Humiliating backdown over media bill a lesson in fickle government

Bad examples of government pop up routinely. Policy failures, for decades, have reached across energy and the aged care sector, reconciliation and health. The census didn't work, The COVID app doesn’t, and NAPLAN never will.

But Queensland’s Palaszczuk government -- in announcing, boasting about and then withdrawing a bill targeting the media -- has gifted the nation a lesson in fickle government. Reforms that were vital one day were in the bin the next.

The fact that it was all done at breakneck speed -- in less than 24 hours --adds to the humiliating backdown, but also shows the lack of consideration, discussion, debate and procedure that lies behind the laws governing our lives.