Mike Ahern – premier of Queensland but not a leader

Ahern's other claim to fame was his resistance to fundamentalist Christians concerning the Queensland education curriculum. Yet given how our national curriculum has since been so colonised by more extreme ideologies, that success needs to be tempered by closer assessment of what he criticised.

Nor when the crazy 'Joh for Canberra' campaign was underway which destroyed the federal coalition, caused John Howard to lose the 1987 election, and saw outstanding Nationals like Senator Stan Collard sacked for not toeing the Joh line there was hardly a public murmur of dissent from Ahern.

Clearly, throughout his career Ahern like most others in the Nationals had been happy to ride on the coat-tails of Bjelke-Petersen's seeming unlimited political success.

It was only when Joh's electoral magic had clearly faded following his failed "Joh for Canberra" debacle, when the whole party finally turned against Joh, did Ahern act: then, and only then did he at last challenge Joh and seize the glittering prize of premier of Queensland.

Of course, Ahern, now as premier became the inheritor of the Bjelke-Petersen legacy. The glittering prize was about to become a very heavy burden and a faded prize. In particular, it was Ahern who had to deal with the fallout from the Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry that had been appointed in 1987 and was released in July 1989 amid intense media and public attention.

Ahern showed no authority, no political nous and no imagination in responding to the report. He had accepted all its recommendations, "lock, stock and barrel" before the report had even been released. When handed the report he looked like a rabbit caught in the lights. Those close to Ahern argued he vacillated and couldn't stick to any agreed strategy on how to handle the Fitzgerald report. At a time when leadership was most needed, it was found wanting with Ahern.

As we saw later with Premier Peter Beattie's handling of the commission of inquiry into the overseas doctors' scandal in 2005, adroit leadership, determination, and sheer gall can reverse a political slide from a public inquiry report.

It was Ahern's seeming helplessness in responding to the Fitzgerald Report that the National Party in sheer terror turned to (some might say turned back to) Russell Cooper, a traditional National Party leader. He relieved Ahern of his premiership in September 1989. The Nationals still lost badly in 1989 but governments have had worse results than the Nationals at that election.

Mourn for Mike Ahern – of course we must.

He was a decent man. And in normal political times would have been regarded as one of the better ministers who graced the Queensland government frontbench. But politics, and especially Queensland politics, is never normal, is it? Leadership involves a rare combination of skills – knowledge, courage, timing, and the willingness to stand alone – in other words to lead. It is far more than just being a good minister which is largely about being administratively competent to succeed.

While Anthony Eden resigned in disgrace having lied to parliament an abject failure following the Suez debacle, with Ahern it was just failure. Events, not directly of his making, overwhelmed him. Ahern was the kind of politician who meant well but did not know how to put that into practical policy or convincing politics.