Queensland's election payback - Pauline Hanson 2.0. Photo: Tertius Pickard
Queensland's message to Malcolm Turnbull last Saturday was simple: TURN off the BULL.
It's easy to make light of our State's contribution to federal politics; after all, Queensland delivered the Joh for PM push, Clive Palmer, Pauline Hanson and now Pauline Hanson 2.0.
We are also responsible for Kevin Rudd, Peter Slipper, Bob Katter and Campbell Newman (who never left the State, but by the end of his innings, many voters were desperate to see that happen).
But here's the thing. We smell BS a mile away, and this election was full of it - everywhere you turned.
Take the Liberals for example. First, having not learnt it can be unwise to do-over a sitting prime minister, they got rid of Tony Abbott, and turned the mute button on many of his right-wing supporters.
That had an effect in the electorate. All of a sudden, to many dyed-in-the-wool Liberals, the voice of the Party's right, had disappeared - to be replaced by this moderate called Malcolm, who supported same sex marriage, the Republic, and God forbid, even climate change.
But then the Party's moderates, who sipped champagne on the back of Malcolm's elevation, wondered when he would do something. Anything.
He couldn't, and he didn't. Despite reducing the voice of the Party's right-wing, he was unable to deliver on any moderate agenda - because of fear the Right would rise up, and perhaps kill off another sitting prime minister.
As the starter's gun fired on the longest election campaign in living history, Malcolm Turnbull was stuck in the middle.
His campaign was a policy vacuum, and he couldn't even tell his supporters whether MPs, voting on same sex marriage, would reflect their own views, or the views of their electorate.
Enter William Richard "Bill Shorten", the Opposition Leader few gave much of a chance of winning the keys to the Lodge. (And to be honest, all things being equal, that's still a far-fetched scenario - even though he's got within an MP's superannuation payment of it).
Shorten worked like he was paying off his first car. Electorate after electorate. State after State. A blitz of marginal seats.
It was a good old-fashioned Labor campaign, led by someone who couldn't quite win voters over to his side.
Queensland voters, when they make a decision, do it in force. Ask John Howard. Or Paul Keating. The swings here can dwarf those interstate, and often do.
But this time, in July 2016, voters couldn't take to Malcolm's bull or bond with Bill.
(A rider here: I've not met anyone, so far, who wants Pauline Hanson having the final decision on any policy - and if you've followed her comments in recent days, you'll understand why).
Queensland voters simply determined they would use July 2 to show that neither Party nor leader could deliver what was needed.
Consider Pauline Hanson our payback.
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