I’m generally a bit of a fan of Peter Beattie’s but his most recent foray suggests he’s losing more than his hair. Beattie has chosen to celebrate his life by releasing his autobiography. This at a time when a Commission of Inquiry is hearing allegations that patients were murdered in one of the state’s hospitals so that “Dr Death” – Jayant Patel – could operate on more patients so as to turn a higher “profit” for the hospital.
Voters must be wondering where his priorities are that he can find time to write a book about himself while around him the state he holds in trust is descending into bureaucratically sanctioned pandemonium (Queensland, perfect one day, Paradise Lost the next).
The Opposition Parties are salivating at the prospect of an easy entree into government. They say that there are other problems to come out of the Gold and Sunshine Coast hospitals and Labor will be wiped out in many areas as a result.
Beattie may be putting his faith in the fact that many voters do not see the Opposition Parties as representing a viable alternative. That doesn’t necessarily matter. Rob Borbidge was at 19% approval in the vanity polls before he won in 1995, and he and Joan Sheldon had been written off by the Courier Mail as the “easy beats”. Low poll ratings are almost a pre-requisite for successfully winning government from opposition, as this article by Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington illustrates.
And the title of Beattie’s magnus opus? Doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence either. It is Making A Difference. Sound familiar? It should if you’re from Queensland. It is a variation on the Coalition’s winning theme in 1995 where the pitch to voters was “You can make a difference”.
Puts an entirely different light on my quip that without me Beattie wouldn’t be Premier of Queensland – Wayne Goss would have won in 1995 and still be there.