How Smart Now?
The Bligh Government and the Unravelling of the 'Smart State' Vision, 2007–11
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1375/qr.18.2.134Keywords:
'Smart State' strategy, Beattie and Bligh governments, economic growth and employmentAbstract
The articulation of a ‘Smart State’ strategy by the Beattie and Bligh governments since 1998 represents, in large part, the continuation of a long Queensland tradition, in which governments have secured legitimacy by fostering economic growth and employment. For Queensland Labor, however, ‘Smart State’ programs also represented a key survival strategy as Labor’s historic base among workers employed in agriculture, mining and manufacturing shrank into political insignificance. By 2009–10, these three sectors together employed only one worker in seven (Queensland Treasury 2010, p. 16). For this reason, in coming to office in September 2007, Anna Bligh sought both to continue and transcend the ‘Smart State’ strategy of her predecessor.
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