You know, it's been 20 years or so since we Queenslanders have had a decent alternative party to vote for.

With Campbell Newman about to embark on his crusade to become our next premier, I think we will at long last see some confidence come back to the business community which in turn will have positive effects on our economy.

Bring it on I say!

Dear rechtub,

I also would appreciate a decent alternative party but do not believe in any sort of messiah. A decent alternative party requires not only a popular leader but a membership committed to decent alternative. The LNP remains the party of the real estate developers, corporate polluters and religious fundies. If Campbell Newman can attract a different membership then it might become a decent alternative party. It will probably be the sme old LNP w a new leader.

I hope you do get a viable political alternative and someone who can lead Queensland into the future; it's been a pretty tough past (few months anyway).
As a Victorian, my view of Queensland politics is whatever makes the national news. I also sense that Anna Bligh is not at all popular (mind you, that was before the floods when I think she would have won many new admirers) but I don't really know why that is so.
I think we have pretty shabby options at a Federal level; neither of them give me confidence; but we tend to vote for the "lesser of the 2 evils" in many cases, and sometimes see "see-saw" voting where we vote "against" one candidate and not necessarily "for" the other. I guess we get what most of us vote for at the end of the day.
Good luck with the "options", it will be interesting to see what happens.

<< The LNP remains the party of the real estate developers, corporate polluters… >>

Agreed David.

So does the ALP. That’s the insurmountable problem. No matter how good Campbell Newman might be, he’s not going to be able to address the core issues of overpopulation and overdevelopment in southeast Queensland, or up the Qld coast.

Major problem – how can business confidence be fully restored without a paradigm of rapid expansionism?

SEQ quite desperately needs to STOP expanding its population, and everything that goes with it, and coastal Qld doesn’t need a big boost to its population growth rate, which could result if the current SEQ growth rate was diverted elsewhere.

Some population growth is needed in inland towns but basically Qld (and Australia and the world) needs to gear towards a stable population, by way of a careful steady reduction in the growth rate.

This is absolutely essential for a healthy future. But I bet that Mr Newman completely disagrees!!

Bligh (and Beatty before her) has expressed concern about there being major problems with growth in SEQ. But she hasn’t done a razoo about it!! Even if Newman did hold a similar concern, he wouldn’t be able to do anything meaningful about it.

Sure, Campbell Newman may well win the LNP power. But it will be meaningless for the people of Queensland. Afterall, the LNP and ALP are just two peas in a pod, hanging on the big business and real estate pea vine.

So rehctub, in what significant ways do you think Newman and the LNP would be better than Blight?

"Dear rechtub,
I also would appreciate a decent alternative party but do not believe in any sort of messiah. A decent alternative party requires not only a popular leader but a membership committed to decent alternative. The LNP remains the party of the real estate developers, corporate polluters and religious fundies. If Campbell Newman can attract a different membership then it might become a decent alternative party. It will probably be the sme old LNP w a new leader.
Posted by david f, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 10:18:51 AM"

Making the LNP exactly the same as the ALP who is owned by mining companies, developers and religious fundies. Time to replace them both.