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!
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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.
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