Cap'n Bligh and the Mutiny on the HMS ALP
October 5th 2008 22:20
Arrr me heartys, ye be best advised to jump ship from Cap’n Bligh’s vessel. It be rotten to the hull and sinking like a stone right to the very bottom of Davy Jones’ locker! I tell ye, abandon ship and row, row, row as fast as yer arms will take ye!
…
Ok, I understand that it was International Talk Like A Pirate Day a few weeks ago now (September 19 for those of you keeping track…) but in honour of yet another mutiny against yet another Bligh, I felt it only proper to use the skills I learned on that day. Yes, my fellow sea-dogs, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has suffered the hard end of a problem that made her great-great-great grandfather famous: she just got mutinied. There is a difference, however. While Captain William Bligh, of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame was deposed by strength of force at gunpoint and had his ship taken from him, Anna Bligh was rocked by a mutiny less foul. Indooroopilly MP Ronan Lee jumped ship on the weekend to join up with the Greens. The first Cap’n Bligh knew about it? When she saw the press conference where he announced it, side by side with the Greens messiah himself Bob Brown. At least William Bligh’s crew had to decency to point guns at him face to face. Now, the defection of Lee is not going to make a lasting impact on the Labor Government structurally speaking. His defection doesn’t mean that they lose their majority and he wasn’t a Cabinet member whose departure would require a reshuffle. But it is symbolic and the symbolism comes at a bad time for the Cap’n. Her approval ratings are ridiculously low. Lawrence Springborg, or simply ‘the Borg’ as he likes to be known, is steadily climbing on the backs of Labor Party follies to reach the heights of his popularity. The LNP restructure has allayed some of the concerns of city-voters who would not have voted Liberal but will now vote for a LNP member. With an election due sometimes next year, things aren’t looking bright for the Cap’n and the defection of Lee is only further evidence that there is trouble in the ranks.
The Cap’n took the defection fairly personally. Her response was a unique mixture of passive aggression and indignant outrage. She said that he was more than free to exercise his own choice, but went on to call the move a ‘betrayal’. While he insisted that the voters of Indooroopilly elected him for his personal commitment to issues like the environment, Cap’n Bligh begged to differ and claimed that he was elected solely as a member of a Labor Government and that the voters would see straight through the party switch and he would not be elected again. Throwing words like “betrayal” around, it is no wonder that it felt like we were back on the HMS Bounty. The only question is who is the one being put out to see in a lifeboat? Cap’n Bligh or Ronan Lee?
Well, Lee’s move was not the smartest I would suggest. He jumped ship of an incumbent government, which is a bit strange no matter how unlikely it might seem that they will get elected again. He claims it is a split down ideological lines and I tend to agree with him. Genuine disagreement about the issues is one of the only reasons someone would jump ship, to the Greens of all people. There is one other reason that someone would leave an incumbent Government for a party that never has a hope of forming one: he legitimately despises the hierarchy and can’t wait to be rid of them. Again, very understandable. In a sense, Lee put himself in the lifeboat and rowed as far away as possible. This is the reverse of the Mutiny on the Bounty. See, in that one they WANTED the boat and sent the boss off to suffer whatever fate befell him. In this one, the boat is so rotten that the mutiny is about getting far, far away from it. It’s the Cap’n that has been left on the boat to suffer whatever fate befalls her. The ALP are going into the next election as underdogs for the first time in a long time. That is just a fact that the Cap’n is going to need to get her head around. After ten dominant years in government, they will be going into their first election without Peter Beattie to man the helm and keep the ship on a true bearing.
And I am truly sorry Cap’n Bligh, but you ma’am are no Peter Beattie.
…
Ok, I understand that it was International Talk Like A Pirate Day a few weeks ago now (September 19 for those of you keeping track…) but in honour of yet another mutiny against yet another Bligh, I felt it only proper to use the skills I learned on that day. Yes, my fellow sea-dogs, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has suffered the hard end of a problem that made her great-great-great grandfather famous: she just got mutinied. There is a difference, however. While Captain William Bligh, of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame was deposed by strength of force at gunpoint and had his ship taken from him, Anna Bligh was rocked by a mutiny less foul. Indooroopilly MP Ronan Lee jumped ship on the weekend to join up with the Greens. The first Cap’n Bligh knew about it? When she saw the press conference where he announced it, side by side with the Greens messiah himself Bob Brown. At least William Bligh’s crew had to decency to point guns at him face to face. Now, the defection of Lee is not going to make a lasting impact on the Labor Government structurally speaking. His defection doesn’t mean that they lose their majority and he wasn’t a Cabinet member whose departure would require a reshuffle. But it is symbolic and the symbolism comes at a bad time for the Cap’n. Her approval ratings are ridiculously low. Lawrence Springborg, or simply ‘the Borg’ as he likes to be known, is steadily climbing on the backs of Labor Party follies to reach the heights of his popularity. The LNP restructure has allayed some of the concerns of city-voters who would not have voted Liberal but will now vote for a LNP member. With an election due sometimes next year, things aren’t looking bright for the Cap’n and the defection of Lee is only further evidence that there is trouble in the ranks.
The Cap’n took the defection fairly personally. Her response was a unique mixture of passive aggression and indignant outrage. She said that he was more than free to exercise his own choice, but went on to call the move a ‘betrayal’. While he insisted that the voters of Indooroopilly elected him for his personal commitment to issues like the environment, Cap’n Bligh begged to differ and claimed that he was elected solely as a member of a Labor Government and that the voters would see straight through the party switch and he would not be elected again. Throwing words like “betrayal” around, it is no wonder that it felt like we were back on the HMS Bounty. The only question is who is the one being put out to see in a lifeboat? Cap’n Bligh or Ronan Lee?
Well, Lee’s move was not the smartest I would suggest. He jumped ship of an incumbent government, which is a bit strange no matter how unlikely it might seem that they will get elected again. He claims it is a split down ideological lines and I tend to agree with him. Genuine disagreement about the issues is one of the only reasons someone would jump ship, to the Greens of all people. There is one other reason that someone would leave an incumbent Government for a party that never has a hope of forming one: he legitimately despises the hierarchy and can’t wait to be rid of them. Again, very understandable. In a sense, Lee put himself in the lifeboat and rowed as far away as possible. This is the reverse of the Mutiny on the Bounty. See, in that one they WANTED the boat and sent the boss off to suffer whatever fate befell him. In this one, the boat is so rotten that the mutiny is about getting far, far away from it. It’s the Cap’n that has been left on the boat to suffer whatever fate befalls her. The ALP are going into the next election as underdogs for the first time in a long time. That is just a fact that the Cap’n is going to need to get her head around. After ten dominant years in government, they will be going into their first election without Peter Beattie to man the helm and keep the ship on a true bearing.
And I am truly sorry Cap’n Bligh, but you ma’am are no Peter Beattie.
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