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Australian Political Chronicle 243 QUEENSLAND

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Australian Political Chronicle 243 QUEENSLAND Australian Political Chronicle 243 QUEENSLAND In the early months of 1974, national attention was focused on Queensland for several major reasons: the devastating floods which hit the state in January and their aftermath; the roles played by prominent Queenslanders in what became popularly known as 'the Gair affair'. (see Commonwealth Chronicle.) Torrential rain fell on the state in late December-early January causing the worst floods the west had ever seen. With half of Queensland under water, the protracted and widespread disruption of communications and transport forced the state government to air lift to Mt. Isa over 250 people stranded between Hughenden and Cloncurry. Several days later a massive aerial evacuation of Normanton and Karumba began, more than 600 people being flown to Cairns as rising flood waters cut all access to the Gulf country. In response to pleas from the governments of Queensland and New South Wales (also hard hit by floods), the Prime Minister, Mr Whitlam, on 11 January offered financial help from the national government for flood relief on the normal dollar-for-dollar basis. As the rain continued, cyclone Wanda developed off the coast and as the Australia Day holiday week-end dawned, it turned inland north of Brisbane, dumping inches more rain not only on the already water logged city but also on the headwaters of the creeks and streams which feed into the Brisbane River. Overnight Brisbane and Ipswich found themselves battling their worst flood in the twentieth century, one which was to render over 8000 people homeless, and to affect a total of 13,750 houses, the majority of which suffered major damage. With essential services in the flooded areas cut, civilian and army volunteers fighting to keep the waters from knocking out the central telephone exchange, bank vaults and computers in the inner city area and with the tanker Robert Miller adrift in the river and likely to cause a worse disaster if it jammed between the banks, the Premier's failure to declare a state of emergency, in such circumstances, was puzzling, to say the least. The demands of this crisis situation also found the Queensland Civil Defence Organisation wanting. While hundreds of individual volunteers toiled heroically and every facility of the Brisbane City Council was mobilised and used by the indefatigable Lord Mayor, Alderman Clem Jones, organisationally Civil Defence fell to pieces under the pressure placed upon it. This was clearly revealed in a post-flood appraisal and it seemed likely that in future as part of a federal National Disaster Organisation this body will be reshaped to concentrate more on coping with cyclones and floods and less on the threat of Nuclear War. When the massive clean-up got under way and the state began to tot up a bill for loss and damage which was to come close to $100 million, flood victims found cold comfort in official pronouncements that this had been no freak situation and that a worse flood could come at any time in the future. The state government and the city council were bitterly criticised for their lack of cooperation in the past in devising and implementing a flood mitigation plan. The federal Minister for Labour and Regional Development, Mr T. Uren who had earlier toured the flood areas offered $100,000 for a special study of the Brisbane flood, with the Cities Commission working with the Queensland government and local authorities. Real estate developers were also attacked for their alleged role in exploiting the flood plains. The president of the Trades and Labor Council, Mr Jack Egerton, who is also a member of the Greater Brisbane Town Planning Committee demanded that the state government allow the Committee sufficient power to prevent developers from engaging in such activity. 'Time and time again the planning committee of the Brisbane City Council had drawn the attention of developers to floodlines, but the committee and council lack the power to prevent what has now proven to be callous exploitation of Brisbane homeowners.' 1 Amid charge and counter-charge one thing soon became clear — that no committee of inquiry would be appointed by the state government to investigate the Brisbane flood and make recommendations for future flood mitigation. Though under heavy pressure to do so, the Premier refused on the grounds that nothing would be gained. The Prime Minister's absence from the disaster area was also noted by Queenslanders. Mr Whitlam's departure on his long-planned Asian tour coincided with the flood peak, and although many of his senior ministers were early on the scene, he himself did not visit the city until a fortnight later on his way home from Manila. Though the national government has been generous to Queensland in that it will pick up the bill for everything over and above the two million dollars already spent by the state on flood relief, it may have paid Mr Whitlam, in the long run, to detour through Brisbane on his way to south-east Asia, given the parochial flavour of Queensland politics. In terms of bad publicity arising out of the floods, the real estate developers were second only to the insurance companies. The announcement by the latter that very few homeowners were covered by flood insurance did little to endear them to the general public once it became known that commonwealth war service homes carried such insurance. Their plea for a national disaster fund to take over the huge risk in such areas which they claimed private insurance companies could not handle 1. Financial Review, 30 January 1974. 244 The Australian Journal of Politics and History was turned down by federal cabinet, which decided instead to ask insurance companies to include flood protection in their home policies. Queensland's part in the Gair affair began shortly after it became public that one of the two DLP Senators from Queensland, Vince Gair had accepted appointment by the national government as Australia's ambassador to Ireland. As the purpose of this exercise by the federal Labor government was to add a sixth vacancy to the number of seats to be contested in Queensland at the mid-term Senate elections, and hopefully to thus elect an additional Labor senator, the leaders of the Liberal and Country parties throughout Australia were fearful that this move would be the fast step towards the government gaining control of the upper House. Stories differ as to whom was the instigator of the next move. Some credit the Queensland Liberal Senator, Ian Wood with alerting Mr Bjelke-Petersen to the possibilities open to him; others suggest the impetus came from the federal leader of the Country party, Mr Doug Anthony; some even believe that the Premier thought of it himself. Be that as it may, after taking Constitutional advice on the matter, Mr Bjelke-Petersen with Cabinet approval initiated an audacious counterstroke, in having the Governor, Sir Colin Hannah, issue the Writs for the normal five Senate vacancies for Queensland. This meant that, technically, the election had begun and Senator Gair's position could be filled by the Queensland parliament as a casual vacancy, traditionally by a member of the same political party as the retiring Senator. What was of greater importance, the new appointee would not have to face re-election until the next House of Representatives election. The efficacy of the Premier's coup depended on the Writs being issued prior to Senator Gair's resignation from the Senate. The exact date of his resignation was constitutionally unclear and was still being argued when the federal government accepted the opposition's challenge to a double dissolution of parliament. The declaration of 18 May as the date for an election of both federal Houses converted these matters into questions of purely academic interest. While it was widely acknowledged that the `Gair Affair' was deplorable, leaving none of the protagonists with their honour unsullied, the Premier's part in the distasteful manoeuvres showed him once more to be a wily and astute politician. The Government In view of Mr Bjelke-Petersen's well-known opposition to the whole concept, it came as a surprise to find the government presenting to parliament legislation to create the office of Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman). The Queensland legislation closely resembled that of Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria. Because the stature and personality of the Ombudsman will be an important factor in his success the naming of the first appointee will be awaited with great interest. Earlier amendments to laws governing art unions and to the liquor Act came into force proy,iding for eighteeen-year old drinking and the legal playing of bingo and hoy. The government also set up an official news service, direct to radio and television stations within the state which provoked a strong reaction from the Queensland branch of the Australian Journalists' Association. They viewed the news service as little more than a blatant government propaganda machine, bypassing the principle of balanced reporting by experienced and qualified journalists. The government was also active in protecting moral standards in Queensland. Because the federal Attorney-General and Customs Minister, Senator Murphy, over-rode the traditional censorship authority with regard to the Swedish film, 'Language of Love', the Queensland government legislated to create the Queensland Film Board of Review to censor films 'in the public interest'. At the same time, the Minister for Justice, Mr Knox rejected recommendations made to the Attorneys-General Committee by a working party of federal and state officials. These suggested that censorship of published material should be eased through a system of 'restricted' and 'direct sale only' classifications. While all other state Attorneys-General conceded that the Australian government should be responsible for the classification of published material, Mr Knox not only disagreed but warned that the staff of the Queensland Literature Board of Review would have to be substantially increased to stem the flood of pornographic material into Queensland which would assuredly follow, if proposed federal legislation on censorship was approved.
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