Qld: Beattie poised to win unwinnable election

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2001
Qld: Beattie poised to win unwinnable election

By Barbara Adam, State Political Correspondent

BRISBANE, Feb 15 AAP - Queensland Premier Peter Beattie appears poised to become a
Labor hero by winning an election a drover's dog would have run a mile from.

His government was embroiled in a damaging vote-rigging scandal that claimed the scalps
of three Labor MPs when Mr Beattie brought the poll on six months early.

But before he did so, he employed a political circuit breaker he had spent years perfecting
- a media stunt.

When high-profile backbencher Mike Kaiser quit at the height of Labor's electoral rorts
scandal, Mr Beattie stretched a wetsuit over his chubby frame and went swimming with
sharks at a Sunshine Coast tourist attraction.

Mr Beattie readily admits that he uses media stunts as circuit breakers when times are tough.

And with the polls favouring Labor, it looks like the strategy is working.

True to form, Mr Beattie, 48, has treated the 26-day campaign like an extended photo-shoot,
dragging a large entourage of journalists, photographers and cameramen around the state.

There's nothing Queensland's self-confessed media tart premier won't do - funny hats,
baby animals, miniature cars, motorbikes, bulldozers, even cuddling the protesters who
tried to hijack a press conference.

For whatever reason, the five month long vote-rigging scandal that rocked his government
has not really rated as an election issue.

In fact, Labor's lead in the opinion polls has prompted Mr Beattie to issue warnings
to his supporters not to become complacent.

Desperate to talk down the polls so Labor didn't "peak" too early, the party leaked
some opinion polls of its own showing the race was too close to call.

One possible fly in the ointment is Pauline Hanson, the woman credited with ousting
Mr Borbidge from office at the last election.

With a strategy of attacking sitting MPs no matter what party they represent, One Nation
might yet do some damage to Labor.

AAP bja/sc/mjm

KEYWORD: POLLQLD BEATTIE (AAP ANALYSIS) (REPEATING)

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