How things are changing in ‘Godzone country’

IT is now clear that Peter Dutton has joined the Nats’ leader, the eponymous David Littleproud, in a de facto campaign against the referendum for an Aboriginal Voice to Parliament. It is no coincidence that they both hail from Queensland.

I say this as a born-and-bred Queenslander. Indeed, I jackarooed on a property in Littleproud’s Maranoa electorate. There was even a moment as press secretary to his predecessor, John “Black Jack” McEwen, when the idea of a political career in that very region passed its way through the juvenile cerebellum.

It took me as far as forming a Can berra branch of the Young Country Party and recruiting Peter Nixon (McEwen’s preferred successor) and the Boss himself to address a meeting of the group at the Party’s Barton headquarters. And I still recall the drug-like thrill of applause from a (smallish) group of enthusiasts at a Harden Branch meeting. Thankfully, with the help of my much more sensible wife, I kicked the drug before an addiction took root.

The Queensland upbringing has its compensations. Every State of Origin match for the last 20 years sees my two sons and I hook up our mobiles wherever we are in the world and cheer home the Maroons (or blame the ref). And my first novel, “The Queenslander” has been optioned three times for a TV series, which the latest American producers have hopefully billed, “The ‘Thorn Birds’ of the 21st Century”. This doesn’t mean it will ever get made, and I hated “The Thorn Birds” with a passion, but when things look crook – as they occasionally do in a writer’s life – it’s nice to fantasise about that