Scott, in line with your concluding comments, I think that Queenslanders get the governments they deserve. Not only did they not protest against the appalling Beattie government, they give PB huge opinion poll support for years. As you note, those of the left who criticised aspects of the former Coalition governments, have remained silent in the face of worse abuses by Labor. With no interest from the populace, and no sign of a coherent opposition, the prevailing government has no incentive to lift its game.

Re "incentives", a word of caution to Kevin Rudd. The National Competition Policy process provided financial incentives for States who undertook reforms. I didn't understand why the Premiers should have to be bribed to act in the interest of their own people. In practice, Queensland failed to take advantage of NCP to make positive, lasting changes, but pursued only minimum compliance to obtain the relatively measly "competition payments." Rudd offered financial incentives for the states to cooperate in the COAG reform process. This will only work if the Feds have a large and intrusive monitoring process with more access to state officers and base documents than the NCC had.

We all know that Democracy has many flaws, but it's still the best of all the rest.Perhaps a basic reform would be to bann Parties from elections and only allowing them to form from the Members elected after the election.The Leader could then be elected and become the Premier!At least this would allow the uninformed voters who were not interested in Government business to vote without bias for a local who looks like the most likely to work for the electorate but be able to be more than a cypher that votes in Parliament on a platform whether he agrees with it or not.

i am always a little bemused when ozzies start referring to 'democracy' in oz, or any part of it. i've never seen any, myself. there is instead, a westminster society, nominally a monarchy, actually an oligarchy.

that's why when ozzies quote lincoln's famous phrases from the gettysburgh address, they leave out 'by the people', as there is an embarassing lack of rule by the people here. i don't know why people are ashamed of this lack, but they are. david flint aside, they never say, "in our monarchy".

of course there is little progress in q'land, how could it be otherwise? do you really think pollies are going hand over power if they don't have to? if you want progress, start with yourselves: find out what democracy is, and how to get it. until you make yourselves into citizen-quality people, you will continue to be treated like the subject-quality you are.

Scott

One problem with your article - the vast majority of Queenslanders support amalgamation. Noosa and Redcliffe are not Qld.

One of the best reforms Queensland could make is to join the rest of the states and have an Upper House. Elected by proportional representation, it would give some representation to minorities and prevent the distorted majorities that follow from single-member electorates.

Now that the Victorian Labor Government has implemented the Liberals’ broken 1973 election promise to bring PR to the Legislative Council, that same government is under real scrutiny and no government is ever likely to control the Upper House again. This is excellent for democracy because it restrains the executive arm of government by real parliamentary scrutiny and review.

Queenslanders do get the Government they deserve....

I refer to the Forde Enquiry - it took many years for this Enquiry to be acted upon.

We now read of the Heiner Affair - a most scandalous report whereby Ministers in Qld have been ducking for cover for many years.

Mr Kevin Rudd should order this Enquiry to be dealt with at the highest level of Government. Mr Rudd was a Minister within the Beattie Government at the time.

If Mr Rudd is serious about tackling the tough issues the above Heiner Affair is directed to the very core of actions of Qld Government and Ministers.

The word democracy is "deadly silent" in the heart of Queensland as is the people's request for truth and justice in sentencing over the Heiner Affair.

Demos,
To type an upper case letter you press the Shift key and the letter key at the same time!

Chris C,
Good point about introducing proportional representation by bringing back the upper house. But why bother with all the infrastructure and expense of another house of parliament? Why not just change the voting system of the existing house to that of a proportional system? Single Member voting is a system that has well and truly reached its use-by date. There is absolutely no justification for it any more.

http://www.proportional-representation.org

Practically all of Europe and most of the newly liberated democracies of recent years have adopted proportional representation. It increases the interest in politics by most of the citizenry and always keeps the executive on its toes.

SAINTS,

Kevin Rudd was never a minister in the Beattie Government. He was never a minister in the Goss Government either. Nor was he a minister in the Borbidge Government, the one in power when the alleged rape occurred. The only minister he has ever been is the prime minister.

He was chief of staff to Wayne Goss and then director-general of the Cabinet Office when the Cabinet took legal advice that caused the shredding of the Heiner documents, none of which, according to Mr Heiner himself, concerned the alleged rape. The enquiry was into management of the detention centre at which the alleged victim resided, not into any rape.

Rape is a police matter. The resurrection of the almost 20-year old Heiner Affair was an attempt to smear Kevin Rudd in last year’s election

Edward Carson,

I believe having two Houses of Parliament is a safeguard against excessive executive power. You are more likely to have an Upper House re-instated with PR in Queensland than get the Lower House elected by PR.

ruawake says the vast majority support amalgamation? According to the AEC plebiscite figures posted on my website this isn't correct. 20.5% said Yes to Amalgamation, 77% said No and 2.5% voted Informal.

The Qld Labor Government want to push ahead with the Amalgamations, the Traveston Dam, add fluoride to our water, don't want to give us a say on Daylight Saving, and add recycled water to SEQ Water supplies. Most of these decisions were made after the 2006 election and Beattie disappeared quicker than Houdini after he aborted the Size, Shape and Sustainability (SSS) in favour of the Queensland Government's Local Government Reform. When do the citizens have a say?

Yet there are Queenslanders who even with all that said, think we live in a Democracy? However, there are a great many that have had enough of this and want their Democratic Rights, and are doing something about it. Queenslanders must unite to be heard and we will be.

Updates are at my website www.qldpcs.com.au

chris c

I am certainly aware of Mr Kevin Rudd's position within the Office of Qld at the time of the Heiner Affair.

Suggest you might like to "dig a little deeper" into the truth. Forget the elections, I am a swinging voter. I have no allegiance to Liberal or Labor just want truth and justice to prevail.