Blow to Anna Bligh as Ronan Lee quits Labor for Greens
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Patrick Lion and Steven Wardill
October 06, 2008
ANNA Bligh has suffered a credibility blow after being left clueless about a surprise decision by one of her own MPs to quit Labor and join the Greens.
Premier Bligh only discovered rogue Indooroopilly MP Ronan Lee was defecting after news broke on couriermail.com.au.
The move, which comes after Labor’s recent slide in opinion polls, forced the Queensland Premier to defend her leadership amid increasing concern about the Government’s direction.
Ms Bligh said Mr Lee would be viewed as a traitor and insisted her Government would not be distracted by his decision.
“There is no sense whatsoever that there is any crisis happening here,” she said.
She did not expect any other MPs to jump ship.
“You’d expect Mr Lee to indicate he’s part of a movement. I don’t see any evidence of that,” Ms Bligh told ABC Radio.
Ms Bligh said she did not attempt to convince Mr Lee to stay when they finally spoke as his exodus from Labor was already being reported.
Mr Lee, who will become Queensland Parliament’s first Greens MP, said he had approached his new party a fortnight ago and resigned from the ALP yesterday morning.
He accused the Government of “whimping out” with “stupid policies” and failing to take decisive action on the environment.
“Any party that goes to the next state election without offering a world-leading platform on climate change deserves to lose,” Mr Lee said.
The 32-year-old Indooroopilly MP, who was first elected in 2001 and will qualify for lucrative superannuation for life after February 17, said his shift was not a betrayal of Labor voters.
“It’s a bit like when (Bob) Dylan went electric: It’s the same great tunes but there’s just a bit more oomph,” he said.
Mr Lee claimed other MPs were considering quitting or defecting because of widespread discontent.
Federal Greens leader Bob Brown described the defection as a “courageous” move from a young politician with strong principles.
Former Labor MP Cate Molloy, who was dumped from the party in 2006 after speaking out over the Traveston Dam, last night described Mr Lee’s defection as “bloody fantastic”.
“Good on Ronan because it will be more difficult for him now but the Labor Party in Queensland have lost their way,” she said.
However, Mr Lee’s former Labor colleagues turned on the MP.
“I’m sure he’ll be as loyal to them as he was to us. An odd way to announce your retirement,” Education Minister Rod Welford said.
Another Labor source said if all 59 MPs were on a ship and one person had to jump “58 pieces of paper would come back with Ronan’s name on every one”.
stevem
MP’s defection a win for the Mary
7th October 2008
By Bill Hoffman
Save the Mary protesters yesterday applauded the courage of former Labor MP Ronan Lee, who defected to the Greens, as a new study was released slamming the environmental damage that would be inflicted by the Traveston Crossing Dam.
Save the Mary coordinating group spokeswoman Glenda Pickersgill said protesters in the Mary Valley had been really thrilled that a state Labor MP with his career in the ascendency had been prepared to act on his conscience.
“We are just really thrilled that he has come out like this,’’ Ms Pickersgill said.
Mr Lee, the member for Indooroopilly, said he defected to the Greens because his concerns about the government’s environment policies were falling on deaf ears.
Mr Lee said there was “significant unrest” in government ranks over the Traveston dam.
He said he was not the only government MP worried that the best advice on the dam was being ignored.
“My understanding is that significant evidence (against the dam) has gone before the government and that the government is still persisting with the plan,” Mr Lee said.
A study by Griffith University professor Angela Arthington, distributed by the Greens yesterday, recommends the dam be stopped under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Prof Arthington said the dam would cause “significant harm” to the river’s lungfish.
“This risk seems far too high for a species already declared vulnerable and urgently in need of recovery in its remaining natural habitats,” she said in the report.
The study has been sent to federal environment minister Peter Garrett as well as premier Anna Bligh, who yesterday stood by the government’s science on the dam and its impacts.
“The state government has put forward a comprehensive mitigation strategy for the lungfish,” she said.
“We won’t be the arbiters on whether that is a satisfactory strategy, the commonwealth government will be, and they will assess it and will make a determination.”
Ms Pickersgill said her group had not had direct discussions with Mr Lee but he was clearly well-informed by the level of documentation that had been sent to all MPs.
“I urge every member of the Labor party to look hard at the project,’’ she said.
“It’s simply not feasible. It is a high-risk, environmentally destructive solution. I urge others to come out. There is so much more the government could be doing in relation to the environment.’’
The Save the Mary group will continue to write to all MPs to inform them of the reasons why the dam should not go ahead.
“It is critical that they have all the information,’’ Ms Pickersgill said.
Federal opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt said Mr Lee’s defection sent a clear message about the dam to Mr Garrett.
“Mr Lee chose to walk the plank instead of sailing on into a disastrous storm if the dam is approved by Mr Garrett,” Mr Hunt said.
“They have picked the wrong site.
”It doesn’t make sense in terms of location or the impact on endangered animals.“
The state opposition’s policy is to scrap the dam in favour of desalination and greater uptake of rainwater collection.
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Reader Comments (2)
Great stuff. Fairly and squarely linked to Traveston
http://media01.couriermail.com.au/multimedia/2008/10/081005_lee/presser.mp3
His email is indooroopilly@parliament.qld.gov.au
I have the funeral of my father in law this Wednesday so I won't be in Parliament till Thursday but I will make the point of commending him for the courage of his convictions then.
I've already sent him an email inviting him to come up and have a tour of the dam site so that he can better understand the issue.
DG