By Dave Riley
After 40 years of almost unbroken government in Queensland, the ALP entered the political wilderness in 1957 after a crippling split. In 1989 it regained office under the leadership of Wayne Goss.
Now, despite his determination last year to relaunch Gossnost by winning Oxley back from the Hansonites, Goss is set to resign his seat at the next poll.
Goss gained party leadership during the crisis years of 1987/88 when Joh Bjelke Petersen's enforced departure from the state's premiership caused a spill in all Queensland parliamentary parties. With the Fitzgerald inquiry branding the government corrupt, the ALP romped into office the following year — despite a gerrymander which it had always blamed for its electoral losses.
With the National and Liberal parties demoralised, some previous government ministers serving jail sentences and a Labor leader who could muster a popularity quotient of over 70%, it's hard to imagine a better beginning for the rebirth of Laborism in Queensland.
But Labor's victory, despite the accompanying fanfare, had more to do with the crisis in the Tory camp than the platform it proposed to govern by. While Labor brought Queensland "democracy" into line with the norms established in other states, especially the right to demonstrate, in all other areas it moved slowly or not at all.
This was a government of restructuring, not reform. Unhampered by the cronyism and sectional interests that beleaguered the Petersen administration, Queensland Labor set about corporatising the state, from energy production to transport to health care.
The Goss administration's head down-tail up approach for business meant it failed to protect its rear. As organised labour, Murris and women became primary targets for attack, the gloss on Goss began to fade. Labor supporters became cynical as ALP pragmatism deferred or ignored promises. As hope for any meaningful change declined, sections of the green movement offered to support a return of the National and Liberal parties if they could outmatch Labor's performance on the environment.
By the 1986 election, people had had enough. Forget all the malarky about how the ALP lost office through devious electioneering. The government of Wayne Goss was thrown out because it failed to fulfil expectations.
The ALP never completed its "reform" agenda and the Borbidge government has managed to survive as a caretaker administration. To replace this lame duck outfit, Labor just has to sit on its hands and wait.
An ex-premier such as Goss is someone the state Labor Party could well do without. No one wants to be reminded how bad his government became. If you can't kick an old mate upstairs (to Canberra via Oxley), it's best to pension him off, praise him as a great Queenslander and wish him well in his future business enterprises.