Some people think Premier Peter Beattie has lost it. Based on some of the things he has been saying lately, they could be right. For example, he blamed Queenslanders’ unhealthy lifestyles for the hospital crisis. Apparently eating muesli and walking every morning means you’ll never be sick. Hmmm. Insult as a re-election technique – it’s innovative.
Now he’s introducing 1000 new pokies to raise $55 million in extra health revenue. He justifies it saying it is “an increase in charges on sin”.
So, he creates a whole new cadre of sinners, tempts them into giving him $55 million, and then says he is doing a good deed because, in effect, they’re doing the wrong thing, so they should be penalised. Presumably if Lucifer were troubled by ethics he could justify his activities via a similar moral tautology too. That’s fine for Satan, he doesn’t have to run for office!
Best advice on offer to Beattie is to read Dennis Atkins column from last Saturday’s Courier Mail, to which I unfortunately can’t find a link. However, what it says in essence is, “Peter, stop taling about health, try not to get in the media every day, find a bad cop to make the hits on the opposition, spread the workload around amongst your ministers, and concentrate on the Opposition’s problems (and create some for them if you can).