Rob Borbidge - National Party Leadership

National Party Leadership

In the post-election partyroom ballot, Borbidge was elected Deputy Leader of the party. The shell-shocked Nationals worked at rebuilding the fragile coalition with the Liberals and adjusting to opposition after 32 years in office. In December 1991 an inquiry by the Criminal Justice Commission was announced to investigate irregularities in the travel allowances of members of Parliament. Cooper announced that he was one of the individuals under investigation and resigned as National Party leader in favour of Borbidge.

In the lead-up to the 1992 election Borbidge attempted to make overtures to the Liberals about reforming the coalition, but was rebuffed by the Liberals, who were aiming to finally achieve long-awaited senior coalition party status in Queensland. This did not eventuate, Goss remained in office, and the chastened parties discussed merging before agreeing to sign a new coalition agreement.

Borbidge and Liberal leader Joan Sheldon initially failed to make much headway against the Goss government, with some disgruntled Nationals comparing Borbidge unfavourably to Bjelke-Petersen. In response to speculation about the leadership, Borbidge resigned as leader in June 1994 before being re-elected unopposed.

The Goss government's fortunes suffered a sharp reversal when it announced plans to construct a bypass through areas of bushland that comprised significant reserves of koala habitats. Borbidge harnessed the groundswell of opposition arising from this and other controversial decisions to encourage a large protest vote. Combined with the cynical mood engendered by the unpopular Keating Labor federal government, this protest vote nearly destroyed the Goss government's majority in the elections of July 1995. While the Coalition won the popular vote, most of that vote was wasted on large margins in the Nationals' heartland. As a result, while it managed an eight-seat swing, it only won nine seats (out of 40) in Brisbane, allowing Goss to rely on a majority of one vote in the Legislative Assembly. The Court of Disputed Returns ordered a reballot after alleged irregularities in the narrowly Labor held electorate of Mundingburra, which the Coalition had lost by only 12 votes. In February 1996 the Liberal candidate, Frank Tanti, won the subsequent by-election. This resulted in a hung parliament with 44 Coalition seats and 44 Labor seats with one Independent, Liz Cunningham, the newly elected member for Gladstone. Cunningham announced that she would support the Coalition and Borbidge became Premier.