The first meeting of the 17 group for 2015 will be held on Wednesday the 4th of February at 7 pm in unit 6 at 20 Drury St, West End. It will be introduced by a panel of five keen political observers, on the topic: “Post-mortem and Prognosis – discussion of the results of the 2015 Queensland Election and the longer-term consequences”.
The panel will be made up by the following people:
Dr Lorann Downer, who was a political reporter in Queensland, before working in senior communications roles for two former Queensland Premiers. Lorann teaches politics at the University of Queensland.
Dr Chris Salisbury, Post-doctoral Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Enquiry at the University of Queensland, contributing to the research of the Centre for the Government of Queensland. Chris got his PhD for a thesis on Beattie’s ‘Smart State’ strategy.
Emeritus Professor Roger Scott, former Director General of Education in Queensland (1990-1994), National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration, and presently Executive Director of the influential T J Ryan Foundation.
Anne Warner, South Brisbane Labor Member of the Queensland Parliament from 1983 to 1995, and Minister for Women and Aboriginal Affairs in the Goss Government from 1989 to 1995.
Abraham O’Neill, Policy Adviser – Office of Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Senator for Queensland, and Campaign Coordinator for Greens candidate Jonathan Sri in the South Brisbane electorate.
We were as usual hoping that, despite the rather meagre internationalist dimension of the event, Leon Davidovich might condescend to join the panel, or, at the least, attend. But, along with his characteristic ironic smile, all we got was his testily quoting the hereunder (and slightly adapted) passage, as he looked up from his (by us interrupted) reading of Julius Caesar:
School
Since Alan first did whet me against Campbell,
I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.
Who knows, even Leon might survive the turmoil of his personal insurrection and come out of it, but see if you at least can do so, and come to hear the collaborative interpretation of our shared three-week nightmare.
Some of you will remember Brian Costar, now Professor of Political Science at Swinburne, but a member of the Queensland student radical movement back in the bad old days of Bjelke-Petersen et al. This interview makes good background listening for the issues to be raised by the panel on Wednesday. Leon endorses much of it:
http://insidestory.org.au/queensland-how-it-happened-and-what-it-means
Regards,
Dan