The Ayes Have It: The history of the Queensland Parliament, 1957–1989 (Australia and New Zealand School of Government

by John Wanna, Tracey Arklay

‘The Ayes Have It’ is a fascinating account of the Queensland Parliament during three decades of high-drama politics. It examines in detail the Queensland Parliament from the days of the ‘Labor split’ in the 1950s, through the conservative governments of Frank Nicklin, Joh Bjelke- Petersen and Mike Ahern, to the fall of the Nationals government led briefly by Russell Cooper in December 1989. The volume traces the rough and tumble of parliamentary politics in the frontier state. The authors focus on parliament as a political forum, on the representatives and personalities that made up the institution over this period, on the priorities and political agendas that were pursued, and the increasingly contentious practices used to control parliamentary proceedings. Throughout the entire history are woven other controversies that repeatedly recur - controversies over state economic development, the provision of government services, industrial disputation and government reactions, electoral zoning and disputes over malapportionment, the impost of taxation in the ‘low tax state’, encroachments on civil liberties and political protests, the perennial topic of censorship, as well as the emerging issues of integrity, concerns about conflicts of interest and the slide towards corruption. There are fights with the federal government - especially with the Whitlam government - and internal fights within the governing coalition which eventually leads to its collapse in 1983, after which the Nationals manage to govern alone for two very tumultuous terms. On the non-government side, the bitterness of the 1950s split was reflected in the early parliaments of this period, and while the Australian Labor Party eventually saw off its rivalrous off-shoot (the QLP-DLP) it then began to implode through waves of internal factional discord.

756 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being the only unicameral state parliament of state in Australia, parliamentary politics in Queensland are often viewed as a winner-takes-all game. The party who could capture the majority enjoys the entire benefits of being in government. In this book, we followed the political history of Queensland Parliament under the Liberal-Country Party (later the National Party) Coalition, and later, The National Party governing alone. Armed with such an effective gerrymandering, which overvalue the the rural votes while undervaluing the urban ones, the Country/National Party managed to turn the table against its partner, the Liberals, who is more commonly acknowledged as the senior partner in their arrangement in places other than Queensland, another unique aspect of Queensland’s politics. For me, the most compelling aspect of this book is the long rule of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen as Premier of Queensland, spanning for 19 years before it ended with his quixotic ‘Joh for PM’ campaign which ended up destroying the National Party both in state and federal levels, and unravelling the structural corruptions which happened during his administration. Other interesting things are how the Australian Labor Party managed to cope as opposition for so long and preparing itself for the eventuality of governing Queensland, which seemed to be a realistic dream only after Sir Joh fell. Some antics and other shenanigans caused by MPs also become a source of fun in this otherwise not-so-fun book to read. However, I am interested in Queensland politics and Sir Joh, thus I enjoy reading this book immensely.