Have a look at the new Liberal National Party website. Sure looks good and they seem serious about winning government.
They used to say that the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government believed strongly in three things , development, development and development. Thats what the core philosophy of the LNP seems to be.
Which does make sense for a State government. I'm a believer in federalism. To me the current popular trend for more central government makes little sense, why would anyone assume a Canberra bureaucrat or politician can do a better job then a local leader? As well competitive federalism means new policies can be tried and tested. A central government would make it harder to expose bad policies.
I suppose the answer to my question is that we don't have political state leaders but state managers. The state premiers have degenerated into middle managers types happy to receive the feds money and do their bidding. Any problems they can blame the federal government for not giving them enough money.
The Premiers of the previous generation understood they were there to develop the State not just manage it , and it wasn't just Joh and the conservatives either. Remember Neville Wran and the "Wran the Man" ads with Neville running around in a hard hat? They understood that by developing the resources of the state the tax base would expand allowing more expenditure on schools, hospitals etc.
The next Queensland election is next year, I'll be watching the results with interest.
They used to say that the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government believed strongly in three things , development, development and development. Thats what the core philosophy of the LNP seems to be.
Which does make sense for a State government. I'm a believer in federalism. To me the current popular trend for more central government makes little sense, why would anyone assume a Canberra bureaucrat or politician can do a better job then a local leader? As well competitive federalism means new policies can be tried and tested. A central government would make it harder to expose bad policies.
I suppose the answer to my question is that we don't have political state leaders but state managers. The state premiers have degenerated into middle managers types happy to receive the feds money and do their bidding. Any problems they can blame the federal government for not giving them enough money.
The Premiers of the previous generation understood they were there to develop the State not just manage it , and it wasn't just Joh and the conservatives either. Remember Neville Wran and the "Wran the Man" ads with Neville running around in a hard hat? They understood that by developing the resources of the state the tax base would expand allowing more expenditure on schools, hospitals etc.
The next Queensland election is next year, I'll be watching the results with interest.
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