How good is Queensland?
by lechblaine
In August, I travelled 7000 km from the bubble of Brisbane to the bloodshed of the Mount Isa Rodeo, and back again via Cairns and the Daintree Rainforest. I was trying to find the roots of Scott Morrison’s mute revolution, and why blue-collar voters staged a mutiny against Bill Shorten. But also what it means to be a Queenslander in 2019, and why so many of them are pissed off with the political system.
The Monthly have published the roughly 9000 word essay – titled ‘How good is Queensland?’ – in the November magazine.
You can read the article here.
It includes hopefully enlightening conversations with Kevin Rudd in Brisbane and Kev Carmody in Warwick, plus a bunch of other Queenslanders, such as a plumber from Ipswich, a cattle farmer in Clermont, a diesel fitter working on a coal mine near Mackay, the Mayor
of Townsville, a Cairns schoolteacher and a Biloela social worker, along with an unexpected cameo appearance by David Malouf on Magnetic Island.
Lech Blaine 
My take home message from this is that Labor needs to develop a stronger message about what it represents. The comment about being true to principles rather than attempting to play the game of winning an election by second guessing what people are thinking is right in my view. It is also true that Labor needs to address the impact of a declining coal industry.
Overall, there is a lot of hard work and direct telling of the situation. Well done!