Looming Federal Election:
 

2007 – Rise of Kevin ‘07

2010 - Takeover by Julia

1. Very unpopular Queensland controversies prior to such Federal Elections:
 

Councils Amalgamated

QR Freight Sold-Off

2. Expected outcome:

North & west Queenslanders were very angry with Queensland Labor's very unpopular decision.

North & west Queenslanders were very angry with Queensland Labor's very unpopular decision, but this time the unions weren't impressed with Labor either.
 

3. Key questions for Queenslanders to ask themselves:

Q1. With a looming Federal Election, did then former Premier Peter Beattie warn Mr Rudd in private to expect at least some temporary negative publicity against the Labor Party brand due to his forced council amalgamations? Q2. In response to this Labor Party affair, did Mr Beattie (in private) encourage Mr Rudd to publicly conduct a deceptive 'spin-driven' campaign-act against the amalgamations in order to protect his own hopes of winning federal votes in North & West Queensland's sensitive seats?

Q1. Again with a looming Federal Election, did Premier Bligh (copying-off Mr Beattie) warn Ms Gillard in private to expect at least some temporary negative publicity against the Labor Party brand due to her forced QR Sell-Off? Q2. In response to this Labor Party affair, did Ms Bligh (again like Mr Beattie) encourage Ms Gillard (in private) to publicly conduct a deceptive 'spin-driven' campaign act against the QR Sell-Offs in order to protect her own hopes of winning federal votes in North & West Queensland's sensitive seats?

4. So in order to calm Federal Labor nerves as far as winning in sensitive North & West Queensland seats was concerned, did the Queensland Premier at the time have this to say in private to the Federal Labor candidate running for PM?

Premier Beattie: "Don't worry Kevin. I've got it all sorted in order to help make sure that our Labor Party brand doesn't lose out in North & West Queensland. I've got a great way of exploiting the issue of Daylight Saving in Queensland (like that of a political 'point-scoring' football) that will more than help you out mate." Mr Rudd: "OK Pete, as long as you know what you're doing because you and I both know we must win those sensitive North & West Queensland seats or else we're doomed at this up-and-coming Federal Election."

Premier Bligh: "Don't worry Julia. I've got it all sorted in order to help make sure that the Labor brand doesn't lose out in North & West Queensland. I'm going to do exactly what our friend Peter Beattie did, and that is to simply exploit the very issue of Daylight Saving in Southeast Queensland as that will more than help you out." Ms Gillard: "OK Anna, as long as you know what you're doing because we must win those sensitive North & West Queensland seats or else we're doomed."
 

5. Coming from a public/media perspective, at this very stage, what did all this mean for Federal Labor's hopes of winning those 'must-win' sensitive seats in North & West Queensland?

It didn't look to be very promising: At this stage of the game, Federal Labor had former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to thank for the political damage his council amalgamations had done to their very own Federal Election hopes in those highly sensitive north & west Queensland seats. Key Point: But you can be forgiven for thinking that Federal Labor would have been happy to have known that Mr Beattie was going to in fact block Daylight Saving in Queensland in aid of repairing the party's political brand overall in those sensitive North & West Queensland seats following the controversial council amalgamations.
 

Again it didn't look to be very promising: At this stage, Federal Labor had Queensland Premier Anna Bligh to thank for the political damage her QR Sell-Off had done to their very own Federal Election hopes in the sensitive north & west Queensland seats. Key Point: But you can be forgiven for thinking that Federal Labor would have been happy to have known that Ms Bligh was in fact going to block Daylight Saving in Southeast Queensland in order to repair the party's political brand overall in those sensitive North & West Queensland seats following the QR Sell-Off.
 

6. The response from the Labor candidate running for PM:

Mr Rudd: He publicly expressed his disapproval concerning then Queensland Premier Mr Beattie amalgamating Queensland councils. Then Prime Minister John Howard said it is valid to spend taxpayers' money on plebiscites for Queensland's controversial council amalgamations - Something Mr Beattie didn't highly favour
 

Ms Gillard: She didn't comment on the very unpopular QR Sell-Off, but when she paid a visit to Brisbane she stood well clear of the not-so-popular Premier Bligh when announcing the Redcliffe Rail Project.

7. Queensland Labor's course of action:

They launched Queensland’s 2007 Nielsen Daylight Saving Survey.

They launched the state's consultation survey concerning Daylight Saving only in Southeast Queensland following the QR Sell-Off but also in aid of diverting attention away from the health pay debacle that angered unions and health workers across the state.
 

8. What Queensland Labor expected:

The anger in North & West Queensland continued.

The anger in North & West Queensland continued.
 

9. The common Queensland Labor Party rules during the Daylight Saving surveys:

(1) Never come forward with any Daylight Saving in Southeast Queensland boundary proposals - It was Labor's way of creating too much public uncertainty about the initiative (2) Never mention the benefits of Daylight Saving in Southeast Queensland slashing the wasteful burden the metropolitan region poses on the state. (3) Instead Labor agreed to always run an overly exaggerated 'end-of-the-world' scare campaign during the Nielsen Daylight Saving survey in order to win back lost support for the Labor Brand in north & west Queensland seats, especially in time for the Federal Election.
 

Pretty much a repeat of the same Labor Party rules from 2007 were applied despite an increase in public awareness of dual-time states working very well: The awareness of dual-time states working very well in NSW (Broken Hill is always on South Australian Time), the United States & Canada was better known thanks to the campaign work carried out by the Daylight Saving For Southeast Queensland Party (DS4SEQ).

10. Premier's decision time after the Daylight Saving surveys:

Premier Bligh after replacing Peter Beattie ruled out any chance of there being Daylight Saving in Queensland despite majority support, all in perfect timing for the Federal Election.

Premier Bligh again ruled out any chance of there being Daylight Saving (in this case proposed only for the southeast). Again that was despite majority support, and such a decision was also timed perfectly in readiness for the Federal Election.
 

11. The Labor Party's ‘Get out of political jail’ success:

North & West Queensland was relieved by Queensland Labor's decision (relieved Federal Labor's hopes of winning in sensitive North & West Queensland seats) despite this consequently meaning there'll be no hope of Daylight Saving in Southeast Queensland significantly slashing the wasteful burden the metropolitan region unnecessarily poses on the state.

Again, North & West Queensland relieved by Queensland Labor's decision (relieved Federal Labor's hopes of winning in sensitive North & West Queensland seats) despite this meaning there'll be no hope of Daylight Saving in Southeast Queensland significantly slashing the wasteful burden the metropolitan region unnecessarily poses on the state.
 

12. Queensland Labor’s amusing pieces of ‘look who’s talking’ hypocrisy in the lead-up to the Federal Elections:

After Premier Bligh had ruled out any Daylight Saving in Queensland, John Howard visited Brisbane backing the initiative only in Southeast Queensland, but Queensland Labor accused him of exploiting the issue only to win votes, yet that’s exactly what Labor themselves did, only in their case it was in order to win back North & West Queensland support for the sake of Kevin Rudd winning in the state's sensitive seats following the council amalgamations.

Labor hypocrisy at it again: Premier Bligh and Queensland Labor told us North & West Queensland were against Daylight Saving (this time being only in Southeast Queensland-Something never trialled before). We guess Queensland Labor do not recall that North & West Queensland were dead against their very own unpopular council amalgamations and the QR sell-offs, yet they forcefully went ahead with such decisions anyway.
 

13. Federal Election results were in:

Premier Peter Beattie's Daylight Saving stunt helped Rudd win sensitive Queensland seats.
 

Premier Bligh's Daylight Saving stunt more so than not helped Gillard win.

14. Problems for democracy across Queensland:

Councils were amalgamated with no public mandate.

QR assets sold-off with no public mandate.

15. Unpopular sequel in the making:

Queensland Labor plan a 2010 QR Sell-Off in order to tackle state debt.

Next: NSW Liberals plan a forced asset sell-off of their own state's electricity assets, but will the LNP do the same here in Queensland if they too achieve a landslide victory in 2012?