Anna Bligh has made electoral history by becoming the first woman to win a State Election as Premier.
Her decision to call an early election, after inheriting her job from Peter Beattie, appears now to be vindicated. ABC News reports:
In her victory speech, Ms Bligh said she would reshape and transform her Government to face the challenges of her first full term in the top job.
Ms Bligh took over from former premier Peter Beattie 17 months ago when he retired from politics.
“Queenslanders, you can count on me,” she said.
She said the voters had given her a mandate to “protect your jobs and build a stronger Queensland”.
Ms Bligh told the crowd in the tally room she had called the election to secure an outcome so the government – whichever side won – could take action in difficult times.
Palaver is one thing; performance is another (People in NSW can talk from experience). Eleven years is too long for any one party to be in government. The merged Liberal-National party appears not to have worked, or it may be due to failure of its leader, Lawrence Springborg to capture the imagination of the electorate. The economic times seems to have favored the government, something that will not be lost on the politicians in Canberra. Malcolm Turnbull’s political profile would have been helped by a Liberal victory in Queensland.
The overall washout in seats won is one thing suggesting greater support for the returned government than the first party preferences indicate. Seats are decided on the two-party preferred vote. I suspect in Queensland there is an optional preference system, so that the 16% first party preference for the Greens and other parties, based on Anthony Greens figures for 70% of returns is significant.
The argument is strongest in Queensland to introduce a system of proportional government along the lines of MPP system in NZ. As it is, the executive government gets to be dominant in the Parliament, and the majority party is one of loyal followers. Results for different electoral systems cannot be directly compared because electors vote strategically with the system they have got, but it is clear that a proportional system gives a more diverse representation, and is on balance and in practice a better system of representative democracy.
Meanwhile, in NSW we stagger on till the next election. The situation in NSW makes it clear that strategic voting is enhanced in unicameral systems and dissipated in bicameral ones. The Legislative Council is one of the most democratic representative bodies conceivable, but it has effective political impact, so it continues its role as virtually irrelevant second chamber.