On Tuesday, 1 October 2024, the Queensland state government officially entered caretaker mode as preparations for the upcoming election ramp up. This period, which begins 26 days prior to the election, is designed to ensure that government operations remain neutral and do not unduly influence the electoral process. For businesses and organisations in Queensland that work […]

My kids are in early-primary-school and we recently played ‘If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be?’. They were desperate for me to reply: “x-ray vision!” or “supersonic flight!”, but I let them down with: “Time travel. I’d go back in time and cancel social media.”  They looked at me […]

It was sold as a panacea, a silver bullet. Four-year parliamentary terms in Queensland would ensure stability and foster long term policy development. It would maximise secure, predictable governance for public servants, business, and the community. The then Premier, a litany of academics and the commentariat all espoused the virtues of longer parliamentary terms punctuated […]

Journalists should be professional fence sitters, gathering and presenting unbiased facts so audiences can make up their own mind about the world around them. But what happens when an ex-journo goes to the ‘dark side’ and joins a consultancy like the SAS Group? It might surprise clients to know that many remain ‘Switzerland’, and this […]

Navigating the wilderness and dealing with government have a lot in common, as you may discover when Queensland changes government on October 26 and we face a federal election next year.  Federally, if Labor is re-elected, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will have to form a minority government with the Teals or, God forbid, the Greens.  […]

State Parliament sat for just three days in August. Amid the usual exchange of barbs and jibes, the State Government introduced and passed three Bills, each establishing a Commissioner. Perhaps only of interest to political or governance nerds, these pieces of legislation do more than just establish statutory authorities. They further demonstrate the fracturing of […]

One of my favourite songs at the moment is Stick Season, by the US artist Noah Kahan, which takes its name from the late autumn/early winter when the leaves have fallen in his home state of Vermont.  He describes it as “a really miserable time of year when it’s just kind of grey and cold”. As […]

SAS Group director Bernie Ripoll called last month’s federal climate “the winter of voters’ discontent.” From our perspective, the political winter is still well and truly here a month later. Federal politics has the Prime Minister caught in a whirlwind of over a dozen issues. To give you a taste, we have GDP growth, inflation, […]

Winter is traditionally a time to hibernate and take things a little slower. The sun is up later, as we are, and sets earlier. In politics, the winter break is normally a time to slow the pace, with politicians to be in their electorates and at home if not on an overseas delegation. But this […]