How different would unlikely choice. He was not a good public speaker short. The was re-elected in 1969 only have been if Jack and, even as a youngish backbencher, he was a because voters did not want a dull and limited Pizzey, who had a university degree problem for the party whips. His first cabinet Labor Party led by a dull and limited , and the experience of life gained portfolio was Works. It was ideal, because bridges, about whom the most exciting thing to be said was by serving as a World War II roads, schools, police stations - all the great items of that he judged dog shows. Queenslanders had not artillery officer, had not died in state government spending - could be dispensed to warmed, either, to Bjelke-Petersen, a curious man August 1968? For with his electorates. And Bjelke-Petersen never forgot the with a convoluted speaking style, a difficult name death, Johannes Bjellce- backbenchers concerned owed him a favour. and the reputation of being - not to put too fine a Petersen became premier. In 1968, those favours were called in. point on it - a wowser and a Bible basher. Bjelke-Petersen seemed an Bjelke-Petersen's premiership was nearly very Late in October 1970, Bjelke-Petersen was in

1920 copper fields; threaten >> 1922 state-wide industrial government for three Disquiet over Labor viability of industry. Death of George Silas turmoil (to 1929). Depression years; policies including bids > Australian Workers Curtis, left, > Qld conservatives Country National to abolish upper house; Union gains 44-hour 's martyr merge as Country and Party leader Arthur Labor returned with week in Qld; to separation Progressive National Moore is premier. reduced majority. throughout state by movement. Party (to 1936). > Schoolteacher Irene > Shipping disputes 1925; 40-hour week -1923 1927 Longman, left, first delay supplies of fuel, by 1948. Qld introduces Striking sugar cane woman in Qld machinery parts and > Rebel members of 's first jury worker shot dead at parliament as explosives to Cloncurry opposition Nationalists without an upper house service for women. Innisfail; railway Progressive National form Country Party. when Labor majority -'1925 workers strike in member for Bulimba. » 1921 in Legislative Council William McCormack's sympathy. 1930 Qld becomes only votes to end its own Labor government -> 1929 Royal commission into Australian state existence. elected amidst Labor loses sale of Mungana In 1969, Queenslanders had not warmed to Bjelke-Petersen, a curious man with a convoluted speaking style, a difficult name and the reputation of being a wowser.

statements verged on self-parody. For example, Bjelke-Petersen on finance: "Australia is bankrupt. It is even worse than that." Or on the worker: "The 40- hour week has given the opportunity to many to Left: Premier Joh Bjelke- Petersen holds court while away their time in hotels." Or, on fighting in his Parliament House bedroom for students Labor: "My goodness, there's a deep responsibility." from Kingaroy State High School, in the heart His first great political success came less than a of his electorate, on a 1969 tour of the year after his party challenge. In the winter of 1971, building. Australia hosted a tour by the South African rugby team, the Springboks. The team, all white and Below left: The former premier in 1991 after overwhelmingly Afrikaner, was certain to attract a jury, led by a National Party member, failed protesters against apartheid. At the time, the rugby to reach agreement on whether Sir Joh had headquarters at Ballymore was largely insecure; perjured himself at the . police commissioner realised his men could not stop protesters getting into the ground and disrupting the two matches planned for Hinze, went to Bjelke-Petersen and told him they Ballymore, against Queensland and Australia. planned to move against him the next day. They Bjelke-Petersen's response was to invoke a state of thought they had the numbers: 16 to 10. They emergency, just as Hanlon and Gair had done might have had - then. By the next morning, Bjelke- before him. This time, however, the object was not Petersen had narrowed the margin. When the vote the unionists but "long-haired protesters" : Under the was taken, he claimed he had the proxy vote of state of emergency, police powers were extended minister Neville Hewitt, who was overseas. That and the RNA Showground oval, with its better produced a tie: 13 votes apiece. Bjelke-Petersen then security, was acquired for the games. Bjelke-Petersen voted for himself. As it happened, he didn't have was opposed in cabinet, but his view prevailed. The Hewitt's proxy. The wily premier had been unable state of emergency also provoked a 24-hour strike to contact his minister and thought that, if he could by unions and some ugly protest clashes involving not contact Hewitt, neither could his opponents. an unruly and undisciplined police force. But the trouble with his party. The Comalco share issue and No Queensland politician has aroused such games went ahead. The government won two by- a decision not to mine the coloured sands of passions as Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Even last year, when elections the next weekend, including a seat held by Cooloola, north of Noosa, had undermined public he celebrated his 90th birthday, he was praised and Labor for 56 years. Bjelke-Petersen had established confidence in the government. Bjelke-Petersen's reviled. But from 1970, when he prevailed in the himself successfully as a "law and order" politician. backbenchers planned to replace him with Mines party room, until 1987, Bjelke-Petersen dominated Recently, he acknowledged that his "political Minister Ron Camm. But the plotters, led by Queensland politics and played no small part in the stocks soared" after the Springbok tour. He was speaker David Nicholson - no nonsense in the destruction of a federal Labor government. commenting on the release of cabinet and other Queensland Legislative Assembly about the speaker The master of mangled syntax, Bjelke-Petersen documents showing how his government had used being above politics - made a fatal mistake. Four of actually endeared himself to taciturn Queenslanders the police to spy on citizens at them, including Nicholson and the colourful Russ with his verbal eccentricity. Sometimes, his the time. A former Queensland Police Union

Mines finds former >> 1939 for Mundingburra >> 1946 governments; spreads Labor premiers League of Social (MLA to 1977); dubs Johannes Bjelke- until over 23,000 men Theodore and Justice raids himself "voice of Petersen elected to involved; growing McCormack guilty of Parliament House. the north"; his Kingaroy shire council; struggle between left dishonesty; Theodore >-> 1940 fiery oratory and enters state parliament and right-wing unions. quits as federal fascist and outrageous remarks 1947. >> 1949 treasurer. communist groups earn him frequent > Up to 8000 Hanlon changes -1932 declared illegal under expulsions from meatworkers strike as electoral boundaries to Labor returns to National Security Act. parliament. industrial action protect representation government with 1944 > Fred Paterson wins escalates throughout above, declares state of in country areas. William Forgan Breakaway Qld Labor seat in Qld Parliament, Australia after war. emergency after rail Smith as premier; Party member Tom only member of >% 1948 workers strike for 61 holds office to Aikens, right, elected Communist Party Labor premier "Anti days over wages and 1957. independent member elected in Australia. Red" , neglect by Labor STREET MARCH PROTESTERS HAD THE LAST LAUGH - AL (OR IN 'S CASE, THE LAST GRIN)

\\ H E day of the political street march is Tover," premier Bjelke- Petersen proclaimed in September 1977. "Anybody who holds a street march, spontaneous or otherwise, will know they are acting illegally. Don't bother to apply for a permit . You won't get one. That's government policy now." Sixteen months and nearly 2000 arrests later, in the wake of an electoral setback for the National Party in the Sherwood by-election , Bjelke- Petersen quietly reversed that policy. In the meantime, the premier and his police commissioner, the compliant and crooked Terrence Murray Lewis, combined to deny Queenslanders the right to protest in a peaceful assembly. These times were marked by street battles, by opposition from the churches and even from The Courier-Mail, rather more conservative then than now. The protesters included Peter Beattie who in 1971, as a young university student, had been whacked over the head by an over-zealous policeman during the W Springbok tour. Another was a fiery young priest Above: Power cell ... Amnesty named James Soorley, later to swap clerical cloth targeting the unions after strikes by power International demonstrators in a for lord mayoral robes. Recently Premier Beattie workers that left Queenslanders without power, hot symbolic "cell" in King George recalled the times. " I and annoyed. Electrical Trade Union members got worked over," he said. Square in October 1980, from left; "It was a dark time in Queensland 's history. As battled the then generating board, SEQEB, over Father Jim Soorley, Rosemary someone who was beaten up for his trouble, I am plans to introduce private contractors, Cabinet I

> Qld Liberal Party >> 1956 ALP; forms Qld Labor redistribution to limit 1965 marches lead to launched. Shearers strike for Party (later DLP). the ALP's city Rosalie Bogner and arrests for breaching >> 1950 months over 5% wage > Labor loses office influence. Merle Thornton, left, Traffic Act (to 1972). Federal Crimes Act cut. when ALP members -1964 chain themselves to >% 1967 used to end Brisbane > Australian Workers vote with opposition to Mt Isa Mines public bar in Changes to Federal waterfront strike. Union joins forces with block supply. dismisses 231 men Brisbane's Regatta Constitution end legal -1953 Trades and Labor > After 25 years in under state of Hotel in anti- discrimination against Qld Labor vote soars Council over Gair's opposition, Country- emergency law during discrimination protest. Aborigines; all states to 53.2%; failure to implement Liberal Party coalition prolonged strike, > Aboriginal and except Qld abandon premier. three weeks annual wins office for 32 suspends operations; Torres Strait Islander discriminatory laws. leave; leads to split in years; police given power of people granted right to > Police arrest 114 of Labor Party in Qld. premier to 1968; arrest without vote in Qld elections. 4000 in Union of Civil 1957 Labor's gerrymander warrant; picketing -1966 Liberties march in Gair expelled from reversed with banned by law. Anti-Vietnam War Brisbane. Through the 70s and into the 80s, Bjelke-Petersen alleged their reputations had been damaged. brutally - or brilliantly, depending on your point of This time it was different. William Gunn, an view - exploited "law and order"Independent and honest and thoroughly decent politician, was courageous police commissioner Ray Whitrod was premier in all but name as Bjelke-Petersen stumped forced out, replaced by Bjellce-Petersen sycophant the country on his PM campaign. Gunn had had Terrence Murray Lewis. Whitrod, knowing Lewis enough. He wanted the allegations investigated and was probably corrupt, had exiled him to the bush; quickly. He decided it would be better to seek the Bjelke-Petersen promoted him, forcing Whitrod's premier's forgiveness than his permission. Ignoring resignation. With a compliant police commissioner, a suggestion that District Court Judge Eric Pratt Bjelke-Petersen knew that no permits would be handle the inquiry, Gunn opted for G.E. "Tony" issued for street marches. Fitzgerald, QC, on the advice of Ian Callinan, QC, president, Ron Edington, said police regarded the In the end, Lewis was to play a large part in the now a High Court judge. Fitzgerald began his special branch as a tool of the Bjelke-Petersen premier's downfall. That, and the loopy and hearings on July 27, 1987. The Joh for PM campaign government. `Anybody that stood for the right to ambitious "Joh for PM" campaign, in which a group was all over - a risible result for all concerned. John demonstrate or opposed the government went in of disaffected conservatives, main-chance urgers and Howard had lost his first election as opposition the file," he said. Queensland National Party schemers promoted the leader and Bob Hawke was back in The Lodge. Three years after the Springbok tour, as Gough bizarre prospect of the elderly Bjelke-Petersen Lewis was the first witness. Whitlam's federal Labor government was becoming moving to federal politics and ultimately to The Not one to cop the blame, Lewis said five increasingly unruly and unpopular, an election Lodge. successive police ministers had told him to tolerate reduced Labor to 11 members in the Queensland In May 1987, the ABC Four Corners program The brothels in Queensland . It was a neat variation parliament. Bjelke-Petersen's power was unrivalled. Moonlight State was aired. Following on from of the Nuremberg defence: Lewis was just That year, too, Bjelke-Petersen appointed political reports in The Courier-Mail, the program alleged nonentity Albert Patrick Field to replace deceased corruption in the Queensland police force, involving Labor senator Bert Milliner. Field's appointment payments from brothel owners to crooked cops. The Above: Courier-Mail cartoonist Alan Moir pulled no punches as he chronicled the Joh era. The Joh enabled the Senate to block supply late in 1975, allegations were not new; they had surfaced from scowl, the hick corked hat and the straw in the precipitating the dismissal of the Whitlam time to time and some news organisations had been mouth were his standard symbols as he mercilessly government by governor-general Sir John Kerr. forced to pay damages to aggrieved wallopers who lampooned the premier.

> Toowoomba's Nell EA5T11 I Uh women as permanent union test match. W-Tilii^mn ^? National Party of arrested in Brisbane in Robinson, right, first employees of State > Fraser Is Defenders Australia. two months after Joh woman mayor in Qld. Pubic Service. Organisation (FIDO) > Bjelke-Petersen bans street protests. 1968 » 1970 opposes sand mining. rejects ALP's Senate -1978 Joh Bielke-Petersen Joh survives tied vote > Senator Neville replacement nominee, Christians arrested for becomes premier in in leadership challenge Bonner first Aborigine , and disobeying police order Country-Liberal Party by voting for himself in federal parliament. appoints disenchanted, to cease singing hymns coalition (to 1987). and using dubious >> 1973 anti-Whitlam ALP in Queens Park. > 1000-strong civil proxy vote. Voting age cut to 18. member , > Peel Report says liberties march >> 1971 -1974 left, opening way for backbenchers of all includes ALP senator State of Emergency Labor Party decimated constitutional crisis. George Georges. called in anticipation in Qld election, winning >- 1977 = 1969 of protests against only 11 seats; Country Over 700 right-to- < < T I M Bar lifted on married Springbok rugby Party becomes march demonstrators Every time. Hanson was interviewed by some smart-alec, slick southern journalist, her approval rating would rise } m QueensI nd, wh ere paranoia and suspicion grow like mould in summer:

following orders. It was, however, a Lewis verbal; the Austin (who had defected with him after the 1983 orders came not from his political masters, but from election to give Bjelke-Petersen a National Party Lewis himself. A month later, Fitzgerald heard majority). Russ Hinze died before he could go to evidence from Sgt Harry Burgess, known as "Dirty trial for allegedly copping a bribe from a property Harry" In the parlance, he had rolled over. Later, developer who had earlier done time for bribery. Burgess was to incriminate Jack Herbert, formerly Bjelke-Petersen was put on trial for perjury, but the of the licensing branch, branch inspectors Noel jury included a National Party member who could Dwyer and Graeme Parker (who had collected not be convinced of his guilt. He never faced a money for being "defamed") and, by hearsay, Lewis second trial. himself The genie was out of the bottle. Two and a half years after Fitzgerald began his By the time the inquiry was finished and the inquiry, the under Wayne report in, Bjelke-Petersen was gone. He was forced Goss was elected. It had been a long time: 32 years out of office in December 1987 after increasingly since the great split. The Goss era began well erratic behaviour during which he tried to sack enough, with the conservative parties still reeling members of his cabinet. The then governor, former from defeat. It did not take long, however, for the chief justice Sir , neatly avoided a Goss gloss to fade. By 1996, Queenslanders had had political crisis by telling Job to reconsider. enough of Labor - in Goss's words, they were Lewis went to jail, as did some other crooked cops. "waiting on their verandas with baseball bats" Goss He lost his knighthood and his house; he was took the first hit in the Mundingburra by-election bankrupted by the tax office and disgraced. But which cost him his majority; Keating the second. there are still people who believe he didn't get a fair The 1996 federal election brought to the political company - and stumping the country. In the next trial because of the publicity. The Fitzgerald inquiry stage a flame-haired former fish and chip shop state election, thanks to preference deals with the claimed other political scalps. Ministers went inside owner from Ipswich, Pauline Hanson. Disendorsed Liberals and the Nationals, One Nation candidates for fiddling their expenses and other allowances, in by the Liberal Party before the election, she won the won 12 seats but promptly disintegrated into a particular Don "Shady" Lane (who had been a seat of Oxley - safe Labor and the only Queensland rabble. Hanson's appeal was simple: she wasn't a copper mate of Lewis) and Lane's colleague Brian seat to withstand the anti-Whitlam tide in 1975 - as politician and didn't pretend to be one. She was an Independent. Her good at homing in on the problems caused by maiden speech six globalisation and technological advance but months later, in which woefully short of solutions. Every time she was she railed against interviewed by some smart-alec, slick southern Aborigines, journalist, her approval rating would rise in immigrants, Asians, Queensland, where paranoia and suspicion grow economists and various like mould in summer. other targets, was seized By 2001, Prime Minister had on by the shock-jocks brought disaffected, former One Nation voters back like Alan Jones and to the traditional conservative fold, thanks to his John Laws. Suddenly stance on boat people. Hanson, perhaps distracted she was leading a by criminal charges against her, failed to win a political party - well, Senate seat. She might have gone, but the problems actually more of a small she barely articulated remain.

parties misuse travel >> 1980 workers strike; again > Coalition collapses: over another power 1986 expenses. Elaine Darling, right, in 1981 for transport Llew Edwards stands workers strike; 1000 Ill-fated "Joh for >- 1979 first Qld woman in workers' strike. down and Joh rejects SEQEB workers " movement Midnight demolition of House of '> 1982 new Liberal leader sacked; workforce launched. historic Belle Vue Representatives; Flo Eddie Mabo takes land as Deputy reconstructed using >1987 Hotel causes furore; Bjelke-Petersen elected rights case to High Premier. no-strike clause. Joh loses National similar demolition of to Senate. Court. > Nationals win > Liberal Sallyanne Party leadership to Cloudland Ballroom in > Federal ALP votes >> 1983 majority when Liberals Atkinson, Brisbane's Mike Ahern. 1982, Her Majesty's for intervention in Qld Liberal Ministers Don "Changing" Lane first woman lord 1988 Theatre in 1984. branch to replace "old resign in protest when and mayor (to 1991). Qld police "bagman" guard" office-bearers Joh sacks Terry White defect; Sir William > Fitzgerald inquiry Jack Herbert arrested and reform party. for voting with Labor Knox leads Liberals. into police and in London. > State of emergency to establish public 1985 political corruption > "Minister for declared after power accounts committee. State of emergency opens. Everything" Russ