Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to talk about the Queensland election, but not in the way of talking about who is going to win, which party is best or which party has the best policies. Tonight I want to spare a thought for and to wish well all the wonderful people who have nominated for the Liberal Party in the state of Queensland. In talking about these people can I say that my comments also relate to any candidate, be they in the Liberal Party, the National Party, the Labor Party or any other party, contesting this or any other election.

Those of us in this chamber know what it is like to stand for preselection and then election and to at times feel powerless to pursue your cause because of things that are happening around you over which you have no control. This time there will be many wonderful people who are Liberal Party candidates but, quite frankly, if you believe the opinion polls being published by the papers, very few of them have any chance of being elected. I am greatly distressed by and despair of that fact, because as a group the Liberal Party candidates contesting the Queensland election are an exceptional group of people in that they come from all walks of life. They are successful in their own right and leaders in their community. But because of the vagaries of politics, if you believe the opinion polls, I suspect that few of them will be elected, and I feel for them.

Those of us who have been candidates know what it is like to put yourself up, get your supporters there and do all the hard work—up early doorknocking, doing street walks, standing at railway stations or standing on the roadside. You go through a period of emotional highs and lows. When you are first preselected you are on a very great high, then, as the election campaign drags on, you have lows and doubts and then, as it comes towards election day, you get excited. But, if you believe the opinion polls, many of these people in the Liberal Party know in their own hearts that they are not going to make it. To me, it is a shame that the collective wisdom and the collective contribution these people could make to good government in Australia, and in Queensland, in particular, will be lost.

I do not want to identify particular candidates, because I cannot identify them all, but I want to mention and wish good luck to all the Liberal Party candidates—indeed, to any candidate contesting the election. I want to particularly wish good luck to William Tan in Algester, Tracy Davis in Aspley and Craig Thomas in Brisbane Central. Craig has taken on the Premier—talk about David and Goliath, but he is a great man and, I have to say, would make a far better local representative than Mr Beattie; at least Mr Thomas is honest. One could expect that Mr Thomas will not be elected but he will have a good go, and he has run a good campaign. I also want to mention John Caris in Broadwater, Michael Hart in Burleigh, Trish Symons in Capalaba, Tim Nicholls in Clayfield, Andrew Trim in Cleveland and Peter Matic in Inala, which I think is Labor’s safest seat, if I read the pendulum correctly—but Peter Matic is out there making a stand for his community.

Peter Turner is standing in Indooroopilly, Sean Choat in Ipswich West, Steve Dickson in Kawana, Nick Monsour in Mount Gravatt, and Bob Harper is standing in Mount Ommaney. He is a former member and a great guy. James Mackay, standing in Mt Cout-tha, is a young computer programmer; the sort of person you really need in the Queensland parliament. These are people who have achieved things.

Ros Bates is standing in Mudgeeraba, Reg Gulley in Murrumba, Glen Elmes in Noosa, and Shane Moon in Pumicestone. I had the honour and privilege of being with Shane and opening his office on the weekend. Ray Stevens is standing in Robina. He is a former mayor of the Gold Coast and is an exceptionally qualified person. Alan Boulton, the former mayor of Redcliffe is standing in Sandgate. Lynne Jennings is standing in South Brisbane. Peter Collins, a councillor on the Logan City Council, is running in Springwood. Brad Carswell is running in Stafford.

And so the list goes on. There are many other candidates standing. They are all quality people and I wish them all the very best for Saturday. But tonight I particularly want to talk about the four Liberal Party candidates in the north of our state. Again, they are quality people who could make a magnificent contribution to Queensland and Australia were they to be elected on the weekend.

I do not want to be a commentator or a pollster—everyone has their own opinions—but I think some of these people could surprise the pundits from the papers and actually end up in parliament after Saturday. The difficulty for these candidates is that the media have trivialised the campaign. In the first few days, when a lot of policies were being issued by the coalition, the media chose to concentrate on the fact that the Liberal leader did not know after whom the City of Brisbane was named. As it turns out, I know that—but what has that got to do with good government for Queensland? Yet the media trivialised that and many other aspects, concentrating on the man rather than the ball. Then the media had the hide to criticise the Liberal Party for not having serious policies and for running a light election campaign when the policies were there; it was just that the media chose to ignore them and to trivialise the early days of the campaign.

But as politicians we cannot complain about the media. We all know what it is all about. We all accept that they have the last word so we would never dare to suggest that they are being very trivial in much of their reporting of elections. But I guess this election is no different to any others, and at other times it has been the Labor Party that has been trivialised. It is across the board, I guess, but in this instance they have certainly made it difficult for all those wonderful people I mentioned.

I particularly want to wish well Stephen Welsh, the Liberal Party candidate in Barron River. He is a tourist operator who has lived in the Far North for many, many years. He ran last time and almost won that seat against a sitting minister, and he is running again. He is aged 39 and married to Colleen. They have three young children. He is very much involved in the tourist industry, which really makes Far North Queensland tick. He is involved with backpacker hostels, the Cairns Rugby Union Club and the Cairns and District Junior Eisteddfod. He is also on the Cairns City Council’s Safety Committee. He could make a wonderful contribution to Queensland.

Wendy Richardson is running in Cairns. She is a fourth-generation Cairns person, mother of four, and daughter of a local identity, Sir Robert Norman. She is the coordinator of the North Queensland Advocacy Group and is also a member of Australia’s National Literacy Consultative Group. She is on the Board of Anglicare, which conducts a range of services for youth. She is a speech pathologist. Again, she could make a wonderful contribution to Queensland politics.

In the seat of Townsville, young Jessica Weber is a home-grown Townsville resident who is passionate about local issues. She and her parents and grandparents have lived for three generations in the one seat in South Townsville, usually thought to be a Labor suburb. But there is a young person on the go—very keen, very active and independent. She joined the Liberal Party. She was elected head of the James Cook University Student Association. She did great work there and was the one student union leader that supported voluntary student unionism. She is a real goer and she will make a great member of parliament.

In the seat of Mundingburra—everyone knows Mundingburra—we have Mick Reilly. He is a former lieutenant colonel in the Army and now in the Army Reserve. He is the immediate past president of the Townsville Chamber of Commerce. He only resigned when he was preselected. He has been director of Townsville Enterprise Limited, chair of the Museum of Tropical Queensland Advisory Committee and a member of Rotary International. He and all of these candidates are community people. They are involved in the community. They are community leaders who could make a great contribution to the north. I am very proud of the four of them in the north and I am confident they will do well in the future in the government of Queensland. (Time expired)