Trust never sleeps - the very early morning on election day

Here's Leichhardt LNP slave Shane Ariel, helping set up the polling booth at the Redlynch State School.

I captured this photo at 2:15am, as a fury of campaign workers crawl the region. Liberal, Labor and The Greens take over the town in the dead of night, as campaigners jockey for position to get banners in the most strategic placement.

Fellow LNPer, Jake Robertson, said Shane was "striking a pose for freedom."

Saturday SoapBlog: Chris Forsberg: Alas, a lack of Liberalism - and Nationalism

Public relations and communications consultant and long-time political observer, Chris Forsberg takes aim at what he calls a lack of liberalism - and nationalism on offer for Far North Queensland voters.

A spruiker by day and political prestidigitator by night, Chris has worked with independent MP Bob Katter and election campaigns for Cairns mayor Val Schier. Chris Forsberg is also the publicity officer for the new North Queensland Party. May God help them both.

Condolences are due - overdue - to all Far Northerners who voted for the Liberal National Party - that forced marriage of two totally incompatible parties that brands itself as the "LNP."

Revelations on CairnsBlog and in The Cairns Post that things are not at all well with the four local branches of the LNP are nothing new to Far North Queensland political junkies who have spent a few years monitoring the local conservatives' collective determination to self-destruct.

To comprehend the latest outrage, it is necessary to examine the chaotic state of the local Liberal Party before the merger. Party activists like Diedre and Colin Ford and [Cairns Councillor] Alan Blake alienated a fair share of rank and file members – and contributed to a long list of failed campaigns.

Electable candidates like economist Bill Cummings, tourism operator Steven Welch, Port Authority guru Bob Manning and lawyer Miles Thompson, were given no chance at all - because their notional Liberal supporters and campaign workers were more focused on arguing amongst themselves than getting their candidates 'over-the-line'.

Warren Entsch was smart enough to realise that he could never win Leichhardt by relying solely on his party's support - Wazza worked National Party networks throughout the region to achieve his three successive and well-deserved wins.

Yet Warren blew it too - by insisting that Charlie McKillop take his place. When Kevin Byrne correctly cautioned that Ms. McKillop was not an electable candidate - many local Liberals rounded-on Kevin Byrne, white-anting his mayoral re-election campaign, contributing substantially to Val Schier's un-expected victory.

These same former Liberals now criticize Cairns mayor Val Schier at every opportunity - conveniently forgetting the fact that they contributed fulsomely to her win.

Meanwhile, back in the bush, the moribund National Party was still licking it's wounds from the One Nation phenomenon – and fell prey to a suggestion from Lawrence Springborg that they should merge with the Liberals.

The Gnats weren't travelling all that well - even safe ministerial seats like Tom Gilmore's Tablelands had been lost to One Nation.

In spite of the spin from LNP headquarters that the merger has been a thundering success, the fact is precisely the opposite: a faction-divided Liberal Party has collided; with an old-fashioned agrarian socialist party, which at least wasn't split in to squabbling factions as were the Liberals. But nor was it anywhere near 'at the top of it's game' - had it had been so (as it was in the 'Joh era') a merger would never have been considered.

The Nationals themselves at the time of the merger were not fully aware of the bitterness and back-stabbing that had become 'normal' within the Liberal Party. The Libs then, and perhaps still, had a 'Sicilian faction' - a group of Italian-Australian MPs and senior party officials who wielded in-ordinate influence over party affairs, much to the disgust of Anglo-Saxon-descendent Liberals.

Note please that no Liberal could be accused of racism in respect of their loathing of players in the 'Sicilian faction' - the arguments were always over policies, personalities and, especially, perks - to their credit, the anti-Sicilian faction Libs never referred to their adversaries as 'wogs' or 'dagoes'. Well, never in public anyway.

These factional rivalries were reflected in all Liberal Party branches throughout Queensland - and no where more so than in FNQ. It isn't a case of these rivalries merely continuing to this day - they have intensified, dramatically, fueled in this latest instance by Dennis Quick's seemingly self-appointed role as Warren Entsch's campaign manager.

15 seriously aggrieved LNP members catalogued a litany of allegations against Mr Quick last September - and forwarded them to LNP state president Bruce McIver. Mr Quick claims he has since been "cleared" by an internal investigation - and most likely he has been.

Reason: former Nationals 'have the numbers' in the Brisbane LNP hierarchy - and Mr. McIver and/or the 'internal investigators' may well have thought that exonerating Mr. Quick would meet the approval of his fellow former Gnats. Mr Quick served the National Party well in his extended tenure as Townsville-based 'regional co-ordinator' - the LNP finding against Mr Quick could have antagonized countless ex-Gnats who now rest, most uncomfortably, in the LNP.

Regrettably, Mr Quick is not the ideal campaign manager for any Liberal candidate - not even one as Gnat-friendly as Warren Entsch. To describe Mr. Quick's win/loss record as campaign manager over many campaigns as "mixed" would be charitable - he's lost many more than he has won - including Kevin Byrne's unexpected defeat at the last Council poll.

Kevin Byrne snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on that occasion - and Mr Quick, along with the many Liberals who turned on Byrne, as payback for his perfectly sensible cautions relating to Charlie McKillop's candidacy, share responsibility for mayor Byrne's demise.

No doubt, every LNP member and supporter means well and acts in good faith - but the sad fact is that the local branches, as much as the entire state apparatus, are in a total shambles. Mistrust and deceit are the order of the day - every day - the back-stabbing and bull-shitting has reached depths that are nothing short of outright disgrace....
________________________________

Precious few LNP folk are 'liberal' in the proper sense of the word, which conveys tolerance and understanding - and nothing any LNP spokesperson has come-up within years could be described as 'national', the word that implies an all-embracing country-wide engagement.
______________________________________________

Indeed, the 'national' reach of the LNP goes no further than Brisbane - the Nationals are no longer major players in Canberra, where even their Liberal coalition 'partners' regard them as a rural rump.

Voters BEWARE - the LNP is not supportable until such time as it gets its act together, eases-up on the back-biting and back-stabbing, and re-invents itself as a credible opposition, to both the Bligh regime in Brisbane and the Ruddites in Canberra.

And that's going to take a long while yet.

But all that said - let no-one take any of the above as a piece of pro-Labor propaganda. Labor is creating havoc across the land with its big-government 'we know what's best for you' ethos - and running-up massive debt in the process. But at least they keep their equally bitter factional squabbles 'in-house', and have mechanisms in-place that ensures a 'common party position' after the various factions has, in relatively courteous fashion, 'negotiated' compromise outcomes.

The LNP can't do this - they're too bogged-down with blood-letting and back-biting to negotiate compromise - and, at the end of the day, all politics is compromise.

Little wonder North Queenslanders are flocking to the new North Queensland Party in droves - too young to have factions, too new to have 'baggage', the NQP is focused only on the needs of the region.

The very fact that 15 seriously pinged-off LNP operatives have to send their complaints to the head honcho in Brisbane speaks volumes as to who is running the show - and where LNP priorities lie. Likewise, in the less likely event of 15 Laborites having similar grievances, they too would have to lodge their complaints in Brisbane. And, no doubt, who-ever the subject of those Labor complaints was, he/she too would be 'exonerated' by head office.

Uniquely, the North Queensland Party is accountable to no-one who doesn't live here in the Deep North - and is unquestionably the only political party that genuinely understands the North. It's not National, it's not Liberal – in fact it has no leanings to either left or right - and it has already learned from our local LNP how not to manage a branch structure.

In 'what not to do' politically, our local LNP have supplied a splendid example.

• You can email Chris Forsberg and ask him the meaning of life and who to vote for.

Entsch to run against Turnour, 2010 Federal election

This afternoon, after a marathon two-hour, 15 minute closed meeting at the Cairns Shangri-La hotel, the Liberal National Party faithful selected Warren Entsch by a generous majority to run as their Leichhardt candidate in the Federal election next year.

As CairnsBlog first revealed on Monday, Warren Entsch put his hat in the ring for pre-selection a week ago, after sending out a letter to members.

Former Prime Minister John Howard, who was rumoured to attend today's pre-selection, sent a letter of support for Entsch.

A Party insider said there was rigourous debate.

"There were a few questions from the floor, but it was pretty clear cut. All three candidates spoke well, and Warren was rather impressive as you'd expect," she said

59-year-old Warren Entsch will contest the seat of Leichhardt against first-term Labor member, Jim Turnour, who holds one of the strongest majorities in the country. In 2007 Turnour enjoyed the largest swing in the country at 14.3%, and now commands a comfortable 10.3% lead over his nearest rival.

At the last Federal election, the Liberals, who had not joined forces with the Nationals at that time, ran Charlie McKillop as their candidate as former member Warren Entsch retired. He had held the seat from 1996, when he beat Peter Dodd, who only had one term as the ALP member.

However, throughout the 2007 campaign, Warren wasn't far away. The day before the late November election, his voice was used to make hundreds of telephone calls to swinging voters, in an effort to show he was still involved. They sensed the departure of Warren was going to lose them the election, so in a political first, the Liberals printed road-side billboards with both Entsch and McKillop on them.

"I'm taking the unprecedented step of phoning you personally, to ask you to vote for Charlie McKillop...," Entsch said in the recorded message, that seemed to annoy more than it pleased.

However, Entsch's departure seemed to weigh in Labor's favour as they were enjoying a nationwide backlash against the incumbent Howard government and their Work Choices legislation.

McKillop picked up 38.8% against Turnour's 43.1%, a stunning victory that tipped Labor power in Far North Queensland closer to their trifecta, which was achieved after Schier's win as Mayor of Cairns in March the following year.

Entsch's political career saw his as parliamentary secretary for Industry, Science and Resources and also Tourism. In the last three years of his tenure, he campaigned for gay rights, often a sole voice in the Liberals.

Entsch says that since since stepping down in 2007, he has become increasingly alarmed and frustrated by the current Labor government and its local elected representatives agendas which are "only to the detriment of the Leichhardt community."

"The Cape York communities’ economic future is being traded off through Wild Rivers legislation and the proposed blanket World Heritage listing proposal and our recreational and commercial fishing industries are under serious threat through a proposed closure of the entire Coral Sea region," Entsch says. "This is so Labor can continue their ongoing placation of radical Greens to the detriment of our local community and residents."

This week Entsch strongly criticised the Federal Government as it continues to commit Australians to an ever-increasing and unsustainable debt level through its stimulus package. He says that community initiatives that are extremely cost-effective and have provided tremendous benefits to our Far Northern community are being dismantled and de-funded.

"There is no worse example of inept policy making and handling than the recent loss of the FNQ Area Consultative Committee, acknowledged as the best in Australia, which in the last five years has generated some $75 million into our local economy," Entsch says.

"Funding for the Cairns Youth Mentoring Scheme was also scrapped without a word of protest from any of the elected Labor representatives and no viable alternative offered," he said.

"The recent de-funding of the Aboriginal and Islander Alcohol Relief Service at Douglas House and Rose Colless Haven will see displaced indigenous people with alcohol related issues back on our streets in larger numbers," Entsch said.

Eight State LNP party executives flew up from Brisbane for the Leichhardt pre-selection in Cairns this afternoon, displaying their importance of gaining the seat back.

In 1998 Entsch kept the anti-Coalition swing down to 0.5%, the smallest in Queensland. He achieved a 2.3% swing to him in 2001 and added another 3.6% in 2004. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up 14.3% of the electorate, the third highest in Australia.

Other candidates contesting today's ballot were Jen Sackley and Richard Gibbons, director of a fire protection company. Sackley was a member of the Democrats and also stood as an independent against Warren Entsch in 2004, when she gained 4.9%. Now the former nurse has a career in real estate, with strong connections in Cape York aboriginal communities.

Former LNP candidates at the last State election, Barron River's Wendy Richardson, and Mulgrave's Vic Black, led the campaign for Jen Sackley to win the party nomination today.

LNP office officially opens

Get out the top hat, tails and tiaras for the official opening of the LNP Far North Queensland office on Monday 25th at 9.30am.

You may even get to say hello to Bruce McIver, party President or John-Paul Langbroek, Queensland's Liberal National Party leader. This star-studded event promises to be the highlight of the social season.

The office, on the corner of Mulgrave Road and Collinson Street, Westcourt, will be open every day, telephone 4031 8030.


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Mona Mona: a better story

CairnsBlog columnist Syd Walker, a long-time local commentator in the diverse Kuranda region, critiques Cairns Post's Gavin King's view of Mona Mona and wonders why he simply doesn't get it.

Gavin King writes opinion pieces, mostly about politics, for the Cairns Post, one of Rupert Murdoch’s innumerable regional newspapers in Australia. His column in the Post appears under the pretentious title ‘The King’.

King seems to revel in cynicism. One suspects he’d rather be in Canberra, covering the spiteful wrangles of national politics and writing about egos as big as his own. But perhaps he can’t stand cold weather, or maybe he has parking ticket warrants outstanding in NSW? At any event, it seems he’s stuck in Cairns. And we, who live in Far North Queensland, seem to be stuck with him, along with his pretensions, crass opinions and naff attitudes.

Last week, a media release from Sarah Isaacs of the Barron River Greens began with the words “The Greens usually welcome new National Park initiatives but find themselves in the ironic situation of opposing the formation of one on the old Mona Mona reserve”.

It’s true, there is irony in The Greens support for a better deal for local Aboriginal folk in this case, because it led them, uncharacteristically, to oppose a National Park expansion. The reasoning was that while new National Park additions are welcome, this would have been a case of taking away land previously promised to local Aboriginal people. That would be a dirty trick on folk who are already, to say the least, long-suffering. That’s why the Greens’ media release used the word ‘ironic’.

But King writes his story about this as though he personally invented irony. It’s a typical hit piece, in which he rubbishes his usual targets: woolly-headed greens, bleeding-heart pinkos, good-for-nothing natives and naïve locals. Perhaps it never occurs to him that there’s more to life than cynicism? Maybe, in his case, there isn’t?

Mr King accuses the local Barron River member Steve Wettenhall of “politics at its purest and scummiest level” for getting the cabinet decision reversed so all the Mona Mona land can become Aboriginal-owned.

Now, I have my ups and downs with Steve Wettenhall and I’m certainly not his apologist. But in this case, Steve saw a problem and moved fast to correct it. He recognized that continuing injustice to the local Aboriginal community would taint future relationships in his electorate. He acted fast and got a result.

What’s more, to the credit of local candidate Wendy Richardson, the LNP seems supportive too. The Aboriginal people are pleased. No-one (apart from Gavin King?) seems upset – and why would they be?

This might be ‘scummy politics’ to a jaded hack, but to those of us who actually live in the Kuranda community and would like it to be more happy, united and prosperous, it’s remarkably akin to ‘consensus politics’. Of course, ‘consensus’ may well be anathema to King as well. He probably thinks of hippies when he hears the word: hippies who snigger at him around the campfire, looking like they have more fun than he does. Reach for the deodorant, Gavin!

Having lived in the Kuranda area for a decade, I’ve been lucky enough to befriend some of the Aboriginal folk, visit Mona Mona at their invitation and hear some of their accounts of the remarkable and quite tragic history of the area.

140 years is beyond a human life span, but it’s not such a long time. That’s how long it is since history – in the narrow sense of human affairs documented by written record – began in this area. Before that, continuous Aboriginal occupation of this region over tens of millennia, in an environment more stable than many other parts of the world, gave rise to one of the most ethnographically and linguistically complex quilts of related cultures in the world.

During the 1860s, European settlers who had arrived on the coast in the preceding decades began to make inroads into the Tablelands. They soon began dispossessing the Aboriginal people. Sometimes invaders were resisted. There were massacres of indigenous people and a population collapse, probably caused in the main by introduced diseases. It’s also true the full narrative of contact wasn’t all doom and gloom. There were friendships, inter-marriage and positive stories to tell. All this has become part of our local history, which FNQ historian Dr Tim Bottoms has studied and written with loving care.

By the first decade of the 20th century, the Queensland Government, now part of the Federation of Australia, took steps to ‘protect’ the remaining Aboriginal people of FNQ. Its policy was to round up surviving Aboriginals and confine them to a few settlements, run by religious orders. Mona Mona was one of these Missions (there were others in the region too, such as Yarrabah and Hopevale).

In pre-invasion times, the Aboriginal people of FNQ spoke many languages and – despite complex inter-locking kin relations – considered themselves many different peoples. But these nuances were lost on the new overloads, who probably regarded all indigenes as ‘blacks’. In any event, Aboriginal people from many districts, speaking many tongues, were confined to the same Missions. The people sent to Mona Mona were a mixed group. To make things easy (for the managers) and in keeping with the paternalistic assumptions of early Australia, residents of Mona Mona were permitted to speak only English. There was a systematic attempt to eradicate local indigenous languages and cultural traditions. It nearly succeeded…

Mona Mona was opened as a Mission run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1910. Three decades later, young men from Mona Mona were sent off to fight Australia’s war. So, there was occasional escape from the Mission – but not much. These days, we might call an institution like that a concentration camp. It was not unmitigated brutality. It was not a place of extermination. But it was a system of rigid control, in which Aboriginal residents had few rights.

On a visit to Mona Mona last year, I was told a story by an elderly man about his childhood in Mona Mona. He described his childhood as a happy time in many respects and spoke without bitterness. Even so, the harshness he had experienced as a child was shocking to me.

On reaching puberty, along with the other boys of Mona Mona, he was required to move out of his parents household and sleep in a dormitory. Amazingly, he wasn’t allowed to speak to his parents after that if he met them in the street!

As a young man, he was sent away to work on large cattle stations distant from the rainforests of his childhood. The stations were desperate for labour and recruited widely. Many co-workers were non-Aboriginal. But although the boys worked together and sometimes played together, there was a big difference. The non-Aboriginals were paid wages. Aboriginals, by contrast, worked for their keep and their wages were remitted direct to the authorities.

By the early 1960s, the anachronism of places like Mona Mona was probably too much for even the Bjelke Petersen Government, which decided on a new approach. Eyeing up the Flagge Creek, which runs close to Mona Mona, as the site of a major new dam, it closed the Mission and dispersed the Aboriginal inhabitants. They mainly moved to places such as Kurowa and Mantaka in the Myola valley – small pockets of temporary housing, without adequate sewerage, water supplies or other services.

Within a few years, the village of Mona Mona – a well-constructed settlement until 1961, complete with community facilities – was wrecked. Local landowners pillaged just about everything they could find. Today, what was the old Church is a stone slab. Everything movable, of any value, was stripped.

The Government soon changed its mind over the Flagge Dam, which was never built and is no longer on the drawing board. So the dispersion of Mona Mona’s Aboriginal community - and the destruction of their village - was for no good reason. As usual, the indigenous people bore the brunt of policies into which they had no input. They were treated not much differently from livestock, really - moved at will from one paddock to another.

Happily, since that time, attitudes in Australia have changed a lot. There is much more goodwill in the local community now and reconciliation is on the national agenda. Modern Australians have much more appreciation of Aboriginal culture and what it has to offer the nation and the world. The didgeridoo is found in shops from Toledo to Tokyo. Aboriginal art is a global success story. Even so, we are really just enjoying fragments of what’s left. Most of the pre-1788 Aboriginal culture is lost for ever. Most of the languages are extinct.

No Aboriginal people that I know spend long hours bemoaning the past. Like most of us, they want to move on. They’re more interested in a better future. But they retain a sense of indigenous identity and feel themselves custodians of their ancient culture. That culture, of course, was inextricably connected with the land.

Mona Mona is not an Aboriginal sacred site. It’s a historical site. It’s where many of the locals recent ancestors are buried. It’s a place with childhood memories for the elders. The young know its stories. And slowly, but inexorably, Aboriginal inhabitants have drifted back to Mona Mona.

There have been more recent betrayals. In the early 1990s, millions was promised by the Keating Government to help rebuild Mona Mona. Most of this money was unspent. The Howard Government was unsympathetic to supporting ‘remote communities’ and favoured assimilation. If money was to be spent on Aboriginal housing, better to spend in Smithfield, Kuranda, Mareeba and other local suburbs. Until very recently, it seemed the new Labor Government in Canberra would go along with this agenda. The State Government fell into line.

Now that’s changed. Mona Mona will be Aboriginal land – not just the minimalist 100 hectares agreed in last November’s State cabinet decision, but an additional 1,500 hectares of the surrounding area that was also Mission land in the old days. It will provide a strong basis for the rejuvenation of Aboriginal culture in this area. Crucially, at long, long last, the Aboriginal people are about to regain some real power over Mona Mona. They have campaigned long and hard for this and deserve congratulations.

With power comes responsibility. As a conservationist, I’m concerned that the natural values of the region are protected – by all landowners and land managers. I hope that adequate wildlife surveys will be undertaken of the Mona Mona area (perhaps they have already exist?) If it’s anything like the rest of the native forests around here, it’s rich with rare and endangered species. I believe the Aboriginal people would be wise to negotiate conservation agreements to help protect the natural values of their land. Ultimately, it’s their decision.

‘Green extremists’ might have supported the transfer of the 1,500 hectares to National Park against the Aboriginals’ wishes – on the basis that would give the greatest protection to that area from activities such as logging and mining, which can all-too-easily destroy those values forever.

But in this area, most conservationists I know support the principle that justice for the Aboriginal people should not, yet again, be at the bottom of the agenda. A National Park against the wishes of the indigenous people would be a hollow victory for environmental protection. We cannot build a better future on foundations of continuing injustice.

As equals, conservationists have the right to ask Aboriginal people to respect the natural values of their land and live sustainably. They, in turn, are equally entitled to inquire how we are getting along ourselves on these fronts?

The dreadful truth is that, until now, none of us have been doing very well. The culture and way of life of the last people around here to live sustainably was largely obliterated over a century ago. Living sustainably in Far North Queensland is rather like Gandhi’s famous quip about Western Civilization. It’s a good idea – but who’s doing it?

The vision of a model, sustainable community at Mona Mona is inspiring. But no one should imagine it’s going to be easy. It’s a project that must run in parallel with developing a sustainable Kuranda, sustainable Cairns… and sustainable world society. This is all unfinished business – indeed, the work has barely begun.

But at least, at Mona Mona, there’s now the prospect of establishing foundations in which all the community can share a sense of pride.

That’s a good basis for a better future. You'd think even a King might appreciate it? It seems to make sense to ordinary people.

"I'm happy to use my signs" - Desley Boyle

When questioned yesterday, MP for Cairns Desley Boyle she was happy for her signs to be used.

Desley told Channel 7 journalist Scott Forbes she was happy for Bryan Law to use her signs.

"I'm happy either way," Bryan Law says. "I have arguments to run in court based on the Electoral Act and citizens rights, if she wants to take me there."

However it's doubted that the ALP will want to draw anymore attention to the Yacht Club issue, which was always expected to be an election sore thumb.

"I won't quibble about legal/illegal," Law says. "Except to say that Desley has decided not to make a complaint or press charges. I assume because a day in Court will increase the pressure on her to be accountable."

Wendy Richardson, standing for the newly-formed LNP, and lead the community campaign last year, didn't want to comment on the sign defacing. "I know people are still very upset with the Labor Party and local MPs about not saving the old building for the community," she told CairnsBlog yesterday.

Richardson visited the remains of the Yacht Club building at James Cook University recently and was disgusted at what she saw.

"This is very sad, we didn't get what we were promised," she said.

LNP's Cairns candidate, running against sitting MP Desley Boyle, knows of the anger in the community.

"It could have and should have been saved," Joel Harrop says. "The whole waterfront area is something that the public should have a say in. They have been denied this."

However everyone isn't happy from the Save the Yacht Club camp, about the defacing of Boyle's signs.

"The damage to Desely Boyle's signs is disgusting, it is also unlawful," says Janine Aitken, an ALP member who was active in the Yacht Club campaign.

"The same point could have been made by erecting signs next to hers," Aitken said, who ran for Cairns Regional Council last year.

She also questioned why Wendy Richardson has made no comment on the sign vandalism, having been in the media about her own election signs last week. "Why so silent when its someone else's?" Aitken questioned Richardson.

"Having run for election myself I know how expensive those signs are. I feel that by wilfully damaging signs by way of graffiti/tagging whatever you want to call it, makes everyone involved in what was a damn good fight, lose all credibility." Janine said. "Now we all look like a bunch of crims and I for one am very pissed off my name is even vaguely associated with this."

However Bryan Law said it is to be expected.

"I've supported Desley Boyle's election as the MLA for Cairns over the past 10 years, mostly because she was better than Keith DeLacy, the developers' mate (and Wayne Goss's Treasurer)," he says. "At one point Desley had a social justice agenda and was connected to the grass-roots in Cairns. Alas."

Bryan Law says when he went to see Desley about the Yacht Club last year to broker a deal with the community, that history of support got him precisely nothing.

"It was an empty promise to consult with Cairns Ports, and not even a decent reason why we couldn't preserve and adapt the building," Law says.

He said Desley Boyle was all huffy. "I won't be blackmailed by electoral threats. I'm here to govern" she said at the time. It seems she's changed her tune now that her safe seat is
under threat.

"I'd like you to notice that I add two words to Desley's signs, without obscuring or damaging any part of the message she wants to send," Law says. "The problem is that the only content in Desley's signs seems to be 'I can afford a good hairdresser'. There's room for 'Yacht Club', and if Desley really believed in what she was doing, she'd welcome the opportunity for publicity."

"As I understand it, having refused to attend public meetings and explain her position, Desley got 500 election corflutes to pursue a disembodied election result. I see that as 500 opportunities to remind people of her recent attitude and record of public service," Law said.

"I've done everything openly and publicly, and received many more expressions of support than condemnation. Most working-class people in this town appreciate someone having a go."

Desley is responsible for her own actions. She wouldn't explain herself last year. She's getting a chance to do that now.

Labor, hard at work

• Hello my name is Jim Theodorou,
  
  For the last twenty – five years I have owned the BP Service Station at Manly. My service station is located on the corner of Gordon Parade and Ernest Street Manly.
  
  I also own and operate a charter fishing business (Brisbane Big Cat Charters) in the Redlands, south of Brisbane.
  
  Today, Wednesday March 4, at 2:02pm I received a phone call from Linda Harnett. Linda is the Campaign Manager for Paul Lucas. She asked me why I was displaying four LNP signs on my property and why I was not supporting ALP as well. She went on to tell me that over 50% of the electorate were ALP supporters and it would be bad for business if I did not at least support both.
  
  I believed that I had just received a thinly veiled threat to my business viability from Linda and went on the offensive.
  
  I explained to Linda that I was a member of the Marine Queensland Charter Vessel Division. I told her I was extremely disappointed with the way her government was treating the Charter Operators by leaving them out of the Moreton Bay Marine Park SAP and ignoring the charter sector input throughout the MBMP sham “consultation” process conducted by the EPA.
  
  Not only would my service station lose customers but I would also lose a tenant (Water Tower Bait and Tackle) through the damage done to the local fishing industry as well as lose my new charter fishing business.
  
  I explained to Linda my extreme disappointment Paul Lucas had avoided meeting with the MQCVD, even cancelling set appointments and not rebooking other opportunities, but offering up Peter Shooter, an unelected adviser to the EPA Minister.
  
  I told Linda that I believed her government had become arrogant and it was only concerned in winning the election. I told her that I was sick and tired of being ignored and that I was taking a stand against the ALP. I also told her they might get a shock at the next election.
  
  There was silence on the phone and I asked if anyone was there. Linda said she was listening. She then informed me that if this was the way I was thinking then maybe she would tell all her ALP supporters not use my service station.
  
  I was shocked, imagine how desperate the ALP must be if they need to scare one person just to get their way.
  
  I am writing this letter to all my customers whom I have looked after for many years.
  
  I am asking for your help and support.
  
  The last time I looked Queensland was still a Democracy.
  
  Nobody should be bullied by the ALP or by any other group because of their personal political views.
  
  Kindest regards
  Jim Theodorou
  
  Brisbane Big Cat Charters
  ABN: 59 810 671 396
  PO Box 1604 Cleveland QLD 4163
  Mobile: 0433 430 248

State election CAFNEC debate - Friday

This Friday CAFNEC will put candidates running for the State election under the environmental spotlight.

• WHAT Candidate Forum
  WHEN Friday 13 March 12:30 midday – 1:30 pm
  LUNCH OPTION $15 menu from midday
  WHERE Shenannigans, Cnr Sheridan & Spence Streets, Cairns

Questioned posed will be:-
What are the priority areas for the candidates’ environmental policy?
What will the candidates do to address these problems ?
How will their environmental policy deliver a sustainable economy in Queensland?

Confirmed to date...
Steve Wettenhall, Desley Boyle (Labor)
Joel Harrop, Wendy Richardson - (LNP)
Janice Skipp (Family First)
Steve Brech, Hugh Whitehouse (Greens)

ABC: Letting Down Democracy

Syd Walker wants the ABC to act like a publically-funded broadcaster.

The election process in this country – at State and Federal levels –often reminds me of a lift. It’s rather small lift, and there’s only really room for two. The first candidate out wins.

In this coming Queensland election, only two major parties – the ALP and the LNP – are inside the lift. They have the resources, dollars, organization and contacts to ride the escalator to power. Other candidates have a hard job getting any traction. The chance of an upset – in which neither the ALP nor the LNP are elected - is slim.

But what if a candidate from outside the two major parties is a candidate of quality – someone whom many find a more attractive representative than the major party offerings? Surely quality powers through?

In theory, that’s true. But most people in the electorate will, in all likelihood, never even hear alternative candidates speak. They get so little media coverage there’s a good chance you’ll miss them. Occasions when all the candidates debate together – so you can compare and contrast their arguments and policies – are few indeed.

There was one such opportunity this morning on ABC radio, which is running a daily series of interviews with candidates for each of the six FNQ State electorates. Today, Day One, was the turn of Barron River candidates. It was an interesting debate.

Did you hear it? Statistically, that’s unlikely. You would have needed to be listening to the ABC between 9.30am and 10am. Most folk in the electorate, I suspect, missed the program – even if they were interested.

Yet in this modern era, it’s easy to catch such audio recordings at your leisure: just download them from the ABC website. It’s an easy service for the public broadcaster to provide – and in a case like this, ensures that no-one who’s interested misses out.

I was keen to obtain a copy of the recording and called the ABC shortly after the interview ended – only to be informed that ABC Far North has no intention of putting the audio files on its website. I was told people should try to listen live. When I made a fuss, I was referred to Media Monitors.

Media Monitors is a private company. I called and asked for an audio file of the interview. I was told that would be fine. The price tag? $200!

I then wrote a letter of complaint to the local Manager of the ABC, pointing out this debate was – to my knowledge – the ONLY time in the election campaign when any of the mass media interview all three Barron River candidates at once. Yet the public, if they missed it, are expected to pay $200. The ABC, I pointed out, is publicly funded. If it won’t cover elections adequately it is failing, in a most basic way, to serve as a public broadcaster.

I have yet to hear back from the ABC. My letter of complaint is below. You may like to write one too?

The interview this morning was not perfect. The format was rather stilted and there was no real engagement between the speakers. Even so, I think a clear idea of the respective qualities of the candidates emerged for those of us who listened.

If you didn’t hear it, you missed out. If the ABC behaves like this as a matter of routine, our democracy misses out. My letter to that worthy organization follows…

• Mr Bruce Woolley,
  Manager,
  ABC Far North
  Cairns, FNQ
  9th March 2009
  
  Dear Mr Woolley
  
  This is a formal request that ABC Far North does its most basic job without delay, by providing basic information to help inform the Australian public so our democracy is sustained and strengthened.
  
  According to the Charter of the ABC, the functions of the Corporation are:
  
  (a) to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard as part of the Australian broadcasting system consisting of national, commercial and public sectors and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to provide:
  (ii) broadcasting programs of an educational nature;
  
  There can be few matters of such crucial educational value to the community as a whole as accurate and thorough reporting about the candidates who will represent this community in our Parliaments.
  
  Today the candidates for the electorate of Barron River in the forthcoming Queensland State election were interviewed on ABC Radio Far North. It is one of six debates between election candidates in the six electorates due to be broadcast by local ABC radio. No repeat debate is scheduled, as far as I'm aware.
  
  Also, as far as I’m aware, there are no plans for debates between candidates on local TV or on any other radio channel. The debate that just tool place, therefore, is the ONLY media debate between candidates for the electorate of Barron River planned during the entire election campaign.
  
  I just called ABC Far North to obtain a copy of the audio tape, which I’d like in digital format. I was told it wouldn’t be possible. I asked again and was referred to 'Media Monitors'.
  
  As an Australian citizen I do not find it acceptable that the ABC fails so abysmally to fulfill its obligations to further the democratic process in this country.
  
  I thoroughly object to being referred to a fee-charging private company in this case. If I am to pay a fee at all, I wish to pay the public broadcaster. I object to enriching a private monopoly on a matter pertaining to Australian democracy. What have we come to, for heavens sake?
  
  How much effort does it take to make this interview available as a downloadable file on the ABC Far North website - so all locals can hear it if they so wish at a tie of their convenience? How much cost is involved? Would you like volunteers to help?
  
  If the ABC can’t afford to perform this utterly basic service, free of charge to listeners, I question the value that the public obtains from the local ABC.
  
  Perhaps the opportunity to broadcast on these wavelengths should be tendered out, so other organizations willing to meet basic standards for reporting elections in a modern democracy can have a go?
  
  Yours sincerely
  Syd Walker
  Far North Queensland
  

PS. I just called Media Monitors to establish the cost and availability of the audio file. I was told it may be available later this morning. The price was $200.

Democracy privatized? Traduced? Just for the rich? Or all of the above?

You all owe $35,000 each

Astonishing as it may seem, the Labor Government took over a State with little debt.

The State Treasurer, Andrew Fraser, who doesn't even appear on Anna Bligh's electoral website, said, announced last week the downgraded Queensland's Credit Rating to AA+.

That means that we will have to find an extra $200 million a year interest.

This now takes our annual Interest bill to $3.16 billion for 2009-10 – about $800 for every man, woman and child – and another $300 million the following year. Said the Treasurer.

"Don't forget the real mathematics of [Treasurer] Andrew Fraser, Opposition leader Lawrence Springborg says.

"Queensland's debt has skyrocketed from $30.3 billion since his appointment last year to over $74 billion projected in 2011-12."

"Queensland's interest bill will be $5 billion which is about half the taxes collected last year. Does that mean that Mr Fraser plans to double taxes to pay that off?"

"This is not a time for scare tactics. The LNP plan is to cut waste, introduce efficiencies, and to make government jobs more secure - everything that Labor has failed to do."

Queenslanders are facing a 'financial cyclone' to quote Kevin Rudd.

The slick politician double-talk makes it sound palatable by saying that's $800 for every man woman and child in the State.

What he doesn't tell you is that there are only a third of us with the ability to pay the taxes and registrations etc. So it's more like $1,500 each every year. Then there is the debt itself. $74 Billion divided by those who will pay equals $35,000 each.

Add that to what you voluntarily owe and you can see that Anna Bligh and her entire Government must be given the heave ho before we all go as bankrupt as their ability to manage the economy.

Do you know him?

A couple of weeks ago, on Wednesday February 18, this freeloader got out of his taxi and ran away without paying.

He got his cab in the city and travelled to Kamerunga.

There's bound to be someone who recognises this guy. Is he a member of the ALP or LNP?

Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Around the Blogs

I know I can't take all the credit for the plethora of Blogs in and around Cairns these days, but when I kicked off this baby nearly a couple of years ago, we had only The Cairns Post and John McKenzie for opinion and news!

Before that, long before that, we had the infamous Barfly. How I miss the weekly Barfly.

So maybe I started a bug, that has spread faster than a good dose of Dengue.

• KitchenSlut reports that CEC been suspended has this morning from quotation on the ASX, after failing to lodge it's half yearly result by last Friday's deadline. Naughty boys!
  CEC has released an explanation for this failure and expects to lodge the results by tomorrow. KitchenSlut says the accounts should make interesting reading, "Well for some of us anyway:)."
  He's also picked up on the Labor Government's hypocrisy following a Courier-Mail report of a big spend up of public funds on a shrine to its own party heritage!
  
  
• Northern Truth doesn't like using the LNP name, and prefers the ALP slant of calling the opposition the National Party. Lance says that leader "Smorgasbord aka Gomer Pyle was her [sic] last week and caused a big stir with the local Cairns media! Now in the second week interest and momentum have slowed to a snails pace. He notes that "the National Party has decided on a presidential style campaign." Truth is that they both have, but I agree that the local campaign on both sides is rather lack-lusture. "I guess we wait for the leader to return to inject interest back into the campaign," Royce says. "At this point it's just wait and see if any of the candidates can attract any media attention on there own."
  
  
• Henry's Fosnez Blog is on my fav list too. For an IT pro, he's not a bad observer of issues. He's picked up on the debate about the Stoney Creek youth 'Northen Outlook' centre, with some sound rationale why the propaganda and media coverage has hardly told the full story. I have to agree.
  
  
• I'm enjoying a regular serving of the The Cairns Roast. The Roast tells us that, for us "Kiwis out there, LNP is not a soft drink, well, it is, but not in this context. Nope, LNP is the bastard child of the liberals and the national party. Formed way back in 2008 under the direction of Lawrence Springborg....
  
  
• Mark Alexander has finished up as editor of the Cairns Post, as Not The Cairns Post notes. "How should we, the Cairns community, regard his mercifully short tenure? Pretty poor"
  There's also an exclusive interview with Matthew Fenn, one of the naked bike riders, that caught national attention on a slow news day. The put the Cairns Post in context and tell the real story.
  
  
• Dennis Quick's CairnsWatch blog, is still offline, while he drives the LNP campaign for the region.
  
  
• Syd Walker talks about the filtering, or censorship. "In recent debate over the Australian Government’s schemes to censor the Internet," Walker says, "‘censor’ is increasingly the word of choice for those – such as myself – who oppose these plans."
  
  
• Former Council candidate and JCU President Janine Aitken, who's been spotted leafleting for Wettenhall, talks Pauline Hanson and The Borg.
  
  
• Barry Neall on his Residents Against Crime blog, keeps us up to date with our big nasty world - and that's just down Mulgrave Road!

70 year old amputee 'not on waiting list'

Waiting Lists for elective surgery at Cairns Base Hospital are under scrutiny.

Local pensioner, Bill Jones, has been told he’s not even on a waiting list after several months of waiting. "I've been waiting months for surgery, only to be told I'm not even on the waiting list," he said this week.

“The Cairns Base Hospital told me that there are 16 people on the ‘high priority’ list, 22 people on the ‘lower priority list’, and then everyone else like me, just aren’t even on the list,” Mr Jones said.

“I need prosthesis since I had an amputation, but can’t get that until after surgery. The nurses have been fantastic, but the system has abandoned me”, he said.

LNP Candidate for Cairns, Joel Harrop, who is now championing the cause for Mr Jones, said he is appalled at Mr Jones’ treatment.

“This should not be occurring in a nation as wealthy as Australia. These waiting lists, both the declared ones and the secret ones that Labor hide, are a disgrace,” Harrop says.

A massive LNP policy billboard went up on the Southern highway this week.
Health will be major issue for Cairns voters this election.

The LNP plans to introduce a Patient First Advocates initiative, to provide a voice for patients within the Cairns Base Hospital. Harrop explained that Advocates would work fulltime to reduce waiting lists, coordinate surgical appointments and outpatient medical services.

"Their role will be practical, ensuring that patients travel to their appointments on time and are ready for surgery, that all post-operative appointments are kept, and if surgical appointments need to be cancelled they are immediately rescheduled."

Timing is everything

Mining multi-millionaire Clive Palmer is suing Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser for defamation

He is seeking $1m along with an apology from the Premier after she questioned his motives and involvement with the opposition LNP on ABC three weeks ago.

He's also seeking damages against Fraser to the tune of $200,000 over comments he made to The Australian. Palmer has donated substantial financial support to the Liberal National Party.

Meanwhile, the Queensland Police Union has blitzed it's website with LNP information, but says it's not taking sides in the election.

The Queensland Council of Unions has announced it will spend $400,000 on an advertising campaign to re-elect a Labor Government.

To close to call

A Courier-Mail poll, out this evening, puts Labor and Liberal National Party side by side, just 23 days out from the Queensland State election.

The results show the LNP on 43%, and Labor on 42%, showing a 10% fall since this time last year.

The pollsters also asked respondents about the top concerns for the State. LNP leads on health, which is bound to be a defining voter issue of the campaign.

37% were unaware Queensland had lost its AAA credit rating. Today, Moody's placed the State's credit rating on review for possible downgrading. Standard and Poor's last week lowered it from AAA to AA, predicting the net financial liabilities would surpass operating revenue.


The poll also concluded that one in five voters was less likely to vote Labor.

Real change needed in Legislative Assembly

CairnsBlog columnist, Syd Walker, shares his observations on Premier Bligh's snap election.


The Queensland State election has been called. Election day is March 21st.

This is not a comprehensive round-up… just a few personal thoughts.

I’ll start at the ‘top’. I rather like the current Premier, Anna Bligh. I’ve met her only once, for a very brief one-to-one discussion at one of the former Premier’s moving cabinet meetings. I was impressed. She struck me as a politician capable of actually listening, even to an unpopular message. She didn’t just give a rote response. She gave a thoughtful response. That’s worth a lot in my book.

I’ve never met Opposition Leader, Lawrence Springborg of the Liberal National Party, but he’s been around a while. Actually, it’s his third Queensland election contest as Opposition leader.

I have heard Springborg on the radio and watched him on TV many times. He does not impress me. If he’s more than a reactionary opportunist, he does a good job covering it up. But I’ll keep an open mind and hope he can contribute to raising the level of debate in this State. Surely it’s his last chance to do that as Opposition leader?

Those are the two main party leaders. What of the political parties in general?

I shall likely vote for The Greens and give a preference vote to progressive independents (if any). Beyond that, with an optional preferential voting system which allows voters to number as many boxes as they wish (from 1 to n), I’ll keep my own council for now. Let’s see how the debate pans out and wait for the policy rollout.

The Labor Party, while less reactionary than its LNP opponents, is a rather gruesome machine. A lot of Labor’s MPs are rank opportunists and few seem to have much vision. Typically, they’re ‘business as usual’ managers, with grey suits and green, pink, blue and brown ties, depending on the occasion. This has not been a party of bold and imaginative new initiatives towards sustainable development.

But would the Liberal-Nationals be any better? I haven’t seen any evidence of that so far. Would they be worse? I have my fears.

It’s best to keep an open mind early in the election campaign, allowing plenty of blue screen for pleasant surprises. But if Mr Spingborg and his crew have serious proposals that might appeal to voters with my interests, they’d better share them and fast.

Incidentally, outflanking Labor on environmental policy and other issues of concern to progressives is not an impossible task for a right-wing coalition in Australia. Under Malcolm Turnbull’s able leadership, the Federal Opposition is coming close to doing precisely that.
Queensland needs a credible State Opposition. Above all, the State needs some radically new policies. In Far North Queensland, an isolated geographical enclave some 2,000 kilometers from the State capital, we need a visionary regional approach to develop a resilient, sustainable economy and way of life.

The previous Beattie-Labor Government set up a new planning process for FNQ, which produced its final report a fortnight ago. The plan is a statutory document and represents a major change in the regional planning regime.

When the new regional plan came out, it was barely noticed by most of the community. That’s probably just what the government hoped. No noise means no political damage. Most of the squeakiest wheels had been assuaged in the plan. It was a fix that normalized business as usual, c. early 2009.

The problem is, we need a lot more than that now. We don’t just have a State in ecological crisis; we have economic recession as well. The former could be – and was – repeatedly brushed under the carpet; the public won’t stand for that on the economy.

A State Government with real vision would provide coherent, integrated solutions to both major crises. We’d have a major roll-out of new, low-emissions technology and infrastructure. We’d be taking the first real steps towards a sustainable way of life.

I may be wrong, but I suspect Anna Bligh would not be averse to such policies. Unfortunately, most of her rank and file MPs seem to be a mundane and rather visionless lot. Without energetic, progressive politicians supporting innovative policies at a local and regional level, they don’t get on the Government’s agenda.

Labor is broadly competent to manage business as usual. But in 2009 - more so than before - doing better is an urgent priority.

To do better, we need real change in the Legislative Assembly. From my perspective, the best conceivable outcome at this election would be Greens and progressive independents holding the balance of power. A minority Labor Government forced to negotiate with more enlightened politicians would not be plain sailing. But it would be a sea-change.

It would revitalize politics in Queensland – and might also bring out the best in Anna Bligh. She’s needs more talent in her team.

Queensland’s economic summer wasn’t so difficult to manage. Winter will be more challenging.

PS: I just got a ping-back from Qldelection09.com, which is maintaining a daily list of blog postings on the Queensland election. A great service!

A little too much blue

LNP's leader, Lawrence Springborg with his candidates Joel Harrop (Cairns), Vic Black (Mulgrave), Wendy Richardson (Barron River), and Craig Batchelor (Cook), during his flying visit to Cairns.

With political corflutes popping up on every corner, the quick election race to the finish line will please many who were expecting a long campaign.

The seats to watch will be Barron River with a narrow 4.8% margin, and Cairns, with Labor losing much support over Boyle's lack of support of the Cairns Yacht Club could narrow her 8% lead.

Former Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt's seat of Mulgrave, who enjoyed nearly 10% margin, will certainly be lost to the LNP with the ring-in of his 32 year old son Curtis.

LNP's Cook candidate, Craig Batchelor will have his work cut out if he's to bet Jason O'Brien with a strong 11.4% margin at the last election, however he claims that actually living in the electorate will give him advantage.

A fair share for Cairns

The election's been called. The media releases are starting to fly.

I've asked for Desley's and Steve's, but they haven't added me to their list yet. They should simply email me here. Let's hope they do.

Joel Harrop, who's standing for Cairns on the LNP ticket, says the early State election should focus on a fair share for Cairns.

“Despite having the Tourism Minister as a local member, Cairns has not been receiving its fair share for the last eleven years of the Labor Government,” Harrop says.
“Funding to Tourism has been cut back and Labor plans to dramatically increase licence fees for venues that want to open after midnight.”

He says Desley Boyle has served the people of Brisbane and let down locals in our community.

Harrop, and LNP's king hit in Cairns is to build a new hospital. “Health services have been long neglected in Cairns. This will ensure the residents of Cairns receive the health they need and deserve. It will also create many construction jobs while it is being built.”

I have to agree with anyone who says to move and build a purpose-built facility. The current location and add-ons that is currently being undertaken, is a mess.

Joel Harrop was also shocked at the way the election was called. "It highlights the disregard Labor has for proper process and democracy in this State," he said after the Premier first announced the election on YouTube before going to seek the State Governor’s approval.

"This is extremely arrogant, and sidelines the Governor’s proper role in our democracy,” Harrop says.

Undoubtedly the other major focus of this campaign needs to be the state of the finances in Queensland. You would run your own home like this. Just after the Treasurer announced the poor state of the balance sheet, Anna Bligh said that she will "not let up from borrowing to continue the infrastructure programme."

Queensland's debt is now over $60 billion.

“Queensland now has the worst credit rating in Australia – worse than New South Wales, which is an acknowledged basket case," Joel Harrop says. "The Labor Government’s mismanagement of the Queensland economy, and failure to put money away during the good times means that Cairns is going to miss out on essential expenditure.”

We have an interest bill alone of $200 million dollars a year on Labor’s $1.5 billion deficit.

The LNP say that Labor has put the State from boom to bust in less than a year. They accuse the Government of not putting anything away when times were good and mining royalties were flooding in. Now the State is broke.

Let the porkies begin!

It was only 13 minutes past 11 this morning and Labor's Steve Wettenhall was out with his four year old election posters.

He obviously had the tip off that Premier Anna Bligh was on her way to see the Governor General to dissolve State Parliament, six months earlier that the planned date.

Snap elections catch everyone by surprise, but this was the worst-kept secret in the State. After eight 'retirements' in as many days it seems, and the instant replacement for Mulgrave with Warren Pitt's son, who's still lives in Brisbane, the porkies will now be loud and clear.

The only good thing about this election is that we'll only have to put up with a zillion promises from all sides for less than a month.

It will be a tough fight in the South East, but regional Queensland is fed up with this government. Community issues and open honest accountable representation is blatantly absent from the incumbents.

The galvanising community issue to preserve the historic Yacht Club building, is a shameful indictment of almost every Labor MP in the Far North of Queensland. It's damaged weathering remnants in a paddock at JCU's Smithfield campus, are yet another reason why a passionate community deserves much better presentation that it got over this issue.

I hope that the voter will be savvy enough to critique the contribution their current MP has made and look at the alternatives. Greens, LNP, independents, will all be showing you the reason why Labor are due for early retirement.

Pitt is back

Retiring Mulgrave MP, Warren Pitt hopes to hand his comfy seat over to his 32 year old son Curtis.

This evening the ALP announced that the MP's son will be their candidate in the upcoming state election.

However, LNP's Mulgrave candidate Vic Black says it's simply a "new dog, with the same old tricks."

He also slammed the nepotism and blatant disregard for probity used by the Labor Party to select its candidate for Mulgrave. “Can you imagine the raucous criticism that would have been sprayed about if the LNP had engaged in such shenanigans to choose their candidates in Far North Queensland?” Vic Black says.

“This is nothing but a shonky deal by Warren Pitt to have his son parachuted into Parliament."

He says that the electorate of Mulgrave is "not a personal fiefdom for the Pitt family, to be traded like some rotten borough in old England," a cheeky reference to the Pitts of 1800's England.

Although he grew up in Gordonvale, Curtis Pitt now lives and works in Brisbane for the State Government's Indigenous Affairs Taskforce, as one of Anna's many bureaucrats. I don't know when he last lived in the region, but it seems not for many years.

Interestingly, the official ALP press release, makes no mention that 'Curtis Pitt' is the son of the current MP Warren Pitt.

"Curtis is a family man," the statement reads. "He and his wife are expecting their second child this year and he knows how important jobs are to families."

So what do we know about this new face? Well, in 2007 he came 5th place in Brisbane's Corporate Games for the men's tennis singles. He'll need to do better that that this year.

LNP's Vic Black says that it’s time Mulgrave had a representative who listens to them. "Not just in the few weeks before an election, but for the entire period of any Parliament,” he says.