there is no difference between us and the Coalition. I can't imagine where such a cynical notion came from. I have even heard Wayne Goss being referred to as "Son of Joh". That's terribly unfair to our Wayney-poos.
@column = I cannot stress this too much: we are different. How many times must the Labor Party say it? Don't go getting us mixed up with the other outfit. We are the ones who care, the ones who are concerned about what happens to the community. And finally, we are the ones who matter.
@column = So when it comes down to the line, don't you really prefer us to them? We're on your side, for crissake. It's just that sometimes you have to take the hard decisions and ride roughshod over sectional interests.
@column = We know that the Queensland people are sorry for what they did. The ALP is merciful. We can forgive and try to forget this unfortunate incident. However, the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party does not want to see it happen again.
@column = So be warned. And next time: vote 1,ALP.