Queensland Government flood implementation project is a political cartoon which conveys the message that the Queensland Government needs to do more work and planning to help the people in the community in preventing floods and minimise the amount of damage they cause. The cartoonist has attempted to position the audience to adopt his point of view through the use of various literary and visual techniques. It is intended to analyse these techniques and evaluate the effectiveness of the cartoon in conveying its message.
The cartoon was created by Leahy and published in the Courier Mail on the 9th January 2013. The context in this cartoon is that the Queensland Government was meant to set up a flood enquiry about what they could do about the flooding but they have failed to complete the recommendations.
The cartoon shows an arc that has landed on top of a hill with writing on the side of the boat saying ‘Flood Inquiry Recommendations’ the arc is also incomplete missing almost the whole back half of infrastructure. There are six people looking up to a man on the arc. Close by is a sign saying ‘QLD Govt IMPLEMENTATION Project’ with cob webs coming off it going to the ground/dirt.
Obviously the point of view portrayed by the cartoon is that the Government really needs to stick to what they say and in the fairness of all people of the communities, follow through with the promises they make. The mocking tone refers to the laziness of the Government and adds to the effectiveness of the cartoons message.
The artist has positioned the reader to view this situation as being pathetic and wretched that the government is useless in taking the opinions of others and using them to help other people. The readers are likely to feel horrified and angry at the Government for not taking the recommendations into action and strong measures need to be made to remedy this situation.
Written and visual techniques are used effectively to convey the cartoons message. The scene is a parody of Noah’s arc landing on the hill after the floods and also a metaphor for the unfinished arc equalling unfinished business
