He called talking to journalists "Feeding the chooks" [chooks=chickens]
Seeing this picture this morning re-awaked memories for me. At the moment in the small eastern Australian town of Kingaroy, Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen lies dying at the age of 94.
From 1968 until 1987 Premier Joh, as he was called, ruled my homestate of Queensland with an authority that was absolute. He had the electoral boundaries redrawn in a Gerrymander that made it near impossible for his government to loose power.
All unauthorized public assembly and street demonstrations were made illegal, as were all forms of industrial collective action including strikes. Homosexuality and even oral sex were illegal under his administration. Censorship was extreme. The British punk band The Stranglers were banned from playing in Queensland in 1977 after criticizing Joh's government.
Joh's "government" was comical in retrospect. Russ Hinze was typical of the administration. A huge man dubbed "The Colossus of Roads" as he was minister for police, transport, racing and casinos. Described as "one of the most corrupt men in the Southern Hemisphere". An example of how the law was enforced in Queensland under Joh comes from the 1987 visit by the Greenpeace boat Vega:
"When the Vega reached Brisbane, capital of the state of Queensland, it was rammed by a police boat and impounded indefinitely. Seven Greenpeace members and crew of the Vega were arrested and face up to seven years gaol for blocking a waterway. Two were injured."
I was born in Queensland 1969 and finished high school in 1986. My parents were active in the movement for civil liberties in Queensland and I remember being able to identify if a phone was tapped by the sound of the clicks when you pick up the receiver at the age of about 8. The 'Special Branch' were the undercover [secret] police who could arrest and detain without charge and often used violence as a management technique.
It all came to an end in May 1987 with the brilliant Four Corners television program "Moonlight State" by Chris Masters. This led to the 1988 Royal Commission into "Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct" led by Anthony Fitzgerald QC. Over 100 officials, ministers and police were subsequently charged with corruption.
I began a university degree in Journalism in March 1988. I heard a lecture by Chris Masters later that year and was inspired.
On December 2 1989 the opposition state Labor party won government under the leadership of lawyer Wayne Goss. Joh was charged with perjury in 1991 but a jury led by a National Party member (Joh's party) failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
A tribute to Joh from The Stranglers (1978), although lyrics were never The Strangler's strongest point:
Nuclear Device (The wizard of aus)
I'm the wizard of aus
And I've got it all planned
For my first nuclear device
I don't really care about which way you vote
'Cos my gerrymander works out fine
I sell desert stretches like a big rubber glove
To Japan for a nuclear device
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
Brisbane men stay at home at night
'Cos I outlawed all of the vice (outlawed all of the vice)
I'm the wizard of aus
And I've rolled the streets
Dreaming of a nuclear device (nuclear device)
If I could get lucky I'd go out on my own
And sell Australia the rice (rest of aus' their rice)
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
Way down under Australia (Australia)
Very different from over here (Australia)
Getting rid of Abo's one by one (Australia)
Buy cheap land for uranium (Australia)
It reminds me of Sweden (Australia)
All the animals look so strange (Australia)
All victims of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia) ...
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