Peter Andrews describes the competitive rivalry between Queensland and Victoria to establish areas of research excellence, and how Premiers Peter Beattie and Steve Bracks respectively pursued this agenda simultaneously. He tells how this rivalry was viewed among the scientific and research communities.
Ross Rolfe reflects on the relationship between premiers and universities, including Peter Beattie and Mike Ahern, and Peter Beattie's ability to convince the media of its importance. He describes the spread of Smart State-ism to other activities including 'clean coal' technologies, gas, coal seam methane, and aviation. He describes the failure in the synchrotron bid and the resulting initiative with Paul Greenfield of the University of Queensland to get federal funding for the AIBN.
Scott Prasser claims his greatest achievement was stopping Queensland bidding for the Australian Synchrotron, subsequently won by the Victorian government and opened in 2007.
