Amid a controversial Brisbane-Gold Coast tollway proposal, Goss’ team was also criticised for promises in policy areas it was perceived to have done little in across its previous two terms.
This mood translated to a loss of nine seats for Labor, and two-party preferred support of just 46.7 per cent. But Ken Davies’ 16-vote win in Mundingburra gave Goss the barest of majorities.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington and Dr Jessica Stroja look through some of the 1995 cabinet documents at the State Archives last month.Credit: Matt Dennien
Historian Dr Jessica Stroja, tasked by the Crisafulli government to prepare a background report and highlights from the documents, said this sentiment continued beyond polling day.
“The 1995 state election led to [cabinet] consideration of criticism from many protest groups surrounding election promises,” Stroja told an embargoed media event last month.
Attorney-General Deb Frecklington described the detail in the documents as fascinating.
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“It gives us great insight into the issues of the day … the cabinet was discussing, and trying to get over those issues as soon as they possibly could after that election,” she said.
Among the pledges made by Goss were to have his ministers spend their first 100 days back in office working up plans for how to make good on those promises.
By the end of that deadline, about 40 per cent of some 268 pledges identified by the cabinet office were on the way, Goss noted in a submission in late October.
Some entries on that list included significant promised passenger rail extensions to Maroochydore, Coolangatta and Toowoomba, along with a rail link to the Brisbane airport.
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The documents noted some promises, including a series around support for victims of crime, had no public media strategy to tout their progress.
Others still were said to have fallen “between the cracks” altogether.
A briefing paper for Goss highlighted only one in that category: truth in political advertising laws, floated by Borbidge in the election debate, and matched by the premier.
As the paper detailed, “no process for its implementation has been determined by cabinet” and the lack of action had also been seized upon by the media.
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With the issue also being raised federally, it was kicked to a parliamentary committee. No such laws have been enacted by a Queensland government since.
Goss said it was important the pledges, many of which were repackaged from the pre-election budget and other policy documents, were enacted as fast as possible to show government’s “active performance”.
“Effective media and communication strategies will play an important role in influencing public perceptions of the performance of the government,” he wrote.
In addition to a midterm update from ministers about election promise progress, cabinet members were asked to give another update in May 1996. They never got the chance.
On December 8, the Court of Disputed Returns ordered a byelection in Mundingburra after discovering 22 military personnel were denied the chance to vote.
Liberal Frank Tanti won the subsequent poll on February 3, 1996, leaving both Labor and the coalition with 44 seats in parliament.
This gave independent Liz Cunningham the chance to back Borbidge as the new premier of a minority coalition government. She took it, and the Goss era ended.
It will be another 12 months, however, before Queenslanders can see how that unfolded around the cabinet table.
