Premier Crisafulli sets out to banish Newman-era ghosts

Newly elected governments place great emphasis on their initial actions in office. What they do first sets them on their course, and – importantly – declares their intentions for their term of office. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli’s first action in office was to write to the state’s public service and invite them to be part of the journey. He said: “We have an ambitious and important agenda in the interest of Queenslanders, and you, the Queensland Public Sector, are vital to what we need to achieve.” The note was an up-front admission of the failures of the previous LNP administration in its handling of public service downsizing.  

More importantly though, it was Crisafulli’s first step in exorcising the ghosts of the Newman Government that have haunted the Liberal National Party for the last 10 years. The threat of public service sackings has been the single greatest weapon deployed against them in that time. It was still present in Labor’s attack materials and personal appeals to voters on polling booths last Saturday, urging voters to “cut Crisafulli before he cuts you”.    

Privately, senior LNP figures acknowledged there was still a high degree of mistrust, perhaps even fear, among the ranks of the public service – stoked by 10 years of Government and union reminders.  And for this reason, there was an expectation that some outer Brisbane electorates with high number of public servants would hesitate about voting LNP. And this turned out to be true last weekend, with the electoral tsunami seen in regional Queensland flattening out to a standard-sized wave in some Brisbane seats, and barely a ripple in others. The diminishing wave correlates with the population of public servants in city electorates. 

Having won the election, the Premier now has four years to win over this important voting bloc.  If he gets it right, the “cuts and chaos” attack lines that have dogged the LNP for a decade will themselves be made redundant. Hence the promise to the public service: “Whilst there may be some initial realignment in leadership and in machinery of government changes…there will be no employment cuts to the public service workforce. Having seen the impact of job losses in the past on the productivity and morale of the public service, I will not be repeating those actions.”It’s no different to what he has said throughout his four-year journey as Opposition Leader, but carries far more credibility and gravitas when it arrives on the Premier’s letterhead. Anecdotal feedback suggests it was well received among the target audience. Crisafulli is thoroughly determined to put an end to the scare campaigns once and for all.  He has made a solid start.