Graham: "...but somewhere around the Hawke/Keating period they achieved their aim of becoming the "natural party of government".

Hawke and Keating presided over third way politics. They were not Labor. Real Labor is indeed "the natural party of government" because its is a social agenda devoted ultimately to equality (though it needs to work on its green credentials).
The conservative alternative is an unsustainable, inequitable, neoliberal rubric; a faith-based, anti-social, economic algorithm that maintains the status quo via sprawling and unsustainable growth, or social detritus.
True Labor is at least progressive.
Whereas the LNP algorithm is both elitist and expansionary.

What everyone seems to be missing is that this was not some great swing against the coalition, but simply a return to the normality of the last 25 years. Ever since we finally got rid of old Joh, Labor has held government in Queensland for most of the time, this despite some of the worst government ever in Oz, in the Beattie years.

We have a tendency to hold onto a government way past it's use by date. We did it with Joh, & even gave him a national party solo government, when we should have been showing him the door.

We actually elected Bligh, way after the then current Labor lot were a total failure. People were used to voting Labor & continued to do so.

It was an incredible effort for Newman to gain the huge swing he did from outside government. Perhaps it was this novel approach that made the electorate think & swing.

This election, the voters simply returned to their quarter century voting pattern, & labor is possibly back. It is certainly no swing, just a return to normal.

It was unbelievable that Newman could hold his seat. It is in the heart of public servant Labor country. I am amazed he even thought he had a chance of retaining a half century safe Labor seat in a normal election.

I did hope people would see the improvement in management of the state, & keep the LNP if not Newman, but it appears self interest trumps all else. As I said elsewhere, get in for your chop, because things are about to get very damn bad very soon now. If this is repeated nationally, I expect we will fail to pay pensions in my lifetime.

Hasbeen I would like to see the break down in votes from business people, because business people, although critical of Campbells style, knew there was a tough job to be done. Chances are the tough jobs will never be done now.

People voted the LNP out simply because nobody wants to do the hard yards, yards that resulted from years of waste, mismanagement and reckless borrowings from labor.

Well, they have got their wish.

I was surprised about the things the LNP wasn't running in their election advertising. Lots of talk of strong choices but little about what's been achieved.

Labor was claiming there was a waiting list to get on the waiting list for surgery, my impression is the deadly waiting lists of the Labor period are pretty much gone.

Talk of cutting front line services but a lack of service from government departments does not seem to have been an issue over the last couple of years.

There are other areas where Labor just could not get it together and the LNP seem to have either eliminated the issues or at least got them down to manageable proportions.

I was surprised that the LNP wasn't focussing more of their campaign on what's been achieved.

R0bert

I sort of agree with Graham.

I think almost everyone thought the an LNP win was almost a foregone conclusion, and therefore safe to vote labor, or anyone else as a protest?

Newman Campbell seems like every other conservative thinker?
If you can't tax the poor, or sell assets that generations sacrificed to acquire. After that the Ideas dept seems empty?

And worse, none seem to understand that the concentration of too much of our finite wealth in too few hands was a precursor of the Great depression and the later GFC?

This is very much a problem caused by thinking within a fixed circle of very limited ideas.

Moreover, he was like so many before him full of non core promises, easily rescinded, by having a post election inquiry, that claimed we couldn't afford them.

Even as multinationals squeeze billions out of our economy, without paying anything like a fair tax.

So, I would bring back the resource rent tax, and just apply a 5 or 10% impost on the resource, whether it returned a profit or not.

And enable that to be written off against 30%company tax obligations.

Meaning, no mining company ripping billions out of the local economy, ought to pay less than say, 10%; and given you allow them to average their profits and losses over seven years, doable and fair?

Finally. we are one of a few economies that don't/refuse to use thirty year self terminating bonds to raise finance for big infrastructure projects; and we should given our super funds are now larger than the economy, and ought to be harnessed!

You do it off budget, and pick projects like the long overdue range crossing that has no choice but to return a nice profit; meaning the income earned by the various projects pay for that project; not the government nor the taxpayer!

And something like a range crossing, even when fully owned, could keep paying into a fund, to ensure other projects can be also started and ahead of time.

However, not doable if/once privatized!
Rhrosty.

Oh come on all you ranting righties!
The people of Queensland are not stupid, and obviously the majority of the voters didn't want the Liberals in Government.
It was no 'accident'.

This is only the beginning too.
Tony is way too out of control for voters to trust anything he says or does, and he makes even Rudd seem almost 'normal'. He would love to 'knight himself if he could!

I would love to see Malcolm Turnbull in the hotseat, and would predict that if he was there before the next election, the Libs would win for sure.
With poor ol' bumbling Tony, they haven't got a snowball's chance in hell....