Lawrence Springborg
Qld Nationals Leader Jeff Seeney has lost his leadership spill to former leader Lawrence Springborg; Fiona Simpson will stay on as Deputy Leader. Now that Seeney has brought on talk of a merger (or a “new” party) and Howard’s not around to scuttle the plan, the Nationals may actually go ahead with the merger under the leadership of Springborg.
Springborg’s the best bet the Queensland Coalition parties have of toppling the Labor party government even though it may take another two terms to do so. With 25 of the 89 seats in Queensland’s sole house of representation, the Coalition face an uphill struggle. Pooling their resources under the banner of a single party and running a strong campaign may not net them the 20 seats they need straight away but it ought to allow them to make a dent in the massive majority that Bligh inherited from Beattie courtesy of the dodgy electoral system and Beattie Labor’s “Just Vote 1″ catchphrase.
Will the new conservative party attempt to deal with all minor parties (including the Greens) to try and unseat Labor? It’s entirely possible. It’s unfortunately more likely that a new party would be mired in the same troubles the Coalition have always faced. Upstart Liberals trying to claw their way to the top and a lack of ability of the rural leadership to send out messages that resonate with urban voters (which is why the Libs only have eight seats). As has been said on Larvatus Prodeo, there’s going to be a lot of tension between the wheat farmers, urban lawyers and Gold Coast property developers. One can only hope that a new party doesn’t include Family First and One Nation otherwise the new party will face a huge uphill battle as they attempt to form a policy that can marry right wing populism, Christian fundamentalism, neo-liberalism, bush socialism, anti-gay/immigrant sentiments and still be viewed as “electable” and being able to govern in the interests of the state. Given that the Republicans and federal Liberals have just suffered huge defeats within the last 18 months, this isn’t likely.
“the new party will face a huge uphill battle as they attempt to form a policy that can marry right wing populism, Christian fundamentalism, neo-liberalism, bush socialism, anti-gay/immigrant sentiments and still be viewed as “electable” and being able to govern in the interests of the state.” The UPM did exactly that in France.
oops, I mean UMP. lol.
Yes, but the UMP appear to be quite reactionary; selling themselves as the party of change, a break from the old socialist France. The UMP, with their majority in both houses, have been elected as John Howard was in 1996 with the electoral mandate that Howard claimed in 2004.
Yes but that was reform at a national (or federal level), if you look at it from a state level (as this is) the model for that is entirely viable. IMO, of course.
I don’t know; Pauline Hanson managed to tie a bunch of disparate interests together simply out of a fear of “other” and a disenchantment with the major parties. One Nation won 11 seats in 1998 but three years later were down to 3 seats. It’s an untenable political coalition; the City-Country Alliance split from ONP, Hanson ran as an independent and the various groups haven’t recovered since.
Even if the various right wing factions and social groups do get behind the new Coalition party, it probably won’t be enough to win government. Even if they do win government there’ll be so much bickering that the government will be booted out three years later (assuming someone doesn’t get a “No Confidence” motion across the floor).
Lawrence Can lead the Conservative Party to victory at the next Queensland State Election!
I have complete faith in Him!
Go Lawrence, Go!!
Dave. :-)