It’s parliament, not Love Island: Queensland’s ministerial affair drama becomes a sordid distraction | Queensland politics
Question time in the Queensland parliament is not a major strength in terms of ratings.
Nielsen doesn’t publish ratings data on the live broadcast from George Street in Brisbane, but one might assume that the number of voters tuning in on weekday mornings to watch our state politicians get whipped is relatively low: a handful of political enthusiasts and the odd journalist who prefers to work from home.
Tuesday’s broadcast seemed better suited to prime time; It’s like an episode of Love Island full of disgusting claims about relationships, only the cast look a lot less likable.
During questioning, deputy prime minister Jarrod Bleijie – a man not known for his cunning – made good on his promise last week to reveal the personal affairs of Labor MPs.
Bleijie breathlessly listed the names of five Labor MPs and threatened to reveal information about their personal relationships. He accused the other two of being in a relationship (which they deny).
“We’ve all heard rumors, insinuations and stories,” Bleijie said.
Bleijie’s notable comments follow repeated questions from Labor about the relationship between two Liberal National party ministers, Tim Mander and Amanda Camm.
Stories about Mander and Camm, and questions about the timeline of their reunion, became front-page news in Queensland. The Inquisition was motivated by “integrity” concerns, but frankly there was more smoke than fire on the issue.
The LNP created this confusion. During the government’s last term, they coined the term “integrity crisis”, mainly to exaggerate a story about the wiping of a laptop taken from the integrity commissioner’s office. A subsequent investigation found that the conditions were not on par with Watergate, but were in fact “perfectly ordinary.”
Labor created this mess. The opposition is vacillating in actually holding the government to account due to quiet but steady shifts to the right on juvenile crime, trans rights, indigenous rights and “hate speech” laws. It looks like the Mander-Camm relationship is the best attack Labor can come up with.
None of this is meant to belittle the idea that honesty is important. Of course it is.
However, it is useful to dwell on this word a little. Because in politics, “honesty” means nothing, it is everything. In Queensland politics, this is a convenient way to accuse someone of something more serious, namely corruption, when there isn’t enough evidence to use the “c” word. And this is also a wonderful paradox. The idea that there is any integrity left in Queensland politics is laughable, given what happened in parliament on Tuesday.
Less than three days have passed since one of the biggest political shifts in this country in generations. The result of the Farrer byelection told us a lot about the type of voters who will reshape politics in Australia.
They are voters despairing at the disgusting pantomime that politics can become.
They’re also the ones most likely to watch Married at First Sight (an average of 2.76 million people per episode) who won’t care who comes up with the best put-down at question time.
Queensland’s political leaders may regret chasing ratings. Of course more people can watch. But will they really like what they see?
