Although FON remains politically non partisan, we will be actively supporting the LNP at the State election next year, unless Labor agrees to facilitate the return of local government to Noosa. While unlikely, stranger things have happened in politics. After all Peter Beattie was a multiple gold medal winner in performing the perfect ‘back flip’. As the polls continue to move against Anna Bligh and her government, perhaps we will see just how supple she is at mastering this difficult manoeuvre.
With Labor State governments in deep trouble around the nation, Queensland is cherry ripe to be picked off at the next election. As the day of reckoning approaches, the outrage in regional Queensland over forced council mergers will have a significant impact on the outcome. As Jeff Kennett discovered after doing a similar thing in Victoria, you can’t govern using totalitarian methods in a democracy, without paying the ultimate price at the ballot box.
Polling trends in Queensland show a steady decline in the Bligh’s popularity, with the LNP now having a real chance of success in next year’s election. The merging of the two conservative parties is providing stability and cohesive policies, none more so than giving communities the right to re-establish their own local government.  Lawrence Springborg and his LNP party have thrown regional governments a lifeline in promising to re-build relationships with Queensland local governments. A breath of fresh air after 10 years of suffocation under Labor.  LNP policy recognises local government as the frontline of democracy and wants it ‘doubly entrenched’ in the Queensland and Australian Constitution’s, so do we.
So, watch for the Bligh makeover by the 300 odd ‘spin doctors’ employed to keep her in office. They would be mobilising as we speak, to bombard us with promises to solve the problems---Health, Hospitals, Education, Transport, Infrastructure and Ports—ignored over the past 10 years.
She is clearly rattled having just launched a personal attack on Springborg for not working weekends. Not only was is this a false claim, as Springborg has only spent two weekends at home since becoming LNP leader, but an unprecedented attack on the private life of a political opponent by a State Premier.
Meanwhile, FON has formulated a ‘battle plan’, aimed at keeping the issue alive reminding constituents around the State of how their right to self government was capriciously removed without consultation or polling of the electorate. We will be reinforcing the axiom that no regional government can ever effectively represent constituents of multiple shires each with their own culture, values and special interests.
Current examples include the Sunshine Coast Regional Council’s reluctance to take responsibility for removing accumulated rubbish lining approach roads to Noosa claiming demarcation issues with Main Roads. Fortunately this unsightly mess has been cleaned up but it’s an example of big government procrastination. A similar issue has evolved with the Noosa River over enlargement of the Jet Ski area without any consultation with other users. Again, there is the demarcation issue as the decision was apparently made by Marine Safety Queensland, even though the former Noosa council resisted enlarging this exclusion zone for years. The point being, we need our own council to adjudicate issues of this nature on behalf of the whole community.
Equally concerning is the news the SCRC has deferred expenditure of $60.0 million covering 800 odd projects because they are still bogged down sorting out amalgamation problems. Not helped by the Beattie/Bligh directive banning redundancies leading to three people doing the same job, in many instances.   Paralysis by analysis!  Â
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Bob Anset Friends of Noosa
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