Newman could do better

In the interests of sound financial management and promoting private sector recovery, the state government should at least stay the course regarding its original public sector employment rationalisation plans and, in fact, go further in its quest to deliver budget sustainability.

For example, is there a need for a public sector works department in the modern world of private sector infrastructure financing and provision?

Whose economic interests does it serve to maintain the corporate welfare state development department, or the anachronisms of agriculture, mining, energy and science departments?

Is there a legitimate role of government in the arts, sport, and multicultural affairs?

Should governments remain involved in the provision (as distinct from funding) of education, health and other social services?

It is these and other serious questions about the appropriate role of government that the Newman administration should entertain, and actively engage the 'silent majority' community in a careful discussion.

The government could sell this extended fiscal consolidation program as part of a broader economic growth strategy, incorporating a return to low state taxes and slashing regulatory burdens attracting the support of small businesses and individuals who would come to enjoy the economic fruits of the reform agenda.

Regardless of what fiscal and economic strategies the Newman government ultimately pursues, it should be mindful that it is it, and not the senior executive of the public sector unions, which has been charged by the Queensland public with the great responsibility of fixing the waste and mismanagement of the Beattie-Bligh years.

Should it deliver on its undertakings to return fiscal sanity to Queensland the Newman government will find, as other reformers in Australia and internationally have shown, that policy consistency will bring its own electoral reward when it matters at the 2015 poll.