Marriage to break stranglehold risks federal
29.05.2006
COMMENT
THE Queensland Nationals have rolled the dice in a huge political gamble that has the potential to either steamroll Labor in Queensland or wipe out the Howard Government at the next federal election.
The marriage of the Nationals and Liberals in Queensland to form the ``New Liberal Party'' is all about breaking the stranglehold of the Government of Peter Beattie.
A major imperative driving the decision is that the business community in Queensland has demanded that there be unity. No unity, no financial support.
It has been a double-edged sword because in Queensland the conservative parties have become so downtrodden that not only are they not attracting financial support, they are struggling to find candidates with ability and appeal to the electorate.
The Queensland Nationals have been on an irreversible slide since the party lost the 1989 election and the incoming Labor government of Wayne Goss drew up fair electoral boundaries.
Under equalised boundaries in the 89 electorates, it became obvious that the Nationals could never win the seats necessary to become the dominant conservative party.
The stark reality the party has had to face is that the next conservative premier of Queensland will be a Liberal.
For the conservative coalition to win government in the state, the Liberal Party has to win a swag of metropolitan seats held by Labor -- seats that the Nationals have no hope of securing.
But is this ``self-interest'' and focus on controlling the Treasury benches in Queensland a positive move federally? In 1987, then Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was deluded into thinking that his appeal was so great that he could become the prime minister, and he announced that was exactly what he was going to achieve.
The abortive ``Joh For PM'' campaign derailed the chance for then Opposition leader John Howard to defeat Bob Hawke at the 1987 federal election.
If this latest move has not been thoroughly thought through and it causes the Nationals to split, Mr Howard could again suffer the nightmares of 1987 as he attempts to fight next year's election with a divided team.
They are bully-boy tactics that typify agrarian socialist politics Queensland-style.
But a faint heart never won a fair maiden and the Nationals in Queensland have grasped this merger opportunity with unbridled enthusiasm -- because they had no alternative.
