It’s election time in Queensland.
A quirk of scheduling means the state and local elections will be held within a month of one another, which means candidates will be battling the public’s campaign fatigue as much as their opponents.
Aside from a bizarre period from 1960-1972 where Rockhampton was split into electorates of north and south, the Beef Capital has always been represented in state parliament by a Labor MP. Prior to the resources boom, the meatworks and the railways were the town’s biggest employers and both had strong union memberships. It made perfect sense then that current Labor premier Anna Bligh kicked off her re-election campaign in Rocky, one of the safest Labor seats around.
Things could be different this year, though.
Longtime Rocky MP Robert “Schwarto” Schwarten is retiring after more than 20 years in the job. He’s been described as a strong parliamentary performer, or alternatively the Minister for Poor Behaviour.
Whatever your take on him, he’s a bit of a Rocky institution and people who’ve voted for him out of habit or fondness will have to have a think about what they’ll do this year.
A few weeks before the election campaign began, a disgruntled local allegedly* rammed his luxury 4-wheel drive into the office of Federal Labor MP Kirsten Livermore. He then crossed the river over to the working-class suburb of Park Avenue and rammed the house of a private citizen unfortunate enough to share Livermore’s name. The guy finished off his rampage and presumably what was left of his car by ramming into the garage of Schwarto’s house, damaging Schwarto’s own luxury 4 wheel drive.
New coal ports proposed for the Fitzroy Delta have got conservationists up in arms, scared that whatever blighted the Gladstone Harbour might make its way north.
Combine this with Schwarto’s retirement, the State Government’s asset sell-offs and the current shenanigans of the Federal Labor party and things start to look a little murky.
I’ve been noticing posters, wheatpaste art and stickers appearing on bridges, lamp posts and abandoned shopfronts around Rocky’s CBD. The wheatpastes and stickers have the same artwork so I can only assume they’re done by the same group, but you never know.
So internet: enjoy a Capricornian take on street art and political activism.
[caption id=”attachment_835” align=”alignnone” width=”351” caption=”Sticker on a light post, Fitzroy River Bridge.”]
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[caption id=”attachment_837” align=”alignnone” width=”351” caption=”Seen on the old Kodak Kiosk in the East Street Mall.”]
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[caption id=”attachment_836” align=”alignnone” width=”351” caption=”Spotted a couple of weeks later in a disused shop-front in Archer Street. Old mate has stepped up the puns - I don’t believe his apology for a second!”]
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[caption id=”attachment_840” align=”alignnone” width=”351” caption=”Found on the abandoned Wintergarden Theatre downtown.”]
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[caption id=”attachment_841” align=”alignnone” width=”351” caption=”Wintergarden again.”]
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*He hasn’t had his day in court yet, but a passer-by saw this bloke ram Schwarto’s house and took down his licence plate details.
