Contributed from Queensland
Queensland Labor lost the election this weekend. Only partly because the electorate turned towards the Liberal National Party LN). Its primary vote went up by 5.7 percent. Labor’s vote went down by 6.6 percent. Labor is obviously on the nose. This is more to the point. Queensland Labor is seen as slow to act on community expectations.
Both parties avoided key issues like the cost-of living, housing affordability, the lack of jobs, and country Queensland’s decline. Labor promised a little more spending on services. Both parties fell into campaigning on crime. The LNP was in a position to take best advantage. They took advantage of rising insecurity and far about the future. especially in rural north Queensland and cross many regional centres.
Statistics were manipulated and misrepresented to create an image of a rampant rise in youth crime. The reality is that this isn’t true. Police figures show that youth crime has actually been falling as a proportion of total crime according to police data. Furthermore, the figures are not listing the number of offenders, but the number of charges laid. A major reason for increasing the number of charges has been tougher policing under Labor.
Source the Queensland Audit Office: Youth offenses in Queensland gradually declined since 2011. It only rose marginally after the Covid lockdown period.
Much of the increase in charges relates to heavier handed policing of Aboriginal and Torres Straights youth. Policing of this sort plays into racist prejudices most prevalent in the north.
Note that figures the figures represent charges do not convictions. Pretending otherwise is for political manipulation. And this style of electioneering became central to this year’s Queensland election should be of concern.
The real problem for Labor was its own performance over half a decade. Emphasis on throwing dirt on the Greens, rather than on offering alternative set of policies that could rally Queenslanders. This generated a protest vote, rather than a solid swing towards the LNP.
The impact of the declining fortunes of Labor nationally can’t be discounted as another factor. The difference in Queensland, is its own unique features, and being where the downturn in the economy has hit hardest and incomes are the most stagnant. Queenslanders want better than this.
The result could have been different. Labor could have turned the heat off the Greens and sought an alliance on a solid program that would take on the cost-of-living crisis, lead to better income opportunities, answer the housing problem, and deal with other major concerns of Queenslanders.
Failure to do this has sent them into opposition.
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