Bligh quits Parliament
Tony Moore
March 25, 2012

 

Anna Bligh announces she's quitting Queensland Parliament in Brisbane.


Anna Bligh has quit the Queensland Parliament in the wake of Labor's humiliating electoral defeat.

Ms Bligh told a media conference this morning Queensland had sent her and her government an overwhelming message.   

Bligh said today was a "heartbreaking day" for the Labor Party in Queensland and the party needed to focus immediately on rebuilding.


"This is not a task that can be achieved with me at the head of the team or indeed as part of the team," she said.

Her decision to resign from the seat of South Brisbane, which she has represented since 1995, will become effective on Friday.

Labor was last night reduced to between six and eight seats in the 89-seat Queensland Parliament in a debilitating defeat.   

"This result is absolutely shattering for the Australian Labor Party. This is much more than a loss; it is without doubt a devastating defeat," Ms Bligh said during her press conference today.

"The task for Labor is not be consumed by that heartbreak.

‘‘The task for us is to do everything in our power to recover, to rebuild and to renew and to be everything this party has been for more than a century,’’ she said.

‘‘This is going to be clearly an enormous task.’’

Ms Bligh refused to speculate if her deposed deputy Andrew Fraser, or dumped education minister Cameron Dick, would be put up by Labor in South Brisbane.   

The country's first female premier to win an election, Ms Bligh said Labor must not tear itself apart, and must immediately begin to rebuild.

‘‘There is a very big challenge for Labor to be an effective opposition,’’ she said.

‘‘Frankly, they’re going to have to start the process of rebuilding almost immediately.

‘‘I do think it’s important the Queensland parliament has a balance of political view points.

‘‘We certainly don’t have that now.

‘‘I think Labor is challenged to recover the confidence of the electorate and to grow their ranks so they can become an effective opposition and try to rebuild to a point where it could again challenge for government in the future."

She said she had no idea what she would do next, but today closed the book on her time in Queensland politics.

Ms Bligh said she wanted to spend more time with her family, and would map out her future in coming months.

She announced her exit from parliament with her husband, Greg Withers, by her side.

Ms Bligh said she had given her all in the job of premier, and hoped Queenslanders could see that.

‘‘Every single minute I gave Queensland the best that I could give,’’ she said.

She accepted full responsibility for Labor’s loss, and apologised if her decision inconvenienced voters in her electorate.

Ms Bligh said she has suggested to the incoming government that the date of the upcoming Brisbane City Council elections - April 28 - be used for the South Brisbane by-election to minimise disruption to voters.

"But that is entirely a matter for the incoming government," she said.   

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/state-election-2012/bligh-quits-parliament-20120325-1vs09.html#ixzz1q5eDVlAN

adelcrow wrote on Mar 25^th, 2012 at 12:11pm:

She should speak to Gillard on how and why to hang around

Still not a lot of shift in Anna Blighs self deceit this morning, she has accepted that the verdict of the people was delivered with clarity, but still thinks she has done a wonderful job...

We deserve the same right to deliver the verdict to Julia Gillard and the federal ALP at the next election.

The ALP have seen they have no base if they screw the working class - we can bury them - we are an effective, decisive factor in all election outcomes.

buzzanddidj wrote on Mar 25^th, 2012 at 1:33pm:


getting a 10% swing is hardly the stuff to be proud of.

Okay, so Bligh is quitting - running off with her tail between her legs. Hardly a suprise, but given that she knew the ALP would lose, why not announce that she would not contest this election and save QLD and her electorate the expense of an unnecessary by-election? Talk about selfish!

It is abundantly clear that the ALP has not learned a single thing from this electoral massacre because they now want to parachute in an MP who has already been dumped by their own electorate. Front runners are either Andrew Fraser or Cameron Dick. Is the ALP clinically insane and that hard-up for candidates? They must be if they think it's a good idea to have a dumped MP as a candidate for the seat that has been (until now) occupied by one of QLD's worst-ever Premiers.

If this is the best the ALP can do, they'll be in political limbo for at least two decades.

They should put Kate Jones from Ashgrove into South Brisbane. She deserves a second go.

I assume that she will be paying for the costs involved in the by-election. I mean, after swearing that she would remain in Parliament if she won her seat, regardless of the outcome, and then retiring less than 24 hours after losing, she will be, won't she?