The Hawke Government and Queensland

The Ayes Have It: The History of the Queensland Parliament 1957-89

“…The restoration greatly improved the physical attributes of the buildings that had long been the subject of much complaint. It did not do much to improve the institution of the Parliament itself, which was criticised (like the old building) as displaying 'institutional rot' (Coaldrake 1989). …”

“…26, no. 1;Coaldrake 1989:70)-a totally distorted view of the Speaker's significance (although he subsequently said he meant to say 'wishes of the Parliament he represents'). Muller went on to show considerable favouritism towards the government, at times disallowing questions and curtailing the scope of the opposition to probe government administration.…”

“…Pratt had very close connections with the government and had been appointed earlier to head up the special industrial tribunal set up to oversee the electricity industry after the SEQEB dispute. As Coaldrake (1989) pointed out at the time, the Police Complaints Tribunal was meant to be at 'arm's length' from the police, but its head was a personal friend of the Police Minister, Bill Gunn, and had a special relationship with the Police Commissioner.…”

Working with the stock we have: The evolving role of Queensland's implementation unit

“…It found evidence of widespread systemic corruption in Queensland's public institutions, including by Cabinet Ministers, the police service and parts of the public service. Its finding were a catalyst for significant reforms under the Goss Labor Government, elected in 1989 after 32 years in opposition (For a detailed overview see Coaldrake 1989). Queensland has the only unicameral parliament in Australia and has for years had an under-developed committee system, further inhibiting oversight capacity.…”

The Aboriginal Franchise and Its Consequences

“…In 1965, the Queensland government tried to prevent Aborigines enrolling for local government elections; 277 in 1971, it attempted to rule out the possibility of an Aboriginal majority being elected on Aboriginal reserves; 278 on another occasion, when a medical team entered the state to treat Aborigines for trachoma, the Premier removed them on the grounds that they had encouraged hundreds of Aborigines to vote; 279 and in 1986, in order to protect a marginal National Party seat, the electoral commissioners pulled-off a "bizarre piece of electoral cartography" so as to ensure that an Aboriginal reserve was placed within a safe Labor seat. 280 Of even greater renown are the efforts made by Liberal governments in Western Australia. In 1977, following the Party's abortive attempt to interfere with Aboriginal voting in the seat of Kimberley by seeking to confuse Aboriginal voters and by imposing on scrutineers a peculiarly narrow interpretation of the Electoral Act designed to deprive Aborigines of their voting rights, 281 the Western Australian government sought to undermine the reasoning of the 1961 Select Committee Report by moving to limit the electoral rights of "illiterates".…”