In 1989, in the lead up to that breathtaking election win after 32 years of Liberal National Coalition rule, Wayne Goss campaigned on the slogan that Labor was "the only change for the better".
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Through his leadership of Queensland Labor however, Wayne Goss not only changed Queensland for the better, he also changed the ALP for the better.
Wayne Goss helped make the ALP electable in this state.
Just as importantly, as Labor Senator John Faulkner said of Gough Whitlam a few weeks ago, Wayne Goss also made Labor worthy of being elected.
When Wayne Goss became state leader, the ALP had lost 11 state elections in a row. He was Labor's 10th leader since the party had been defeated in the 1957 state election.
Queensland Labor was the undisputed world champion when it came to electoral failure.
And in 1988, even when the Fitzgerald Inquiry was in full swing, Labor's primary vote fell in the polls to 38%, which was lower than Labor's 1986 election result.
Some in the Labor Party, and in the broader labour movement, despaired that they would never again see a Labor Government.
Wayne Goss thought otherwise.
Queensland Labor's success under Wayne Goss was based around his strong and dynamic leadership, a hardworking and talented Labor team, rigorous policy development and innovative and effective campaigning.
Goss was relentless in his development of policy while in opposition. As one of his biographers, Jamie Walker, has recorded, over 18 months, 42 separate policy papers were launched by Goss and the Labor opposition, covering issues as diverse as women's policy and regional development to state financial sector reform and coastal protection.
As Walker and others have observed, Goss was adamant that Labor had to offer a credible alternative.
Labor would have to stand for something.
I greatly admire Wayne Goss. His example inspired me, and many of my generation, to join the ALP. While he had a great sense of humour, there was something essentially reserved about his nature that made him different to previous Labor leaders. The Queensland historian Raymond Evans described him as measured and serious, with a strong leaning towards rectitude, respectability and integrity, with his feet firmly planted on the ground.
Wayne Goss was a moderate, modern and modernising Labor leader the likes of which Queensland Labor – and our state – had not seen before.
For the Queensland ALP, Wayne Goss demonstrated that nothing beats sound, thorough and detailed policy development, and a positive vision for our State and its future, if Labor is to be successful.
Wayne Goss and the government that he led also showed that Labor can be successful economic managers, while at the same time delivering significant and far reaching social, legal, administrative, electoral and environmental reforms.
But perhaps most importantly, Wayne Goss and his Labor team demonstrated to the ALP that it is always possible to achieve victory.
At this time, as Queensland Labor works towards success at the next state election, Wayne Goss remains an example to all of us.
Cameron Dick is a former Queensland Labor Attorney-General and Education Minister. He is the Labor candidate for the state seat of Woodridge, parts of which were represented by Wayne Goss when he was the state MP for Logan from 1986 to 1998.
