Editor Lyndon Keane says enduring a political campaign is like going lure shopping – there are a plethora of styles and colours to attract attention and make candidates look like they know what they’re doing, but most will never do what they promise on the packaging. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
In many ways, being a voter is like most of the trips I’ve made to buy new lures: there are rows and rows full of colourful options to draw your attention and send you into a downward spiral of selection confusion, but few actually do what they promise on the packaging once you’ve laid down the cash and added them to your tackle box.
With the state election now just 33 days away, parties are ratcheting up the rhetoric with the energy of anglers who have come across a school of mackerel, crowding the political water with promises and lures they assert will make Cape York a better place to work and play. You’ve just got to take the bait and trust them with your vote first.
The news health officials met with Lakeland stakeholders to investigate the feasibility of setting up a much-needed clinic in the town is fantastic news, but the timing of the meeting makes it fair to ask whether the State Government is serious about providing a solution to a problem no one in an urban area of Queensland would be expected to accept as the status quo, or whether it’s an attempt to lock up some red votes in the gateway to Cape York come 26 October.
The same could be said for the $60 million the government has put on the table to kickstart stage three of the Cape York Region Package. Yes, it’s wonderful they can identify the Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR) on a map but, in reality, it’s an empty multimillion-dollar promise lobbed out during an election campaign. Why? Because the commitment is contingent on the Federal Government stumping up $240m for the project to continue the 80:20 joint funding arrangement currently in place, and there’s been little recent interest from Canberra in that regard. Maybe it would be different if we convinced our political overlords the PDR was the northernmost part of the Bruce Highway.
The opposition hasn’t been much more convincing since candidates hit their strides. Liberal National Party (LNP) candidate and former Cook MP David Kempton has been scathing of the government’s lack of interest in critical Cape York road infrastructure, but failed to provide a counteroffer to voters as the icing on his criticism. Furthermore, the LNP’s $50m biosecurity plan – which includes reopening the Cape York Biosecurity Centre at Coen – is little more than politicking lip service, because the party hasn’t specified how it will execute the strategy, given the government handed the facility back to Traditional Owners last year, only to have them demolish and remove the inspection station a few months ago.
The fact we haven’t seen – nor will we before voters head to the ballot box – Steven Miles or David Crisafulli out on the hustings this far north provides a big clue about much of a priority the one electorate encompassing Cape York and the Torres Strait is to the big parties. Talking to sources from both sides of the political fence, they readily admit off the record they have put a thick red line through Cook and are instead focusing their campaign energy – and genuine lures – elsewhere in the state.
The minor parties aren’t doing much better. Rather than identifying specific issues they will address if they are elected and hold a balance of power in what could well be a minority government, the preferred approach to win over voters seems to be wrapping their opponents’ lures around snags and criticising their casting ability.
It’s no wonder no one is reaching for a landing net yet – the vote fishing strategies of promising the world without any need to reel in a result or simply telling constituents what the other anglers are doing wrong are ones we’re sick of, because they’ve failed to hook any significant economic prosperity or cost of living relief for the region time and time again.
With a bit of luck, the tide is turning, and candidates will start to use bait that not only appeals to voters and makes them feel heard, but also land some of the promises and, with them, positive change for Cape York and the Torres Strait.
