Queensland Premier Anna Bligh
As we weep for what we have lost, and as we grieve for family and friends, and we confront the challenge that is before us I want us to remember who we are. We are Queenslanders. We’re the people they breed tough north of the border. We’re the ones they knock down and we get up again…This weather may break our hearts – and it is doing that – but it will not break our will. And in the coming weeks and in the coming months we are going to prove that beyond any doubt.Together we’re going to pull through this and that’s what I’m determined to do. And with your help we can achieve it.
With these words Bligh embodies the resolve, the compassion and the fortitude that is the ANZAC spirit. When I first read this I was moved to tears.
These aren’t the words of some career politician but the words of a leader, one who has passion and purpose and a willingness to feel the pain of her people.
Anna Bligh, when you run for Prime Minister you can count on my vote.
Yeah great speech but what is with that “north of the border” jingoism? Did Mayor Campbell Newman remind the Brisbanites what they are made of compared to those living in Ipswich for example?
At a time when all of Australia is happy to get behind Queensland it seems ridiculous to pass comment that, at best, comes across as provincial and, at worse, may alienate people from other states. To suggest that only those “north of the border” possess some kind of unique qualities of stoicism, resilience and so on is a backhanded insult to all the Australians who have not only bounced back from their own disasters but are now opening their hearts and wallets for her mismanaged state. No doubt though Anna you will be expecting support, financial and otherwise, from the lesser human beings south of the border.
Amusingly, the “north of the border” rhetoric is a typical Queensland parochial geographical perception of this nation. Dunno if Anna has seen a map of Orstaya of late but she should note that a massive geographical bulk of this nation lies to her west. You are north-EAST of your border(s) Anna, not just north. Australia is not QLD-NSW-VIC. That stuff is dumb and plays to a dumb electorate of small-minded separatists. In the end, it isn’t that hard to appear empathetic. I did every night when I watched the news! Who wouldn’t be moved by tragedy on such a scale? This is a disaster, not State of Origin. Anna, confine your Joh-esque, provincial, “Queenslander!” war-cries to impress the slack-jawed yokel constituency during that quaint local two-state footy game in May-June.
There are a lot of Australians born outside of Queensland, immigrants and refugees out there hosing and shovelling mud – we didn’t exclude ourselves from the clean up just because we were not born in Queensland, but we now live here in Queensland – aka Australia. The greedy panic buying I witnessed last week – not sure if they were the born and bred Queenslanders or the other ones! Didn’t stop to ask where there genes were originally from!
Most Aussies would agree that Queensland and Queenslanders are nice, but their peculiar chip-on-the shoulder mentality, interstate one-upmanship and over-the-top state pride is just plain embarrassing.
If Anna runs for PM, which state do you think she will represent? She does not even know WA exists.
Love it. Your observations are hard to refute. What moved me was not so much the content of the speech but the passion with which it was delivered. And in this day and age when so many politicians are but cardboard cutouts her feeling and empathy for those she represents are a welcome and refreshing change. Yes, it was politically incorrect, yes it may have alienated some, but looking beyond that she stood arm-in-arm with those who suffering around her. I could ask no more of a leader.
Even if she didn’t know my state existed. 🙂