Madonna King comments in the Brisbane Times (17.2.16) on Jeff Seeney’s announcement that he aspires to a seat in Federal Parliament and Ian Macfarlane’s decision to resign:
‘But what’s more intriguing – particularly in the case of Jeff Seeney – is that it appears as though he genuinely doesn’t understand how voters saw his personal role in unsuccessful Newman government.
‘He was Campbell Newman’s fight hand man. His deputy. His LNP buddy. And in that position, he heartily wielded that power, with a grin from ear to ear. He chose that role, rather than trying to rein in the excesses of his boss.
‘To then not understand why – after the voter repudiation at the last election – he has not retained a senior opposition party position defies logic. Or is the stuff of a comic strip.
‘Jeff Seeney is not the opposition leader because voters know how tightly he was bound to the former premier, and saw them acting in concert.
And they know that despite the opportunity, he has chosen not to acknowledge the failures of the style of government he jointly led, or how it betrayed those conservative voters, wanting an LNP government.
To now parlay the consequences of the role he chose to take on in government into some sort of inability of the masses, including his own party, to understand what he really has to offer is as risible as it is self-serving.’