Everyone has heard the cliches about Queensland politics: Queensland is different . It s the Deep North . Its state elections exemplify Pineapple Party Time. But what if those cliches are in fact looking more like the state of affairs in the rest of Australia? Does the Sunshine State represent the new normal in Australian politics? Once, Queensland was seen as the land that time forgot, with a narrow economy based on agriculture, mining and transport and conservative values. Then, from the 1980s, a transformation took place as the state modernized, entrenching democratic reforms and civil...