Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Queensland but Were Afraid to Ask

Everyone has heard the cliches about Queensland politics: Queensland is 'different'. It's the 'Deep North'. Its state elections exemplify Pineapple Party Time. But what if those cliches are in fact looking more like the state of affairs in the rest of Australia? Does the Sunshine State represent the new normal in Australian politics?

Queensland is different. It’s the ‘Deep North’. Its state elections exemplify Pineapple Party Time. But what if the clichés that ring true of the Sunshine State are in fact the nation’s future?

Queensland had long been seen as the land that time forgot, with a narrow economy based on agriculture, mining and transport – and conservative values. But from the 1980s a transformation took place. The state modernised, entrenching democratic reforms and civil liberties, becoming less like itself and more like everyone else. Yet now, in the era of Campbell Newman, Clive Palmer and national politics that ooze alarmist populism, it feels like Queensland’s history of eccentricity and unrest has colonised the whole country.

So how does Queensland both point the way forward and shine a light on the way we live now? Political commentator and Queenslander Mark Bahnisch looks closely and boldly at the Queensland experience, from the Joh Era to the present. His must-read book reaches some surprising conclusions.