Beattie retires

Peter Beattie, Labor premier of Queensland since 1998 announced his retirement just 12 months after being re-elected for his fourth term. Beattie is one of Australia’s most outstanding politicians, standing head and shoulders over those in his own party, the pathetic state opposition, and to some extent even his current fellow premiers.

Beattie, both in his long political career in the tough factionalised world of the Queensland Labor Party, and as a member of parliament since 1989, has shown outstanding leadership qualities and great political skills. Perseverance and tenacity in the face of seemingly unwinnable situations, along with great tactical abilities in exploiting the politics of situations, mark Beattie’s style. Combined with tremendous energy it means Beattie never gave up.

These abilities were evident in Beattie’s early days in the Queensland Labor Party. When the ALP were in opposition in Queensland for what seemed forever (1957-89), as branch member and then as Party Secretary, Beattie fought for federal Labor executive intervention to reform the decrepit faction ridden party. He stuck at it when there seemed no chance for a Labor revival and when others would have sought careers elsewhere.

When Labor under the leadership of Wayne Goss finally toppled the National Party in 1989, Beattie’s own prospects were limited. He chaired the Criminal Justice parliamentary committee, often being offside with the government because he defended the new Fitzgerald inspired institutions of public accountability. Beattie was seen as too much his own man to be made a minister.

Beattie only became minister in the dying days of the Goss Government. However, when the Goss Government fell in 1996, Labor at last turned to Beattie. There was no one else, but it seemed like a poisoned chalice.

However, within two years the incompetent Coalition government was out of office. It was not just Beattie’s campaigning abilities that won Labor office, but given the cliff-hanger results, it was his skills in gaining and keeping support from independent parliamentarians. Goss could never have exercised such persuasion and political agility as Beattie did during that difficult first term in power.

Beattie had learnt that while the Goss Government had been reformist and process and policy driven it had lost the art of good politics, alienated the public service and seemed distant from the electorate.

In office, Beattie again and again was able to engineer revival when faced different crises such as allegations of vote rigging by some Labor members, the overseas doctors’ scandal, and the recent water issue. Beattie took charge of each situation and exploited every opportunity.

The results are there for all to see. Landslide majorities for Labor in the 2001, 2004 and 2006 state elections.

But there have been costs.

Beattie’s premiership, in keeping with his personality and immense abilities was the most presidential in Australia. Beattie was involved in every issue, dominated press releases across all portfolios and sought every photo opportunity. Ministers just drew the curtains for the real star, Beattie, to perform. Why, even recently, amid the local government amalgamation crisis, Beattie put out a press release about the government’s euthanasia policy on cats and dogs! Why bother? It is because Beattie believes no one else can do it as well and like all great performers he needs and feeds on constant applause.

The result is a lopsided government, of overcentralised control and of top down decision making. This was most vividly shown when in relation to local government amalgamation crisis Beattie threatened to sack those local governments wanting to have a referendum on this issue. But as with so many Beattie initiatives the policy had to be reversed.

The Beattie Government has been too much about politics and too little about long term policy as repeated policy backflips highlight. It is also seen by Beattie’s hyperactivity, the lack of long term strategies and the constant “discovery” of the latest “crisis”. The result has not only been limited policy achievements, but considerable wasting of public funds in attempts to fix problems that had long been evident.

Indeed, some suggest the Beattie Government creates its own crises over every issue as this gave Beattie the chance to perform, to show us his stuff. The mishandling of local government amalgamation highlights this. The way it was done was unnecessary. Beattie has seen it through, but at what costs not just to the government’s electoral prospects but to good democratic policy process.

Even Beattie’s Smart State initiative that has sought to try to diversify the resources and rural industry dominated Queensland economy is open to serious review. The Smart State idea was hardly new. The Goss Government had “smart” initiatives in relation to science and technology initiatives, and although Beattie through unrelenting promotion has made the Smart State more than its predecessors, is it anything more than just a collection of disconnected relabelling of existing programs and some excessive funding to the University of Queensland? After all, Queensland’s largest export is still coal!

Beattie will be missed. His energy and political charm cannot be matched by his successor Anna Bligh. However, Ms Bligh should not try to emulate Beattie. She brings her own set of skills to the premiership that may lead to a more stable approach to running the state and managing policy issues. Anna Bligh may just be what Queensland needs as we enter a period of growing problems with the international economy and other issues emerge on the policy agenda.