A return to 'Joh' politics in QLD?
- Shiannon Corcoran
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
If you think the bad old days of the Bjelke-Petersen gerrymandering of the electoral boundaries to suit a disproportionate vote in favour of Joh’s political party are over, you may be wrong.
The QLD LNP under the leadership of Crisafulli are appointing Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Director-General John Sosso to the Queensland Redistribution Commission.
QRC will begin the process this year of redrawing Queensland’s electoral boundaries to account for population movements since the last redistribution in 2017. Deb Frecklington’s intended appointment of Sosso has even raised concerns of Tony Fitzgerald - Fitzgerald presided over the inquiry into the corruption of the Queensland government during Bjelke-Petersen’s tenure. John Sosso at the time was noted by the inquiry of ‘doing little to assist the inquiry’.
In 2015 while in opposition, the QLD LNP put forward a bill that would establish a mini redistribution commission that would’ve potentially added five more seats to the Queensland Parliament and increase advantage and weighting to regional seats. Large electorates in regional areas with smaller populations would potentially have equal power with smaller heavily populated electorates.
Labor would stand little chance of winning those extra seats, given rural and regional voters are largely conservative.
Sound familiar yet?
Joh Bjelke-Petersen in 1971, ‘proposed a system to refine malapportionment to favour his party at the expense of his Coalition partners, the Liberal Party, as well as Labor’. Despite the fact that the Labor party would continue to have a larger percentage of the vote - Joh’s Country Party combined with the Liberal Party would have an advantage due to malapportionment.
Even now, some large electoral districts have a 2% weighting. The LNP in 2015 proposed that this be increased to 4%. The LNP wanted to tie landmass to votes rather than the interests of individual voters - for political advantage.
Still sound familiar?
The fact that the QLD LNP wanted to influence the redrawing of electoral of electoral boundaries in any way in the past that was akin to the Bejelke-Petersen parameters should be cause for concern. The Queensland Redistribution Commission is meant to be an independent body. The QLD LNP would exercise a measure of control on the commission depending on their appointments. The fact that Fitzgerald has had cause to comment on an appointment NOW should be enough to question the motives of the QLD LNP government.
Are they covertly attempting to redefine the electoral boundaries to suit themselves and give the QLD LNP an unfair electoral advantage that outweighs percentages?
Based on past performance, it wouldn’t surprise me.
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