Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Paul D. Williams
Key terms/names
accountability, country-mindedness, Fitzgerald Inquiry, meta-populism, political
culture, populism, regionalism, state chauvinism, unicameralism
Given that Queensland’s 1.85 million square kilometres make the state Australia’s
second largest in area, any meaningful analysis of Queensland politics must be
made on regional bases. Moreover, given it is also farther from Brisbane to Cairns
than it is from Brisbane to Melbourne, it is unsurprising scholars have argued
a ‘two Queenslands’ thesis that divides the state into ‘coast versus inland’ 1 or,
more commonly, between ‘Brisbane and the bush’. 2 It has been argued elsewhere,
however, that Queensland’s economic, political and cultural variations are far more
nuanced, and that a ‘six Queenslands’ model is required for more meaningful
analysis. 3 Queensland’s population surpassed five million in May 2018, to make the
state Australia’s third most populous. Queensland’s capital city houses 2.4 million
peopleanditisthenation’sthirdmostpopulouscity. 4 Brisbane, Australia’s largest
local government authority since 1924, is just one of 77 councils and shires – down
from 156 in 2007 – comprising local government under state control. The fact
that more Queenslanders live outside their capital city than within it – the only
Williams, Paul D. (2019). Queensland. In Peter J. Chen, Nicholas Barry, John R. Butcher, David Clune,
Ian Cook, Adele Garnier, Yvonne Haigh, Sara C. Motta and Marija Taflaga, eds. Australian politics and
policy: senior edition. Sydney: Sydney University Press. DOI: 10.30722/sup.978174332667
1 Holmes 1994.
2 Bowers 1986; Williams 2012a.
3 Williams 2019.
4 Population Australia 2018.
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