Everything about Joh Bjelke-petersen totally explained
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen,
KCMG (
13 January 1911 –
23 April 2005),
New Zealand-born
Australian
politician, was the longest-serving and longest-lived
Premier of the state of
Queensland. He held office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state. His uncompromising
conservatism (including his role in the
downfall of the Whitlam federal government), his political longevity, and his leadership of a government that, in its latter years, was revealed to be institutionally corrupt, made him one of the best-known political figures in twentieth-century Australia.
Early life
Bjelke-Petersen was born in
Dannevirke in the Southern Hawke's Bay region of
New Zealand, and lived in
Waipukurau, a small town in
Hawke's Bay. Bjelke-Petersen's parents were both
Danish immigrants, and his father, Carl, was a
Lutheran pastor. In
1913 the family left for Australia, moving to
Kingaroy in south-eastern Queensland and took up
dairy farming.
The young Johannes suffered from
polio, leaving him with a life-long limp. The family was poor, and Carl Bjelke-Petersen was frequently in poor health. Johannes and his mother Maren worked on the farm. Imbued with the strongly
pietistic Lutheranism associated with the Danish immigrants of the area, Johannes was somewhat resentful of both his father and elder brother, whose sickliness and academic leanings meant that they left much of the work to him. Biographer James Walter has suggested that this resentment would feed Johannes'
anti-intellectual tendencies in later life.
In 1933, Bjelke-Petersen began work on the family's newly-acquired second property clearing the land and peanut farming. His efforts eventually allowed him to begin work as a contract land-clearer (using a tax deduction then allowable to primary producers), and to acquire further capital which he invested in farm equipment and natural resource exploration. He developed a technique for quickly clearing scrub by connecting a heavy anchor chain between two bulldozers. By the time he entered Parliament, he'd built a thriving business.
Under sponsorship from Sir
Charles Adermann and Sir
Francis Nicklin, he was elected as
Country Party member for
Nanango in the
Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1946 (from 1950 to 1987 he was member for Barambah). The
Australian Labor Party (ALP) had held power in Queensland since 1932 and Bjelke-Petersen spent eleven years as an Opposition member.
Rise to power
In 1957, following a split in the Labor Party, the Country Party under Nicklin came to power, with the
Liberal Party as a junior coalition partner. In the same year, Bjelke-Petersen married
Florence Gilmour, who was later to become a significant political figure in her own right. Bjelke-Petersen became one of Nicklin's cabinet ministers in 1963 and held office until 1968; Nicklin retired in January of that year.
Jack Pizzey, Nicklin's successor both as Premier and as Country Party leader, died unexpectedly within seven months of assuming office. In the election for leadership of the Country Party, Bjelke-Petersen won. He became Premier on
8 August 1968. (During the interval between Pizzey's death and Bjelke-Petersen's accession, the premiership was held by the Liberals' leader, Sir
Gordon Chalk.) At this stage Bjelke-Petersen was still not very well known even to most Queenslanders, let alone outside the State.
Bjelke-Petersen's administration was kept in power by an
electoral malapportionment where rural votes were given greater power than those in city areas. This system was originally introduced by the Labor Party in 1949 as an overt electoral fix. Under Nicklin the bias in favour of rural constituencies was maintained. In 1972 Sir Joh strengthened the system to favour his own party, which led to his opponents referring to it as the
"Bjelke-mander", a play on the term "
gerrymander". Although Bjelke-Petersen's
1972 redistributions occasionally had elements of "gerrymandering" in the strict sense, their perceived unfairness had more to do with
malapportionment whereby certain areas (normally rural) are simply granted more representation than their population would dictate if electorates contained equal numbers of voters (or population). The lack of a state
upper house (since its abolition in 1922) allowed executive decisions to be swiftly implemented, yet also meant there were no "checks and balances" applied to the decisions of the lower house.
With Labor weak and chronically divided in Queensland throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bjelke-Petersen won a series of election victories, often at the expense of his Liberal coalition partners as much as Labor. Typically the Country Party would gain fewer votes than either Labor or Liberal, but those votes would be spread out across the many rural electorates, giving the Country Party more seats than the Liberals and thus making them the senior coalition partner. Together they'd more seats in Parliament than Labor, allowing Bjelke-Petersen to govern as Premier of a State in which his party received only 20% of the votes (using the figures for the 1972 election).
Queensland under Bjelke-Petersen
State development
Bjelke-Petersen abolished state duties on deceased estates (
inheritance taxes), leading to a steady flow of retired people moving from the southern states of
Victoria and
New South Wales to
Queensland, particularly the
Gold Coast. All other Australian states and territories had abolished this tax by 1981 in attempt to stem the flow of people to Queensland. The rapid rise in population in the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the
Sunshine Coast led to a building boom that has lasted for three decades.
The development boom was particularly noticeable in the tourist area of the Gold Coast, where developers were vigorously encouraged in a heady entrepreneurial environment. Environmental restrictions on planning were virtually unknown and
high-rise apartment blocks flourished in the once sleepy seaside towns. The Bjelke-Petersen government worked closely with a clique of influential property developers, known derisively as "the white shoe brigade", to construct resorts, hotels, a
casino and a system of residential developments built beside canals dredged through wetlands on the Gold Coast.
Considerable development of the state's infrastructure took place during the Bjelke-Petersen era. Airports, coal mines, power stations, and dams were built throughout the state.
James Cook University was established. In
Brisbane, the
Queensland Cultural Centre,
Griffith University, the
South East Freeway, and the
Captain Cook, Gateway and
Merivale bridges were all constructed, as well as the Parliamentary Annexe that was attached to Queensland Parliament House. Brisbane landmarks, such as the
Bellevue Hotel and the
Cloudland dance hall, were subject to demolition by the Deen Brothers demolition company, in the early hours of the morning, to make way for new developments.
Relations with the media
Bjelke-Petersen was remarkably successful at controlling media coverage, using paid-for advertorials on commercial networks and fobbing off journalists with irrelevant non-answers in a performance he called "feeding the chooks".
His Government dominated Parliament, not allowing committees or impartial speech, and ran a very sophisticated media operation, sending press releases out right on deadline so journalists had very little chance to research news items.
Journalists covering industrial disputes and picketing were afraid of arrest. In 1985, the Australian Journalists Association withdrew from the system of police passes because of police refusal to accredit certain journalists. Some journalists experienced police harassment.
A number of times Bjelke Petersen responded to unfavourable media coverage by using government resources to sue for
defamation. Queensland historian
Ross Fitzgerald was threatened with criminal libel when he sought to publish a critical history.
In 1989, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal found that in 1986 Bjelke-Petersen had placed then Channel 9 owner
Alan Bond in a position of 'commercial blackmail' when Bond improperly agreed to pay $400,000 as an out-of-court defamation settlement.
Joh's catchphrase answer to unwelcome queries, "Don't you worry about that," was widely parodied.
Civil liberties and political protest
The Bjelke-Petersen government sought to make political capital with its hardline approach against protest and industrial action. Police violence was witnessed against demonstrators at the
University of Queensland, which was a haven for anti-Bjelke-Petersen sentiment. A decision by this University's Senate to award him an honorary
doctorate of laws brought about criticisms from both students and staff. Leading Queensland poet,
Judith Wright, returned her own honorary Doctorate, in a personal protest.
The
1971 Springbok tour by the
South Africa national rugby union team sparked nation-wide demonstrations by supporters of the still imprisoned black African leader,
Nelson Mandela. Bjelke-Petersen declared a
state of emergency to suppress public protests.
Doug Anthony, a former National Party Deputy Prime Minister, said Bjelke-Petersen's support for South Africa's apartheid regime, in direct defiance of the Fraser Government's stance, showed him as "unreasonable, selfish and un-Christian". However to Joh, street marchers were a menace who clogged up traffic, caused distress to pedestrians, motorists and shop keepers and were mainly made up of students, Anarchists, professional agitators and trade union activists. The government transferred 450 police from country areas to suppress demonstrations. Future Queensland Premier
Peter Beattie, then a student protestor, witnessed police violently attacking peaceful demonstrators, including women. Brisbane aboriginal activist,
Sam Watson claimed the police wanted to "smash and cripple and destroy". Bjelke-Petersen praised police conduct during the demonstrations and awarded them an extra day's leave, as a mark of thanks.
Bjelke-Petersen cultivated a close relationship with factions within the police service, often at the expense of the relevant Minister for Police. In 1976, after attempting to initiate inquiries into police violence and reform the police force, Police Commissioner
Ray Whitrod resigned, alleging interference by Bjelke-Petersen with his position. Bjelke-Petersen had him replaced as Commissioner by the relatively junior
Terry Lewis, who worked closely and directly with Bjelke-Petersen on a wide variety of matters, and who would later be revealed to be corrupt by the
Fitzgerald Inquiry.
Extensive Special Branch monitoring (including
telephone tapping) of suspected subversives was routine; among its targets were not only student activists, unionists and Labor Party parliamentarians, but also coalition figures who had incurred Bjelke-Petersen's displeasure.
Peter Beattie said that, "...if you went to a protest there was always photos being taken". "You know, you'd always pose to get your best side. (Laughs) And they'd a dossier on everybody," Beattie said. Following the
Springbok tour,
Don Lane, a former member of the Special Branch, was elected to parliament, campaigning for Law and Order.
In 1977, Bjelke Petersen decided to ban street marches altogether.
Seven Liberal parliamentarians crossed the floor defending the right of association and assembly. One of the Liberals, Colin Lamont, told a meeting at University of Queensland that the Premier was engineering confrontation for electoral purposes."Two hours later, he (Bjelke Petersen) lunged at me across the floor of Parliament, waving a tape recorder and spluttered, 'I’ve heard every word. You are a traitor to this Government'," Lamont wrote later. Lamont said he learned the Special Branch had been keeping files on Liberal rebels and reporting, not to their Commissioner, but directly to the Premier. "The police state had arrived*," Lamont said.
The
Uniting Church synod passed a resolution requesting "Queensland heads of churches to mediate between the State government and student and civil liberties groups to achieve better ways of expressing their differences." Sir Joh replied, "If churches want to consort with atheists and communists dedicated to the elimination of religion, that's their problem."
Bjelke-Petersen often accused political opponents of being covert
communists bent on anarchy. "I have always found ... you can campaign on anything you like but nothing is more effective than communism," he said. "If he's a Labor man, he's a socialist and a very dangerous man." His rhetoric may have been ridiculed in the national media but it proved highly effective among conservative and rural voters who enjoyed disproportionate political influence due to gerrymandering.
Aboriginal people
In June 1976, Bjelke-Petersen blocked the proposed sale of a pastoral property on the
Cape York Peninsula to a group of
Aboriginal people, because according to cabinet policy, "The Queensland Government doesn't view favourably proposals to acquire large areas of additional freehold or leasehold land for development by Aborigines or Aboriginal groups in isolation." . This dispute resulted in the case of
Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen, which was decided partly in the
High Court in 1982, and partly in the
Supreme Court of Queensland in 1988. The courts found that Bjelke-Petersen's policy had discriminated against Aboriginal people.
Also in 1976, Bjelke Petersen evicted a team treating
trachoma, led by
Fred Hollows from state controlled aboriginal land. Bjelke Petersen claimed that Hollows' team had been encouraging Aborigines to enroll to vote. In his visits to northern communities, Fred Hollows was accompanied by two respected Aboriginal spokesmen and civil rights activists, Mick Miller and Clarrie Groggan. With an election looming, and keen to shut down this source of independent information, the Premier simply ejected Hollows' team. Electoral office data refuting his claims that there had been a rush of voter enrolments in the wake of the trachoma team, wasn't released for public consumption.
In 1978, the newly-formed
Uniting Church became involved in a struggle between the rights of Aborigines at Aurukun and Mornington Island (former Presbyterian missions) and the Queensland Government, which was anxious to allow mining to proceed. Bjelke-Petersen granted a 1,900 square kilometre mining lease to a mining consortium under extremely favourable conditions. With support from the church, the Aurukun people challenged the legislation, eventually winning their case in the Queensland Supreme Court. But they ultimately lost it when the Queensland Government appealed to the Privy Council in England.
Cheryl Buchanan, chairwoman of the Kooma Traditional Owners Association said it was difficult now for people to accept how different things were in Queensland for Aboriginal people in the 1960s and 1970s."We got raped by police in those days and couldn't do anything about it. They were the SS. The police would pick us up on a regular basis because they knew who we all were, and they'd take us out the back of Samford and harass us and push us around for hours," Buchanon said.
Aboriginal activist Sam Watson said: "Aboriginal people will always remember him [BjelkePetersen] as a racist, a thug and a dictator."
Role in the Whitlam dismissal
In 1975 Bjelke-Petersen played what later turned out to be a key role in
the political crisis which brought down the federal Labor government of
Gough Whitlam, who referred to Bjelke-Petersen as "that
Bible-bashing bastard, Bjelke". Whitlam's government didn't have control of the
Senate, whose members are elected as representatives of the individual
states. Senators are normally elected directly, but if a Senate position becomes vacant, a replacement is appointed by the relevant State Legislature, or, if the legislature isn't in session, by the
State Governor. State Governors are also responsible for the issue of
writs for elections to the Senate. Bjelke-Petersen twice used these practices to thwart Whitlam's attempts to gain control of the Senate.
In 1974, Whitlam had approached former Queensland Premier and then Senator for the
Democratic Labor Party,
Vince Gair, with the offer as a job as ambassador to
Ireland as a way of creating an extra vacant Senate position in Queensland that Whitlam hoped would be won by his Labor Party. This arrangement became public before Gair had resigned from the Senate, and after being kept away from the President of the Senate (to whom he'd to tender his resignation) until the witching hour of 6pm (the time at which writs are deemed to be issued), Bjelke-Petersen advised the Governor Sir
Colin Hannah, that evening to issue writs for five, rather than six, vacancies, denying Labor the chance of gaining Gair's Senate spot.
The convention in filling Senate vacancies since 1949, when proportional representation meant that numbers became close, had been that the State Parliament would appoint the nominee of the former Senator's political party. The actual convention, initiated by Premier Gair, was that the premier would be supplied with at list of three names, from which he could choose the replacement. When Labor Senator
Bertie Milliner died, Bjelke-Petersen rejected Labor's nominee to fill the vacancy,
Mal Colston, and instead asked for a short list of three nominees, from which he'd pick one. When the ALP refused to supply such a list, Bjelke-Petersen appointed
Albert Field, an ALP member who was critical of the Whitlam government. The ALP tried to block the appointment by expelling Field, and announcing that it would expel anyone else who would accept the appointment in Colston's place, but Bjelke-Petersen went ahead with the appointment anyway.
Field's appointment was the subject of a High Court challenge, as he was an employee of the Queensland Education Department, and although he resigned the day before his appointment, he was required to give three weeks notice, and was thus technically in crown employment. This technicality had been ignored for several other replacements, but he took leave and only sat in the Senate for one day. During this period, the Coalition led by
Malcolm Fraser refused to allot a
pair to balance Field's absence. This gave the Coalition control over the Senate. Fraser used this control to secure passage of a resolution that the Senate wouldn't even consider the passage of the
Supply Bills through Parliament until an election had been announced, denying Whitlam's then-unpopular government the legal capacity to appropriate funds for government business and leading to his dismissal as Prime Minister.
During the tumultuous election campaign precipitated by Whitlam's dismissal by
Sir John Kerr, Bjelke-Petersen alleged that Queensland police investigations had uncovered damaging documentation in relation to the
Loans Affair. This documentation was never made public and these allegations remained unsubstantiated.
Break-up of the coalition
In 1975, facing the declining population of its rural base, the Country Party changed its name to the National Country Party (later the National Party) and began contesting metropolitan seats against its coalition partner, the Liberals. In August 1983
Terry White, a Liberal minister, joined backbench colleagues
crossing the floor to vote against the government in Parliament. The Liberal leader, Dr
Llew Edwards, asked White to resign as a Minister but instead White successfully challenged him for leadership of the Liberal Party. Bjelke-Petersen refused to work with White as Deputy Premier and as a result the coalition agreement was broken off. At the 1983 state election, the intensely divided Liberals suffered a heavy loss of seats and after the defection of two Liberals,
Don Lane and
Brian Austin, the Nationals gained a majority in their own right.
In 1984, on the recommendation of his own government, Bjelke-Petersen was created a Knight Commander of the
Order of St Michael and St George, for "services to parliamentary democracy". He was then generally known as "Sir Joh" (rather than "Sir Johannes"), and his wife generally (if incorrectly) known as "Lady Flo."
In 1985 a protracted industrial dispute with state-employed (SEQEB) electricity workers over superannuation entitlements resulted in a strike and the government's introduction of severe anti-striking legislation, justified by Bjelke-Petersen on the basis of the need to secure continued power supplies. The strike was eventually defeated, causing a great deal of bitterness among unionists.
Downfall
"Joh for Canberra"
In 1987 Bjelke-Petersen made an extraordinary political move, launching a campaign for the
Prime Ministership, working against the Nationals' usual coalition partner, the
Liberal Party (under the leadership of
John Howard). The "
Joh for Canberra" campaign, abandoned after it became clear that there was no prospect of success, was a significant factor in the victory of incumbent Labor Prime Minister,
Bob Hawke. The State Secretary of the Labor Party (and later Queensland Premier),
Peter Beattie remarked "we couldn't have done it without Joh".
Fitzgerald Inquiry
Also in 1987, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation investigative journalism program
Four Corners aired an episode entitled "The Moonlight State" alleging high-level corruption in the
Queensland Police, including the receipt of bribes from owners of illegal brothels. At the time the program aired, Bjelke-Petersen was involved in his aborted national political campaign and was outside Queensland.
In response to these allegations, Deputy Premier and Minister of Police
Bill Gunn, who was serving as acting premier in Bjelke-Petersen's absence, announced an inquiry. It was clear that Bjelke-Petersen had always opposed any inquiry into the Queensland Police, and his biographers have asserted that had he not been out of the state, this inquiry would never have been held.
The two-year-long Commission of Inquiry into "Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct" was chaired by barrister
Tony Fitzgerald and known as the
Fitzgerald Inquiry. As it began, evidence of corruption was unearthed implicating not only Police Commissioner
Terry Lewis, but also senior members and associates of the Bjelke-Petersen government. As a result of the inquiry, Lewis was tried, convicted, and jailed on corruption charges. He was later stripped of his knighthood and other honours. A number of other officials, including ministers
Don Lane and Austin were also jailed. Another former minister,
Russ Hinze, died while awaiting trial.
Bjelke-Petersen gave evidence before the Inquiry himself, denying all knowledge of any wrongdoing. His standing was damaged, however, by his inability to account for large sums of cash in his office safe and when he demonstrated his ignorance of the
separation of powers, a basic principle of accountable government.
The Bjelke-Petersen government's decline in political standing prompted fierce conflict between his supporters and his detractors within the Nationals' partyroom. Sir
Robert Sparkes, the State Secretary of the party, who for decades had been Bjelke-Petersen's influential sponsor, withdrew his support and the two became enemies. When in late 1987 Bjelke-Petersen announced government support for construction of the "world's tallest building" in Brisbane, a pet project of a member of the "white shoe brigade", a number of ministers strongly protested. Bjelke-Petersen then met with
State Governor Sir Walter Campbell in an effort to restructure his Cabinet and purge dissenters from the ministry. After a period of negotiation, Sir Walter agreed to sack three ministers.
Ouster
Bjelke-Petersen denied his National Party opponents the opportunity to confront him by refusing to call a meeting of the party's parliamentarians. Eventually, the organisational wing of the party intervened and called one. Bjelke-Petersen's request that Nationals MPs join him in a boycott went unheeded, and the meeting deposed him as National Party leader and elected in his place
Mike Ahern, one of the ministers he'd sacked.
Bjelke-Petersen refused to resign as Premier. The stand-off was resolved after a period of negotiation, when Bjelke-Petersen resigned as Premier.
Bjelke-Petersen resigned on
1 December 1987 after spending time in his office destroying incriminating papers.
In the subsequent by-election for his seat, he ensured that a radical right-wing independent rather than the Nationals' endorsed candidate was successful. He worked openly to destabilise the Nationals' leadership, and at the next election Labor returned to office after 32 years in opposition.
Joh's Corruption Trial
In 1991 Bjelke-Petersen faced criminal trial for
perjury arising out of the evidence he'd given to the Fitzgerald Inquiry (an earlier proposed charge of corruption was incorporated into the perjury charge). Evidence was given to the perjury trial by Sir Joh's former police Special Branch bodyguard Sergeant Bob Carter that in 1986 he'd twice been given packages of cash totalling $210,000 at Sir Joh's office. He was told to take them to a Brisbane city law firm and then watch as the money was deposited in a company bank account.
The money had been given over by developer
Sng Swee Lee, and the bank account was in the name of Kaldeal - operated by a trustee of the National Party, Edward Lyons.
The jury in the case remained deadlocked. In 1992 it was revealed that the jury foreman, Luke Shaw, was a member of the Young Nationals and was identified with the "Friends of Joh" movement.
The
Director of Public Prosecutions elected not to proceed with a second trial.
In 2003, The Queensland government rejected a $353 million damages claim by Bjelke Petersen seeking compensation for loss of business opportunities resulting from the Fitzgerald Inquiry. In his advice to the government, tabled in parliament, Crown Solicitor Conrad Lohe not only recommended dismissing the claim, but said Sir Joh was "fortunate" not to have faced a second trial..
Post-premiership
Despite the proven corruption of the Bjelke-Petersen government, Bjelke-Petersen remained a popular figure with conservatives in Queensland. Peter Beattie recognised his standing and his contribution to Queensland by appearing in photographs with him, extending him government courtesies, and refraining from criticism. Bjelke-Petersen in turn praised his successor's good manners.
Bjelke-Petersen died in April 2005, with Lady Bjelke-Petersen and a number of other family members by his side. Bjelke-Petersen received a state funeral and is buried at his property "Bethany" at
Kingaroy.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Joh Bjelke-petersen'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://joh_bjelke-petersen.totallyexplained.com">Joh Bjelke-Petersen Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
